This week's readings are all from Mark chapter 6. Click here to see a full reading and a list of each day's readings. Each day's segments of the readings will be posted on this site during the week.
Today's Reading:
Immediately Jesus made his disciples get into the boat and go on ahead to the other side, to Bethsaida, while he dispersed the crowd. After saying goodbye to them, he went to the mountain to pray. When evening came, the boat was in the middle of the sea and he was alone on the land. He saw them straining at the oars, because the wind was against them. As the night was ending, he came to them walking on the sea, for he wanted to pass by them. When they saw him walking on the water they thought he was a ghost. They cried out, for they all saw him and were terrified. But immediately he spoke to them: “Have courage! It is I. Do not be afraid.” Then he went up with them into the boat, and the wind ceased. They were completely astonished, because they did not understand about the loaves, but their hearts were hardened.
After they had crossed over, they came to land at Gennesaret and anchored there. As they got out of the boat, people immediately recognized Jesus. They ran through that whole region and began to bring the sick on mats to wherever he was rumored to be. And wherever he would go—into villages, towns, or countryside—they would place the sick in the marketplaces, and would ask him if they could just touch the edge of his cloak, and all who touched it were healed. (Mark 6.45–56 NET)
The previous translation is from the NET Bible translation. Scripture quoted by permission. Quotations designated (NET) are from the NET Bible® copyright ©1996, 2019 by Biblical Studies Press, L.L.C. All rights reserved.
Parallel Passages:
What do you think they didn't understand about the loaves??? That it was a miracle? That it was a physical/actual example of God's provision?
Just wondering a bit why Mark says their lack of understanding about the loaves is the reason they were astonished.
Catching up on last weeks comments…Travis, for me if you read on in the verse , Mark mentions that their hearts were hardened….my thought is that although they had been with Jesus for awhile…had seen miracles…had even gone out and performed miracles as commissioned by Jesus…that the process of becoming a “fully devoted follower” takes time to fully know and fully accept Jesus as The Son of God…each time they witnessed something new that Jesus did, they had to accept it and add it to their belief of who Jesus is…Lord knows I am learning and experiencing new things everyday that result in me deepening my understanding as to who Jesus is 🤔🤔🤪🤗👍🐮
@okiebull13 It would be difficult to accept and understand who Jesus fully was/is.
@okiebull13 Sure sure! I also noticed that part... so I guess I'm wondering what their hearts were hardened to regarding the experience with the loaves.
What do you think they were thinking about while they were picking up the 12 baskets (one for each, like @mallary-malwick had said, I think!)? I'm assuming, since it says they didn't understand and their hearts were hardened, they weren't really that amazed or caught the meaning of what Jesus had done.
Just wanting to know what others think about from that part! 🙃
@travisbruno3 & @okiebull13 The teaching from Matthew below isn't found in Mark, but I wonder if this is part of what the disciples were supposed to understand:
“... I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink, or about your body, what you will wear. Isn’t there more to life than food and more to the body than clothing? Look at the birds in the sky: They do not sow, or reap, or gather into barns, yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Aren’t you more valuable than they are? And which of you by worrying can add even one hour to his life? Why do you worry about clothing? Think about how the flowers of the field grow; they do not work or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his glory was clothed like one of these! And if this is how God clothes the wild grass, which is here today and tomorrow is tossed into the fire to heat the oven, won’t he clothe you even more, you people of little faith? So then, don’t worry saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear?’ For the unconverted pursue these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But above all pursue his kingdom and righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. So then, do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Today has enough trouble of its own.
(Matthew 6.25–34 NET)
@8ill8ook Bill we had a kink in our system and your comment today was made on the Thursday post. I'm copying it here:
Getting to feel like I’m seeing more in this reading than ever before. But tv sure have a lot of questions. I see the literary connection of God passing by and Jesus passing by, but it seemed to me that His intention was to no engage with them at this time. “Immediately “ was a keyword for me in this passage. Especially His comforting them. Interesting to note the sea calmed without Jesus commanding it. Finally, the switch from the sea encounter and their not understanding about the loaves.
If I'm reading Mark correctly, only Jesus walks on water in his gospel, not Peter. So, is this the same walking on water incident? It doesn't read as though it is. 🤷
Second thought, when I have read "for he wanted to pass by them" the last couple of times, I envisioned Jesus having some fun with it -- like He's racing them to the shore, having given them a head start. 😅 But maybe it's more literary, as Bill pointed out.
@shelley-johnson Shelley, I like your idea, Jesus having fun with them. Pastor Nick Harris, the best Bible teacher I ever sat under, often reminded us that Jesus had a sense of humor. Now I can see Him laughing to Himself as He tried to sneak by them.
