Matthew 16.5-12

Let's start off reading the passage:

⁵ When they went across the lake, the disciples forgot to take bread. ⁶ “Be careful,” Jesus said to them. “Be on your guard against the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees.”
 ⁷ They discussed this among themselves and said, “It is because we didn’t bring any bread.”
 ⁸ Aware of their discussion, Jesus asked, “You of little faith, why are you talking among yourselves about having no bread? ⁹ Do you still not understand? Don’t you remember the five loaves for the five thousand, and how many basketfuls you gathered? ¹⁰ Or the seven loaves for the four thousand, and how many basketfuls you gathered? ¹¹ How is it you don’t understand that I was not talking to you about bread? But be on your guard against the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees.” ¹² Then they understood that he was not telling them to guard against the yeast used in bread, but against the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees.


What is going on here? What is Jesus talking about? What is yeast, why does he bring up yeast, why do the disciples misunderstand him, why do they need to watch out for the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees?


I just think this is a weird passage. Yet it is in the Bible for a reason. And as 2 Timothy 3.16-17 says, "ALL Scripture is God-breathed and useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work."


So what is going on here?


What we are going to do is to divide up this passage into two sections, and after examining each part individually, I think we will begin to understand what Jesus' point is here. 


So here we go, First, we have Jesus' warning and the disciples misunderstanding. 


⁵ When they went across the lake, the disciples forgot to take bread. ⁶ “Be careful,” Jesus said to them. “Be on your guard against the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees.”

 ⁷ They discussed this among themselves and said, “It is because we didn’t bring any bread.”

Jesus is warning his disciples to watch out for the YEAST of the Pharisees and Sadducees. So the question is, what is the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees? 

The Disciples thought he was talking about their lack of preparation for their journey across the lake. That is why they said, "it is because we didn't bring any bread."

Why were they so confused?

Probably because Jesus said, "Watch out for the yeast of the Pharisees AND Sadducees." The Pharisees and Sadducees were polar opposites. They hated each other. They were like the Democrats and Republicans of America. You will either say watch out for the Pharisees, or don't listen to the Sadducees, but when you include them both as the same party, it's strange and odd because they don't have much in common at all. The one thing they do have in common, and the reason that they were brought together was because they both didn't like Jesus. They both rejected him as Messiah.

And when my enemy is your enemy, when can stop being enemies on that level and be friends to get rid of our common enemy. This is what is happening with Jesus. 

So Jesus is warning against both the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees, and the disciples thought he was talking about them not bringing bread for the journey. 

This sidetracks Jesus, so he first deals with the off topic issue of not having bread, then he moves to deal with the main issue at heart. 

 ⁸ Aware of their discussion, Jesus asked, “You of little faith, why are you talking among yourselves about having no bread? ⁹ Do you still not understand? Don’t you remember the five loaves for the five thousand, and how many basketfuls you gathered? ¹⁰ Or the seven loaves for the four thousand, and how many basketfuls you gathered? 


The reason that the disciples brought up not having bread is probably because they heard the word, "yeast", and their hungry bellies got even hungrier, because they didn't bring bread for their trip across the lake. They are worrying about eating. 


But didn't they just see Jesus feed 5,000 people with five loaves and 4,000 people with seven loaves? This is why Jesus says, "you of little faith". They had just witnessed Jesus feed thousands of people with not much, now are they worrying about eating when they didn't have much? 


Why!!!!??????


They are with the professional bread multiplier. But that is not the real issue, that is why Jesus directs them back to the real issue. 


¹¹ How is it you don’t understand that I was not talking to you about bread? But be on your guard against the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees.” ¹² Then they understood that he was not telling them to guard against the yeast used in bread, but against the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees.


Jesus tells them, "we aren't talking about bread, but about yeast".


What????!!!!


What is the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees???!!!!


The key to this answer is found in vs. 12 and in Aramaic. 


First, the disciples catch it this time. For in vs. 12, it says that they understood that Jesus was talking about the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees, not yeast used in bread. 


In the Aramaic language, the language that the majority of the holy land spoke at this time, the word for yeast was hamira, and the word for teaching was amira. These words were extremely close, and basically Jesus was making a play on words, like a pun. But the point was this, like yeast which is so small yet influences the entire loaf of bread, the teaching of these two groups are very influential. 


For, just before this, you can see in John 6, that a large number of disciples of Jesus left him because of the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees. This is what Jesus is warning them about. 


He is saying, "Don't let anyone, no matter who they are, influence you and pull you from following me." 


Now this is a relevant message for us. We cannot allow anything, whether the comfort of our culture, money, pornography, sexual immorality, the thrill of gossip, judgementalism, and any other seduction of the culture, to pull us away from following Jesus.