WITWpt2 (shorts!): I’m like the disciples, I lack understanding.

by Aaron
What in the World? Part 2 SHORTS!

At Element we are doing a series on Sunday mornings where we answer your questions that you gave to us last year in a series titled “What in the World Part I. Some of these questions are too short for whole sermon, plus we only have so many weeks for the current series, which means we are going to answer some of those questions in our blogs.
 
Today’s question is as follows, “Mark 8:14-21 – I am like the Disciples, after reading it in context I still don’t understand.” The answer will be short, so let me actually post the entire section the question pertains to (Mark 8):

14The disciples had forgotten to bring bread, except for one loaf they had with them in the boat. 15“Be careful,” Jesus warned them. “Watch out for the yeast of the Pharisees and that of Herod.”
 
16They discussed this with one another and said, “It is because we have no bread.”
 
17Aware of their discussion, Jesus asked them: “Why are you talking about having no bread? Do you still not see or understand? Are your hearts hardened? 18Do you have eyes but fail to see, and ears but fail to hear? And don’t you remember? 19When 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.”
 
21He said to them, “Do you still not understand?”

 
I like the question, because it is so honest, “I am like the Disciples, after reading it in context I still don’t understand.”
 
Simply put, rabbis’ would use anything thing they could find to teach their disciples about living the truth of God out in their daily lives. They would teach them to see the world as God saw the world. On this occasion the disciples are worried about how much food they have on their journey, because they were forgetful and didn’t bring enough. Jesus says to them, trying to relate it all together, to beware of the “yeast of Pharisees” and “Herod.”
 
The disciples scratch their heads and are like, “Is this because we have no bread? We should go and get more.” They failed to see that Jesus was taking a normal, every day thing, to teach them a deeper truth. While Jesus was teaching them this truth, they were stuck on what was in front of them and not on the “bigger picture” of what was going on in the world around them. So Jesus then, quite plainly, points out that bread, for Him, is not a problem (obviously, because He fed 5000 and 4000 people respectively, with almost no bread at all).
 
In Matthew 6:25 Jesus tells His disciples, “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?” Yes, things are important, but they should not distract is from God’s ultimate working in the world around us. Too often we get fixated on our needs AND wants and we stop seeing what God sees.
 
Herod was the ruler over the area where Jesus and His disciples had their ministry. The Pharisees were the most popular group among the common people of Jesus’ day. But they had both failed to see their place in how God’s kingdom was to function in the world. The “rulers” and the “popular” were people that everyone admired and wanted to be like, but they were nothing like God in character; in fact they usually pulled people’s vision away from God rather than to Him.
 
The yeast that Jesus speaks of is that influence. When you put more stock into the Pharisees and Herod than you do in God’s call in your life, it will work through all the dough (your life) and bring about a ruined product.
 
Think of others in our world who seek power (that’s Herod’s yeast), popularity (that’s Herod’s and the Pharisees’ yeast), or a certain brand of morality, whether it’s conservative values or liberal values (that’s the Pharisees’ yeast). Now, think of yourself and where any of those things have overtaken what God calls you to focus on first…that is what Jesus is getting at.
 
It is so easy for us to lose focus on what God calls us to in this life, it is so easy to fall into the trap of thinking about our own comfort (bread) because of all of the pressures (yeast) of our culture. Jesus reminds us that He is good enough to be trusted with our lives, so we should be on guard for anything that wants to remove our focus from Him.