Sunday Sermon - July 12, 2026 - Gospel of Mark 8:11-21 The Leaven of the Pharisees

 Jesus leaves the Decapolis area and returns to Galilee, and it is not long before He is confronted by the Jewish leadership. We will see these encounters become more frequent. This our course is out of concern that Jesus has been in the areas of the Gentiles teaching them. Our Roman reader already understands and sees the tension between Jesus and the Jewish leadership, it is only how hard each are willing to push the other.

Mark 8:11 The Pharisees came and began to argue with him, seeking from him a sign from heaven to test him.

Miracles have a specific reason, everything that Jesus does has a purpose, and the healings, the casting out demons, the feeding, the raising from the dead, it all has a purpose of giving a sign to people namely the Jews to demonstrate that not only is Jesus sent from God, but that He is the prophesied Messiah.

However, the Pharisees are asking for a specific type of sign that comes directly from heaven. They wanted an Elijah moment, when Elijah called down fire from heaven and consumed the altar and sacrifice that was the test for the idol worshippers of Baal. In other words, these men were demanding that God prove to them that He is God.

Is there any difference in this demand and the demand of the atheist or the agnostic that demands that you provide proof for God exist. Prove it to me that God exist, well I do not see any proof of a God, well how can God be so loving and we have all this evil and suffering, that tells me there is no God.

Man wants proof, but when he is honest, man has the proof, he just does not like it, so he demands a level of proof that is so narrow and undeclared well how can we even start to provide it, when in all actuality no evidence will convince them, because they have to be willing to accept the evidence given, you can have all the evidence in the world, and yet if the individual is unwilling to accept that evidence it is worthless.

So, the Pharisee like the atheist wants a specific type of proof, see Jesus answer.

Mark 8:12 And he sighed deeply in his spirit and said, “Why does this generation seek a sign? Truly, I say to you, no sign will be given to this generation.”

Mark 8:13 And he left them, got into the boat again, and went to the other side.

Why does Jesus say this? One He has produced sufficient signs, again He has given them evidence of him being the Messiah, but that evidence is not good enough for them, so they demand more. Second, God is under no obligation to prove himself to no one. Man does not dictate terms to God, man does not order God to preform for him to prove Himself, so Jesus tells the Pharisees to bugger off, you are not getting any additional signs because you are not in charge. And that is the third thing, Jesus is telling them who is in charge, and guess what it is not you. Jesus is standing up to the Jewish leadership, which is a bold move, and it is sure to have shocked his disciples. No one calls these guys out and yet Jesus does just that, he puts them in their place, no you are not going to tell me what I need to give you to prove to you who I am, you should accept that which has been given, but carnal men expect God to bend to their will. He will not.

Mark 8:14 Now they had forgotten to bring bread, and they had only one loaf with them in the boat.

Just a side note, never depend on someone else to pack your lunch. God places bits of humor within the text of scripture and this is one of them, here we have 12 grown men have a discussion on who is to blame for not packing their lunch. This gives credence to the old saying the quickest way to a man’s heart is through his stomach.

Mark 8:15 And he cautioned them, saying, “Watch out; beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod.”

What is Jesus talking about when he tells them to beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the Herod.

Well first we must understand what leaven is and what it does. Leaven or yeast is a type of bacteria that when placed in flour with a liquid makes the dough rise or grow. This leaven left uncheck not only makes it grow but can spoil the bread making it worthless.

In the Old Testament leaven is seen as symbol of evil, in that left unchecked evil starts off small and grows quickly to the point that it is out of control. During the Passover all leaven had to be removed from the house.

In this context, Jesus is warning about the leaven, or the additions to the law of Moses that the Pharisees have added.

Well, how did this happen. After the exile and during the 400-year period of silence this ruling class of teachers rose to a position of authority. Israel had lost its king, so there was no governing authority for the people, hence the Rabbis organized themselves to do a couple of things. One was to study the law of Moses in hopes that by close study they could avoid what happened in the exile, which is the people falling into idolatry. In that case the Rabbi proved successful Israel would not fall into the worship of false god.

However, what they did was trade off one form of idolatry for another. While they did not worship false gods, they started to give authority to themselves. How? By making rules and regulations, practices and traditions that were placed in addition to the law of Moses, to keep one from violating the law of Moses. So, if you followed these rules, regulations, practice and traditions you would keep yourself from violating the big laws. And because they were the ones who wrote these rules, regulations, practices and traditions they were the sole interpretation authority of them, and of course if they had the authority to interpret those rules, then well they were the sole authority to interpret the law of Moses. And well if you have authority then you need to look like you have authority, you need to look a certain way, dress a certain way, you need to separate yourself from the rest of the society, you have to stand out when you walk into the room everyone should know who you are, you are the ruling class.

