The Believer’s Dilemma | Matthew 16
Matthew 16
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Chapter Notables:
Pharisees and Sadducees ask for a sign - verses 1-4
The yeast of false teaching - verses 5-12
Peter declares Jesus as the Messiah - verses 13-20
Jesus prophesies His death - verses 21-28
Understanding Faith | Lemuel Ayudtud
We can be so hard headed, inattentive, and obtuse. It can take us so many times to hear something before we actually hear what’s being said; and to learn something from what we heard? is another mind-numbing times before we actually listen. They can be very simple things, too, yet over and over again we need to hear the same thing before it can permeate our thick, fixated brains. Obviously, unless you actually have a hearing issue or are deaf, we’re not talking about hearing hearing. We’re talking about comprehension—understanding what is being said, and application—doing what we’ve finally heard.
Comprehension is not just a matter of understanding words, phrases, and sentences. It’s also knowing the context of what’s written or said. Cultural nuances, upbringing, personal word choices and expression among other things must be known to fully grasp what’s being communicated. And even if we have all of that understood, our present moods and current surroundings can affect the way we understand things. So at times we just have that leaning not to understand; not that we can’t understand, it’s that we don’t want to understand.
The Bible show us that Jesus spoke in parables. Isaiah tells us that it’s for people to hear and not understand; for people to look but not see. What??? Why would God speak with words that are difficult to understand? Why would He speak in parables? Why not just speak plainly? Isaiah prophesied also that things will be taught one on top of another; God will share His plan seemingly sequentially that in order for a person to understand it, He must be hearing from God. That’s it, right? God shares things in parables to call us into deeper conversation with Him.
The Pharisees and Sadducees in this chapter were asking Jesus for a sign. They wanted Jesus to show them by some “definitive” way that He indeed was Messiah. Yet, again, unfortunate for them, Jesus didn’t play their games. Jesus told them, “You guys can tell the weather but you can’t tell what God is doing? A wicked generation looks for something but all you’re getting is preaching.” (My paraphrase.) Meaning: unbelieving people want something outside of faith to make them believe, but God is not doing anything outside of what He’s been doing—sending men/women to preach the Word.
Jesus warned His disciples about the “yeast” of the Pharisees. Apparently, the disciples didn’t understand what He had told them. They thought Jesus was talking about them not bringing any bread for their journey. Ugh. Jesus was obviously not speaking about bread. They should have known that. But they were so hard headed—and hard hearted, or maybe with just such short memories, that Jesus had to remind them about the 5000+ and the 4000+ that were fed with just a meager amount of bread and fish. They weren’t understanding what was truly happening. But what Jesus was speaking about was the teachings of the Pharisees and Sadducees.
What was the teaching of the Pharisees or the Sadducees that Jesus warned them about? It wasn’t their desire for righteousness. It wasn’t their piety. It wasn’t their doctrines like the resurrection. What was it? Maybe it was their religiousness without a true knowledge of God? Maybe it was their “holy” activities without the holiness of God? Maybe it was because they used God for their benefit? Or maybe because under all of their religiousness they actually never believed? Maybe what Jesus warned them about is the Pharisees’ lack of comprehension about His mission—not because they couldn’t understand, they just didn’t want to.
Jesus asked His disciples about what the people around them have been sharing concerning Him. What was the communal conversations about who He was? They said, “Some say You’re John the Baptist; others say You’re Elijah; and others are saying You’re Jeremiah.” Jesus directly asked them, “But who do you say I am?” Peter stood up and shared, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God!”
That exchange between Jesus and His disciples, with Peter claiming what he claimed, expresses to us the crux of the matter. Believers are not swayed by external conversations. Believers don’t need “signs” or extra things to make them believe. Believers are not about the outside. It’s not about looking good like the Pharisees and the Sadducees. It’s about being true believers not by words or by look, it’s by heartfelt faith—especially when we don’t understand.
Maybe God’s not out to help us understand everything. Maybe God is not out to destroy our doubts. We may never understand it all no matter how some things maybe repeated to us. Maybe what God wants us to do is operate in faith and understand that we may never understand. Unbelievers will constantly ask for something that would “open” their eyes so that they will believe. They ask believers to help them comprehend, but even if an angel would come and speak to them, the center of their heart is disbelief and a sign will not change that. No matter how many times something is repeated, their inability to grasp what God is expressing solely rests not on any cultural nuance, it rests on their unwillingness to believe.
Listen, we have God’s Word. Everywhere it’s written in there that He loves and cares for us. It’s in plain black and white that He is our Provision and our help. It’s repeated over and over again. Yet, do we still doubt and battle with fears? Do we still question at times His Will and direction? Anyone saying “no” has truly never believed. The conclusion is that we’ll probably never understand it all, so true believers believe no matter if there is a sign or not. True believers would know even if they don’t understand. That’s exactly what Peter did when He declared Jesus as Messiah. He didn’t ask for a sign. He stopped looking for answers that He wouldn’t understand anyway. He was there when Jesus fed the crowds with just a handle of food, yet he still didn’t understand. So what was did he ultimately resolved to do? When asked Who Jesus was, Peter just believed, he was understanding faith.
Lord, I know there are times that I just want to understand everything. And You’ve probably have shared them with me already anyway and still I don’t understand. So, Lord, give the grace to just yield to Your word when I can’t comprehend. Help me to just be confident in Your love and mercy for me. Let me know that You will provide for me in moments when I fear I’ve ran out. I ask this in Your resplendent Name, Jesus, amen!
