I will return to our chapter by chapter walk through the book of Mark.

 

For a week I have been thinking about this verse:

 

Mark 8 14 The disciples had forgotten to bring bread, except for one loaf they had with them in the boat. 15 “Be careful,” Jesus warned them. “Watch out for the yeast of the Pharisees and that of Herod.”

 

What could Jesus have meant by the “Leaven of the Pharisees” and “the Leaven of Herod”?

 

I have a few thoughts on these things as I have meditated on these two ideas for the past couple of days.

 

What if we attached the “Leaven of the Pharisees” to a Religious Mindset and the “Leaven of Herod” to a Political Mindset?

 

We can start by saying—they are not positive.  Jesus is not warning us about things that are good.  He is warning us because it is NOT GOOD.

 

As I sat and prayed and asked God reveal, I began to write about each of these.

 

The Political Mindset

The mindset of Herod was certainly “off”.  His was focused on Power and Control and Popular Opinion.  He set in motion the extermination of children and did all that he could to “protect himself” upon hearing that “a king had been born”.  As we read later in John, we see Pontius Pilate do exactly the same thing. He even says to Jesus “What is truth?” as if the truth is relative or does not matter.

But our reality is this.  The Political Mindset is NOT where we want to live—then or now.  It compromises. It makes deals. It watches out for the group at the expense of doing what is right.  It hinges on–”You do me a favor and support me in this …. And I will support you in that.” When out of control–as it always is–it cares nothing about the right thing and is empowered by the group thing.

 

The Religious Mindset

The Religious Mindset of the Pharisees was just as bad.  It was powered by ‘looking good’ and ‘acting good’ over being Godly.  It was driven by guilt and shame and accusation. And it certainly used the idea of making commoners believe that they could NEVER MEASURE UP—and influenced them to give money and submission from shame as their mechanism to get it right.  It was on full display in the temple as Jesus raged through it and dismantled the plan.

Jesus was most critical of this mindset—calling those who used it vipers and snakes and hypocrites.  He insulted them with a vigor that distanced Himself from the picture of a peaceful man in a white shiny robe that we often see hanging on the wall.   And Isaiah is further descriptive of him in chapter 53—pointing out that he was average and that nothing separated him, physically, from the common man.  He was, simply, an average man on the outside. And Micah 2 describes Him as a “breaker”—a great description of the man in the temple.

 

Jesus’ never preached “outside” thinking.  He was constantly pursuing the heart. He preached about “what things WERE versus what they LOOKED LIKE.

 

I will close this writing today with some encouragement of who we ought to be…..and, in short, we might want to look at being “the opposite” of what might describe the two earlier factions.  What would it look like to be the opposite?

 

Here are a few thoughts:

 

Jesus has called us to live SURRENDERED.  There is no group to please, no people to please.  We are called to live for an audience of one. And He has made it so that IF WE ARE FULLY SURRENDERED we can not fail.  His grace is sufficient to cover us in our failings. And we have all that we need to succeed in being His. Why? Because He MADE US RIGHT with Him.  APART FROM HIM, there is NOTHING that we can do to make ourselves right. So—we don’t have to pretend to be perfect. Because–in Him–we are perfect.

 

Jesus has called us to be VULNERABLE.  The opposite of covering everything up is confessing that we are exposed and ruined on our own accord.  Sometimes I find this EASY. And sometimes I want no one to know how miserable and wretched I truly am. But He knows…and I know that He knows that I know—-so I might as well confess to everyone else that I am not, and never will be, good enough.

 

Jesus has called us to LET GO.  It is the opposite of what Herod did out of fear—-killing babies.  It is understanding that we have ABSOLUTELY ZERO CONTROL of anything.  We can not control and we will not control. Why hold on to something that we won’t be able to hold in our hand anyway?  Jim Elliot said something very wise:  

He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose.

To that I say:  AMEN. Jesus wants us to let go of that we can not hold.

 

Jesus has called us to EMPOWER OTHERS.  Not with the fact that they are short, and sinful, and unable…but with the idea that they can be REDEEMED and FORGIVEN and BLESSED.  Those who say yes to Jesus are born into not needing anyone, or anything, but Him.

 

Jesus has called us to WALK IN FAITH.  For though we are in danger, we can walk in the faith that God has us.  As He says in Psalm 23 “Even though I walk in the valley of the shadow of death I will fear no evil…”  We can be assured that He HAS US.

 

As I have repeatedly communicated—I am NOT an expert on scripture.

 

What I am—is SOLD OUT FOR JESUS.  I am buying what He is selling—

 

And I am testifying to you that IF YOU WANT THE SAME DEAL—

     It is FREE

     It is FOREVER

And

     It is the BEST GIFT you could ever have

 

In The Name of the Father and the 

Son and the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

 

I was lost.  I was in chains.  The world had a hold of me.

My heart was a stone.  I was covered in shame.  When He came for me.

I couldn’t run, couldn’t run from His presence, I couldn’t run from His arms.

Jesus, He loves me, He loves me, He is for me.

Jesus, how can it be, He loves me, He is for me………

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=80Ue0w45oGs

 

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Coach J