Matthew 16:1-12

And the Pharisees and Sadducees came, and to test him they demanded him to show them a sign from the sky.

² He replied to them, “When it is evening, you say, ‘It will be fair weather, because the sky is red.’

³ And in the morning, ‘It will be stormy today, because the sky is red and threatening.’ You know how to explain the appearance of the sky, but you cannot explain the signs of the times.

⁴ An evil and adulterous generation requires a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonah.” So he left them and departed.

⁵ When the disciples reached the other side, they had forgotten to bring any bread.

⁶ Jesus said to them, “Watch out, and be careful of the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees.”

⁷ And they began arguing about this among themselves, saying, “We brought no bread.”

⁸ But Jesus, aware of this, said, “O you of little faith, why are you arguing among yourselves because you have no bread?

⁹ Do you not yet understand? Do you not remember the five loaves for the five thousand, and how many baskets you gathered?

¹⁰ Or the seven loaves for the four thousand, and how many baskets you gathered?

¹¹ How is it that you fail to understand that I was not speaking about bread? Watch out for the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees.”

¹² Then they understood that he was not telling them to watch out for the yeast of bread, but for the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees.

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corruption among the experts

The disciples misunderstood Jesus’ statement about yeast, thinking that someone had failed to bring bread. Jesus reminded them that he had already shown on two separate occasions that manufacturing bread was not a problem for him.

One Aramaic word for “teaching” is ‘amíra, which sound very much like the word for yeast: hamúra. This may be why Jesus used yeast as a metaphor here. He was warning them to stay away from the false teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees. They seemed like experts in the things of God, but they were not privy to a real understanding of what God was doing in the world. They could not explain the signs of the times. They sought miraculous signs from Jesus to prove what he said, but the real revelation was Jesus himself.

LORD, keep us from the corrupting influence of doubt – especially the faithlessness shown by those who purport to be experts. Give us wisdom to stay away from that corruption.