In Matthew, Mark, and Luke, Jesus warned the disciples of leaven. Each passage is a little different, indicating that Jesus issued the warning more than once. Each passage warns of the leaven of the Pharisees. Matthew adds the Sadducees and Mark adds Herod. What were the disciples supposed to learn from the warnings? And what do they mean to us today, when the Pharisees, Sadducees, and Herod are all ancient history?
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Christmas, it seems, ought to be such a beautiful time. We celebrate the birth of a darling baby to wholly admirable parents. A bright star shone. The angels sang. The shepherds left their flocks to see the baby. Magi came from a great distance to offer gifts fit for a king. All is calm and beautiful.
Except for Herod.
“When Herod realized that he had been outwitted by the Magi, he was furious, and he gave orders to kill all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity who were two years old and under, in accordance with the time he had learned from the Magi” (Matthew 2:16 NIV).… Read the rest