“Having eyes, see ye not? and having ears, hear ye not? and do ye not remember?”
Do you have eyes but fail to see, and ears but fail to hear? And don't you remember? — the eyes-fail-to-see and ears-fail-to-hear language is Jeremiah 5:21 and Ezekiel 12:2 — the prophetic indictment of Israel's inability to perceive the divine action in their midst. The disciples who have been given the secret of the kingdom (Mark 4:11) and who have received the private explanations of the parables are nevertheless failing to perceive what Jesus is doing. Don't you remember communicates that the evidence is available in their own experience — the two feedings they participated in.
Church Fathers on Mark 8:18
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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