June 23, 2025; Matthew 16:1-12

Daily Dose of Hope

June 23, 2025

Scripture - Matthew 16:1-12

Prayer:  Almighty Father, We come to you today on this Monday morning with a sense of expectancy for the week.  For some of us, we are tired.  For others, we are hoping for a better week.  Lord, work in and through us as we go about our day.  Give us glimpses of your glory.  Keep reminding us over and over again that we belong to you.  In Your Name, Amen.

Welcome back to the Daily Dose of Hope.  We are now roughly halfway through the book of Matthew.  I don’t know about you, but I love digging into the Gospels with such detail.  I have learned a lot.  I hope you have too.

Today, we begin Matthew 16.  We start with the Pharisees and Sadducees looking for a sign again.  It’s never enough.  While again their question really isn’t that bad, Jesus can see through their words and into their hearts.  Jesus could arrange a voice from heaven to yell down at them but it would not be enough either.  Their hearts are hard.  They are far from God. 

Jesus uses their discerning of the weather as an example of how they are pretty good with signs.  And yet, Jesus has given them all kinds of signs to look at and they refuse to believe.  It’s not the lack of signs, it’s their lack of openness to what God is doing right in front of them. 

The next portion of the text is oddly funny to me.  The disciples head off somewhere and Jesus tells them, “Beware of the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees.”  They get off on this tangential discussion about bread and how they didn’t bring any with them.  Do you think Jesus knows we didn’t bring bread?  Is that what he is talking about?  Jesus was sinless so I don’t think he would roll his eyes, but if he did, this would be the place.  Are they dense or do they just not listen well?

Jesus tells them that he isn’t worried about their lack of bread.  And why in the world would they be worried?  They have just witnessed two miracles of abundance, where Jesus takes a little bread and fish and feeds thousands upon thousands.  Do they still not understand that Jesus can provide for all their needs?  What part of those miracles were lost on them?

But then Jesus said, “No, I was talking about the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees, you dumdums.”  No, he didn’t say dumdums because he was grace-filled, but I might have.  Then, the disciples begin to get it.  Jesus wants them to beware of the hypocrisy and false teaching of the Jewish leaders.  

While the word Pharisee has almost become synonymous with religious hypocrisy for us, it wasn’t so in Jesus’ day.  We’ve talked about this group before.  These men were considered very devout and they firmly believed that they could please God (and receive eternal life) through these really rigid laws regarding purity, cleanliness, prayer, tithing, and fasting.  There was nothing wrong with wanting to follow God’s law, but they took this to the extreme, becoming legalistic and making it incredibly difficult for the average person to actually measure up. 

The Sadducees were a little different.  They were the wealthy religious aristocracy.  They controlled the Temple, so they were a powerful group.  They differed in a number of ways from the Pharisees, particularly in that they didn’t believe in resurrection or angels. 

And Jesus is saying to beware of both of these groups.  Avoid their “yeast.”  If you think about yeast – just a little bit in the dough can easily permeate the rest of the dough.  In this case, the little bit of yeast would contaminate the whole lot.  A little bit of hypocrisy can cause harm.  A lot of hypocrisy can ruin the bunch.  Beware.

Hypocrisy has been so very damaging in the church.  Just a little bit turns someone off to Jesus.  Just a little bit can do a lot of damage.  Beware.

Blessings,

Pastor Vicki