Christian Art | Feeding Five Thousand
Mark 8: 14-21 – Week 6 Ordinary Time, Tuesday (Audio Bible KJV, Spoken Word)
14 ¶ Now the disciples had forgotten to take bread, neither had they in the ship with them more than one loaf.
15 And he charged them, saying, Take heed, beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, and of the leaven of Herod.
16 And they reasoned among themselves, saying, It is because we have no bread.
17 And when Jesus knew it, he saith unto them, Why reason ye, because ye have no bread? perceive ye not yet, neither understand? have ye your heart yet hardened?
18 Having eyes, see ye not? and having ears, hear ye not? and do ye not remember?
19 When I brake the five loaves among five thousand, how many baskets full of fragments took ye up? They say unto him, Twelve.
20 And when the seven among four thousand, how many baskets full of fragments took ye up? And they said, Seven.
21 And he said unto them, How is it that ye do not understand?
Jesus has performed the second miracle of the loaves and fishes, following which the Pharisees have come to him, demanding to see a sign from heaven to prove that he is the Messiah. Jesus rejects and departs from the Pharisees, and now warns his disciples to be wary of them.
Elsewhere (Luke 13: 20-21; Matthew 13: 33), Jesus uses the metaphor of leaven to describe the impact of his teaching on those who hear Jesus and who will hear his disciples convey his message. Just as the leaven is the yeast-bearing piece of dough, which, buried in the new dough, will cause the whole loaf to rise, so Jesus’ words, the meaning of which is hidden from many for now, will invite all humanity to be converted to Christianity, to be called to life.
This meaning of leaven is now reversed. The leaven of the Pharisees does the opposite of the good leaven; it is their hypocrisy and self interest and, along with Herod’s dissolute life, it poisons Israel. With these words, Jesus cautions us again to be alert, to watch, lest we be corrupted by the evils that are in our world, especially those which parade themselves seeking to be seen as good. We may be assured that, when we offer our lives to Jesus, in simplicity and purity of heart, we will be able to discern the evils of our time and not be seduced by them.
Jesus’ disciples are a recalcitrant bunch and experience enormous difficulty understanding what Jesus is teaching them. They hear Jesus speak of leaven and think only of the fact that they have forgotten to bring any more bread for their journey, no matter that they actually have Jesus with them and have recently witnessed the miracles of the feeding of the five thousand and the four thousand.
So often, in Mark’s Gospel especially, it is said that Jesus’ disciples do not understand, and in these Gospel verses they are castigated by Jesus for their failure. How can they have seen so much and understood so little? Are their hearts hardened also? Are they blind and deaf?
Yet it was these people Jesus chose to be his disciples, and to be the first to communicate his message to the world. It is a difficult journey for the disciples. First they walk with Jesus witnessing the tremendous miracles performed so many times, while they hear the parables and other teachings, and must delve for their meaning. Then they journey with Jesus to Jerusalem to experience the Passion, and the crushing blow to their hopes this must have seemed. Only at last, with the resurrection and the coming of the Holy Spirit do they finally understand. These are not, to start out with, extraordinarily gifted people, just regular folk. It is their journey with Jesus, in which they do get things wrong, that draws them to greatness, to become the founding pillars of the Church.
DOTH not wisdom cry? and understanding put forth her voice?
2 She standeth in the top of high places, by the way in the places of the paths.
3 She crieth at the gates, at the entry of the city, at the coming in at the doors.
4 Unto you, O men, I call; and my voice is to the sons of man.
5 O ye simple, understand wisdom: and, ye fools, be ye of an understanding heart. (Proverbs 8: 1-5)
Concluding Prayer
True Light of the world, Lord Jesus Christ,
as you enlighten all people for their salvation,
give us grace, we pray,
to herald your coming
by preparing the ways of justice and peace.
Who live and reign with the Father and the Holy Spirit,
God, for ever and ever.
