More Than Bread
It is no secret that when Jesus spoke to those around Him, He would often have more than one meaning in His words. One example of this I have found recently is in Matthew 16.
“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.”
Matthew 16:5-12
When this passage is discussed, many look at the obvious teaching. Avoid the legalistic view of the Pharisees and the Sadducees. However, after reading through this passage multiple times, I noticed that there is something else that we can learn from here. This passage opens up with the disciples lamenting over the fact that they forgot to bring bread with them on the boat, Jesus takes this time to state something that would appear to not be relavent to the conversation of missing bread “Be on guard against the Pharisees and Sadducees”. What Jesus is doing here is turning the disciples worry over a physical aspect (the bread) into a spiritual lesson against the issues that would infect the church. If any of our readers have ever made bread, you would know that a little yeast goes a long way. In fact, in the bread that I make, one tablespoon is enough to provide me two loaves. Jesus is warning the disciples to watch out for the issues that those who were not following Him would bring, one small idea can lead to big problems.
The disciples must have found themselves confused by Jesus’s statement, since their reply is back to the physical issue of not having food on the boat. However, they were missing an even bigger lesson that Jesus was teaching. That they, and us today, can bring our questions to Him freely. While the disciples are focused on the issue of the bread, Jesus calls them men of little faith and asks them why are they discussing this amongst themselves. What the disciples didn’t realize and what many Christians today fail to realize as well, is that we can bring our questions directly to Him. This passage occurs directly after Jesus feeds the five thousand and a separate time feeds the four thousand. If the issue was solely about physical bread, Jesus could have solved that. But the disciples, as so many today, failed to bring their questions to Him and instead try to figure it out themselves.
There is another example of how we can freely bring our thoughts and questions to Jesus, and this occurs in Matthew 16:21-23. “21 From that time on Jesus began to explain to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life. 22 Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. “Never, Lord!” he said. “This shall never happen to you!” 23 Jesus turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns.”
Many like to give Peter a bad rap because of this scenario, they state that Peter was so focused on the physical aspect that he was not grasping the bigger picture; that Jesus had to die and be resurrected in order to bring salvation. However, have you ever read this and noticed that Jesus is not rebuking Peter for bringing his ideas to Him? Instead, Jesus is reminding Peter that God the Father has greater plans than what mankind does.
So the next time you find yourself sitting and struggling with the meaning of a passage of Scripture, remember that we do not need to work it out ourselves. Instead, we are free to bring our questions to Jesus Christ, and through the leading of the Holy Spirit, we will receive and answer. All we need to do, is keep our focus on what God is teaching us. Remember when in doubt go to Jesus and ask Him. Then after go to His word and watch what He does.
Seek the truth and encourage one another,
Alex