Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Mark 6:1
And he went out from thence, and came into his own country; and his disciples follow him.
Ch. Mar 6:1-6. Christ is despised at Nazareth
1. his own country ] that is, Nazareth. From this time forward He ceased to have His abiding residence at Capernaum, although He still assembled His disciples on passing occasions. This visit to Nazareth is recorded only by St Matthew and St Mark.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
See this passage explained in the notes at Mat 13:54-58.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Mar 6:1-6
And He went out from thence, and came into His own country.
Jesus re-visits Nazareth
I. Gracious condescension. Jesus, although He had been cruelly treated at Nazareth, once more turns His steps homewards. Jesus practised what He preached (Mat 18:21-22). Love of home natural to men. Thoughts suggested by visits home. How shall we be received-welcomed or sighted? Have we so passed our time since we left home, that we may deserve a cordial reception; or may even some poor Nazareth be justifiably ashamed of us?
II. Unworthy prejudices. He came to His own and His own received Him not. Neither did His brethren believe in Him (Joh 7:5). Why? Because He was known to them; and was poor and of lowly origin. Some look at religion as children at books, more attracted by the binding than the contents.
III. Fatal rejection. Nazareth turned its back on Jesus. He left never to return. Learn:
I. To do good to those who despitefully use us and persecute us.
II. To guard against evil and ignorant prejudices.
III. To take heed how we reject Jesus.
IV. To beseech Him to return and save us, if we have thoughtlessly or wilfully slighted Him. (J. C. Gray.)
Christs return to Nazareth
Was it not a strange metamorphosis to Him-once a peasant lad; now the Light of the world! And yet here are surroundings unchanged, and natures as narrow and stupid as ever, and He, having moved away from them as the infinite is remote from the finite; He, able to heal the sick and forgive sins by a word, and they helpless and hopeless in both body and soul. As He spoke, authority seemed to voice itself in natural, faultless utterance. He had not gained this gift at the feet of any sage. Public debate could not confer it. The people were astonished. Such wisdom and such deeds are not in the carpenters line, they said.
I. The sinner cannot understand nor endure the saint. Humanity cannot comprehend divinity. Now, no more than then, is there any room for Christ where Satan rules.
II. Gods greatest blessings are often prevented by mans distrust. Unbelief forfeits infinite mercies. So does unauthorized credulity. (De W. S. Clark.)
Unbelief at Nazareth
Our Lord may have had two reasons for leaving Capernaum and for visiting Nazareth. One, a personal reason-to see His mother and His sisters, who seem to have been married there. The other, a ministerial reason-to escape from the busy throngs who resorted to Him by the lake, and to take a new centre for evangelistic labours on the part of Himself and His disciples.
I. The unreasonableness and inexcusableness of unbelief in Christ.
1. He was well-known to them. They had hitherto always found Him true and upright; therefore they ought to have candidly considered His claims.
2. He brought with Him a great and acknowledged reputation.
3. He came to Nazareth and taught publicly, thus giving His townsmen an opportunity of judging for themselves of His wisdom and moral authority.
II. The grounds of unbelief in Christ.
1. Prejudice on account of His origin and circumstances.
2. His educational deficiency. He had not been trained in the rabbinical schools, so they thought nothing of Him.
III. The rebuke of unbelief. A prophet is not without honour, etc. There was sadness in Christs language and tone. Yet what a reproach to the unbelieving! They might be offended; there were others who would believe, evince gratitude, and render honour.
IV. The consequences of unbelief.
1. Christ marvelled.
2. The results to the people of the town were lamentable-He could do no mighty work.
3. Benefit to others-He went round about the villages, teaching. The indifference or contempt of the unspiritual and self-sufficient may be the occasion of enlightenment and consolation to the lowly, receptive, needy. Application:
(a) The coming of Christ to a soul, or community, is a moral probation involving serious responsibility.
(b) It is the most fatal guilt and folly, in considering the claims of Christ, to overlook the wisdom and grace of His character and ministry, and to regard circumstances at which the superficial and carnal may take offence. (J. R. Thomson, M A.)
Jesus visiting His own country
By going thither-
I. He gratified a human yearning.
II. He illustrated afresh an old and familiar experience.
1. He was one of many, yet by Himself even in this.
2. One of the greatest of griefs to a pious spirit, to be hindered from doing good and conferring benefit.
3. A greater humiliation than His human birth, because a moral one consciously experienced.
III. He exhibited Divine mercy.
1. Past offences were forgiven.
2. Although conscious of restriction because of their unbelief and indifference, He still persisted in His works of mercy. (A. F. Muir, M. A.)
Rejection of Christ
I. Indifference to Christ sometimes arises from familiarity with His surroundings. Beware of that familiarity with sacred things which deadens spiritual sensibility.
II. Contempt for Christ sometimes springs from association with His friends.
III. The rejection of Christ brings about a withdrawal of His influence-He could not, etc. His power was omnipotent, but, it conditioned itself, as infinite power always does in this world; and by this limitation it was not lessened, but was glorified as moral and spiritual power. If faith, the ethical condition, be absent, we bind the Saviours hands, and He cannot do for us what He would. He does not wish to leave us, but He must; old impressions become feebler, the once sensitive heart waxes dull. (A. Rowland, LL. B.)
Christ at home
I. The wonders in everyday life. Growth of knowledge and experience; change of circumstances, etc.
II. The jealousy of home-grown greatness. Tyranny of custom. Beware of egotism, shutting out from light and beauty, divinity and blessedness.
III. The most invincible obstacle is the will of man. Against stupidity even the gods fight in vain! When the business of the kingdom seems at a standstill, ask whether the cause be not want of wish, will, prayer. (E. Johnson, M. A.)
Detracting from the Divine greatness of Christ
I. How this is done.
1. By attributing Divine effects to secondary causes,
2. Absence of faith and spiritual sympathy.
3. By being offended at the mystery of His humiliation, either in Himself or in His followers.
II. What it produces.
1. Unsatisfied indecision.
2. Hardening of heart.
3. The doubters own loss. (A. F. Muir, M. A.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
CHAPTER VI.
Our Lord’s countrymen are astonished at his wisdom and mighty
works, and are offended at him, 1-4.
He works few miracles there, because of their unbelief, 5, 6.
He sends forth his disciples by two and two to preach, &c.,
7-11.
They depart, preach, and work miracles, 12, 13.
Different opinions of Christ, 14-16.
Account of the beheading of John Baptist, 17-29.
The disciples return, and give an account of their mission, 30.
He departs with them to a place of privacy, but the people
follow him, 31-33.
He has compassion on them, and miraculously feeds five thousand
with five loaves and two fishes, 34-44.
He sends the disciples by sea to Bethsaida, and himself goes
into a mountain to pray, 45, 46.
The disciples meet with a storm, and he comes to them walking
upon the water, and appeases the winds and the sea, 47-52.
They come into the land of Gennesaret, and he works many
miracles, 53-56.
NOTES ON CHAP. VI.
