Tuesday in the Sixth Week of Ordinary Time, February 14, 2023

Mark 8, 14-21

The disciples had forgotten to bring bread, and they had only one loaf with them in the boat. Jesus enjoined them, “Watch out, guard against the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod.” They concluded among themselves that it was because they had no bread. When he became aware of this he said to them, “Why do you conclude that it is because you have no bread? Do you not yet understand or comprehend? Are your hearts hardened? Do you have eyes and not see, ears and not hear? And do you not remember, when I broke the five loaves for the five thousand, how many wicker baskets full of fragments you picked up?” They answered him, “Twelve.” “When I broke the seven loaves for the four thousand, how many full baskets of fragments did you pick up?” They answered him, “Seven.” He said to them, “Do you still not understand?”

“Watch out, guard against the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod.”  The Lord speaks of the work of the Pharisees and of the Herodias as “leaven”.  His meaning is not clear at first and so his saying was meant as a matter for the Apostles to discuss among themselves, or to ask him about.  Instead, they assume the mention of “leaven” is a reprimand for their not bringing enough bread with them for their next meal.  The Lord uses “leaven” to teach that both these groups worked in the darkness, spreading rumors and calumny, quietly passing their doctrines off as the commandments of Moses and the teachings of the Prophets, and provoking violence while pretending to urge peace.  Leaven is rubbed into dough and “corrupts” it, making it grow out of its original size and shape, all the while remaining quite invisible.  The Lord warns his Apostles not to listen to what these people say but to listen to what he, the living Truth, teaches.

“When he became aware of this.”  Mark writes this from the point of view of the Apostles, for certainly the Lord knew all along how they would react to his words.  “Do you not yet understand or comprehend?”  The Lord does not so much rebuke them as remind them of how far they have to go before they fully understand his teaching, and how far their faith must still grow before they believe in him completely.  We should realize this about ourselves.  

“ ‘When I broke the five loaves for the five thousand, how many wicker baskets full of fragments you picked up?’ They answered him, ‘Twelve.’ ”  The feeding of the five thousand is set in this Gospel at Mark 6, 31-44.  “ ‘When I broke the five loaves for the five thousand, how many wicker baskets full of fragments you picked up?’ They answered him, ‘Twelve.’ ”  This is found at Mark 8, 1-9.  The Lord contrasts the leaven of the Pharisees and the Herodians, of which they must beware, with the bread he himself feeds the people.  The leaven corrupts while the bread the Lord gives enriches and fills.  The Lord also means to point out how greatly abundant the food he provided was: in both feedings, there is more left over than there was to begin with.  Depending on the size of the baskets, it is possible that more food was left over than the people were actually able to eat.  Demonstrating the magnitude of this sign to the Apostles and the crowd might have been the reason the Lord had the leftovers collected into baskets.  

The Lord uses our weaknesses for his great purposes.  With the large crowds, he allowed their hunger for his words to keep them with him and away from the towns where they could have bought provisions.  This led to the signs of his miraculously feeding them.  In the present Gospel Reading, he allows the Apostles to forget to bring sufficient bread with them: he could have reminded them or provided the bread for them without their realizing it.  But he wanted them to know and to believe that he would take care of them.  While he did not multiply their single loaf on this occasion, they did soon come to Bethsaida where they could buy all the bread they wanted.

The Lord uses our weaknesses too in order to show that he has got us, that he has his loving arms around us.  Let us, then, not rely on the Pharisees and Herodians in our lives and in our society, but on Jesus alone.