“How is it that you do not understand…?”  Jesus Christ (Matthew 16:11 NASB).  Jesus in speaking with his disciples about the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees was totally misunderstood they thought he was talking about the leaven in the bread.  My point is simple, we can hear wrong things even as a group due to previous conversations, events, and corporate beliefs or where the brain can simply hear something that was never said.  In verse 5 it states that they had forgotten to bring bread with them which would appear to indicate that they were preoccupied or worried about their negligence which seems to have lead them to hearing something that Christ never said.  If we are going to be successful as followers of Christ in all we do and say it is imperative that we have ears to hear.  Too often we hear people talking and our mind jumps to a false conclusion because we think we heard them say something when they actually did not.   

Strife and offences often arise as the result of faulty hearing in the mind and our inability to humble ourselves, to stop and take a second look, or second listen.  There are numerous word games that you can find on the web or that you may know personally that can trick the brain into thinking something that was never said or written.  I remember a time when my darling wife was hosting an Avon party at which she gave people gifts.  Afterwards a friend had asked for her gift and she said that she specifically remembered giving her one already.  She had the memory of doing it!  Yet, after some pondering she realized that she had made what is called a false association, which gave her a false memory.  All too often people, for various reasons, experience a false association or memory which then can lead to strife and offence and for no good reason other than our personal pride getting in the way.  We are not flawless and as you live longer you may be intuitive enough to realize that neither is your memory flawless.  Some times it’s just not worth the conflict and ill feelings due to possible misunderstandings.  After all even Jesus’ disciples thought Jesus said things that he never said and yet they were humble enough to re-listen to Jesus to hear what Jesus had really said. 

So the next time you think you hear something that is off, ask the person before you accuse them, “Did I hear you correctly when you said… ?”  Verify it from the source not even from a secondary source such as another person that said they heard it, read it or even wrote it.   

And the disciples came to the other side of the sea, but they had forgotten to bring anybread. And Jesus said to them, “Watch out and beware of the ^[f]leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees.” They began to discuss this among themselves, saying, “He said that because we did not bring any bread.” But Jesus, aware of this, said, “You men of little faith, why do you discuss among yourselves that you have no bread? Do you not yet understand or remember the five loaves of the five thousand, and how many baskets full you picked up?  Or the seven loaves of the four thousand, and how many large baskets full you picked up?  How is it that you do not understand that I did not speak to you concerning bread? But beware of the ^[g]leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees.”  Then they understood that He did not say to beware of the leaven of bread, but of the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees.  (Matthew 16:5-12 NASB)

Written By – Rev. James Miklos