Verse 1. And he went out from thence] That is, from Capernaum. See Clarke on Mt 13:54.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
We meet with all this in Mat 13:53-58; See Poole on “Mat 13:53“, and following verses to Mat 13:58. By
his own country, questionless, is meant Nazareth, the place of his education, though Bethlehem were the place of his birth; hence he was usually called Jesus of Nazareth. Luk 4:16, nameth Nazareth; though I cannot be confident that this text mentions the same motion of our Saviours. The constant practice of our Saviour on the sabbath days is observable: it is true, he had a liberty there to preach and expound the Scripture; but without doubt many things of a ritual nature were there done which our Lord was far from approving: their assemblies being not idolatrous, he judged it no sin to be present: the main things done there were of his Fathers institution; for other things, we never read our Saviour touched at them. Still the effect of our Saviours preaching to the Jews we find to be amazement and astonishment, but no faith. Men may be affected by the word that are not converted by it. That which troubled them was, they could not imagine whence our Saviour had his power to do those mighty works, and to speak things importing such a wisdom given unto him; they could not conceive how one that had never sat at the feet of their doctors, but had been bred up as a mechanic, should have such wisdom and knowledge, or such a power to work miraculous operations.
Is not this the carpenter. This makes it appear probable that our Saviour did, till he was thirty years of age, work with Joseph in his trade, whether of a carpenter or a mason (for , signifies either). It is certain he did not begin to appear publicly and to preach till he was thirty years of age, and it is not probable that he lived all these years in idleness.
The son of Mary, the brother of James, and Joses, and of Juda, and Simon; that is, the kinsman, (as most interpret it), supposing Mary the mother of our Lord had no more children: I shall not determine it. They say these four were the children of Mary, sister to the mother of our Lord, and the wife of Cleophas. Mar 15:40; 16:1, we read of James, Joses, and Salome, as the children of that Mary; but of Judas and Simon we read not.
And they were offended at him; that is, although they heard such things from him, and saw such mighty works done by him, as they could not but think required a Divine influence and power, yet because by their reason they could not comprehend how one who had almost thirty years lived as a mechanic amongst them, should come by any such acquaintance with or extraordinary influence from God, their passion quickly went over; and though they were more modest than, with their corrupt teachers, to say he did this by the devil, yet neither would they receive him and believe him, but slighted and despised him; as if Gods influence had been tied to their schools of the prophets.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
And he went out from thence,…. From Capernaum;
and came into his own country; or “city”, as the Syriac, Arabic, Persic, and Ethiopic versions read, the city of Nazareth; so called because it was the place where Christ was conceived, and where he was educated; for which he had a regard, and was willing it should partake of the benefit of his doctrine and miracles:
and his disciples follow him; as they did wherever he went; and which is a true characteristic of a disciple of Jesus.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
| The Contempt Poured on Christ. |
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1 And he went out from thence, and came into his own country; and his disciples follow him. 2 And when the sabbath day was come, he began to teach in the synagogue: and many hearing him were astonished, saying, From whence hath this man these things? and what wisdom is this which is given unto him, that even such mighty works are wrought by his hands? 3 Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary, the brother of James, and Joses, and of Juda, and Simon? and are not his sisters here with us? And they were offended at him. 4 But Jesus said unto them, A prophet is not without honour, but in his own country, and among his own kin, and in his own house. 5 And he could there do no mighty work, save that he laid his hands upon a few sick folk, and healed them. 6 And he marvelled because of their unbelief. And he went round about the villages, teaching.
Here, I. Christ makes a visit to his own country, the place not of his birth, but of his education; that was Nazareth; where his relations were. He had been in danger of his life among them (Luke iv. 29), and yet he came among them again; so strangely doth he wait to be gracious, and seek the salvation of his enemies. Whither he went, though it was into danger, his disciples followed him (v. 1); for they had left all, to follow him whithersoever he went.
II. There he preached in their synagogue, on the sabbath day, v. 2. It seems, there was not such flocking to him there as in other places, so that he had no opportunity of preaching till they came together on the sabbath day; and then he expounded a portion of scripture with great clearness. In religious assemblies, on sabbath days, the word of God is to be preached according to Christ’s example. We give glory to God by receiving instruction from him.
III. They could not but own that which was very honourable concerning him. 1. That he spoke with great wisdom, and that this wisdom was given to him, for they knew he had no learned education. 2. That he did mighty works, did them with his own hands, for the confirming of the doctrine he taught. They acknowledged the two great proofs of the divine original of his gospel–the divine wisdom that appeared in the contrivance of it, and the divine power that was exerted for the ratifying and recommending of it; and yet, though they could not deny the premises, they would not admit the conclusion.
IV. They studied to disparage him, and to raise prejudices in the minds of people against him, notwithstanding. All this wisdom, and all these mighty works, shall be of no account, because he had a home-education, had never travelled, nor been at any university, or bred up at the feet of any of their doctors (v. 3); Is not this the Carpenter? In Matthew, they upbraid him with being the carpenter’s son, his supposed father Joseph being of that trade. But, it seems, they could say further, Is not this the Carpenter? our Lord Jesus, it is probable, employing himself in that business with his father, before he entered upon his public ministry, at least, sometimes in journey-work. 1. He would thus humble himself, and make himself of no reputation, as one that had taken upon him the form of a servant, and came to minister. Thus low did our Redeemer stoop, when he came to redeem us out of our low estate. 2. He would thus teach us to abhor idleness, and to find ourselves something to do in this world; and rather to take up with mean and laborious employments, and such as no more is to be got by than a bare livelihood, than indulge ourselves in sloth. Nothing is more pernicious for young people than to get a habit of sauntering. The Jews had a good rule for this–that their young men who were designed for scholars, were yet bred up to some trade, as Paul was a tent-maker, that they might have some business to fill up their time with, and, if need were, to get their bread with. 3. He would thus put an honour upon despised mechanics, and encourage those who eat the labour of their hands, though great men look upon them with contempt.
Another thing they upbraided him with, was, the meanness of his relations; “He is the son of Mary; his brethren and sisters are here with us; we know his family and kindred;” and therefore, though they were astonished at his doctrine (v. 2), yet they were offended at his person (v. 3), were prejudiced against him, and looked upon him with contempt; and for that reason would not receive his doctrine, though ever so well recommended. May we think that if they had not known his pedigree, but he had dropped among them from the clouds, without father, without mother, and without descent, they would have entertained him with any more respect? Truly, no; for in Judea, where this was not know, that was made an objection against him (John ix. 29); As for this fellow, we know not from whence he is. Obstinate unbelief will never want excuses.
V. Let us see how Christ bore this contempt.
1. He partly excused it, as a common thing, and what might be expected, though not reasonably or justly (v. 4); A prophet is not despised any where but in his own country. Some exceptions there may be to this rule; doubtless many have got over this prejudice, but ordinarily it holds good, that ministers are seldom so acceptable and successful in their own country as among strangers; familiarity in the younger years breeds a contempt, the advancement of one that was an inferior begets envy, and men will hardly set those among the guides of their souls whose fathers they were ready to set with the dogs of their flock; in such a case therefore it must not be thought hard, it is common treatment, it was Christ’s, and wisdom is profitable to direct to other soil.
2. He did some good among them, notwithstanding the slights they put upon him, for he is kind even to the evil and unthankful; He laid his hands upon a few sick folks, and healed them. Note, It is generous, and becoming the followers of Christ, to content themselves with the pleasure and satisfaction of doing good, though they be unjustly denied the praise of it.
