Who Brought The Pop Tarts? | February 14, 2017

February 14, 2017

I don’t know about you, but when I go to the grocery store without a list, I’m screwed. I will 95% of the time forget the main reason I went there in the first place and come home with 12 items that I absolutely did not need like another flavor of Chapstick, or those yummy cookies with the thick colored frosting on them based on the nearest upcoming holiday, or various kinds of cheese, or the latest kind of kettle chip (last week’s was maple bacon), or powdered donuts, or Pop Tarts, you get the idea. I don’t know exactly how the communal living protocol was for Jesus and his Apostles, but someone forgot to bring the bread for the road trip! I’m sure whomever it was heard lots of crap talking and grief: remember the last time we forgot the bread, over 10,000 people heard about it, or we gave you one job and you screwed it up!! Road trip snack rage is real people. We get so riled up over the silliest things don’t we. Jesus probably chuckled as he overheard them whispering among themselves, “Who’s going to tell Jesus?”

Jesus, like any good teacher, took this real life situation as an opportunity to see if his students had learned anything at all. Interrupting their bickering about whose turn it was to get the Pop Tarts, he says, “Watch out, guard against the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod." In other words, you’re worrying about the wrong issue. I will and have multiplied bread before, but the Pharisees and Herod have been plagued with this need for me to perform magic tricks. Their lack of faith comes from their abundance of sin that continues to rise like yeast in their souls. The sin is not in forgetting to bring the bread, but in the forgetting that I AM THE BREAD.

Negative thoughts and words spread like no other force. Wild fires have nothing on gossip or mud slinging. Yeast’s main function is to increase the volume of the dough, give it rise, fluff it up, and inflate it. Sin has similar qualities. It takes something relatively small, multiplies it, inflates it, increases the volume, and if left unattended, it can become out of control.

Let’s remember that when we forget the essential things, the matters of the soul, and the heart of the matter, we can let the little things turn into big, out of control issues that do not fortify our souls. Have you ever eaten an entire bag of maple bacon kettle chips? Yeah, not good on the stomach at all. So let our trust in the Bread of Life overshadow our cravings for the Pop Tarts so that we can focus on the necessary things that will satisfy, fortify, and bring us life. Happy Valentine’s Day.

Reading 1 GN 6:5-8; 7:1-5, 10

When the LORD saw how great was man's wickedness on earth,
and how no desire that his heart conceived
was ever anything but evil,
he regretted that he had made man on the earth,
and his heart was grieved.

So the LORD said:
"I will wipe out from the earth the men whom I have created,
and not only the men,
but also the beasts and the creeping things and the birds of the air,
for I am sorry that I made them."
But Noah found favor with the LORD.

Then the LORD said to Noah:
"Go into the ark, you and all your household,
for you alone in this age have I found to be truly just.
Of every clean animal, take with you seven pairs,
a male and its mate;
and of the unclean animals, one pair,
a male and its mate;
likewise, of every clean bird of the air, seven pairs,
a male and a female,
and of all the unclean birds, one pair,
a male and a female.
Thus you will keep their issue alive over all the earth.
Seven days from now I will bring rain down on the earth
for forty days and forty nights,
and so I will wipe out from the surface of the earth
every moving creature that I have made."
Noah did just as the LORD had commanded him.

As soon as the seven days were over,
the waters of the flood came upon the earth.

Responsorial Psalm PS 29:1A AND 2, 3AC-4, 3B AND 9C-10

R. (11b) The Lord will bless his people with peace.
Give to the LORD, you sons of God,
give to the LORD glory and praise,
Give to the LORD the glory due his name;
adore the LORD in holy attire. 
R. The Lord will bless his people with peace.
The voice of the LORD is over the waters,
the LORD, over vast waters.
The voice of the LORD is mighty;
the voice of the LORD is majestic. 
R. The Lord will bless his people with peace.
The God of glory thunders,
and in his temple all say, "Glory!"
The LORD is enthroned above the flood;
the LORD is enthroned as king forever. 
R. The Lord will bless his people with peace.

Alleluia JN 14:23

R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Whoever loves me will keep my word, says the Lord;
and my Father will love him
and we will come to him.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.

Gospel MK 8:14-21

The disciples had forgotten to bring bread,
and they had only one loaf with them in the boat.
Jesus enjoined them, "Watch out,
guard against the leaven of the Pharisees
and the leaven of Herod." 
They concluded among themselves that
it was because they had no bread.
When he became aware of this he said to them,
"Why do you conclude that it is because you have no bread?
Do you not yet understand or comprehend?
Are your hearts hardened?
Do you have eyes and not see, ears and not hear?
And do you not remember,
when I broke the five loaves for the five thousand,
how many wicker baskets full of fragments you picked up?"
They answered him, "Twelve."
"When I broke the seven loaves for the four thousand,
how many full baskets of fragments did you pick up?"
They answered him, "Seven."
He said to them, "Do you still not understand?"