The Yeast of the Pharisees and Herod (Mark 8:11-21)

 

The Yeast of the Pharisees and Herod (Mark 8:11-21)

Every person holds a different image of who the Messiah should be. The Jews wanted a Messiah with mighty military power like King David. Many people bow to Mammon, thinking that wealth can solve everything. However, the Christ of God, who became incarnate on this earth, came to suffer and be killed. The Lord Jesus Christ became the Lord of salvation, washing away sins and granting freedom through his death and the shedding of his blood.

In Mark 8:11-21, Jesus sighed deeply because of the religious leaders who did not believe due to their hardened hearts. He rebuked the disciples, who still did not properly understand the suffering Christ, asking, "Do you still not understand?" The suffering Christ is the true Messiah who delivers this world from sin and death and leads us to the kingdom of heaven.

This Generation Asks for a Sign

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. (Mark 8:11-13)

The Pharisees demanded a sign to confirm that Jesus was the Messiah. In fact, this is the same work the devil does. The devil persistently attacked and tested Jesus while he fasted forty days and forty nights in the wilderness. The devil's temptation was a demand for Jesus to easily reveal himself as the Messiah to the world (Matt 4:1-11). It was a temptation to manifest himself immediately without carrying the cross.

The Law and the Prophets prophesied that the suffering Christ would come. Therefore, the devil persistently tests Jesus to reject suffering in any way possible. He tempts by packaging suffering as if it were becoming a loser. The mark of a Christian is not success or wealth, but participating in the remaining sufferings of the Lord Jesus Christ (Galatians 6:17).

So, Jesus looked at this generation asking for a sign and sighed deeply in his spirit. This was because they had no faith and their hearts were hardened, making them like those who are deaf and mute (Mark 7:32). Jesus rejected all the devil's temptations. And he gave no sign to those who sought one. In his hometown, Jesus did not perform any miracles because they did not believe and hardened their hearts (Mark 6:5).

However, did Jesus show no signs at all? Yes. Jesus showed numerous signs of the Christ, the Son of God, right before their eyes. He healed the sick and drove out demons. He performed the miracle of feeding five thousand with five loaves and two fish and opened the eyes of the blind. He rebuked the wind and the sea to make them calm and walked on the water.

Jesus restored sight to a man blind from birth. However, that man was persecuted by the Pharisees and priests (John 9:15-16). The reason was that the day he opened his eyes was the Sabbath. The religious leaders stubbornly refused to believe in and rejected Jesus as the Christ sent by God; they treated him as a sinner and sought to kill him. At that time, the man who had been blind rebuked them, saying:

"Nobody has ever heard of opening the eyes of a man born blind. If this man were not from God, he could do nothing." (John 9:32-33)

Above all, Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount and various parables were words of authority teaching the secrets of the kingdom of heaven. Before Jesus came, the word of God was rare throughout the land of Judea. After the prophet Malachi, there was no word of God for four hundred years. But to their thirsty and weary hearts, Jesus Christ, the Son of God who spoke in the beginning, spoke directly with his own voice.

"But in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom also he made the universe." (Heb 1:2)

Watch out for the Yeast of Men

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.” (Mark 8:14-15)

Yeast refers to evil influence. The yeast of the Pharisees is the hypocrisy of having the name of religion but not believing, and the yeast of Herod is greed and corruption. The Pharisees were the group of Jewish religious leaders, and Herod was a Gentile king appointed by Rome to rule the Judean region. Herod killed John the Baptist for no reason (Mark 6:27).

Their evil influence lies in not upholding justice and righteousness in the name of religion and leadership, but using them to fill their own interests and greed. Even today, hypocrisy, injustice, and greed carried out in the name of the church or the people remain the same. Regardless of time or place, the practice of plundering the weak and taking unfair profits in the name of religion, power, and wealth is widespread.

There Is Only One Teacher, the Lord Jesus Christ

Jesus taught his disciples that there is only one Master, God in heaven, and they are all brothers. No human is above another. There is only one Teacher, the Lord Jesus Christ. The object of our worship is not any other person, but only the Lord Jesus Christ who died for our sins.