3. Yet he could there do no such mighty works, at least not so many, as in other places, because of the unbelief that prevailed among the people, by reason of the prejudices which their leaders instilled into them against Christ, v. 5. It is a strange expression, as if unbelief tied the hands of omnipotence itself; he would have done as many miracles there as he had done elsewhere, but he could not, because people would not make application to him, nor sue for his favours; he could have wrought them, but they forfeited the honour of having them wrought for them. Note, By unbelief and contempt of Christ men stop the current of his favours to them, and put a bar in their own door.
4. He marvelled because of their unbelief, v. 6. We never find Christ wondering but at the faith of the Gentiles that were strangers, as the centurion (Matt. viii. 10), and the woman of Samaria, and at the unbelief of Jews that were his own countrymen. Note, The unbelief of those that enjoy the means of grace, is a most amazing thing.
5. He went round about the village, teaching. If we cannot do good where we would, we must do it where we can, and be glad if we may have any opportunity, though but in the villages, of serving Christ and souls. Sometimes the gospel of Christ finds better entertainment in the country villages, where there is less wealth, and pomp, and mirth, and subtlety, than in the populous cities.
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
Into his own country ( ). So Mt 13:54. There is no real reason for identifying this visit to Nazareth with that recorded in Lu 4:26-31 at the beginning of the Galilean Ministry. He was rejected both times, but it is not incongruous that Jesus should give Nazareth a second chance. It was only natural for Jesus to visit his mother, brothers, and sisters again. Neither Mark nor Matthew mention Nazareth here by name, but it is plain that by the region of Nazareth is meant. He had not lived in Bethlehem since his birth.
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
JESUS AGAIN IN NAZARETH, MEETS SKEPTICISM, V. 1-6
1) “And He went out from thence,” (kai ekselthen ekeithen) “And He went out and away from the house of the Synagogue ruler,” out from Capernaum.
2) “And came into His own country;- (kai erchetai eis ten patrida autou) “And came into His own native land,” into the area of Nazareth of Galilee, about fifteen (15) miles southwest of Capernaum, from where He had begun His Galilean ministry, Luk 4:16-21; Mat 13:54-58.
3) “And His disciples follow Him.” (kai akolouthousin auto hoi mathetai autou) “And His disciples followed Him,” went with Him where He went. A true disciple will follow his master, Luk 9:23. And these true disciples constituted His church, companying with Him, “from the baptism of John,” “from the beginning,” and “from Galilee,” Joh 15:16; Joh 15:27; Act 1:21-22; Act 10:37.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
CRITICAL AND EXEGETICAL NOTES
Mar. 6:1. His own country.Native place, or town: Nazareth, the home of His youth. Rejected at an earlier stage in His ministry (Luk. 4:14-30), He now returns in the character of a Rabbi followed by disciples, and makes one more attempt to gain an attentive and intelligent hearing.
Mar. 6:3. They were offended.Scandalised, a graphic word. Christ was to them like a scandal, i.e. a trap-spring, or baited stick in a trap. Their familiarity with His earthly antecedents blinded them to His Divine character, and hindered them from rejoicing in the liberty of the children of God, which He came to proclaim and to bestow on all who would receive Him.
Mar. 6:5. He could there do no mighty work.The door was barred by their unbelief and moral insensibility, for God never forces an entrance, but always respects mans free-will.
Mar. 6:6. He marvelled.For besides being Perfect God, He is also Perfect Man, of a reasonable soul and human flesh subsisting (Athanasian Symbol).
Mar. 6:7. By two and two.A detail peculiar to Mark, who in his list of names does not group the apostles in pairs as the other Synoptists doan undesigned coincidence worthy of notice.
Mar. 6:11. Verily that city.Omit this sentence, probably imported from Mat. 10:15.
Mar. 6:13. Anointed with oil.This unction was clearly sacramentalan outward and visible sign of an inward and spiritual grace given. It was both the symbol and the vehicle of blessings for body and soul. See Jas. 5:14.
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.Mar. 6:1-13
(PARALLELS: Mat. 13:54-58; Mat. 9:35-38; Mat. 10:5-42; Luk. 9:1-6.)
The Master rejected: the servants sent forth.An easy days journey would carry Jesus and His followers from Capernaum to Nazareth. What took our Lord back there? Mark seems to wish us to observe the connexion between this visit and the great group of miracles just recorded; and possibly the link may be Christs hope that the report of these might have preceded Him and prepared His way. In His patient longsuffering He will give His fellow-villagers another chance. His heart yearns for His own country, and His own kin, and His own house.
I. We have here unbelief born of familiarity, and its effects on Christ
1. They own Christs wisdom in His teaching, and the reality of His miracles; but the fact that He was one of themselves made them angry that He should have such gifts, and suspicious of where He had got them.
(1) We note in their questions, first, the glimpse of Christs early life. They bring before us the quiet, undistinguished home and the long years of monotonous labour.
(2) These questions bring out strongly what we too often forget in estimating Christs contemporaries, viz. that His presence among them, in the simplicity of His human life, was a positive hindrance to their seeing His true character.
(3) The facts on which the Nazarenes grounded their unbelief are really irrefragable proofs of Christs Divinity. His character and work, compared with the circumstances of His origin and environment, are an insoluble riddle, except on the supposition that He was the Word and Power of God.
2. The effects of this unbelief on Christ.
(1) It limited His power. The atmosphere of chill unbelief froze the stream. He would have gathered, but ye would not, and therefore He could not.
(2) He marvelled. All sin is a wonder to eyes that see into the realities of things and read the end; for it is all utterly unreasonable (though it is, alas! not unaccountable) and suicidal. To one who lives ever in the Fathers bosom, what can seem so strange as that men should prefer homeless exposedness and dreary loneliness?
II. The new instrument which Christ fashions to cope with unbelief.What does Jesus do when thus wounded in the house of His friends? Give way to despondency? No; but meekly betakes Himself to yet obscurer fields of service, and sends out the twelve to prepare His way.
1. The gift of power. Christ gives before He commands, and sends no man into the field without filling his basket with seed-corn.
2. Their equipment. The minimum of outward provision is likeliest to call out the maximum of faith.
3. The disposition of the messengers. It is not to be self-indulgent. If ever a herald of Christ falls under suspicion of caring more about lifes comforts than about his work, goodbye to his usefulness.
4. The messengers demeanour to rejecters. Shaking the dust off the sandal is an emblem of solemn renunciation of participation, and perhaps of disclaimer of responsibility.A. Maclaren, D.D.
Mar. 6:3, a. Does labour block the way to manhood?I. Is not this mighty worker and wise teacher a carpenter? Well! and what then? Skill in handling the plane and driving the saw does not expel wisdom from the speech, love from the heart, and beauty from the life. The artisan may be the conqueror of himself and of his circumstances, a man of clear vision, high and enduring motive, and chivalrous philanthropy, as the sun may warm and fertilise the earth with one set of rays, and paint the human face Divine with another. It is undeniable that the Nazareth artisan is the true King of the ages and the rightful Lord of the souls of men.
II. But apart from the obvious and proved compatibility of even menial and monotonous toil with kindly feeling, generous impulse, strict integrity, and large usefulness, these disaffected Nazarenes might have dispelled their passion-fed prejudice by simply recalling the leading names of their typical history. In the beginning God had set the stamp of His approval on human labour, and all along had chosen as the chief toilers for the higher and spiritual welfare of Israel and the world those who were devoted to useful handicrafts or pastoral pursuits.
