Dictionary defines the word sign as something that
indicates or acts as a token of a fact or a condition that is not immediately
or outwardly observable. It is a gesture or a mark that conveys information of
an event or of some underlying activities. The activities happening in Jesus’
ministry, had quite adequately proven that the Kingdom of heaven or Kingdom of God
has broken into the human realm. Jesus was not only the herald of that Kingdom,
He was in fact, Israel’s long awaited Messiah. His Kingdom activities sought to
initial or restore the people’s relationship with God once again. The Pharisees
and Sadducees were political groups having different views about the
restoration of the Kingdom. They were blinded by their personal agendas and
acted in their personal interest. To be able to identify with Jesus and His
ministry we all need to lay aside our personal agenda.
But it is so true that none can be as blind as one who
refuses to see. This exactly describes the situation of the Pharisees and
Sadducees. Here we see an indication that they had stubbornly refused to acknowledge
all that were obviously happening in Jesus’ ministry. Those activities pointed
clearly to the fact that the Kingdom of Heaven (God) has broken into human
realm. But they chose to see Jesus’ ministry as a threat to all that they were
propagating. Thus, they sort to trap Jesus by asking Him to show them some
signs. Earlier they had accused Him of collaborating with the devil and they were
probably hoping to highlight it again. In Deuteronomy 13:1-5, the people of God
were warned of activities of false prophets leading Israel astray to false gods,
with false signs and wonders. Perhaps, they were hoping to trap Jesus into
doing something so that they could accuse Him of being one of those false
prophets. Jesus saw through their scams and told them they were quite an expert
at reading signs of weathers and climates, but they really had no clue concerning
the signs of the time. Calling them an evil and adulterous generation, He
blatantly told them that they would see no sign except the sign of Jonah. This
of course was referring to His death and resurrection. With that He left them
and went away.
So coming away, Jesus took the opportunity to warn His
disciples about being led astray by ostentatious signs. He referred to the
teachings of the Pharisees and Sadducees as leaven or yeast. The disciples
mistakenly thought that Jesus was chiding them for the bread they did not
bring. So Jesus now truly chided them for their lack of perception. They had so
quickly forgotten the two miraculous provisions of bread that fully satisfied
the multitudes, and even had huge leftovers. Jesus’ reference to the unleavened
bread brought them to the history of the Passover and that feast. In that event
they had no time to bake leavened bread for they had to leave Egypt in a haste.
Over time, leaven that was added to make bread more palatable came to be likened
as impurity. When Jesus warned about the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees,
He was warning against their adulterated version of the Kingdom message. They
have added their impurities to the message and were propagating an impure form
of the message. Jesus only wants the message of the Kingdom to go forth in its
purest and unadulterated form.
We are living in days where there is an explosion of all
kinds of teachings. We get it from the internet and even from some live
conferences by eloquent, flashy preachers. What must we, who want to be true to
our Lord, do? We need to be vigilant and
we must also be observant. The warning of the Lord is a call to distinguish
between what’s pure and what’s adulterated. One clear way to help us in our
task of distinguishing this, is to look at the fruit of the teacher. For we are
told that we shall know them by their fruit. In all these, we are also called to
embrace only what’s pure and unadulterated.
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