What started off with good intentions, not to fall into the worship of false god, grew into a different type of idolatry, the worship of men. That little bit of leaven had now become out of control and has spoiled a entire group of people.

And guess what, the people were all to happy to embrace it. Why? Because it was not up to them to figure it out, they did not have to thing, no matter how oppressive the rules, the regulations, the practice or the traditions got, these people might have grumbled about them, but they nevertheless went along with it, because well it was on them, the leaders, if they go it wrong, then I can blame them. See God it was not my fault I was just doing what the leaders told me to do.

This is still happening today, the warning Jesus gave the disciples, is a warning He gives us today, beware of the leaven of men, who added a yoke onto you. The Catholic church adds the sacraments, the Mormons add the temple ordinance, the Jehovah Witness add obedience to the Watchtower, this is all leaven. But beware of the leaven that we place upon people, you have to dress a certain way, you have to do certain things, you have you have to use a certain translation, this is all leaven, this is man adding to God’s Word and it spoils it all.

Mark 8:16 And they began discussing with one another the fact that they had no bread.

Mark 8:17 And Jesus, aware of this, said to them, “Why are you discussing the fact that you have no bread? Do you not yet perceive or understand? Are your hearts hardened?

Mark 8:18 Having eyes do you not see, and having ears do you not hear? And do you not remember?

Mark 8:19 When I broke the five loaves for the five thousand, how many baskets full of broken pieces did you take up?” They said to him, “Twelve.”

Mark 8:20 “And the seven for the four thousand, how many baskets full of broken pieces did you take up?” And they said to him, “Seven.”

Mark 8:21 And he said to them, “Do you not yet understand?”

Jesus had sought to teach them and warn the disciples of evil practices of the Jewish leadership, and yet these men as carnal as ever. Here is God set before them, giving them wisdom and what is all that they can think about? Food. Jesus is like where have you guys been? You are worrying about food, about bread and you have forgotten that I have fed 5,000+ and we had how much left over, and the say 12, and then he says and we just feed 4,000, how much did we have left over there? 7 they say. Jesus is like, ok, do you understand? Have you gone without yet, have I not provided for you, and yet with all of this all you can think about is who was responsible for bringing the bread.

Have you been paying attention? Are you more worried about the bread than you are about the ministry, the mission, the teachings of Jesus? Are you worried about budgets, money rules regulations than the ministry work that God has set before you, are you arguing about bread? Because if you are arguing about bread, Jesus has made it plain teaching, I will take care of what you need, stop concerning yourselves with those things and get focused on the ministry, get focused on souls. I have control over that, and if I decide that you lose every dime you have, if I decide that this building will be destroyed, there is nothing you can do about it. Yes I expect you to be a good steward of what I have trusted you with, but I did not tell you to make it into an idol.

Jesus is teaching them how to overcome the evil leadership, and all these men can focus on is their carnal wants. Jesus says are you blind? Are you deaf? I healed a man who had those inflictions, do you need to be healed as well? Are your heart harden? Stop focusing on the materialism of this world and start focusing on building His kingdom. Why do you not trust Jesus? He told the disciples, I feed 5000+, I feed 4000+, so why do you not think I cannot take care of this?

Hey people, if Jesus can feed all of those people why do you not believe that he cannot take care of the needs of this church, of your life?

What more are you spending time on?

Are you spending your time on how to reach the lost people?

Or are you more concerned about the budget? Church Bylaws? What does the bank account look like?

If you are more concerned about the bread than you are concerned about the ministry, the teaching and learning and spreading of God’s Word, then by golly your focus is in the wrong place.

The purpose of the church is to teach you to disciple you reach lost people, but all of that is worthless if you are to worried about the bread.

Stop worrying about the bread, Jesus said, I have that covered, you worry about hearing what I have to teach you, be my disciples, and then go and teach others. That is your job. Go do your job.

Darin Bracy is the pastor at Yorktown Baptist Church in Yorktown Virginia. He is a graduate of Veritas Baptist College with a BA in Ministry and a minor in History. He has a wife Stacy, two daughters, Ashlynne and her husband Justin, their daughter Harper Darin's other daughter Aftyn, and her two dogs, Eddie and Lulubelle.

You can reach Darin at his email address, Darinbracy@gmail.com and you can see his video content on YouTube – Basic Baptist Guy