III. But it would be unfair to treat this jaundiced jeer, the outburst of the lowest and rudest thought of Galilee, as though it expressed the prevalent Jewish idea of labour. Far from it. Handicrafts were specially honoured amongst the Jews, and the occupants of the highest posts of learning and tuition were most familiar with the lower forms of human toil. The teacher of that Rabbi Hillel who died only a few years before the birth of Christ was in the habit of saying, Love labour. Another Rabbi said, Great is labour, for she honours the Master. A third, When a man teaches his son no trade, it is as if he taught him highway robbery. And we owe to the family of the far-famed Gamaliel the penetrating saying, Beautiful is the union of the study of the law with some honest calling, for by the diligent pursuit of both a man is weaned from sin, but all study unaccompanied by work ends in vanity and draws sin in its train.
IV. Now the strange and inexplicable thing is that this insane prejudice against handicrafts requiring hard muscular work as blocking the way to the higher grades of goodness exists and operates amongst us in this year with a force it never had in Palestine, and produces mischiefs that are positively incalculable. Only lately it was seriously contended that men in the East End of London with a scant cupboard and a life of forced daily toil could not be expected to be Christians, and echoes follow echoes which report nothing but the deeply rooted falsehood that so long as men have to toil to live they cannot live to and for and in God. I do not deny the heart-ache of many a labouring life, the fierce struggle to exist continued in many a home, the unbroken dulness, the leaden monotony, killing aspiration and deadening faith, the brutalising conditions often associated with toil. I know the workshop is infested with corruption, the atmosphere charged with falseness and impurity, and that often the work itself is hard and rough and ill-paid. I admit the worse, but I cannot close my eyes to the evidence of facts, and I dare not be false to Gods revelation of the sublime conquests possible to every man in and through Christ over the dullest circumstance or the most violently antagonistic lot. I am sure that labour is in the main wholesome and helpful, a defence from myriad temptations, a goad to usefulness, a contribution to the progress of the world, and perfectly compatible with the manliest life.
V. We might learn this from the long and thrilling history of toil at the back of us, for we have had apostles of labour like the brave Hollanders, who built their own country out of the sands of the sea, and created themselves into the manliest of men, and the most compact and independent of states by the act; martyrs to trade like Palissy the Potter; confessors and reformers like Richard Cobden, the manufacturer of calicoes; model men of business like the bookseller, Daniel Macmillan, and the commercial George Moore; and myriads more amongst the labouring poor, some of whom, I rejoice to say, I have intimately known and warmly loved, who, though they never gained any social standing, wrought righteousness, subdued the kingdoms of self and of home, stopped the mouths of the lions of vice and impurity, quenched the power of the fires of intemperance, from weakness were made strong, waxed mighty in power against domestic and social evils, and helped in turning to flight armies of aliens. Besides, does not everybody think Goethe is right when he says an idle life is an anticipated death? And must we not in our best moments admit that in spite of many drawbacks we owe lasting thanks to God for putting us where work is a necessity and a vocation the condition not only of a prolonged existence, but of a prolonged happiness? Labour is a benediction from God. Delitzsch, writing on Jewish Artisan Life, says: All work worthy of the name is Godlike, for the world is one great whole in which everything acts and reacts. Each separate thing is but a stepping-stone to some higher end, and all things work out together the grand purpose of the whole.
VI. But it is in the fullest life ever liveda life unequalled in its sweet dignity and attractive familiarity, tender strength and daring meeknessa life from which moral grandeur never departsit is from it we get the strongest witness that labour does not block the way to manhood. That life is set deep in the forests of human toil. The pattern character is in the pattern condition, to use it, to redeem it, to glorify it, to adjust it to Himself, to exhibit the spirit in which a man may convert his surroundings into a set of angels on the way of life, ministers inspiring and educating him, forces enabling him to partake more largely of the Divine nature.
VII. So far as we know Christ left the bench of the carpenter for the post of teacher and reformer. His work was His college. He learnt obedience by the things He did and suffered, and acquired fitness for His ministry of brief but measureless energy, tender pathos, broad sympathies, and heroic self-sacrifice. The lowliest tasks well done are the best preparations for helpful ministries to the world. Labour is not only not a block to manhood, but it is the best drill for some of its finest services.
1. Read, I beseech you, the handwriting of God on your daily toil. In all your ways acknowledge God, and He will direct you in your goings for a subsistence.
2. Breathe into your work the spirit of beneficence. Do not stop your vision at its details, but range in thought over its large issues; and as Daniel Macmillan, when a booksellers clerk, found solace from the conviction that he was aiding in the fight against ignorance and falsehood, and thus promoting the welfare of the world, so take care you never lose sight of the really helpful results of even the smallest honest and true work.
3. Be thorough in to-days work. Do the thing well that is near you. Carlyle, after he met Arnold at Rugby, said of this model teacher, He is a heroa man who knows his work and does it.
4. Give a definite place to, and find special time and spheres for, the cultivation of your spiritual nature. Receive into your nature the power of Christ, and He will make the work of the bench a discipline for the consolation of the weary, the guidance of the perplexed, the assistance of the needy, and the helping of the world.
VIII. And is it from this religion founded by an artisan, born in poverty, whose apostles were fishermen and tax-gatherers, whom the common people heard gladlyis it from it and Him the toiling millions are turning away in indifference or despair? Do you blame the architect for the blunders of the builder? Will you censure the directors for the unknown intemperance of the guard that wrecks a train? Nor ought we to blame Christ Jesus for the faults of the Churches. It is not from Him you hear the cry that the weakest must be driven to the wall, the fittest only must survive. It is not from Christ you hear approval of the tyranny of capital over labour or of the selfishness of masters in their dealings with men. He bids masters and servants alike be fair and just, and commands a mutual recognition of brotherhood in the kingdoms of toil, and breathes into men the spirit that ameliorates the lot of the wretched, and prepares the way for the widest and most enduring prosperity.
IX. Above all, beware of the strong illusion which resides in the commonplace. Familiarity with Jesus as the Son of Mary and brother of Joses, as playmate and fellow-workmen, closed the eyes of the Nazarenes to the spiritual meaning of His life, and barred their hearts to the entrance of His saving power. A similar danger is before us. Goaded by Strauss and others, men like Robertson of Brighton have compelled us to sit with fixed and profitable gaze on the MAN Christ Jesus. The pulpits and the literature of the Church are full of the blessed reality of Christs humanness. Never was He more fully the Brother of men since He left the slopes of Olivet. But let us take large views. GOD WAS IN CHRIST, transfiguring menial toil by faithfulness, obedience, and worship; educing from smallest seeds large harvests, and from lowliest deeds grandest issues; reconciling all things in our world to Himself, and to us, by reconciling us to Himself; adjusting all human relations, revealing the brotherhood of all men, penetrating our social life with the spirit of thoroughness and unselfishness, and so making possible a world in which every man does a full mans work with a clear spiritual aim, and so helps to establish a kingdom of righteousness and truth upon the earth.J. Clifford, D.D.
Mar. 6:3, b. Offended in Him.
I. The astonishment of prejudice aroused.
1. The prejudice of calling.
2. The prejudice of birth.
3. The prejudice of relationship.
4. The prejudice of familiarity.
II. The astonishment culminating in bitter jealousy and dislike.Why should one occupying such a humble position and surroundings claim any pre-eminence over them? They could not deny. the majesty of the life, the greatness of the deed, and the sublimity of the utterance; yet the ever-recurring question was, Is not this the carpenter?
