Mark Chapter 6
The Road of Sending
Jesus Rejected at Nazareth (1-6)
1 And he went out from thence, and came into his own country; and his disciples follow him.
2 And when the Sabbath day was come, he began to teach in the synagogue: and many hearing him were astonished, saying, from whence hath this man these things? And what wisdom is this which is given unto him, that even such mighty works are wrought by his hands?
3 Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary, the brother of James, and Joses, and of Judah, and Simon? And are not his sisters here with us? And they were offended at him.
4 But Jesus, said unto them, a prophet is not without honor, but in his own country, and among his own kin, and in his own house.
5 And he could there do no mighty work, save that he laid his hands upon a few sick folk, and healed them.
6 And he marveled because of their unbelief. And he went round about the villages, teaching.
We left a very happy mother and father behind us with a smiling little girl in their arms and headed for Nazareth expecting a warm welcome from those former friends and acquaintances of Jesus. However much to our dismay this was not the case as Jesus began to preach in the synagogue the people were astonished and amazed at the things He said and the wisdom with which He said it to them. They were astounded when they heard of the miracles He had wrought and yet instead of rejoicing with Him they began to deride Him and find fault. I heard them mumbling to one another, "Is this not the carpenter, the son of Mary and brother of James and are not His sisters here with us." It seemed as if they were offended that one of their own from their small villages could be noticed by anyone. Jesus stated to us that "a prophet is only without honor in His own country." Even Jesus was astounded at their unbelief so we moved on to other villages.
Jesus sends out the Twelve Apostles (7 - 13)
7 And he called unto him the twelve, and began to send them forth by two and two; and gave them power over unclean spirits;
8 And commanded them that they should take nothing for their journey, save a staff only; no scrip, no bread, no money in their purse:
9 But be shod with sandals; and not put on two coats.
10 And he said unto them, in what place so ever ye enter into a house, there abide till ye depart from that place.
11 And whosoever shall not receive you, nor hear you, when ye depart thence, shake off the dust under your feet for a testimony against them. Verily I say unto you, it shall be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrah in the Day of Judgment, than for that city.
12 And they went out, and preached that men should repent.
13 And they cast out many devils, and anointed with oil many that were sick, and healed them.
Jesus called us all together and then took the twelve that He had chosen aside and told them it is time for you to go out and preach the gospel. He told them that you will be able to cast out demons. Anoint people as I have with oil and see the sick healed. I thought to myself how careful they will have to be for it will be easy for them to get caught up in the things that are happening and to forget the reason they are going. For the first thing that Jesus told them was to go out and proclaim that people should repent and believe the good news that He had come. I guess the healing and the casting out were to prove the need for repentance to God. I found it unusual that He told them to take no provisions for their journey no bread, no bag, no money but only their walking staff. I have come to realize now that in effect what He was saying is that God would provide. To top all of this off He then told them that if they went somewhere and the people would not listen to shake the dust off their feet as a testimony against those people. I thought to myself that God is even able to see the dust that is left behind when people reject Him. I rejoiced in the fact that because of Jesus's wonderful love for me, I had come put my trust in Him as Savior. I wondered how others when they saw this great love and compassion for us who are such sinners could help but do the same. It did not take long for us to receive news that not everyone wanted to hear the good news. So I watched this ragged troop of men walk off from us two by two. Yes their clothes were ragged, their hair a little unkempt and their hands hard and calloused from work but they had a giant love and concern for the welfare of their brothers. A love that I had just began to know in my heart.
The Death of John the Baptist (14 - 29)
14 And king Herod heard of him; (for his name was spread abroad:) and he said, That John the Baptist was risen from the dead, and therefore mighty works do show forth themselves in him.
15 Others said that it is Elias. And others said, that it is a prophet, or as one of the prophets.
16 But when Herod heard thereof, he said, it is John, whom I beheaded: he has risen from the dead.
17 For Herod himself had sent forth and laid hold upon John, and bound him in prison for Herodias' sake, his Brother Philip's wife: for he had married her.
18 For John had said unto Herod, It is not lawful for thee to have thy brother's wife.
19 Therefore Herodias had a quarrel against him, and would have killed him; but she could not:
20 For Herod feared John, knowing that he was a just man and a holy man, and observed him; and when he heard him, he did many things, and heard him gladly.
21 And when a convenient day was come, that Herod on his birthday made a supper to his lords, high captains, and chief estates of Galilee;
22 And when the daughter of the said Herodias came in, and danced, and pleased Herod and them that sat with him, the king said unto the damsel, Ask of me whatsoever thou wilt, and I will give it thee.