Audio Bible KJV | Endnotes
The Way Of Christ And Hardness Of Heart
In this Gospel passage, Jesus and his disciples are traveling in a boat when Jesus warns the disciples to beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of Herod. However, the disciples misunderstand Jesus’ warning and think that Jesus is rebuking them for not bringing any bread with them. Jesus then admonishes them for their lack of understanding and their hardened hearts.
The way of Christ is a path of humility, love, and sacrifice. Jesus came to this world to teach us how to love and serve one another. Jesus showed us the way of selflessness and compassion, and he calls us to follow in his footsteps. In Matthew 16:24, Jesus said: ‘If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.’ This verse encapsulates the essence of the way of Christ. It calls us to deny our selfish desires and to follow Jesus’ example of self-sacrifice.
However, the way of Christ is not easy. It requires us to overcome our natural tendencies towards self-centeredness and pride. It demands that we humble ourselves before God and submit our wills to His. In James 4:6, we read: ‘God resists the proud, but gives grace unto the humble.’ This verse reminds us that God cannot work in us if we are filled with pride and self-righteousness. We must learn to submit ourselves to God and to seek His will in all things.
The hardness of heart, on the other hand, is the opposite of the way of Christ. It is a condition in which we are closed off to God’s love and grace. A hardened heart is resistant to the promptings of the Holy Spirit and is unwilling to repent of sin. In Hebrews 3:15, we read: ‘Today if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts, as in the provocation.’ This verse warns us not to harden our hearts like the Israelites did in the wilderness. Instead, we must be receptive to God’s voice and willing to obey Him.
The concept of the hardness of heart is a recurring theme in the Bible. In Exodus 7:13, we read that Pharaoh’s heart was hardened and he would not listen to Moses and Aaron. Similarly, in 1 Samuel 6:6, the Philistines’ hearts were hardened and they refused to repent of their sins. Throughout history, many religious authorities have written and spoken about the dangers of a hardened heart. For example, in his book The Imitation Of Christ, Thomas à Kempis wrote: ‘A hard heart is a miserable affliction, for it is the source of all evils and the cause of eternal damnation.’
In the context of Mark 8:14-21, the disciples’ misunderstanding and lack of faith can seem to demonstrate their hardened hearts. Despite witnessing Jesus’ miracles and hearing his teachings, they were still unable to comprehend the true nature of his message. As a result, Jesus rebukes them and urges them to seek understanding and wisdom from God. This passage reminds us that even those who are closest to Jesus can struggle with a hardened heart.
As we seek to follow Jesus’ example, let us pray for the grace to overcome our natural tendencies towards sin and to remain open to the promptings of the Holy Spirit.
The second of the Ten Commandments, ‘You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain,’ is a call to reverence and respect for the divine name and for the faith it represents. The second commandment prohibits the abuse of God’s name, i.e., every improper use of the names of God, Jesus Christ, but also of the Virgin Mary and all the saints [ … ]
Sometimes, when I read my Bible, I pause in the reading and say to myself: ‘This bit’s real.’ It would be fair to say, I have issues with Mary, because, contrary to what we are taught to say, Mary isn’t my mother. Rather: Mum is. One bit of the Bible-text says this: And when his family heard it, they went out to seize him, for people were saying, “He is beside himself.” … And his mother and his brothers came; and standing outside they sent to him and called him. And a crowd was sitting about him; and they said to him, “Your mother and your brothers are outside, asking for you.” And he replied, “Who are my mother and my brothers?” And looking around on those who sat about him, he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers! Whoever does the will of God is my brother, and sister, and mother.” (Mark 3: 21; 31-35.) Here she comes. She is in considerable distress. I can imagine that. I can relate to that. To save her boy from whatever he’s got himself into this time. And you’re not telling me there isn’t something inside that. Her boy is beside himself. Radical. Radicalized. Radicalizing. A misunderstood word. /ˈradɪk(ə)l/ adjective & noun. 1 Forming the root, basis, or foundation; original, primary. 