IN these verses from Matthew's Gospel Jesus is warning the disciples, and all believers through this record, of the insidious danger of a little false teaching. He does this by warning against the leaven or yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees. This is a very important issue today, but before we get to considering the warning of Jesus, there are some important other points of interest in these verses.

The first one that is of the omniscience of Jesus which is revealed in this incident. We are told that Jesus was aware of the discussion which was going on amongst the disciples concerning his words about the yeast of the Pharisees. It does not say that Jesus overheard what they were saying, but that he was aware of what they had been discussing. In other words, although Jesus did not hear what the disciples were saying, he knew perfectly all that was going on in their minds. The fact is that we can't hide anything from Christ. This is both a frightening thing but also a very consoling thing. It is frightening if we are seeking to hide something from Jesus which we are ashamed of, or fear he will disapprove of. In part this was the trouble here. The disciples were a little ashamed of their thoughts, and so were seeking to hide them from Jesus. However they found this was impossible. Jesus knew all about it, just as he knows all about everything in our lives - good or bad. This is comforting for the sincere believer because it tells us that Jesus knows all about our trials, difficulties or perplexities, and is there for us to help us, guide us and sustain us.

This leads on to the second point which this passage brings out. This is the gracious care and love Jesus had for his disciples and so for every believer today. The disciples thought Jesus was criticizing them, when the reality was that he was caring for their souls and warning them of a great danger to their souls. We have here something which I believe is more common than we know in the lives of Christians. Because we feel our sins and failures, we fall into the trap of the devil to think of Jesus as a hard master, always there to correct, criticize and rebuke us in our failures. In this feeling we live in fear rather than in peace. The fear is not that Jesus will cast us off, and withdraw his salvation, but rather that all we can expect is continual chastisement from Jesus. This passage tells a different story. Far from criticizing the disciples here, and rebuking them, Jesus was loving them and showing a great concern for their eternal welfare. It was love and mercy that prompted Jesus to speak about the leaven of the Pharisees.

The fact is that Jesus knows all about our sins and weakness, but he still loves us with an everlasting love, and although he does chastise his people sometimes for their good, the main attitude and action of Jesus towards us is one of great and tender love. It is the devil who paints Jesus to us as a hard task-master always ready to punish us when we fail. If Jesus was like the picture the devil seeks to paint to us, then we would have no salvation, for he would not have taken on himself all our guilt and shame, and suffered the punishment that our sin deserve in our place.

The third general point which these verses present to us is why the devil can upset us so easily, and why we get the wrong meaning of Jesus' words and actions towards us so often.

The reason the disciples were in such confusion over the words of Jesus, and why they thought Jesus was criticizing them, was because they had not absorbed the revelation which Jesus gave them in the feeding of the 5000 and the 4000. Jesus tells them that if they had truly taken to heart the implications of what Jesus did in these two miracles, they would not have been thinking Jesus was judging them for forgetting to buy bread and food enough for their journey. In these miracles Jesus showed that he had compassion with people even in their failures. Jesus also showed that he was well able to provide for his people, even when by their own folly or failure they had forgotten to buy bread and food enough for their needs. If they had absorbed the implications of the miracle of the 5000 and the 4000, they would realize that Jesus was truly God and Saviour, and that he was ready to save and help. For this reason they would not have misunderstood the meaning of Jesus' words about the yeast of the Pharisees.