Mark 8:10-21 | “The Skeptical and the Struggling”

Seeing and Understanding

Have you ever seen something but not understood clearly what you were looking at?  On our trip to Colorado earlier this summer, Suzy and I took the scenic route in order to enjoy the grandeur of the Rocky Mountains.  At one point, we saw something ahead of us on the side of the road.  We thought it was a cow or a horse, but when we got next to it, we realized that it was two moose.  We saw something but we didn’t understand what it was.

The other night I was playing hide-and-seek with the boys and something happened for the first time ever.  Elisha hid somewhere where I couldn’t find him and he stayed quiet the whole time.  I looked for him for at least ten minutes.  I looked in their room several times, looking under the beds, in the closet, even in the crib that functions as a storage unit.  I came back to the crib, put one hand on the railing and the other hand on what I thought was a blanket.  Turns out that this “blanket” felt a lot like Elisha’s back!  Elisha had balled himself up in the crib so that all I could see was the back of his shirt – which looked like a blanket.  I saw him but I didn’t see him.  I saw him but I didn’t understand that it was him.  His camouflage kept me from truly seeing him.

Many of us have seen something and not understood what we were looking at.  Our physical senses do give us a reliable source of knowledge, but they don’t tell us everything.  We may see things clearly, but not interpret them rightly.  I clearly saw the back of Elisha’s shirt during hide-and-seek, but I interpreted it as a blanket.  My eyes didn’t show me everything I needed to see.

Seeing Jesus with New Spiritual Eyes

This same principle is true in our spiritual lives as well.  We may think or feel something about God that isn’t actually true.  We may think that we see and understand Jesus clearly but actually not be interpreting what we see accurately.  We may think that we’re Christians just because we hang around Jesus and his church a lot, but actually fail to have spiritual eyes that see Jesus’ glory.  This is what Paul means when he writes, “The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned” (1 Cor. 2:14).  Only those who have “the mind of Christ” are able to understand “the mind of the Lord” (v. 16). 

We need new spiritual eyes to see Jesus for who he is.  We cannot understand Jesus properly until the Spirit of God opens our eyes to see him for who he is.  This is why, if you’re a Christian, you think that Jesus is more than a peasant preacher from Galilee.  You see him as the crucified, risen, and reigning Son of God and Lord of glory.  Why do you see him that way?  Because God has opened your spiritual eyes. 

How do you know if your eyes have been opened by God?  Ask yourself if you’re you enthralled and impressed with the Person of Jesus?  Do you love him?  Do you adore him?  Is he precious to you?  Is he more valuable to you than everything else you have?  Would you joyfully sell all that you have in order to have him (Matt. 13:44)? 

Some people aren’t given these new eyes because their hearts are full of pride and skepticism and unbelief.  Others aren’t given these new eyes because, though they want to follow Jesus, they just haven’t yet fully understood who he is.  One group doesn’t want to trust in Jesus.  The other does want to trust him, but just struggles with doubt and confusion over who he is.  Which group are you in this morning?  Are you a skeptic or a struggler?  Do you have a hard heart or a doubtful heart? 

Jesus encountered both types of people during his ministry.  In Mark 8:10-21, we’ll see Jesus leaving the one group in their unbelief and lovingly prodding the other group to greater levels of understanding that will ultimately lead to saving faith.  Verses 10-13 show us skeptical unbelievers.  Verses 14-21 show us struggling believers.  As we study these verses, ask God to show you which one you are.

The Skeptical Unbeliever

Verse 10 says that Jesus and the disciples went to “Dalmanutha.”  This is most likely the village of Magdala on the Western side of the Sea of Galilee.  Verse 11 says that as soon as Jesus got there, the Pharisees began to accost him.  The words used here are much stronger in the original language than our English translations suggest.  The word “argue,” or “question,” means to “oppose.”  They’re not just having a friendly back and forth.  They “came out” against Jesus because they opposed Jesus.  The word for “test” doesn’t mean an objective test one would perform to discern if something is true or not.  It means to “test” something by putting a stumbling block in front of it in order to see if it breaks. 

These men aren’t interested in a polite discussion or a friendly exchange of ideas.  They met Jesus in Magdala in order to harass him.  They didn’t come to talk.  They came like protesters at a political rally.  They had their posters and chants ready.  They weren’t looking for a civil discussion.  They came to rudely interrupt Jesus’ ministry and discredit him publicly.

The God Who Answers by Fire

Specifically, they asked Jesus for “a sign from heaven.”  This wasn’t a totally unusual request or expectation from Jewish people.  The words of the Old Testament prophets were often accompanied with signs from God to prove that they were sent from God. 