III. The protest which their astonishment and unbelief called forth (Mar. 6:4).This was an old proverb with a new application.
IV. The evil wrought by this blind prejudice in limiting the possibilities of Christs ministry among them.Human receptivity is one of the essential conditions of Divine working among men.
V. The painful surprise awakened in Christ by their astonishment and unbelief.
VI. The good accomplished in spite of prejudice and unbelief.
1. Healing a few sick folk. Poor sufferers were not shut out of His great sympathy, nor placed beyond the reach of His tender healing, by the unbelief of their neighbours.
2. Teaching in the villages. All that prejudice could do was to exclude its owners from the sphere of Divine operations.D. Davies.
Mar. 6:11. Punishments proportionable to sins.In these words Christ doth not wholly excuse those wicked Gentiles; but neither doth He charge them with so great a degree of guilt as He doth the unbelieving Jews. The Gentiles gross ignorance of their duty might in some measure have been avoided by them, and was therefore justly to be imputed to them; but they had not the same opportunities and advantages of improving their knowledge, they had not the same means of conviction, they had not the same motives to reformation and amendment of life, as those men unto whom the gospel had been preached; and therefore, upon this account, our Lord is graciously pleased to make them as it were some sort of allowance and abatement. They are here represented not indeed as entirely blameless, but still as less blamable than others: they are not exempted from those sufferings that were due unto their sins; but these sufferings, we are told, shall be less severe than those which will be inflicted upon greater sinners.
I. In the next world some sinners will be more severely punished than others.
1. Though this doctrine had not been expressly revealed to us in the Word of God, yet our own reason alone would have inclined us to have believed it; for the same arguments that are brought to prove that any punishments shall hereafter be inflicted upon any sinners, may also be urged to shew that some sinners shall have a greater share in those punishments than others: the same vindictive justice of God which inclines Him to punish the sins of the impenitent disposes Him likewise to observe some proportion in His punishments, and to allot the greatest degrees of misery to the greatest degrees of guilt. And even if the justice of God were not so clearly interested in this matter, yet these future punishments do themselves suggest to us this doctrine; and from the nature of them we may very reasonably infer their inequality. One great part of the punishment of hell consists in the remorse of conscience arising from the sense of guilt; and therefore, where the greatest guilt is, there must be the greatest remorse, that is the greatest punishment, from the sense of it. Another argument to prove the inequality of future torments may be thisnamely, that envy, malice, and other vices are not only by the order of God attended with punishments, but in the nature of the thing necessarily create torment; and therefore, where these are in the most eminent degree, they must necessarily create the greatest torment.
2. This truth will appear still more evident if we consider the declarations God has been pleased to make concerning it in His Word. In the Levitical law God commands the magistrate to give the offender a certain number of stripes, according to his fault; and our Saviour hath taught us that He will observe the same method in the distribution and execution of His future punishments (Luk. 5:37-38).
II. What those sins are which will expose men to the greatest suffering.
1. These are, first, such sins as are in their kind most heinoussuch as blasphemy, hypocrisy, murder, bloody persecution of Gods saints, unnatural lusts, and the like. These sins are, in the kind of them, so open and so provoking an affront to the great God of heaven and earth, and are besides so shocking to human nature. and to the first conceptions we are used to form of the distinction between good and evil, that a man must have perfectly rooted out of his mind all awe of God, all sense of religion, all regard to goodness, before he can harbour or encourage the least thoughts of them.
2. Those sins also will be most severely punished which are committed against the greatest light. The sins of Christians, of reformed Christians, of those of the best reformed Church, the sins of such who attend continually upon the ordinances of God, and come constantly to be partakers of the Supper of the Lordsuch men as these have no pretence for their iniquity, no colour or excuse for their sins.
3. Those men also have just reason to dread the severest judgments of God who allow themselves in such sins as shew the greatest depravity of willhabitual, deliberate, presumptuous sinssins which they take pleasure in, and love to see practised by others.Bishop Smalridge.
OUTLINES AND COMMENTS ON THE VERSES
Mar. 6:1. Meaning of the word disciple.
I. The school.
1. They are in the kingdom of God (Joh. 3:5).
2. At the feet of Jesus (Luk. 10:39; Deu. 33:3).
3. The law brings us to Christ (Gal. 3:24).
4. To be in school is to be in Christ (Eph. 4:21).
5. It is in the school that the instruction, training, and discipline take place.
6. Come unto Me precedes Learn of Me (Mat. 11:28-29).
II. The lesson.
1. The truth to be understood (Joh. 16:13-15).
2. The Person to be appropriated (Eph. 4:20; Heb. 3:14; 2Pe. 1:4).
3. The example to be followed (1Pe. 2:21; Php. 2:5; Mat. 11:29; Joh. 13:12-17; Luk. 14:27).
III. The Teacher.The Lord Himself (Joh. 6:45).
1. His wisdom (Col. 2:3).
2. His power (1Co. 1:24).
3. His skill (Psa. 78:72; Psa. 32:8).
4. He can teach the heart (Heb. 8:10; Heb. 10:16).
5. He teaches us to profit Isa. 48:17).
6. What He requires of those whom He teaches (Job. 22:22; Psa. 25:9; Jer. 33:3; Joh. 21:22).E. Hopkins.
Mar. 6:2. Christian doctrine.
1. Christian doctrine applicable to all classes of men.
2. Christian doctrine calculated to excite the profoundest surprise.
3. Christian doctrine always conveying the impression of unique power.
4. Christian doctrine shewing the insignificance of the personality of its teachers. Even Christ Himself, according to the flesh, seemed poor and inadequate when viewed in the light of the wondrous revelations which He made to the world.J. Parker, D.D.
Individuality of spirit, claim, manner, always provokes criticism. The glory of the highest revelation of Christianity is, that personality is superseded by spirituality. The speaker is to be forgotten in the speech. When both personality and doctrine are to be considered, the danger is that the former may be made to assume undue prominence. Instead of inquiring What is said? the inquiry will be Who said it? Personality is a mere question of detail in comparison with the truths which nourish and save the soul.Ibid.
Lessons.
1. Men may acknowledge and wonder at the spiritual gifts and graces which they see to be in others, and yet themselves have never the more grace, but be utterly void of all sanctifying and saving gifts of the spirit.
2. It is the property of carnal men to tie the gifts and graces of Gods Spirit unto outward helps and means, as if the Lord could not bestow such gifts, or work such graces by His Spirit, without such outward helps.
3. So long as any remain hardened in their natural blindness and infidelity, no means will prevail to work faith or repentance in them, and to bring them to God, though the means used be in themselves never so powerful and excellent.G. Petter.
Unbelief.In our modern cant phraseology theirs might have been designated agnosticism and philosophic doubt. But philosophic it certainly was not, any more than much that now passes, because it bears that name; at least, if according to modern negative criticism, the inexplicable is also the unthinkable. Nor was it really doubt or agnosticism, any more than much that now covers itself with that garb. It was what Christ designated itunbelief, since the questions would have been easily answeredindeed, never have arisenhad they believed that He was the Christ. And the same alternative still holds true. If this One is what negative criticism declares Him, which is all that it can know of Him by the outsidethe Son of Mary, the Carpenter and Son of the carpenter of Nazareth, whose family occupied the humblest position among Galileansthen whence this wisdom which, say of it what you will, underlies all modern thinking, and these mighty works, which have moulded all modern history?A. Edersheim, D.D.
