Watch out for the leaven of the Pharisees and of
Herod: that is what Jesus tells his disciples in today's Gospel. So often the disciples don't understand what Jesus
is talking about, just as we might miss his point sometimes as well, or we
might focus on some surface issue, missing his underlying message. Jesus points out that being able to feed them was
not a problem, taking note of his miracle in multiplying the loaves & the
fish.
The leaven of the Pharisees is found in their pride
and scrupulosity, in the way that they place more importance to following a
strict, rigid adherence to the letter of the law, while often violating the
spirit of the law. The Pharisees try to mold God and their approach to
religion into what they themselves want rather than letting God be God. Do we do the same thing in our lives of faith? Are we so busy telling God how to be God, trying to
tell him what commandments we should be following, that we don't have any time
to listen to his will in our lives?
What could Jesus mean be the leaven of Herod? Could it be the lure of materialism and wealth,
pride and selfishness that he displayed as the king of Israel, the same values
that seduce many of us in the modern world today? The leaven of the Pharisees & the leaven of
Herod: we need to be careful of those things as we journey through life in
faith. May we not fall into temptation. May our hearts and prayers be set on the Lord rather
than the ways of the world, rather than our own rigid, distorted concepts of
God.
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