8 "But you are not to be called ‘Rabbi,’ for you have one Teacher, and you are all brothers. 9 And do not call anyone on earth ‘father,’ for you have one Father, and he is in heaven. 10 Nor are you to be called instructors, for you have one Instructor, the Messiah." (Matt 23:8-10)

No person can lord it over another. Jesus told his disciples not to exercise authority and lord it over people like the rulers of the Gentiles (Matt 20:25). Rather, he commanded that if they want to be great, they must humble themselves and be servants (Matt 20:26).

Jesus showed the example first. As Creator God, Jesus is worthy to receive glory, honor, praise, and blessing, but instead, he emptied himself, humbled himself, and was obedient to God the Father even to the point of death on a cross (Phil 2:6-8). This was not because the Lord committed a crime, but because he took upon himself the sins of this world. The wages of sin is death (Rom 6:23). The cross of Jesus manifests this fact.

22 “He committed no sin, and no deceit was found in his mouth.” 23 When they hurled their insults at him, he did not retaliate; when he suffered, he made no threats. Instead, he entrusted himself to him who judges justly. 24 “He himself bore our sins” in his body on the cross, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; “by his wounds you have been healed.” (1 Peter 2:22-24)

"Are Your Hearts Hardened? Do You Still Not Understand?"

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?” (Mark 8:16-21)

The disciples did not correctly understand Jesus’ words of warning and misunderstood, thinking it was because they had not brought bread. Their hearts had become hard and difficult. When Jesus came to the disciples walking on the water, they mistook him for a ghost and were terrified. When he climbed into the boat with them, they were completely amazed, for they had not understood about the loaves; their hearts were hardened (Mark 6:52).

It takes a considerable amount of time to realize that Jesus came to this earth to be the Christ of suffering. The appearance of the disciples is our own reflection in the mirror. For a long time, the Jews longed for the Messiah. To them, the Messiah was a figure with the power of a strong army, like King David, who would establish a kingdom on earth, defeating all enemies.

When Jesus entered Jerusalem, the disciples and the people welcomed him enthusiastically, believing that that very day the Lord would establish his kingdom on this earth (Matthew 21:8-9). However, Jesus came to be sacrificed as the Passover Lamb of God (John 1:29; Luke 22:7; 1 Corinthians 5:7). It took time for the disciples to understand the Messiah of suffering, from the time Jesus suffered and rose again until his ascension.

As Jews, the disciples followed Jesus with dreams of an earthly Messianic kingdom. Breaking that dream and accepting the Christ of suffering was a task more difficult and painful than death. Jesus told them that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life (Matthew 16:21). At this, Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. “Never, Lord!” he said. “This shall never happen to you!” (Matthew 16:22).

After Jesus suffered and rose again on the third day, he appeared to the disciples, gave them peace, and breathed the Holy Spirit on them (John 20:21-22). To the doubting Thomas, he showed the nail marks in his hands and the wound in his side, saying, "Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed" (John 20:29). At the Sea of Galilee, he personally prepared breakfast and fed the disciples with fish and bread (John 21:12-13).

Jesus helped his disciples believe that he was the Son of God who bore the cross, died, was buried, and rose again. However, at the very moment Jesus was ascending to the Father in heaven, the disciples asked, “Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?” (Acts 1:6).

But after the Holy Spirit descended from heaven like tongues of fire on Pentecost, the disciples' hearts were opened and they believed in the Christ of suffering (Acts 2:36). When they heard this, they were cut to the heart and asked what they should do. Peter told them to repent and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins, and the number of those who accepted the Lord Jesus Christ that day was about three thousand (Acts 2:37-41).

Ultimately, the disciples accepted the Christ of suffering and testified to the gospel in the 1st century throughout Judea, Samaria, and the whole earth. Following the truth of Christ's cross, they endured much suffering and led many people to Christ, the Son of God.

"But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth" (Acts 1:8).

Amen!

April 26, 2026

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Scripture quotes are from the NIV.