Pharisees And Sadducees
PHARISEES AND SADDUCEES
MATTHEW 16:1-12
Jesus says, “Come on, forget your stomachs and listen: beware of obeying human religious traditions rather than God’s plain word!”
The request for a “sign” has already been made in 12:38; a “sign from heaven” might have taken the form of a public and conclusive announcement by God. But even such an announcement could have been explained away by those unwilling to accept it. Jesus’ answer was that, as they could foretell tomorrow’s weather by today’s sky, they ought to be able to see the outcome of contemporary trends—eg the disaster to which the increasing mood of rebellion against Rome would inevitably bring the people unless they saw where their true peace lay and changed their temper accordingly. With 16:4 cf. 12:39.
Matthew conjoins Pharisees and Sadducecs more frequently than the other New Testament writers (cf. 3:7); thus in 16:1 he adds “Sadducees” to Mark’s “Pharisees” (Mark 8:11) and in 16:6 has “the leaven of the … Sadducees” in place of “the leaven of Herod” (or “of the Herodians”) of Mark 8:15. The paragraph 16:5-12 is thus tied more closely to 16:1-4. The Pharisees and Sadducees of Jesus’ day had little enough in common: the Sadducees rejected the oral tradition of the scribes and insisted on the literal rigor of the written law, and dismissed as a “fond thing vainly invented” the Pharisees’ belief in hierarchies of angels and demons together with their doctrine of bodily resurrection (cf. 22:23ff.; Acts 23:8). But both parties opposed Jesus, though for different reasons. The Pharisees’ opposition to him was essentially theological; while the Sadducees also objected to him on theological grounds (as they objected to the Pharisees too), their main objection to him was political. It was to their party that most of the chief-priestly establishment belonged, and they feared that his activity might upset their modus vivendi with Rome and precipitate the downfall of the Jewish commonwealth. “The teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees” (16:12) was no unified body of doctrine, but the skepticism of their demand for a sign (16:1), and the hostility which it barely concealed.
Jesus’ reply to the disciples in 16:8-11 confirms the impression given by the evangelist that there is more significance than meets the eye in the feeding narratives (14:15-21; 15:32-38); this deeper significance (relating to their Master’s person) had thus far escaped them. But new light was about to dawn.
Medtitation Christians are not meant to despair at their apparent lack of equipment for life’s journeys; they travel with One who will provide.