I’m reading through 1 Kings in my quiet times and I came to one of my favorite stories in the Bible: Elijah’s confrontation with the prophets of Baal on Mount Carmel in First Kings 18.  Elijah tells them to make an altar and sacrifice a bull on it, but not to set it on fire.  He says, “I will prepare the other bull and lay it on the wood, but put no fire to it.  And you call upon the name of your god, and I will call upon the name of the Lord, and the God who answers by fire, he is God” (1 Kgs. 18:23-24).  For hours the prophets of Baal call out to their god and dance around their altar.  Elijah sarcastically says, “Shout louder!  Maybe he’s deep in thought or using the restroom or traveling or asleep” (v. 27). 

The text says that this went on until after midday, “but there was no voice, no one answered, no one paid attention” (v. 29).  Then Elijah constructs his altar, puts the wood and bull on it, and drenches it with four jars of water three times.  He then prays, “O Lord, God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, let it be known this day that you are God in Israel, and that I am your servant, and that I have done all these things at your word.  Answer me, O Lord, answer me, that this people may know that you, O Lord, are God, and you have turned their hearts back” (vv. 36-37).  Then fire from God fell on the altar and consumed everything there, even the rocks.  The people all fell on their faces and said, “The Lord, he is God; the Lord, he is God” (v. 39).

“A Sign from Heaven”

Elijah’s words were confirmed by a sign from God.  “The God who answers by fire, he is God.”  God authenticated his prophet by performing this mighty act, all so that the people’s hearts would come back to God.  This is what the Pharisees are demanding from Jesus.

The word for “sign” here in verse 11 isn’t simply a miracle.  In fact, Mark doesn’t use his normal word for “miracle” here.  A miracle isn’t necessarily a sign and a sign isn’t necessarily a miracle in the Gospels.  Think about it.  Jesus has been doing miracles all along, sometimes right in front of the Pharisees, like when he healed the man with the withered hand in the synagogue in chapter three.  They’ve accused Jesus of doing miracles by the power of Satan (3:22).  So they knew he was doing miraculous things.

But they wanted something more.  They wanted a “sign from heaven.”  They wanted a confirmation of Jesus’ ministry from God himself.  They reason that since Jesus is working in God’s name, then God should authorize his work.  They wanted proof that Jesus is from God.  They’re basically saying, “Jesus, prove to us that you’re really from God.”  His miracles, his authoritative teaching, and his love and compassion weren’t enough for them.  They wanted more. 

How about you?  Have you ever wanted God to prove to you that Jesus was sent by him?  Have you ever wanted God to give you a “sign” so that you’d know that he’s real and that Jesus is real?  The good news is that, if you’ve ever prayed that, God answered your prayer before you even prayed it.          

In Matthew’s version of this exchange, Jesus says, “An evil and adulterous generation seeks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonah” (16:4).  Jesus earlier explained what the “sign of Jonah” was: “For just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth” (12:40).  Jesus is alluding to his death and resurrection.  The “sign from God” that Jesus is from God is his death and resurrection. 

Jesus Won’t Give Them a Sign

Jesus’ response to the Pharisees in verse 12 is full of emotion, “He sighed deeply in his spirit.”  The word for “sighed” is an extremely rare word, only used here in the New Testament and fewer than thirty times in Greek literature.  Mark is searching the limits of his language to find a word that describes what Jesus was feeling in response to the Pharisees question.  He picks a word that describes a person who’s been pushed to the absolute limits of exasperation and dismay and despair.  Jesus was sick and tired of this kind of question. 

This is why he says, “Truly, I say to you, no sign will be given to this generation.”  Enough is enough with these guys.  Jesus was sinless, but his patience ran out on these religious leaders.  The Bible talks about God’s patience, but nowhere does it say that his patience is infinite.  There are limits to God’s patience – just ask Noah and his family.  He will forbear with us week after week, month after month, year after year, decade after decade, which might lead us to think, “He’ll always be patient with me.”  But there are many examples in the Bible of God’s patience running out and him giving people over to their sin and its consequences.  So if you’re living in unrepentant sin right now, please don’t assume that God will bear with you forever.  Repent and turn to him while you can.  His patience is great, but it won’t last forever.

Jesus refuses their request and leaves them (v. 13).  This is a vivid picture of how Jesus responds to persistent unbelief and antagonism and skepticism.  He parts ways with those who don’t see him for who he is. 

To be clear, the reason Jesus doesn’t grant them a sign is because they want to gain by empirical means what can only be gained by faith and trust.  They want evidence.  Jesus wants faith. 

One commentator summarizes this scene this way, “Faith that depends on proof is not faith, but only veiled doubt.  If a man hires a private eye to spy on his wife while he is away in order to ‘prove’ her faithfulness, the detective’s ‘proofs’ will scarcely guarantee the husband’s faith.  Faith, like love itself, cannot be proven; it can only be demonstrated by trust and active commitment.” 