I think that Mark is brilliant on a literary level. He pulls many things from OT passages, often without even calling them to attention. He's perhaps assuming his audience knows those inferences (kind of like when my son watches Marvel movies and knows the backstories so well he catches everything the rest of us miss), or maybe he simply is doing it as he crafts the story. It happens so frequently that some scholars have felt like Mark was creating narrative from OT passages.
The "passing by" which corresponds to "passing by" passages related to God in the OT, Jesus saying "It is I" is literally "I am" (Greek "Ego eimi", which in John seems to be used as a clear connection to divinity claims), Jesus' control of water, etc, seems intentional that Mark is making those connections.
Of course, this does not exclude also the possibility that Jesus was having some fun (as God sometimes did in the OT) with his followers. 😉
@shelley-johnson Peter walking on the water is not mentioned in Mark or John, and fascinatingly Luke leaves out this story completely. This is one of those rare stories that John shares with the synoptic Gospels, and the lack of the story is part of what scholars call the "great omission" in Luke, where a section of Marcan stories are missing from Luke's Gospel (Luke includes nothing but one saying from Mark 6.47-8.27).
The version in Matthew is the parallel to this story, and it is the same one except that Matthew adds the story of Peter. That it is the same story is clear from the vocabulary and surrounding context of the the story (the rest of Matthew 14 parallels Mark 6).
Here is a comparison of the stories in Mark, Matthew, and John.
@shelley-johnson The missing stories in Luke that are found in Mark begin with this story of the walking on water and go through the healing of the blind man at Bethsaida. Here is the list of stories/passages missing in Luke's "Great Omission":
- Jesus walks on the water
- Jesus in the region of Gennesaret, where even those who touched him were made whole
- Pharisees argue 'clean and unclean'
- the faith of the Syro-Phoenician woman who sought to have her daughter healed
- the trip through Sidon and the Decapolis
- the healing of the deaf and mute man
- Jesus feeds the four thousand
- the yeast of the Pharisees and Herod
- the healing of a blind man at Bethsaida
I thought it might be helpful to see these stories rather than just the verse references. 😉
There are several fascinating things about these omissions, but one major one is that Luke, above all the other Gospels, is more interested in Gentiles (this is especially true when Acts is considered). So it is strange that the passages from Tyre and Sidon, the Decapolis, the deaf mute man who was probably Gentile, etc., were left out of Luke. Some have proposed the theory that Luke had a copy of Mark that was missing or had lost this section, since it is a whole block that is missing.
@shelley-johnson @travisbruno3 It is fascinating to read the parallels side by side, and see visually how they are used/moved, and what is included and left out among the four (mostly the synoptics). John, of course, is it's own story. lol
This is a very detailed (and large) chart of how the four gospels compare in their stories. Note how much of Mark is included in Matthew and Luke. Click on the image to enlarge it. There is a PDF below that may be better quality for reading.
@jimmy this is amazing! Thanks so much for sharing!!
Does someone sell a poster of this? Regular paper isn't big enough 😅😅
@shelley-johnson lol. Not that I know of. I think I got this originally (back before I came back to NewCov in 2009) on Mark Goodacre's NT Gateway site. I printed a copy at NewCov on mutliple 11x17s and taped them together. I have it somewhere. I would love a large poster of it. (And it would have to be large!) It's fascinating to see it visually laid out side by side and then read the passages. It shows how each Gospel author was crafting and using material to achieve their literary goals and themes as they told the story of Jesus. In my mind they were like ancient versions of movie-writers/directors who have to shape the narrative they are telling, not in a dishonest way but in a way that honestly captures their image of Jesus, even if it means moving parts around, summarizing larger episode, etc. It is also fascinating to see what each Gospel author includes, leaves out, modifies, etc. from what was likely originally written in Mark in the triple-shared material. Matthew and Luke tend to soften Mark's content, for example, and clean up his grammar.
Matthew and Luke also tend to minimize elements that might create questions for readers about Jesus. For example, in the passage about Jesus in Nazareth, Mark has "he was not able to do many miracles" (Mark 6.5). In the parallel in Matthew it is that "he did not do many miracles" (Matt. 13.58). A subtle but important change. Matthew doesn't leave room for wondering if it was a weakness on Jesus' part.
Maybe we can get @travisbruno3 to tell us how to have one printed. 😉
@jimmy Back at UCO, we had a large format printer that could print on a 4’ wide roll! Is that big enough???
I can check with some of my current contacts… 😜