Last week in my journaling time I read Matthew 16:5-12 and I couldn't help but laugh out loud at the disciples. Hmmm maybe I should have had a cup of coffee before I journalled. I could just imagine the looks on the disciples faces that day when they realised they had forgotten to bring the bread! (and this is just after the Matthew stories of Jesus feeding the 5000 and 4000 with just a few loaves of bread and a few fish - what were they worried about?) I can imagine one of the disciples, in charge of the food, searching the boat for bread and realising there isn't any bread, whispering to the disciple next to him that there isn't any bread. I can see the eye brows raised in shock as they both realise there isn't any bread; they haven't been able to do a simple task like remember the bread!! Their minds are ticking over about what to do, should they tell Jesus or not? Perhaps they should just tell the other disciples? So they join the other disciples who are listening to Jesus and Jesus says "6 “Be careful,” Jesus said to them. “Be on your guard against the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees.”The disciples start to sweat - Jesus knows they've forgotten the bread. They start whispering to the other disciples, "we forgot the bread, Jesus knows, that why he said what he said" 7 They discussed this among themselves and said, “It is because we didn’t bring any bread!”
I imagine Jesus is trying to stay patient but is exasperated that they've missed the point. He doesn't worry about things like bread! "8 Aware of their discussion, Jesus asked, “You of little faith, why are you talking among yourselves about having no bread? 9 Do you still not understand? Don’t you remember the five loaves for the five thousand, and how many basketfuls you gathered? 10 Or the seven loaves for the four thousand, and how many basketfuls you gathered? 11 How is it you don’t understand that I was not talking to you about bread?" Jesus has fed thousands of people, why would he be worried about this small group not having any bread?
So Jesus tells the disciples again what is on his mind "11bBut be on your guard against the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees.”
And finally the disciples 'hear' Jesus and understand what he's saying "12 Then they understood that he was not telling them to guard against the yeast used in bread, but against the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees." Another light bulb moment for the disciples :-)
I love how the disciples are just so normal. I wouldn't want to mess up in front of Jesus!
As much as the text made me laugh it also made me wonder about leadership and churches. I read so many articles on what I should do to be a good Pastor, what to do to get the church to grow, how to treat my staff, how to disciple, love, teach, pastor my congregation. They often start with 8 ways to... or 10 ways to.... If I'm doing A then B should result. I wonder if we as leaders and "The Church" get so caught up in doing what we think is the right thing that we forget to actually listen to what God is saying to us. We know what should happen and what we are responsible for, and we don't want to disappoint God so we try to persevere with something thinking that's what God wants us to do when in actual fact God is saying "You're not hearing me, stop worrying about....because I'm not concerned about that, instead I want you to.... What we hold as important in leadership or in our congregations may not actually be so important to God if that's not what he wants you to be doing at that time.
Does assuming we know what God wants us to do stop us from actually trying something different? We work on the assumption that to be church we need to look a certain way, have certain programs, act a certain way rather than being willing to hear if God is saying 'How is it you don't understand I wasn't talking about the way you look?'
It highlights for me (again) the importance of prayer and being still before God.
