The Leaven of the Pharisees

We’ve come to chapter number 16 in Matthew’s gospel this morning, and we’re really getting into exciting times here in the study of Matthew.

We’ve just come off some of Jesus’ most famous miracles - His walking on water and feeding of 5000 and 4000 people.

Right here in chapter 16 we will soon see Peter’s great confession about Jesus at Cesarea Phillipi, that He is the Christ, the Son of the Living God.

In chapter 17 we will see one of the most marvelous and mind-boggling scenes that we have in the Gospels, and that is the transfiguration of Jesus where the glory of the godhead shone through and Moses and Elijah make an appearance.

At the end of chapter 17, Jesus will clearly foretell his death and resurrection, and by the beginning of chapter 19 Jesus will leave Galilee for the final time and then it will be a steady march to Jerusalem toward the events of his passion.

I hope that gives you a little picture of where we are in the book, and where we will be headed.

After Jesus’ feeding of the 4000, it tells us that he got into a boat and wend into Magadon - across the lake from where the crowd had gathered.

Now, last time Jesus’ fed a large group of people and went to the other side of the Sea of Galilee, he was met by the Pharisees from Jerusalem who challenged him about his disciples’ breaking of the traditions.

Well, this time Jesus feeds a large group of people, gets into a boat to go to the other side of the Sea of Galilee, and who do you think meets him there?

The Pharisees, and this time with them, the Sadducees.

Jesus’ interaction with the group is short - but the message that comes through in these first 12 verses is a very simple one - beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees.

Since Jesus’ first interaction with the Pharisees, we have seen them as examples of what not to do, essentially. There are many things we could say about them, many summary statements could be made. Jesus himself speaks boldly against them, and as we continue through Matthew we will see him speak even more boldly.

But of all the things that the Pharisees represent in terms of negative, anti-gospel and anti-kingdom things, I think three stick out most dramatically.

Legalism - we saw this in the last chapter, where the Pharisees from Jerusalem met Jesus and challenged him concerning the Traditions. The Traditions, in pharisaical Judaism, had become the law - and the law was, in their eyes, the only way to be justified and made clean.

Jesus has challenged this one many accounts, but the Pharisees legalism stands.

Another that we see is the mark of Hypocrisy. This is not the only time that Jesus speaks of the Pharisees in terms of leaven, and in one place where Luke records it, Jesus explains that the leaven of the Pharisees is hypocrisy. In Matthew 23, that will be a major denunciation by Jesus of the Pharisees as well.

Luke 23:23–25 ESV

But they were urgent, demanding with loud cries that he should be crucified. And their voices prevailed. So Pilate decided that their demand should be granted. He released the man who had been thrown into prison for insurrection and murder, for whom they asked, but he delivered Jesus over to their will.

Jesus says that the pharisees are the classic example of not practicing what they preach. Hypocrisy marked them generally, and they may have been blind to it, or so used to it that it didn’t bother them, but Jesus denounced it sharply.

But of all the things that we can say are most consistent, that comes up again and again with the Pharisees, and also with the Sadducees who we see in this passage, it is the example of unbelief.

We saw unbelief in chapter 12, when, seeing Jesus cast out a Demon, the Pharisees refused to believe and in stead accused him of working by the power of Satan.

We saw unbelief in chapter 12 again when they asked for a sign, and Jesus told them that they would not believe even if they saw a sign of the magnitude of the porphet Jonah - and he said the men of Nineveh who repented at Jonah’s preaching would rise up to condemn them, because they would not believe, no matter what they saw.

Well, here again in chapter 16, we see Pharisees coming with their unbelief, asking for a sign.

Now, these three things, Legalism, Hypocrisy, and Unbelief, are deadly spiritual poisons.

Legalism is deadly because it leads you to believe you can find life in something that has no power to produce it, and transformation in something that has no power to transform.

Hypocrisy is deadly because it is life only on the surface, but rotting and decay on the inside. As Jesus will say of these men, they are like whited tombs on the outside but full of dead bones inside. And the worse part of hypocrisy, is that eventually you believe the lie yourself and believe that your outward appearance and put-on behavior is the important part of your life.

Unbelief is deadly because it is the simple and greatest statement against Jesus, against the Kingdom, and against His Gospel. Unbelief, in its greatest forms, displays a hardness of heart like we saw in the parable of the seeds. No matter the truth, no matter the message, no matter the greatness of the sign, the heart remains impenetrable and the Word of God has no effect, leaving a dead soul dead and blinded eyes darkened.

Now, as we read through this passage, I also want to note that we will see not only the leaven of the pharisees and Sadducees, but also we will see two kinds of spiritual blindness as well.

We see the blindness of the Pharisees, which would seemingly never be remedied,

but we also see a kind of spiritual blindness in the disciples - and in that there are great applications for us.

