Fill in the blanks. Two topics to avoid in our conversations are ______ and _______. You’re right! Politics and religion. Many of us can attest to the truth of this advice from recent experiences we’ve had. We know of family members who parted ways over politics surrounding the presidential election in our country. Even in the Church, tensions mount when controversial topics about Church teaching are brought up.
Today we listen to Jesus warning his disciples about religion and politics (Mark 8:14-21).
“The disciples had forgotten to bring bread, and that 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.”
Seeing that Jesus was upset, the disciples concluded that he was on their case because they had forgotten to bring bread for the boat trip. Had they already forgotten that he fed thousands with just a few loaves of bread. Could he not take the one loaf and multiply in to feed them? Once again, the disciples didn’t have a clue.
What was Jesus talking about in this warning? We can think of “leaven” as “influence.” Whenever the Pharisees showed up, they tried to provoke an argument with Jesus about some religious issue. We read an example of this in yesterday’s gospel reading. And the Herodians were sensitive to political threats against Herod’s government. This is why Herod arrested and eventually killed John the Baptist. He kept a watchful eye on Jesus because he believed he was John returned from the dead. If the disciples mixed some Pharisee leaven and some Herod leaven into their beliefs, they’d find themselves in endless religious arguments and political conflict.
When Jesus realized that disciples had no idea what he was talking about, he became even more upset.
“Why do you conclude that it is because you have no bread? Do you not yet understand…Are your hearts hardened…Do you have eyes and not see…Do you still not understand?”
How could Jesus wake up his disciples? They always seemed to miss the point of what he was saying. Jesus elaborated:
“…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 fragment did you pick up?” They answered him, “Seven.”
At least the disciple got the two math questions right! Did they, however realize the meaning of these numbers?
Seven and twelve were the numbers associated with completion. These indicated that the days of fulfillment had come. They were living in the very moment that was foretold by the prophets, and Jesus was the promised one of God. This little band of guys in the boat were watching the greatest moment in history unfold before their very eyes. Instead of being caught up in awe that they were selected to witness this glorious moment of history, they focused on who forgot to bring the bread.
What about us? Do we catch on to the warnings Jesus gives us? Are we more excited about the Kingdom of God in our midst, or what we’ll have for dinner? Are we careful to keep Jesus as the focus of our lives, or have we let the leaven of the Pharisees and of Herod creep into and contaminate our relationship with Jesus?
“Blessed the man whom you instruct O Lord (Ps 94:12).
