Mark 8:14-21
“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?’”[1]
This set of verses jumped out to me the other day, not least because it includes yet another example of “Disciples Gone Stupid.” That has at least three different dimensions, but it also provides a wonderful suggestion of the gospel at its most essential.
We start off with the disciples forgetting bread and having a single loaf amongst all of them. That is a pretty bad oversight in a day and age where most calories consumed was bread for the average person. This is basically the equivalent of forgetting your wallet and keys in the modern age.
Detecting this was not the most important element facing them and knowing he had limited time to teach them all he needed to, Jesus interjected and told them, “Watch out; beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod.”[2] This was clearly meant as less than literal unless we are to believe the Pharisees and Herod, ruler of Judea, were part-time bread merchants. What you should instead gather from Jesus’ warning is the ideas and philosophies of Jesus’ opponents were not to be trusted. This wasn’t even the first time Jesus condemned their ideas, but the disciples quickly sailed past the point. They began discussing their lack of physical bread, clearly missing the more important spiritual teaching Jesus was trying to communicate.
At this point he rebuked them, saying, “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?”[3]They deserved that critique as do we with some frequency. Sometimes we grow too comfortable and put ourselves in the place of Jesus when we are really in the place of his bumbling disciples. Anyways, this is a harsh rebuke. He effectively tells them they are discussing the wrong topic four ways within what would have been a few seconds. They should have remembered his previous teachings and realized his words had importance beyond their discussion. They should have recognized he had a spiritual point, especially once the Pharisees and Herod were mentioned.
Charles Spurgeon once said, “The preacher’s work is to throw sinners down in utter helplessness, that they may be compelled to look up to Him who alone can help them.”[4] This is the role Jesus fulfilled in this moment. That is why he rebuked them so harshly. That is why he restated their error so many times. To leave no doubt and cast the disciples so low they would look to God for wisdom and not seek truth through only their own knowledge. He then goes on to reexamine his teaching but with an easily understood metaphor.
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?”[5]
These are all within the last chapter so they should be relatively familiar with both events. He was also effectively utilizing the Socratic method which is a fantastic teaching method because it forces the students to put together the dots and properly construct the knowledge in their own head rather than just telling them. It is the same way law schools and many grad programs teach today.
What the Disciples missed in this very critical moment was really the core of the Gospel. Jesus was telling them he could bring them life and sustenance on His own, not physically in this instance but spiritually. God first warned us of spiritual death in the Garden of Eden, telling Adam, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, 17 but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”[6] Jesus continues to warn us during his ministry: “Just as the weeds are gathered and burned with fire, so will it be at the end of the age. 41 The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will gather out of his kingdom all causes of sin and all law-breakers, 42 and throw them into the fiery furnace. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”[7] In John, He warns, “I told you that you would die in your sins, for unless you believe that I am he you will die in your sins.”[8] Paul warns the Romans, “For sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, deceived me and through it killed me.”[9] As a final example, I point to Paul’s warning to the Ephesians, “And you were dead in the trespasses and sins 2 in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience.”[10]
But just as bread sustains physical life, Jesus sustains spiritual life. After explaining the consequences to the Romans, Paul offers them hope through the Gospel, “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”[11] He offers similar hope to the Ephesians, “But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved.”[12] Perhaps most importantly, Jesus himself tells us, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.”[13] Not only is this message amazing and full of hope, but it was the culmination of all Jesus teachings and God’s plan for creation.
Obviously, the disciples did not have the Bible yet. They had exactly none of the New Testament, but they had the entire Old Testament, the Tanakh. As Robert Vaughn says, “there is one supreme subject that binds it all together: Jesus Christ and the salvation God offers through him. That is true not just of the New Testament but of the Old as well.”[14] Graeme Goldsworthy tells us, “Jesus is thus the primary goal of all the promises and prophecies of the Old Testament.”[15] They could and should have put together that Jesus was the ultimate plan for salvation promised through scripture.
They weren’t listening carefully enough. That is unfortunately, all too often, our story as well. Like the Disciples, we sit there and only find the surface truths which God puts most clearly in our path. We miss the subtlety, the subtext, the nuance. Sometimes it is because we do not put sufficient work in. Sometimes it is because we feel satisfied with our easy understanding and don’t see the need to push further. Sometimes it is down to poor catechesis and preaching. There are many reasons we miss the point of God’s word, but ultimately responsibility lies always with us. James tells us to solve such problems with prayer, “If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him. 6 But let him ask in faith, with no doubting.”[16] Too often our prayer life is insufficient, and this then leads to the blindness the Disciples suffered from. I’m not throwing a stone in this case. I am very much guilty of this. But I can recognize the solution while still being dumb enough to fail to use it.
We can all stand to learn more, and it is imperative we do learn more, but for right now, in this single moment, we can remain content in the simplicity of the Gospel. We have sinned and deserve death for violating God’s law, but God loves us regardless of our failures and sent Jesus to act as an atoning sacrifice. Through Him, we are washed clean and clothed in righteousness. Through Him, we are saved from spiritual death and given life everlasting.
[1] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), Mk 8:14–21.
[2] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), Mk 8:15.
[3] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), Mk 8:17–18.
[4] C. H. Spurgeon, The Soul Winner: How to Lead Sinners to the Saviour (New York; Chicago; Toronto: Fleming H. Revell, 1895), 18.
[5] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), Mk 8:18–21.
[6] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), Ge 2:16–17.
[7] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), Mt 13:40–42.
[8] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), Jn 8:24.
[9] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), Ro 7:11.
[10] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), Eph 2:1–2.
[11] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), Ro 6:23.
[12] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), Eph 2:4–5.
[13] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), Jn 3:16.
[14] Vaughan Roberts, God’s Big Picture: Tracing the Storyline of the Bible (IVP Books, 2002), 17.
[15] Graeme Goldsworthy, Christ-Centred Biblical Theology: Hermeneutical Foundations and Principles (Apollos, 2012), 31.
[16] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), Jas 1:5–6.