How is it you did not understand?

 Then the Pharisees came out and began to dispute with Him, seeking from Him a sign from heaven, testing Him.  But He sighed deeply in His spirit, and said, "Why does this generation seek a sign?  Assuredly, I say to you, no sign shall be given this generation."

And He left them, and getting into the boat again, departed to the other side.  Now the disciples had forgotten to take bread, and they did not have more than one loaf with them in the boat.  Then He charged them, saying, "Take heed, beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod."  And they reasoned among themselves, saying, "It is because we have no bread."  But Jesus, being aware of it, said to them, "Why do you reason because you have no bread?  Do you not yet perceive nor understand?  Is your heart still hardened?  Having eyes, do you not see?  And having ears, do you not hear?  And do you not remember?  When I broke the five loaves for the five thousand, how many baskets full of fragments did you take up?"  They said to Him, "Twelve."  Also, when I broke the seven for the four thousand, how many large baskets full of fragments did you take up?"  And they said, "Seven."  So He said to them, "How is it you did not understand?"

Then He came to Bethsaida; and they brought a blind man to Him, and begged Him to touch him.  So He took the blind man by the hand and led him out of the town.  And when He had spit on his eyes and put His hands on him, He asked him if he saw anything.  And he looked up and said, "I see men like trees, walking."  Then He put His hands on his eyes again and made him look up.  And he was restored and saw everyone clearly.  Then He sent him away to his house, saying, "Neither go into the town, nor tell anyone in the town."

- Mark 8:11-26

Yesterday, we read that at this point in Jesus' ministry, the multitude being very great and having nothing to eat, Jesus called His disciples to Him and said to them, "I have compassion on the multitude, because they have now continued with Me three days and have nothing to eat.  And if I send them away hungry to their own houses, they will faint on the way; for some of them have come from afar."  Then His disciples answered Him, "How can one satisfy these people with bread here in the wilderness?"  He asked them, "How many loaves do you have?"  And they said, "Seven."  So He commanded the multitude to sit down on the ground.  And He took the seven loaves and gave thanks, broke them and gave them to His disciples to set before them; and they set them before the multitude.  They also had a few small fish; and having blessed them, He said to set them also before them.  So they ate and were filled, and they took up seven large baskets of leftover fragments.  Now those who had eaten were about four thousand.  And He sent them away, immediately got into the boat with His disciples, and came to the region of Dalmanutha.

 Then the Pharisees came out and began to dispute with Him, seeking from Him a sign from heaven, testing Him.  But He sighed deeply in His spirit, and said, "Why does this generation seek a sign?  Assuredly, I say to you, no sign shall be given this generation."   A sign from heaven would be some spectacular kind of display of power, something that will "convince" others to believe, beyond a doubt.  But this isn't the way that faith works, at least not the kind of faith that Jesus wants people to have in Him.  That's not the kind of trust that faith implies, and not the type of relationship Christ offers.   Love and trust work in other ways.  In addition, we already know the signs that are happening within the ministry:  the healings and His miraculous feeding of the many in the wilderness.  What the religious leadership wants is to define the terms in which Christ would be recognized, to frame His ministry in their vision of what His holy power and authority is and how it should work.

And He left them, and getting into the boat again, departed to the other side.  Now the disciples had forgotten to take bread, and they did not have more than one loaf with them in the boat.  Then He charged them, saying, "Take heed, beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod."  And they reasoned among themselves, saying, "It is because we have no bread."  But Jesus, being aware of it, said to them, "Why do you reason because you have no bread?  Do you not yet perceive nor understand?  Is your heart still hardened?  Having eyes, do you not see?  And having ears, do you not hear?  And do you not remember?  When I broke the five loaves for the five thousand, how many baskets full of fragments did you take up?"  They said to Him, "Twelve."  Also, when I broke the seven for the four thousand, how many large baskets full of fragments did you take up?"  And they said, "Seven."  So He said to them, "How is it you did not understand?"  My study bible explains that "the leaven of the Pharisees is their doctrine (Matthew 16:12) and their hypocrisy (Luke 12:1).  In Scripture, leaven is used both positively (as in Matthew 13:33) and negatively, as it is here.  In either case, leaven symbolizes a force powerful enough (and often subtle enough) to permeate and affect everything around it (see 1 Corinthians 5:6-8)."  Again, Mark's Gospel repeatedly seems to give us hints as to how Jesus is thinking and what He is thinking.  Here, Jesus is rather incredulous as to why His own disciples still do not perceive the miraculous nature of the feedings in the wilderness, and instead believed that Jesus' real concern in remarking on the "leaven of the Pharisees" was with the fact that they hadn't brought bread!

