These are the Sermon Notes for June 21, 2020. We are now meeting at the church with limited seating and specific procedures and protocols that need to be followed. Read our Returning to Worship plan here. You can still watch our livestream service every Sunday at 9:37 am on our facebook page or watch the livestream recordings any time.
Mark 8:11-21 Do You Not Yet Understand?
Clearly we are going through a hard time. A global pandemic, protests and riots, conspiracy theories, and fear and hate abound.
In Mark 8 the disciples were also having a hard time, like us they had difficulty interpreting what was going on around them. They had seen some amazing things, done some amazing things, but still had trouble staying on track with what was happening, what their role was or was to be, and who Jesus really was.
But I have to ask, are we any different? Is our warning from the Lord any different? Are the questions He posed to them any different for us?
We are going to look at Mark 8:11-21, page 843 in the pew Bibles and consider Jesus’ warning to the disciples about the leaven of the Pharisees and Herod as well as His barrage of questions for His disciples about bread.
11 The Pharisees came and began to argue with him, seeking from him a sign from heaven to test him. 12 And he sighed deeply in his spirit and said, “Why does this generation seek a sign? Truly, I say to you, no sign will be given to this generation.” 13 And he left them, got into the boat again, and went to the other side. 14 Now they had forgotten to bring bread, and they had only one loaf with them in the boat. 15 And he cautioned them, saying, “Watch out; beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod.” 16 And they began discussing with one another the fact that they had no bread. 17 And Jesus, aware of this, said to them, “Why are you discussing the fact that you have no bread? Do you not yet perceive or understand? Are your hearts 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 broken pieces did you take up?” They said to him, “Twelve.” 20 “And the seven for the four thousand, how many baskets full of broken pieces did you take up?” And they said to him, “Seven.” 21 And he said to them, “Do you not yet understand?”
Let’s pray
So once again, we find Jesus and His disciples on the shores of the Sea of Galilee. Here in this account Jesus was confronted by a group of Pharisees seeking a sign from Heaven. Now these Pharisees were not just after a miracle, they had already witnessed miracles. In fact, Mark even uses a different word for a miracle than he did for a sign from heaven.
What these Pharisees were after was Messianic proof, they wanted Jesus to prove to them that He really was the Messiah. For Jesus, this was another temptation in the wilderness. Jesus was tempted here to depart from the Father’s program, to depart from the way of pain and sacrifice and choose the path of political salvation instead of spiritual salvation.
Many of us are faced with the same temptation today, to trust in the ways of the world, to vote the right way, to protest the right way, to support the right cause, to count on politics to make the world right again, instead of trusting the Lord and counting on the gospel to make the difference in the world. The world needs to trust in Jesus and accept His sacrifice for their sins for things to really change.
When faced with this test from the Pharisees, this demand for a sign from Heaven, Jesus makes a difficult choice. He sighed deeply in His spirit, His sigh the sigh of silent resolution to enter the path of tribulation. If He had given in, no doubt the Pharisees would have used Jesus Messiah as a political pawn to further control and exploit people. But that was not the Father’s design. This conflict was the first step down the path of scorn and rejection, of betrayal and suffering, and salvation.
The Pharisees were hypocritically offering Jesus a way out, but it was a way that betrayed the Father’s will, a way that would only further the way of the Pharisee, the way of outward religion and empty ritual and control.
But Jesus stood firm. Verse 12 says, “He sighed deeply in His spirit and said, ‘Why does this generation seek a sign? Truly, I say to you, no sign will be given to this generation.’ And He left them, got into the boat again, and went to the other side.”
Matthew, in his account expanded little bit. He wrote that, “No sign would be given this generation except the sign of Jonah,” a detail that Mark elected to leave out.
So what is the sign of Jonah? As Jonah spent three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so would Jesus spend three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. The only sign that generation would receive to prove that Jesus is Messiah is His resurrection from the dead.
So from here Jesus and the disciples get into the boat to sail for the other side and once again they are faced with a bread shortage.
14 Now they had forgotten to bring bread, and they had only one loaf with them in the boat. 15 And [Jesus] cautioned them, saying, “Watch out; beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod.” 16 And they began discussing with one another the fact that they had no bread.
Now something to keep in mind at this point, it’s very important so listen closely: the disciples… are idiots.
They had yet to figure out that Jesus was usually talking about more than just what you could see on the surface. He warned them about the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod, but they assumed that He was talking about their lack of bread and started pointing fingers at each other as to whose fault it was that they only had one loaf of bread with them in the boat.
So why did they make this incorrect connection? In order to understand that, we have to understand what leaven is. So what is it?
