Thoughts from Mark

In prayer,

Asking for a sign or telling God to do something, as the Pharisees did in Mark 8:11-13, is putting oneself in God's place rather than denying oneself in humility.

¹¹ The Pharisees came and began to argue with him, seeking from him a sign from heaven to test him. ¹² And he sighed deeply in his spirit and said, “Why does this generation seek a sign? Truly, I say to you, no sign will be given to this generation.” ¹³ And he left them, got into the boat again, and went to the other side.

The Leaven of the Pharisees and Herod

¹⁴ Now they had forgotten to bring bread, and they had only one loaf with them in the boat.¹⁵ And he cautioned them, saying, “Watch out; beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod.”^[b] 16 And they began discussing with one another the fact that they had no bread. ¹⁷ And Jesus, aware of this, said to them, “Why are you discussing the fact that you have no bread? Do you not yet perceive or understand? Are your hearts hardened? ¹⁸ Having eyes do you not see, and having ears do you not hear? And do you not remember? ¹⁹ When I broke the five loaves for the five thousand, how many baskets full of broken pieces did you take up?” They said to him, “Twelve.” ²⁰ “And the seven for the four thousand, how many baskets full of broken pieces did you take up?” And they said to him, “Seven.” ²¹ And he said to them, “Do you not yet understand?”

I found this passage in Mark 8 interesting because of the main two messages it brings. In the first, Jesus is teaching his disciples by warning them about two types of "leaven": that of being too legalistic (focusing on rules like the Pharisees), and that of being too casual (bad stuff doesn't matter as long as your good/religiousness outweighs it--like Herod pretended). This illustrates the narrow line between two sides of Christianity--truth and love. Both are necessary and important.

The other message speaks on the third aspect of following Christ, which would be faith. So often, we are like the disciples. We see God working in our lives daily, yet we forget them time and time again as we face similar problems. If Jesus can feed thousands with a few loaves of bread, it is silly that we don't trust him to take care of us. Yet so often we do just that.

P.S. cool things I learned today:

Matthew is often described as a tell-it-as-it-is presentation of the Gospel.
Mark, influenced Peter's telling of the Gospel, is themed around second chances.