8:14–21 This is one of the more difficult passages in Mark, and yet it is also plainly an important one, given its relationship to other passages (the feeding miracles) and given the solemn statements of Jesus about understanding in verses 17–21. The parallels in Matthew 16:5–12 and Luke 12:1 show that the saying of Jesus was remembered in varying ways, which means that it must have been important and somewhat ambiguous in meaning (on the parallels, see the notes). Indeed, in order to see what Mark intended in this passage, it will be helpful to take note of the ways in which his account of this incident differs from these parallels.

The first thing to examine is the saying about the yeast of the Pharisees and Herod (8:14–15). This saying ties in immediately with the preceding incident in…