WATCH OUT AGAINST THE YEAST OF THE PHARISEES

Mark 8:14-21

Yesterday’s Gospel spoke of the misunderstanding between Jesus and the Pharisees. Today’s Gospel speaks of the misunderstanding between Jesus and his own disciples. Jesus starts warning his disciples to watch out against the yeast of the Pharisees and of Herod. We know that the yeast has the ability to ferment bread, causing it to grow, multiply and change its very shape. Used in the context of the gospel, the yeast is the image of corruptness and perverseness of heart and life. It refers to the bad influence that one person can exercise in his surroundings, especially when there is corruption of self-righteousness, power and worldliness, insincerity and hypocrisy involved. As Jesus is warning His disciples to watch out against the yeast of the Pharisees and of Herod, his disciples concluded that this lesson is because they have forgotten the bread.

Jesus, aware of that, rapidly asks them a series of questions, without waiting for an answer. Hard questions which express very serious things and reveal the total lack of understanding on the part of the disciples. Even if the miracle experience seems unbelievable, the disciples reached the point in which there was no difference between them and the Pharisees because of the lack of trust, the lack of faith, the lack of understanding. Jesus had become sad seeing the “hardness of heart” of his disciples after experiencing the multiplication of the loaves. They still do not understand. In his questions it seems he is saying, “Hasn’t the experience taught you anything? Where is your trust, where is your faith? Don’t you know that I care about you and will take care of you?”

Jesus corrects His disciples by inviting them to remember the miracles he has worked and to have faith. Jesus invites us to understand by remembering his deeds in our lives. He calls us to have faith by remembering all the blessings we have received from him. We must not easily forget what God has already done for us and we must not doubt what He promises to do as well. It's easy to get preoccupied with the problems and needs of the present moment and forget that God's abiding presence is with us. He has promised his abundant provision for our lives. Good questions are: Do we take time to remember the many good things God has done for us and so strengthen our faith in times need and temptation? How much do we trust God’s compassion and love? Saint James says in the first reading: Blessed is he who perseveres in temptation, for when he has been proven he will receive the crown of life that God promised to those who love him.