The gospel lectionary reading for Trinity 7 in Year B appears to be very odd at first, with a split collection of verses in Mark 6.30–34 and 53–56. I think the logic for this is that we are considering the ‘bread’ of another Markan sandwich, and the ‘filling’ is the paired episodes of the feeding of the 5,000 and Jesus walking on the water. We are about to have a five-week foray into the Fourth Gospel, and will be looking carefully at both these episodes; the feeding of the 5,000 is the only miracle story which occurs in all four gospels, and the walking on the water comes in Matthew and John as well as Mark. Matthew’s version is, unusually, more detailed than Mark’s, including as it does Peter’s symbolically rich stepping out of the boat, and we looked at that in Trinity 9 last year.
The return of the Twelve to Jesus forms the brief inclusio around the episode about John the Baptist; Mark describes their sending out at the beginning of this narrative unit, and their return in triumph provides a sharp contrast to the poignancy of the previous verse, where the Baptist’s disciples bury his headless corpse. This is the only time in Mark’s narrative description where the Twelve are described as ‘apostles’; both here and at the introduction of the term in Mark 3.14, it is linked with their active ministry both commissioned by and parallel to Jesus and his ministry. It helps to point us to what it means to be part of the [one, holy, catholic and] apostolic church.
Mark does not tell us what Jesus was doing whilst the Twelve went about their ‘mission’—but the Fourth Gospel does! John 3.24 tells us that all the events thus far took place before the beginning of Jesus’ public ministry in Mark 1.14; and John 4.44 correlates with the rejection of Jesus at Nazareth that we read about in Mark 6.1–6. We can therefore assume that the healing at the Pool of Bethesda in John 5 (at the time of an unnamed feast, not one of the three Pilgrim festivals) took place during this time. It is then followed, in Mark and the Fourth Gospel, by the feeding of the 5,000 near the time of Passover.
This short scene-setting introduction to the feeding of the 5,000 is unique to Mark. Jesus’ invitation to ‘Come away by yourselves’ to get some rest and refreshment is characteristic of the narrative: in Mark 4.34 Jesus explains the parable of the sower to the disciples; in Mark 9.2 the Three come away to witness the Transfiguration; in Mark 13.3 the disciples ask about the fall of Jerusalem. All are linked by the expression κατ̓ ἰδίαν, ‘by yourselves’ or ‘by themselves’. According to Mark, times of retreat and refreshment both to rest and to listen to the teaching of Jesus are a vital part of the life of a disciple.
This invitation then sits in stark contrast to the realities of ministry (and of life…?); with all the comings and goings, they could not find the time to eat. In contrast to British culture, where eating is largely functional—though more like the culture in other parts of Europe—meals were times for relaxation, reflection and conversation, not just nutrition.
So far, this gospel has emphasised the pressure of the crowds on Jesus, who have come because the message about him has spread far and wide. So have rest for him and his disciples means going to a ‘deserted place’, and this then explains the setting of the feeding of the 5,000 and why the people cannot get bread for themselves. There is here, for once, a problem with Mark’s geography; they do not ‘cross’ the top of the lake on this occasion, and after the feeding Jesus despatched the disciples to ‘cross over’ to Bethsaida (Mark 6.45). But Luke 9.10 tells us that the feeding happened near Bethsaida, and John 6.5 confirms this as he asks Philip, who came from Bethsaida (John 1.44) about buying bread. ‘Mark’s geography cannot easily be harmonised with Luke’s’ (R T France, NIGTC, p 264).
If the boat had been going along the shore (rather than further out), and powered either by oars or by a slack wind, it would not be difficult both to recognise who was in the boat or to outrun it. Josephus estimates that there were around 200 villages in Galilee, and that would give a population for the region of between 200,000 and 700,000, so a ‘great crowd’ which ended up being 5,000 men plus women and children is not difficult to imagine.
There are two vital things to note about Jesus’ response when he sees the crowd. First, despite both he and the disciples being exhausted, they from their mission and he from his ministry in Jerusalem at the same time, his response is not resentment but compassion. The verb σπλαγχνίζομαι is rare in Mark (occurring only here and Mark 8.2 and 9.22) but in the gospels it is only ever used of Jesus.
