Mark 6

Only have 20 minutes before I have to catch my bus!

vs 1

More travel, always on the move, Jesus was.

vs 2

Because all of that stuff - his teaching, authority, miracles - are all pretty awesome in and of themselves. It's also cool that Jesus would visit synagogues and teach there. He's not a rebel - he worked within the system too. Synagogues, then, are a human construction that God seemed to be happy with at the time.

vs 3

Unfortunately, it's harder to accept something awesome from someone when you've seen them as a child. That's just life. This is nothing new for Jesus. If you're a king, but not born in a castle, it's a hard life.

vs 4

He says it a little differently in John, but the principle is the same. That sort of closeness of relationship is a negative the more official recognition of position.

vs 5

Could not sounds so constraining. But here is a fantastic thing that we see in this verse - miracles are not there for those who lack faith. If the argument is, "People don't believe, quick, do some miracles!" you will see that's not Jesus' ministry at all. These people lack faith, and so he does hardly any miracles.

vs 6

And so are we, who would have given our right foot to be there and meet Jesus. Funny how things work. To us he's messiah and God, to them he's the carpenter's son.

More travelling.

vs 7

Just the twelve, but it's a good start. You see he doesn't send them out alone, but in pairs. I think that's important. Got someone to watch your back.

vs 8

This verse is probably the one that we can most pin "faith" ministries on - the idea that you go out with nothing, and God will provide you with whatever you need. And you know what? That's absolutely true. But the problem is that some people go out in "faith", and then when the money/stuff/whatever does not come to keep them there, they get stubborn, and stay anyway, saying, "Must faith harder," which in effect means bugging people at home to send them money. Honestly, some people are not meant to be out there, I reckon. Jesus was right there, and sent them out, pointed them in the direction. Obviously it's a little bit different now, where Jesus isn't standing there with an arrow.

This is obviously different to when people find themselves in a situation not of their making - like the Christians in the diaspora. They just hit the ground where they were shoved to, and started doing Christiany stuff.

vs 9

Take everything you need, and nothing more, I guess is the lesson here.

vs 10

So the first house that accepts them, they stay in. They don't house-hop. What a different culture we have.

vs 11

Jesus has it all worked out. Their ministry is going to be simple, but still profound.

vs 12

Their job was to preach to people about repentance. Repentance meant something to these people. They'd heard this message before both historio-culturally (exile) and recently and popularly (John the Baptist). It doesn't work quite as well if people aren't ready for it.

vs 13

These things also work better when Jesus is around, but that doesn't mean they don't work at all. Just that it would seem that, even in the olden days, miracles were rare and special, except when something super killer awesome was happening, like Jesus.

That's all the time I've got, folks. More Mark 6 later!

vs 14

You've got to admit, it would be pretty freaky to think someone you had beheaded has come back to life more powerful than you can possibly imagine.

vs 15

This is not really much more comforting, although perhaps less believable due to the time difference. What I mean by that is it's more likely to be not accepted simply because more people would think, "Magical figure, John the Baptist!" since they'd seen him recently.

vs 16

See, he went for the former.

vs 17

We now get a little backwards rewind, to see why this would freak Herod out so much. It all started with throwing John in prison.

vs 18

Which I suppose it isn't.

vs 19

It's a funny thing how spiteful some people can be. I guess Herodias was quite happy to be living in the palace.

vs 20

So Herod feared John, but did he divorce Herodias? No. But he listened to John, and that could lead to some action, so best to take matters into one's hands quickly.

vs 21

As rich and powerful people are wont to do.

vs 22

This sort of largesse is typical, because it both shows his pleasure, and also his power.

vs 23

That's a big promise. Of course, if you asked for that, you'd probably get a dirty look.

vs 24

Fat lot of good it will do for the daughter - except perhaps let her stay in the palace longer too.

vs 25

How gruesome. She'd better have been an awesome dancer.

vs 26

Of course. Can't be soft on prophets in an election year.

vs 27

Lucky John was in prison. Well, not so lucky for John.

