February 1, 2014: Mark Chapter 6

The Gospel According to Mark Chapter 6

Originally posted Thursday, February 14, 2008

General Comment: One of the features of Mark that I appreciate is the occasional presence of a brilliant insight which in later years and by different writers will become profound statements of faith. In this chapter we will read one such insight. Some Biblical scholars and textual critics write about Mark's "primitive Christology." By that they mean it is rooted in a Messianic understanding of Jesus' role in the world. It is certainly true that the Jewish understanding of the Messiah and the Messiah's role in ushering in God's New Age is a key element in Mark's presentation of Jesus. It is also true that Mark is capable of revealing an introductory glimpse into something much more profound. In chapter six we will witness one such rending of the fabric of heaven, and some light will shine through. Not a lot of light but enough to keep us going, to want to hear more of this Jesus and what his message might still mean to an aching planet.

Mark Chapter 6:1-6 You Can't Go Home Again [13:54-58]

Thomas Wolfe wrote the novel You Can't Go Home Again. Maybe, but if you do will you be welcome? Jesus has returned to his hometown in Nazareth after traveling in Gentile territory where he restored to wholeness the life of a seriously demented man. In Capernaum he has brought health back to a woman ostracized by her family and community by a disease that rendered her ritually unclean according to the Levitical Holiness Code. Finally, he healed the sorrow of a grieving mother and father whose little girl lay at the doorway to death. Then he went home.

Jesus was famous by now. He taught in Synagogues and to big crowds, healed the sick, overcame the powers of evil spirits and proclaimed the anticipated Reign of God as very near. In the midst of all that he had made enemies, and his family had felt shame because of some of the reports of his activities. But, to quote Robert Frost, "Home is the place that when you go there they have to take you in." Jesus did go home, and as was his custom on the Sabbath he went to the Synagogue where he was asked to teach from the Scripture assigned for that day. The small congregation was made up mostly of farmers, pottery makers and a number of stone masons who worked in the limestone quarries in the hills surrounding the basin in which Nazareth lay. He would have know many of them and they certainly knew him, his mother and siblings.

When he was finished, those who heard him were surprised by his insight into the text and his ability to apply it to their lives. But some were not convinced. Some wondered aloud about the source of this wisdom. As they continued to think about this and the "deeds of power" he had done in other places, it became clear to their minds that these powers, this insight had not been given by God. How could, why would God give such powers and wisdom to this tekton, this carpenter, the son of Mary. "And they were scandalized," by him as one who had brought shame to them and to Nazareth, from their point of view,  In their own minds they had create a stumbling block to belief (Isa. 7:14; Jer. 12:6). Their hearts had been hardened, but it was not God's doing.

Using an old proverb proven to be true in Israel's history, Jesus correctly described their response as that which had been given to many prophets who were honored everywhere except in their own hometown, among their own kin and in their own house. With the exception of a few healings of the sick, Jesus could do little else in the midst of such unbelief. He left there and continued his work in other towns and villages.

Mark Chapter 6:7-13 The Mission of the Twelve [MT 10:1-15]

Matthew has used this passage as part of a larger report of choosing the twelve disciples followed by their mission. Here Mark briefly describes Jesus' instructions. They are to go in pairs in keeping with the Levitical requirement of two witnesses for any testimony (remember Paul and Barnabas?). They are empowered to cast our unclean spirits, demons; they are to take nothing extra that might slow down their travel; no bread, no provisions bag, no "small change;" just the one tunic they were wearing. "Have your sandals strapped on" and carry your staff for the rough roads and trails. They will find hospitality along the way. There will be no need for money or bread. If you are welcome in a house, stay there until your work in that town is done. When you leave, pronounce your peace upon it. If the people will not listen to you in any town, leave it. As you leave shake the very dust of the place off the bottom of your sandals and have nothing further to do with them. And so, two by two they went out on their own, as disciples doing the work that Jesus was doing, among the towns and villages of Galilee, proclaiming the Good News of the Kingdom and the  need for repentance. They anointed the sick with oil, healed many and cast our demons.

The description of the disciples' mission trips is probably an accurate account of what happened after Jesus death. The disciples traveled about and set up small communities of believers wherever people responded with belief in the Kingdom they preached. It was the early level of multiplication. Wherever believers traveled they spread the word. It was the beginning of the "Jesus People," the remembering of what Jesus had said and done. It was the Gospel in its most rudimentary form, and it worked.