Combined with the simile of sheep without a shepherd it presents Jesus as ‘the one who cares’ (France, p 265)
The phrase ‘sheep without a shepherd’ signifies people without leadership, or with failed leadership. It is used in Num 27.17 of the people of Israel in anticipation of Moses’ death, and the problem is solved by the appointment of Joshua. It is used in 1 Kings 22.17 of Ahab’s army after his death in battle. Most notably, it is used of the people whose leaders have failed them in Ezek 34.5–6, a key passage behind Jesus’ teaching ‘I am the good shepherd’ in John 10.11. And it is used of of the people’s helplessness when their (messianic) leader is taken away. Scripture might not use the terminology of ‘leadership’ but it certainly believes in the importance of leadership.
And here we see the second vital thing about Jesus’ response: he teaches them. Leaderless people need teaching so that they understand who God is, what he has done for them, and what he wills for them. Without this, they go hungry and aimless. And it is no accident that this immediately precedes the feeding miracle.
Mark sets out Jesus as the shepherd who feeds his people with true teaching; from his supply there is more than enough to feed all their needs (Ernest Best, The Temptation and the Passion, p 78 cited in France NIGTC p 265).
The people cannot live on bread alone, but need every word that comes from the mouth of God, brought to them in the teaching of Jesus. You cannot separate ‘pastoral’ care from teaching the word, which is probably why they are group so closely together by Paul in the four- or five-fold list in Eph 4.11 (‘pastors and teachers’ or ‘pastor-teachers’).
Having skipped over the episodes we will explore in the Fourth Gospel in the coming weeks, we land again at Mark 6.53. Jesus and the disciples have crossed back over the north of the lake from the north-east shore to the north-west. Despite the various in English translations, the general verb means that they landed and secured the boat, either by tying it to a dock or pulling it up on the beach. I wonder whether the sense of security in landing is a natural contrast to the buffeting they have experienced in the journey across. (The parallel in Matthew 14.34 does not include this detail.)
At this point in the narrative, the Fourth Gospel includes Jesus’ challenge to the people and their reason for seeking him in the discourse about the bread of life (John 6.26f). But Matthew follows Mark in summarising Jesus’ ministry of healing, though once again he omits all of Mark’s ‘unnecessary’, incidental (eyewitness?) detail:
- Those who recognised Jesus ran around the region, suggesting a sense of urgency or excitement.
- They brought all the sick lying on their krabbatoi (bed, stretcher, pallet).
- They brought them to every place ‘they heard he was’, continuing the repeated emphasis on the passing around of the news about Jesus.
- The ministry of Jesus took place in ‘villages, cities or the countryside’. Unlike Paul, who usually preached in key urban centres on trade routes, Jesus does not appear to have any worked out ‘missional’ strategy, but scatters the seed of the word on every kind of ground.
- They laid the sick in the market place; this is the natural gathering point in any village or town of the area, and continues to be so in many rural areas around the world today. The healing (and presumably teaching) of Jesus happened in the public square, not merely in the privatised sphere of personal devotion.
The mention of his kraspedon, the fringe of his garment, possibly including the tassels fixed at the corners in accordance with the commandment of Deut 22.12; if so, this would fit with the picture we have throughout the gospels of Jesus as an orthodox, Torah-observant Jew. In narrative terms, it connects back to the mention of the kraspedon in Matthew 9.20 and Luke 8.44 in their accounts of the woman healed with the issue of blood, but it also points forward to the ministries of Peter (Acts 5.15) and Paul (Acts 19.2) who similarly dispensed the healing power of God as they passed by.
And, in contrast to Jesus’ experience in Nazareth, both Mark and Matthew emphasise that his healing is universally effective.
(I trust, dear Reader, that you will be impressed that I managed to find 1,571 words to write about two short, slightly obscure and apparently insignificant passages! Perhaps there is more here than mere crumbs after all…)
The image at the top is from the picture by James Tissot.
Come and join Ian and James as they discuss all these issues:
“ … but it also points forward to the ministries of Peter (Acts 5.15) and Paul (Acts 19.2) who similarly dispensed the healing power of God as they passed by.”
