Matthew 16:13-20 Proclamation that Jesus is The Christ

New Living Translation Chapter 16

One day the Pharisees and Sadducees came to test Jesus, demanding that he show them a miraculous sign from heaven to prove his authority.

2 He replied, “You know the saying, ‘Red sky at night means fair weather tomorrow; 3 red sky in the morning means foul weather all day.’ You know how to interpret the weather signs in the sky, but you don’t know how to interpret the signs of the times! 4 Only an evil, adulterous generation would demand a miraculous sign, but the only sign I will give them is the sign of the prophet Jonah.” Then Jesus left them and went away.

Yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees

5 Later, after they crossed to the other side of the lake, the disciples discovered they had forgotten to bring any bread. 6 “Watch out!” Jesus warned them. “Beware of the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees.”

7 At this they began to argue with each other because they hadn’t brought any bread. 8 Jesus knew what they were saying, so he said, “You have so little faith! Why are you arguing with each other about having no bread? 9 Don’t you understand even yet? Don’t you remember the 5,000 I fed with five loaves, and the baskets of leftovers you picked up? 10 Or the 4,000 I fed with seven loaves, and the large baskets of leftovers you picked up? 11 Why can’t you understand that I’m not talking about bread? So again I say, ‘Beware of the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees.’ ”

12 Then at last they understood that he wasn’t speaking about the yeast in bread, but about the deceptive teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees.

So we see Jesus traveling back to the other side of the lake because from this point forward He is heading down toward Jerusalem.

One day the Pharisees and Sadducees came to test Jesus, demanding that he show them a miraculous sign from heaven to prove his authority.

Here are some things to take away just from this v. 1:

Even the religious came to Jesus with a purpose and we should take note to do the same thing. Come to Jesus intentionally even the intention to “be” with Him.

Their hearts were in the wrong place. They came to Jesus to challenge Him because what He was doing was stirring up the status quo. The religious tend to hate being questioned or challenged. A good indicator if you have been consumed by the religious regulations instead of living and loving in faith is whether or not you get hot and bothered when someone asks hard questions or says something challenges your faith.

Jesus was doing teaching, preaching and healing throughout His ministry to this area. They still demanded to see signs even though they were spiritually blind. This moment captured in the scripture isn’t the only time Jesus did miracles yet they were unwilling to see what Jesus was really doing. God is moving and it is obvious. It is our decision on whether or not we want to see the miracles.

Pharisee and Sadducees

Pharisees represented the larger religious majority. They lived life according to the smallest details of oral and scribal law. The Sadducees did not. They ascribed to only the written words of the Torah as their law of life. The Pharisees believed in angels and resurrection whereas the Sadducees did not. The Pharisees were NOT a political and they were willing to live under any government that allowed them to practice their own religious principles. The Sadducees were a smaller wealthy aristocratic group that were prepared to serve and co-operate with the Roman government so they could retain their wealth and privileges. And lastly the Pharisees longed for the return of the Messiah whereas the Sadducees were not.

They were very different religious groups but they came together to eliminate Jesus. Their hostility united them.

Read the signs of the weather but you cannot see what is right in front of you!

Jesus is calling them out. The religious people can look at the sky and read into what it says about the next day but they cannot accept seeing a miracle right in front of them.

The natural world points to the supernatural world.

All of creation cries out about the majesty of God. Have you seen a mountain lately?!?! It’s absolutely stunning. Or how nature works together when we don’t jack it up.

And it was created for us to care for yet we say there is no God?

It takes more faith to believe that one giant explosion created all these things and spiraled atoms into a way that takes us here where we are.

Jesus himself and His message is the sign.

The religious people wanted a miraculous sign. People think the sign of Jonah was the whale but the sign of Jonah was his obedience as a prophet to finally go and the message that he had for them.

5 Later, after they crossed to the other side of the lake, the disciples discovered they had forgotten to bring any bread. 6 “Watch out!” Jesus warned them. “Beware of the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees.”

7 At this they began to argue with each other because they hadn’t brought any bread. 8 Jesus knew what they were saying, so he said, “You have so little faith! Why are you arguing with each other about having no bread? 9 Don’t you understand even yet? Don’t you remember the 5,000 I fed with five loaves, and the baskets of leftovers you picked up? 10 Or the 4,000 I fed with seven loaves, and the large baskets of leftovers you picked up? 11 Why can’t you understand that I’m not talking about bread? So again I say, ‘Beware of the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees.’ ”

12 Then at last they understood that he wasn’t speaking about the yeast in bread, but about the deceptive teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees.

What does yeast/leave do?

In some translations, yeast is leaven. And here there is a double meaning:

The physical/literal: leaven is a piece of fermented dough without which bread cannot be baked. The disciples’ minds were fixed on the bread and Jesus was calling them to remember the feeding of the 4,000 and 5,000. They were thinking that Jesus was telling them that it would be bad to get food from the Gentiles on the other side of the lake. No strictly orthodox Jew could eat bread that was handled or baked by a Gentile. They could have easily interpreted his message as “You have forgotten the bread which is clean; take care when you get to the other side of the lake that you do not pollute yourselves by buying bread with defiling leaven in it.’” They were so focused on the bread that they were forgetting how Jesus feed thousands.

The metaphorical meaning of the yeast is the symbol of penetrative power of evil. Beware of the evil influence of the Pharisee and Sadducees!

How does that even connect with the Pharisees and Sadducees?

The amount of yeast is so little compared to the amount of flour to make bread. But a little goes a long way. With the right conditions yeast will thrive and infiltrate all the flour.

The religious spirit can thrive in the right conditions. It doesn’t take a lot to change authentic faith in Christ to religious regulations of dos and don’t. To a live where the evil influence of making laws more important than faith. To blind us from what is right in front of us.

So what are the right conditions in your life that would allow the religious spirit to grow? Like yeast in bread.

Being overly critical with a consumer mindset.

Not being in the Word of God daily so it can renew your mind.

Caring more about the outside than the inside.