“Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod'” said Jesus to his disciples.

Jesus had just fed four thousand people with seven loaves of bread and a few fish. He had gotten into a boat and sailed to another town with his disciples, and there the Pharisees had asked for a sign from him to prove that he was from God.

The Pharisees in this town had not seen Jesus feed the four thousand on the other side of the lake, but the disciples had. And Jesus’ warning was issued to them who had both seen his miraculous providence of bread and Jesus’ subsequent refusal to give the Pharisees a sign. The four thousand people wanted only full bellies and healed bodies, the Pharisees wanted to prove to themselves that Jesus was not who he said he was, but the disciples were the clay that Jesus was molding.

For their sake he worked miracles and refuted the Pharisees. But they did not understand. When he gave them this warning the disciples thought he was rebuking them for not bringing bread along in the boat. They also, had their narrow understanding of who Jesus was, but to them Jesus was compassionate.

He reminded them that when he fed the five thousand with five loaves there were twelve baskets left over, and when he fed the four thousand with seven loaves there were seven baskets left over. “Do you not understand?” he asked.

Do we understand? The people wanted to be provided for, the pharisees wanted to prove their spirituality, but what did Jesus want to teach the disciples?

Jesus did not come to fill us with what we think we need. He did not come to make us feel spiritually sufficient, he came to pour out his life for many. And in warning the disciples of the leaven of the Pharisees and that of Herod, both people who prided themselves in representing the Jews as God’s chosen people, he was warning them against a self-serving spirituality.

“Do you not understand?” He had just showed them through physical things, bread and fish, that physical provision is not an issue in our relationship with God! He can provide for as many people as he has created, so let’s get our selfish worrying about physical needs off the table, it only gets in the way of our relationship with him.

Once we have understood this, which the disciples obviously had not since they were still worrying about bread, we can get to the heart of what Jesus was communicating in his miracle. He primarily wants to show that the life that he has is meant to be given for all people and it is meant to sustain a complete and fulfilled relationship of communion with him.

How in the world do you get that from this passage in Mark 8? Look at the numbers, why does he draw their attention to them? First, of course, he wishes to show that there was plenty of bread leftover, but there’s more.

In scripture the number twelve refers to all people. God promised Abraham that he would bless all people through him, and that ‘all people’ was represented in the twelve tribes of Israel. There are twelve apostles through whom the gospel is taken to the ends of the earth, and twelve thrones where all people will be judged. In pointing out that there were twelve baskets leftover, Jesus is saying that the life that he gives, and is still ready to be given, even after he has made a covenant with Israel, is sufficient for all people.

What about the seven baskets leftover from the four thousand who ate? Seven refers to a complete relationship between God and his people who are to reflect his image. It took seven days for God to create the earth and people in which he could ‘rest’, that is, enjoy a complete communion with his people. Every seven years was the year of Jubilee when slaves were set free and new life was given. This clearly points to the relationship that God desires to have with his people; one that is always giving, and always free from sin.

The leaven of the Pharisees and Herod is a leaven that says that only those who follow the right rules of the law are God’s people, and that this relationship is for those who attain it by their power. Jesus wants to teach his disciples that the relationship he desires to have with us, his people, is one that is not concerned with the worries of this world, of food and clothes and all physical pursuits, but is rather one that enters into the very rest of God, receiving his boundless life and giving it freely, expending ones own self gladly for the physical provision and spiritual nourishment of others, that he might be glorified as a God of loving sacrifice.