8:13-26
After feeding the 4,000, Jesus and His disciples get into a boat and make their way to “the other side”, which was near Bethsaida (v.22). Jesus uses the disciples’ concern over bread to teach them a deeper lesson.
“Take heed, beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod.”
Leaven is a substance containing yeast or baking powder, that causes fermentation and expansion of dough or batter. Leaven was a common Jewish metaphor for an invisible, pervasive influence.
Jesus shares a parable in Luke 13:20-21 to describe the Kingdom of God:
“To what shall I liken the kingdom of God? It is like leaven, which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal till it was all leavened.”
The parable describes what happens when a woman adds leaven (old, fermented dough usually containing lactobacillus and yeast) to a large quantity of flour (about 8 1⁄2 gallons). The living organisms in the leaven grow overnight, so that by morning the entire quantity of dough has been affected.
Jesus’ use of the word here to describe the subtle but pervasive control the religious leaders had on the society. Like leaven that works its way into fresh dough, spreading out through the bread until its effect are evident in the entire batch, so their ideas were gradually infiltrating their minds until they had penetrated and permeated every part of their thinking.
The context seems to be the Pharisees’ desire to see a sign (v.11-12), because they did not believe in Jesus’ identity. This unbelieving attitude, like leaven, had started to permeate the general population. It was a growing corruption.
Do we see signs of leavening in the church today?
V.16 The disciples were continuing to show their lack of spiritual discernment despite the miracles they had witnessed. Jesus’ statement was designed to prod the disciples into a deeper spiritual reflection, but the disciples were focused simply on the fact that they had brought any bread with them.
The sequence of questions posed by Jesus in verses 17-20 was intended to bring the disciples face to face with the problem of their hardened hearts. There was something here that they needed to sort out for themselves, something they could learn only by coming to terms with it themselves. It wasn’t a concept Jesus would lecture them about, a sermon He would preach to them or a proposition He would illustrate for them. He left them, as Mark has left us, with the questions.
How about you? Has there been a time when you were having a hard time understanding something and Jesus was not giving you the answer? Perhaps it’s because He wanted you to dig deeper, leaving you with the questions to ponder.
Jesus leaves the disciples, and us, pondering the question, “How is it you do not understand?”
V.22-26 It’s interesting to see Jesus place the story of the healing of a blind man here, on the heals of Jesus’ discussion with the disciples. Jesus’ healing of the blind man in stages parallels the disciples’ imperfect perception of Jesus. Like the blind man, the disciples were no longer blind, but they could not see clearly either. Only the Holy Spirit could clear their vision.
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