Today’s Scripture Readings

Gospel Reading

NRSV

Now the disciples had forgotten to bring any bread; and they had only one loaf with them in the boat. And he cautioned them, saying, ‘Watch out—beware of the yeast of the Pharisees and the yeast of Herod.’ They said to one another, ‘It is because we have no bread.’ And becoming aware of it, Jesus said to them, ‘Why are you talking about having no bread? Do you still not perceive or understand? Are your hearts hardened? Do you have eyes, and fail to see? Do you have ears, and fail to hear? And do you not remember? When I broke the five loaves for the five thousand, how many baskets full of broken pieces did you collect?’ They said to him, ‘Twelve.’ ‘And the seven for the four thousand, how many baskets full of broken pieces did you collect?’ And they said to him, ‘Seven.’ Then he said to them, ‘Do you not yet understand?’

Jesus asks the disciples seven questions, the climax being “Do you still not understand?” So, how are they, and we, going to handle the huge questions that come next in Mark, including “Who do you say I am” and the suffering and rejection, death and rising again and taking up our cross and following him that are the demands of discipleship?
We see the disciples taking a literal meaning for yeast or leaven and forgetting the lesson of the feeding of the five thousand and the four thousand people. We hear Jesus’ warning of the trap of trusting in signs, as the Pharisees challenged him in the previous story. So, the “daily bread” of the Our Father prayer has a profounder meaning.
We can recall Jesus’ earlier apparent frustration when the Twelve ask him to explain the parable of the sower (Mark 4:10). He speaks about the secret of the Kingdom of God having been given to them in contrast to those “outside” who don’t perceive, or hear, or understand. After the mustard seed parable (4:34), Jesus explained everything to his disciples.
Rather than a focus on secrets or elites, perhaps we are being invited to become so close to Jesus, so desiring to be in his company, that we will grow in our understanding of the mysteries of the Kingdom which have been revealed to us. Let us pray for this grace today.
There is a grace note in the reading from James (1:18): Jesus’ desire for the disciples, and us, is to “give us birth by the word of truth”.

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