Matthew 16:1-9

1Some Pharisees and Sadducees went to see Jesus. They wanted to test him to see what he would do. They asked him, ‘Do something powerful for us to see. Then we will believe that God has sent you.’

2Jesus answered them, ‘Sometimes the sky is red in the evening. Then you say, “Tomorrow the weather will be good.”

3Sometimes in the morning the sky is red and there are dark clouds. Then you say, “Today there will be a storm.” So you look at the sky and you know what the weather will be. But special things are happening now. And you do not understand what they mean.

4The people who are alive today are very bad. They do not obey God. They want God to show them something powerful. But God will not do this for them. They will only see the same powerful thing that God did for Jonah.’ Then Jesus went away and left them.

5Jesus and his disciples sailed over to the other side of the lake. His disciples forgot to take any bread with them.

6Jesus said to them, ‘Be careful! Do not accept the yeast of the Pharisees and the Sadducees.’

7The disciples began to talk to each other about this. ‘Jesus is saying this because we did not bring any bread with us,’ they said.

8Jesus knew what they were talking about. So he said to them, ‘You should not be arguing with each other about the bread. You should trust me more than you do.

9You still do not understand. You should remember that I used five loaves of bread to feed 5,000 men. Think about how many baskets you filled with pieces of food after the meal.