An Interrogation of the Soul: Mark 8:14-21

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Surely all of us can that we know what it is like to have “one of those days.” On those days, it seems like nothing goes right, and we are met with one calamity after another. And on those days, our emotions are overloaded and molehills begin to look like mountains. Things that would ordinarily be no big deal compound the frustrations of the day and we tend to overreact in spite of the insignificance of the matter. Maybe I’m the only one, but I suspect we’ve all had those kinds of days.

I think the disciples of Jesus were having one of those days in the story we read here in these eight verses. They had a busy day just before this, with the feeding of the four thousand. Jesus miraculously multiplied the fish and loaves, but it still had to be served, and that was an arduous task for the disciples. And they had to clean it all up as well. Then they had sailed across the Sea of Galilee to the region of Dalmanutha, where they met up with some antagonistic Pharisees who demanded to see a sign from heaven to authenticate the ministry of Jesus. Perhaps they had hoped that He would show them one and vindicate Himself and silence the critics in one divine act. But He didn’t. Instead, now its back in the boat to go back again to the other side. They had just got out of the boat, and now they are headed right back to where they came from. And in the haste of it all, they forgot to pack food. They had no more than one loaf of bread with them. Now, we tend to think that a loaf of bread ought to be sufficient for 13 people, but these were not loaves of bread like we use (no sliced Merita bread; no big long loaf of French bread; nothing like that). The loaves which were commonly used by Jewish people in those days were flattened cakes of unleavened bread – if you’ve ever seen a matzah, you get the idea. If not, think in terms of a cracker about the size of a small pizza crust. One of these would not suffice to satisfy the appetites of 13 hungry men. And besides that, Mark doesn’t say that they had one loaf, he says that they had no more than one loaf. They might have had a portion of a loaf, or none at all, but whatever they had, it was no more than a loaf.

Apparently Jesus knew that some of them were thinking about this. In Mark 2:18, we read that Jesus was aware in His spirit of the reasonings of others, and so it may have been here that He knew what they were thinking about. And seizing on a teachable moment, Jesus says to them, “Watch out! Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod.” This was a parabolic saying. The point is really not about bread at all. Leaven is a common symbol in Scripture of corruption. A little pinch of leaven works its way through an entire batch of dough making the whole loaf rise. Similarly, corruption spreads rapidly and can ferment everything it contacts. So the point of the saying here is that the disciples need to be on their guard against the corruption of the Pharisees and of Herod.

What is this corruption of which Jesus speaks? There are very few common denominators between the Pharisees and Herod, but one point of commonality which they share is opposition to Jesus. Now the disciples are not opposed to Jesus, so why is this warning necessary? It is in order because the opposition to Jesus in the Pharisees and in Herod was not born fully grown. It rises out of unbelief. They are opposed to Jesus because they don’t believe in Him. And their unbelief stems from different sources.

The Pharisees unbelief comes from their religious legalism. Religion for them is no longer about knowing God and living in a personal relationship with Him. It is about meticulous rule-keeping. So meticulous are there regulations that there is no area of life which is left untouched. And in place of an internal spirituality that produces joy and love in fellowship with God and the community of faith, the Pharisees are shackled with the minutia of external traditions, many of which have no basis whatsoever in the Word of God. And Jesus has come along challenging those traditions, and violating many of them. In their eyes, no true servant of God could do such things and say such things as He has. And so rather than examining Him in light of the Word of God and seeing that He is the promised Messiah, they have scrutinized Him under the lens of their legalistic traditions, and rejected Him as a fraud. He doesn’t meet their expectations; He isn’t the kind of Messiah they are looking for, and therefore, He must be no Messiah at all. The leaven of the Pharisees is unbelief that stems from legalism.

The leaven of Herod also has to do with unbelief, but no one would ever accuse Herod of being legalistic in matters of religion. His unbelief comes from a different source. His unbelief is rooted in his worldliness. You may recall from our discussion on Mark 6:14-29 that Herod had stolen his brother Philip’s wife, Herodias. John the Baptist had been preaching against Herod’s sins, saying often and to his face that this was not right for him to have his brother’s wife. And then there came that night which the Bible says was a strategic opportunity for Herodias to silence the voice of the preacher for good. It was in the midst of the drunken debaucheries of Herod’s birthday party that Herodias sent her daughter in to dance for the men, and so inflamed with lust was Herod that he granted the young dancer whatever she wished. And her mother conspired with her to ask for the head of John the Baptist, and so it was done. These glimpses into the life of Herod Antipas are enough to demonstrate to us that this was a man who did not live by principle, except for the principle of his own pleasure. His near absolute power as an appointee of Rome afforded him much luxury and many opportunities to satisfy his own desires. And anyone or anything that posed a threat to his pleasure and power was a threat that needed to be eliminated. So when Jesus’ popularity began increasing in Herod’s territory, his loyal followers, the Herodians, were quick to join in league with the Pharisees to squash the threat.

