Tuesday in the Sixth Week of Ordinary Time

What did Jesus mean by the leaven of the Pharisees and Herod?  Some commentators think it is their rebelliousness. Others think it is their morally corrupt teaching. The disciples of Jesus think he is referring to their lack of bread.  Jesus says, “Do you not yet understand?”  I find it hard to understand, too.

When St. Mark tells us that, “They had only one loaf with them in the boat,” is Jesus reproving the disciples because they don’t realize he can multiply one loaf of bread to feed all of them, as he did with the crowds of five thousand and of four thousand?  Or, is it because he himself is the one loaf, and apart from him there is no bread worth having? 

Eerdmans Commentary on the Bible tells us that, “The entire exchange is awkward and confusing.” But it does offer this interpretation: “Jesus is criticizing his disciples for their lack of faith,” eyes that do not see, ears that do not hear, just like the Pharisees and Herod’s disciples.   

I like that interpretation of leaven, the corrupting effect of disbelief infecting the whole world.  How many people today still do not believe that Jesus is the Son of God and that the Eucharist is the Bread of Life, his own Body! 

How blessed we are with the gift of faith and all the Sacraments!