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, 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."  Now the Pharisees are beginning to actively pursue Christ, seeking to dispute with Him, and asking for a sign from heaven in order to test Him.  My study bible explains that a sign from heaven means a spectacular display of power.  It says that the time of the Messiah among the Jews was expected to be accompanied by signs, but these hypocrites (see Matthew 16:1-3) have not recognized the signs which are already being performed by Christ, because their hearts were hardened, 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 that you do 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 Jesus uses it in the parable in Matthew 13:33) and negatively, as He uses it here.  In either case, leaven is symbolic of a force which is powerful enough (and also often subtle enough) to permeate and affect everything around it (see 1 Corinthians 5:6-8).

So what is this allusion to a leaven that permeates things, even which may permeate everything?  Here, Jesus is speaking of the hypocrisy and "hard-heartedness" of the Pharisees.  But leaven as metaphor may also be used to understand sin in general, and especially notions of what sin in an environment can do.  If we think of the "first sin" in the story of Adam and Eve (Genesis 3), what we see in this story is a way in which one sin permeates an environment, and creates a changed condition in the ways that they live and the consequences to that environment.  The word often used for this condition in theological terms is "corruption."  It is not a deep, abiding, integral part of human beings who are created by God, and therefore are essentially good.  But it becomes a kind of subtly permeating influence, which can corrupt the good that is there.  As we have observed in recent readings, such as when Jesus spoke of what "evil things" can truly harm a person (see this reading), this understanding of corruption -- that is, of a subtly corrupting influence -- invites us to act with our own agency, to guard ourselves against such influence by guarding our own thoughts and understanding.  In theological terms, this is frequently called "guarding the heart."  We can see the language of the heart used in today's reading, when Jesus asks the disciples, "Is your heart still hardened?"   In Scriptural language and tradition (and therefore the understanding of the Church), the heart is considered an organ of perception and understanding, separate from the intellect.  It is there in the heart where we know Christ, in a very deep place within us which is unfathomable in its depth.  In the ascetic writings of the Church, my study bible notes, the heart is known as the "seat of knowledge."  But a hardened heart is one which is not permeable to the grace and knowledge of God; that is, it is a heart hardened against it.  This hardening of the heart, Jesus implies by His question to the disciples, can happen through influence, through this "leaven of the Pharisees," a way of thinking that shuts down our openness to the ways of God, and therefore to understanding.  A hardened heart is also a metaphor for one that is unsympathetic, not compassionate for others.  In this case in today's reading, this "leaven" is a narrowed way of looking at life, reducing everything down to some formulae, even abstract "rules" which do not allow for the reality which is right in front of us to be perceived by us.  The Pharisees attempt to draw a line in the sand, so to speak, challenging Jesus to perform some spectacular miracle and "prove" that He really is from God, prove that He is the rumored Messiah.  But marvelous signs are happening all throughout His ministry, just as the multiplication of the loaves was twice done by Christ.  The text in today's reading also opens our eyes to the fact that it's not just the Pharisees who don't want to see or can't accept what is right in front of them, the extraordinary nature of what Christ has done.  It's essentially a brilliant way that the story of Christ and His disciples has of illuminating to us that each of us has this potential weakness.  While the Pharisees are in a league of their own, one could say, the disciples are also vulnerable to this way of thinking that has kept them from truly understanding -- to the point where even Jesus marvels.  And if the disciples are vulnerable to it, then so are we.  In modern popular language, we might find this akin to being in denial about something that is plain as day to others.  The Gospels frequently remind us that the disciples weren't perfect -- they grow in their faith and in the grace that also works as a leaven (as in the parable of Matthew 13:33).  Today's reading is a good illustration of the capabilities that we have for choice.  The disciples are those who are with Christ in order to learn from Him, to be like Him, and with whom He shares His power as He appointed them apostles as well, to be sent out into the world.  They will become the foundation of His Church.  The Pharisees are deeply given over to the leaven of hypocrisy; that is a focus on appearance, and hidden flaws which corrupt well-intentioned law and allow for selfish practices.   They zealously guard their positions.  Again, the Gospels give us those Pharisees and members of the ruling Council who are deeply righteous, such as Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus who become followers of Christ.  Moreover Acts of the Apostles mentions the great teacher Gamaliel and his righteousness (see Acts 5:33-40), who was also mentioned by St. Paul as his teacher (Acts 22:3).  All of this acts together to help us to understand this dividing line between what is nominally good and nominally evil goes through our hearts, and that we have agency -- that is, we have the capacity -- to make choices about the condition of the heart and its receptivity to the things of God.  We are capable of turning this process around, through repentance, or we can choose to be stubbornly or deliberately blind.  We are all on a road somewhere, but remain capable of discernment, as Christ's seemingly incredulous question to the disciples implies:  "How is it that you do not understand?"