Beware Yeast Mark 8:14-21
Today’s events take place right after Jesus fed four thousand people by multiplying a few loaves of bread and a couple of fish.
After Jesus fed the crowd Mark 8:13 says, “Then they left them, got back into the boat and crossed to the other side.” Here they are in a rush, going to their next stop and the disciples forgot to take the bread. The disciples didn’t adequately prepare or plan for the trip. Now this may not have been life threatening for them at the time, but it gives us some things we can learn.
As we know Jesus just performed the miracle of feeding thousands with a little bread and a few fish, it can’t be that the disciples forgot this already. I don’t believe they forgot; they just lost their focus. They became more focused on getting to the boat and sailing across the lake than they were on Jesus.
We all do this. I think most people, especially believing Christians can look at times in their lives and be able to say, “God was with me there,” “Someone upstairs was really looking out for me that time,” “God blessed me today.” If we look we can see all the times God worked in our lives.
In our reading the disciples were so focused on the task at hand they forgot the Lord was right there in the boat with them. There are times we can be so focused on the end game we forget God is there with us. In these times it can be easy to be blinded to God’s work in our lives and we can lament, “God, why don’t you ever help me?”
For the past few years we have been looking for a house and each time it seems we are about to make it happen something comes up. There were times I was saying “God, why? Why can’t you make things go our way?” My focus was wrong and I started to look at the past few years. I went to seminary with no student loans, I was out of work for three months with my back issue, Jen was out of work for a total of six months with her back and surgery and we did not suffer financially. We can help our son, we can travel to Utah to see him several times a year. Like the disciples I had to learn to stop looking at what I don’t have and focus on Jesus and what I do have.
Verses 15 and 16, “’Be careful,’ Jesus warned them, “Watch out for the yeast of the Pharisees and that of Herod.’ They discussed this with one another and said, ‘It is because we have no bread.’”
The disciples didn’t understand what Jesus was talking about so they started to talk among themselves. I can almost hear them, “I thought you were going to bring the bread,” “Me, I thought you were bringing it,” “Why didn’t you pick it up, this is your fault.”
When we were looking for the house it was easy for us to fall into this trap also. It was the realtor’s fault. It’s all the people moving up from the city causing prices to go up so high. It’s the contractor’s fault.
When you get spiritually distracted you don’t see God or his work. We can get obstinate and refuse to God in the situation. If we don’t change our focus we can get stuck. If I didn’t change my focus I could still be bitter about the house. I could let that one situation color the rest of my life and I could miss the blessings God did give me.
I read how when Payton Manning played for the Denver Broncos and lost the Superbowl to Seattle that’s all he talked about for over a year and how his family was more than a little fed up. He had to get over the loss and see what he did have, health and a career.
I know some people are faced with truly life changing circumstances, cancer, or a disability. There’s a woman Brittney who at thirteen was in a snowmobile accident and was paralyzed from the chest down. And I’m not taking away all the emotional and spiritual heartache that caused but she says she focused only on that for years and refused to even try to learn the things that could make her life easier. Eventually she started to change her focus. Now she is married with two children and she teaches others how to live a full and happy life from a wheelchair.
“Watch out for the yeast of the Pharisees and that of Herod.”
As we know Jesus has a habit of talking in parables and at times it might be easier if he was more direct but he does it to make people think. In our reading Jesus is using the picture of yeast in bread to illustrate a spiritual truth.
Once yeast is introduced it affects the entire dough. Beware the yeast of the Pharisees. Remember, at the time the Pharisees preached strict adherence to the law and little on faith. Jesus is telling the twelve that he is the truth and any credence given to false doctrine affects all areas of their lives.
Jesus is telling us that he is the way to the Father through faith and any false doctrine that salvation is based on faith and some kind of work, some kind of earthly demand, interferes with that faith and it can very possibly cause us see salvation as earned by our efforts and not gifted through our faith. You believe but you didn’t tithe, oh well; you believe but you don’t read your Bible enough, that’s too bad; you believe but you weren’t baptized our way, sorry. All this and more false doctrine can interfere with your faith. All this can cause you stress, heartache, and it can ultimately cause some to abandon faith altogether because they see it as too hard to live up to the earthly demands men put on it.
Beware the yeast of Herod.
Herod is king and he demanded worship. Jesus is telling us to beware of putting anything above God. Whether it’s money or influence, whether it’s our own ego or a political figure; if we put it above God, if we believe they speak for God while we ignore scripture, we can be led astray and it can and will affect our faith and how we see God and his message. Jesus will stop being what we aspire to. If we look to New Age ideas, if we look to psychics, if we take aspects of other religions and try to incorporate them into Christianity, we can begin to doubt and question the truth of Christ himself.
Verse 17, “Do you still not understand? Are your hearts hardened?”
Jesus just shared spiritual truth with the disciples and they just don’t see it. They were so caught up in what was under their noses; a lack of bread, that they missed what Jesus was telling them. Do any of us get so wrapped up in what’s going on that we miss Jesus. Again with the house, I looked to God, I prayed, and I only saw what I didn’t have, I failed to see what God was doing for me. He was setting me up to be able to handle the trials that we were about to face with our health. I failed to see God setting me up to be able to go to seminary and answer his call. I failed to see God setting me up so we can keep an in person relationship with our son even though he lives two thousand miles away.
It’s important to know that sometimes God doesn’t allow something for you not out of anger or punishment but because he is setting you up for something else. Now I’m not a prosperity preacher, pray enough and God will give you more money, a bigger house, a better job; but if you feel God is denying you look around, and if you do so with open eyes I bet you will see God working somewhere in your life.
Now our reading ends with verses 19 and 20; “’ When I broke the five loaves for the five thousand, how many basket fills did you pick up?’ ‘Twelve,’ they replied.” Twelve is a number used bin the Bible to denote completeness. Jesus uses this example to demonstrate that God will give us so much of himself that we have enough spirit that it overflows us and we will be able to share it with others.
This lesson is so important that Jesus repeats it, “’And when I broke the seven loaves for the four thousand, how many basketfuls of pieces did you pick up?’ They answered ‘Seven.’” Seven, another number that represents completeness. Creation was completed in seven days. God’s work was done in seven days; day eight was not going to give anymore to creation.
God’s love for us is complete and total. God’s provision for us is complete and total. God’s work for us is complete and total. God loves us so much he sent Jesus. God loves us so much he provided the means of our reconciliation. God loves us so much he did all the work at the cross for us.
Our lesson today is beware the yeast. Beware people, ideas, anything that contradicts God’s Word in the Bible.
We live in this wonderful world, made just a little lower than the angels. God wants us with him for all eternity. No wonder Satan tries so hard to sway us. Beware the yeast.
Today Jesus tells us that God’s concern for you, God’s provision for you, God’s desire for you, God’s love for you is total and complete. In all the universe there is nothing more for him to give you.
God’s love is with you, may you always feel it.
Amen.