How is it that 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 that you do not understand?"

- Mark 8:11-21

On Saturday, we read that in those days, when Christ was in the Decapolis, 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."  In our recent readings (of Friday and Saturday), Jesus has been first in the Gentile territory of Tyre and Sidon, north of Galilee, and then in the Decapolis, a mixed region of Jews and Gentiles.  He traveled there after disputing with the Pharisees and some scribes (see Thursday's reading), in order to avoid further conflict and conspicuousness within the Jewish homelands.  But here, He's clearly back in Jewish territory, and we can see His understanding of what would happen once He returned -- the Pharisees have come out to dispute with Him again.  This time, they're back with another demand, and it calls to the questions about His authority to do what He does, and to teach as He does.   They're demanding a sign from heaven.  A sign from heaven, according to my study bible, means a spectacular display of power.  They want to be convinced by signs that He's the Messiah.  But clearly there have been plenty of signs given in His ministry, all kinds of healings which we've read about so far in Mark's Gospel, and Jesus is not going to perform a special sign just to convince those whose hearts are too hardened to grasp what He's about and what is happening in His ministry.  Once again, they demand, and He responds.  He's looking for faith, not coercion.

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 that you do not understand?"   My study bible tells us that the leaven of the Pharisees is their doctrine (Matthew 16:12) and their hypocrisy (Luke 12:1).  Now it's Jesus' turn to be incredulous as His disciples still have failed to grasp the miraculous two feedings in the wilderness, of the five thousand, and four thousand.  Do they really think He is complaining because they have no bread, after those two experiences?  Do they think He's literally speaking about lacking bread?   How is it that they do not understand?  As is true of many occasions in the Gospels, the disciples take what He's saying literally and miss the meaning -- this time, to His exasperation.  My study bible says that in Scripture, leaven is used both positively (as in Matthew 13:33) and negatively, as it is here.  In both cases, leaven symbolizes a force which is powerful enough (and frequently subtle enough) to permeate and to affect everything around it (see 1 Corinthians 5:6-8).

We're given a very interesting contrast through today's reading.  There are first of all the Pharisees, who have got hold of a bone to pick with Jesus, and they are not going to let it go.  Over and over again, questions of His authority will come up.  Where does He get the authority to teach in the temple?  When He comes to Jerusalem during Holy Week, and is greeted by the crowds as befits the Messiah, He will go to cleanse the temple -- and again, the demand will arise.  Where does He get the authority to do what He does?   Right from the beginning, Jesus teaches not as a disciple of a famous rabbi, not as a scribe, but speaking with His own authority, and this astonishes people.  It enrages those whose work it is to regulate and guard the faith, especially as He disputes with them and gives back as good as He gets.  He will not back down from His own mission and ministry, and what He's been sent  to do.  Where does that authority come from?  He wants people who will discern the answer to that question through faith, through the spiritual eyes and ears to see and hear with, as the Gospels so often remind us, citing Isaiah (see Isaiah 6:9-10).  The Pharisees demand to be convinced through some spectacular sign, as if there are not already abundant signs in the ministry Christ has been given.  But they don't want to see, and they don't want to hear.  They want to demand conditions, proofs, and assert their own authority to judge Him.  By contrast, we have the apostles.  Growing in faith, they still struggle.  And remarkably -- even to Jesus -- they also fail to grasp things that have been done right in front of them!  They think He's complaining about a lack of bread, when they have just experienced two miraculous feedings in the wilderness from a handful of loaves.  We've given the contrast of the deliberate hard-heartedness of the Pharisees, jealous of any challenge to their authority and position, and the disciples, whose minds simply cannot and will not take in something as stupendous as the multiplication of the loaves in the wilderness -- even though it's happened twice already.  One party demands proofs for belief, the other simply hasn't gotten there yet (even to Jesus' apparent consternation).  The text gives us this contrast in a lack of faith.  One side suffers from hypocrisy and hard-heartedness, and clearly is charged with knowing better.  The other shows us human frailty and limitation -- following Jesus in discipleship, but still failing to grasp what is being plainly shown to them.   But they are on a journey of faith, and what makes the difference is our capacity for enlightenment vs. our hard-hearted refusal to receive a truth that will challenge who we are.  The disciples know they have something to learn, but the leadership as a whole refuses humility in this sense.  Everything depends upon our understanding of mystery -- that there are things beyond what we know and can immediately grasp, and moreover, that we are called to that place of mystery.  We are called to grow in it, to experience it, and to be stretched -- to have our hearts expanded to what we don't expect and don't yet know.  Jesus will carry the disciples on to places they literally could never imagine, to experiences absolutely beyond their expectations.  But that is what our faith is like, if we truly follow them, and in their footsteps.  That is where He calls us as well.  But we need eyes to see and ears to hear, a humility that assumes there is always more we need to learn, from an authority much greater than ourselves -- which does not suit itself to our expectations.   "For," as Isaiah writes, "'My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways,' says the Lord.  'For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts'" (Isaiah 55:8-9).