Narrative Lectionary Key Verse for Today
“Then they understood that he had not told them to beware of the yeast of bread, but of the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees.”
NL Daily Devotion for Tuesday, March 7, 2023
by R. M. Fergus, Clergy Stuff
This text totally cracks me up. It feels a little like a Monty Python sketch. Jesus is irritable with the Pharisees and Sadducees and his obtuse disciples think he’s talking about bread. Then he just out and says it, “You idiots! How do you fail to see what I am so obviously saying?!?” And then the disciples are like, “Ah. He’s not talking about yeast, but about the teaching.
I know there is probably some more deep theological take I could have on this, but at the moment, I am simply enjoying the complete humanness of Jesus and his followers, and recognizing how easy it is for Jesus’ words to be misinterpreted even to this day. You can’t say the bible doesn’t have its comic moments, and I, for one, feel drawn in by them. They say to me, “You are welcome here. Everyone is. It’s okay to laugh at scripture and at yourself. God has an amazing sense of humor and God invites you to encounter scripture as you are.” That’s good news, indeed.
Do moments like this in scripture help you relate to the person of Jesus? Why or why not?