Because the disciples were perhaps growing disillusioned with Jesus – He refused to overthrow the government and refused to perform signs on demand to prove Himself—Jesus gave them this warning. Watch out! Don’t let unbelief creep into your hearts that will lead to your rejection of Me, like it has for Herod and the Pharisees. But the disciples cannot hear the point of this saying over the sound of their growling stomachs. And so a discussion erupts among them about their lack of bread. Jesus is talking about leaven, or yeast, and hey, speaking of yeast, we don’t have any bread! Now, ordinarily, this is no big deal. The trip across the lake isn’t that far, and they are not near the point of fatal starvation. But this has been “one of those days,” and now the lack of bread becomes a major point of contention among the disciples. You can hear them now, can’t you? “OK, who’s the wise guy who forgot to pack the food? Who ate all the bread? What are we going to do? We can’t get bread out here in the middle of the lake.” Never mind that many of these guys are experienced fishermen; that doesn’t even enter their minds. They totally missed the point of what Jesus was saying.

And so, aware that this little squabble is erupting, Jesus speaks again in verse 17. And from verses 17 to 21, He asks a total of nine probing questions. And this barrage of questions becomes an interrogation of the soul. Now I would like for us to consider these questions and apply them to our own lives, for like these disciples, we are prone to grumble and complain when things don’t go to suit us. We are inclined to overreact to insignificant matters as well, to become frustrated when the providence of God places us in less than perfect circumstances. And so with these same questions, the Word of God will interrogate our own souls as well. Let us consider these questions under three headings.

I. Where is your focus? (v17 – Why do you discuss the fact that you have no bread?)

With this single question, Jesus ends discussion on the lunch menu and points to the deeper issue of priority for the disciples. They are so preoccupied with temporal concerns that they cannot for a moment contemplate eternal matters and consider the teaching that Jesus has just set before them. So driven are they by their physical appetites that the mere mention of leaven signals a Pavlovian response in their bellies to consider what’s for lunch. In just a short time, they will be on the other shore, and there they can go to the Golden Corral or McDonalds or whatever suits their fancy, but here they have the benefit of a private audience with Jesus and they take it for granted. They could be learning lessons of eternal spiritual value, but instead, they are grumbling about the situation with the bread.

So it often is in our lives. We find ourselves in undesirable circumstances, and like a reflex, we grumble and complain. Where is our focus? It is on comfort, pleasure, physical desires? Can these matters not be delayed temporarily so that our focus might be redirected to Christ and His Kingdom agenda? If we can only redirect that focus, then we might realize that in the midst of these circumstances, He is trying to teach us something. Is He warning of us of some danger to our spiritual well-being, is He edifying us by teaching us to depend upon Him more, is He reminding us of His sufficiency for our needs? As long as our focus is earth-bound, we won’t hear it – we will just continue to wallow in our own discomfort and displeasure, looking for someone to blame and somehow finding a way to blame it all on God.

So, the next time things aren’t going just as you wish they would, let this question pierce your heart – Where is your focus? Why are you discussing bread? Is there a lesson God is trying to teach you in the midst of your hunger, your exhaustion, your frustration, your poverty, whatever the circumstances may be? Unless Christ is the sole object of our focus, we will miss those lessons every time.

Second question …

II. How are your spiritual faculties? (vv17-18)

With a battery of questions concerning their ability to perceive spiritual truth, the interrogation continues:

· Do you not yet see or understand?

· Do you have a hardened heart?

· Having eyes do you not see?

· Having ears do you not hear?

After all they have seen and heard in the time they have spent with Jesus, these guys still don’t get it. These questions echo statements that have already been made by Jesus concerning those on the outside – the Pharisees, the scribes, the Herodians, and others who have not comprehended who Jesus is or what He’s come to do. Earlier, Jesus told the disciples that they had been given understanding into the mystery of the kingdom of God, while everyone else would only receive parables, “so that while seeing, they may see and not perceive, and while hearing, they may hear and not understand.” The Pharisees grieved Jesus at the synagogue in Chapter 3 because of their hard hearts. The disciples also demonstrated hardness of heart after the feeding of the 5,000 when Jesus came walking to them across the surface of the water, and they could not perceive it was Him; they thought it was a ghost.

These are the ones who should be able to see, to understand, to hear. These are the ones whose hearts ought to have been plowed most deeply and softened to receive the spiritual truth that Jesus desires to convey. But, alas, their focus on their own appetites over the matters of the Kingdom reveal that their faculties are just as disabled as those who are opposing Jesus at every turn. If this remains unchecked, then they will succumb to the leaven of the Pharisees and of Herod, and will be contaminated by their unbelief before their faith becomes full-grown.

