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 sighted 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, 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 sighted 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."   What is a sign from heaven?  My study Bible explains that such a sign that is sought here would be 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 (Matthew 16:1-3) have not recognized the many signs already being performed by Jesus.  Their hearts were hardened, meaning they have rendered themselves incapable of understanding -- and they ignored the works happening all around them.  Jesus seeks followers capable of faith.  These men only demand to test Him.  Such tests set their own standard, and have nothing to do with the desire to perceive the things of God.

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?"  My study Bible explains that the leaven of the Pharisees is their doctrine (Matthew 16:12) and their hypocrisy (Luke 12:1).  In Scripture, it says, "leaven" is used both positively (as in the parable at Matthew 13:33) and negatively, as Jesus does here.  In either case, leaven is symbolic of a force which is powerful enough -- and frequently subtle enough -- to permeate and affect everything around it (see St. Paul's usage at 1 Corinthians 5:6-8). 

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); and so, Jesus takes this blind man out of the town in order to heal him, away from the people who would scoff at the miracle and thus bring greater condemnation upon themselves.  (See also the healing of Jairus' daughter, in which Christ put those who ridiculed outside; He shored up the faith of her parents with His exhortation, "Do not be afraid; only believe" and with the presence of His three closest disciples.)   Moreover, it explains the healing of this blind man in stages as showing that he had only a small amount of faith.  Healing occurs according to one's faith (Mark 6:5-6). But this little faith was enough, and it increased with the touch of Christ.  In addition, my study Bible states that Christ's command not to return to the town is symbolic of the need not to return to our sins once we have been forgiven. 

Today's reading once again takes us back to the essential issue of faith, and how important it is to our lives.  But we go into some details here, in the few stories offered, and so the reading gives us to examine various issues about faith and what it does, and how we need it.  All of these issues remain pertinent to us today, regardless of when they first occurred, or the ancient context of the Gospel.  Taking the stories in today's Gospel reading in order, we first come to the Pharisees, powerful religious leaders from Jerusalem who seek themselves to regulate the faith.  They come yet again to Jesus, after having engaged in an open confrontation (and challenge from Jesus) which subsequently sent Him temporarily into Gentile territory, where He wished to remain hidden.  This time, they come to Him with their own challenge, which we can see as a sort of line drawn in the sand.  They demand of Him a sign from heaven, testing Him.  Let us consider what testing Jesus means.  First of all, this is a test of their own devising.  But Jesus is in the world not to please human beings, nor effectively to offer proofs on others' terms, but to follow the will of God the Father.  In terms of the works of God, it's up to these men, and all the rest of us, to seek to discern that same will -- not to impose tests upon God.  For this reason, and likely many others, Jesus will not offer proofs on demand.  His mission is to seek and find the lost sheep of the house of Israel, who will come to Him by faith.  These men test Him out of envy for their positions.  This is "the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod," which comes in the form of desire for proofs on demand, essentially a way to test power, and a dangerous game of finding fault.  But we can see that even the disciples are in some way affected by this, for they are effectively blinded to it.  They don't understand when Jesus tells them to beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod, this type of gain-saying that sets traps by demanding proofs that cannot be delivered.  If we look around, we can still see today similar sorts of traps set by those whose real desire is to reject God and faith for themselves, proofs that can't come, straw men which in fact prove nothing.  These are forms of heresies asserted, such as claiming that if God is good there would be no evil in the world, or even echoing the taunting of the Pharisees at the Cross, that if Christ were really holy or divine He would not die on the Cross.  These are very human ways to doubt God, whose thoughts are not our thoughts, and whose ways are not our ways (Isaiah 55:8).  As such, they can become temptations for us, too.  Here, the disciples are so set in thinking a particular very "earthly" way that they cannot understand what Jesus is talking about, and assume that He's upset because they've forgotten to bring bread with them.  Apparently, they've also forgotten that Jesus has, in recent times, fed five thousand people in the wilderness out of a few loaves, and subsequently four thousand on another occasion in the same manner.  Even Jesus seems to be perplexed at their lack of comprehension:  "How is it you do not understand?"  If ever we needed an example of how "proofs" do not work when it comes to questions of lack of faith, this is it.  Nonetheless, such examples of the failure of Jesus' personally chosen disciples to understand are in the Gospels for a reason, and they are instructive to us for our own journeys of faith.  Finally, there is the story of the blind man and his healing.  It's most important that we pay attention to Christ's open efforts to find ways to shore up the man's faith -- first of all, in order to facilitate his healing to begin with, and second of all, in order to retain his faith and his well-being.  My study Bible points out that the man begins with a little bit of faith, but this increased with the touch of Christ.  The emphasis for us has to be on the recognition of the importance of taking steps to shore up our faith, even daily.  For while some would seem to suggest that be "saved" means simply a one-time declaration which we can then take for granted, this isn't the story of faith the Gospels reveal to us.  In fact, we really cannot take things for granted in the sense that, while God always extends love to us, we, however, have to do a little work.  We must "work the works of God" (John 6:29).  We need to work at shoring up our faith,  including perhaps avoiding those who seek to tear it down when necessary, and finding ways for Christ to "touch" us, in worship services, in prayer, through our friends who help to shore up our faith, the communion of saints, good studying materials and literature that helps us, and so many other helpful things, even the beauty of nature or the goodness of a kind gesture.  This remains essential for us to remember, not to take our faith for granted, but to remember how important it is to feed, nurture and protect it.  Moreover, like the blind man and like the disciples, faith is not a one-time declaration, but a journey in which we're meant to grow throughout our lives.  It remains of the greatest significance for us to remember that the joy of the Lord is our strength, as Scripture tells us (Nehemiah 8:10).  Let us feed and nurture that joy, guarding our hearts and protecting the faith that makes us see, doing all we can so that we grow in that light.