The disciples had forgotten to bring bread, and they had only one loaf with them in the boat. [Jesus] enjoined them, "Watch out, guard against the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod." They concluded among themselves that it was because they had no bread. When He became aware of this He said to them, "Why do you conclude that it is because you have no bread? Do you not yet understand or comprehend? Are your hearts hardened? Do you have eyes and not see, ears and not hear? And do you not remember, when I broke the five loaves for the five thousand, how many wicker baskets full of fragments you picked up?" They answered Him, "Twelve." "When I broke the seven loaves for the four thousand, how many full baskets of fragments did you pick up?" They answered [Him], "Seven." He said to them, "Do you still not understand?"

In today’s Gospel reading, the departure of Jesus and His Apostles from a confrontation with the Pharisees had been sudden, and there had been no chance to buy bread (v. 14). They had only one loaf. Jesus continued His diatribe against the Pharisees and their notions of religion.

He advised His followers to be on their guard against the yeast of the Pharisees and of Herod (v. 15). Yeast symbolizes something with an inward, vigorous vitality. The Pharisees’ yeast was self-righteousness and desire for power. The Herodians’ yeast was the spirit of worldliness and rationalistic skepticism. The yeast of both was an evil influence that could spread like an infection.

Jesus’ advice is that we keep our eyes open and be on our guard against the hidden corruption of self-righteousness, power, and worldliness. But how? How can we effectively guard against becoming "like some other people" without coming to feel "holier than thou" in the process? Sometimes the harder we try, the more we seem to spring up with self-righteousness and arrogance. The typical Pharisee didn’t recognize His self-righteousness as a failing at all. If we can recognize it in ourselves, we’re well on the way toward avoiding the Pharisee’s fate. Once when Evelyn Waugh (1903-1966), the British Catholic novelist, behaved with particular rudeness at a dinner party in Paris, his hostess, angry at his bad behavior, asked him how he could behave so rudely and yet consider himself a practicing Catholic. Waugh replied, "You have no idea how much nastier I would be if I wasn’t a Catholic. Without supernatural help I’d hardly be a human being."

SOURCE: "366 Days with the Lord," ST PAULS, 7708 St. Paul Rd., SAV, Makati City (Phils.); Tel.: 895-9701; Fax 895-7328; E-mail: publishing@stpauls.ph; Website: http://www.stpauls.ph.