SIDE A SIDE B: Unleavened Bread & False Teachings

Notes and reflections on the second talk of the “Side A Side B” preaching series at the Feast Valle Verde May 16, 2021

Matthew 16:12

12 Then they understood that He was not telling them to beware of the leaven of bread, but of the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees.

Jesus warned His disciples on the deceptive teachings of these religious leaders. God is already showing Himself to us, through Jesus, but like these Pharisees and Sadducees, we cannot see Him! Why? What blinds us is our pride!

One Big Message: God is healing your blindness!

Pride will prevent us from seeing God. He is working in our lives, but sometimes, pride gets in the way, blocking His supposedly blessings and miracles in us.

Here is a classic story of “The Emperor's New Clothes” by Hans Christian Andersen:

Once upon a time, there was this king who was luxurious and an extravagant fashion icon. This king would never go out unless he had a new suit. One day, two swindlers, who heard about the king’s obsession, came to town and boasted to him, “Your highness, we have in our possession the most beautiful cloth in the world, but it is mystical and magical and, stupid people won’t be able to see it. It is invisible to those with low IQ. Only the wise can see the cloth.” The king was sold and said “Whoa, I want that mystical cloth, and as a bonus, I will know who among my ministers are wise or stupid.” And so, the king gave the two men a little room in his palace to start sowing his new robe. They went about pretending to weave and sow. One day, the king sent one of his oldest advisors to check on them. When he entered the room, the two crooks appeared working on something but obviously, the advisor couldn’t see it. One of the swindlers said, “Do you see how the colors shine in the sunlight, gorgeous isn’t it?” The advisor was dumbfounded if he said he don’t see a thing, that meant he was stupid and has a low IQ. So, he said, “Ah yes, it shimmers beautifully.” A few days later, the king sent his wisest advisor, but the exact same thing happened. He also could not see anything but to protect himself, he claimed the cloth was dazzling. Finally, the two thieves presented the new suit to the king, but the king also could not see it. Nonetheless, the two advisers who saw the cloth previously were praising the cloth to the highest heavens declaring, “This is the most amazing robe in the world!” The king thought to himself that if he says he don’t see it, he has a low IQ, but no one should know. So, the king started to gush over the suit and said, “I have not seen anything like this in my entire life!” And, all the royal ministers in the hall said, “Beautiful!” “Gorgeous!” “Lovely!”

As we can see in the story, one lie needs many lies, and each of those lies will need another set of lies to support it. A single lie will need a million lies to prop it up. Why go to such complicated lengths to support a lie? PRIDE! Pride will cause people to maintain a million lies.

Going back to the story, the king decided to parade his new robe to his people. With the trumpets announcing his coming and royal guards pretending to hold the invisible robe behind him, the monarch walked out of the palace. The villagers on the road cheered and applauded. No one dared to say the obvious, that the king was walking around in his underwear. However, there was one little child on the street. He pulled his father’s hand and said, “Daddy, the king is only wearing his briefs!” The king heard the child and suddenly cringed. He realized that he was duped by the swindlers and everyone else was just playing along. It was all a lie but what can he do now? Admitting that he was deceived, people will tell him, “You are stupid, you have low IQ!” He ordered his guards to keep walking. In his mind, he was saying “The show must go on!”

Sometimes, we let the show go on even though we know we had a mistake. We won’t admit our faults because of shame. The denial of acknowledging our flaws is pride! The similar thing happened during Jesus time.

Matthew 16:1

1 The Pharisees and Sadducees came and, to test him, demanding that He show them a miraculous sign from Heaven to prove His authority.

This is the only time in the four gospels that we’ll see Pharisees and Sadducees come together. They were mortal enemies. The Sadducees were the priests in charge of the temple, allied themselves to the Roman government to maintain their power and elite status; whereas the Pharisees were liberals, who were claiming that they had the mosaic authority from Moses to interpret the Torah, book of the Bible. They were bitter rivals but joined forces because Jesus had become their public enemy number 1. But Jesus is so wise, He outsmarted them by using their own Rabbinic language. These religious leaders were asking for signs.

Matthew 16: 2-3

2 He said to them in reply, “[In the evening you say, ‘Tomorrow will be fair, for the sky is red’; 3 and, in the morning, ‘Today will be stormy, for the sky is red and threatening.’ You know how to judge the appearance of the sky, but you cannot judge the signs of the times.

These religious leaders can interpret the weather but they can’t see the sign. Jesus, the God that they claim to serve, was already in front of them. But then again, they can’t see Him.

Matthew 16: 4a

4 An evil and unfaithful generation seeks a sign, but no sign will be given it except the sign of Jonah.”

Pharisees also said the same thing in Matthew 12 when Jesus replied to them in the same way. In this context, bible writers love repetition to emphasize. Before, it was only the Pharisees who were asking for the signs. Now, the Sadducees, the big bosses, were also questioning for these signs. Their wicked eyes were fixed on Jesus in an intriguing manner, which eventually lead to His crucifixion. Sad to say, they were still not convinced that Jesus is really the Son of God that they were waiting for.

