On their way to the other side of the lake, the disciples discovered they had forgotten to bring along bread. In the meantime, Jesus said to them, “Keep a sharp eye out for Pharisee-Sadducee yeast.”
Thinking he was scolding them for forgetting bread, they discussed in whispers what to do. Jesus knew what they were doing and said, “Why all these worried whispers about forgetting the bread? Runt believers! Haven’t you caught on yet? Don’t you remember the five loaves of bread and the five thousand people, and how many baskets of fragments you picked up? Or the seven loaves that fed four thousand, and how many baskets of leftovers you collected? Haven’t you realized yet that bread isn’t the problem? The problem is yeast, Pharisee-Sadducee yeast.” Then they got it: that he wasn’t concerned about eating, but teaching—the Pharisee-Sadducee kind of teaching.
-Matthew 16:5-12 (MSG)
Here Jesus gives the disciples what appeared to be an unusual warning: Beware of the yeast. The disciples are instantly confused, and it is easy to understand why. Having just seen Jesus feed thousands with a small amount of bread, they thought his statement was some sort of reference to that. However, it was a parable.
In a nutshell, yeast is put into bread to make it rise. And it only takes a very small amount of yeast to have an effect on the entire batch of dough.
Pharisee-Sadducee yeast then was the teachings of those religious leaders which ultimately was wrong and causing a large amount of people to be lead astray. A small amount of false teaching was having an adverse affect on a ton of people.
Or on another level, just a small amount of sin can do a lot of damage. Not only to the one struggling with the sin, but its negative affects can quickly spread to others.
I wonder how many times have I justified myself and others by saying, “Oh, it’s alright… What you did isn’t that big of a deal!”
Jesus says otherwise. A little “yeast” spreads fast. We must be aware of that.
