Take heed, beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod

 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?" 

- Mark 8:11-21

On Saturday, we read that in those days, 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 to this generation."  Midst Jesus' expanding popularity, the Pharisees demand a sign from heaven.  This means they are asking for Him give a spectacular display of power -- a sign that He is the Messiah, who was expected to be accompanied by signs.  But Jesus' signs are those that are the result of His compassion coupled with the people's faith, the healings and miraculous feedings in the wilderness that we read of in the Gospels.  The Pharisees have not recognized the signs already being performed; their hearts are hardened, my study bible says, and they ignored the works happening all around them.

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?"   The leaven of the Pharisees, my study bible says, is their doctrine (Matthew 16:12) and their hypocrisy (Luke 12:1).  Leaven in Scripture is used both positively (as in Matthew 13:33) and negatively -- as in this instance.  Either way, leaven symbolizes a force that is both powerful enough, and frequently subtle enough, to permeate and affect everything that is around it.  (See 1 Corinthians 5:6-8.)  As frequently happens in terms of the disciples, they also don't "understand" His signs either!  But the great difference is the journey of faith; neither do they demand signs as do the Pharisees.  

The Pharisees and the disciples both have trouble grasping the signs of Jesus.  But their orientation is entirely different.  The Pharisees are the religious leadership.  They are the experts in Scripture, and the experts in what constitute traditional and expected signs of the Messiah.  Jesus has made the deaf to hear and the mute to speak (see Friday's reading).  He has fed the people with "bread in the wilderness" (Saturday's reading, above).  There are all kinds of signs, reflections of Scripture in which these men are experts, that one simply must have one's heart and spiritual eyes and ears opened to understand.  Jesus speaks to the disciples of the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod.  Herod, also, will demand signs from Christ, but Christ will refuse him (when He is sent by Pilate for judgment, see Luke 22:6-12).  Herod's approach to Christ, as with John the Baptist, was to indulge a kind of fascination or curiosity about the holy.  The Pharisees, on the other hand, are zealously protective of their places, and their hardness of heart and hypocrisy reflect their priorities.   Both the Pharisees and Herod want a sign on demand, a God who bows to their authority, their criticisms, their choices.    But this is not the way that the holy works, not the way the Holy Spirit does His work.  Jesus' ministry is one entirely of obedience to the Father.  Indeed, the other great example of holiness we have at this point in the Gospel is John the Baptist, one who has dedicated his life solely to God and to obedience to God, sacrificing every human comfort in order  to do so more fully and substantially.  The great difference between the disciples (who have failed to discern these spectacular signs of feeding the multitude in the wilderness with the multiplication of loaves and fishes) and that of the Pharisees and Herod is the journey of faith they are on.  The Pharisees and Herod are headed one way, and they another.  Their discernment and understanding may be gradual, but they wait on Christ.  They follow Him in faith.  They are led by Him in faith, even as we see Jesus taking them from one side of the Sea of Galilee to the other, responding to the growing threats of the religious leadership.  This teaches us something essential about faith:  it's all about the journey.  It is about the trust we invest in God to lead us.  Even if the disciples' hearts are hardened to the presence of the Kingdom in these miracles of feeding in the wilderness (so that they do not understand when Jesus warns them of the "leaven of the Pharisees" and think He's upset because they haven't brought bread for the journey across the Sea!), nevertheless they are on the journey of faith.  It teaches us the significance of the journey itself:  that it is more important which direction we're headed toward than where we might be at the present moment, how great our understanding is, or what we think we know.    God invests in us in proportion to what we invest in God.  The Holy Spirit will be at work in them after Pentecost, and Christ -- despite His frustrations on display in today's reading -- is with them as He leads them through His ministry.  In all ways, we're to be like these disciples.  That is, we're to understand ourselves as "learners."  The journey of faith is one for a lifetime of life-long learning.  It simply does not stop.  Every occasion of life is one that opens a door for us to ask God what God wants us to see in what is happening now, just as the journey of discipleship unfolds for the disciples.  Let us note that the Gospels show us they don't understand everything that is shown to them either!  Their eyes in this case are not opened to the presence of the Kingdom and the provision of bread that Christ would not be anxious about!   But their minds are on a shopping list, while He is expanding their very understanding of the fullness of life itself.  Let us be aware of ourselves and where we are at each moment.  The real key to a prayerful life is simply remembering God in all times, whether we are shopping at the grocery store or in the middle of a crisis or blessed with a time of great beauty and joy.  We're being led somewhere, on a journey for our spiritual eyes and ears to be opened -- for the moment of grace that awaits our understanding and works through even a chance remark.  Let us be attentive, and remember where we want to be headed.