Bad Leaven
Scripture Reading: Mark 8:14-21
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 [c]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?”
Twice Mark records miracles of Jesus where He feeds a multitude of people. Once in chapter six and here in chapter eight. He also writes about the disciples’ failure to grasp the spiritual implications of what they saw and experienced. In chapter six he states that “Their hearts were hardened.” Here he tells us that Jesus asked them, “Are your hearts hardened?”
In this passage of Scripture, we see that the issue is the disciples were overly focused and concerned about the wrong things. They had forgotten to bring bread with them on this trip across the sea. Now, that is a problem, but the fact that they had just witnessed Jesus feed thousands of people with seven loaves and a few small fish should have given them the confidence that He could meet their needs despite their mistakes.
But they were worried about supper and embarrassed by their error, so when Jesus said something about leaven they immediately thought he was talking about not having enough bread to eat. That is where the discussion went. We aren’t told what they were saying, but I wonder if they were pointing fingers and arguing about who was responsible for the goof-up.
Jesus wasn’t talking about bread. He was talking about the false teaching of the Pharisees. He was telling them to watch out because these kinds of ideas get into us like leaven in bread dough. They begin small. They are almost imperceptible, but they spread until they permeate our whole mind and thinking.
The heart of the matter is that we spend too much time focused on and worried about what we are going to put in our stomachs, and too little time paying attention to what we are putting in our mind. It is wise to pay attention to what you eat and whether or not it is going to promote good health or make you ill. Unfortunately, we give way more thought to what we consume with our mouths than we do with what we consume with our eyes and ears.
We take in small bits of the devil’s lies and like leaven it spreads like leaven until it takes over our hearts and minds.
Beware.
