Season 4 Podcast 136 The Stories of the New Testament, Matthew Ch 16:5-12, Pt 2, “The Language of the Heart.”

Season 4 Podcast 136 The Stories of the New Testament, Matthew Ch 16:5-12, Pt 2, “The Language of the Heart.”We know that Christ often spoke in parables, using extended analogy, requiring us to look at one thing and see another. In Matthew 16: 5-12, Christ teaches his disciples and us how to read and interpret scriptures through simile and metaphor.  Simile says one thing is like another Metaphor says one thing is another. For example, in verses 1-4, Christ compares his death and resurrection to the story of Jonah. In other words, he uses simile. He said to the Pharisees and Sadducees,“A wicked and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given unto it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas.”In other words Christ is saying that the story of Jonah, who was in the belly of the whale for three days, is like Christ who will be in the tomb for three days. It is a simile or extended analogy. The stories are similar up to a point. The word “like” that sets a simile apart is implied. In Matthew 13:33, speaking of leaven, Christ uses simile.“Another parable spake he unto them; The kingdom of heaven is like unto leaven, which a woman took, and hid in three measures of meal, till the whole was leavened.”A simile uses like or as in the comparison. Metaphor says that one thing is another. Using the same image of leaven. In Matthew Chapter 16: 5-6, Christ uses metaphor. 5 And when his disciples were come to the other side, they had forgotten to take bread.6 Then Jesus said unto them, Take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees.According to the Oxford English Dictionary, leaven is “An agent added to dough to produce fermentation, a raising agent, e.g. yeast; spec. a quantity of fermenting dough reserved from a previous batch to be used for this purpose.” The dictionary also describes its metaphorical usage as referred to in Matthew 16 with an emphasis on “old leaven.” 6 LINDA“An agency that produces profound change by progressive inward operation; a pervasive influence that transforms something; = old leaven; a tempering or modifying element; a tinge or a mixture of some quality.”Christ is referring specifically to the old leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees, how it taints the teachings of the ancient prophets. There had been no prophets on the earth since Malachi, 400 years earlier, and false doctrines had crept into the Mosaic Law. It is those doctrines that the Pharisees and Sadducees used to justify the crucifixion of Christ. It is not just a problem of ancient times. It is human nature to interject opinion into the teaches of the Holy Bible, thus changing its meaning. We are taught by tradition rather than by the literal word of God. That is why there are so many Christian denominations on earth today, which has caused enormous contention. It is the same principle. Christ is warning Christians about borrowed interpretations of the scriptures. He is telling his disciples to stick not only with his words but also with the words of the holy prophets. There is safety only in the word. It is a message for today as much as ancient times. Christ knows that even the words that he will reveal to his twelve apostles will become subject to the leaven of modern Pharisees and Sadducees. The disciples did not understand his allusion.