Mark 8:10-21 — 10 And immediately he got into the boat with his disciples and went to the district of Dalmanutha.
11 The Pharisees came and began to argue with him, seeking from him a sign from heaven to test him. 12 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.” 13 And he left them, got into the boat again, and went to the other side.
14 Now they had forgotten to bring bread, and they had only one loaf with them in the boat. 15 And he cautioned them, saying, “Watch out; beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod.” 16 And they began discussing with one another the fact that they had no bread. 17 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? 18 Having eyes do you not see, and having ears do you not hear? And do you not remember? 19 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.” 20 “And the seven for the four thousand, how many baskets full of broken pieces did you take up?” And they said to him, “Seven.” 21 And he said to them, “Do you not yet understand?”
In the Mark 8 passage before us, there are two categories of faithless rejections of Christ, which we will call active rejection and passive rejection. These two categories of rejection have always been around since unbelief came into the world and we will probably be able to find evidences of one or both of them in our own lives.
Those with active rejection are cognizant of many truths of Scripture, but they refuse to bow their knee to what they know. They hate being convicted of sin and find ways to discredit the truth and even demand more proof that Scripture is true. They fail to take responsibility for their own unbelief and blame their circumstances, others or even God for their hard heartedness. The reflection of the mirror of Scripture in their minds, cast forth a fairly righteous image of themselves and they won’t listen to anything or anyone who tells them otherwise.
The person in the passive category of rejection goes through life not really thinking about specific truths from God’s word. They remain in a willful ignorance as to why their life seems so difficult and wonders if there is any way they can ever escape what seems like a prison of their circumstances and their sinful response to those circumstances. They are rarely convicted of sin unless they sin in an obvious way since they aren’t really spiritually minded and basically live by what they see and experience. Their main goal in life is just to have their days go as smooth as possible and according to their own standards, have their needs met. They constantly wonder why undesirable things happen to them and struggle greatly with connecting the dots of their lives with the truths of Scripture. This is despite the fact that they have heard plenty of truth and have an abundance of resources at their disposal, but they refuse to put forth the necessary effort to submit their will to God’s will by faith.
Both of these categories are extremely dangerous and both are present in the Pharisees and disciples in Mark 8:10-21.