(Text and Audio)
Title: Beware the Leaven
- A Geographical Footnote
(Show Map)
Sometimes when studying scripture just a tiny phrase can open up a word of interesting side notes worth mentioning. Such is the case today.
At the very end of Chapter 15 we read that Jesus and his disciples got into a boat and came to the region of Magdala. Magdala was a small fishing village on the Northwest side of the Sea of Galilee.
Many scholars believe that Magdala was the home town of Mary Magdalene because “Mary Magdalene” is actually “Mary of Magdala” because people of the time really didn’t use last names the way we do today.
v5 “Now when His disciples had come to the other side…” The presumption here is that Jesus and his group yet again crossed some section of the Sea of Galilee or the River Jordan and arrived in a new region.
Presumably, this was the region on the way to Caesarea Philippi, where Peter makes his great confession. We know this from the information in verse 13, which we will study next week.
Now Caesarea Philippi is not on the banks of the Jordan, nor is it on the banks of the Sea of Galilee. Rather (as you can see from the map) Caesarea Philippi is located about 25 miles north of the Sea of Galilee.
Based on these clues, it is like that one of two scenarios unfolded.
- Jesus and his disciples crossed the Northern tip of the Sea of Galilee and then proceeded on foot up to Caesarea Philippi.
- The either traveled up the river or crossed the rive at some point and then proceed Northeast toward Caesarea Philippi.
Either way, a few things are evident:
- This was quite a long trip.
- It is fair to assume that a bit of time passed between the events at the end of Chapter 15 and the events that begin in 6:13. (At least a week, maybe even more)
- Supplies would be needed for a trip like this.
- Matthew is obviously NOT recording every detail of their journey, or every conversation that was held, but is rather chronicling “highlights” of their journey along the way.
- “Take heed and beware the leaven of the Pharisees and the Sadducees.”
So now that we’ve set the scene a bit, we’ve understood this was more than a days journey, and we read that the disciples forgot to bring the bread, you can understand why the disciples might misinterpret Jesus’s words here.
They think he’s warning and rebuking them for not having enough physical supplies for their journey.
Why? (Take answers)
Their focus is on the immediate, not the eternal.
It is this fact that frustrates Jesus.
Jesus plainly asks them in verse 9 “Do you not yet understand or remember the five loaves of the fie thousand and how many baskets you took up? Not the seven loaves of the four thousand and how many large baskets you took up?”
We will return to the end of what Jesus says here in a moment, but for now, I’d like to draw you attention to these two words I’ve underlined and ask you a question: Which is more important to Jesus, that they remember the events, or that they understand them?
Why?
I believe the answer to that question is that Jesus finds it much more important that they understand the events, than just that they simply remember them.
Part of my reasoning for that is logical. If the disciples remembered the miracles of the feeding of the 5000 and 4000 that would help them recognize the power of Jesus over nature, which is a good thing.
But Jesus fears that they do not understand the significance of those miracles. Those miracles were about much more than just feeding people, it was about the significance and symbolism that Christ is the only sustenance one needs.
Paul refers to this in the famous Phillipians 4:19 statement And my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.
My second reasoning for the answer that it’s more important that they understand these events is contextual. Look again at verse 11. (read)
He repeats the importance of understanding what he is doing here.
- Leaven
To fully grasp what Jesus is saying, to comprehend the warning that he is offering, which is still a very apt warning to us today, we must understand what leaven is and how it acts.
Our dictionary today, defines leaven in two ways:
1. An agent, such as yeast, that causes batter or dough to rise, especially by fermentation.
- An element, influence, or agent that works subtly to lighten, enliven, or modify a whole.
I think you can see where Jesus was going with this. Leaven is introduced to something, usually batter to become bread, and it causes a fundamental change in the properties of that batter.
Leaven causes something to grow in a different way that if it was never leavened. After leaven does it’s work, the batter will never be the same again.
Now, I’m not going to spend a lot of time on this, but follow me for just a moment. Matthew is a Jew, writing to Jews, to convince them that Jesus is indeed the Jewish Messiah.
Leaven almost always represents sin in scripture, both the Old and New Testaments. Do you think it’s significant that Jesus specifically tells his disciples to stay away from the leaven (sin) of the Jewish religious leaders (Pharisees and Sadducees) of the day?
By offering this warning, Matthew records Jesus saying something that would have been somewhat shocking to first century Jews. Jesus is flatly saying that the doctrine of the Pharisees and Sadducees is sin.
Not that it’s flawed, but that it’s sin. Pretty powerful.
Is this teaching still important today?
Well, let’s have a little fun and find out:
What would you say are examples of leaven in the church today? Subtle agents that eventually change the church and/or doctrine away from the fundamental truths of scripture? (Take answers.)
Close:
The good news to our story comes in verse 12. (read)
The disciples DID eventually get it.
But I want us to remember this: They only got it because they had a teacher who loved them enough to rebuke them and mend their simplistic understanding. Jesus here sets an example of patience and correction that would be good for all of us to remember.