What we usually are looking for is already in front of us. God is already working in our lives, but because of our pride, it blinds us from His gifts.

Jesus is the sign! However, He is not a pleaser. He respects our free will.

Matthew 16: 4b

Then Jesus left them and went away.

He is humble and wise enough to walk away. Pride has its way to insist our own way. Still, humility causes us to step back and walk away. Sometimes, we have to leave people who don’t like us. That’s what Jesus did!

Matthew 16: 5-11

5 In coming to the other side of the sea, the disciples had forgotten to bring bread. 6 Jesus said to them, “Look out, and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees.” 7 They concluded among themselves, saying, “It is because we have brought no bread.” 8 When Jesus became aware of this he said, “You of little faith, why do you conclude among yourselves that it is because you have no bread? 9 Do you not yet understand, and do you not remember the five loaves for the five thousand, and how many wicker baskets you took up? 10 Or the seven loaves for the four thousand, and how many baskets you took up? 11 How do you not comprehend that I was not speaking to you about bread? Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees.”

Matthew was bringing out how hilarious the conversation was. The disciples were talking about the physical bread but Jesus was talking about the spiritual food. Jesus reminded them to never worry about the physical food for He already had performed miracles of food multiplication in the past, and they had seen it.

Jesus went even deeper and warned them about the existence of the real bad spiritual food from the religious leaders. He said, “Beware of the leaven.” The yeast, as we all know, causes the dough to ferment and rise. The little amount of yeast gets engulfed and consumed in the larger lump of flour, which is the dough, transforming and making it rise. Jesus, in this verse, used yeast in a negative illustration. In Exodus, when the Israelites had to escape Egypt, God asked them to eat unleavened bread, or bread without yeast. The yeast in this context symbolizes as a little bit of evil, that destroys the entire truckload of bread. Using the same pattern, Jesus cautioned his apostles that the teachings of the Pharisees and Sadducees were deceptive driven by pride, and so they should be careful.

Jesus called the teachings of the Pharisees and Sadducees as deceptive because they were teaching about God, but could not recognize that Jesus was already in front of them. They were trying hard to follow God, but because of their tinge of pride, they couldn't even recognize Jesus as God. They were afraid to lose their possession, authority and power. Though Jesus is all about goodness, they were still trying to discredit Him even if it was crystal clear that He was the Messiah that they were waiting for. For Jesus, they were hypocrites and a huge irony.

This is also a call for us to never tolerate a little bit of evil. We might think its harmless but in reality, a little act of evil can lead to waves of destruction in our lives. It starts small but will eventually wreak havoc in our lives. Purge pride while its still little. Cut it out. Because as Proverbs 16:18 says, pride precedes destruction; an arrogant spirit gives way to a nasty fall.

Matthew 16:12

12 Then they understood that He was not telling them to beware of the leaven of bread, but of the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees.

Bro. Obet shared 3 Vs that can help us shed off our spiritual blindness:

1) Vulnerability

Vulnerability is not given to all, especially for those who have the tendency to abuse it. It is only given to our safe space. If we belong to a safe place who will never judge us, that’s the best place and time to be vulnerable. Sometimes if we’re not vulnerable, help will not come. It’s okay to seek for help. For those who are strong, let go of our critics and defenses because once in our lives, we also became vulnerable, but we were able to overcome with God’s grace.

Revelations 3:17

17 For you say, ‘I am rich and affluent and have no need of anything,’ and yet do not realize that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind and naked.

Sometimes, we are not aware that we are not okay. When the conscious is already numbed, and still, we keep saying we’re okay even if we’re not, that is perilous! Stop faking it. If you’re sad, tell it. Do not pretend. What you feel, you can heal! Don’t make it too long. The show doesn’t have to go on!

2) Vision

When all the darkness have been exposed to the light-- that is being vulnerable, our sense of vision becomes clearer. How we look at things will be put in the right perspective.

Matthew 5:8

Blessed are the pure of heart for they will see God.

The more you purify your heart, the more you see God. The more you see God, the more you purify your heart.

Cleansing our hearts from pride will open our soul to love and serve more. It will take a synergistic effect towards healing.

3) Venture

Once vulnerability and vision are achieved, venture by giving it back to God.

Matthew 28: 19-20

19 Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age.

To fall in love with God is the greatest romance; to seek Him the greatest adventure; to find him, the greatest human achievement. - St Augustine

The opposite of addiction isn’t sobriety. It’s connection. … If you are alone, you cannot escape addiction. If you are loved, you have a chance. - Johann Hari

There is no turning back. Be an instrument of God’s love in healing other’s spiritual blindness, just like on how He healed ours.