 Then He came to Bethsaida; and they brought a blind man to Him, and begged Him to touch him.  So He took the blind man by the hand and led him out of the town.  And when He had spit on his eyes and put His hands on him, He asked him if he saw anything.  And he looked up and said, "I see men like trees, walking."  Then He put His hands on his eyes again and made him look up.  And he was restored and saw everyone clearly.  Then He sent him away to his house, saying, "Neither go into the town, nor tell anyone in the town."  My study bible explains that the people of Bethsaida were unbelieving (see Matthew 11:21).  Therefore, Jesus leads the blind man out of the town in order to heal him, so that "people would not scoff at the miracle and bring upon themselves greater condemnation.  It adds that the fact that the blind man was healed in stages indicates a small amount of faith, because healing occurs according to one's faith (Mark 6:5-6).   But a little faith was enough -- and it increased with the touch of Christ.  My study bible also notes that Jesus' command not to return to the town symbolizes that we mustn't return to our sins once we've been forgiven.

 Of course, the first thing we notice about today's reading are all the parallels in the stories.  The Pharisees are surely blind to what Jesus has been doing in His ministry.  In Monday's reading we read about a deaf and mute man who was healed, and about the attendant "publicity" which Jesus didn't want.   (He commanded them not to tell others, but of course, "the more He commanded them, the more widely they proclaimed it.")  The healing of the deaf and mute man is a sign of the Messiah, as proclaimed by Isaiah, and today's reading confirms yet another one of those signs -- that "the eyes of the blind are opened" (see Isaiah 35:5-6).   So the Pharisees, in demanding a great sign of proof of identity and authority from Jesus, are also showing a great blindness themselves.  And then there are the disciples, who take Jesus' remark about the need to "beware the leaven of the Pharisees" and decide that He must be upset because they'd forgotten to bring bread with them.  It's really amazing to read Jesus questioning His disciples regarding the two feedings in the wilderness.  Don't they remember how He fed five thousand on one occasion?  Or more recently, when He'd fed four thousand -- with just a few loaves and fishes that were on hand?  How is it they don't know what He's talking about?  Don't they have eyes to see?  Don't they have ears to hear?  Don't they remember?  How is it they didn't understand?  Once again, it's remarkable to consider all the glimpses that Mark gives us into Jesus' thinking.  He's baffled by the lack of understanding and recognition even in His disciples.  There is a lot of blindness going around!  And so, then we come to His tremendous healing of the blind man.  We have to understand what kind of powerful and potent sign this really is of the presence of the Kingdom, and the Messiah in their midst.  But this isn't a kind of overwhelming sign in which Jesus would come into the world and "prove" to everyone who He is.  His power doesn't work that way; His power works via faith, and that's the key, really, to understanding what all of these intersecting threads are really about.  What's happening with the faith of the Pharisees, or how about His own disciples, whose hearts are still too hardened to understand about the feedings in the wilderness?  The blind man is taken out of the town, because (as my study bible explains) there just isn't enough faith there for Jesus to do His holy work.  Rather than creating some overwhelming sign for the world to be convinced, Jesus takes this man away from the town.  And then his healing comes in stages.  "I see men like trees, walking" is a sign of growing awareness, yet still not clear sight.  It's the way we are when we can't quite grasp something, but we edge a little closer even though we don't have the full picture.  And it's the great metaphor that makes the difference for us between the people of the town who have no faith, the Pharisees who demand a sign -- and the disciples.  The disciples have a little faith.  There are things that even Jesus finds hard to grasp that they haven't understood yet.  But they are on a road going somewhere.  They have started the journey of faith.  They're like this man who can't quite see, and can only make out "men like trees, walking" -- something that doesn't make much sense at this point.  But "a little" faith is the great difference here; with "a little" we are on our way somewhere and we have a chance to go further down that road and truly see where He is going and where He is leading.  But it takes discipline and persistence.  It also takes the courage to steer clear of those who'd seek to destroy that faith, and to persist in the commands of the Teacher.  That's the lesson we take for the day, the difference between a little faith and no faith.  Remember the parable Jesus gave us of the mustard seed, or the first parable we were given, that of the sower.  What really matters is what we do with the seed of "a little" faith, and how we continue on the journey with the Teacher, the One who's sown the seeds.  Are we ready to take the steps we need today?  Can we follow His teaching in discipleship?