A 5-day per week study.
January 30 – Reading Mark 8:1-21.
Read and believe in Jesus.
“And He said to them, ‘Do you not yet understand?'” Mark 8:21
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The Gospel according to Mark 8:1-21.
Jesus and the disciples are perhaps still in the Decapolis region on the southeastern shore of the Sea of Galilee. (See your Bible map.) It’s a mostly Gentile area. It looks as if Jesus has been traveling around, and a crowd of people has been following Him. He’s probably done a lot of healing and hopefully some teaching as well.
It’s a seasonally dry area with barren soil and dried grass (not like the green grassland where Jesus fed the 5,000, see Mark 6:39). And Jesus has compassion for this crowd. (Those who had come a long distance probably had food to begin with, but now it was all gone.)
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Vss. 1-10.
As in the other crowd-feeding, Jesus asked His disciples what food they had. They were discouraged to find but seven loaves (rolls) and a few small fish.
(Now, WHY didn’t they remember the miracle Jesus had done not so long ago and EXPECT Him to do likewise? Did they so easily forget that astonishing miracle??)
After Jesus gave thanks to His heavenly Father and distributed the food in an orderly manner, there were seven LARGE baskets of pieces left over. These were not lunchbox-sized baskets as before, but BUSHEL baskets. A whole lot more bread and fish than they began with.
THEN Jesus sent away the crowd, their bellies now full and their strength renewed. He and the disciples got into a boat and sailed straight across Galilee to the area of Dalmanutha (near Magadan or Magdala).
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Vss. 11-13.
They’d hardly stepped off the boat when some Pharisees came and began once again to argue with Jesus. They wanted “a sign from heaven” to prove that He was the Messiah that He claimed to be. Yes, Jesus had done tons of miracles (signs), but they wanted something else, something supernatural from on high. (An astronomical sign? God’s audible voice? What?)
Jesus knew they weren’t struggling to BELIEVE. No, they were TESTING Him, to find a fault that they could run back to Jerusalem with.
Sighing deeply, Jesus said, “No sign will be given to this generation!”
With that, Jesus led the men back into the boat, and they went north to Bethsaida.
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Vss. 14-21.
On the long sail to Bethsaida, the disciples realized they had once again forgotten to bring the bread. (What IS the matter with them???)
With that on their minds, Jesus’ words confuse them. He said, “Watch out; beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod.”
Huh?
Truly, the disciples had their minds on physical things, while Jesus was thinking of spiritual truths.
(This is so often my own case. I tend to ponder and worry over earthly problems, while Jesus wants me to “set my mind on things above.” Colossians 3:2)
The disciples were thinking about bread to eat. Jesus was thinking about leaven to avoid.
So…. what WAS Jesus talking about? He was thinking about the acid conversation He’d just had with the Pharisees. Their stubborn hearts questioned His mission and denied the good news of the Kingdom He was bringing. They were like leaven spreading in a lump of dough. Not the good everyday bread, but that of Passover, symbolically His body, free from sin.
Trying to elevate their thoughts, Jesus fired eight questions at them.
- Why are you discussing the fact that you have no bread?
- Do you not yet perceive or understand?
- Are your hearts 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 broken pieces did you take up? Twelve.
- And the seven loaves for the four thousand, how many baskets full of broken pieces did you take up? Seven.
- Do you not yet understand?
Did they? Do we?
The “leaven” of the Pharisees was their false teaching and their hypocritical behavior. The “leaven” of Herod was his immoral, corrupt conduct.
How to beware of these? Keep ourselves buried in God’s Word and the teaching of our Lord Jesus.
Morning Meditations 