Mar. 6:3. Is not this the carpenter?Certainly; yet that refutes nothing. It only helps to prove the claims of Jesus to be the Son of God. If He had been a learned rabbi or philosopher, it might have been said He had received His wisdom from men; but as He was only a poor village carpenter, He must have been taught of God.
1. This tells us how wisely Jesus spent His youth and early manhoodnot in idleness, but in useful toil.
2. It teaches us that there is no disgrace in working at a trade. Marks of toil are brighter insignia of honour than jewelled rings and delicate whiteness.
3. It shows also the condescension of Christ. Though rich, He became poor, and even toiled for His daily bread. It assures us, therefore, of His sympathy now with those who toil. It is a pleasant thought that the hands that now hold the sceptre once wielded the hammer and the saw.J. R. Miller, D.D.
The history of Nazareth has been repeated on a large scale in the history of Israel.Israel, as a whole, also made the nearness of Jesus, His not being afar off, an occasion of unbelief and fall. This temptation, resulting from the constant beholding of the Holy One with common eyes, was pointed to in Deu. 30:14 (cp. Rom. 10:8). It is the temptation which besets the intimates and fellow-citizens of chosen spirits and great geniuses; which besets theologians in the daily study and service of the truths of revelation, ministers in their commerce with the ordinances of grace, and all the lesser officers of the house of God in their habitual contact with the externals of Divine things. It is the temptation also of ancient towns and Churches, which have enjoyed exalted privileges, and indeed of the whole Church itself (Luk. 18:8).J. P. Lange, D.D.
The offence of the Nazarenes on account of Christs humble origin a picture of all other offences in Him.
1. An offence
(1) In His terrestrial state and existence.
(2) In His human lowliness.
(3) In His brothers and sisters with their human weakness.
2. Yet an offence which will leave us self-condemned, since it implies an admission of His wisdom and of His deeds.
3. A most fatal offence, since unbelief deprives us of the blessings of Christs wondrous works.Ibid.
Lessons.
1. This should teach us to be well content to be abased in this world for Christs sake, seeing He, for our sakes, and to do us good, refused not to take upon Him so mean and low a condition.
2. It should move us to shew all humility towards our brethren in and for Christs sake.
3. It should restrain in us all ambitions and covetous desires of worldly greatness, honour, wealth, etc.G. Petter.
The message more than the messenger.If a message be sent to us from some great person, we look not so much at the person that brings it as at the message itself. So when ministers preach the Word of God to us, we must not so much have an eye to the outward quality of the persons that preach as to the doctrine itself which they deliver, the excellency and Divine authority whereof must move us to embrace and yield obedience to it.Ibid.
Mar. 6:4-6. How Christ victoriously contends with the unbelief of prejudice among His own countrymen.
1. Prejudice everywhere opposes Him.
(1) In an impure and a gross apprehension of His dignity, as of a magical secret doctrine and art.
(2) In the reckoning up of all His earthly relationships, in order to urge them to the disparagement of His heavenly dignity.
(3) In a slavish community of envious and low judgment upon His life.
2. How the Lord lays hold of and overcomes this prejudice.
(1) He refers it all to a universal fact, which they might afterwards reflect upon.
(2) He does not forget, but heals, the few who needed and were susceptible of help among His scorners.
(3) He gathers up His influences, and withdraws.
(4) He causes the light of His presence to shine brightly throughout the whole district.J. P. Lange, D.D.
Mar. 6:4. Lessons.
1. Good and faithful ministers of God are usually most subject to contempt and dishonour in the places where they are most familiarly known.
(1) Envy and emulation cause men often to repine at the honour and preferment of such as are and have been familiarly known to them, and perhaps also have been heretofore their inferiors or equals.
(2) Where ministers daily live and converse, they cannot but through human frailty discover some infirmities; and so their infirmities being most known in such places, hence it is that they are the more apt there to be despised.
(3) The daily presence and commonness of a benefit are apt to breathe a contempt and loathing of it.
2. Honour and good respect are due unto Gods faithful ministers wherever they live.
(1) They are spiritual fathers (1Co. 4:15); therefore to be honoured.
(2) They are Gods messengers and ambassadors (2Co. 5:20); therefore to be respected for the Lords sake who sends them.
(3) This wins reverence and authority to their ministry, causing it to be the more regarded, and become more profitable and effectual.G. Petter.
Mar. 6:5. The right atmosphere is wanting.Fire cannot burn in a vacuum. His hands, indeed, were laid upon a few sick folk, and He healed them; but the mightier work of healing diseased minds and troubled hearts could not there be accomplishedthat required stronger faith.
Mar. 6:6. Jesus wonders at that at which He would have us wonder; and He takes notice of our faults, to the end that we may reflect upon ourselves. How much more strange and surprising are our own infidelity or unsuitable returns, after the instruction and miracles of so many ages!P. Quesnel.
Nature, causes, and effects of unbelief.
I. The nature of unbelief.
1. Practical disregard of Gods Word and Commandments is really infidelity.
2. Afraid to receive the promises of God.
3. Fearing to take comfort from the Word of God.
II. The causes of unbelief.
1. Voluntary ignorance (Rom. 1:19-21).
2. Wilful resistance of conscience (2Th. 2:10-12).
3. A deliberate preference for sins (Joh. 3:19).
III. The effects of unbelief.
1. It rejects Christ, the Lord of Glory, and therefore deserves eternal punishment.
2. It leads the sinner further and further away from God.H. M. Villiers.
The unbelief which comes between us and Christ is that state of heart and feeling which dislikes the strain and trouble of thinking of things out of this present world; which looks away from what is out of sight and to come, and is moved and impressed only by what is just before itimmediate interests, immediate pleasures, common customs. It is the unbelief of carelessness, deadness of soul, lazy, selfish indifference; which cannot understand how any one can be in earnest, so as to take pains and suffer trouble for the sake of things unseen; which cannot bring itself to think that God is in earnest and the work of serving and pleasing Him a real thing. It is the unbelief which comes of wishing to save ourselves trouble, of not thinking it worth while to force ourselves to attend, to think, to remember, to lay to heart. This is the unbelief which comes between us and the power of Christ to improve us, to strengthen us, to comfort us. What we will not have done for us that He cannot do.Dean Church.
Mar. 6:7-11. The sending forth of the twelve apostles, formally commissioned to preach the gospel of the kingdom of heaven, reminds us of that noble and wonderful stream which Ezekiel saw in vision proceeding from under the threshold of the Temple, at first but a small rivulet not more than ankle-deep, but which, as it went on its way, increased to a stream knee-deep, then up to the thighs, and afterward to a great river for a man to swim in, and carrying healing in its blessed waters whithersoever it flowed. Jesus is the True Temple of God, and in Him this stream of life rises, and through His apostles and disciples it flowed forth, at first a very small stream, but it has gone on widening and deepening until its waters have filled the whole earth, and whithersoever it has flowed it has carried life and healing (Eze. 47:1-9; Rev. 22:1-7; Joh. 7:37-39). To-day it is the mightiest moral force in the world, and there are none to sneer at it except fools and knaves (though many still oppose its onward flow), while millions all over the world and among all peoples live to bless God for His love and for His unspeakable gift in Christ Jesus.G. F. Pentecost, D.D.
A beginning only.Mark significantly says, Then Jesus began to send them forth: for ever since that day He has been giving similar work, and qualifying similar representatives.
