Matthew 16: 5-12


The five loaves of the five thousand

And when his disciples were come to the other side, they had forgotten to take bread. Then Jesus said unto them, Take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees. And they reasoned among themselves, saying, It is because we have taken no bread.  Which when Jesus perceived, he said unto them, O ye of little faith, why reason ye among yourselves, because ye have brought no bread?  Do ye not yet understand, neither remember the five loaves of the five thousand, and how many baskets ye took up?  Neither the seven loaves of the four thousand, and how many baskets ye took up?  How is it that ye do not understand that I spake it not to you concerning bread, that ye should beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees? Then understood they how that he bade them not beware of the leaven of bread, but of the doctrine of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees . (Matthew 16: 5-12)

The leaven of the Pharisees is concerned only with the appearance to make it visible to humans. They say that they believe in God, but they are actually people who do not believe in God. The exterior and the inside are different. So they are false and hypocritical. Jesus spoke of the Pharisees hypocrisy in Matthew 6: 1-2.『Take heed that ye do not your alms before men, to be seen of them: otherwise ye have no reward of your Father which is in heaven. Therefore when thou doest thine alms, do not sound a trumpet before thee, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward. 』 The hypocritical Pharisees prayed, fasted, and offered relief and offerings in order to be seen. In Matthew 23:27 Jesus compared the catastrophes to a whitewashed grave.『Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men's bones, and of all uncleanness. 』 The whitewashed grave looks beautiful on the surface, but there is a rotten body inside.

The Sadducees' leaven means secularism. The Sadducees were nobles or high priests in Jerusalem, holding hands with the powers of the day and enjoying wealth and power. They distrusted God's promises and were interested only in the wealth of reality. These were secularists and opportunists. They did not believe in the resurrection and did not believe in spirits or angels. The Sadducees were those who lived only to satisfy their desires. They made the temple their own business and were blind to the money. Jesus told his disciples to beware of these Sadducees' secular leaven.

 

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