Categories
Book of Mark

Mark 8: 14-21 (The Yeast of the Pharisees and Herod)

The Yeast of the Pharisees and Herod
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?”

Note:
v15 “Be careful,” Jesus warned them. “Watch out for the yeast of the Pharisees and that of Herod.”

Key verse of this passage. Yeast “puffs up” just like pride (1 Co 8: 1 – “But knowledge puffs up while love builds up.”). When our knowledge increase, the temptation to be proud is also increase (http://www.findingsteve.net/chart_diagram_pride.asp)

Another thoughts I have is about influence. Jesus warned the disciples to be careful. I think Jesus knows how influential these Pharisees and Herod. Both Pharisees and Herod were holding very high position in both authority and politically. Pharisees were more on the religious world.

I think as normal citizen, we can be easily influenced by those high authority people. It could be our parents, our boss, our church leader, our prime ministry. But, we should be careful because the influence from them can be both positive and negative. Sometimes we don’t realized that we are under negative influence.

Proverbs 13:20 – Walk with the wise and become wise, for a companion of fools suffers harm.
1 Co 15: 33 – Do not be misled: “Bad company corrupts good character.”

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

*