Jacobs Thoughts and Doings

When they went across the lake, the disciples forgot to take bread. “Be careful,” Jesus said to them. “Be on your guard against the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees.”  They discussed this among themselves and said, “It is because we didn’t bring any bread.”

Aware of their discussion, Jesus asked, “You of little faith, why are you talking among yourselves about having no bread? Do you still not understand? Don’t you remember the five loaves for the five thousand, and how many basketfuls you gathered? Or the seven loaves for the four thousand, and how many basketfuls you gathered?  How is it you don’t understand that I was not talking to you about bread? But be on your guard against the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees.” Then they understood that he was not telling them to guard against the yeast used in bread, but against the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees. 

Matthew 16:5 – 12

Normally, in the Bible, yeast is a good thing, bringing life to wheat flour in bread-making.  Here, Jesus flips things, some yeast is bad.  Of course, Jesus is not talking about the yeast that is used for making bread but of the kind of harmful yeast that gets into a good batch of bread dough.  He warned, “Be on your guard against the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees.”

Jesus made it clear that he was not referring to common household bread-making but to the teaching of Israel’s renowned teachers.  The Pharisees, on the one hand, elevated literal interpretations of the law, and the Sadducees, on the other, who spiritualized many of the ancient Biblical passages. Both were wrong, both carried bad “yeast” so to speak.  Their approach to Scriptures did not bring its words to life to bless but in fact changed the meaning of faith in God and all that means.

What is that harmful yeast?  As I read these wonderful passages of how Jesus ministered I see that he is referring to trying to earn God’s favor by self-effort.  Instead of letting God speak directly into life, they determined how God should speak.  In so doing they got salvation all wrong.

I find this tendency in myself.  I feel the need to fit what God speaks into my little world, thus dulling the power of the Word to change me.  I critique God, instead of him critiquing me.

Dear Lord, take the leaven of self-effort out of my “dough.”  Self-effort that places me at the center, not God, is corrupting leaven!

Sorry, reader, for not keeping my blog up to date this past week.  For me it was a bit of a down time as I nursed my ear.  It is a week now since I had my last procedure and will have the stitches removed on Monday, the 13th.  That should be the end of this little challenge. I feel ok and look forward to getting back into routines.  Thankful for wonderful work of my dermatologist.  She believes she got the cancer out of my ear.  I do believe she is right. Anyway, I praise God for the good hands that have worked on me and for the kind hearts through which I experience love.

So, I will be in touch.

This is Saturday, February 4th. Two days ago my Dermatologist did the final op on my right outer ear, feeling that she got all the nasty cancer cells.  She removed quite a nice sized hunk of ear. No melanoma, for which I am very thankful..Now for ten days of healing, bound with dressing.  I feel ok but challenged, of course.

As I look back, I stand amazed at how soon the cancer erupted and grew.  I should have been more aggressive in treatment, no doubt.  That is in the past.  Now I hope to keep on top of things.  My Dr. says that in one’s 80’s the cancer inhibitors loose some power so latent cancer can spring up a bit easier.  Live and learn!

One of my physical battles is keeping skin cancer under check.  Not helped, probably, by many years in the African sun, at high altitude.  Not good for my skin.  I did not know how susceptible I was but now I know.

The present challenge is in my right ear that has been scraped two days ago and will undergo a couple spots this afternoon that were missed.   It was aggressive.  Then skin graft and prayer!   Thanks much.

So I may delay a bit in sending along my meditations on the Scriptures.

The Pharisees and Sadducees came to Jesus and tested him by asking him to show them a sign from heaven.

He replied, “When evening comes, you say, ‘It will be fair weather, for the sky is red,’ and in the morning, ‘Today it will be stormy, for the sky is red and overcast.’ You know how to interpret the appearance of the sky, but you cannot interpret the signs of the times.  A wicked and adulterous generation looks for a sign, but none will be given it except the sign of Jonah.” Jesus then left them and went away.

Matthew 16:1 – 4

It was not the Phoenicians whom he just visited who questioned who Jesus is, the religious leaders of Israel did.  Matthew notes that the two parties, Pharisees and Sadducees, came together to question Jesus.  I doubt their sincerity when they asked Jesus to show them a sign from heaven to confirm who he is.  I wonder what they were thinking.  Were they blind to what was happening, that Jesus was healing people in the towns and cities of the Land?  Maybe they considered him a miracle worker, here today, gone tomorrow.  Jesus did not fit into their theology!

I also wonder what they would have done had they heard a voice from heaven, as John the Baptist did, that Jesus is the Lamb of God.  They had no desire to believe.  Their religious system was in place – the way to please God is through complete obedience to the law of Moses (Pharisees) or by mythologizing the law (Sadducees) thus making it highly irrelevant.

I find that this spirit of unbelief is thriving today.  The Jesus that many in Christendom, so to speak, believe in is rather inconsequential.  He continues to tantalize and is there in the sub-conscience and in our history but is not seen as the one who is establishing his kingdom among mankind, Jesus Christ the King.  Poor Jesus can do very little for people who coddle him but do not submit to him as King of kings, and Lord of lords.

