How is it you do 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 to 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 do 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 in those days of 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 them 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 to this generation."   The Pharisees claim to desire an overwhelming sign designed to "convince" them He is Messiah and also tailored to their objections.  But this isn't the way that faith works, and it's not the way that Christ works.  They want their own set of proofs, a spectacular event of power.   But this is accompanied by their refusal to recognize what He has done, the healings they know about, and even objected to.  (See for example this reading.)  The Messiah was expected to be accompanied by signs, but the ones that have come they do not wish to recognize.

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 do not understand?"   "Leaven" is very rarely used as a positive symbol in the Bible, particularly in the Old Testament.  (Jesus uses it positively in one parable.)   What would be the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod?  We know that Herod "feared John, knowing that he was a just and holy man, and he protected him.  And when he heard him, he did many things, and heard him gladly" (see this earlier reading, on the beheading of John the Baptist).  Herod is a strange figure, who seems to have thought both of John the Baptist and later on, when He was in Herod's custody, of Jesus, as curious things to explore -- sort of like playthings, from which Herod would also ask to see signs.  Jesus "answered him nothing."  My study bible says that the leaven of the Pharisees is their doctrine (Matthew 16:12) and their hypocrisy (Luke:12:1).  It adds that in either case, leaven is a symbol of a force that is powerful enough (and subtle enough) to permeate and effect everything around it (see also 1 Corinthians 5:6-8 for examples of "old" and "new" leaven).   The disciples fail to understand Jesus, not for the first time and not for the last!  He points to His own feeding miracles, the both of them, to show them how they have misunderstood His concerns.  "How is it that you do not understand?" indicates again Jesus is marveling at responses to Him, and it is a teaching on the meaning of "hardness of heart" -- the failure to comprehend what has been clearly given, to understand the signs in their midst.

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 points out that the people of Bethsaida were unbelieving (Matthew 11:21), so Jesus leads this blind man out of town to heal him, "so that the people would not scoff at the miracle and bring upon themselves greater condemnation.  (We can look back at the healing of Jairus' daughter for an earlier example of something similar.)  My study bible also notes that the fact that this man healed in stages shows that he had a small amount of faith, because healing occurs according to one's faith (Mark 6:5-6).  But that little faith was enough, and it increased with the touch of Christ.  We tie in this example with the lack of understanding, above, by the apostles.  Faith is something that grows in us with God's help!  But we start from where we are (see yesterday's reading).  The gradual sight of this man is also a parallel to our own growth and healing in the love and grace of God.   Jesus' command not to return to the town seems to tell us not to return to our previous "place" once we've been healed:  the sins that we're forgiven, and perhaps the company we keep that hinders our faith.

Today's reading couples with yesterday's about starting where we are, so to speak.  Faith is the ingredient that grows things, and grows in us. The leadership is missing something, the capacity to recognize something in Jesus.  Their demand for a sign comes out of a refusal to acknowledge this; perhaps this is how we can understand "hardness of heart"  -- a failure to take in, to comprehend.  It is too threatening to their positions.  Thus, their demands for a sign.  Jesus tells the disciples to "beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod," and they fail to understand Him as well.  He's perplexed in His question, "How is it you do not understand?"  The disciples still haven't "taken it in" that Jesus multiplied the bread in the wilderness,  on two separate occasions.  We know, of course, what the apostles will go on to do, but we have to take note of the level of faith at this point.  They stay with Christ; they are drawn to Him and cannot deny it, but perhaps they've hit a stumbling block.  Perhaps Jesus' warning is precisely directed to that stumbling block:  the leaven of the Pharisees and of Herod that demands some spectacular sign rather than being open to the reality of God unfolding and teaching something God's way, the way in which God teaches us about God.  And then there is the healing of the blind man, who cannot see.  He must be drawn away from the leaven of cynicism and ridicule, the steadfast stubbornness that takes pride in limited understanding, a sense of superiority in what is "given" and agreed upon and comfortable.  What Jesus offers is an opening up, a shaking up, something that must change everybody's point of view.  He must be drawn away from this environment in order to be healed, to allow the mustard seed of faith to grow -- and thus his gradual healing and sight, first partial, and later developed -- a perfect metaphor for our understanding.   Jesus tells him that he must stay away from the town; don't subject what he's gained to the attacks of ridicule and derision he'll face, the leaven of the Pharisees and of Herod that always demands to be forced into a change of mind.  God does not coerce us into repentance.  Jesus won't coerce anybody into faith.  It's not easy to deal with the uncertainties of change.  To change one's mind is to reorient oneself to the world, a very frightening and insecure proposition.  We have to be prepared for this kind of shake up in our lives, to go the full distance, to overcome the stumbling blocks.  We might have to distance ourselves from what keeps us from living with our new sight, to cultivate a detachment we didn't have in the past, but that is part of the journey.  Can we go the full distance?  Can we stick with it through the bumps in the road, the fear, the new, the unknown -- even our own blindness?