1. To go forth from the presence of Jesus.
2. To be willing to work together.
3. To be content with the use of moral influence. Men are to be urged, not forced.
4. To exercise self-denial and cheerful trust in God.A. Rowland.
Mar. 6:7. Two and two is a wise rule for all Christian workers. It checks individual peculiarities and self-will, helps to keep off faults, wholesomely stimulates, strengthens faith by giving another to hear it and to speak it, brings companionship, and admits of division of labour. One and one are morethan twiceone.A. Maclaren, D.D.
Jesus sends out His disciples by twos.In the line of this need, and for its supply, woman, with her blessed ministries, is granted as a help-meet to man. He is made stronger and enters a larger and better life by her pure companionship. And this, too, outside of the sacred relation of husband and wife. They need each others mutual help, and are uplifted in the relation simply of man and woman. They complement and help each other to attain and enjoy higher good. In all this mans need of going out of himself and the healthfulness of the mutual impact of true natures are recognised.W. M. Campbell.
Christian friendship.
I. The power of Christian friendship.
1. Sympathy: its immense help in enabling one to meet the difficulties, bear the trials, and do the work of Christian life.
2. Counsel: the advice of a wise friend, how valuable when in perplexity!
3. Love: its stimulating power.
II. The beauty of Christian friendship.
1. Its unselfishness, eachstriving to help and make sacrifices for the other.
2. The common pursuit of noble aims, the common interest of Christian life.
3. The exchange of helpful thoughts on great subjects, the intercourse of minds enlightened by the knowledge of Christ.
III. The responsibility of Christian friendship.Like all blessings, it has its dangers. It can be misused
1. By weakly yielding to please a friend, instead of using the privilege of friendship to try to put him right.
2. By flattering a friends weakness, instead of pointing out and helping him to eradicate his faults.
3. By that absorption in one another which becomes a hindrance to the real work of life.A. G. Mortimer, D.D.
Mar. 6:8. Gods messengers.
1. Such as are called of God to performance of great and weighty duties must free themselves from such impediments as will hinder them in those duties.
2. The best Christians may sometimes be called to a mean and poor estate, in which they may be destitute of necessaries for maintenance of this life.
(1) That Gods special providence and fatherly care may more appear in providing for them when outward means fail them.
(2) To try and exercise their faith in depending on His fatherly providence in their wants.
(3) To wean their hearts from love of earthly things, and to stir up in them the greater love and desire of spiritual and heavenly riches.G. Petter.
Maintenance for ministers.
1. It is not fit for ministers of the Word to be cumbered and troubled with the affairs of this life.
2. It is the ordinance of God that ministers should receive a sufficient maintenance from the people whom they are called to teach.Ibid.
Mar. 6:11. Lessons.When we see God dishonoured by great and heinous sins, we ought to testify our utter dislike and detestation of them, some way or other.
(1) By an outward gesture and carriage (Act. 13:51; Act. 18:6; Neh. 5:13; 2Ki. 19:1).
(2) By our words, plainly and sharply reproving such sins, and denouncing Gods judgments against them (Eph. 5:11).
2. The contempt of Gods ministers, especially of their ministry and doctrine, is an execrable and odious sin in the sight of God.
3. The sins of wicked men pollute the very ground on which they tread.Ibid.
Severity or patience?The whole conditions of work now are different. Sometimes, perhaps, a Christian is warranted in solemnly declaring to those who receive not his message that he will have no more to say to them. That may do more than all his other words. But such cases are rare; and the rule that is safest to follow is rather that of love, which despairs of none, and, though often repelled, returns with pleading, and, if it have told often in vain, now tells with tears, the story of the love that never abandons the most obstinate.A. Maclaren, D.D.
Mar. 6:12. True repentance.
1. Its nature.
(1) It is represented in Scripture both as the gift of God and as the duty of the sinner.
(2) It is inseparably connected with faith in Christ. It includes(a) A genuine sorrow for sin. (b) An unreserved and ingenious confession of sin. (c) A firm purpose, through Divine grace, to walk in newness of lifea purpose that is proved to be sincere by the fruits it produces.
2. Its indispensable necessity. This is proved by
(1) The universality of sin.
(2) The express command of God, and the awful threatenings He has denounced against the finally impenitent.
3. Motives and encouragements to the performance of this duty.
(1) The very call and command to repent may afford encouragement to returning sinners.
(2) The Word of God is full of the most encouraging and express promises to penitent sinners.
(3) The examples recorded in Scripture of sinners who obtained mercy, notwithstanding the peculiar greatness of their guilt.
(4) The unspeakable happiness which awaits the true penitent in a future and eternal world.D. Black.
Mar. 6:13. Miracles.It was not magic that conquered disease and death. We must not assume that, because powers are beyond our own knowledge and control, they are therefore lawless and irregular. Order is heavens first law. Jesus violates no principle in restoring the dead to life, but works according to some higher, unknown, and more heavenly principle. It is the kingdom of heaven overcoming the kingdom of darkness. The apostles, after Christs ascension, preached One who had all power in heaven and on earth, who had come to deliver men from the plagues and adversaries tormenting them.
Power in common things.There is a potency in the commonest things. God has ordered it so. He certainly will not ignore His own arrangement. Every cure wrought without the aid of magical art or imposition and quackery, wrought with the aid of remedies provided in the earth and air, wrought wisely, honestly, scientifically, is a new proof that One who in other times healed the bodies and souls of men is still at work, that He still gives knowledge and insight to those who seek it, enables them to look into the condition of their fellow-men, and to be the ministers to them of His own blessed, healing, life-giving power.
The healing art the gift of God.We may claim all true powers of the healing art and all honest studies in physical science as the gifts of God, ever intended to be the instruments of extending and proclaiming the Redeemers kingdom over the earth.
Credentials of authority.Throughout all the centuries Christians have been following in the footsteps of Christ in their ministry to the sick, the diseased, the devil-ridden, and the dying: thousands of hospitals for every manner of disease and affliction; nurses everywhere to care for the suffering; the white cross on the battle-fields; remorseless warfare against every form of evil, and successful warfare too. A Christlike life, sympathy, active and tender, with the suffering poor under all conditions, are the credentials of authority which Christ gives to us all now.G. F. Pentecost, D.D.
The duties of a pastor.Here is an emblem of the several duties of a pastornamely, courageously to prosecute incorrigible sinners, to treat the weak with mildness, and to apply himself to all with zeal.P. Quesnel.
ILLUSTRATIONS TO CHAPTER 6
Mar. 6:3-4. Ignorant prejudices.The same blindness and folly appears on a smaller scale in our own day. Some years ago Professor Wilson wrote that as the northern Highlanders do not admire Waverley, so, I presume, the south Highlanders despise Guy Mannering. The Westmoreland peasants think Wordsworth a fool. In Borrowdale Southey is not known to exist. I met ten men in Hawick who do not think Hogg a poet, and the whole city of Glasgow think me a madman.
