ACC ~ Matthew 16 v5

CROSSING TO THE OTHER SIDE

ORIGEN: The bread that they had before they crossed the lake was no longer of any use to them when they reached the other side. They needed one kind of bread [1] before they crossed and a different kind afterward. They forgot to take any loaves with them because they were careless about carrying bread. The disciples of Jesus had also crossed to another side. They had passed from the material to the spiritual, from the sensory to the intellectual. This is why Jesus said to them after the crossing, be careful and be on your guard.

The Pharisees and Sadducees offered a different dough of teaching, a truly ancient yeast restricted to the bare letter [2] and therefore not free from evil. Jesus does not want his disciples to eat of it any longer. Instead, he mixed a new spiritual dough when he himself offered to any who would abandon the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees and come to him, the living bread which came down from heaven and gives life to the world. [3] Anyone intending no longer to use the yeast and dough of the Pharisees and Sadducees’ teaching must first “be careful.” He must “be on guard” that he will not use the old leaven either accidentally or due to shortages. So Jesus tells his disciples first, “be careful,” and second, “be on your guard.” COMMENTARY ON MATTHEW 12.5. [4]

[1] To pass beyond the sea signifies progressing spiritually and thus having no further need of the nutrition of the past.

[2] The bad leaven of the Pharisees signifies for Origen only the literal interpretation of the Scriptures.

[3] Jn 6:51.

[4] GCS 40:75-76; ANF 9:452.

THE DISCIPLES HAD FORGOTTEN TO BRING ANY BREAD

CHRYSOSTOM: Why did he not say plainly, “Beware of their teaching?” His purpose is rather to remind them of what had just been done—the feeding of the multitude—for he knew they had already forgotten its significance. But Christ did not immediately admonish them. Rather, he took their own thoughtlessness as the occasion for reproof. Remember that he had not reproved them when they had earlier said, “Where are we to get bread enough in the desert to feed so great a crowd?” [1] It seemed better now to say to them what he says here. He did not want to rush hastily on to another miracle. He did not admonish them before the multitude, nor did he seek to elevate himself in their eyes. He might have been much harsher with them after their forgetfulness following the miracle of the loaves. All of these considerations gave his reproof a greater meaning. THE GOSPEL OF MATTHEW, HOMILY 53.4. [2]

[1] Mt 15:33.

[2] PG 58:529; NPNF 1 10:329.