Why Did Jesus Warn Us 5 Times about This?
Five times in the Gospels, Jesus warned His disciples about the “leaven” of the Pharisees. If Jesus took the time to warn us about this, we should know what leaven is so we can identify it, as well as steer clear of it.
Leaven, or as most know it today, yeast, is added to bread dough to help it rise or puff up. It does a few fascinating things when added to dough. First, it starts a corruption process in the dough, and second, it spreads rapidly throughout the dough.
Yeast/leaven, essentially does three things to bread dough:
1. It causes it to rise
2. It toughens it
3. It gives it flavor
Keep these in mind as we see why the leaven of the Pharisees was so dangerous.
Some believe that leaven simply referred to legalism aka Old Testament “law” and, in some ways, it did. However, it is far more sinister in nature. In fact, the leaven Jesus warned about actually corrupted God's law and made it unrecognizable from the original intent for which God gave it to Israel. God gave the law to Israel for two main reasons, one, to show them that they were sinners in need of a Savior, two, to point them to their Messiah/Savior Jesus. The apostle Paul described God’s law as a schoolteacher pointing him to Jesus.
“Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith” (Galatians 3:24)
When Jesus started His earthly ministry, He ran into people who had been corrupted by the leaven of the Pharisees. These people had fallen under the delusion that it was possible to keep God's law and earn their own righteousness. The Pharisees had remastered the law of God and convinced people that they could keep it and live by it. They dismissed the hard stuff, tweaked other laws, and corrupted God's law to the extent that it no longer served the purpose for which it was intended. Jesus ran into a young, rich ruler who boasted that he had kept “all” of God’s laws since his youth. It took Jesus just one question to prove the young, rich ruler hadn’t kept God’s laws at all (Matthew 19:16-29).
Jesus pointed out that God’s laws, plus the entire Old Testament were about two key truths.
Truth #1
Jesus said the entire Old Testament was all about Him (John 5:39).
Truth #2
The Old Testament was also all about love, how we should love God with all our hearts, souls, and minds and our neighbors as ourselves (Matthew 22:36-40).
Some might say, “Well, Ed, isn’t that a biblical contradiction? Is the Old Testament about Jesus or loving God?” Glad you asked! Jesus told Philip who asked Him to show them God the Father that when they saw Him they were seeing God (John 14:8-9). John writes in 1 John 4:8 that “God is love.” So there is no contradiction at all. They both flow in perfect harmony together because when we see Jesus, we see the love of the Father personified in Jesus. The beauty of seeing Jesus in the Old and New Testament is we see where that love is focused! This is the revelation Jesus wanted people to see and grasp when they studied God’s Word.
King David was a man after God’s own heart (Acts 13:22) He was a young boy with amazing faith. He slew Goliath and grew into manhood loving God’s Word and writing over half of the psalms. Some of our greatest church hymns come from the words David penned in praise to God. In spite of his deep devotion to God, David sunk deep into sin committing adultery and later murder in an attempt to hide his wrongdoing. It was a tragedy what happened to David. While David was a man after God’s heart, his failure in life resulted from him not guarding his own heart.
David, in the depths of coming to grips with his sin and the consequences of his actions, wasn’t left hopeless or in utter despair. The prophet Nathan who confronted David about his sin, also brought words of great comfort to David that God had decided to wipe away his sin.
David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the Lord.” And Nathan said to David, “The Lord also has put away your sin; you shall not die” (2 Samuel 12:13).
David broke God’s law, which he knew and loved (Psalm 119:47-48) and as such, the death penalty was required. Nathan is a type of Jesus. In the same way he came to David to tell him God had put away his sin, and he wouldn’t die because of it, Jesus washed away and forgave all of our sins forever by His death, burial, and resurrection. If we believe the gospel, we will not suffer eternal death but enjoy His eternal life.
“For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more” (Hebrews 8:12).
Those who are deceived into accepting the leaven of the Pharisees will reject the grace God offers them because they are trusting in their self-righteous efforts to earn their salvation.
David’s life was restored by knowing and experiencing the love God had for Him (Psalm 143:8).
Nothing robs believers like being infected with “leaven.” It will cause them to lose their focus on Jesus and cause pride to replace humility. Their hearts will harden against God’s voice and leading.
Jesus took the damage leaven can do to a person’s relationship with God seriously and so should we. Not a day goes by that I don’t talk to someone who is trying to escape the entanglement leaven has caused them.
The good news for us all is Jesus tells us when we know the truth, we will live in freedom (John 8:32). The truth that makes us “free” is found in knowing Him.
“Jesus answered, ‘I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me" (John 14:6).
