yeast

Matthew 16:5-12

Jesus speaks in another parable, or cryptic saying in these verses. He warns his disciples of the yeast of the Pharisees. His disciples, again, completely miss the point and think that Jesus is referring to the fact that they forgot to bring bread and, I guess, warning them not to buy bread from the Pharisees. Jesus, of course, is not talking about bread but about the subversive and influential teaching of the Pharisees that permeates and affects the whole culture.
Jesus uses a phrase that he has used often: you of little faith. This seems to be his favourite commendation (you have much faith) and his favourite rebuke (you of little faith). In this case he rebukes the disciples' lack of faith in his ability to provide for their needs. It shouldn't have taken much faith because they had seen him provide for the needs of huge crowds with very little food. I'm going to have to keep my eyes open but I think Jesus mainly rebukes his disciples for their lack of faith and mainly commends the ordinary citizen, and maybe even most often the outcast, for their extraodinary faith.
There are three things I get from this passage: 1) I need to be on my guard against the subversive, damaging, pervasive affect of false teaching in my life, in my ministry and in my church. I can't allow it. I must speak against it and counter it with truth where ever I see it. If I don't, it will spread and affect everything. 2) I am at least as thick as the disciples were. I can't condemn them for not getting the things Jesus was teaching. At least they had left everything to follow him. I might understand what Jesus is teaching and it might be easy for me to look down my nose on the disciples fo not understanding but they obviously believed and acted on what Jesus was teaching. 3) I desperately want Jesus to commend me for my faith/faithfulness. I, like the disciples, am too quick to forget his miraculous provision and presence in the past and too prone to doubt and self-sufficiency.

If you were a tree...?

Matthew 7:15-20

Jesus turns his attention to false prophets. He is concerned that the people might be led astray by teachers with bad motives. Jesus uses two word pictures: a wolf that camouflages itself in wool to trick the sheep and that of a fruit producing tree. He contrasts good fruit and good trees to bad fruit and bad trees. The key words in this section are fruit, tree, good and bad.
The main point that Jesus is making is that false teachers can be recognized by their fruit. In the context of the rest of his sermon, Jesus is likely saying that false teachers will point you to the wrong gate which leads destruction and make you feel good about your choice, so as to make sure that you don't reconsider your choice, right up to the point of destruction. To be able to tell the difference between a false teacher and a teacher of truth, Jesus tells his audience to look at the fruit. His argument is that, just as the tree is judged by the quality of its fruit, the character of the teacher can be judged based on the teacher's life and the results of the teaching in other's lives.
The first question that comes to mind is: how does this fit with Jesus' previous teaching about judging others (7:1-5)? It is clear that Jesus is telling us to be very discerning and to judge a person's character to determine if he is a false teacher or a teacher of truth. I think that Jesus' main point about judging is that we shouldn't be hypocritical in our judgment. We shouldn't expect others to live up to a standard that we ourselves are not willing to live up to. Jesus is clear in this passage: we must learn to be good judges of character especially when it comes to teachers.
The second question is: what kind of "fruit" am I looking for in a person's life? I think there are primarily two. The first is the teacher's own character. What kind of father is he? What kind of wife is she? How does he treat his employees? How does she treat her "constituents"? How does he react to criticism and praise? Etc. The other fruit I think we should look at is the result of the teacher's teaching in the lives of her "disciples". I think I need to be careful with this one since even the teachings of Jesus have been perverted and misunderstood by people who would call themselves his disciples but if there is a consistent pattern that could reasonable be attributed to the teacher then I must be aware of it.
Thankfully I have the help of the Holy Spirit to help me to discern what is good and right. His guidance is invaluable. Thank you, Father, for sending your Spirit!