Leaven is yeast, it is a key ingredient for making bread, it’s what makes bread rise and form all the little air pockets that you see that get filled with peanut butter and jelly.
Jesus uses the picture of leaven several times in the Gospels and Paul also refers to it in his writings. Leaven doesn’t always represent sin in Scripture but it does always represent an invisible, pervasive influence, something that works its way all the way through the lump of dough and affects the whole thing.
So what was the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod? They weren’t really two different things, more like two sides of the same coin.
That coin is the coin that says, “all that matters is what’s on the outside.”
For the Pharisees, their doctrine said, “All God wants is outward performance, follow all our religious rules and you will be acceptable to God.”
For Herod, his doctrine said, “All that matters is what people think of you, as long as you are accepted by people you’re good.”
Both of these doctrines are still pervasive in the church and they both lead to spiritual dullness and death.
But Jesus offered the disciples a way out, and thus He offers us a way out. It seems harsh at first but Jesus’ barrage of questions to the disciples and thusly to us, gives an alternative to those pervasive thoughts and a way out of the spiritual dullness that they bring.
14 Now they had forgotten to bring bread, and they had only one loaf with them in the boat. 15 And he cautioned them, saying, “Watch out; beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod.” 16 And they began discussing with one another the fact that they had no bread. 17 And Jesus, aware of this, said to them, “Why are you discussing the fact that you have no bread? Do you not yet perceive or understand? Are your hearts 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 broken pieces did you take up?” They said to him, “Twelve.” 20 “And the seven for the four thousand, how many baskets full of broken pieces did you take up?” And they said to him, “Seven.” 21 And he said to them, “Do you not yet understand?”
When the disciples couldn’t understand what was happening or what Jesus meant, their minds went to bread not sin, so Jesus asked them: why are you discussing the fact that you have no bread? They could only see what was on the surface, so Jesus questions them to train them, and us, to look deeper.
Jesus’ questions for them fall into four categories, mind questions, heart questions, spirit questions, and history questions.
First Jesus starts with their minds: Do you not yet perceive or understand? Perceive or understand what exactly? He is asking them if they could perceive or understand what was true. What was true is that Jesus is Messiah, they were in His care, they didn’t need to worry about bread, or provision, or anything else, He had everything under control.
So I pose the same question of you: do you understand what is true about who Jesus is and your relationship to Him and with Him? Understanding that truth will chase off spiritual dullness.
Then Jesus moves to their hearts: Are your hearts hardened? He’s asking, how will they respond to what they know is true. He is the Son of God and has taken them as His own, does that pull at the strings of your heart at all?
I like to look at it this way: We all understand that gravity works, right? We are all stuck to the ground and we don’t go flying up into space, cool, right? It’s always been that way, we all know that gravity works. Stop there and you just shrug your shoulders as if it’s no big deal, this is the condition of a hardened heart, “Meh.” But if you move beyond that gravity works and stop and think about how gravity works your appreciation for the truth that gravity works will explode!
The next question is a question of the spirit: Having eyes do you not see, and having ears do you not hear? This is a challenge to see beyond the physical, a challenge to appreciate that the Lord is at work even if you don’t understand how or why. To look beyond the surface, to dig in, to see more than just the words but get to their meaning, to hear beyond the sound of the trombone playing, “wah, wah, wah,” like Charlie Brown’s teacher and listen for the voice of God in His Word.
And then there is the question of History like we talked about last week: And do you not remember? 19 When I broke the five loaves for the five thousand, how many baskets full of broken pieces did you take up?” They said to him, “Twelve.” 20 “And the seven for the four thousand, how many baskets full of broken pieces did you take up?” And they said to him, “Seven.”
Remember what He has done: He has provided before, he will do it again, He has delivered from trial before, He will do it again, He has dragged you through the keyhole of tribulation, through things you thought you couldn’t endure, He will do it again! Don’t forget what He has done, he will do it again!
All this to answer Jesus’ main question: Do you not yet understand?
Do you not yet understand that it’s not about your outward performance or looking spiritual? Do you not yet understand that it’s not about what other people think of you or being socially acceptable? Do you not yet understand that it’s about what is true, really true, that it’s about how you respond to what is true, that it’s about looking beyond the physical realm to see the Spirit at work?
We would all do well to pause and consider, to remind ourselves of His goodness and faithfulness, to examine ourselves and the purity of our own doctrine, to consider what the Bible actually says not just our interpretations or biases, to consider what Jesus has actually done for us, in His teaching, on His cross, and through His empty tomb.
Do you not yet understand?
Let’s pray.
