February 28, 2025

Five loaves and two fish

Mark 6:30-44

After the interlude about John the Baptist that Mark brought to us in our last section, we now return to the flow of the story, picking up on the activities of the disciples after Jesus sent them out in pairs.  Here, in this section, we begin by hearing them reporting about their work. 

Jesus, apparently moved by the things that they had down, or perhaps seeing that what they had done had drawn energy out of them, invites them to come away with him to a deserted place for a time of rest and renewal.  In fact, Mark indicates that they had been so busy that they hadn’t even had time to really relax and eat.

But, as often happened to Jesus, and does now to the disciples and him, people were following their movements, anticipated where they are going, and arrived there before Jesus and the disciples did.  And Jesus, always compassionate, sees the desires of their hearts, and begins to teach the people.  I imagine that he may have told the disciples to settle in and just listen, to relax as much as they could and be refreshed.

As the day went on, and dusk was likely approaching, the disciples, perhaps ready for a total rest without people around, perhaps just being practical, urge Jesus to send the crowd on its way so that the people can go and get something to eat.  And Jesus, who was always ready to teach the disciples something, tells them to feed the people.  And the disciples look at the budget, and ask Jesus if they are indeed to spend two hundred days-worth of income in order to feed this crowd. 

Jesus, knowing more than they do, tells them to see how much food there is right now.  Five loaves and two fish, that was it.  And somehow then, with this small amount, Jesus, with God’s help, feeds the multitude, which we are told at the end of things numbered five thousand men, which then if one included any women and children, would have become an untold number.

They fed this huge crowd, and then collected leftovers as well.  So, people will sometimes ask, did this really happen?  The Gospel writers certainly believed that it happened.  But the size of this miraculous feeding does stretch the imagination.  So, some have speculated that it is really a story that is a metaphor for how we need to share with one another, and that indeed, as Jesus and the disciples shared the five loaves and two fish, then others shared what they had with them and at the end everyone had eaten their fill.  I would say that if Jesus moved people to share that greatly, that is even more miraculous than Jesus doing what the story says that he did. 

I take this miracle at face value, but you have to make your own decision.  That being said, we can celebrate that something miraculous happened.

And it is important to note too, that while Jesus could have turned people away, could have told them that he and disciples needed a day off, he instead responded out of the compassion of his heart, and in that touched many lives.

February 21, 2025

Filling in the gap

Mark 6:14-29

We have here one of the most gruesome stories in the Gospels, one which many artists have nevertheless depicted through the years.  We also have an interesting account of the death of John the Baptist, for while the Gospels generally recount the stories as though they are happening at the time, in this one we have Mark recalling the story of John’s death after Herod has become concerned about Jesus and his activities.

When Herod hears of Jesus, and asks who he is, he is offered several possibilities – John the Baptist has been raised from the dead (resurrection was certainly a belief for some) – It is Elijah -  It is a prophet, like one from olden times.  Well Herod, given these options, declares that indeed John has been raised.  His response is fascinating.  And it is interesting too that no one seems to offer that this is a separate preacher and healer, come into his own now. 

Well, Mark now fills us in on what has happened previously to John.  It is curious, and one wonders whether or not Mark has suddenly realized that he never shared this part of the story.  So, he catches us up.

John was arrested and put in prison.  Perhaps, as was often the case, he continued to exert some influence from prison, sharing messages with his disciples when they would come to visit him in prison.  But, as we read, things turn for the worse.  Although Herod recognized that John was a holy man, and he liked listening to John, despite not understanding everything John said, he makes a bold boast in the midst of the birthday banquet, perhaps after having had too much to drink, and thus John’s life comes to an end.

But Jesus, as we know, continues on for now.

February 14, 2025

Sharing the Message

Mark 6:6b-13

After leaving his hometown, Jesus goes out to teach in the villages surrounding Nazareth.  Then, to extend the reach of the message further, he calls together the twelve disciples and sends them out in pairs, giving them, Mark tells us, authority over the unclean spirits.  Presumably he feels that he has equipped them well enough with an understanding of his message, and with the tools for sharing that message, in addition to this emphasis on dealing with unclean spirits.  Remember, it was just in chapter three that Mark related the calling of the twelve, and it seems like a short time for them to absorb enough from Jesus, but then we realize that the entire scope of Jesus’ public ministry is contained in Mark’s sixteen chapters.  The passage of time is relative in this context.

Of specific note here is how Jesus sends them out, with a challenge to simplicity.  They are to depart with a minimum of supplies, and they are to depend upon the hospitality of strangers wherever each pair of them ended up going.  So, they went and “proclaimed that all should repent.”  (v. 12)  This was apparently the prime teaching message, and then, perhaps more importantly to the people whom they met, they cast out demons and brought healing to people through the anointing with oil. 

The things that the disciples do indeed encapsulate the essence of Jesus’ ministry.

February 7, 2025

It’s Difficult to Go Back Home

Mark 6:1-6

When I accepted a call to pastor the congregation within which I had grown up, I prayed long and hard about it.  I saw that some of the people who knew me growing up were still there, but others had joined the church, and it was a different place than I had left ten years prior.  I had also visited the church and, at the request of the pastor, had led several events during the intervening years, which allowed those who knew me previously to see me functioning as an ordained minister.  Still, I was reluctant, and prayed some more, and felt that God was indeed calling me to return as the pastor.  And, thankfully, things went well for me.

But not so much for Jesus when he returned to his hometown.  At first, as Mark relates it to us, Jesus seems to be well-received actually.  The people are astounded as he teaches.  They can’t figure out how he got so wise.  They know of the power that he has exhibited.  But then, although it is all in one quote, it is as though Mark brings in the questioners.  “Isn’t this Jesus, the carpenter (should he be teaching?), who grew up among us?”  And so, some, perhaps many, then take offense at him.  Perhaps it is, “How dare he presume to teach us.”  It is a little difficult to sort out the events as Mark relates them to us, but Jesus is well aware that it is difficult to go back home – “prophets are not without honor, except in their hometown.” 

The consequence is that Jesus heals only a few people, presumably those who accepted him back, perhaps not caring who he was as long as he could cure them.  Amazingly, for many of them, their egos were greater than their faith.