Introduction
Our passage gives us a sense of déjà vu. Feeding a crowd, the dullness of the disciples, the hostility of the Pharisees – we’ve been there before.
Text
During those days another large crowd gathered. Since they had nothing to eat, Jesus called his disciples to him and said, 2 “I have compassion for these people; they have already been with me three days and have nothing to eat. 3 If I send them home hungry, they will collapse on the way, because some of them have come a long distance.”
Jesus apparently is still in the Decapolis area. He now has a large crowd around him. Presumably he has been teaching and, most likely, healing as well. This has been going on for three days. Note the distinctions already between the two feedings. The conditions seem to be starker than the time of his first feeding of a crowd. There is no reference to green grass as in the earlier story. In the first feeding, the disciples wanted Jesus to send the crowd away into the surrounding towns. It seems here that they would have a fair distance to walk, and, again, instead of just one day being with Jesus, they evidently have camped out with him for three days.
In the first story, the disciples interrupt Jesus’ teaching to have him send the people away for dinner. Jesus retorts that they should feed the people, and they in shock ask where they are going to get the money to buy enough food. In this case, Jesus raises the dilemma and expresses his compassion for the people. This time the disciples note the problem of location, that they are too far away to get food. 4 His disciples answered, “But where in this remote place can anyone get enough bread to feed them?”
Their response seems incredulous, doesn’t it? He has miraculously fed a larger crowd before. How could they possibly act dumb this time? Before we get too upset with the disciples, let’s note carefully the record. Jesus has raised the problem with the disciples, but has not said what he would do. He does not say, “I have compassion on the people; I think I will feed them.” Instead, he says, “I have compassion on the people, but if I send them away for food, I’m afraid they won’t make it.” It could be that the disciples, being respectful of their teacher, do not presume to impose on Jesus. He is in Gentile territory, after all, and is not necessarily expected to repeat the same type of miracle that he did in Jewish territory.
It could also be that the disciples are in on Jesus’ game. They could be speaking to one another with that “knowing look.” “Gee, what am I going to do?” Jesus asks, knowing full well what he will do. “Gosh, there is no place around here to get food,” respond the disciples, knowing that they are setting the stage for yet another miracle.
Or, maybe they really are wondering what to do. Maybe, the first feeding has happened long enough ago that it is not fresh in their minds, and after three trying days in wilderness territory with a lot of Gentiles, they are not thinking about the other feeding. I’ve amazed myself with temporary memory lost that a jury would probably find incredulous.
What happens next, of course, does not surprise us. He feeds four thousand men (and probably another four thousand women and children) with seven loaves of bread and a few small fish. Afterwards, the disciples collect seven basketfuls of leftovers. Once again, Jesus performs a spectacular miracle.
He then dismisses the crowd, hops into a boat and crosses the Sea of Galilee back into Jewish territory. There his good friends, the Pharisees, meet him. In our last episode with the Pharisees in chapter 7, they questioned Jesus about his failure to observe the purity traditions of the elders, and he in turn accused them of failing to observe the fourth commandment to honor one’s parents. I doubt they left on good terms!
In the last passage, I talked about how Jesus’ miracles would have aroused the hopes of the Jews that Jesus was the Messiah. Despite his miracles, however, the Pharisees and teachers of the law are not merely skeptical of Jesus, but downright hate him. This man surely could not be the Messiah in their eyes.
Why not? The Pharisees and teachers of the law were real theologians and practitioners of the faith. A few miracles and showmanship were not going to deceive them. Jesus obviously was not legit because of his scandalous behavior and heretical teaching.
Consider: He contradicts the traditions of the elders about purity laws, and even has the audacity to accuse the men who are most diligent to keep the law of being lawbreakers. He has the nerve to heal a man on the Sabbath, of all times. He claims to forgive sins, which is blasphemy. He claims to be a holy man of God and yet he hangs out with disreputable sinners, the very people that the true Messiah would have condemned. Indeed, he condemns those who are morally upright and befriends those who are scandalous.
They want real proof that he has authority from God to say and do what seems contrary to God’s law. They want a sign from heaven (11). But he has done miracles. True, but Scripture warns of those who do, or seem to do, miracles and yet are not of God.
Listen to the warning given in Deuteronomy 13:1-4:
If a prophet, or one who foretells by dreams, appears among you and announces to you a miraculous sign or wonder, 2 and if the sign or wonder of which he has spoken takes place, and he says, “Let us follow other gods” (gods you have not known) “and let us worship them,” 3 you must not listen to the words of that prophet or dreamer. The LORD your God is testing you to find out whether you love him with all your heart and with all your soul. 4 It is the LORD your God you must follow, and him you must revere. Keep his commands and obey him; serve him and hold fast to him.
Did you note that phrase: if the sign or wonder of which he has spoken takes place? Apparently miraculous signs can occur outside of a godly or Christian context. Or hear the words of Jesus himself.
“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22 Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?’ 23 Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’” (Matthew 7:21-23)
That’s interesting! There are people who perform miracles in the name of Jesus who are not in truth real believers and truly acting on his behalf. So, even Jesus attests that one cannot conclude a person is of God solely by the miracles he is able to perform.
Even so, Jesus does not regard the Pharisees’ demand as legitimate. 12 He sighed deeply and said, “Why does this generation ask for a miraculous sign? I tell you the truth, no sign will be given to it.” He is grieved by the request. Why do they insist on a sign? he wonders. (The word “miraculous,” by the way, is not in the Greek.) Instead of accommodating them, he simply refuses. So, why does Jesus do that? Even if the Pharisees are being a bit annoying, why doesn’t he give a sign then and there that will make them believe he is from God?
