Leaven is not evil and is just not allowed at a certain times of year in the bread. Because leaven is bacterial its possible to accidentally leaven bread. It is very easy to accidentally forget that there is some kind of leaven in the house, and so houses must be thoroughly cleaned, perhaps emptied, to make sure there is no leaven around. He's saying the Pharisees around him have overlooked something, not that they aren't trying or that they don't want to do right.
Mark 8:15-17....
"And he warned them in no uncertain terms: “Keep your eyes open; look out for the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod.” 16 So they began arguing with one another over the fact that they had no bread. 17 Noting this, he said to them: “Why do you argue over your having no bread? Do you not yet perceive and understand? Are your hearts still dull in understanding?"
Luke 12:1...
"In the meantime, when a crowd of so many thousands had gathered together that they were stepping on one another, he started by saying first to his disciples: “Watch out for the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy."
Notice however that he does not correct them,
Reading Matthew 23:13-33 it is apparent that Jesus did not have a good thing to say about those "hypocrites".
He was not sent to correct them...God already knew that they were incorrigible. Jesus was sent only to "the lost sheep of the house of Israel". Those sheep were lost because of the failure of their shepherds.
and the only account we have of a Pharisee talking to him alone comes from
John 3 where Jesus points out that the spirit does not get passed from person to person ( as in a discipleship program ) but goes wherever. Jesus then further expounds that there is only one verdict, and its that evil people run from the light while good people enter it. There is no shibboleth, no check for the right accent, no list of riddles to know; and that concludes his speech to Nicodemus. If we are going to be exclusive then we may as well be Jewish and stop pretending like we believe the holy spirit goes where it will.
Nicodemus came only under cover of darkness...afraid of the reprisals. We don't know how it turned out for him. But certainly no one was turned away who genuinely wanted to know even an unpleasant truth. The "lost" saw the truth and flocked to the Fine Shepherd for refreshment after being trodden on by the religious leaders for way too long.
What I think is that we aren't supposed to judge one another, and we aren't supposed to cut one another off over doctrines -- like we have been doing all too frequently for the last 2000 years -- and what ever has come of it? The church becomes weak and amalgamated with politics, and then it fractures. It becomes ineffective and even harmful all because of trying to correct each other's doctrines. The clever leech makes use of these kinds of conflicts.
As messengers it is not up to us to judge anyone...but we must judge what we are taught and test it out to see if it is what Christ taught...or if it is a concoction of man made dogma. Jesus said to look at the fruits and you will know what kind of people true Christians are....known for the love they have among themselves. (John 13:34-35)
while Jesus spoke to the Pharisees things they did not wish to hear he did not cut them off from himself. Also when the disciples went out to preach they were not making converts, and they were not competent to teach generally. Many of them were lower class, and that was part of the whole message.
The holy spirit provided all that was necessary for the disciples to do what Jesus asked asked of them.
Jesus....
"summoned his 12 disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits, in order to expel these and to cure every sort of disease and every sort of infirmity......These 12 Jesus sent out, giving them these instructions: “Do not go off into the road of the nations, and do not enter any Sa·marʹi·tan city; 6 but instead, go continually to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. 7 As you go, preach, saying: ‘The Kingdom of the heavens has drawn near.’ 8 Cure the sick, raise up the dead, make lepers clean, expel demons. You received free, give free.....Into whatever city or village you enter, search out who in it is deserving, and stay there until you leave. 12 When you enter the house, greet the household. 13 If the house is deserving, let the peace you wish it come upon it; but if it is not deserving, let the peace from you return upon you. 14 Wherever anyone does not receive you or listen to your words, on going out of that house or that city, shake the dust off your feet. 15 Truly I say to you, it will be more endurable for the land of Sodʹom and Go·morʹrah on Judgment Day than for that city."
Jesus did not choose educated ones to accomplish the preaching work. (Matthew 11:25)
If correcting one another is correct, then why does Jesus tell us not to quarrel? Why does James say that anyone who thinks they are wise should just show their wisdom through good living? It is because that is how converts are made. They aren't made through wise teaching and correction, and besides nobody listens when they are told what to do unless they hear within themselves that same message.
Jesus told his disciples just before his departure....
"Go, therefore, and make disciples of people of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the holy spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all the things I have commanded you. And look! I am with you all the days until the conclusion of the system of things.”
This preaching was to be done among the Jews first. It would meet with opposition and it meant altering perceptions of what they had been taught all their lives....but they had to fulfill this commission which would come to include the Gentiles....right up until the end of the system of things. Lives depended on it. (Matthew 24:14)
Those who he calls those he never knew are those who don't care for the poor, the naked, the lonely. You picked the very passage where he says he will denies knowing those people who know all the right things and teach all the right things and have miracles. They are not the ones who know him; but people who know nothing but live right he knows.
Exactly. They don't know the master they claim to serve...or more importantly, the master refuses to acknowledge them as his own. They recount all the things that they thought were important? But why does Jesus call them "lawless"? They consider themselves Christians, so what is this 'lawlessness ' they practice? They fail to do so many things that Jesus commanded.
And....no one can fulfill the commission to preach unless Christ is "with" them. They can do all manner of 'tricks', but they can't go out preaching about the Kingdom. It was the last and most important thing that Jesus told them to do. Most of them have no idea what the kingdom is, so how can they preach about it?
Jesus didn't expect his disciples to be educated teachers because it was not by those means that the gospel message would be delivered. It would be by means of the "uneducated and untrained" that God would do the job. (Acts 4:13) It isn't personal skill...but the operation of God's spirit that accomplishes it.
