26.01 | Jesus is in the Boat

Matthew 16:1-12

“When the disciples reached the other side, they had forgotten to bring any bread. Jesus said to them, “Watch and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees.” And they began discussing it among themselves, saying, “We brought no bread.”’

Matthew 16:5-7

---

I’m an amateur baker in our household. Some years ago, I spent ten minutes reading the packaging for every loaf of bread in the local supermarket.¹ The ingredient lists were so long and bewildering, that it sounded to me like they’d be better placed in a chemistry laboratory than in my stomach, and so, on that very day, I picked up the mantle of family bread-maker. The aim was to bake good bread without chemical additions. Being a good millennial, I began with sourdough.

Sourdough baking is a slow process of fermentation, that begins at breakfast time, and isn’t completed until 24hours later when the loaves come out of the oven. Essential to the process is the sourdough starter. In Jesus’ language, the leaven. The leaven is what activates the fermentation process in the wheat and water, transforming a flat mass of flour into a bubbly, risen loaf. It saturates every part of the loaf with the fermentation process, so that the loaf ends up as a totally different thing from what it would have been.

Fermentation, while carefully managed by good bakers, is essentially the beginning of the decomposition process. Left to its own devices, it is a process of decay that leads to death. Sourdough bakers have to manage this trend, feeding and renewing their starter regularly to simply keep it alive. 

The image that Jesus uses has to do with permeation and it has to do with decay.

Permeation, because the leaven, while merely a single ingredient, goes into every single element of the dough.

Decay, because the leaven , while merely a single ingredient, activates the process of decay in all of the ingredients.

Jesus is teaching His disciples about their influences. Influences permeate. And influences create either life or death.

The Pharisees’ teaching, He is telling them, is so noxious that it will permeate their very souls, creating in them not the things of life, but of death. His point is that their teaching is so antithetical to His, that His followers cannot hold Pharisaical teachings as compatible or complementary. Rather, these ideas ideas will permeate and kill all parts of their spiritual vitality. They need ruthlessly eliminated.

It’s a harsh metaphor. 

So what is it that Jesus wants them to avoid so very badly?

Compare and contrast:

The Pharisees have seen Jesus at work for some time now. They’ve seen the miracles, the healings, heard the teaching. The blind have seen, the lame have walked, the deaf heard, and the multitudes have been fed. Most would agree that these have been signs that would prove the validity of Jesus’ ministry. And yet, we find them today, asking for a sign. What exactly do they want? What possible additional thing would demonstrate to them the validity of Jesus’ claims as the rightful Messiah King and Saviour of His people?

The disciples have seen the very same signs. And particularly, for today, they’ve seen the two miracles of food multiplying—for the 5,000 and the 4,000. Both times they didn’t have enough bread. Both times there was enough. With leftovers.

And then they find themselves in a boat, without enough bread. 

What are they going to do?

Beware of the leaven.

We're getting closer to Jesus’ intention in His miracles.

It wasn’t just because people were hungry. It wasn’t just that they’d be signs of His identity. It wasn’t just that they’d legitimise Jesus’ rightful claim as the Messiah King of Israel.

It was also training. It was meant to teach His disciples something. For Jesus, the miracles were inviting the disciples to live within a whole new paradigm. He wanted them to see differently. The miracles invited His disciples to respond differently to every problem that they would ever face again in the future.

Such as the very next time they didn’t have enough bread.

Beware the leaven.

The Pharisees had seen, but were so blind that they were still asking Jesus to prove Himself to them.

The disciples had seen, but hadn’t yet learned that Jesus’ miracles weren’t only to be a past-tense testimony; they were meant to inform their present-tense living.

Because what matters more than what you have in your hands is who you have with you in the boat.

Because when Jesus is in the boat,

there is always enough.

---

Reflect:

Have a look at your life today.

What do you lack? What do you have?

Now look at your day again, remembering that Jesus is with you in the boat. 

Lose the leaven. Look to Him. Miracles await. Because when Jesus is in the boat, there is always enough.

---

Pray:

Father,

So often I leave the miracles of yesterday,

And the miracles of the Scriptures

As just stories of the past.

Nice, encouraging, impressive,

But distant.

I tell the stories, and yet my soul remains leavened

I view each new problem through the lens of my limited resource,

Rather than through the lens of your impossibilities.

Today, help me to begin in the expansive knowledge of your goodness;

Teach me to see truthfully and clearly.

Because Jesus is in this boat,

And so I have all things in abundance.

I give you what I have in my hand,

Small though it may seem,

That it may be multiplied beyond count or reason,

With leftovers to spare.

In Jesus’ Name,

Amen.

Old Testament: 

For those also reading the Old Testament this year, your additional readings are here:

Exodus 4:1-6:9 | Proverbs 4:1-9

1. I’m pretty sure there’s material here for a good therapist.