Matthew 16:5-6: Beware of the Leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees

“Watch and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees,” Jesus in Matthew 16:6

“We can live at our full potential right now!...Within these pages you will find seven simple yet profound steps to improve your life regardless of your current level of success or lack of it.”  (Joel Osteen, Your Best Life Now, p. viii) "They've told him many times that they would free him and allow him to return to our family, the kids and I, if he would deny his Christian faith, and he's stood strong in that prison. He's led many, many—over 30 people—to Christ in that prison." (Naghmeh, the wife of Christian pastor Saeed Abedini, who is jailed in Iran’s notorious Evin Prison, because of his faith.  Naghmeh said these words while speaking at Liberty University, September 2013)

Jesus and his disciples sailed away from the “region of Magadan”  (15:39), which is along the northwest shore of the Sea of Galilee, near Tiberius.   Jesus and the disciples reached the other side (v. 5) of the Sea of Galilee, likely along the northeast shore.   When they arrived the disciples realized they had forgotten to bring any bread.

This statement, having forgotten to bring any bread, is full of irony, even a little humor!   Jesus had just fed “four thousand men, besides women and children” (15:38).   “Seven baskets full” (15:27) of bread were left over.   Yet they got into the boat having forgotten to bring any of the leftover bread with them.

My guess is when the disciples were aware that they forgot bread, they began blaming, maybe even yelling at, each other.   Jesus, still with the confrontation with the Pharisees and Sadducees fresh in his mind, uses the discussion about bread to teach about eternal things.    Jesus said to them, “Watch and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees,” (v. 6). 

Leaven and yeast are similar and sometimes the two words are used interchangeably.   Leaven is what causes bread to “levitate” or rise.  A little leaven can impact an entire lump of dough.  This reality is often used metaphorically in Scripture to describe how a small amount of evil can have a far-reaching negative influence (see 1 Corinthians 5:6-8 and Galatians 5:9).  Leaven was not allowed in any offerings or sacrifices (see Leviticus 2:11 and Exodus 34:25).  However, sometimes leaven is used as a positive spiritual example (see Matthew 13:33).  

The Pharisees and Sadducees both represented corrupting influences on the nation of Israel; both used the Law of Moses for personal gain.   (See Jesus’ scathing rebuke of their corruption in Matthew 23 and Luke 11:37-52.)  

The Pharisees sought their own self-exalting righteousness through the Law; in their eyes, there was no need for saving grace, a redeemer or a savior.  The Lord was not their pursuit; he was merely a tool of religious perfection. 

The Sadducees used religion for political power.  They were more concerned about accumulating prestige in this life and were unconcerned about the next life.   Both the Pharisees and Sadducees were different sides of the same corrupt coin; we must watch and beware of their leaven since it can still be found influencing the world today. 

In Mark’s version, Jesus warns against “the leaven of the Pharisees” and “Herod,” not the Sadducees (see Mark 8:15).   Ultimately the same meaning is retained with Mark’s version.  The Sadducees, as opposed to the nationalistic Pharisees, wanted to compromise with the occupying Roman ruler Herod.  There was even a segment among the Jewish leadership known as the Herodians (see 22:16), whose purpose was to bring Israel under Rome’s authority.  The leaven of Herod and the Sadducees was to use God for power and political gain.    

Is our walk with Christ corrupted by the leaven of hypocrisy and greed? (See Luke 12:1, 16:14) Or are we the positive leaven of life and Christ-centeredness to a dead world? Are we the salt of the earth, a city set on a hill?   

Saeed Abedini is godly leaven in probably the darkest place on earth, the Evin Prison.   A simple renouncing of Jesus would reunite him with his family.   But like Moses, he considers “the reproach of Christ greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt,” (Hebrews 11:26).   The leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees has no power over Saeed.  He longs for “a better country, that is, a heavenly one.  Therefore God is not ashamed to be called his God,” (Hebrews 11:16).  May we pray for his endurance, his witness, his freedom from prison and for his family; may Saeed Abedini, continue to be an example of godly leaven.   May we learn and grow from his example. 

