Chapter # 6 Paragraph # 4 Study # 2
December 7, 2021
Moss Bluff, Louisiana
(266)
1901 ASV
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 Intriguing Reference To A Vacation That Wasn't A Vacation.
- A. A casual reading of this text/context seems to say that Jesus called the apostles to come apart for a 'rest', but they never got it (because of the metaphor of the "desert place" as it affects both the disciples and the massive, demanding, thoughtless crowd).
- 1. This is even more significant by use of the present tense verb ("He is saying") in historical narrative (always putting a focus upon the action of the verb because historical narrative inherently deals with past time).
- 2. The New Testament concept of "rest" is a cessation of labor (Matthew 11:28; Luke 12:19; Revelation 14:13; etc.).
- a. The reason Mark gave for Jesus' invitation to "rest" was that "many" were coming and going to the point that the disciples did not have time to eat (Mark 3:20 first raises this issue of so many people that the disciples could not even find time to eat and the focus is upon the extreme popularity of Jesus, an issue to which the family took exception).
- b. The invitation was "unto a deserted place" (i.e., uninhabited as 6:35 indicates) where there were few, if any, people to disturb them with their many "requests".
- 1) The word translated "secluded" by the NASB (eremos) has already been used by Mark in six texts, all of which are in chapter one (1:3, 4, 12, 13, 35 and 45).
- 2) A consideration of these six uses reveals that Mark's "significance" for the word is two fold.
- a) The word, itself, means "a place absent some feature/features that characterize other places" (if the absent feature is water, the meaning is a desert, but if the absent feature is people, the meaning is "an uninhabited-by-people region/place").
- b) When Mark used the word the first four times, it carried the meaning given in the prophecy of Isaiah 40:1-3: a region wherein the 'absent feature' was characterized as 'order'; the idea is of chaotic terrain -- hills, mountains, valleys, gullies, dangerous animals and reptiles. Mark's/Isaiah's "point" was that John was to carry on his ministry in a region where people would be forced to see a parallel between the dangerous chaos of the terrain and the dangerous chaos of their own inner lives. "Repentance" preached in this kind of setting was a call to the people to turn to God for the solutions to the problems their inner chaos creates.
- c) When Mark used the word the fifth and sixth times, the issue (though not dismissing the meaning, "destructive chaos") was primarily "absent of people" as primary instruments of distraction. Jesus went out into this eremos in order to pray (1:35) without having to deal with the distraction of people always pinging on Him for "solutions to their chaos". Similarly, the use in 1:45 indicates a region that is normally uninhabited and allows for the assembly of many people without the constraints of a "house" in a town, city, or village.
- c. The strong implication, originally indicated in 3:20, was that the disciples were "worn to a frazzle" by their works and teaching as apostles of Jesus because of His popularity (6:31).
- d. The New Testament indicates "rest" is not just a physical thing.
- 1) There were those whom Paul described as having "refreshed my spirit" in 1 Corinthians 16:18 and 2 Corinthians 7:13.
- 2) There were those whose "bowels are refreshed" by Philemon (1:7 and 20).
- 3) Jesus promised "rest for your souls" in Matthew 11:29.
- 3. They drew apart to a deserted area [Note 2b above].
- 4. But a massive crowd "outwent" them. The size of this crowd was "5,000 men" (6:44 and 8:19). The use of andres indicates only "males", indicating a significant number of "others" (women and children). John's declaration that those "men" intended to attempt to make Jesus "king" is a likely reason for the number of "men" (John 6:15).
- 5. And, before one day was over, Jesus told the disciples to "feed that massive crowd" (6:37).
- 6. And, it is not like Jesus couldn't "send the crowd away" (6:36 and 45).
- B. This calls for a pause to consider why this is in Mark's Gospel.
- 1. The primary reason that the disciples got no 'rest' is identified: the "compassion" of Jesus.
- a. Mark used this term, translated "compassion", four times in his record: 1:41 regarding the plight of the leper; 6:34 (our current text with 5,000); 8:2 regarding the 4,000 that He fed; and 9:22 in the mouth of a man whose son was demon possessed and his request for "compassion".
- 1) The word itself comes from the Greek word for the inward parts of the body that are affected when some form of tragedy is either present or imminent.
- 2) There are 11 uses in the New Testament and they refer either to the inward parts of the body or as a metaphor for the emotional reaction of being a witness to tragedy. Perhaps the most significant of these uses is the reference in Acts 1:18 regarding the spilling of the guts of Iscariot as a type of metaphor used by Luke (as a physician) to refer to his heinous betrayal of Jesus (as a lack of compassion) and to his "loss" of the very ability to feel such compassion at the end. Even his declaration to those whose bribe he took was all about himself.
- b. Interestingly, this "compassion" was not directed toward The Twelve.
- c. The "need" for "rest" was sacrificed for a far greater "need". Shades of John 9:4; "I must work the works of Him that sent Me while it is day: the night cometh, when no man can work".
- d. "Bowels of mercy" are encouraged from "the elect of God" (Colossians 3:12) as a direct indication that we should not use "well, they deserved that" as a hindrance to showing compassion (Note Deuteronomy 15:4 compared with 15:7-11 -- especially verse 11).
- 2. Another interesting fact: the next, and only other, use by Mark of this word, "rest", is in 14:41 where the disciples are 'resting' instead of praying, and it is destructive to their spiritual health.
- a. There is a time for "resting".
- b. But that time may not be "now".