Contemplative Bible Reading

Matthew 16:5-12 (New International Version 2010)

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.

Those darn figures of speech. They can be awfully confusing, especially when we are already a bit perplexed about what is happening. I think the above verses are one example of this thought.

The disciples had just fed thousands of people with little food. I would be a bit off at this point. I mean, did we just… You mean you didn’t have a lot of food either… then how did… I would be perplexed and I think they were perplexed. And after all of that

the disciples forgot to take bread

Who was in charge of logistics? How could they forget to bring food with them? Gosh.

And now Jesus starts talking about yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees. Jesus uses the word “yeast,” but is not talking about physical yeast and bread and food. The disciples, however, are thinking about physical yeast and bread and food. The coincidence of the word yeast with all this thought about physical yeast leads to a predicable confusion and a lesson from Jesus.

Silly disciples. How could they misunderstand a simple figure of speech? The answer is also simple. They misunderstood in the same way that we misunderstand figures of speech today. They were human; we are human, and we all have failings. And this brings to mind a figure of speech:

we are in violent agreement

I have often seen people arguing with the utmost intensity. All the while, they were agreeing with one another, but they were so perplexed and focusing on a “yeast” word here or there that they weren’t listening to what the other person was saying. Instead, they were deciding on what they would say next.

Those darn figures of speech. They plague us today. Please watch for them, listen for them, and listen to the other person with greatest concentration.