leaven of Jesus? (Mt 16:1-12)

Saturday, February 2, 2008

Psalm 125; Ephesians 4:17-5:2; Matthew 16:1-12


"Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees."
(Matthew 16:6)


We have more of some themes we've heard before in Matthew. Now the Sadducees join the Pharisees in seeking for a sign. Usually these groups didn't pair up in theological or spiritual agreement. But in testing Jesus, in their cynicism they ask for some kind of heavenly portent which would indicate the end was near. But Jesus had given them signs, for example, healings that Isaiah prophesied would accompany the redemption of Israel. Again, Jesus says, "An evil and adulterous generation seeks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonah."

But another similar theme is the denseness of the disciples. Jesus warns them, "Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees," and they don't get what he's talking about and discussing it together say that they brought no bread. And for the fourth time (at least) Jesus says to them, "O you of little faith" ( 6:30; 8:26; 14:31). This is a concern of Jesus, for his disciples - for us.

Perhaps they thought Jesus was telling them not to get yeast from either of these two groups in order to make bread. Jesus reminds them that not having bread really isn't an issue (remember the 5000 and the 4000, and all that was left over?), and in fact isn't the point.

The point, O you of little faith, is the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees. The unbelief, the faithlessness, the hardness and resistance to the ministry and teaching of Jesus is like yeast, and would permeate all it touched. Indeed, they were evil and adulterous.

The first part of our Ephesians reading ties in nicely with this today:

Now this I say and testify in the Lord, that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds. They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart. They have become callous and have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity. But that is not the way you learned Christ! --
assuming that you have heard about him and were taught in him, as the truth is in Jesus, to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness. (4:17-24)

Futility of mind, darkened in understanding, alienated from the life of God, ignorant, hardness of heart, callous. Leaven, pervasive, deadly. Such were all of us as well, but it is not the way we learned Christ, and the truth is in Jesus. We have, or we can, put off our old self - our unbelieving, resistant hearts and minds; and we have, or we can, put on the new self (literally "the new man" which is Christ), and be re-created after his likeness.

We can do this every day, any time.
It is the movement of the Christian life:
repent and believe,
no to me and yes to Christ,
putting off and putting on,
dying and rising.