Unbelief does not amaze me, but faith does because it is so “strange.”  I need to remind myself that I am a believer, and that makes all the difference.  He is my Lord and Savior, his people my family on the earth!  This sets me and people like me apart.  Why should we expect our culture to understand us?  We are pilgrims here, our citizenship is in heaven!

As I walked around our Winter lawn yesterday the budding lilacs caught my eye. The green sprout speaks volumes and impresses me with fresh meaning, Spring is coming!   Storms will come but the new life is persistent.  It will produce its lovely blossoms, in its time. God is looking after us as we are battered a bit, we say, by storms.  I must remember, Spring is coming.

Leaving that place, Jesus withdrew to the region of Tyre and Sidon.  A Canaanite woman from that vicinity came to him, crying out, “Lord, Son of David, have mercy on me! My daughter is demon-possessed and suffering terribly.” Jesus did not answer a word. So his disciples came to him and urged him, “Send her away, for she keeps crying out after us.” He answered, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel.”

The woman came and knelt before him. “Lord, help me!” she said. He replied, “It is not right to take the children’s bread and toss it to the dogs.” “Yes it is, Lord,” she said. “Even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their master’s table.” Then Jesus said to her, “Woman, you have great faith! Your request is granted.” And her daughter was healed at that moment.

Matthew 15:21 – 28

A pause in Jesus’ ministry to the Jews – a visit to the region north of Galilee, the location of the two ancient towns of the Phoenicians, Tyre and Sidon.  Why Jesus went up there, we do not know but we have a remarkable story when he did.

Jesus met a wall of resistance in Israel, primarily Jews who simply could not believe that Jesus is the promised Messiah.  In fact, the Pharisees, the strictest Jewish group, resisted Jesus in every way.  They had many reasons to disown him, but one of the major reasons was that Jesus did not encourage people to focus their religious intentions on obedience to their interpretation of the law which they believed was the highest standard possible, and the right and fitting way to please God.

Jesus, as we have been witnessing, had a different point of view, which stressed the arrival of the Kingdom of God among mankind, not the perfection of an existing kingdom or nation.

Jesus never brought into question the role of the law in human society but he gave no hope that obeying that law could possibly bring salvation, that is only possible through the atoning work of Jesus Christ.

Having noted that, we see Jesus, in this story, moving among non-Jews outside of Israel.  A desperate Gentile woman pled with Jesus, whom she knew was a Jew, to drive out demons in her daughter.  Jesus ignored her request.  The poor woman would not stop crying to Jesus.  The disciples wanted to send her away.  She would not be deterred because she was in huge trouble.

Finally, the woman threw herself at Jesus’ feet crying, “Lord, help me.”  Jesus reminded her that he came to minister to the Jews.  She did not dispute that but asked that a little of his charity fall her way.  This plea touched the heart of Jesus.  He healed her daughter and left us pondering his words, “Woman, you have great faith.”  Not great knowledge, or great problems, but great faith.  That is the key.

At this time of year, end of January, one begins to look for signs of Spring.  Our daffodils, bless ‘m, are already pushing.  Challenges lie ahead for these early sprouts but they obviously think it is worth their effort!  I love their determination.

Then some Pharisees and teachers of the law came to Jesus from Jerusalem and asked, “Why do your disciples break the tradition of the elders? They don’t wash their hands before they eat!”

Jesus replied, “And why do you break the command of God for the sake of your tradition?

Then the disciples came to him and asked, “Do you know that the Pharisees were offended when they heard this?”

Matthew 15:1, 2, 3, 12.

As I see it, we need to have laws to guide behavior so obedience to law may become our way to please God.  The Pharisees and teachers of the law pressed obedience to the law so much that they believed that it is possible to gain God’s favor by obeying the law.  That became the center of their religion.  They went way beyond Moses, in this regard. They believed that it is possible to obey the law of God if all effort is channeled in that direction.

One of their laws was not to eat with hands that are not ritually washed, a religious washing.  I do not know how they came up with this law, it is not consistent with the Moses’ teaching.  No matter, it became not just a peripheral issue but a central test as to whether a person was serious about obeying the law or not.  It is my guess that this view of the law represents the view of all Jews, but only a few, like the Pharisees, put it to practice.  So, the center of their attention was the law as they understood it.  The apostle Paul was from such a family.  It was all law, law, law from morning to night.

So, it does not surprise me to learn that such people were appalled by the fact that Jesus’ disciples broke a crucial law, eating without first ritually washing the hands.  It had nothing to do with hygiene.  This horrified the Pharisees who saw that Jesus could not be the Messiah because he did not view the law like they did.

When they confronted Jesus with this obvious flaunting of the law, Jesus pointed out their error.  He reminded them that they refused to obey a clearly-stated law, to obey and look after their parents.  Instead of obeying, they manufactured a short-cut that looked fine but was simply a way to avoid obeying that law.  They did not like to think about that.  The law was not meant to save anyone, but to guide people who wanted to please God, be it ever so haltingly.

This struck at the very heart of common Jewish piety.  I wonder if we, in our time and culture are any different.  When we see God, we know that we should be like him, so we go about lining up our lives with the law.  That is good and proper but does not result in newness of life, life in the Spirit.  Life is not obedience to law but fellowship with Christ Jesus who died for us and has forgiven our sins and has given us his presence to order our lives, on the inside, born again by the spirit of God.