Matthew 15:32 Yeshua called his talmidim to him and said, “I feel sorry for these people, because they have been with me three days, and now they have nothing to eat. I don’t want to send them away hungry, because they might collapse on the way home.” 33 The talmidim said to him, “Where will we find enough loaves of bread in this remote place to satisfy so big a crowd?” 34 Yeshua asked them, “How many loaves do you have?” They said, “Seven, and a few fish.” 35 After telling the crowd to sit down on the ground, 36 he took the seven loaves and the fish, made a b’rakhah, broke the loaves and gave them to the talmidim, who gave them to the people. 37 Everyone ate his fill, and they took seven large baskets full of the leftover pieces. 38 Those eating numbered four thousand men, plus women and children. 39 After sending the crowd away, he got in the boat and went off to the region of Magadan.
16:1 Then some P’rushim and Tz’dukim came to trap Yeshua by asking him to show them a miraculous sign from Heaven. 2 But his response was, “When it is evening, you say, ‘Fair weather ahead,’ because the sky is red; 3 and in the morning you say, ‘Storm today!’ because the sky is red and overcast. You know how to read the appearance of the sky, but you can’t read the signs of the times! 4 A wicked and adulterous generation is asking for a sign? It will certainly not be given a sign — except the sign of Yonah!” With that he left them and went off.
5 The talmidim, in crossing to the other side of the lake, had forgotten to bring any bread. 6 So when Yeshua said to them, “Watch out! Guard yourselves against the hametz of the P’rushim and Tz’dukim,” 7 they thought he said it because they hadn’t brought bread. 8 But Yeshua, aware of this, said, “Such little trust you have! Why are you talking with each other about not having bread? 9 Don’t you understand yet? Don’t you remember the five loaves of the five thousand and how many baskets you filled? 10 Or the seven loaves of the four thousand and how many baskets you filled? 11 How can you possibly think I was talking to you about bread? Guard yourselves from the hametz of the P’rushim and Tz’dukim!” 12 Then they understood — they were to guard themselves not from yeast for bread but from the teaching of the P’rushim and Tz’dukim.
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Mark 8:1 It was during that time that another large crowd gathered, and they had nothing to eat. Yeshua called his talmidim to him and said to them, 2 “I feel sorry for these people, because they have been with me three days, and now they have nothing to eat. 3 If I send them off to their homes hungry, they will collapse on the way; some of them have come a long distance.” 4 His talmidim said to him, “How can anyone find enough bread to satisfy these people in a remote place like this?” 5 “How many loaves do you have?” he asked them. They answered, “Seven.” 6 He then told the crowd to sit down on the ground, took the seven loaves, made a b’rakhah, broke the loaves and gave them to his talmidim to serve to the people. 7 They also had a few fish; making a b’rakhah over them he also ordered these to be served. 8 The people ate their fill; and the talmidim took up the leftover pieces, seven large basketsful. 9 About four thousand were there. 10 After sending them away, Yeshua got into the boat with his talmidim and went off to the district of Dalmanuta.
11 The P’rushim came and began arguing with him; they wanted him to give them a sign from Heaven, because they were out to trap him. 12 With a sigh that came straight from his heart, he said, “Why does this generation want a sign? Yes! I tell you, no sign will be given to this generation!” 13 With that, he left them, got into the boat again and went off to the other side of the lake.
14 Now the talmidim had forgotten to bring bread and had with them in the boat only one loaf. 15 So when Yeshua said to them, “Watch out! Guard yourselves from the hametz of the P’rushim and the hametz of Herod,” 16 they thought he had said it because they had no bread. 17 But, aware of this, he said, “Why are you talking with each other about having no bread? Don’t you see or understand yet? Have your hearts been made like stone? 18 You have eyes — don’t you see? You have ears — don’t you hear? And don’t you remember? 19 When I broke the five loaves for the five thousand, how many baskets full of broken pieces did you collect?” “Twelve,” they answered him. 20 “And when I broke the seven loaves for the four thousand, how many baskets full of broken pieces did you collect?” “Seven,” they answered. 21 He said to them, “And you still don’t understand?”
