Mark 8:14-21

5. WARNING AGAINST THE LEAVEN OF THE PHARISEES. 8:14-21

TEXT 8:14-21

And they forgot to take bread; and they had not in the boat with them more than one loaf. And he charged them, saying, Take heed, beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod. And they reasoned one with another, saying, We have no bread. And Jesus perceiving it saith unto them, Why reason ye, because ye have no bread? do you not perceive, neither understand? have ye your heart hardened? Having eyes, see ye not? and having ears, hear ye not? and do ye not remember? When I brake the five loaves among the five thousand, how many baskets full of broken pieces took ye up? They say unto him, Twelve. And when the seven among the four thousand, how many basketfuls of broken pieces took ye up? And they say unto him, Seven. And he said unto them, Do ye not yet understand?

THOUGHT QUESTIONS 8:14-21

385.

Why does Mark mention the fact that they had forgotten to take bread?

386.

Why mention at this time the leaven of the Pharisees?

387.

Define in your own words: The leaven of the Phariseesthe leaven of Herod.

388.

Why connect the word leaven with the subject of bread?

389.

How did Jesus know of the reasoning of their hearts?

390.

Note please the three questions of Jesus in Mark 8:17discuss each one as they relate to the apostlesas they relate to us today.

391.

Distinguish between the use of the eyesearsmemory in the process of understanding.

392.

Why refer to the feeding of the 5,000 and the 4,000?

393.

Do you believe the apostles did understand after Jesus rebuked them?

COMMENT

TIMESummer A.D. 29.
PLACEOn the lake of Galilee.

PARALLEL ACCOUNTMatthew 16:5-12.

OUTLINE1. Forgot to take bread on their trip, Mark 8:14. Mark 8:2. Jesus said: beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Herod, Mark 8:15. Mark 8:3. The disciples thought He referred to their supply of bread, Mark 8:16. Mark 8:4. Jesus rebuked them for their lack of spiritual perception, Mark 8:17-18. Mark 8:5. Why worry about physical bread when I fed 5,000 & 4,000 with a few loaves? Mark 8:19-20. Mark 8:6. Do you now see I refer to something more important than physical bread?, Mark 8:21.

ANALYSIS

I.

FORGOT TO TAKE BREAD ON THEIR TRIP, Mark 8:14.

1.

Left in haste.

2.

Had with them in the boat only one loaf.

II.

JESUS SAID: BEWARE OF THE LEAVEN OF THE PHARISEES AND HEROD, Mark 8:15.

1.

This was given as an order.

2.

This was given as a warning.

III.

THE DISCIPLES THOUGHT HE REFERRED TO THEIR SUPPLY OF BREAD, Mark 8:16.

1.

They reasoned or conversed among themselves as to what He meant.

2.

They agreed He must have reference to buying bread from their enemies.

3.

But then this is no danger because we have no bread.

IV.

JESUS REBUKED THEM FOR THEIR LACK OF SPIRITUAL PERCEPTION, Mark 8:17-18.

1.

He read their minds.

2.

Why are you worried about your bread supply?; what I have said does not refer to your bread.

3.

Are you still void of depth?

4.

Are you yet without understanding?

5.

Is your heart stone?

6.

What has happened to the eyes, ears, and memory of your heart?

V.

WHY WORRY ABOUT PHYSICAL BREAD WHEN I FED 5,000 AND 4,000 WITH A FEW LOAVES? Mark 8:19-20.

1.

When I fed the 5,000 how many baskets were left over?12.

2.

And how many for the 4,000?7.

VI.

DO YOU NOW SEE I REFER TO SOMETHING MORE IMPORTANT THAN PHYSICAL BREAD? Mark 8:21.

EXPANATORY NOTES

I.

FORGOT TO TAKE BREAD ON THEIR TRIP.

Mark 8:14. The neglect to take a supply of bread was doubtless the result of their haste in again setting out; and, in that view of the matter, Jesus himself was responsible for it, since he had hurried them away.

II.

JESUS SAID: BEWARE OF THE LEAVEN OF THE PHARISEES AND HEROD.

Mark 8:15. It is Mark alone who mentions the one loaf that they had with them in the boat; plainly a touch of definite remembrance from one who was present.And he charged them. The emphatic word is peculiar to Mark.Taie heed, beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, and of the leaven of Herod. In Matthew, of the Pharisees and Sadducees. From this grouping it has sometimes been inferred that Herod was a Sadducee; but that seems too definite a conclusion to draw from such premises. Undoubtedly, Herod's position was such as to give him more in common with the Sadducees than with the Pharisees, and the Sadducees may have been the Herodians of Galilee; but Herod Antipas was probably too much of an indifferentist to hold very strongly the doctrines of any Jewish sect.The leaven is expressly, according to Matthew, the doctrine of the Pharisees and Sadducees, or of the Pharisees and Herod. But doctrine (didache) is an active word rather than a passive, and refers rather to the teaching than to the substance of what was taught; and when used of Herod it must be substantially equivalent to influence.The warning must be understood in the light of what had just occurred, for it must certainly have been suggested by the demand for a sign from heaven. To the corrupting influence of Pharisaism and Sadduceeism or of political Herodianismi.e. to the spirit that was manifested in these formsit was due that Israel had departed from God, and had so lost all spiritual sense of him as to be clamoring for signs from heaven. So the warning means, Beware of the unspiritual, irreligious, godless teaching through which it has come to pass that God is no longer recognized. Reflecting on the conversation that had sent him, disheartened, back from Galilee, he thought of his own disciples, who were but too prone to a similar unbelief; and he said to himself, They must not be possessed by the ungodly blindness that cannot perceive a spiritual meaning and is dependent upon signs to show them God and truth. Yet the land is full of it under the influence of this unholy teaching, and it cannot fail to be working as a leaven in their minds. Therefore he spoke in warning.