23 And he swore unto her, whatsoever thou shalt ask of me, I will give it thee, unto the half of my kingdom.
24 And she went forth, and said unto her mother, what shall I ask? And she said the head of John the Baptist.
25 And she came in straightway with haste unto the king, and asked, saying, I will that thou give me by and by in a charger the head of John the Baptist.
26 And the king was exceeding sorry; yet for his oath's sake, and for their sakes which sat with him, he would not reject her.
27 And immediately the king sent an executioner, and commanded his head to be brought: and he went and beheaded him in the prison,
28 And brought his head in a charger, and gave it to the damsel: and the damsel gave it to her mother.
29 And when his disciples heard of it, they came and took up his corpse, and laid it in a tomb.
What I had feared when I had first heard and saw the man John preaching in the river Jordan had come true and all because of a young girls dance. Yes I know that it is hard to believe that someone would have another person be-headed because a young girl danced in front of him but that is how it was with Herod the King. A man who was supposed to be full of integrity, a man who had been brought to power and was supposed to rule his kingdom justly put John to death. Why? Because John had told him the truth, you see Herod had taken his brother's wife Herodias and John had said that it was not lawful for him to do so. As I understand Herodias was getting nervous about John because Herod liked to listen to him. I supposed that if truth be told she was afraid that Herod might begin to agree with John and put her away. She would then lose her place as the queen. I do not even want to think about how she gained it in the first place. I heard that her daughter danced for Herod and the foolish man told her he was so pleased with her dance that she could have anything she wanted up to half of his kingdom. It is amazing what lust and drink can do to a king or any man for that matter. One of the servants who was there said as Herod laughed with his guests the young girl came back and said she had a request for him. Herod with a mighty kingly gesture raised his glass while the guests clapped and yelled. The little servant girl said they were making so much noise that Herod could not hear what Herodias daughter was saying so he raised his scepter and everyone grew quiet and with a big smile ask the girl what she wanted to which she replied, " the head of John the Baptist". She said Herod tur
ned as white as a sheet and just sat there with his eyes going from her to the crowd. He then turned to the executioner and told him to grant her request and the executioner did. I know that it sounds unbelievable but he brought John's head out on a platter and presented it to her. How could one man who loved others so much arouse so much hatred in others? Peter told me later that some of the disciples went and got John's body and gave it a proper burial.
Jesus feeds the Five Thousand (30 - 44)
30 And the apostles gathered themselves together unto Jesus, and told him all things, both what they had done, and what they had taught.
31 And he said unto them, Come ye yourselves apart into a desert place, and rest a while: for there were many coming and going, and they had no leisure so much as to eat.
32 And they departed into a desert place by ship privately.
33 And the people saw them departing, and many knew him, and ran afoot thither out of all cities, and outwent them, and came together unto him.
34 And Jesus, when he came out, saw much people, and was moved with compassion toward them, because they were as sheep not having a shepherd: and he began to teach them many things.
35 And when the day was now far spent, his disciples came unto him, and said, this is a desert place, and now the time is far passed:
36 Send them away, that they may go into the country round about, and into the villages, and buy themselves bread: for they have nothing to eat.
37 He answered and said unto them, Give ye them to eat. And they say unto him, Shall we go and buy two hundred pennyworth of bread, and give them to eat?
38 He said unto them, how many loaves have ye? Go and see. And when they knew, they say, five, and two fishes.
39 And he commanded them to make all sit down by companies upon the green grass.
40 And they sat down in ranks, by hundreds, and by fifties.
41 And when he had taken the five loaves and the two fishes, he looked up to heaven, and blessed, and broke the loaves, and gave them to his disciples to set before them; and the two fishes divided he among them all.
