Mark 8:14-21:  14 Now the disciples had forgotten to bring any bread; and they had only one loaf with them in the boat. 15 And he cautioned them, saying, ‘Watch out—beware of the yeast of the Pharisees and the yeast of Herod.’ 16 They said to one another, ‘It is because we have no bread.’ 17 And becoming aware of it, Jesus said to them, ‘Why are you talking about having no bread? Do you still not perceive or understand? Are your hearts hardened? 18 Do you have eyes, and fail to see? Do you have ears, and fail to hear? And do you not remember? 19 When I broke the five loaves for the five thousand, how many baskets full of broken pieces did you collect?’ They said to him, ‘Twelve.’ 20 ‘And the seven for the four thousand, how many baskets full of broken pieces did you collect?’ And they said to him, ‘Seven.’ 21Then he said to them, ‘Do you not yet understand?’

Exactly midway through Mark’s gospel we come upon this story of Jesus and the disciples, again in a boat, this time apparently with a lack of bread. But it is not the lack of bread that is the issue; rather, it is the disciples’ lack of understanding.

As the reader of the story we are made aware that there’s one loaf of bread in the boat—enough to take care of one person, perhaps, but apparently not enough for all. But the story doesn’t indicate that there’s any discussion about the bread, or lack of bread, nobody appears to be complaining – it’s just a note to the reader that there is only one loaf……and that the disciples had forgotten to bring bread.

Noting the lack of bread, a dialogue begins with Jesus making an announcement, “AHEM! watch out! Beware the yeast of the Pharisees and Herod.” Perhaps the disciples were just focusing on the rowing, or those not rowing were just lounging around, and, as if out of nowhere, Jesus makes this announcement about yeast. So they turn to each other, “Huh? Is it because we have no bread? Is that what he’s talking about? What is he talking about?” Notice that they say “no bread” instead of “one loaf.” Are they pessimistic? Or blind? Perhaps both?

And what is this business about the Pharisees and Herod – now that’s an odd pairing! Say what you want about the Pharisees, the gatekeepers of Mosaic law, they were no friends of Herod, the Jewish political leader and puppet of Rome. So what did the Pharisees have in common with Herod as to warrant Jesus’ lumping them into the same category? Perhaps it has something to do with their response to Jesus’ miracles. Earlier in Mark we are told that Herod got wind of Jesus’ miracles only to conclude that this was John the Baptist back from the dead. Herod heard of the miracles but misunderstood and drew a wrong conclusion. For their part, the Pharisees were interested in Jesus’ miracles, too, but the truth was that no matter what Jesus did, it would never be enough to convince them he was the Christ. They would always find a way to question his credibility. When he cast out demons, they said it was by the devil’s power that he did it. When he healed people in the Temple, the Pharisees complained he had broken the Sabbath and so it didn’t matter what Jesus did—a lawbreaker could never be the Messiah.

So the yeast shared in common by both the Pharisees and Herod was their ability to see the miracles but not understand their importance. And that is what Jesus is talking about – understanding, not bread. And he fires off a long list of questions the first of which is “Do you still not perceive and understand?” Perceive and understand what we should wonder. Possibly the other questions will help us answer that question.

Question #2: Are your hearts hardened?” ….Wait. Haven’t we heard that before – ah, yes, at least the reader has heard this before in chapter three when a man with a shriveled hand is brought to Jesus in the synagogue on the Sabbath and we’re told that Jesus is angered at the hardness of the hearts of the faithful in the synagogue who were more concerned about keeping the Sabbath than this man’s hand. And again, even those close to Jesus are accused of hard hearts. In chapter 6, in the boat after the feeding of the five thousand, Jesus walks on the water to meet up with the disciples and they are terrified. Jesus calms them with words and the winds die down, and then we, the readers, are told that the disciples were astounded “for they did not understand about the loaves; their hearts were hardened.”

Question #3: “Do you have eyes but fail to see, and ears but fail to hear?” What a minute, we’ve heard that before haven’t we? Yes, in chapter 4 when Jesus makes a strange comment about speaking in parables to “outsiders” so that some will see but not perceive and hear but not understand, while at the same time he said to the disciples that the secret of the kingdom of God had been revealed to them (presumably the insiders). Is Jesus taking a dig at the disciples right now, as if to say in spite of being his close companions they’re like outsiders and still don’t get him?! Or is this a reference to the healing of the deaf and mute man, whose ears were made to hear by the touch of Jesus?

Questions #4 & #5: Jesus grills the disciples about the leftovers from the feeding of the five thousand and four thousand. “How many baskets full were leftover?” They know the answers “12” and “7.” Is he talking about bread again? Apparently not, because even though they get the answers right Jesus has one last question for them.

Question #6 “Do you not yet understand?” The same question as the first one - like bookends. But, understand what? That Jesus is the Messiah. The disciples had plenty of opportunity to perceive and understand this. They had opportunity for their hearts to be softened. Do they not understand that Jesus is the Messiah who heals and provides for the hungry out of his compassion? The secrets of the kingdom have been revealed to them through Jesus’ words and actions. Do they still not understand that Jesus is the Messiah who entrusts the secrets of the kingdom to his followers and whose healing touch is nothing less than the power of God? They’ve witnessed that Jesus is a font of life so generous that when he feeds crowds, there are always leftovers. Yet they just couldn’t grasp it. And knowing this, Jesus warns them, warns us, about what he calls the “yeast of the Pharisees and of Herod” - the tendency for certain ideas or teachings to permeate a person’s heart the way yeast eventually gets into every part of dough – ideas that we need just one more proof, one more sign; or that we need the Messiah to fit into our preconceived notions of God resulting in a hardening of the heart inhibiting us from letting go, embracing the mystery and believing that Jesus is the Messiah – the bread of life.

Jesus wasn’t talking about bread – he was talking about understanding. In a while, though, we will be talking about bread, giving thanks, breaking it, and taking what we believe is the bread of life. I invite you to take, eat, drink, and remember - to perceive and understand - that Jesus is the Messiah, sacrificed to forgive your every sin. I invite you to receive his healing touch in the miracle of his Spirit’s presence among us in the bread and the wine. But like the feeding of the five and four thousand, please note the leftovers. Please perceive that your soul will receive not just enough bread to last you until bedtime later this evening. Please understand that you will have baskets-full of leftovers in your soul, more than enough to sustain you on your journey of faith, no matter what you encounter, and more than enough to carry out in the world, a world that desperately needs to perceive and understand that Jesus is the Messiah.

-René Johnson

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