III.

THE DISCIPLES THOUGHT HE REFERRED TO THEIR SUPPLY OF BREAD.

Mark 8:16. According to the most probable reading, adopted by the revisers, we may translate, And they reasoned, or considered, together, saying, We have no bread. The common English version, It is because we have no bread, represents the spirit of their utterance perfectly, though not a good translation. They dimly supposed he must mean that food received from the hands of his enemies was to be rejected, because of the unworthiness of those who might offer it: if Pharisees and Herodians were so defiled, they were not fit persons for them to obtain food from. There is a childish naivete in their self-questioning which testifies to the absolute originality and truthfulness of the record, and so to the genuineness of the question that followsa question that assumes the reality of the two previous miracles (Plumptre).They tried to understand him, but this low and uncharacteristic meaning was all that they could find, as if he had said, You will have bread to buy, and you must be careful from whom you buy it, and had forbidden them to eat the bread of his enemies.

IV.

JESUS REBUKED THEM FOR THEIR LACK OF SPIRITUAL PERCEPTION.

Mark 8:17-18. Mark's report here is much more full than Matthew'S. The last two questions of Mark 8:17 are peculiar to Mark, and so is the whole of Mark 8:18, with the exception of the last word; so are the responses of the disciples in Mark 8:19-20, and so is Mark 8:21. The translation of Mark 8:18-19, according to Tischendorfs text, is, Having eyes do ye not see, and having ears do ye not hear, and do ye not remember when I broke the five loaves unto the five thousand, and how many baskets full of fragments ye took up? The readings of Mark 8:21 vary, but, according to the most probable, the question is simply, Do ye not yet understand? These questions of Jesus are sharp and cutting, full of surprise and indignation. So far as the record goes, they are the sharpest words that he ever spoke to the twelve. We can scarcely wonder at his indignation, for he saw already in them the leaven of the Pharisees, the same blindness that had just disheartened him, in their inability to perceive a spiritual meaning. They were like the generation that was described in chap. Mark 4:12, which, having eyes, saw not, and having ears, heard not.

V.

WHY WORRY ABOUT PHYSICAL BREAD WHEN I FED 5,000 AND 4,000 WITH A FEW LOAVES?

Mark 8:19-20. Whatever meaning they might have found in his warning, the one that they did find was one that their experience with him ought to have rendered impossible. They had been with him twice when he fed thousands from a handful, yet they were talking perplexedly among themselves, as if he could possibly be thinking of where the food was to come from. His rebuke means, When you are with me, and I am responsible for your want of food, you need have no anxiety, and you may know that whatever I may say refers to something else than the way in which food is obtained. They ought, moreover, to have known that he who had plainly abolished distinctions of food (chap. Mark 7:15) would not now set up a new distinction of a personal or sectarian kind, and teach them that they would be defiled by food bought from ungodly men. Surely it would seem to be asking but very little to ask that they should understand him well enough to escape such an idea. Here was indeed the unspiritual heart, upon which the spiritual thought seemed almost wasted. More than in the case of his townsmen at Nazareth, he marvelled because of their unbelief. If Christian teachers find even their brethren slow of perception in spiritual things, they may hear their Master saying to them, in the spirit of John 15:18, Ye know that they misunderstood me before they misunderstood you.

VI.

DO YOU NOW SEE I REFER TO SOMETHING MORE IMPORTANT THAN PHYSICAL BREAD?

Mark 8:21. In Matthew the final question, Do ye not yet understand? is expanded into a direct intimation that the warning did not refer to bread. Matthew adds also that they did at last perceive that he was warning them against the teaching or the principles of the Pharisees and Sadducees. But it is quite certain that they did not take in his full meaning, and that when the subject was dropped he knew that his utterance had not reached its aim. He had had to expend the energy that might have been given to the work of enforcing an idea in the vain effort to get it apprehended, and then to withdraw baffled by the unreceptiveness of his hearers. It was not his method to urge truth upon them faster than they were able to receive it. John 16:12 illustrates his real method: I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now.Observe, again, the distinct reference in these questions to the two separate miracles of feedinga reference which cannot possibly be removed from the passage without utterly destroying one of the most vivid and self-witnessing scenes in the whole Gospel narrative. Observe, again, too, that in referring here to the first miracle Jesus employs the word cophinus in mentioning the baskets, and in referring to the second the word spuris, preserving the very distinction that has been made in the two narratives of Mark. (W. N. Clarke)

FACT QUESTIONS 8:14-21

434.

Who was responsible for the lack of food?

435.

What definite indications of an eye-witness do we have in this section?

436.

Are we to conclude that Herod was a Sadducee from Matthew's reference to the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees? What are we to conclude?

437.

Please explain the distinctive influence of each of these groups; (1) Pharisees (2) Sadducees (3) Herodians.

438.

How does the request for a sign from heaven relate to this warning of Jesus?

439.

As they reasoned among themselves what conclusion did they form?

440.

What is it that testifies to the absolute originality and truthfulness of the record?

441.

Why was Jesus so sharp with the disciples?

442.

What particular attitude in the hearts of the disciples disappointed Jesus the most?

443.

When the subject was dropped was Jesus satisfied that His teaching was understood? Discuss.

444.

How is the use of the two words for baskets as used in this record an indication of two incidents of feeding the multitudes?