<p>8:15<i> And he ordered them, saying: Take heed Beware of the yeast of the Pharisees and the yeast of Herod</i>- The Lord had earlier used yeast as a symbol of influence and effect worked by teaching (Mt. 13:33). But they didn&rsquo;t grasp that He meant &lsquo;beware of the influence and teaching of the Jewish leaders&rsquo;- even though that had been such a major theme of His teaching from the beginning. Instead, they superstitiously felt that they must be at fault concerning &lsquo;bread&rsquo; because the Lord had mentioned yeast, and so they concluded that the Lord considered their forgetting to &lsquo;take bread&rsquo; as being somehow sinful. They were really so far off in understanding, and yet the Lord elsewhere speaks so positively about their understanding of His message.</p><p>The preaching of the Kingdom by us is likened to leaven- a symbol for that which is unclean (Mk. 8:15; 1 Cor. 5:6-8). Perhaps the Lord used this symbol to show that it is our witnessing as humans, as the sons of men, which is what will influence the &lsquo;lump&rsquo; of humanity. People are increasingly acting like the personalities they feel they are expected to be, rather than <i>being</i> who they <i>are</i>.</p><p>Their fear that they might have done something ritually wrong regarding bread was an outcome of their being influenced by the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees. Their doctrines led to folk like the disciples becoming paranoid and self-suspicious over issues which were irrelevant, and indeed a distraction from the thrust of the Lord's teaching and intended way of life for His followers. The same effect can be observed in sincere believers who have fallen under the influence of Christian legalists.</p>