Back in Jewish territory Jesus faced another attack from Israel's religious leaders.
16:1 Matthew introduced the Pharisees and Sadducees with one definite article in the Greek text. Such a construction implies that they acted together. That is remarkable since they were political and theological enemies (cf. Acts 23:6-10). However a common opponent sometimes transforms enemies into allies (cf. Luke 23:12; Ps. 2:2). Representatives of both parties constituted the Sanhedrin, the highest Jewish governing body in Israel (cf. Acts 23:6). This delegation, evidently from Jerusalem, represented the most official group of religious leaders that Matthew reported coming to Jesus thus far.
These men came specifically to test Jesus (Gr. peipazontes), to demonstrate who He was by subjecting Him to a trial that they had contrived (cf. 4:1, 7). The scribes and Pharisees had asked Jesus for a sign earlier (12:38). Now the Pharisees and Sadducees asked Him to produce a sign from heaven. The Jews believed that demons could do signs on earth, but only God could produce a sign out of heaven.615The Jews typically looked for signs as divine authentication that God was indeed working through people who professed to speak for Him (cf. 1 Cor. 1:22).
16:2-3 Jesus replied that His critics did not need a special sign since many things pointed to His being the Messiah. They could read the sky well enough to predict what the weather would be like soon. However they could not read what was happening in their midst well enough to know that their Messiah had appeared. The proof that they could not discern the signs of the times was that they asked for a sign.
"It is surprising that in a wide variety of different fields of knowledge human beings can be so knowledgeable and perceptive, yet in the realm of the knowledge of God exist in such darkness. The explanation of the latter sad state is not to be found in a lack of intellectual ability--no more for the Pharisees and Sadducees than for today. The evidence is there, examinable and understandable for those who are open to it and who welcome it. The issue in the knowledge of God is not intellect but receptivity."616
What were the signs of the times that Israel's religious leaders failed to read? John the Baptist's appearance and preaching was one. John had told these leaders that he was the fulfillment of Isaiah's prophecy of Messiah's forerunner (Isa. 40:3; Matt. 3:1-12). Jesus had also identified John as the forerunner (11:14). Jesus' works were another sign that the King had arrived, and Jesus had pointed this out (12:28). Finally the prophecy of Daniel's 69 weeks should have alerted these students of the Old Testament to the fact that Messiah's appearance was near (Dan. 9:25-26; cf. John 5:30-47; 8:12-20).
16:4 Jesus refused to give His critics the sign they wanted. The only sign they would get would be the sign of Jonah when Jesus rose from the dead (cf. 12:38-42).
Jesus withdrew again in response to opposition. However this time Matthew used a stronger word (kataleipo) meaning "to forsake or abandon."He turned His back on these religious leaders because they were hopeless and incorrigible.617This was to be Jesus' last and most important withdrawal from Galilee before His final trip south into Judea and to Jerusalem (19:1). He remained outside Galilee through 17:20, when He returned there from the North.
16:5-7 The NIV translation of verse 5 is clearer than that of the NASB. "When they went across the lake"pictures what follows as happening either during the journey, probably by boat, or after it. Jesus was still thinking about the preceding conflict with the Pharisees and Sadducees, but the disciples were thinking about food. Leaven or yeast is primarily an illustration of something small that inevitably spreads and has a large effect. Often it stands for the spread of something evil, as it does here (cf. Exod. 34:25; Lev. 2:11; 1 Cor. 5:6-8). The disciples did not understand what Jesus meant because they were thinking in literal terms, but He was speaking metaphorically.
16:8-12 Jesus' rebuke arose from the disciples' failure to believe that He could provide bread for them in spite of their having witnessed two feeding miracles. This was a serious mistake for them.
"The miracles Jesus performs, unlike the signs the Pharisees demand, do not compel faith; but those with faith will perceive their significance."618
The disciples did not perceive their significance, namely that Jesus was the Messiah who could and would provide for His people. In this their attitude was not much different from that of the Pharisees and Sadducees.
Jesus did not explain His metaphor to the disciples, but as a good teacher He repeated it forcing them to think more deeply about its meaning. Matthew provided the interpretation for his readers (v. 12). Though the Pharisees and Sadducees differed on several points of theology, they held certain beliefs in common. Specifically the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees that Jesus warned His disciples about was the skepticism toward divine revelation that resulted in failure to accept Messiah. These critics tried to fit the King and His kingdom into their preconceptions and preferences rather than accepting Him as the Old Testament presented Him.
This section of the Gospel (13:54-16:12) emphasizes the continuing and mounting opposition to the King. Matthew recorded Jesus withdrawing from this opposition twice (14:13; 15:21). In both instances He proceeded to train His disciple. The first time He ministered to Jews, and the second time He ministered to Gentiles. This was the pattern of Jesus' ministry that Matthew hinted at in the first verse of this Gospel. Opposition arose from the Jewish people (13:54-58), from the Romans (14:1-12), and most strongly from the religious leaders within Judaism (15:1-9; 16:1-4). The rejection of this last group finally became so firm that Jesus abandoned them (16:4). From now on He concentrated on preparing His disciples for what lay ahead of them because of Israel's rejection of Her King.
