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February 13, 2011 |
| Stuck in the Physical World | ||
In the previous lesson we covered Jesus' question to his disciples "Who do you say that I am?" His desire was that they evaluate everything they had seen and heard and realize who Jesus was. Peter answered correctly, "You are the Messiah".
It seems so easy in those verses. Jesus has them think it through and they come up with the right answer. But it was never easy. In this lesson we will cover the verses immediately before the verses for the previous lesson. We will see that Jesus' disciples and all of Israel were struggling to understand his message. He was using physical descriptions to provide spiritual lessons and to get them to look for deeper spiritual meaning and so open their hearts to a spiritual understanding.
The verses for this lesson are taken from the Aramaic New Testament In Plain English. This is a very direct translation so it can sometimes be a little harder to read than a translation like the NIV. But in many cases it has a plainness and simplicity that can be enjoyable.
11 And Pharisees came out and they began to inquire with him and they were asking him for a sign from Heaven, while tempting him.1
"What they no doubt [desired] was some celestial display of gaudy and spectacular power totally lacking in moral value. [They] found such miracles as feeding the multitudes, healing all manner of diseases, opening the eyes of the blind, unstopping the ears of the deaf, and raising the dead, to be in some manner insufficient. [This] betrayed [… their own …] spiritual blindness. By demanding some other type of wonder than the miracles our Lord had so generously performed among them, they were [taking upon] themselves the right to decide the kind of proof Christ should provide regarding his divine Messiahship."2
Would a celestial display have convinced them or would they say he has a demon?
Note that the verse says, "while tempting him". Likely they were trying to offer him things to produce a sign. Perhaps they would say "If only I had a sign, I would believe". They may have been trying to goad him as well, perhaps saying "You aren't the Messiah. The scriptures say the Messiah will do wondrous signs. Prove to us you are the Messiah."
12 And he groaned in his spirit and he said, "Why does this generation seek for a sign? Truly I say to you, a sign shall not be given to this generation."
This generation seeks a sign because it cannot believe. Its mind is entirely on physical matters. As it says in Luke 16:31, "If they will not hear Moses and the prophets, they will not believe him, even though a man would rise from the dead." Are there people like that today? Sign seen as magic
When Jesus says "a sign shall not be given to this generation" he means that he will not give them the kind of sign they want. He has been giving them many signs through his healings but this would never be enough for hard hearts. Faith can only come from being open. If a person is prepared to consider it, sometimes evidence can help to open a person. But a person who is closed will always find a reason to dismiss all evidence.
Matthew's account (16:4) says it a little differently, "A wicked and adulterous generation seeks a sign, and a sign is not given to it, but the sign of Jonah the prophet." Jesus' death and resurrection, which is what Jesus is referring to here, will still not be the kind of sign they were looking for. They wanted indisputable evidence but they have found ways to explain away all the evidence they were given.
But a time is coming when men will get the signs they want. Revelation 13 describes the anti-Christ's activities this way. "13 And [the second beast] will perform great signs so as to make fire descend from heaven on the earth before the people. 14 And it will seduce those living on the earth by the signs that were given to it to perform before the Beast […]."
13 And he left them and boarded the ship and they went to the other side.
14 They had forgotten to take bread, and except for one cake, there was nothing with them in the ship.
At its widest the Sea of Galilee is six or seven miles across. Although crossings were common at the time it was still a significant trip and the disciples have found themselves without food. Likely they are discussing who was in charge of that and who told what to whom and when, so that the result was hunger. At the moment they are caught up in their physical issues.
15 And [Jesus] commanded them and he said to them, "Behold, beware of the yeast of the Pharisees and of the yeast of Herodus."
We see Jesus do this in other places as well. There will be a topic under discussion and he will begin to speak on a matter that is almost unrelated or related only symbolically. Here he used the word "yeast" as symbolic of false teachings that can get into a person and grow. But bread, which is made to rise by yeast, was the topic of the disciples.
