Good Sunday afternoon, dear people.
Surprise! I composed a devotional today—if we can get away with calling it that. It’s been a long time. I have to admit that when I was asked by one of my grandkids last week to start this up again, my motivation was kind of kicked. So here we are.
Of course, I have no way of knowing you really want this dropped into your INBOX. But I’m simply sending it along to those on my last recipient list.
Blessings on your comings and goings—with the hope that you know where it’s all going.
Love and prayers. Ray.
My first response to this little piece of the Jesus story is, “So what else is new?” Here at our own point of human history we still have available to us the essential words of Jesus—all preserved for us in written form within this amazing volume of literature called THE BIBLE—and still most people, including many who claim to be believers, hardly have a clue as to “what Jesus was talking about”—or what is the main theme of Biblical revelation.
Another principle that I glean from the next words of Jesus after He is made aware of the disciples’ confusion over His statements of warning is this: God has provided us His human creatures with a special capacity for objective reasoning that He gifts to no other creatures—and He expects us to exercise that gifting—and holds us responsible for such. So like a concerned father wanting to impart essential training to his children, Jesus reprimands His disciples almost harshly so as to get their attention and reaffirm what He requires of them. “Why all this fussing over forgetting to bring bread? Do you still not see or understand what I say to you? Are your hearts still hard? You have good eyes, yet you still don’t see, and you have good ears, yet you still don’t hear, neither do you remember” (vv. 17-18).
So, what in the world is Jesus talking about when He warns His disciples about their need to guard against this YEAST INFECTION? (smile)—that is, this contamination by the YEAST of the Pharisees and the YEAST of Herod? The footnote for this verse that the translator inserts in my PASSION TRANSLATION (by Dr. Brian Simmons) answers that question this way: “The yeast Jesus is referring to here is hypocrisy. See Luke 12:1. The yeast of religious and political hypocrisy is what Jesus warned them to avoid.”
Whereas the Pharisees represent those who claim to be believers and are really not, we have a clear picture of religious hypocrisy—along with all the arrogance and condemnation of others that goes along with that mindset. And whereas Herod represents the arrogance of a secular worldview, we are given an example of those who regard believers/followers of God, Jesus, and the Bible as inferior airheads—with the bias that their faith in science and humanism are so much superior. I suppose that any ideology claiming to be true while putting forth lies can be considered a form of hypocrisy. Indeed our culture and political system seems to be full of that infectious ingredient.
Using my own little deposit of objective reasoning, it’s pretty clear to me as to why Jesus’ warning is still so relevant for us today, underscoring how universal and subtle the infection of hypocrisy really is. It’s a lot closer to home than we like to think. It’s actually part of our fallen human DNA. I only need call once again on Jeremiah 17:9 for documentary support. “The heart is deceitful(or HYPOCRITICAL) above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?” (NIV). Another appropriate way to phrase that rhetorical question is, WHO CAN ESCAPE THAT YEAST INFECTION? The best answer I can think of is, THOSE WHO NOURISH AND MEDICATE THEMSELVES WITH THE TRUTH OF GOD’S WORD TO THE POINT THAT THEIR CLAIMS ARE CONSISTENT WITH THEIR LIVING (Ephesians 5:25-27; 2 Timothy 3:16-17).