“All good giving and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no alteration or shadow caused by change” (James 1:17).
Our Lord, the source of all good gifts, warns the disciples about two kinds of peddlers of what is harmful. “Watch out, guard against the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod” (Mark 8:15). Those Pharisees whom Christ is warning against were inflated with a pride in spiritual matters (the pride that had just led them to try to put our Lord to the test). Perhaps because of the praise of others, perhaps because of years of study and success in arguments against religious opponents such as the Sadducees, there were those who belonged to the group of the Pharisees who considered themselves so spiritually important that they became blind to the spiritual importance of their neighbor, and even of our Lord. Christ warns about such inflation, such pride which He sees could very well tempt his disciples. Likewise Herod Antipas, son of Herod the Great, who was able to successfully navigate turbulent political waters among fellow successors of his father. Herod Antipas was a builder of great cities, and he executed the greatest of the prophets, St. John the Baptist. Perhaps the effectiveness of his scheming in secular affairs made Herod Antipas and those aligned with him puffed up with a worldly pride, silencing those who opposed his power or who cried out to awaken his conscience. Our Lord equally warns about such leaven, so poisonous to the soul.
And what helps the disciples and strengthens them? Memory. Our Lord has the disciples remember, in detail, the wondrous deeds that they have witnessed, in which Christ has nourished them and thousands of others. Their hunger and need could make them susceptible to the lure of spiritual or political pride as false nourishment. Our Lord therefore exercises their memory, reminding them of His goodness, His personal and direct goodness to them that has nourished them in abundance! May we lift up our eyes to Christ who shows us the Father of lights, may we allow Him to remind us of His personal and direct goodness to us! May we prefer this Bread of Life to the leaven of the Pharisees and of Herod.