TEXT [Commentary]

9. The leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees (16:5-12; cf. Mark 8:14-21)

5 Later, after they crossed to the other side of the lake, the disciples discovered they had forgotten to bring any bread. 6 “Watch out!” Jesus warned them. “Beware of the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees.”

7 At this they began to argue with each other because they hadn’t brought any bread. 8 Jesus knew what they were saying, so he said, “You have so little faith! Why are you arguing with each other about having no bread? 9 Don’t you understand even yet? Don’t you remember the 5,000 I fed with five loaves, and the baskets of leftovers you picked up? 10 Or the 4,000 I fed with seven loaves, and the large baskets of leftovers you picked up? 11 Why can’t you understand that I’m not talking about bread? So again I say, ‘Beware of the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees.’”

12 Then at last they understood that he wasn’t speaking about the yeast in bread, but about the deceptive teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees.

NOTES

16:5-6 Later, after they crossed to the other side of the lake. The movements of Jesus and the disciples are not easy to follow. If 15:39 implies that Jesus left the disciples behind when he took the boat trip to Magadan, then the disciples evidently rejoin him at this point. This approach is implied by the NASB and NLT, and seems most likely overall (Hagner 1994:454-459). Another approach would be to take 15:39 as indicating a trip of Jesus and the disciples to Magadan and 16:5 as a return trip, as implied by the NIV (Blomberg 1992:248).

Watch out! The disciples’ memory lapse in forgetting to bring bread serves as a springboard for Jesus’ warning about the “yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees” (cf. Mark 8:13-21). In view of the many disagreements between the Pharisees and Sadducees, this yeast (cf. 13:33) must represent their shared opposition to Jesus and the Kingdom (see note on 16:12).

16:7 they began to argue with each other because they hadn’t brought any bread. It is difficult to know exactly how 16:7 relates to 16:6, but in light of 16:8-12, it seems that the disciples thought Jesus was angry with them because they had forgotten to bring bread, or that he was warning them not to buy bread from Pharisees and Sadducees.

16:8-11 Don’t you understand even yet? The disciples’ preoccupation with their material needs rendered them insensitive to the more vital issue of the conflict between Jesus and the religious leaders. Their misunderstanding of Jesus’ yeast metaphor showed their dullness to spiritual things.

Don’t you remember the 5,000 I fed. . . . Or the 4,000? The disciples lacked faith in Jesus’ ability to provide bread for their needs. This lack of faith is all the more amazing in view of the two miraculous feedings in which the disciples had recently participated. Five loaves had fed more than five thousand people, with much left over, and seven loaves fed more than four thousand, again with leftovers. But somehow the disciples obtusely concluded that Jesus had a problem with their lack of food. (For the theme of the disciples’ “little faith,” see also 6:30; 8:26; 14:31; 17:20.)

16:12 the deceptive teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees. Finally the disciples understood that Jesus’ concern was the anti-Kingdom teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees, not their literal yeast. In view of their obvious differences on such matters as the validity of the oral law and the existence of an afterlife (cf. 15:1-2; 22:23-32), it is surprising that the Pharisees and Sadducees were lumped together here. Their common opposition to Jesus, his Kingdom, and his definitive teaching of the Torah must be in view.

COMMENTARY [Text]

This passage does not present the disciples at one of their better moments. Although they had affirmed that they understood Jesus’ parabolic teaching about the Kingdom (13:51-52), their thinking did not manifest Kingdom values. They forgot Jesus’ recent warning about the blindness of the Pharisees (15:13-14), not to mention the two astounding examples of his ability to provide food in a miraculous fashion (14:13-21; 15:32-38). Their first memory lapse desensitized them to the danger posed by the Pharisees and Sadducees, so they did not pick up on Jesus’ metaphor about yeast. Since the spiritual conflict between Jesus’ Kingdom and the religious leaders did not occupy their thinking at this time, they were primarily occupied with temporal matters like bread. Since they had somehow forgotten to bring bread, they freely yet mistakenly associated Jesus’ yeast metaphor with their empty stomachs rather than the growing controversy with the religious leaders (15:1-14) and the mortal danger the leaders posed to Jesus (12:14).

Once again Jesus patiently but firmly dealt with the “little faith” of the disciples. When he realized that they had misunderstood his yeast metaphor, he improved their understanding by prodding their memory. If they could recall how he twice miraculously fed thousands of people with more leftover than he had to start with, they would realize that food was not the problem. Rather, they must be occupied with the message of the Kingdom, which was being increasingly and intensively opposed. They needed to watch out for the teaching of the religious leaders. If they did that, the food problem would take care of itself. Jesus’ rebuke of the disciples is appropriate for his disciples today whose preoccupation with temporal and material concerns renders them dull and forgetful of eternal Kingdom values. Today, as then, disciples need to have their memories of God’s faithful, even miraculous, provision for their needs refreshed. Such a reminder, coupled with a renewed awareness of the spiritual battle being waged against the Kingdom (cf. 11:12), should sharpen the mental and spiritual focus of God’s people.