And He was giving orders to them, saying, "Watch out! Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod."
Message: Watch out for the Leaven of Herod
Time: Mark's personal connection with Peter gave him the source material for this book. This book was composed probably between AD 57 and AD 59. It's a book that is on the move, leading to the cross. 39 times is the word 'immediately' used. Mark reveals Jesus as God's servant, reaching into the lives of people and effecting physical and circumstantial change.
What the Lord is Saying: It is interesting to see how metaphors are used in the Bible. The dictionary definition of a metaphor is "a figure of speech in which a word or phrase is applied to an object or action to which it is not literally applicable." It is figurative not literal. Thus, "time is a thief" means to say that like a thief that steals is time that steals moments from us. Or "Life is a roller coaster" means to say that life has ups and downs and can be compared to the ups and downs of a roller coaster. Thus, a metaphor takes one idea and places it into a picture or word picture to help us better understand.
Thus, in this verse, "leaven" is a familiar item in baking. It is used to cause dough to rise. Leaven is a fermenting agent. It is a substance that makes the dough rise by producing gas and makes bread or baked goods, light and fluffy. Baking powder is a type of leaven, and something that I like, and use when I make biscuits as it makes the biscuits stand up and fluffy instead of being dense and flat.
The leaven changes the original substance. It makes it different from the original. Puffs it up. It spreads. It changes everything.
For the Israelites, during the exodus, when they left Egypt, they had to leave quickly. They didn’t have time to let their bread rise so they baked unleavened bread. The Israelites time in Egypt was marked by bondage. They were being corrupted. Their time in Egypt started out being good for they went there to escape a famine but over time they were enslaved, Egypt wanted to control them and eventually Pharaoh ordered Hebrew boys to be killed. It began to be a place where they lost their identity as children of God, separating themselves from God's promise.
Once they were freed from Egypt, the Israelites began to celebrate through commemorations specific things that they were doing at the time they left. One of those was having unleavened bread. In many instances, leaven is representing sin, or corruption or bondage. There are events when the Israelites will remove any form of leaven from their midst and commemorate their exodus.
As such, in today's text Jesus is speaking to a large crowd and the disciples and says, "Watch out! Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod." Leaven here is not bread, but instead Jesus is saying beware of the corruption of the Pharisees and of Herod. Beware of what they represent and it spilling over into your life. Beware of what they are saying.
In Mark 6:14-16, Herod is finding about Jesus from others. When people heard of Jesus in that day, it caused them to go to the source or go to Jesus and hear from him directly. Herod instead conjured up his conclusion of Jesus based upon what he heard and concluded with that Jesus is a risen John. Jesus warns his followers of listening to others. Instead go to the source.
The other problem with Herod is he was only interested in an intellectual understanding. He was not moved to repentance. When we embrace Jesus we experience a heart change. It is not a change based upon what someone tells me I am to change, it is based upon what I want to change. I am called a new creature. 2 Corinthians 5:17, "Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come."
I have been conversing with some folks close to me. They actually seem to have a good understanding of Jesus and dying on the cross, but they have pointed out to me that they are not hip on making a life change or feeling like they are being told that they need a life change. They only want to go to school, they don't want to live in the real world. They don't want to repent and change their ways. They want the "get of jail free" card only.
Summary: Jesus warns his followers to focus only on His words and not what others are saying about him.
Prayer: O God, thank you for giving us this book and the richness of it.
Note: If you are interested in other studies/devotions, check out my index of Bible Study's.
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