Have we regressed? Is this the same issue we saw with the 5000?
Not really. The last time we were coming off of John the Baptist’s death and the disciples wanted to send the people away. Yeshua, in mourning, needed the disciples to step up in that hour and they made excuses. Here, however, it is His compassion that comes into play.
To be fair, the disciples should have known better than to play the “where on earth could we possibly find enough food” card. But Yeshua seems to gloss over their ridiculous question and goes right to work feeding the people.
Ok, fair enough. Instead of rehashing the food part, we’re going to look at the follow-up conversation.
He said to them, “And you still don’t understand?”
So do you? What are we to understand?
Let’s begin by looking at hametz (leaven). What does it do? Aside from grabbing a microscope and inspecting the molecules to see the growth process, you can just add it to flour and water and watch it multiply in size. You know, when baking that loaf of bread you are told to “put in a warm spot until doubled in size”. No need to understand the science in order to see the result.
Leaven multiplies. And isn’t this exactly what happened with the loaves of bread? Multiplied.
Yeshua has been teaching these people for 3 days and imparting His own hametz into their lives. Immediately after, He is quizzed by the Pharisees and Sadducees demanding a sign from Heaven. They were commanding Him to justify His legitimacy. And He refused.
Through a confused verbal exchange over not bringing along more of the leftovers, Yeshua warned them of not eating the hametz of the Pharisees. He was warning them on the teachings they were putting out for people to consume. Adding in the leaven allows these teachings to grow and grow to the point of souring the dough. Holding that starter from generation to generation, and only being able to eat sourdough? No, thank you.
“Why are you talking with each other about having no bread? Don’t you see or understand yet? Have your hearts been made like stone? 18 You have eyes — don’t you see? You have ears — don’t you hear? And don’t you remember?”
Many centuries ago, Abba put a tool in place that prevented the hametz from passing on year to year: the feast of Unleavened Bread.
Once each and every year, we are to put away the hametz of the previous year and start fresh. All of last year’s teachings should be abandoned so we don’t build on things that are suspect. There's nothing wrong with learning new things but we do need to be careful we don’t let it slowly pull us away from the Word. And this is very easy to do.
Take the idea of prosperity as an example.
We likely think the prosperity gospel is something pretty new but it really isn’t. It seems that as long as people have had access to money and power, they will bend any message necessary to secure both. Just look at the marketing industry and politics.
Trouble comes when the message you bend is the Word of God. Yet people do this just the same.
The Pharisees and Sadducees had done exactly this when it came to God’s people. They were the self-proclaimed experts on the Torah and as such, exercised absolute power and control over the people. When you have that kind of power over others it is only natural that you seek money to have power over yourself, funding your lifestyle.
Luke 16:14 The P’rushim heard all this, and since they were money-lovers, they ridiculed him.
Since it’s human nature to crave money, it makes perfect sense to bait others into financing your lifestyle while promising them that God will make it right on the backend. Is there a better formula than that?
“You give to me (or my ministry) and God will then give to you. Besides, God wants you to be prosperous. Here’s the proof: <<insert random out of context verses here>>”
Now, this is just one example of bad leavening. There are, of course, countless others.
The feeding of the 5000 and the 4000 are examples of receiving provision from Abba alone. There is no need to manipulate or misguide others so you can have more. Besides, Yeshua wasn’t asking these people to fund His mission from God, He asked His Father to release provision just because He cared about them.
One last detail that is worth mentioning is the breaking of bread. Aren’t you curious what this means? We use the phrase “breaking bread together” to indicate an intimate meal is being shared. How intimate is this meal?
Taking the loaf and breaking it is a covenantal sign. Yeshua did this in one of the most intimate dinners ever recorded:
Matthew 26:26 While they were eating, Yeshua took a piece of matzah, made the b’rakhah, broke it, gave it to the talmidim and said, “Take! Eat! This is my body!”
Note: In this translation, the word inserted as matzah is actually artos (G720) which means bread. Unleavened bread is azumos (G106) and is used in verse 17 of this same chapter in the context of unleavened bread. 1 Corinthians 5:8 is another example of the proper usage. This technicality kind of doesn’t matter but it could be useful to know for other applications -- like this one:
Notice the process: take a piece of bread, make a blessing, break the bread, then give it to the disciples to distribute.
