Daily Devotional for Thursday 30th May
Yeast
Today’s reading sums up the last few chapters of Mark’s Gospel. On reading chapters six to eight we see the themes of both bread and the legalism of the Pharisees. And here we find Jesus once more teaching the disciples using bread, and warning them against the teachings of the Pharisees. It sums up what the disciples had been hearing over the last few chapters - God provides for everyone (even the Gentiles could collect the bread crumbs) and that He is more interested in the condition and posture of our hearts rather than the outward rules and cleanliness of the Pharisees.
Here Jesus likens the teaching of the Pharisees to ‘yeast’. His point was that their teaching was subtle but could have a great negative impact in a lot of people - a small amount of yeast can impact a large batch of bread dough. The Pharisees were very legalistic and also hypocritical. They taught about all the laws, such as the ceremonial hand washing and the washing of cups that we see in Mark 7, but there was no way that people could follow all these rules. And they were so focused on the outward actions that their own hearts weren’t in the right place with God. They were full of sinfulness and unbelief - yesterday we read about how they kept wanting signs. We too can easily be impacted by the ways of the world or false teaching.
But Jesus’ disciples didn’t quite pick up on what Jesus had been teaching. They were concerned that He was angry that they didn’t bring enough bread with them. He reminds them again of the miracle of the feeding of the 5000, and the 4000. If He could do that with bread and fish, what could He do with this one loaf of bread that they had brought?!
John tells us that Jesus said 'I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty’ (John 6:35). Not only does He provide for our physical needs, but for our spiritual needs. He is all we need.
Time to reflect...
• Have you ever been more focused on rules and regulations than on the condition of your heart and relationship with the Lord?
• What do you think the ‘yeast’ of today is? What can negatively impact our faith and the faith of many around us?
• When have you seen God provide for you - physically, spiritually or both?
Pause to pray…
Spend some time reflecting on the condition of your heart. As it says in 1 Samuel - ‘The Lord does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart’ (16:7). You may like to listen to the song ‘Purify my heart’ by Brian Doerksen, or reflect on some of the lyrics below:
Purify my heart
Cleanse me from within
And make me holy
