16 One day the Pharisees and Sadducees^[a] came to test Jesus’ claim of being the Messiah by asking him to show them some great demonstrations in the skies.

^2-3 He replied, “You are good at reading the weather signs of the skies—red sky tonight means fair weather tomorrow; red sky in the morning means foul weather all day—but you can’t read the obvious signs of the times! ⁴ This evil, unbelieving nation is asking for some strange sign in the heavens, but no further proof will be given except the miracle that happened to Jonah.” Then Jesus walked out on them.

⁵ Arriving across the lake, the disciples discovered they had forgotten to bring any food.

⁶ “Watch out!” Jesus warned them. “Beware of the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees.”

⁷ They thought he was saying this because they had forgotten to bring bread.

⁸ Jesus knew what they were thinking and told them, “O men of little faith! Why are you so worried about having no food? ⁹ Won’t you ever understand? Don’t you remember at all the five thousand I fed with five loaves, and the basketfuls left over? ¹⁰ Don’t you remember the four thousand I fed, and all that was left? ¹¹ How could you even think I was talking about food? But again I say, ‘Beware of the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees.’”

¹² Then at last they understood that by yeast he meant the wrong teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees.

¹¹ When the local Jewish leaders learned of his arrival, they came to argue with him.^[a]

“Do a miracle for us,” they said. “Make something happen in the sky. Then we will believe in you.”

¹² He sighed deeply when he heard this and he said, “Certainly not. How many more miracles do you people need?”^[b]

¹³ So he got back into the boat and left them, and crossed to the other side of the lake. ¹⁴ But the disciples had forgotten to stock up on food before they left and had only one loaf of bread in the boat.

¹⁵ As they were crossing, Jesus said to them very solemnly, “Beware of the yeast of King Herod and of the Pharisees.”

¹⁶ “What does he mean?” the disciples asked each other. They finally decided that he must be talking about their forgetting to bring bread.

¹⁷ Jesus realized what they were discussing and said, “No, that isn’t it at all! Can’t you understand? Are your hearts too hard to take it in? ¹⁸ ‘Your eyes are to see with—why don’t you look? Why don’t you open your ears and listen?’ Don’t you remember anything at all?

¹⁹ “What about the 5,000 men I fed with five loaves of bread? How many basketfuls of scraps did you pick up afterwards?”

“Twelve,” they said.

²⁰ “And when I fed the 4,000 with seven loaves, how much was left?”

“Seven basketfuls,” they said.

²¹ “And yet you think I’m worried that we have no bread?”^[c]