Mark 8: 11-21

(Mark 8: 11-21) And the Pharisees came forth, and began to question with him, seeking of him a sign from heaven, tempting him. And he sighed deeply in his spirit, and saith, Why doth this generation seek after a sign? verily I say unto you, There shall no sign be given unto this generation. And he left them, and entering into the ship again departed to the other side. Now the disciples had forgotten to take bread, neither had they in the ship with them more than one loaf.  And he charged them, saying, Take heed, beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, and of the leaven of Herod. And they reasoned among themselves, saying, It is because we have no bread.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? Having eyes, see ye not? and having ears, hear ye not? and do ye not remember? When I brake the five loaves among five thousand, how many baskets full of fragments took ye up? They say unto him, Twelve.  And when the seven among four thousand, how many baskets full of fragments took ye up? And they said, Seven.  And he said unto them, How is it that ye do not understand?

 

Jonah was an Israelite prophet who lived at the time of Jeroboam II. Jonah was commanded by God to go to Nineveh and cry out God's judgment. But he escaped God's command and boarded the ship to Tarshish. Suddenly a sea breeze broke out and the ship could no longer advance. The sailors squeezed out one wisdom. It is to find the cause of this. So, they drew a lot, and Jonah was caught. Only then did Jonah confess his sin, but he fell into the sea. So the breeze that passed was stopped immediately. Jonah in the deep water, God has a large fish in reserve.

And the fish swallowed Jonah. Jonah spent three days and nights in the body of a fish. Jonah repented greatly. So the fish vomited Jonah on the land, and Jonah went to Nineveh at God's command. And he cried out for repentance, telling the impending judgment of God. However, the Ninevites who heard Jonah's words repented greatly. They ripped their clothes, flipped the ashes, and knelt down on the street. That is, the repentance of the Great Awakening occurred.

Jesus said there was nothing to show except Jonah's target. The sign of Jonah that Jesus said was "Repent." It is to give the repentant to be born again, just like the resurrection of the Lord who will rise from the grave. However, no one at the time of hearing these words realized the intention of Jesus. They see it, but they do not know it, but they do not understand it even if they hear it. They crucified Jesus, not repentance.

The leaven of the Pharisees is concerned only with the appearance to make it visible to humans. They say that they believe in God, but they are actually people who do not believe in God. The exterior and the inside are different. So they are false and hypocritical. Jesus spoke of the Pharisees hypocrisy in Matthew 6: 1-2.『Take heed that ye do not your alms before men, to be seen of them: otherwise ye have no reward of your Father which is in heaven. Therefore when thou doest thine alms, do not sound a trumpet before thee, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward. 』 The hypocritical Pharisees prayed, fasted, and offered relief and offerings in order to be seen. In Matthew 23:27 Jesus compared the catastrophes to a whitewashed grave.『Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men's bones, and of all uncleanness. 』 The whitewashed grave looks beautiful on the surface, but there is a rotten body inside.

The Sadducees' leaven means secularism. The Sadducees were nobles or high priests in Jerusalem, holding hands with the powers of the day and enjoying wealth and power. They distrusted God's promises and were interested only in the wealth of reality. These were secularists and opportunists. They did not believe in the resurrection and did not believe in spirits or angels. The Sadducees were those who lived only to satisfy their desires. They made the temple their own business and were blind to the money. Jesus told his disciples to beware of these Sadducees' secular leaven.

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