In today's passage, Mark moves from a gentile-centric account to one focused on the Pharisees. Their demands for a sign from heaven come not from faith, but from a lack of it; they're trying to test Jesus (like Satan did), and he's having no part of it.

We see the same story in Matthew 16:2... Here, we find that the Pharisees can read lots of things, but are not able to read the signs of the times; they're blind where it really counts.

Jesus gets frustrated with his own disciples when they worry about physical bread, while the Bread of Life himself is sitting right there with them!

We don't want to reduce Christianity to a set of rules and ethics. Our faith is about salvation through Jesus Christ.

In 2 Timothy 4:3... People won't endure sound teaching, but seek out their favorite (ahem, YouTube) preachers to suit their views!

Beware: a focus on politics, regardless of viewpoint, can leaven us away from Chris's kingdom, in favor of an agenda.

Bread and leaven...

Leaven is a starter. It ferments and grows, like sin. It bubbles and expands, eventually infiltrating the whole loaf.

In the Old Testament, we see during the first passover when Israel left Egypt, there was no time, and they were told to eat bread before it rose. They were to take no Egyptian leaven, and start with new leaven in the wilderness with God. What had been was now discarded, and God was doing a new work!

What's meant by the leaven of the Pharisees and of Herod? Spiritual blindness, hardheartedness. In Luke, we see it's also hypocrisy. Essentially, leaven is a teaching that ultimately rejects Christ!

A few thoughts...

Don't let the temple obscure who God is. Don't forget the feeding of the 4,000, of the 5,000! God instituted feasts in the old testament so the Jews would remember God's faithfulness, his might, his provision! It's why we take communion today, to remember what he's done for us. Even in tough times, we remember: God is good!

Look and beware. How should we interact with bad teaching? We are to reject heresy. But we don't need to hide or plug our ears where we hear it. We should earnestly learn other ideas, and see how they fall short of the truth of God. Sometimes atheists, Muslims say true things. We should be respectful, hungry to learn, but also be wary, wise and discerning. Christianity alone can stand on its own, as it is the only faith whose source is God himself!

Leaven expands... so we need to be aware of bad leaven, false teachers who suit our passions.

Beware news and politics 24/7. It's just trying to make you angry, spreading bad leaven. There are lots of bad ideas masquerading as Christianity.

The leaven of God is the Word of God. In 2 Timothy 3:14-17, we see it is able to make you wise, is profitable for teaching, correction, reproof, and training in righteousness! Want to be a great husband? Go to the Word of God! Let it expand in you, to make you into something beautiful! Make it your way of life! It's the only solid foundation.