Mark Chapter 6:14-29 The Death of John the Baptist  [MT 14:1-12]

The placement of this passage is a lesson in Gospel development. Reading the previous passage about the disciples' mission, then following that with vs.30, it will be apparent that there is a natural flow from the completed mission to the report of its success to Jesus. The John story has been placed here in a later editing, with a transition in vss. 14-16. The story itself was probably part of the folklore told among John's disciples and used by the early church perhaps as a way to point toward Jesus' own death as the fate of those who proclaimed the coming Reign of God. The early church had many martyrs, including Apostles, prophets, evangelists and missionaries who would give their lives for the sake of their message.

As with the story of the madman of Garasa, the characters and plot are well developed in Mark's version of John's death. Despite the several inaccuracies relating to the Herod family tree , the core of the story line is the factual execution of John by Herod Antipas more for political reasons - fear of rebellion, than the grudge held against John by Herod's wife.

Mark Chapter 6:30-44 The Feeding of the Five Thousand [MET 14:13-21]

Matthew's version of this passage follows the death of John the Baptist and he uses essentially all of Mark's wording. In Matthew, when Jesus hears about John's death he withdraws by boat to a deserted place. In Mark, we pick up the story from vs. 6:13, the end of the disciples successful mission work, and read of their report to Jesus who then suggests they all go by boat to a deserted place to be by themselves for a much needed rest. However, as we have come to expect, wherever Jesus goes a crowd is sure to follow. When Jesus sees the crowd we read of the familiar response from Jesus - compassion for them, as sheep without a shepherd. "And he began to teach them many things" (in Matthew Jesus does not teach but does heal the sick).

Rather than send everyone home when the evening hour arrived, Jesus told his disciples to give the crowd something to eat. In Mark we read of the disciples' resistance, claiming it would take 200 dinarii worth of bread to feed everyone (5000 in Mark although women and children are implied, 5000 plus women and children in Matthew). 200 denarii would have been 200 days' wages for a day laborer or, using Florida's current minimum wage as a guide, $10,864.00, or $2.17 per person for Mark's gathering. Both Matthew and Mark close with the use of five loaves and two fish, leaving leftovers enough for twelve baskets full of fragments.

Mark Chapter 6:45-52 Jesus Walks on Water [MT 14:22-33]

There is one addition in Matthew's use of Mark, Jesus' invitation to Peter to walk toward him on the waves, followed by the disciples' confession of faith, "Truly you are the Son of God."

In Mark there are two connected passages that should not be overlooked. Both relate to the early Christian understanding that it was in Jesus that the most complete revelation of God was to be found. This framed the understanding that the presence of God can be seen in and working through Jesus, who demonstrates what it means to say, "Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in Heaven." We will find the most elaborate understanding of this early realization in John's Gospel. But here we see the beginning of what is called a High Christology, the recognition of the divine in Jesus.

The first of the two passages is in vs. 48. The Greek reads "About the fourth watch of the night (6:00 a.m.) he came to them walking on the lake and he intended to pass them by." "To pass them by" is a reference to the presence of God as found in Exod. 33:17-23, where that "presence" is revealed to and "passes by" Moses. It is also found in the story of Elijah in 1 Kings 19:11-13 in which the "presence" of God passes by Elijah.

The second passage is in vs. 50. When the disciples see Jesus on the water they are terrified. Jesus responds to their fear saying, "...have courage, I AM, do not be afraid." I AM is, of course, God's name as revealed to Moses on Mount Sinai (Exod. 3:13-`15).

In these two verses Mark has portrayed a theme which is at the very heart of Christian theology and without which Jesus becomes little more than the latest invention of social engineering, "the good man who promotes justice for all, does good deeds for the less fortunate," and, by the way, let's all be like him. Our place within the Church is founded on the leap of faith into that which cannot be known but which has occasionally been committed to meager words such as Paul's great anthem, "God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself," and John's majestic pronouncement of the mysterium magnum, "And the Word became flesh and pitched his tent among us and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father's only son..." As the old Rabbi Hillel said, "All the rest is commentary."

Mark Chapter 6:53-56 The Sick of Gennesaret [MT 14:34-36]

In the previous passage, in vs. 45, Jesus tells the disciples to take the boat to Bethsaida. In this passage which is a continuation of the one previous, the boat lands at Gennesaret (actually the plain of Gennesaret on the western shore of the Sea of Galilee, between Tiberias and Capernaum). Matthew has corrected that error by leaving out "Bethsaida." Again, Matthew has stripped out Mark's details. In Matthew the story is brief, only noting the landing, the spreading of the news that Jesus was there, and the healing of many. Whereas in Matthew this is all within one setting, in Mark it becomes an occasion for an extended ministry in the villages cities, farms and marketplaces.