The legalism, hypocrisy, and unbelief of the Pharisees and Sadducees are things that followers of Jesus are warned to beware of even today.

Read Matthew 12:1-12

Matthew 12:1–12 ESV

At that time Jesus went through the grainfields on the Sabbath. His disciples were hungry, and they began to pluck heads of grain and to eat. But when the Pharisees saw it, they said to him, “Look, your disciples are doing what is not lawful to do on the Sabbath.” He said to them, “Have you not read what David did when he was hungry, and those who were with him: how he entered the house of God and ate the bread of the Presence, which it was not lawful for him to eat nor for those who were with him, but only for the priests? Or have you not read in the Law how on the Sabbath the priests in the temple profane the Sabbath and are guiltless? I tell you, something greater than the temple is here. And if you had known what this means, ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice,’ you would not have condemned the guiltless. For the Son of Man is lord of the Sabbath.” He went on from there and entered their synagogue. And a man was there with a withered hand. And they asked him, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?”—so that they might accuse him. He said to them, “Which one of you who has a sheep, if it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will not take hold of it and lift it out? Of how much more value is a man than a sheep! So it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath.”

Demanding - Vs. 1-4

We pick up the narrative in verse 1 where matthew tells us that “Pharisees and Sadducees came, to test him...”

Now, the main part of the story is the testing - the reason they came, but we cannot ignore something here.

That pharisees and sadducees were working together on something is a remarkable thing, for they were essentially non-combative enemies. That is, they would never pick up physical weapons against each other, but ideaologically and socially they were at odds with one another.

The Pharisees we know - they are traditionalists, staunch keepers of the laws of Moses and also the oral laws of the rabbis.

The Sadducees, on the other hand, were something of the progressives of their day. They did not accept the traditions of the Elders as law, and in fact, they only generally believed the 5 books of Moses were applicable scriptures, whereas the Pharisees believed the entirety of what we call the Old Testament.

Socially, while the Pharisees were certainly set apart by their rituals, behavior, and appearance, they were a bit more common-class. The Sadducees were, on the other hand, upper class. In fact, the high priest for many many years came from the Sadducees.

They also differed on another major front - miracles. The Pharisees believed in the supernatural, they believed the miracles of the prophets. They believed that people could be raised from the dead. But the Sadducees did not - they were, you could say, naturalists.

All these elements together made it so that these groups rarely interacted, but interestingly they were able to put differences aside for the sake of Jesus.

But not in a good way. The enemy of my enemy is my friend, and that was displayed most vividly here.

This does show the depth and seriousness of unbelief, because that is the one character trait these groups shared - their equal unbelief in Jesus as Messiah. How far will one go to confirm their unbelief?

Matthew 12:1–4 ESV

At that time Jesus went through the grainfields on the Sabbath. His disciples were hungry, and they began to pluck heads of grain and to eat. But when the Pharisees saw it, they said to him, “Look, your disciples are doing what is not lawful to do on the Sabbath.” He said to them, “Have you not read what David did when he was hungry, and those who were with him: how he entered the house of God and ate the bread of the Presence, which it was not lawful for him to eat nor for those who were with him, but only for the priests?

Well, much like we saw in chapter 12, they ask for a sign. A sign from heaven. And they ask in order to test Jesus, so Matthew is already giving us a clue that they weren’t really interested in being proved wrong - they were interested in something that would trip Jesus up, something that would confirm their hatred and unbelief.

Red-Sky at night, sailors’ delight. Red-sky in morning, sailors take warning.

Jesus is using that little well-known bit of wisdom to show them their blindness. They can see the obvious signs of the weather, but they cannot see the signs that show the Kingdom is here?

Matthew 11:2–6 ESV

Now when John heard in prison about the deeds of the Christ, he sent word by his disciples and said to him, “Are you the one who is to come, or shall we look for another?” And Jesus answered them, “Go and tell John what you hear and see: the blind receive their sight and the lame walk, lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, and the dead are raised up, and the poor have good news preached to them. And blessed is the one who is not offended by me.”

Have they not seen or heard of these signs?

Luke 2:34–35 ESV

And Simeon blessed them and said to Mary his mother, “Behold, this child is appointed for the fall and rising of many in Israel, and for a sign that is opposed (and a sword will pierce through your own soul also), so that thoughts from many hearts may be revealed.”

They wanted a sign from heaven - Jesus is the sign from heaven. He did what nobody else could do. He taught like nobody else could teach. He had a birth like nobody else had. He had righteousness like nobody else could show or offer. Jesus was the sign, but they would not believe.

And Jesus says, again, no sign will be given to this evil and adulterous generation, except the sign of Jonah.

Matthew 12:40 ESV

For just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.

There will be one major sign given - the resurrection of Jesus.

But would they believe then? No, they wouldn’t.

