During those days another large crowd gathered. Since they had nothing to eat, Jesus called his disciples to him and said, 2 “I have compassion for these people; they have already been with me three days and have nothing to eat. 3 If I send them home hungry, they will collapse on the way, because some of them have come a long distance.”
4 His disciples answered, “But where in this remote place can anyone get enough bread to feed them?”
5 “How many loaves do you have?” Jesus asked.
“Seven,” they replied.
6 He told the crowd to sit down on the ground. When he had taken the seven loaves and given thanks, he broke them and gave them to his disciples to distribute to the people, and they did so. 7 They had a few small fish as well; he gave thanks for them also and told the disciples to distribute them. 8 The people ate and were satisfied. Afterward the disciples picked up seven basketfuls of broken pieces that were left over. 9 About four thousand were present. After he had sent them away, 10 he got into the boat with his disciples and went to the region of Dalmanutha.
11 The Pharisees came and began to question Jesus. To test him, they asked him for a sign from heaven. 12 He sighed deeply and said, “Why does this generation ask for a sign? Truly I tell you, no sign will be given to it.” 13 Then he left them, got back into the boat and crossed to the other side.
14 The 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.”
16 They discussed this with one another and said, “It is because we have no bread.”
17 Aware 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? 18 Do you have eyes but fail to see, and ears but fail to hear? And don’t you remember? 19 When 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.”
21 He said to them, “Do you still not understand?”
Question 1
Why are we sometimes so slow to learn a lesson?
Question 2
What do you think Jesus was talking about when referring to the ‘yeast’ of the Pharisees?
Mark 7:31-37 talked about a deaf man who had trouble speaking, and the way Jesus helped him. What becomes clear from reading this passage is that the disciples’ problem was that they were blind!
Think about what’s going on here. Once again, a large number of people have followed Jesus to a distant place where there is no food available to them. For some reason the disciples don’t think it’s possible to feed them all, even though a little earlier Jesus managed to feed quite a few more people with even less bread and fish! Of course, Jesus has no trouble doing the same thing again.
Having sailed to another area, we see the Pharisees coming to him and asking to see a miracle in order to prove his authority. No doubt you and I have lost count of all the amazing things Jesus has done so far, and yet they want to see more. In the same way that Jesus sighed when he saw the sad influence of sin on the life of the deaf man, now he sighs because the sin of these people has made them so blind to the truth.
Left there, Jesus warns his followers not to be like the religious leaders, but they completely misunderstand. It’s almost hard not to laugh at the disciples here. They can’t see that if Jesus fed five thousand with five loaves and four thousand with seven loaves (and a lot of leftovers), he would easily be able to feed them with one loaf! It is clear that they have fallen into the same misunderstanding as the Pharisees. They judged everything from the outside, literally, without seeing the truth. They hadn’t understood that all things were possible with God.
Question 3
Do you sometimes forget the amazing things God has done in the past?
Pray
that God will remind you every day of his greatness, and keep you from falling into believing things that are not true and relying on yourselves.
