The Monday after the Twenty-Fifth Sunday after Trinity Sunday
Posted on November 10, 2025 by under
Scripture: St. Matthew 16:1-12 (NKJV)
16:1 Then the Pharisees and Sadducees came, and testing Him asked that He would show them a sign from heaven. 2 He answered and said to them, “When it is evening you say, ‘It will be fair weather, for the sky is red’; 3 and in the morning, ‘It will be foul weather today, for the sky is red and threatening.’ Hypocrites! You know how to discern the face of the sky, but you cannot discern the signs of the times. 4 A wicked and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, and no sign shall be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah.” And He left them and departed.
5 Now when His disciples had come to the other side, they had forgotten to take bread. 6 Then Jesus said to them, “Take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the Sadducees.”
7 And they reasoned among themselves, saying, “It is because we have taken no bread.”
8 But Jesus, being aware of it, said to them, “O you of little faith, why do you reason among yourselves because you have brought no bread? 9 Do you not yet understand, or remember the five loaves of the five thousand and how many baskets you took up? 10 Nor the seven loaves of the four thousand and how many large baskets you took up? 11 How is it you do not understand that I did not speak to you concerning bread?—but to beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees.” 12 Then they understood that He did not tell them to beware of the leaven of bread, but of the doctrine of the Pharisees and Sadducees.
Devotion
The Pharisees and Sadducees come to our Lord seeking a sign from heaven. In the previous chapter, our Lord Jesus had fed four thousand men, plus women and children, in the wilderness with seven loaves and a few small fish. It was reminiscent of the supplying of manna and quail to the Israelites during their forty years wandering in the wilderness. But for the religious leaders this sign was not enough of a sign from heaven for them. In reality they do not want a sign. Their asking for a sign is proof of their unbelief. This is why the Lord rightly calls them hypocrites; they are not seeking the thing they are asking for.
Our Lord warns His Apostles to beware of their leaven. Their doctrine was a doctrine of works. If salvation is based even a little bit on our works, then there can be no salvation. All depends on our Savior. He is the only sign from heaven that we get as proof of our salvation. He is the sign of Jonah. He is the One who was in the belly of the earth for three days. He suffered death to atone for the sins of the whole world, so that all those who look to Him in faith as the sign from heaven, which shows that we have salvation, will be saved for all eternity.
Collect: Almighty God, we beseech Thee, show Thy mercy unto Thy humble servants, that we who put no trust in our own merits may not be dealt with after the severity of Thy judgment, but according to Thy mercy; through Jesus Christ, Thy Son, our Lord, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee and the Holy Ghost, ever One God, world without end. Amen.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