Like Jesus, the Apostles had the gift of healing on demand, but it is not clear to me if the Apostles could lay hands on others that they may receive this healing gift (as it seems they could with prophecy, tongues, and ‘knowledge’), although it seems Ananias had some sort of special gifting (Acts 9:17-18).
Stephen and Philip performed ‘wonders’ and ‘miracles’ which would seem to imply healings—and it might be noted how careful Luke is to point out that it was the Apostles who had laid hands on them, ‘they’ in v.6 (as in Acts 2:1) referring to the Apostles —not any of the wider ‘whole gathering’:
“And what they said pleased the whole gathering, and they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit, and Philip … These they set before the apostles, and ‘they’ [the apostles] prayed and laid their hands on them.” (Acts 6:5-6)
Apologies for an o/t comment here, but evangelicals are often accused of inaction or silence when prominent leaders are accused of abuse. Now a well known figure has been charged with several counts of indecent assault and one of GBH with intent. These are very serious matters and it behooves us to be silent about them. Perhaps the lesson from this is that refraing from comment is the right response when criminal investigations are underway.
Regarding another figure, I have now read what Matt Redman had to say, and it is terrible indeed that such behaviour and very poor pastoral conduct went unchallenged for so long. Where was the famous Anglican oversight that episcopacy is supposed to provide?
It is perhaps unfortunate that the lexicographer
breaks what is a marvelous string of pearls, rich in luster, in this chapter of Mark.
However, he may have been arrested and turned aside by the compassion of Jesus.
Indeed, he may have remembered that Compassion
is a chief element of the very Glory of God and the elections of God.
Moses prayed to see the glory of God [i.e. His essential nature or being]
EX.33 V 18
Then Moses said, “I pray You, show me Your glory!”
Exodus 33:19
And he said, I will make all my goodness pass before thee,
and I will proclaim the name of the LORD before thee;
and will be gracious to whom I will be gracious,
and will shew mercy on whom I will shew mercy.
“Jacob, I have loved but Esau have I hated”
Sinai is the summit of His justice; but Calvary is the scene of His goodness, and therefore of His greater glory.
Not the manifestation of power, nor the manifestation of justice, but the manifestation of goodness, is the most impressive part of glory
Not compassion for the Body only but the eternal compassion for the Soul and Spirit.
God is sovereign in the exercise of his mercy. He dispenses it to whoever he will.
He is free and unconstrained. The sinner cannot claim it as a right. He is not entitled to reckon upon it, save as the free promise of God gives him a warrant to do so. He dare not dictate to God what he shall do. God is sovereign.
“Whom he will he hardened” (Romans 9:18) Paul says.
God’s essential glory is the glory which pertains to his existence. It is compared in Scripture to the white dazzling light – “light which no man can approach unto” (1 Timothy 6:16).
God’s ethical glory is the glory of his character. It was revealed when God proclaimed his “name” to Moses (ver. 19; Exodus 34:5-8).
“The sole barrier to the perception of the glory of God is the limitation of moral capacity in ourselves. It is in ourselves we are straitened.
We lack the purity of heart necessary to give right spiritual discernment.
Our perception of the glory of truth, righteousness, holiness, love, and mercy in God, will be in precise proportion to the degree in which these qualities are formed in our own natures”. – suggests J. Orr.
Perhaps the most famous reference to the hem of the LORD’s garment in the OT is Isaiah’s vision in the temple. ‘The hem of his robe filled the temple’ says the Hebrew. But when the Septuagint translated it into Greek the Jews rendered it ‘the house was full of his glory’. Doesn’t Mark expect us to join the dots? Touching the hem of Jesus’ garment reveals the glory – tells us who Jesus really is (which is the burden of Mark’s gospel). The enigmatic word to Isaiah about hardening of heart (quoted in all the gospels) ends with God’s expression of yearning to bring healing. (Isaiah 6.10)
A preacher at our church recently took passages like these (what the disciples did in terms of healing people) with John 14:12 to say that any and all Christians should be healing the sick as Jesus did and as the disciples did. I don’t see that in Acts….but maybe there’s more to learn and do in regards healings here than being compassionate?
but Paul makes clear that people have different giftings, so it doesnt make sense that all would have a healing gift.
