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“Now when His disciples had come to the other side, they had forgotten to take bread. Then Jesus said to them, 'Take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the Sadducees' And they reasoned among themselves, saying, 'It is because we have taken no bread.' But Jesus, being aware of it, said to them, 'O you of little faith, why do you reason among yourselves because you have brought no bread? Do you not yet understand, or remember the five loaves of the five thousand and how many baskets you took up? Nor the seven loaves of the four thousand and how many large baskets you took up? How is it you do not understand that I did not speak to you concerning bread? — but to 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 doctrine of the Pharisees and Sadducees.” (Matthew 16.5-12; emphasis mine, jb). Today's message -

Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees

Jesus was more than slightly annoyed that His disciples failed to understand what He meant when He issued the warning noted above. Mark records that He responded, “Why do you reason because you have no bread? Do you not yet perceive nor understand? Is your heart still hardened? Having eyes, do you not see? And having ears, do you not hear? And do you not remember?” (Mark 6.17-18). While ti was true that His words were a bit obscure, His statement about leaven should have been easily understood by the disciples. He had taught them extensively and many times exclusively; yet they failed to grasp the meaning of a simple figure of speech such as leaven. With this type of failure to comprehend, how could He expect them to grasp the weightier things He had to say?

As we observed in the first message of this set of four, “Context...is one of the keys to understanding.” Jesus knew this and He also knew that the context of His statement about leaven was adequate for a proper understanding of it. Hence, He was troubled by their misunderstanding. Again, it was not that they failed to understand this one saying, it was the fact that without this valuable skill, the likelihood of their understanding other similar messages was slim to none! Something had to be done and Jesus did something!

Soon after this failure by His disciples Jesus performed a miracle which was an object lesson intended to demonstrate the two-fold manner in which words can be used (see Mark 8.22-26). Notice in His rebuke (above), He stated that the disciples had eyes that did not see and ears that did not hear. Yet, they were not blind and they certainly were not deaf – literally that is . Yet, in a manner of speaking, they were both blind and deaf! Jesus needed them (and He needs us) to understand that speech can be used in a number of ways and that the context of one's words has a direct and powerful bearing on their meaning.

What came next was an object lesson to teach this very point. Jesus received a blind man for whom healing was sought, He led him out of town [away from the crowds] and anointed his eyes with spittle. Having touched Him, Jesus asked if He saw anything. Responding, the man said, “I see men like trees, walking.” He saw, but he did not see! This was the condition of His disciples. Jesus touched him again and “...he was restored and saw everyone clearly.” Jesus' failure to heal this man on the first attempt was not a failure; it was an object lesson intended to drive home the value of context. Sadly and to our own hurt, many fail to understand this valuable and unique lesson even today! Heed the context!!

Questions:

1. Were the disciples blind and deaf? If not, why did He say they were?

2. Why did Jesus need them to grasp the value of context in understanding teaching? If they failed to get this point, what hope was there that they could receive deeper things?

3. Was Jesus' failure to completely heal the blind man a real failure? Did He not have enough power to heal him completely? Did He just “mess up” when he only partially restored his sight? THINK!!!

4. Can one properly understand even simple commands without considering their context?

"'Winging It" from Stan Smith

Moralism