Mark - Chapter 6
6:1-6
Rejection By His Own People:
The consistent witness of the New Testament is that Jesus was rejected by His own people. John 1:11 is our most clear passage of proof. Paul wrestles with the rejection of Jesus Christ by His own people, the Jews, as a serious theological problem. As Mark 6 begins we see the same theme but the actual people are different. Here those who reject are not the Jews as a whole but friends and relatives in His home town. There are astonished questions about Him as he teaches in the Nazareth synagogue. They reflect on who He is by what they remember Him to be, the son of Mary, a carpenter, and a neighbor to many. They take offense at Him. The passage begins with the unbelief of those in his home town but it ends with the amazement of Jesus because of their unbelief.
A second theme appears in Mark not in the sayings of Jesus Himself but in a small passage that tells us in verses 5-6 that he could do no mighty work there, except for a few healings by laying on His hands as He marveled at the unbelief. So it seems that the rejection and the unbelief of His own had a dampening effect on His work while He was among them. Rather than stay and try to convince His own, he chooses to move onward.
Our unbelief does not make God powerless, but when it is dominant in a congregation or town there is in many cases less evidence of His power in that place consumed by lack of faith and outright unbelief.
6:7-13
The Sending of the Twelve:
Mark details well the stages of the ministry of the Lord by His dealing with the intimate group of chosen disciples, from the calling of the first four (1:16-20), the naming of twelve (3:13-19), and now the sending of those twelve to extend His own work. Those whom He has called and set apart have not yet fully understood Him (4:10/13/41). Even less do they share His way of obedience to the will of God, as chapters 8 & 10 will reveal. They seem always on the way to understanding but up to the end of the writing of Mark, they never fully understand.
Jesus does not await full understanding. As flawed as they are, He sends them out. Their situation is the same as every church in every age. They go two by two, to assure the truth of their witness (Deut. 17:6). They are agents of Jesus Christ who sends them out, just as He Himself has come out, to announce the gospel of God. He instructs them to travel light as a sign of reliance only upon God for their needs. He tells them how to respond when their message is rejected. They are to shake off the dust of that place and move onward. The passage closes by their obedient response as they went out preaching (repentance like John the Baptist), exorcising, and healing.
6:14-29
The Death of John the Baptist:
Mark's account of the death of John, with its flashback to a birthday feast in Herod's honor, has all the elements of a good story: direct style, dramatic details, an adulterous king, a scheming woman, a dancing girl, and a violent death. In this writing the episode is linked with the return of the disciples from their journey.
Mark's account seems to foreshadow the death of Jesus to come, and is seen in this manner in chapter 15 near the end of his writing. John preaches and is offered up (chapters 1 & 6), Jesus preaches and heals and is offered up (chapters 1 & 9+10), the disciples preach and are offered up (chapters 6 & 13). This pattern is a key element in the relationship between those who bring God's message and those who wish to protect their own power.
6:30-44
The Feeding of the Five Thousand:
This miracle work is the only miracle reported in all four gospels. Of the several levels of meaning that can be found in this miracle, Mark offers us three to consider.
First, there is the Good Shepherd. At an important moment in the story, Jesus had compassion on them because they were like sheep without a shepherd (verse 34). The disciples wanted Jesus to send the crowd away but instead Jesus instructs them to give the crowd food and the disciples seem confused because they have none to give.
So Jesus asks what do they have and they indicate they have found a few morsels. Jesus multiplies the food to create enough to fill all there with twelve baskets of leftovers, exactly one basket for each disciple (a fact we cannot overlook). Jesus, as a good shepherd sits the people down on the grass, and meets their physical need and then after they are filled, teaches them with further compassion to meet their spiritual need as well. We should recall what Jesus had said to Satan at the temptation time which was that man does not live by bread alone. Here he proves it.
Second, there is the blindness of the disciples. The first half of this gospel is dominated by one thought which is who is Jesus? Miracles like this feeding are the answer to that question but only to those who have eyes open to see. We will see in chapter 8 that Jesus tells His disciples that both of his multitude feedings were signs which the disciples should have understood but did not. They, like the Pharisees also in chapter 8, seemed to need a further sign and were blind as to what was happening in front of their own eyes.
Third, there is the bread in the wilderness thought suggested by a series of action phrases such as “ he looked up...” , “... blessed...”, “... broke...”, and “... gave...”.
Viewed in this light the story becomes a sacrament story with each there receiving the miracle of the bread sent by God, representing His work for those He loves, just as the Lord's table still represents the same thing today in all churches. It also harkens back to the manna sent by God to sustain His chosen people when they also were hungry and in need.
6:45-52
Walking on Water:
After the feeding Jesus sends His disciples across the sea in a boat without Himself and they were to meet Him on the other side, with the intention of alone time for the Lord for prayer. He, of course, fully knew He was sending them into danger and used this teaching moment to test their faith. A storm arrives with much wind and the disciples are frightened as their boat is tossed by the waves. We are told that Jesus walked on the water and perhaps wanted to simply pass by them to show them a divine presence. But when they saw Him, they were much afraid and thought they were seeing a ghostly being. But Jesus speaks to them with instruction that they should not fear and identifies Himself to them. He gets into the boat with them and the storm is calmed. Here the twelve are granted once more the physical proof of the divinity of Jesus for who could do what He does in their sight? These lessons given one by one are designed to strengthen their faith and acceptance of the true fact that God was among them.
6:53-56
Healings at Gennesaret:
As a contrast to the disciples who had trouble with believing their own eyes, the boat reaches the other side and many people come forth bringing sick and afflicted to the place they heard He was. His power and authority was clear and there was ready acceptance by the crowd of Him, contrasted by the continued shallow belief of His own disciples and in chapter 7 we will see that same unbelief in the Pharisees.
This passage speaks to fearful disciples of any time in the last 2,000 years. The attitude most addressed by Jesus when he walked on the water was fear. The good news is that Jesus knows and cares for our troubled hearts and stands ready at all times to relieve our trouble. Those who remain gripped by spiritual fear simply do not understand yet or have chosen to remain willingly in rejection.