I think he refuses for any of three reasons. One, he doesn’t like their attitude. Their skepticism and hostility are unwarranted. They do not want to prove he is the Messiah; they want to find a way to discredit him. It is one thing to have honest doubt about Jesus; it is another to desire that he be false. What the Pharisees really hate, by the way, is not blasphemy, but the light that Jesus is shedding on their hypocrisy.
Two, for Jesus to fulfill their request, he would be acting on their terms, not his. As far as Jesus is concerned, he has provided ample proof of his authenticity. His miracles and his teaching are true signs, for they are in keeping with the mission of the Messiah as proclaimed in the Scriptures. We’ve already been through this, including last Sunday. Jesus’ words and work may be startling, but they are not unbiblical. Indeed, they only fulfill Scripture, and the Pharisees, who supposedly are zealous for God’s Word, ought to have understood that. To perform a sign for them, Jesus would be conceding that he has not done a good enough job of presenting his case.
Finally, to give the sign that the Pharisees are demanding (whatever that sign may have been) would undercut what Jesus has been demanding of others – faith. He could use power to force allegiance, but he has come, not in power but in humility. And his method is not to overwhelm people with his might, but to appeal to them in such a way that only through faith will they recognize his true glory.
So Jesus refuses, hops back in his boat again and goes to another side of the lake. Now, his conversation is with his disciples. This is one of the stories where you say it would be funny if it wasn’t so sad.
14 The disciples had forgotten to bring bread, except for one loaf they had with them in the boat. (I can identify with that!) Jesus is still thinking, no doubt, about his dispute with the Pharisees. 15 “Be careful,” Jesus warned them. “Watch out for the yeast of the Pharisees and that of Herod.”
The disciples are thinking about the bread. 16 They discussed this with one another and said, “It is because we have no bread.” We are on two levels here! In a dramatic play, we would understand this to be comic relief.
Before we go on with it, let’s think through what Jesus is trying to teach his disciples. Watch out for the yeast of the Pharisees and that of Herod. What is it about yeast that Jesus uses it as a metaphor? A little bit works its way throughout the substance it has been placed in, such as dough, and then has a powerful effect such as making it rise. This yeast of the Pharisees and Herod, then, must seem at first to be of little power, and yet in reality is infectious and powerful.
The yeast is unbelief. Mark introduces Herod in 6:14. Herod hears about the miracles of Jesus and forms the wrong conclusion, which is that Jesus is John the Baptist risen. He is a man affected by John’s teaching, and yet without comprehension. The Pharisees have not merely heard about Jesus’ miracles; they have seen them; even still they insist on some other sign before they will believe. We have with the Pharisees and Herod, representatives of opposing approaches to life. The Pharisees strive to be righteous; Herod strives to be wealthy and powerful; but both depend upon the same thing for happiness – their abilities to achieve their goals. Both reject the same thing as beneath them – humble faith.
Be careful of the danger and power of unbelief, Jesus is warning his disciples. They listen and conclude that he is really rebuking them for forgetting the bread. Can’t you picture the frustration of Jesus as he really rebukes them now? How many parents have had similar conversations with their children?
“Why are you talking about having no bread? Do you still not see or understand? Are your hearts hardened? 18 Do you have eyes but fail to see, and ears but fail to hear? And don’t you remember? 19 When I broke the five loaves for the five thousand, how many basketfuls of pieces did you pick up?”
“Twelve,” they replied.
20 “And when I broke the seven loaves for the four thousand, how many basketfuls of pieces did you pick up?”
They answered, “Seven.”
21 He said to them, “Do you still not understand?”
Do you still not get who I really am? Do you really think I would be concerned about not having enough bread to eat? Do you not understand that you are falling into the same dangerous pattern as the Pharisees and the Herods of this world? This failure to grasp who I am and the significance of my presence among you is serious. Though you do not hate me as the others, your failure to believe in me will lead you along the same path as they have taken.
Conclusion
Jesus says the same thing to us. Beware of the yeast of skepticism and unbelief, which infects us all. To you who may be openly skeptical of the Gospel, beware. This yeast is insidious. It seems harmless. You don’t hate Jesus; you don’t reject God; you are just a bit skeptical of the claims of the Gospel. That’s all. Understand that the longer such skepticism remains in your mind, the longer it has to pervade your whole being and the harder your heart grows in response to Jesus.
To you who profess faith in Jesus, beware of the yeast that also pervades your being. Indeed, your yeast is the most dangerous of all, just as a cancer in a person who thinks he is well is more dangerous than one who knows his illness. Let me ask you a question. What is your hope for heaven based on? What is it? Would you reply that you do your best to be a follower of Jesus? That you go to church and try to live a good life? If so, then the yeast of unbelief has infiltrated your body fully. You’ve managed to attend church, hear the Gospel preached, and still miss it, just as the disciples have been following Jesus and missed who he really is. Our “hope is built on nothing less than Jesus’ blood and righteousness,” says the hymn. Our hope is built on nothing else! If you put an ounce of hope in your ability to do anything, then you’ve missed the Gospel.
And the rest of us who get the answers right, still must beware of the same yeast. It is that yeast of unbelief that causes us to worry about what will happen to us in life. It is that yeast that causes us to get angry at God for the bad things that happen, as though we follow Jesus in order to avoid trouble in this life. Being a true believer is being one who trusts fully in Jesus Christ alone for salvation, and who follows after him, not to win merit badges, but because he is compelled by the glory of Jesus.
As long as we are in this life, we must ever be alert to this deadly yeast that would try to destroy our souls, or failing that, make us ineffective for the kingdom of God. We must ever examine our hearts, not that we might ever be condemning ourselves, but that we might ever be casting our hope and trust in Jesus Christ alone.
Got bread? You do if your hope and trust is in Jesus Christ.
