Who Forgot Their Lunch? Series

Mark 8: 11 – 21

Who Forgot Their Lunch?

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.” 13 And He left them, and getting into the boat again, departed to the other side. 14 Now the disciples had forgotten to take bread, and they did not have more than one loaf with them in the boat. 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.” 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[b] 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?

If we research the other three Gospels we find out that originally Matthew commented on this teaching of our Lord, so let’s see what he has to say also.

Matthew 16:1-12, “Then the Pharisees and Sadducees came, and testing Him asked that He would show them a sign from heaven. 2 He answered and said to them, “When it is evening you say, ‘It will be fair weather, for the sky is red’; 3 and in the morning, ‘It will be foul weather today, for the sky is red and threatening.’ Hypocrites! You know how to discern the face of the sky, but you cannot discern the signs of the times. 4 A wicked and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, and no sign shall be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah.” And He left them and departed. 5 Now when His disciples had come to the other side, they had forgotten to take bread. 6 Then Jesus said to them, “Take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the Sadducees.” 7 And they reasoned among themselves, saying, “It is because we have taken no bread.” 8 But Jesus, being aware of it, said to them, “O you of little faith, why do you reason among yourselves because you have brought no bread? 9 Do you not yet understand, or remember the five loaves of the five thousand and how many baskets you took up? 10 Nor the seven loaves of the four thousand and how many large baskets you took up? 11 How is it you do not understand that I did not speak to you concerning bread?—but to beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees.” 12 Then they understood that He did not tell them to beware of the leaven of bread, but of the doctrine of the Pharisees and Sadducees.

Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ had just visited the 10 predominate Gentile cities around the Sea of Galilee. Here He was well received while in contrast the religious leaders who should have been overjoyed at finally having Adoni Yahweh’s promised ‘Anointed One’. No, their thoughts, words, and actions caused constant attacks against the Messiah.

If you remember some of our past studies these religious phonies had criticized the Lord Jesus for allowing His disciples to eat bread without having gone through the religious ritual hand washing. We will see in fact our Adoni Yeshua – our Lord Jesus Christ, now taking the opportunity of pointing out that in fact the Pharisees themselves were for one thing eating bread with unwashed hands because their hearts are defiled and that the bread that they do eat is defiled because it is filled will leaven.

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.”

Do not feel sorry for these Pharisees. They are not coming to our Lord Jesus Christ as ‘seekers’. Their purpose in asking for a sign is not in order that they might be convinced that our Master Is truly the Son of God. No, they keep asking for miracles so that perhaps our Lord will not be able to do one which will demonstrate to the people that He Is a phony. They are testing Him and hoping to expose Him as just another imposter. No matter what type or kind of ‘sign’ our Precious Holy God would give to these evil men, do you really think they would accept them? No, they would give a spin to what happened such as when they accused our Lord of doing the miracles in collusion with Satan.