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For I know the plans I have for you,declares the LORD, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Jer 29:11 |
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| Archived Manna: | |
Dear
Friend,
If you do not already have a habit of gathering daily manna the first thing in the morning (we can look at the example given to us in Exodus 16 and find the pattern for make it a habit. Establish your life and your schedule to allow you the necessary time to do your daily collection first thing every morning to give you the strength to make it through the day. And remember that today’s manna will not be sufficient for tomorrow; tomorrow’s manna must be collected tomorrow morning. Monday, May 16, 2022
Today's Passage : Today's Passage :Leaven and Bread Bible Verse:Matthew 16:5-12 (ESV) "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." Message:
Humor is a bit scarce in the Bible, but the disciples give us a touch of Keystone Kops here. Jesus speaks to them metaphorically about the “leaven” (or yeast) of the investigators sent from Jerusalem. The disciples miss the point completely. They immediately start talking and arguing about how they didn’t bring any bread with them. You can almost hear Jesus roll his eyes.
Bread of Life
The metaphor is a familiar one, from a parable in Chapter 13, a companion to the parable of the mustard seed. Yeast will have an effect on bread dough disproportionate to its size; one teaspoon of yeast will triple or quadruple the size of a quart of dough. So, leaven is like words or ideas. Jesus himself is a perfect example: He spoke approximately 2,025 words. as counted in an English language Bible (the exact number depending on the translation). But these 2,000 words have had an impact on human history beyond any others.
So, Jesus gets a bit miffed for two reasons. First off, He has just fed 4,000 people with seven loaves of bread; do the 12 disciples with him really think they will lack for food? He will take care of them.
And even worse, they aren’t listening to him. He is warning them about danger from the words of the Pharisees and Sadducees, but all they can think about is their stomachs.
We have heard a lot about the Pharisees, and their fundamental error of replacing faith in their heart with outward obedience to ritual action. But, what was the “leaven” of the Sadducees? The Sadducees were rich and powerful, the equivalent of people in the U.S. who “live inside the Beltway.” Their religion was essentially a political tool; the aim of their lives was to dominate Judea by using Judaism itself to control the Hebrew populace. They made inside deals with the Romans and Herodians. One could say, they were the Borgias and de Medicis of first century Judaism.
Wolf reading, from an illuminated Bible.
The Sadducees were actually a step down from the Pharisees, who were at least trying to find righteousness before God. Politics and money were anathema to Christ; or more accurately, they were irrelevant, beneath his notice.
On a tangential note, the passage unintentionally clears up one question about the Bible itself. The feeding of the 5,000 occurs in all four gospels, but the feeding of the 4,000 appears only in Matthew and Mark. Thus, some people have questioned whether these are actually one event told with variant details — because they are quite similar. Apparently not, though: Matthew here reaffirms that there were two separate occasions when Christ fed a multitude from a few loaves of bread and a couple of fish. This should sway even a skeptical reader, as Matthew would have been a firsthand witness to both.
Meditation : Prayer : May the God of hope fill me and all of us with the joy and peace that comes from believing, so that we may abound in hope, by the power of the Holy Spirit.........Amen |
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