Question:
Dear Greg,
Could
you please tell me what Jesus meant by his remark in verse 21 of Mark 8 and what
is the meaning of 12 baskets and 7 baskets?
I know they were told to beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, but where
do the 12 and the 7 fit?
I
very much appreciate your answer,
Judith
Answer: Dear Judith,
Verse
21 is more of a rhetorical question by Jesus, “you have seen all of this and
you still don’t get it?” The
Messiah did what he had done, yet they still didn’t “see”.
Of course, Jesus--God in the flesh--knew that they would not see or
“get it” until after his resurrection. He
was probably not chastising them for not fully grasping who he was, but more so
for their dullness. He was probably
chastising them for the fact that their concerns for the physical were not much
different from the desire of the crowds wanting some magic or some miracle
(verse 12). This happened even
though the disciples were always with Jesus and heard his teachings in a way
that the crowds did not. Mark
follows this account with teaching about physical and spiritual perception
(verse 22 through Mark 9:1), which was Jesus’ point to his disciples.
Jesus
is also aware of the larger audience of people down through the years who would
read of this, and that they too would not always understand who he is.
Whether Jesus had yet spoken to the 12 as his being the Bread of Life, as
compared to the manna their fathers ate in the wilderness as John records, we
don’t know. However, we do know in
this passage that Jesus told them to beware of the leaven (teaching) of the
Pharisees, and that comparison with food/bread had been given—perhaps Jesus
being the one loaf they had with them in the boat (verse 14).
I
have heard and read speculation about the 12 baskets and 7 baskets left over,
but I am skeptical of too much allegory and numerology in biblical
interpretation, so I really don’t have a satisfactory (for me, at least)
response to any special significance of these exact numbers.
In
Christ,