16 And they were reasoning with one another, and they were saying, "It is because we have no bread."
The yeast of the Pharisees was the teaching of laws that contradicted God's laws. And it was also the teachings from the lives they lived - lives of self centered arrogance, hypocrisy, deceit, and hatred.
Though Mark's account of this event does not include them, Matthew's account (16:5) adds the Sadducees to the list that Jesus warns about. The yeast of the Sadducees was much the same as Pharisees but they added false beliefs such as not believing in angels, nor in the resurrection of the dead. They lived lives of materialism - living for things of the physical world.
The Herodians "were a prominent sect of the Jews who were willing to give up their sacred inheritance and accommodate with the military power of the Romans [and his representative] Herod Antipas the son of Herod the Great."3 Herod Antipas lived a life of low morals, sexual immorality, and whatever pleased his senses. His life and the vice filled lives of his family "were a prime scandal of that whole generation."
17 But [Jesus] knew and he said to them, "Why are you considering that you have no bread? Do you not yet know? Do you not yet understand? Your heart is still hard."
18 "You have eyes and do not see and you have ears and you do not hear, neither do you remember."
Matthew 16:8 says the above this way. "But [Jesus] knew and said to them, 'Oh, small of faith! Why do you think among yourselves it was because you have not taken bread?'" Jesus has asked how they can be so concerned about bread that they have misunderstood what he has said. He asks how this is possible with everything they have seen and heard. Somehow these things have not changed their thinking. They also are not remembering the lessons from these things so they can apply them to their lives.
19 "When I broke those five loaves for the 5000, after they were filled, how many baskets of fragments did you take up?" They said to him, "Twelve."
20 He said to them, "And when the seven to the 4000, after they were filled, how many baskets of fragments did you take up?" They said, "Seven."
Jesus' main message here is that his disciples had seen him take a few loaves and fishes and from that feed thousands with lots leftover after everyone was full. Having seen this, why should they be concerned that the one cake they brought would not be enough food for them?
But there are two "big picture" points here as well. The first is their small faith. Matthew 6 says it well "31 Therefore do not be concerned or say, 'What will we eat?', or 'What will we drink?', or 'What will we wear'? 32 For the Gentiles are seeking all these things, but your Father who is in Heaven knows that all these things are necessary for you." So the message here is that the disciples' small faith kept them from trusting that God would provide for them.
The other point is the "Who am I" question that Jesus will address a few verses later. Who am I that I could have done all of this? His message here is part of the information he wants them to consider when he asks them this question.
21 He said to them, "How is it that you still do not understand?"
Mark's account does not say it but Matthew's does, "12 But then they understood that he did not say to beware of the yeast of bread, but of the teaching of Pharisees and of the Sadducees."
1. The Pharisees were looking for a big sign like something in the heavens. Would a celestial display have convinced them or would they just say his power comes from Satan?
2. There are Pharisees in our time. What yeast do they offer? How can we know the good from the bad? Once saved, always saved. Prosperity. Pick and choose. Repent at the pearly gates
3. Are there people today who are determined not to believe unless they see a big sign or proof of some kind?
4. Jesus says that God knows our needs and will provide them if we "seek first the Kingdom of God and his righteousness." But are we really ready to take him up on that? To "step out of the boat"? Why is it so hard to trust God to be true to his word?
5. Society's beliefs about how God like power would be used are depicted in our kids' cartoons. Powerful, (often destructive) visible energies emerge from the hands as beams of light or lightning bolts. Think of a few differences between these depictions and Jesus' display of power.
Power is a personal characteristic, destructive, visible, requires drama, and requires physical strength to exert it.
1 Aramaic New Testament in Plain English, http://AramaicNT.com
2 http://www.searchgodsword.org/com/bcc/view.cgi?book=mr&chapter=008
3 http://www.searchgodsword.org/com/bcc/view.cgi?book=mr&chapter=008