Struggling Believers

Jesus walks away from these skeptical unbelievers.  But he wasn’t alone.  The next section tells us that the disciples followed him into the boat (vv. 14-21).  The disciples didn’t have a full and clear understanding of Jesus, but they did follow him into the boat.  They’re what I’m calling “struggling believers.”  They want to know and follow Jesus, but they don’t fully understand him and they struggle with confusion and doubt.

Their shortage of bread prompts Jesus to give them a strong warning in verse 15.  Seeing a “Beware of Dog” sign on someone’s fence should be taken seriously.  But when the Son of God says, “Beware,” we need to make sure we’re paying attention.  What exactly is Jesus warning the disciples of?

“Leaven” is the yeast that’s added to bread dough to make it rise.  The metaphor is used to illustrate how a small amount of something can have radical effects.  The New Testament usually uses leaven to illustrate something negative.  It’s seen as something that corrupts and destroys, slowly and imperceptibly, but completely. 

Jesus says to “watch out” for the “leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod” (v. 15).  The one thing the Pharisees and Herod agreed on was their opposition to Jesus, opposition as a result of their unbelief.  They didn’t think Jesus was sent from God, so they opposed him.  Jesus thus tells his disciples to not let the view of the Pharisees and Herod creep into their minds and contaminate their thinking.  He warns them of even allowing a little bit of what they said to take root in their minds. 

In much the same way, we must beware that our minds are not being infiltrated by the leaven of the world.  We need to be filling our minds with the truth of God.  God wants to transform our thinking and renew our minds (Rom. 12:2).  The way he does this is through the truth of his Word.  As we listen to and read and study his Word and seek to put it into practice, the good leaven of truth will make us rise and grow into who God wants us to be.  This is also why reading good Christian books is so important.   

Verse 16 lets us know that the disciples are confused and think that Jesus is referring to their lack of bread.  They thought that Jesus’ mention of leaven was referring to their lack of bread.  But Jesus was connecting their physical situation with their spiritual situation. 

They failed to make this connection, thus prompting Jesus’ rhetorical questions in verses 17-18.  Jesus says, “Why are you still talking about the bread?  Do you still not understand who I am?”  The disciples had seen with their own eyes and heard with their own ears all that Jesus did and said, but in their hearts they still didn’t understand that Jesus was the Son of God and Messiah. 

In a sense, their view of Jesus was not much different from the Pharisees.  The disciples weren’t opposed to Jesus, but they did have huge gaps in their understanding of who he was.  The difference between them and the Pharisees was that they were willing to trust him and keep following him, even though they didn’t understand everything, whereas the Pharisees demanded more evidence and wouldn’t trust what they had seen and heard.     

“Do You Not Yet Understand?”

In verses 19-21, Jesus reminds the disciples about his two miraculous feeding of the crowds.  He expects them to connect the dots between those events and his identity.  They’d seen him feed thousands of people with a few loaves of bread, yet they’re worried that they didn’t have enough bread.  They’d seen Jesus fill baskets and baskets with bread, yet they doubted his sufficiency to meet their need.  How could they not know that he was fully capable of taking care of them? 

They’re anxious about their lack of bread.  Jesus is anxious about their lack of faith.  The disciples are just like us aren’t they – stuck in our own little world and our cares and concerns and blind and deaf toward God.  They were following Jesus, but struggling to trust him. 

But there was hope for them.  Notice the little word “yet” in verse 17.  “Do you not yet perceive or understand?”  Jesus hadn’t given up hope for them.  He expected that, in time, they’d see and understand him rightly.  Their hearts would grow soft and their spiritual eyes would see.  As we’ll learn next week, that time was just around the corner.

What about you?  How is your hearing, your perception of the things of God, your heart?  Does the truth of God bounce off it?  Or is your heart soft, so that God’s truth touches it and sinks in? 

By nature, we’re all blind and deaf to the things of God.  Our hearts are hard, having no pulse for God, so that the Word of God just bounces right off.  Until the Holy Spirit opens our hearts, our spiritual eyes and ears, we’ll be resistant to the Word of God.  We need to examine ourselves this morning to make sure that the deadly leaven of the Pharisees isn’t working inside of us, leading us to silently or not-so-silently oppose Jesus and fail to trust him.  We need to make sure that the leaven is truth is filling our minds.

Are you in the boat with Jesus, following him despite your doubts and questions?  Or are you stuck on the shore watching him sail away because of your pride and skepticism and opposition?  “Having eyes do you not see, and having ears do you not hear?  And do you not remember what he’s done for you?”  He loves you and will entrust himself to anyone who’ll entrust themselves to him.