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| Chapter 6 |
| Bible Text | Notes and Thoughts |
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1 ¶ And He went out from thence and came into His own country, and His disciples followed Him. 2 And when the Sabbath day had 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 Judas 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, save in his own country, and among his own kin, and in his own house." 5 And He could do no mighty works there, except 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. 7 ¶ And He called unto Him the twelve, and began to send them forth two by 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 wallet, no bread, and no money in their purse, 9 but be shod with sandals, and not put on two coats. 10 And He said unto them, "In whatever place ye enter into a house, there abide until 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 as 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 who were sick, and healed them. 14 ¶ And King Herod heard of Him, for His name was spread abroad. And he said, "John the Baptist has risen from the dead, and therefore these mighty works show forth themselves in him." 15 Others said, "It is Elijah," and others said, "It is a prophet, or like one of the prophets." 16 But when Herod heard of it, 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 had bound him in prison for the sake of Herodias, 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 an inward grudge against him and would have killed him, but she could not; 20 for Herod feared John, knowing that he was a just man and holy, and kept him safe. And when he heard him, he did many things, and heard him gladly. 21 And when a convenient day had come, when Herod on his birthday gave a supper for his Lords, high officers, and chief officials of Galilee, 22 and when the daughter of the said Herodias came in and danced, and pleased Herod and those who sat with him, the king said unto the damsel, "Ask of me whatsoever thou wilt, and I will give it to thee." 23 And he swore unto her, "Whatsoever thou shalt ask of me, I will give it to thee, unto the half of my kingdom." 24 And she went forth and said unto her mother, "What shall I ask?" And Herodias said, "The head of John the Baptist." 25 And she came back straightway with haste unto the king and asked, saying, "I will that thou give me at once on a charger the head of John the Baptist." 26 And the king was exceedingly sorry, yet for his oath’s sake and for their sakes who sat with him, he would not reject her. 27 And immediately the king sent an executioner and commanded John’s head to be brought. And he went and beheaded him in prison, 28 and brought his head on a charger and gave it to the damsel; and the damsel gave it to her mother. 29 And when John’s disciples heard of it, they came and took up his corpse and laid it in a tomb. 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, even so much as to eat. 32 And they departed into a desert place by boat privately. 33 And the people saw them departing, and many recognized Him and ran thither on foot out of all the cities and outdistanced them, and came together unto Him. 34 And Jesus, when He came out, saw many 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 day is far spent. 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 said to 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 said, "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 He divided the two fishes among them all. 42 And they all ate and were filled. 43 And they took up twelve baskets full of the fragments and of the fishes. 44 And those who ate of the loaves were about five thousand men. 45 ¶ And straightway He constrained His disciples to get into the boat, and go to the other side before Him unto Bethsaida, while He sent away the people. 46 And when He had sent them away, He departed onto a mountain to pray. 47 And when evening had come, the boat was in the midst of the sea; and He was 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 came 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 was 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 and into the boat, and the wind ceased. And they were sore amazed within themselves beyond measure and wondered, 52 for they had considered not the miracle of the loaves, as their hearts were hardened. 53 And when they had crossed over, they came into the land of Gennesaret, and drew to the shore. 54 And when they had come out of the boat, straightway the people recognized Him, 55 and ran through that whole region round about, and began to carry on beds those who were sick to where they heard He was. 56 And whithersoever He entered, into villages or cities or the country, they laid the sick in the streets, and besought Him that they might touch even the border of His garment. And as many as touched Him were made whole. |
Jesus now returns to His home town Nazareth. The previous year He had been rejected by these people Luke 4:16-30. It is a sign of His love that He was willing to give these people another chance to accept Him. v3,4 But, all they could see was "the carpenter, the son of Mary," v3. The town had received stories and information of His miracles and teaching in other area’s but they still could not accept Him. He reminds them of what He had said at His previous visit. "A Prophet will not be accepted by His own people" Luke 4:24; John 4:44. v2 They could not understand how this man could do "such mighty works," why did His brothers not have similar abilities? Because of their unbelief He was only able to heal a few people and no "mighty works" were done. The people who called Him "the son of Mary" were actually being very insulting as it was usual to identify a son by his father, not the mother. v3,6 "They were offended at Him.," they were unable to explain Him, so therefore rejected Him. Rom 9:31-33; 1 Peter 2:6-10. Jesus therefore does not remain in Nazareth but visits the towns in the area. v7-13 The disciples sent out. Matt 10:1-42; Luke 9:1-6. When Jesus chose and called the disciples His plan was to teach and train them to assist Him and then after His crucifixion