42 And they did all eat, and were filled.
43 And they took up twelve baskets full of the fragments, and of the fishes.
44 And they that did eat of the loaves were about five thousand men.
Have you ever been hungry? I have been. Have you ever been feed by God Himself? I have been. Let me tell you more about this man who has become not only my Messiah and Leader but also my greatest friend. The men who Jesus had sent out to tell about Him had returned and had so many wonderful stories to tell us. Jesus told all of us to come with Him and we would find a place to rest and then they could tell us even more. We got in a boat and began to steal away from a crowd that had gathered when they found out that Jesus was near. As fate would have it that did not work for many saw us leaving and began to follow along on foot and as we got to shore a large crowd was already waiting. Jesus as usual had compassion on them and began to minister to them as only He could do. The next thing we knew it had grown very late so Andrew, Thomas and the others in their concern for the people there came to Jesus and said, send them away to go into the surrounding countryside and villages so they can buy themselves something to eat. As usual my friend the one who always astounded us did so again. With what appeared to me like a look of amusement on His face He turned to the disciples and said, "you give them something to eat." If stammering, stuttering, and shuffling could make you rich we would have become the richest men in the world. Finally Phillip spoke up and said Lord we have two hundred denarii and with what I thought was his most impressive way of trying to sound spiritual while looking foolish said we could not feed them if we wanted to. I do not want to sound as if I am putting Phillip down in anyway as most of the rest of us were staring off into space pretending we did not even hear Jesus say, "You give them something to eat." After all had they just not came back from healing the sick, curing the lame and doing other miracles in Jesus name. Finally Jesus got everyone's attention again and drew us back from our outer space stares when He asked," How many loaves do you have?" Now we had something we knew how to do again so we went and found out that we had five loaves and two fish. If I remember I actually laughed to myself when the tally was counted and I looked out at the enormous crowd. My laughter quickly changed to astonishment when Jesus began to separate the crowd into groups of fifties and hundreds. Then He took the loaves and fishes and said a blessing over them and broke them into pieces. Then He gave them to the disciples in baskets. They began to pass them out very timidly to the crowd that was there and again to our wondrous amazement all were filled and satisfied. Then Jesus told them to take up what was left and put it in the twelve baskets. The one who could create bread and fish from nothing would still not let anything go to waste. How shameful I felt when I thought not only of the material things I wasted but also of the time I wasted being so concerned with the small concerns of life. Oh, by the way I was told that the number that was feed was five thousand people.
Jesus Walks on the Water (45 - 52)
45 And straightway he constrained his disciples to get into the ship, and to go to the other side before unto Bethsaida, while he sent away the people.
46 And when he had sent them away, he departed into a mountain to pray.
47 And when even was come, the ship was in the midst of the sea, and he alone on the land.
48 And he saw them toiling in rowing; for the wind was contrary unto them: and about the fourth watch of the night he cometh unto them, walking upon the sea, and would have passed by them.
49 But when they saw him walking upon the sea, they supposed it had been a spirit, and cried out:
50 For they all saw him, and were troubled. And immediately he talked with them, and said unto them, Be of good cheer: it is I; be not afraid.
51 And he went up unto them into the ship; and the wind ceased: and they were sore amazed in themselves beyond measure, and wondered.
52 For they considered not the miracle of the loaves: for their heart was hardened.
As soon as the baskets were gathered Jesus told all of us to go ahead and get in the boat and go over to Bethsaida. He told us that He would dismiss the crowd. It was always amazing to me that He knew when we had just about reached the brink of exhaustion and would tell us to go away quietly and rest. As we rowed out in the boat and the crowd dispersed I saw Him walking up the side of the mountain and I knew He was going to where He always seemed to draw His strength from and that was when He talked to God. It was then I realized that it was from Him that I was drawing my strength to continue following Him. It had grown dark and this trip to Bethsaida had grown increasing hard as a very strong wind had come up against us. We were finding fault with each other in the small boat and arguing that some were not rowing as hard as the others. All of a sudden Levi let out a gasp, follow by a cry of terror. All of us turned to see what he was looking at and all of us fell back in terror. I must confess that I screamed, "Where are you Jesus there is a ghost walking by us" and then the ghost spoke and said, "Take heart it is I. Do not be afraid." and there right off of the waves Jesus stepped into the boat and the wind ceased. I think that Jesus was a little disappointed in us that night for we had just seen Him feed five thousand people with a five loaves of bread and two fish yet now were astonished when He came walking to us. Did we not realize that the boat belonged to us but the sea belonged to Him? I think what touched me the most was that He did not need the boat but could have passed us by and went on to shore but got in waited for our poor dull minds and spirits to catch up with Him.
Jesus heals the Sick in Gennesaret (53 - 56)
53 And when they had passed over, they came into the land of Gennesaret, and drew to the shore.
54 And when they were come out of the ship, straightway they knew him,
55 And ran through that whole region round about, and began to carry about in beds those that were sick, where they heard he was.
56 And whithersoeve
r he entered, into villages, or cities, or country, they laid the sick in the streets, and besought him that they might touch if it were but the border of his garment: and as many as touched him were made whole.
What I am about to tell you now shames me and I will tell you why. We had no more moored the boat and as soon as we did the people recognized the one who we did not recognize on the water. That was shameful to me but more than that they began to bring the sick people on their beds. Wherever He was whether it was in the villages, cities, countryside, even in the marketplaces they brought the sick and implored Jesus to just let them touch the hem of His garment and they knew they would be healed. I tell you there were a lot of us who had followed Him and had been with Him from the beginning of this journey who had seen the sick healed, the hungry fed and the sea tamed who did not have the faith that those people did. Jesus said not a word about this to us which I think for me was even more shameful. I think I might have felt better if He would have berated us up one side and down the other for our small faith but He only would say let us go tell others the good news that they too might believe.