vs 28

How lovely. Mother's day cards and a box of chocolates eat your heart out.

vs 29

And Jesus doesn't resurrect him. That would be hella freaky, without a head.

vs 30

Now that our flashback is over, we can return to the story of the twelve and their doings.

vs 31

Jesus is all about rest, and private time. You'd think he'd be all hyperactive healing as many people and preaching as often as he could. But no, even Jesus needed quiet time.

vs 32

Lots of boat travel. Beats walking.

vs 33

They ran! That's how excited the people were to see Jesus.

vs 34

They wanted to hear Jesus teach, so he taught them. The opportunity was there, and even though his disciples were tired and hungry, he still took the opportunity. So the lesson is, take rests and look after yourself, but if someone interrupts your dinner to ask you about Jesus, then tell them.

vs 35

They did pick a remote spot, after all.

vs 36

Remember, McDonald's hadn't opened its Galilee branches yet. It was actually not going to be easy to just pick up food for thousands of people. Like the disciples say, they would need to go to a bunch of surrounding villages, and forage the countryside.

vs 37

Did they have that much in the kitty? Perhaps, they did distribute to the poor after all. Funny, Jesus doesn't 'cure' poverty with a wave of his hand. He gives people money.

vs 38

Not exactly a feast. I could eat that, I reckon.

vs 39

Ahh, the green grass. How picturesque. I've never noticed that before.

vs 40

It's like huge dinner parties, or wedding receptions, all over the place.

vs 41

When you read it like that, it sounds like they are awfully small bits of food, or really, really big loaves and fish.

vs 42

So they're either all on that weight loss stuff that fills your stomach with foam, or there was lots of food.

vs 43

Truly, I think this is my favourite miracle. It shows Jesus' over creation in a quite incredible way. There is simply no way to explain this miracle without miracle (not if you take it that Jesus somehow made the food appear. If you want to get all, "Oh, the people produced their own packed lunches," that's not a miracle, that's a picnic). It flies totally in the face of anything science can explain - unless there's a paper in the journal Nature that has something on spontaneous bakery.

vs 44

Lots of men. Who knows how many people there were! If only we had Jesus catering at Ministry of Game.

Making the last big push this morning.

vs 45

Immediately. Like, the moment they'd finished eating, bam! Return to your homes, nothing to see here.

vs 46

Interesting that the immediacy of the dispersal comes after Jesus had wanted some quiet time, got a huge group of hungry people foisted on him, and he helped them. But right afterwards, he shooed them away and went and prayed. I never noticed that before.

vs 47

Oh, I wonder what's going to happen? Only one verse ago I was learning something new, and yet I can see how easy it is to want to gloss over known stories.

vs 48

It's almost like Jesus thinks, "They can do it, I'll just let them row their hearts out after having done it all night." But then he has mercy.

vs 49

In the meantime, they see him out there, and freak the hell out. Which probably doesn't help their situation any.

vs 50

You'd think after hanging around Jesus for a while, things would get blazé. But no! There's still things that terrify them. Lucky Jesus is there to give them a pep talk.

vs 51

Of course, once Jesus is in the boat, he doesn't feel like a rough ride, so he calms things down.

vs 52

See, Jesus expects people to have a big picture view of him and God. If God can feed 5000 men on a hill with a loaf of bread and a can of sardines, he can do anything. So as if he's going to let his disciples die in a boating accident. We've been here before. But they still don't get it. They can't accept that level of faith. And so they're described as having hard hearts.

vs 53

With, you know, an anchor or something.

vs 54

Jesus is becoming a celebrity. I'm surprised there wasn't a little fleet of boats following him.

vs 55

I wonder how many people brought sick loved ones, and how many people just grabbed the nearest beggar and pulled them towards Jesus in the hope of seeing another healing.

vs 56

The incidence of terrible illness must have dropped pretty significantly during Jesus' little three year tour. I wonder if it had an impact on the population? Probably had an impact on how well Christianity was received. Or possibly not, considering how many people who were healed seemed not to turn around and Thank Jesus for it sometimes.