Saeed Abedini, with his family before his imprisonment. 

Matthew 16:1-4: No Sign but the Sign of Jonah

An evil and adulterous generation seeks for a sign,” Jesus to the Pharisees and Sadducees, Matthew 16:4

“Even if a miracle should be wrought in the open marketplace before a thousand sober witnesses, I would rather mistrust my senses than admit a miracle.” (French atheist Voltaire)

“If I look up at the stars tonight and say, ‘Rearrange to say, I am here’…then I would say maybe there is something to this.”  Atheist Lawrence Krauss commenting on what kind of evidence it would take for him to believe there is a God.  (In a debate with William Lane Craig on a youtube video: “Life, the Universe and Nothing: Has science buried God?” Pt. 1)

Chapter 16 is a turning point in Matthew’s gospel.    In this chapter we have Peter’s great confession, “You are the Christ” (v. 16), as well as Jesus beginning his turn toward Jerusalem where He will be crucified, buried and raised (see v. 21).  This chapter begins with Jesus being confronted by those who resist him the most. 

The Pharisees and Sadducees  (v. 1) were usually at odds with each other.  But since both parties represented the religious leadership of Israel, they both felt threatened by Jesus’ growing popularity and miracles.  They laid aside their grievances with each other and came together against Jesus.  “The enemy of my enemy is my friend,” the saying goes.

They asked him, Jesus, to show them a sign from heaven (v. 1).  No longer content with just any sign (see 12:38), now they want a sign from heaven.   At the first reading one may think, “Go for it, Jesus, and show them who you really are!“ 

Instead Jesus appeared to change the topic and talk about the weather. However, if one reads the previous chapters of Matthew’s gospel, it reveals that Jesus has just done a full compliment of miracles.  These were not just signs in the sky but miracles of compassion toward hurting people: miracles of healing (14:35-36; 15:28; 15:30-31) and food (15:32-38).  If the Pharisees and Sadducees really wanted to know Jesus, then they had all the miracles they needed.   And if Jesus did do a miracle, that would not satisfy them; they would either dismiss it or ask for even a greater miracle still. 

The root issue was that they came to test him, (v. 1).  They had the same evil intent that Satan had when he demanded a sign from Jesus (see 4:5-7) or when the passerbys taunted him on the cross (27:39-44).   Jesus was not a street performer doing miracles by request.  Jesus “sighed deeply” (Mark 8:12) and chose instead to comment on their hearts: “When it is evening, you say, ‘It will be fair weather, for the sky is red.’ And in the morning, ‘It will be stormy today, for the sky is red and threatening.’ You know how to interpret the appearance of the sky, but you cannot interpret the signs of the times. An evil and adulterous generation seeks for a sign, but no sign will be given…(v. 2-4).” 

Miracles are certainly a part of Jesus’ plan as he reveals himself to the human race (see John 4:48, Matthew 9:6-8).  But miracles will be done on God’s terms, not man’s.   Jesus does, however, promise one Granddaddy miracle: “the sign of Jonah,” (v. 4).    The first time Jesus mentions “the sign of Jonah” was at a similar confrontation in 12:39.  There Jesus explained the sign:  “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,” (12:40).    

Jesus is saying, “If you really want a sign, then wait.  For when you kill me, three days later I will be alive again.”   To rise from the dead is what sets Jesus apart from all other competitors to Truth.  Other Truth claims may contain smaller miracles, but no one has ever risen from the dead!  His rising is at the very core of our faith (see 1 Corinthians 15:17).

From here Jesus left them and departed (v. 4) to the other side of the lake, away from the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees.   However, when Jesus returns to earth they will get their sign in the sky: “Then will appear in the heaven the sign of the Son of Man,” (24:30).  But by then it will be a sign of judgment and not a sign of proof.  Examine the historical evidence for the resurrection of Jesus.   There you will find that Jesus is “The Christ, the Son of the Living God,” (v. 13).