This problem is not isolated among the disciples. The Apostle Paul will confront the same conditions among the Corinthians. Turn over to 1 Corinthians 3. Notice that he says to them in verses 1 and 2 that when he first came to introduce them to the gospel, and to begin to instruct them in the basics of the Christian faith, “I could not speak to you as spiritual men, but as to men of flesh, as to infants in Christ. I gave you milk to drink, not solid food; for you were not yet able to receive it.” That is understandable. They were coming to faith from a pagan background, they had no knowledge of the things of God, and so Paul had to spoon feed them, as it were, giving them milk (basic, simple instruction) rather than the solid food of the deep things of God. But the tragedy is that he goes on to say, “Even now you are not yet able.” Several years after they had first come to faith in Christ, they were still unable to move past the milk to the solid food. Why? Paul says in v3, “for you are still fleshly.” That is another way of saying that they are carnal, they are focused on their own desires moreso than Christ. And therefore, they are unable to see, to hear, to understand, the spiritual truth that they so desperately need to move into Christian maturity.

The writer of Hebrews also confronted this problem in that letter. Turn to Hebrews 5. In verse 11, the writer says, “Concerning Him [that is, concerning Christ], we have much to say, and it is hard to explain, since you have become dull of hearing.” See, their spiritual faculties are hindering their ability to receive spiritual truth. But these are not new Christians or non-Christians, for he says in v12-14, “For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you have need again for someone to teach you the elementary principles of the oracles of God, and you have come to need milk and not solid food. For everyone who partakes only of milk is not accustomed to the word of righteousness, for he is an infant. But solid food is for the mature, who because of practice have their senses trained to discern good and evil.”

And the fact remains that churches in our own day are hindered by the self-centered attitudes of many who have been Christians for a long time, but have never matured in their faith, never moved past the milk to the solid meat of God’s word. And therefore, their ability to perceive, to see and hear, to understand the things of God is warped because it has not been developed. And in some cases, rather than acknowledging this and pursuing growth and maturity, their hearts harden and they become anchored in their immature faith unwilling to progress an inch in their understanding of the ways of God.

And so we have two questions set before us: (1) Where is your focus? and (2) How are your spiritual faculties? But as we return to Mark 8:18-21, we find one more question in this interrogation of the soul.

III. Have you forgotten? (vv18-21)

Jesus here gives the disciples a brief reminder of two previous experiences they have had with Him. “Do you not remember when I broke the five loaves for the five thousand?” Do you not remember when four thousand were fed with seven loaves? How many loaves were left over? They are able to recall that it was twelve in the first instance, and seven in the second. And Jesus asks them, “Do you not yet understand?”

Here are the disciples grumbling about bread, all the while in the boat with the One who has fed more than 9,000 people (remember that those numbers only included the men, not counting women and children, so a total probably near 35-40,000) with only twelve loaves, and having nineteen baskets full of leftovers. If they were not so concerned with their own comfort and their own appetite, then they would recognize that Christ is sufficient for all their life’s needs. What is the big deal with twelve people hungry and not much bread to feed them all with? Here in the boat sits one who has fed many more, can He not feed these as well? Will they not trust Him to? How soon they have forgotten the wonders He has wrought.

I don’t mean to minimize the problems that any person here may be going through. But neither do I want the magnitude of those problems to minimize the sufficiency of Christ to meet your needs. So here’s what you do. The next time you are concerned with an uncomfortable circumstance in your life, maybe it’s even today, here’s what you do. Go and stand in front of a mirror. And then watch yourself as you say these words, “Poor me. My problems are so great! So terrible are my problems that even Jesus Christ cannot remedy them.” And then just laugh. What problem do you have that He cannot change? He does not always promise that we will have it easy, but He promises to always be with us, and if He is with us, then nothing is too difficult to overcome. Remember the blessings He has provided in the past for you, and for others. Remember the miracles He has performed in His word. Remember His promises of presence, protection, and provision. And trust Him as the all-sufficient God He is to meet your needs.

Does this mean that if you are poor, He will make you rich? Does it mean that if you are hungry, He will make you full? Does it mean that if you are sick, He will make you healthy? While nothing is impossible with God, certainly He does not always act in this way. Sometimes He may change your circumstances, but more often, if you are willing, He will change you in the midst of the circumstance, so that your focus is redirected, your spiritual faculties are redeveloped, and you are able to rejoice in Him in the midst of whatever circumstance you find yourself in. In Philippians 4:13, Paul says, “I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.” And the “all things” means even enduring unpleasant circumstances for a season knowing His presence is with you, and His power is at work through you. In the preceding verses, Paul said, “I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I am. I know how to get along with humble means, and I also know how to live in prosperity; in any and every circumstance I have learned the secret of being filled and going hungry, both of having abundance and suffering need.” And what is the secret? “I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.”

Christ is sufficient for the needs of your life. But how quickly we forget that! How dull are our spiritual senses that we often do not perceive it! How misdirected is our focus that all we see is the problem, without seeing Him as the ultimate provision. So there comes a need from time to time for an interrogation of the soul. And as the questions are asked, we are refocused, redirected, redeveloped and rededicated in our personal walk with Him.