The Pharisees came and began to argue with him, seeking from him a sign from heaven to test him. 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.” And he left them, got into the boat again, and went to the other side.
Comment: The Pharisees were sending openly people to ‘sound out’/’spy on’ Jesus. They had seen His miracles, they had twice been at the feeding of 9,000+ people and possibly enjoyed the bread and a taste of fish! Yet they demand ‘Show us a sign’! What did they require? Jesus graciously but firmly said something which equates to, in English slang ‘Go jump in a lake, I’m taking the boat! Open your eyes and you already have oodles of signs!’
Now they had forgotten to bring bread, and they had only one loaf with them in the boat. And he cautioned them, saying, “Watch out; beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod.” And they began discussing with one another the fact that they had no bread. 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? Having eyes do you not see, and having ears do you not hear? And do you not remember? 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.” “And the seven for the four thousand, how many baskets full of broken pieces did you take up?” And they said to him, “Seven.” And he said to them, “Do you not yet understand?”
Comment: Do you grade ‘being ‘fools’ and ‘being foolish’ as not the same exactly in meaning? I think that I would classify the Pharisees in paragraph one as ‘fools’. They knew all the Messianic prophecies of the Old Testament. They had eyes to see and ears to hear the stories of what Jesus had being doing! The disciples on the other hand were not trained as the Pharisees were; they had been convinced that Jesus was the Messiah – some publicly had proclaimed that and others were His devoted followers but they were foolish because they had been to the two miraculous feeding events and yet were worried that they, the presumably all 13 of them, would die of starvation just because they only had one loaf of bread! If you add he said the ‘leaven of disbelief’ to what you have seen and experienced you will convert your ‘being foolish’ into you, yourselves, becoming ‘Pharisaical fools’!
Isaiah 29: 9&11 – Astonish yourselves and be astonished; blind yourselves and be blind! Be drunk, but not with wine; stagger, but not with strong drink!…. And the vision of all this has become to you like the words of a book that is sealed.
Prayer: Open my eyes that I may see…..Please!
As I read it! 