Listen to the audio of today’s Reflection:
https://soundcloud.com/hapearce/reflection-for-august-4-2025
Mark 8:11-21
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?”
In today’s passage, some Pharisees ask Jesus to provide “a sign from heaven.” As we know, he performed miracles all the time that are described in the gospels as “signs.” That term means that the miracles pointed to some reality beyond themselves. And we understand that ‘alternative reality’ to be the kingdom of heaven – the kingdom he had come to proclaim. He performed miracles all the time, but Jesus always refused to do them just because people wanted to see one, or to prove that he could.
In the case of today’s story, it seems significant that the Pharisees ask Jesus for “a sign from heaven.” They apparently wanted Jesus to perform a miracle to prove that he had real authority from God. But Jesus seems to have felt no need to prove his authority, so he refuses the Pharisees’ request. Or maybe ‘demand’ is a more accurate word.
It seems to me that Jesus wanted to avoid being known primarily as a performer of ‘signs and wonders.’ Too much focus on the miracles would overshadow the real message Jesus had come to announce: that the kingdom of God had come near. Jesus performed miracles out of compassion for suffering people he encountered, and as previews of the kingdom he had come to proclaim. But not to impress or amuse people.
But there’s probably another issue here — one that might sound familiar to modern readers and listeners. The Pharisees were asking for evidence that Jesus was who he seemed to be. That’s a common craving in our modern world — people have become so accustomed to an evidence-based outlook on the world that they can’t accept anything that can’t be ‘proven.’ It seems that the Pharisees of the ancient Hebrew world weren’t that different — they just demanded a different kind of evidence, in the form of ‘signs and wonders’ that testified to supernatural powers.
I suppose there’s a paradox of sorts here — faith has to be awakened in a person’s heart before they can believe — before they can open their mind and heart to the most powerful sign of the working of God’s Holy Spirit: the changed lives of those who already believe.
It’s also important to note that Jesus uses the word ‘generation’ in a way that’s different from our common usage. He’s not referring to group of people born within a typical human lifetime. He’s using the term to refer to those between the exodus of the slaves from Egypt and his own appearance on earth — those who had the benefit of God’s leadership and commandments, but who somehow failed to properly understand what God was doing in the establishment of his Kingdom.
In the latter part of today’s reading, Jesus and his disciples are traveling across the lake in a boat. On the way, Jesus says something to the disciples that confuses them. He warns them to, “Watch out for the yeast of the Pharisees and that of Herod.” (And some scholars believe that what Jesus really said was the Herodians, a group of supporters of Herod who joined the Pharisees in their opposition to Jesus.)
In the gospels, Jesus came into conflict with the Pharisees most often over his willingness to befriend sinners and “unclean” people that the Pharisees wanted nothing to do with. The Pharisees hated that – they thought Jesus was condoning sinful behavior by hanging around with sinners, eating dinner with them, etc. You might remember that they called him “a friend of sinners,” which they apparently thought was an insult. But of course, Jesus didn’t take it that way. He said it was for those sinners that he had come into the world.
When you think about it, the real heart of Jesus’ conflict with the Pharisees was their self-righteousness. Because they strictly kept the law of Moses, the Pharisees regarded themselves as morally superior to everybody else. That led them to be self-righteous and hypocritical. And that, I think, is the “yeast” Jesus was talking about.
In ancient Hebrew culture, yeast had a certain negative connotation, which is why only unleavened bread was eaten in connection with the Passover. Yeast was thought of as working by a process of decay, so it was understood to introduce ‘impurity.’
In the context of what Jesus was saying in this passage, it seems that the reason he used the metaphor of yeast to symbolize the effect of the Pharisees is that once it’s introduced into a lump of dough, yeast spreads itself throughout the whole lump. Jesus was warning his disciples against allowing the Pharisees’ hypocrisy to be introduced into the church.
It’s probably worth stopping for a minute to think about the origins of the word ‘hypocrite,’ too. The term actually comes from ancient Greco-Roman theater, where it was used for actors, who often performed wearing masks. So the sense of the term is to designate a person who seems to be something they are not — who go through life hiding behind a mask. In the case of the Pharisees, Jesus seems to be saying that they wore a mask of righteousness, but were really unrighteous beneath it.
“Well,” those of us in the church might say, “it’s a good thing we followers of Jesus aren’t hypocrites like the Pharisees.” But of course, as soon as we say that, as soon as we judge ourselves superior to the Pharisees, then the yeast of self-righteousness and hypocrisy has begun to infect us, just as it infected them.
One of the hardest aspects of the life of faith is guarding against thinking ourselves more righteous than those who don’t follow Jesus — and even than those who are from a different part of the church. The best protection against self-righteousness, it seems to me, is to remind ourselves daily that we are not saved because we’re good and righteous, but rather that we are sinners saved only by the grace of God.
Lots of our fellow Christians aim to guard against self-righteousness through the daily use of a traditional prayer known as ‘the Jesus Prayer’: “Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.” That simple prayer helps to remind us of the real nature of our relationship with God in Jesus: our dependence on the grace of God, which is defined as a favor we could never earn by our own righteousness. And keeping that grace in sight helps to prevent the yeast of self-righteousness from taking hold in our life.
It seems likely that this passage is made-up of things Jesus said on more than one occasion, each touching on the hypocrisy of the Pharisees. That can make it a little confusing at first glance, but when you look closer, there really are some meaningful things here that are especially worth our reflection.
Let’s pray. Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on us, sinners. Amen.
Blessings,
Henry
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