Homily for Tuesday
Week 6 of Ordinary Time
Feb.
17, 2026
Mark 8: 14-21
Christian
Brothers, St. Joseph Residence, N.R.
 |
| Christ with the apostles on the lake (bas relief in Vatican City) |
“Don’t you understand yet?” (Mark 8: 17).
Not for the 1st time, nor the last,
Jesus is exasperated by his apostles, who’ve just witnessed his 2d
multiplication of bread and fish. Mark
notes both the 1st and 2d miracles. And
now they’re whining—probably arguing—about not having any bread with them.
When Jesus asks—it’s a rhetorical
question and probably displays some impatience—“Don’t you understand yet?”,
he’s not concerned about bread. A
warning he’d voiced a moment before about the leaven of the Pharisees and of
Herod (8:15) suggests concern about what those “chefs” have been feeding the
people, possibly including the disciples.
For all the disputes Jesus has been having with the Pharisees, can we
suppose the apostles haven’t been listening to, perhaps wondering about, the
merits of the Pharisees’ teaching?
When Jesus asks them, “Don’t you
understand?” and reminds them of 2 miracles (8:19-20), isn’t he pointing out
that he backs up his teaching with powerful signs? So they should ignore the Pharisees—and
Herod, too, who presents a different form of corruption.
One commentator [1] makes another “bread”
connection. After using 5 loves and 2
fish to feed a massive crowd, Jesus crosses the lake. In John 6, that leads to the discourse on the
Eucharist in the synagog at Capernaum.
Here in Mark, we have only a reference to bread; the commentator hints
that Jesus is suggesting that he has a more substantial bread to offer than do
the Pharisees, even more substantial than what he just fed to the 4,000 in this
2d miracle.
Jesus offers real bread. Worrying about whether they’ve got a meal in
the boat, or who’s responsible if they don’t, isn’t a concern. Jesus will take care of them. He always does.
“Don’t you understand yet?”
[1] D.E. Nineham, The Gospel of St Mark (Baltimore: Penguin, 1975), pp. 213-214.
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