David Leventhal

One of the meta-themes throughout the Gospel of Mark is the failure of the disciples, those closest to Jesus, to fully understand who Jesus is & what He is trying to accomplish.  A clear example of this takes place in chapter 8, when after a brief conflict with the Pharisees (vv. 11-13), Jesus warns the disciples to “watch out; beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod” (v. 15).  The underlying principle for this warning is that a little has the ability to influence/infect a lot.  That’s the idea behind the warning.

This is a strong warning that had clear application to the disciples & likewise should affect us today.  And since we get the benefit of hindsight and we know the rest of the story this warning makes sense to us. 

The disciples, however, struggle to keep up with what Jesus is communicating.  They assume that he’s referring back to the miracle He just performed in feeding a crowd of four thousand people.  Their thought process might have gone something like this: 

• Jesus multiplied some bread – on two occasions (Mark 6:30-44 & Mark 8:1-10)
• Bread has leaven in it
• Jesus just talked about the leaven of the Pharisees
• Therefore, He must be referring back to the miracle & the fact that we only brought one loaf with us in the boat.

Ummm….not so much.  The disciples see the physical need of food.  Jesus sees the spiritual need of discernment.  The disciples are worried because they only have a little bit of bread for the whole lot of them.  Jesus wants them to realize that a little bit of spiritual leaven is plenty to infect the whole lot of them.  The disciples think that one loaf won’t feed them all.  Jesus is not worried about their bread supply because (as the two feeding miracles in Mark demonstrate) He feeds thousands of people off of one loaf.

Jesus fires off nine questions to help the disciples to recognize that they are focused on the wrong thing.  The last question sums up the first eight “Do you not yet understand?”  The narrative ends without a response from the disciples.  The lack of a recorded response from them implies that the answer is, “No….we don’t understand.”  Even though the disciples were with Jesus for three years, at this point they did not know how the story was going to unfold.  They did not have a clue about what Jesus would end up doing – voluntarily laying down His life on a cross & rising from the dead three days later.  We should be able to extend some grace to these men who were just trying to keep up with Jesus. 

But that last question (v. 21) is one He could ask me daily – “Do you not yet understand?”  In other words, having seen all that I have done & said are you still really concerned about the physical nature.  Don’t you see that every need you’ve had has been taken care of?  Haven’t you clued in to the fact that the key issue in your life is not your stomach but your soul?  Isn’t it clear by the way I’ve interacted with the lost, the hurting & the prideful that I’m up to more than just feeding & healing people’s physical infirmities?

And here’s the reality….I’ve read the story from cover to cover.  I know how it ends.  And yet, even with the full story laid about before me I still find myself focusing on and asking about loaves of bread.  My heart can still be hardened.  My eyes can still fail to see & my ears fail to hear.  And in the same way that Jesus is patient with the disciples – never giving up on them, never leaving them for another group of smarter people, seeing them through to the very end….He is patient with me.  He’ll finish the work He’s started – in spite of my short memory & shortcomings.  

O Jesus, thou hast promised To all who follow thee

That where thou art in glory There shall my servant be;

And, Jesus, I have promised To serve thee to the end;

O give me grace to follow, My Master and my Friend.