“And when Jesus knew it, he saith unto them, Why reason ye, because ye have no bread? perceive ye not yet, neither understand? have ye your heart yet hardened?”
Aware of their discussion, Jesus asked them: why are you talking about having no bread? Do you still not see or understand? Are your hearts hardened? — the diagnostic questions pile up: do you still not see, still not understand, still hardened hearts? The still communicates progressive failure — this is not the first opportunity to understand. The hard hearts (pepōrōmenēn kardian) explicitly applies to the disciples the same language used for Pharaoh (Exodus) and Jesus' enemies (Mark 3:5). The disciples' incomprehension is not merely intellectual slowness but a structural condition that will only be broken by the passion and resurrection.
Church Fathers on Mark 8:17
After that our Lord had worked the miracle of the loaves, He immediately retires into another spot, lest on account of the miracle, the multitudes should take Him to make Him a king.
Now in Matthew we read that He entered into the parts of Magdala [ed. note: Magedam]. But we cannot doubt that it is the same place under another name; for several manuscripts even of St. Mark have only Magdala.
The Pharisees, then, seek a sign from heaven, that He, Who had for the second time fed many thousands of men with a few loaves of bread, should now, after the example of Moses, refresh the whole nation in the last time with manna sent down from heaven, and dispersed amongst them all.
Read all 15 entries in the readerCatena Aurea · St. Thomas Aquinas, tr. J. H. Newman · public domain
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