When the disciples reached the other side, they had forgotten to bring any bread. Jesus said to them, “Watch and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees.” And they began discussing it among themselves, saying, “We brought no bread.” But Jesus, aware of this, said, “O you of little faith, why are you discussing among yourselves the fact that you have no bread? Do you not yet perceive? Do you not remember the five loaves for the five thousand, and how many baskets you gathered? Or the seven loaves for the four thousand, and how many baskets you gathered? How is it that you fail to understand that I did not speak about bread? Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees.” Then they understood that he did not tell them to beware of the leaven of bread, but of the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees.
watch - lit. “stare at it” — discern
beware - lit. “hold yourself against it”
leaven - throughout Scripture, a symbol of permeating evil
O you of little faith - "Compare 'great is thy faith' (Matt 15:28). The heathen woman, who only met Christ once, understood His figurative language and said: 'I am a dog.' The disciples, after two years teaching, failed to understand the figurative word 'leaven.' Her faith was consequently great and theirs was little." (Williams)
beware - lit. “hold yourself against it”
leaven - throughout Scripture, a symbol of permeating evil
O you of little faith - "Compare 'great is thy faith' (Matt 15:28). The heathen woman, who only met Christ once, understood His figurative language and said: 'I am a dog.' The disciples, after two years teaching, failed to understand the figurative word 'leaven.' Her faith was consequently great and theirs was little." (Williams)
discussing among yourselves - "Arguing over the fact that they had no bread and showing their lack of faith to remember how He had multiplied loaves and fish before." (Ryrie)
remember - "On two occasions, the Lord had provided bread for large numbers of people, with much left over. The disciples had witnessed this and should have remembered that they had no reason to worry about physical bread in His presence. They were concerned with material things and relying on their own reasoning. This is why the Lord rebuked them. The leaven of the Pharisees is explained in Luke 12:1 as hypocrisy. With this was coupled self-righteousness. The leaven of the Sadducees was false doctrine: they denied the authority of all the Old Testament except the books of Moses, and they did not believe in spiritual realities. Such evil teachings work like leaven, spreading throughout any company beginning to tolerate them; hence the warning of the Lord to beware of them." (Ironside)
remember - "On two occasions, the Lord had provided bread for large numbers of people, with much left over. The disciples had witnessed this and should have remembered that they had no reason to worry about physical bread in His presence. They were concerned with material things and relying on their own reasoning. This is why the Lord rebuked them. The leaven of the Pharisees is explained in Luke 12:1 as hypocrisy. With this was coupled self-righteousness. The leaven of the Sadducees was false doctrine: they denied the authority of all the Old Testament except the books of Moses, and they did not believe in spiritual realities. Such evil teachings work like leaven, spreading throughout any company beginning to tolerate them; hence the warning of the Lord to beware of them." (Ironside)
No comments:
Post a Comment