I think he had two points regarding that, broadly these
1) John 14:12 says anyone who believes in me will do the things I do – plus greater things. That this is ‘out there on mission’
2) The gifts – say the 1 Cor 12 list are about when Christians gather, not when they are doing (1)
More generally, that when it comes to it – miracles of healings are not actually seen much these days, just sometimes.
Dave – the greatest work of all is getting people saved. If one looks at the number of believers at the time of the ascension and the number of believers there have been since then, it is clear that John 14:12 has been fulfilled – without any reference at all to miraculous healing.
Dear Jock, I agree with that in part. For example the thousands becoming Christians in Acts was more than Jesus did.
But, John 14:12 says “ANYONE who believes in me Will do what I’ve been doing” too. We can’t hide from that part of the verse.
So, Jesus (the preacher at our church said) is saying “anyone will do works of healing – and – greater than I’ve done”
My concerns are
1) I don’t see what the preacher said is actually true in Acts. A small number of people see folk healed – more are prophetic though.
2) We don’t actually see many healings despite, I think, the 1 Cor 12 and other passages as being valid today.
The Mark passage and others are often used as a model of ministry for today for healing (I can’t see that myself) and taking good times to rest (which I do see)
Dear Ian & James, as always many thanks for your insights. I would like to pick up on the healings that are taking place in the Market places and expand on this theme as I will in my sermon this coming Sunday.
The Market places represented spaces in which legal hearings, elections and debates occurred – in addition to the buying and selling of goods. Thus the marketplaces were the political and commercial centres of the city or town. By Jesus healing those brought to him in these spaces, he is subverting the economy of this world through the inauguration of God’s Kingdom economy – with the first being last, and the last being first. Though the marketplaces belong to the rich and powerful, Jesus is upending this system through his acts of healing and compassion, and reminds everyone of Torah requirements and that the day of the Lord is a day filled with both judgement and Grace.
Doing justice, being honest in your business affairs and tending to the needs of everyday folk, with the sheltering of the homeless, the feeding of the hungry, the clothing of the naked, the welcoming of the stranger, and showing justice and mercy – these are the needs and cares of a society that has as its foundation Torah based commands that call for all to minister and feel deeply in our inner most being, in our guts, as Jesus did AND then to respond to those needs.
Food for thought, Karen in Montreal
Karen, thanks for this. So much to note from a passing detail in Mark which is not found elsewhere! This is Jesus ministry in the public square in every sense of that term.
The Miracles and/ or the Message?
Every day is a day of the miraculous;
“His mercies are new every morning”.
“He daily loads us with benefits”.
There is a river flowing from the Throne,
through the Sanctuary
Making glad the city of God.
The kingdom of God is a kingdom of Healing[s]
Karl Beth in a magnificent piece
“What Jesus Says of the Meaning of his Miracles”;
Summarizes the Miracle of Miracles in the Apostle Paul’s life thus: –
“Paul. traversed the world with the message of Jesus, the Miraculous One, who works in the souls of men the miracle of miracles.
But nowhere in his epistles does he refer in proof of it to a single miraculous deed of the Lord, just as he never mentions any of the miracles performed by himself as recorded in the Acts of the Apostles, although he had occasion for doing so.
The only historical miracle to which his preaching refers is the resurrection of Jesus from the dead; but this event stands for him in the center of his entire view of life.
Beyond this, miraculous events have evidently no significance for his view of the world, or for his religious experience.
He knows that in all his labors he is directly under the miraculous guidance of Almighty God, and that he receives from the Lord Christ spiritual power which is made perfect in weakness.
He lives with the conviction that Jesus is the Messiah sent of God; that from the place of his heavenly exaltation he establishes, increases, preserves the holy congregations on earth.
He believes in that miracle which is presented to the world in Jesus and his preaching, his death and his resurrection.
In his missionary labors he is entirely removed from directing attention to the miraculous acts of the Lord”.
//biblehub.com/library/beth/the_miracles_of_jesus/ii_what_jesus_says_of.htm
Paul’s whole experience is predicated on “the Fellowship of Christ’s Suffering And the constant, Power of His Resurrection.
It is for him the Normal Christian life.
It is a glad life.