This is what was done with the 5000:
Matthew 14:19 After instructing the crowds to sit down on the grass, he took the five loaves and the two fish and, looking up toward heaven, made a b’rakhah. Then he broke the loaves and gave them to the talmidim, who gave them to the crowds.
And the 4000:
Matthew 15:35 After telling the crowd to sit down on the ground, 36 he took the seven loaves and the fish, made a b’rakhah, broke the loaves and gave them to the talmidim, who gave them to the people.
And, as we just saw at the “Last Supper”, with His disciples:
Matthew 26:26 While they were eating, Yeshua took a piece of matzah bread, made the b’rakhah, broke it, gave it to the talmidim and said, “Take! Eat! This is my body!”
Yeshua was establishing covenant with His followers. On the first Shavuot (Pentecost) after Yeshua went back to the Father, we see that this pattern of breaking bread (for the sake of unity) continuing on:
Acts 2:42 They continued faithfully in the teaching of the emissaries, in fellowship, in breaking bread and in the prayers. 43 Everyone was filled with awe, and many miracles and signs took place through the emissaries. 44 All those trusting in Yeshua stayed together and had everything in common; 45 in fact, they sold their property and possessions and distributed the proceeds to all who were in need. 46 Continuing faithfully and with singleness of purpose to meet in the Temple courts daily, and breaking bread in their several homes, they shared their food in joy and simplicity of heart, 47 praising God and having the respect of all the people. And day after day the Lord kept adding to them those who were being saved.
We are to continue on breaking bread with one another even today, and as we partake of this bread, Paul warns us how we should be:
1 Corinthians 11:23 For what I received from the Lord is just what I passed on to you — that the Lord Yeshua, on the night he was betrayed, took bread; 24 and after he had made the b’rakhah he broke it and said, “This is my body, which is for you. Do this as a memorial to me”; 25 likewise also the cup after the meal, saying, “This cup is the New Covenant effected by my blood; do this, as often as you drink it, as a memorial to me.” 26 For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the death of the Lord, until he comes.
27 Therefore, whoever eats the Lord’s bread or drinks the Lord’s cup in an unworthy manner will be guilty of desecrating the body and blood of the Lord! 28 So let a person examine himself first, and then he may eat of the bread and drink from the cup; 29 for a person who eats and drinks without recognizing the body eats and drinks judgment upon himself. 30 This is why many among you are weak and sick, and some have died! 31 If we would examine ourselves, we would not come under judgment.
Summary: Clean yourselves up before claiming to enter into covenant with Yeshua AND with one another. If you have an offense or a judgment, rectify that before taking the broken bread (His body) and wine (His blood), or else you will eat and drink judgment upon yourselves. Weakness, sickness, death.
Getting back to our story, we know (based on all of the other healing Yeshua was doing) that the leaven from the Pharisees and Sadducees was ultimately producing weakness, sickness, and death. I mean, He’s having to fix that at every turn.
There was no “victory” to be had until Yeshua came along and gave them true food. But before you go making up a formula, pay attention to what Yeshua said:
“Such little trust you have! Why are you talking with each other about not having bread? 9 Don’t you understand yet? Don’t you remember the five loaves of the five thousand and how many baskets you filled? 10 Or the seven loaves of the four thousand and how many baskets you filled? 11 How can you possibly think I was talking to you about bread?”
It’s time to lay it all down. All of it. It’s time to partake of the bread that comes from the blessing, namely Yeshua’s body, and you must do so with a pure heart (free of judgments, unforgiveness, gossip, etc).
To those that have ears to hear:
“Guard yourselves from the hametz of the P’rushim and Tz’dukim!” 12 Then they understood — they were to guard themselves not from yeast for bread but from the teaching of the P’rushim and Tz’dukim.
Guard yourself from slander, accusations, pride, unforgiveness, judgments, arrogance, sexual immorality, love of money, etc.
And that starts today.