Chapter # 6 Paragraph # 4 Study # 1
November 30, 2021
Moss Bluff, Louisiana
(264)
1901 ASV
6:30 And the apostles gather themselves together unto Jesus; and they told him all things, whatsoever they had done, and whatsoever they had taught.
6:31 And he saith 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.
6:32 And they went away in the boat to a desert place apart.
6:33 And [the people] saw them going, and many knew [them], and they ran together there on foot from all the cities, and outwent them.
6:34 And he came forth and saw a great multitude, and he had compassion on them, because they were as sheep not having a shepherd: and he began to teach them many things.
6:35 And when the day was now far spent, his disciples came unto him, and said, The place is desert, and the day is now far spent;
6:36 send them away, that they may go into the country and villages round about, and buy themselves somewhat to eat.
6:37 But he answered and said unto them, Give ye them to eat. And they say unto him, Shall we go and buy two hundred shillings' worth of bread, and give them to eat?
6:38 And he saith unto them, How many loaves have ye? go [and] see. And when they knew, they say, Five, and two fishes.
6:39 And he commanded them that all should sit down by companies upon the green grass.
6:40 And they sat down in ranks, by hundreds, and by fifties.
6:41 And he took the five loaves and the two fishes, and looking up to heaven, he blessed, and brake the loaves; and he gave to the disciples to set before them; and the two fishes divided he among them all.
6:42 And they all ate, and were filled.
6:43 And they took up broken pieces, twelve basketfuls, and also of the fishes.
6:44 And they that ate the loaves were five thousand men.
- I. Mark's Shift To The Impact Of Jesus' Commissioning Of "The Apostles".
- A. Like his reference to "Herod" in 8:15 which pointed directly back to the record of 6:14-29 there is a reference in 8:19 (same paragraph with 8:15) that points directly back to this record in 6:30-44. This cannot help but be an insistence that "the leaven of Herod" is tied directly to the feeding of the 5,000.
- B. This shift coincides with an inescapable link between 6:6b-13 where Jesus "sent them out". Mark treats the "Herod narrative" as he did the "woman with the issue of blood" -- sticking it into the record between the parts of Jesus' commission narrative (sending them forth and then recording their return/reports). This means that the "issues" involved are absolutely tied together so that if we "see" the significance of the "ties" we will not be like the blind man of 8:22-26. (whose blindness was a metaphor of the blindness of The Twelve).
- C. At issue: the identity of Jesus and the grasp of that identity by The Twelve.
- 1. The issue is the identity of Jesus. Immediately after the healing of the blind man in two stages (as a metaphor of the blindness of The Twelve according to Mark's literary design) Jesus raises this issue: "Who" am I? (8:27).
- 2. Herod got it "wrong" for one reason: he valued the glory of men above all other considerations and became the poster child for Jesus' declaration in John 5:44. It is impossible to "get it right" if the goal in life is "wrong".
- a. The point of this record is that "becoming aware of Jesus' true identity" is impossible when the heart is corrupted so much that it has come to value the status of being "God" above all else. Jesus said this pointedly in John 5:44, and Mark reveals it clearly in his record of Herod's murder of John.
- b. This fact has strong implications regarding the "profession of faith in Jesus": one must have a legitimate perspective of Jesus to believe in Him. The Twelve were able to go forth as "apostles of Jesus" without this "legitimate perspective", but only as a temporary part of the process of developing it.
- 3. The feeding of the five thousand is the "next thing on Jesus' agenda" for The Twelve.
- a. It begins with "the report of The Twelve whom Mark called "apostles" (apostoloi) in this text alone in his entire record (though the word is used in 78 verses of the New Testament).
- 1) This emphasizes the significance of 3:14 as a statement of Jesus' intention to "send them (apostello) out to preach and...
- 2) In Mark's record the apostoloi were "authoritative" (with power to cast out demons) "messengers" (with a clear grip upon some of the truths of the Gospel, most notably John's/Jesus' "repent unto forgiveness").
- a) The "apostoloi" reported to Jesus "all things whatsoever they did".
- b) They also reported to Jesus "all things whatsoever they taught".
- 3) Mark says "they are being brought together" (Present Passive Indicative), or "they are gathering themselves (Present Middle Indicative) "to the Jesus".
- 4) He also says "they reported" (Aorist Active Indicative) to Him.
- b. Then it immediately includes Jesus telling them to take a brief "rest-cation" which the record goes on to say they never got.
- II. Mark's "At Issue" Point In His Transition Back To The Twelve And Jesus.
- A. The Twelve are identified by the word "apostles" only here in Mark's Gospel.
- 1. The verb " apostellw " is found in Mark's Gospel in twenty texts, but the vast majority of those verses are not about the identity of The Twelve.
- 2. This makes it clear that the first "at issue" item is the "apostleship" of The Twelve (without any qualifiers regarding Iscariot). It is important to keep the timing of Mark's written record in mind because he wrote regarding things as they were in his record and its time and he wrote in a setting much later than the events of which he wrote. The point is this: when Mark wrote of "The Apostles" in his record, he did not have the same concept of "apostleship" that had developed after the time of his record and the time of his recording it.
- B. These "apostles" gave reports regarding their "doings" and "teachings".
- 1. The verb that the NASB translates "reported" is only used by Mark in three texts; our current text (6:30) being the last.
- a. His first use is in 5:14 and it tells us what the swine herders did after the pigs all died in the sea -- "they reported" the event in the city and in the country.
- b. His second use is in 6:19 and it tells us that Jesus told the demoniac, whose deliverance resulted in the death of "about two thousand" pigs, to "report" to his home and people what "the Lord" has done for you in mercy.
- c. The general idea of this word seems to be "to give a somewhat detailed account" of the subject matter of the "report".
- 2. These "detailed reports" covered two topics.
- a. Whatsoever things they "did" -- healings and exorcisms (6:13).
- b. Whatsoever things they "taught" -- specific concepts that they proclaimed to the people.
- 1) This is an unspecified verb in terms of actual content.
- 2) But, we can put a likely boundary around it.
- a) The disciples themselves were yet "blind" (6:52 and 8:17-21 compared with 8:22-26) in regard to a settled understanding of the identity of Jesus; thus, they could not have "proclaimed" that.
- b) The disciples had the concept of "repentance unto forgiveness" fixed in their minds by the focus Mark placed on that dogma from the beginning.
Introduction | | | |
6:14-29 | Leaven of Herod | 7:1-23 | leaven of Pharisees |
6:30-44 | Feeding of 5,000 | 7:24-30 | power story |
6:45-52 | "astonished" | 7:31-37 | "astonished" |
6:53-56 | power story | 8:1-9 | Feeding of 4,000 |