In Matthew 16:1-13 we read of the Pharisees and Saducees coming to Jesus to tempt him. He calls them hypocrites! He knew their thoughts and intentions and that they only hoped to discredit him - it wasn’t happening.
But all of that grew into a great teaching lesson. In the midst of this the disciples had a startling discovery. They had forgotten bread. Have you ever done something like this? Forgotten something important? Something necessary? But the worst part and I think the truly notable point was – not that they had forgotten the bread – their food, but that they had forgotten earlier, vital and life changing lessons that they had been taught. These lessons (the feeding of the multitudes) should have been at the forefront of their thinking and it should have been something that had changed them forever!
But alas, the disciples both them then and us today, seem to have difficulty discerning what are the most important things. Case in point: Remember in John 4 when the disciples had entered the Samaritan village to buy food. When they returned they found Jesus had been busy dealing with the woman by the well. He had served up living water that gave life changing and eternal blessing. But the disciples couldn’t get past their own issues. They wanted him to eat. He stated that he had meat to eat that they knew nothing about. Ok! They asked “who gave him something to eat?” They didn’t get it.
Do you see how we sometimes can’t seem to get off the earth track? His ways truly are higher than our ways. Thank goodness he is patient with his disciples, but he does rebuke us. He calls us down for our faithlessness, forgetfulness and foolishness. He wants us to grow! He wants us to learn!
This discourse was about learning. We need to learn. If we don’t learn we will fall for bad doctrine (teaching). So what are some of the lessons we can learn with these disciples in Matthew 16:
- Don’t forget the great things the Lord has already done for you in your life.
- Don’t get sidetracked from the main, and eternal issues in life.
- The spiritual matters are more important (eternal) than the fleshly needs (temporal).
- The Lord often uses simple examples to teach us vital spiritual lessons.
- Don’t miss good things from the Lord by jumping to wrong conclusions.
There was a lesson in the leaven. Let’s learn and grow!