Luke 16:31 ESV

He said to him, ‘If they do not hear Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be convinced if someone should rise from the dead.’ ”

Matthew 28:11–15 ESV

While they were going, behold, some of the guard went into the city and told the chief priests all that had taken place. And when they had assembled with the elders and taken counsel, they gave a sufficient sum of money to the soldiers and said, “Tell people, ‘His disciples came by night and stole him away while we were asleep.’ And if this comes to the governor’s ears, we will satisfy him and keep you out of trouble.” So they took the money and did as they were directed. And this story has been spread among the Jews to this day.

Jesus has given a multitude of signs. The signs of his birth. The signs of his teaching. The signs of his miracles. The sign of his death, and his resurrection. The sign of his return to the Father.

What more can we ask for? What more can you ask for?

Missing - Vs. 5-10

Well, we are told that Jesus left them - in fact, Mark tells us that he left them with a sigh - as if to imply his frustration and sadness at their hardness of heart.

We pick up now again with the disciples.

Matthew 16:5–6 ESV

When the disciples reached the other side, they had forgotten to bring any bread. Jesus said to them, “Watch and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees.”

Now, the next few verses, I have to admit, provided me with some comic relief in my study this week.

There are several ways you could imagine the scene.

One, I could imagine them thinking - “we forgot bread - what is he going to say? I told you we should have stocked up on bread after the last feeding!” “Oh no! He’s talking about leaven! See, I knew he’d find out we didn’t bring bread!”

Or, I like to imagine it like this.

“Hey, did you hear what Jesus said about the leaven of the Pharisees? Do you have any idea what he meant?

No

Yeah, me either - Oh man! We forgot to bring lunch!”

No matter how we imagine it, the disciples had missed the point of Jesus’ warning.

And this is what I meant earlier by two different types of spiritual blindness.

The Pharisees had a spiritual blindness that would persist and never be lifted. They fulfill the prophecy of Isaiah that - seeing they will never see, and hearing they will never hear.

But the disciples often display a kind of blindness that is more familiar to us - that is the blindness of just missing it. Just plain misunderstanding it.

The disciples were learners, they didn’t have it all figured out. They seem to always have the bare-minimum understanding of what is going on. Only in chapter 14 did they come to the understanding that Jesus was truly more than a man.

But we have to be not so hard on them - because we have the whole bible. They were part of the process. We can read ahead and see the whole story - they were part of the story.

And we all have moments of blindness, of misunderstanding, of not being clear on God’s word or what he wants us to do. In these moments it is not the blindness of unbelief or a hard heart, it is simply the blindness of our limited human nature.

Matthew 16:8–10 ESV

But Jesus, aware of this, said, “O you of little faith, why are you discussing among yourselves the fact that you have no bread? Do you not yet perceive? Do you not remember the five loaves for the five thousand, and how many baskets you gathered? Or the seven loaves for the four thousand, and how many baskets you gathered?

To this kind of blindness, Jesus gives an explanation.

Don’t you remember the 5000 fed, and the 12 baskets left over (12 disciples, 12 tribes) and my provision there?

Don’t you remember the 4000 fed, and the 7 baskets left over (not as specific, but this time a gentile crowd) and my provision there?

I can provide plenty of bread for the Jews and the Gentiles alike - I’m not talking about physical bread.

Understanding - vs. 11-12

The blindness of the disciples is a hopeful blindness, because it is the kind of blindness that is lifted and lightened by Jesus.

It is the blindness that is lifted by explanation and showing the truth, and in that they come to understanding.

Matthew 16:11–12 ESV

How is it that you fail to understand that I did not speak about bread? Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees.” Then they understood that he did not tell them to beware of the leaven of bread, but of the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees.

They understood. When they had it explained to them, their blindness was lifted.

That is unlike the pharisees, whose blindness remained with them regardless of how many signs, or how much explanation was given.

Take courage when you have moments of misunderstanding, confusion, even doubt - those are not signs of utter failure or total loss. The big question is this - when you do see, when it is explained, when it does become clear, what do you do with it?

We are responsible to believe and follow God’s Word in following Jesus.

Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees, who would not believe.

Who would not humble themselves before Jesus as Messiah.

Whose eyes would not be opened to understand.

Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, who remained in their sins because they found security in outward righteousness. Who remained unclean because everyone else believed they were clean.

Beware of the leaven of the pharisees, who sought life and transformation in human traditions and laws that could not transform or give life.

What is the image of leaven?

Leaven, again, is like yeast - more like a bread starter.

Paul, dealing with the very thing of the legalism of those like the pharisees, says this.

Galatians 5:9 ESV

A little leaven leavens the whole lump.

And that is true - it only takes a little bit of what the Pharisees and Sadducees had to ruin a person.

A little unbelief goes a long way.

A little hypocrisy goes a long way.

A little legalism goes a long way.