to take His place and spread the Good News to the world. As part of this training He sends them out in pairs, before He sent them out He confirmed that they had power over demons. He also gave them special instructions on what to take with them, no extra luggage. They were to go in faith, not begging for food or money. He also gave instruction on what to do if they were welcomed or opposed, friends or enemies. They were not to pick and chose their source of food or place to sleep. If a town or village refused to receive them then they had His permission to call God’s judgement upon them. It was a custom of the Jew’s to shake off the dust from their shoes and feet whenever they left a Gentile town, but for them to do it to fellow Jews would be unusual. Luke 10:10-14; Acts 13:51. Why in two’s? The Law required two witnesses as proof. Deuteronomy 17:6; Deuteronomy 19:15; 2 Cor 13:1. v14-29 Herod is troubled Matt 14:1-14; Luke 9:7-9. King Herod was hearing reports of this man Jesus and it was causing him heart searching. Mark called him "king" but he was only a "Tetrarch," the Romans had divided the nation up into four areas, Herod was ruler of a fourth part of the Jewish nation. Herod Antipas had married the daughter of King Aretas IV and then divorced her so that he could marry Herodias, the wife of his half brother, Herod Philip. This was against the Law of Moses Lev 18:16; Lev 20:21. v14-16 Herod thinks that Jesus is John the Baptist come back to haunt him. Mark now goes back in time to record why Herod was so worried. John the Baptist had told Herod that his marriage was wrong, Herod was afraid of John, had listened to him preach and given him some protection. His wife Herodias hated John and planned his death. The time comes in v21, it is the birthday of Herod and during the party his daughter came and danced for him, a Jew would not have allowed a woman to dance in front of a group of men, most Gentile mothers would not be happy for it to happen either. This pleased Herod and he said she could ask for anything she wanted, what a stupid promise. She asked for the head of John the Baptist. v26 Herod could not refuse to keep his promise, or he would lose face before all his friends. John was beheaded, an innocent man died because of the wrong life, adultery, of Herod and to please his wife. v30-32 Jesus takes His disciple to rest after their time of spreading the message, they tell Him of what had happened. He needed to prepare them for the future events and heads for Bethsaida, a desert place. Luke 9:10. v33 But the people saw Jesus and the disciples leave in a boat and came looking for them, they would not leave Him alone. v34 Jesus, does not reject them, even though He has had to change His plans. He is full of love and grace for them, He knows they need teaching and instruction as they are like "lost sheep." v35-44 Feeding the 5000 Matt 14:14-21; Luke 9:11-17; John 6:5-14. The disciples wanted the people to go home or to the local villages for food, to them the needs of the crowd was not their problem. Jesus saw "sheep without a shepherd." v37 Jesus puts the responsibility onto the disciples, "You give them food to eat.." "How can we raise so much money?." ‘Two hundred pennyworth’ would be about a year’s wages for the average person. Jesus wants the disciple to trust the power of God, to glorify His Name. Andrew finds a boy with five loaves and two fish, the boys personal meal. The boy could have refused to share his food, but he did not and Jesus shows what God can do with just a small act of giving. Jesus takes the food, blessed it, and gives it to the disciples to give to the people. Jesus did the miracle, the disciples were used to take the result to the people. The number of 5000, (five thousand) was only the men, it was normal to only count the men so this number did not include any women and children. v43 They collected more unwanted food than they started with. This miracle was unusual as Jesus did it to supply an human need, but it still revealed Himself to the people. But all they saw was a free source of food. John 6:14,15. v45 Jesus reads the minds of the people and sends His disciples off in the boat, sends the people home and departs himself for a time of prayer. At this time the disciples would have been open to the crowd making Jesus "king," that was not what was planned for Jesus so he had to send them away quickly. v45-52 Jesus walks on water Matt 14:23-32; John 6:15-21. This passage has a number of miracles, Jesus and Peter walking on water, the immediate end of the storm. 46 Note Jesus sent the disciples to make the journey across the sea, the disciples had just been out preaching and healing people, seen 5000 people fed miraculously, now He was sending them into another time of testing and instruction. For this test they were on their own while He prayed and waited on the mountain. v47 Jesus comes down onto the beach about 6:00 pm, He can see the disciples in the distance in their boat, the wind was against them as they tried to row across the sea. "About the fourth watch of the night," sometime between 3:00 a.m. and 6:00 a.m., having waited until the disciples could do nothing, Jesus sets out across the sea, walking on the water. When the disciples see Him they thought He was a ghost and were very frightened. Why did He act as if He would pass them by? Because He wanted them to recognize Him, trust Him and invite Him to the boat. v50 However, it was not until He spoke to them that they appear to recognize Him. Mark does not mention that Peter walked on water at this point Matt 14:28-32. Perhaps Peter preferred to forget his failure. v51-52 Jesus enters into the boat, immediately the wind ceased. The disciples had failed their test, obviously the miracle of the feeding 5000 had meant nothing to them, even with the twelve baskets of food left over probably still in the bottom of the boat. v53-56 We end on a successful note, when they arrive at Gennesaret Jesus is recognized and many sick were brought to Him for healing. A sign of great faith as some felt that just to touch His clothes would heal them. |
Easy English Translation
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