Mark 8:11-Then the Pharisees came out and began to dispute with Him, seeking from Him a sign from heaven, testing Him.
12-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.”
How many signs do they need? He is healing the sick, raising the dead, making the lame walk, the deaf to hear, feeding 5000 and the 4000.
13-And He left them, and getting into the boat again, departed to the other side.
Sometimes, you have to distance yourself from people who are negative, aurgementive, hateful, disobedient, even if it's just for a little while.
14-Now the disciples had forgotten to take bread, and they did not have more than one loaf with them in the boat.
Satan is a master of getting our minds off of one thing that's important on to something that is not so important.
15-Then He charged them, saying, “Take heed, beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod.”
16-And they reasoned among themselves, saying, “It is because we have no bread.”
You see Jesus is teaching them an important lesson and they think he's talking about bread.
He is trying to feed them something spiritually, and they focused on the physical.
When he is warning them about the leaven of the Pharisees.
Which is far more harmful, far more damaging, far more destructive than doing without bread for awhile!
One explanation of this is...
His warning of the leaven of the Pharisees….. He is talking about the sin of unbelief.
With all the proof and all the miracles that Jesus had done and yet they didn't believe He was the Messiah.
Another possible answer is the leaven of the Pharisees is hypocrisy.
Mark 7:6-He answered and said to them, “Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written:
‘This people honors Me with their lips,
But their heart is far from Me.
7-And in vain they worship Me,
Teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’
8-“For laying aside the commandment of God, you hold the tradition of men—the washing of pitchers and cups, and many other such things you do.”
It’s not mere words or speech that makes us a follower of Jesus; it’s the condition of our heart and the fruit of our lives that reveal if we are truly his followers.
The yeast of Herod is the refusal to change one’s ways and to do what God is telling us to do.
In Mark 6:17-29 when Herod has John the Baptist arrested, put in prison, and eventually beheaded.
Verse 20-for Herod feared John, knowing that he was a just and holy man, and he protected him. And when he heard him, he did many things, and heard him gladly.
He failed to heed John’s word or to change his ways.
The Pharisees and Herod reflect ways of rejecting God probably because they was trying to cling to power and position that they had.
Not recognizing that what God offered was far more better than anything this world offered, or anything they could achieve on their own.
17-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?
18-“Having eyes, do you not see? And having ears, do you not hear? And do you not remember?
19-“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.”
20-“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.”
21-So He said to them, “How is it you do not understand?”
They had the bread of life right in the boat with them and yet they was worried about having enough bread to eat.
While bread can look enticing, smell delicious, but we don’t get the full and intended benefit of the bread unless we eat it. At the same time, we don’t get the full and intended benefit of Jesus – forgiveness, strength, hope, joy, meaning to life, and eternal life -unless we partake of him as fully as possible.
We may have the things we need to get by, but if we don’t have Jesus, we don't have anything!
We may look at people and they may have lots of things but if they don't have Jesus they don't have anything.
Verse 18-“Having eyes, do you not see? And having ears, do you not hear? And do you not remember?
We are to look around and see the things God is doing in our lives, what He has done.
Sometimes we have blinders on, not seeing what God is doing or has done.
From the health we have, the car we drive, house we live in, the family we have.
We also need to listen to the things we hear, those words of encouragement or words of wisdom thru people God has sent our way!
Thru our parents, teacher, preacher, Sunday school teacher, friends.
And then lastly we have the ability to remember, we can remember something that happened to us when we was a kid but can't remember what God did for us last week.