2a Inherent in the nature of a thing or person; fundamental. b Of action, change, an idea: going to the root or origin; far-reaching, thorough. c Advocating thorough or far-reaching change. d Characterized by departure from tradition; progressive; unorthodox. ‘He has a demon! And he is mad!’ – thus ‘the Jews’. (e.g. John 10: 20.) Come home! It’s all she wants. His family want him back now. But it is an exclusive cult: there is an inside and there is an outside; and on the outside, they are not meant to understand, lest they be converted. He has defined himself as different from anything she was. Only at the end does Jesus say to his Mum – and with savage, bitter irony: ‘Woman, behold your son.’ And then he dies. Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women and blessed is the fruit of thy womb Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death. We ask that we might find Mary in our hearts as a Yes! place for Jesus. It is also recommended that we pray to Jesus that we may be further in oneness with Mary. It is self-emptying, such that we only exist insofar as we are responsive to God’s Word. * Last term, and put-out to pasture, the old Archbishop Emeritus came over to stay for a few days and did the odd class with us. He spoke of Yes! as the meaning of Mary’s virginity. And we were not very nice about him. One or two took umbrage. One or two got the hump. In a sense, his Grace, the Arch, basically wanted to move anyone he’d ever known from a high-place – a mountain – received theological ‘truth’ – to an imminent, human plane. Earthing the spiritual. Recalibrating metrics of life’s believability toward a spiritual sense of things. He might have asked the impermissible question: what happened? His Grace described it. God’s love as a cloud. This descended upon Mary – and subsumed her. Within the cloud, Mary capitulated utterly. She became only and purely a response to God’s love. As he spoke, the Arch cradled her. He carried her in his lap – in his hands. His Grace was a consecrated bishop. He was faith. He sat squat, a rounded man, hands cupped and ankles crossed, fingers interlocked, with parted thighs. Rumpled, washed, speckled. A lifetime’s skin… There could be no doubt His Grace spoke through long-term personal relationship with Mary. It was Julian went for him: ‘So are you saying Mary was a Virgin? Or are you not saying Mary was a Virgin?’ Nasty. No, it wasn’t pretty. Julian twisting his silver ring. For a moment, what Julian had said to the Arch simply failed to communicate. No, for a moment, that dumped on the air meant nothing. Then His Grace said: ‘There is a range of possible meanings we may understand in the question of Mary’s virginity. For example, there are understandings of the word virginity entailed in the action of giving birth.’ Julian said: ‘Duh! So had she had sex or hadn’t she?’ Trigger words. No, it wasn’t pretty. On that went for a little while. At length, Julian’s point seemed reluctantly conceded. Then the Arch told us a new story, an additionally human event, the more to baffle us. Controversially, he told us that Mary could not have been Joseph’s first wife, for this would not have been the way of things in the society of that time. His belief was that Joseph must have taken Mary into his household through pity. That would be normal, he said, for Joseph to bring a young, vulnerable girl, who is about to have a baby, within his protection, not meaning to enjoy with her marital relations, but through kindness. ‘And this story of the inn and stable,’ the Archbishop said, ‘it can’t have been like that really. Joseph has travelled with Mary to stay with his family, at home in Bethlehem, and they don’t want Mary in their house, for reasons which I am sure we can understand. It must have been there was considerable resistance to Mary. But Mary gives birth, and who can resist a baby? That’s what happened. It must have been. ‘I’m convinced that must have been how it happened really.’ Later that term, toward the beginning of Advent, we met boys who had been here before, in Valladolid, and now were in regular seminary. They had heard and recited verbatim all the Archbishop had said to them. Their spot-on impressions of each of the fathers were scathing. […]
Saint Ambrose is addressing new Christians during the Easter season, shortly after they have received baptism. These ‘neophytes’ have just emerged from the waters of rebirth, wearing white robes to signify purity and new life. Now, he prepares them to receive the Eucharist — not just as a symbol or ritual, but as the real Body and Blood of Jesus Christ [ … ]
