Religion and Politics

But the disciples had forgotten to bring any food. They had only one loaf of bread with them in the boat. As they were crossing the lake, Jesus warned them, “Watch out! Beware of the yeast of the Pharisees and of Herod.” At this they began to argue with each other because they hadn’t brought any bread. Jesus knew what they were saying, so he said, “Why are you arguing about having no bread? Don’t you know or understand even yet? Are your hearts too hard to take it in? ‘You have eyes—can’t you see? You have ears—can’t you hear?’ Don’t you remember anything at all? When I fed the 5,000 with five loaves of bread, how many baskets of leftovers did you pick up afterward?” “Twelve,” they said. “And when I fed the 4,000 with seven loaves, how many large baskets of leftovers did you pick up?” “Seven,” they said. “Don’t you understand yet?” he asked them. [Mark 8.14-21]

In Matthew's Gospel, it is recorded that Jesus said watch out for the yeast of the Pharisees and the Sadducees. However, I am going to make some notes here on what Mark's version of this event spoke to me...

Mark chronicled that Jesus told the disciples to watch out for the yeast of the Pharisees and Herod. What this spoke to me today was that we should watch out for both religion and politics.

The Message Jesus came to earth to share was pure. However, it was the religious leaders (Pharisees) and political leaders (Herod) who could not bear the truth of the Message. So, in effort to control the Message, they interjected their own ideas as to what it meant.

Sound familiar?

On this particular event, Jesus is warning His disciples not to 'buy in' to the watered-down teaching that would negate not only faith but, the whole principle of Kingdom living (seek first the Kingdom of God and all things will be added...).

On two previous occasions Jesus had nonchalantly transformed little into much when He fed first the 5000 then the 4000. It was this whole attitude about sustenance that Jesus was trying to get His disciples to see. He was trying to convey to them that sustenance was 'a given' in Kingdom work ("Don't you understand yet?").

Likewise, it was the watered-down teachings of religion and politics that were the enemies of the true Message. It was the watered-down teachings of religion and politics that would blind the disciples' eyes and close their ears to the Message and Its subsequent lack of concern about sustenance.

In other words, the teaching of the Pharisees and Herod (religion and politics respectively), would say, "You can't forget about yourself and just serve God - how will you eat?"

So, who's teaching do we follow today? Jesus'? Or, religion's and/or politics'?

Father, help us to follow the teachings of Jesus. Help us to follow Your Kingdom. Help us to follow Your Kingdom principles. Help us to forget about ourselves and simply do Your work in the earth!