Anchor My Faith

Slow to Understand

Scripture: Matthew 16:8, 11-12; Mark 8:17-21

In the previous lesson, we left the disciples discussing among themselves the meaning of what Jesus said to them. They thought Jesus was concerned about them not bringing more bread with them. ^{Mt 16:8} “But Jesus, aware of this, said, “O you of little faith, why are you discussing among yourselves the fact that you have no bread? ^{Mk 8:17} 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?”’

I believe with a tone of gentleness, Jesus said, “O you of little faith, why are you discussing among yourselves the fact that you have no bread?” in an attempt to help them understand the leaven connection. He then draws their attention to themselves and asks them about their understanding, the nature of their hearts, the condition of their eyes, how well they can hear, and how good their memory is. To help them in these areas, Jesus reminds them of the time when they had only five loaves of bread and with those loaves they fed five thousand plus people. He then asked them if there were any leftover pieces. ^{Mk 8:19} “They said to him, “Twelve.”’

Jesus then reminds them of another event: ^{Mk 8:20} “And the seven for the four thousand, how many baskets full of broken pieces did you take up?” And they said to him, “Seven.”’ It should be very clear to the disciples, that the one loaf of bread was not the issue, because Jesus could clearly provide more bread for them if they needed it.

^{Mk 8:21} “And he said to them, “Do you not yet understand? ^{Mt 16:11} How is it that you fail to understand that I did not speak about bread? Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees.”’ The problem with the disciples was having eyes they did not see and having ears they did not hear. This figurative reference to eyes and ears looks back to the healing of the blind man in Mark 8:22 – 26 and the deaf man in Mark 7:31 – 35.

^{Mt 16:12} “Then the disciples understood that he did not tell them to beware of the leaven of bread, but of the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees.” Finally, the disciples understood that Jesus was using leaven of bread to represent something else, and that something else referred to the harmful influence of the Pharisees and Herod.

Conclusion

The principle Jesus was teaching, was about how something small can affect something much larger, and how that applies to us. No matter how small the sin is that we commit, it will affect others beyond us. A whole body of believers can be affected by the sin committed by one in the body.