Mar. 6:7. The Divine call.The apostles are the Lords sent ones, models of Christs servants who do His bidding in all the ages. Still, the supreme need of all who engage in Christian work is a sense of the Divine call. We may, therefore, ask how such calls are likely to come to us in these our times. They often come in providential circumstances, which bring altogether unsought work into a mans hands. In one of his letters Dr. Norman McLeod wrote in this way: I have tried, at least for the last twenty-five years, to accept of whatever work is offered to me in Gods providence. I have, rightly or wrongly, always believed that a mans work is given to him, that it is not so much sought as accepted, that it is floated to ones feet like the infant Moses to Pharaohs daughter. No man will want work who waits on Divine providence with a full purpose of heart to do what is shewn to be Gods will for him. They come in the consciousness of possessing gifts, and such consciousness often comes suddenly to men. A good man, called to reside in a fresh city, visited a Sunday school, and was asked to take charge of the infant class in the absence of the usual teacher. As he had the little folk before him, the thought came to him and possessed him, Here is your life-work. This is what you have to do. It was an inward impulse by the Spirit. In that work he has won good success. We limit our realisation of Divine calls by limiting our ideas of Christian work. When an army is going forth to war, what a multitude of great and small preparations are necessary! and how much the success of the expedition will depend on careful attention to the minute details! The credit of the triumph won does not belong to the soldier only; it is in part his who made the soldiers weapons and the soldiers clothes. In the Arctic Expeditions everything depended on the thorough faithfulness of each member in the things that were least. The cabin-boy had his part in the work as truly as the leader. David acted on this view of the claims of all who take any place in an enterprise, however lowly the place may be, when he insisted on having the spoil divided among those who tarried by the stuff, as well as among those who went forth to battle. We all need to recognise more fully than we have ever done, that the Divine call to work, and the Divine inspiration and grace for workers, come to givers, and collectors, and sympathisers, and those who pray, quite as truly as to those who preach and teach.
Support by companionship.A father was walking one day in the fields with his two children. The wind was blowing over a fine field of ripe corn, and making the beautiful golden ears wave like the waves of the sea. Is it not surprising, said one of the children, that the wind does not break the slender stalks of the corn? My child, said the father, see how flexible the stalks are! They bend before the wind, and rise again when the wind has passed over them. See, too, how they help to support each other. A single stalk would be soon bent to the ground, but so many growing close together help to keep each other up. If we keep together when the troubles of life come upon us like a stormy wind, we shall keep each other up, when one trying to stand alone would fall.
Mar. 6:8. Impediments.Armies most amply furnished with stores and comforts are most inefficient. The Zulu hordes, with but spear and shield, held long at bay the well-provisioned and disciplined troops of England. Baggage is well termed impedimenta. It checks by just so much the quickness, and fosters by hardness. The soul heavily freighted with the luxuries and appliances of this life is at a disadvantage for the sudden movements and missions on which the Great Captain would send it.
Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell
5. THE GREAT TEACHER AND THE TWELVE. 6:1-13
TEXT 6:1-13
And he went out from thence; and he cometh into his own country; and his disciples follow him. And when the sabbath was come, he began to teach in the synagogue: and many hearing him were astonished, saying, Whence hath this man these things? and, What is the wisdom that is given unto this man, and what mean such mighty works wrought by his hands? Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary, and brother of James, and Joses, and Judas, and Simon? and are not his sisters here with us? And they were offended in him. And Jesus said unto them, A prophet is not without honour, save in his own country, and among his own kin, and in his own house. And he could there do no mighty work, save that he laid his hands upon a few sick folk, and healed them. And he marveled because of their unbelief. And he went round about the villages teaching. And he called unto him the twelve, and began to send them forth by two and two; and he gave them authority over the unclean spirits; and he charged them that they should take nothing for their journey, save a staff only; no bread, no wallet, no money in their purse; but to go shod with sandals: and, said he, put not on two coats. And he said unto them, Wheresoever ye enter into a house, there abide till ye depart thence. And whatsoever place shall not receive you, and they hear you not, as ye go forth thence, shake off the dust that is under your feet for a testimony unto them. And they went out, and preached that men should repent. And they cast out many devils, and anointed with oil many that were sick, and healed them.
THOUGHT QUESTIONS 6:1-13
256.
He went out from thence; from the house of Jairus or the city of Capernaum or the Lake of Galilee or what?
257.
How shall we designate or name His own country?
258.
Why enter the synagogue in Nazareth if He was once rejected? Cf. Luk. 4:14-29.
259.
Specify just what caused the astonishment of those who heard Jesus.
260.
Was Jesus a carpenter or the son of a carpenter?
261.
How many children did the mother of Jesus bear?
262.
Show how unreasonable was the offence of those in Nazareth.
263.
Why did Jesus quote the familiar proverb?
264.
Why was Jesus unable to do any mighty works in Nazareth?
265.
What caused Jesus to marvel? Why?
266.
At what place did Jesus call His apostles and send them out?
267.
Why send them out two by two?
268.
Was the Holy Spirit involved in the authority exercised by the twelve? Prove your answer.
269.
Why the instructions concerning the physical needs of the journey?
270.
Why the instructions in Mar. 6:10?
271.
What was the message of the twelve?
272.
Why anoint with oil?
COMMENT
TIME.Autumn of A.D. 28, and early winter of A.D. 29. This second rejection of Christ at Nazareth (Mar. 6:1-5) was soon after the healing of Jairus daughter, autumn, A.D. 28. The sending out of the twelve followed very soon, and their labors extended through several weeks of the autumn of 28, and early winter of 29.
PLACES.From Capernaum the Savior went to his own country, to Nazareth, where he had been reared, not far from twenty miles to the southwest of Capernaum. Being there rejected a second time, he went into the villages round about in the vicinity of Nazareth, teaching. From one of these, what one is unknown, he sent the apostles out on their mission.
PARALLEL ACCOUNTS.Jesus at Nazareth (Mar. 6:1-5) with Mat. 13:54-58, and Luk. 4:16-30. Sending out of the disciples (Mar. 6:6-13) with Mat. 9:35-38; Mat. 10:1-42; Mat. 11:1; Luk. 9:1-6.
LESSON OUTLINE.1. Christ Rejected again at Nazareth. 2. The Apostles Sent Forth.
ANALYSIS
I.
CHRIST REJECTED AGAIN AT NAZARETH, Mar. 6:1-6.
1.
Comes to Nazareth. Mar. 6:1; Mat. 13:54; Luk. 4:16.
2.
Teaches on the Sabbath. Mar. 6:2; Mat. 13:54; Luk. 4:17.
3.
The People Offended. Mar. 6:3; Mat. 13:57; Luk. 4:28.
4.
A Prophet Not Honored at Home, Mar. 6:4; Mat. 13:57; Luk. 4:24.
5.
Their Unbelief. Isa. 53:1; Mar. 6:5-6; Mat. 13:58.
II.
THE APOSTLES SENT FORTH, Mar. 6:7-13.
1.
The Twelve Called. Mar. 3:14-19; Mat. 10:1-4; Luk. 6:13-16.
2.
The Twelve Sent Forth. Mar. 6:7; Mat. 10:5-15; Luk. 9:1-5.
3.
The Twelve Charged. Mar. 6:8-11; Mat. 10:5-15; Luk. 9:1-5.
4.
The Twelve on Their Mission. Mar. 6:12-13; Luk. 9:6.
INTRODUCTION
After the healing of the woman, the Lord raised from the dead the daughter of Jairus, the account of which is given in Mar. 5:35-43. Immediately after this, on his return home (Capernaum) from the house of Jairus, Christ heals two blind men and a dumb possessed, giving the Pharisees new occasion to say that he cast out devils, through Satan. Matthew alone (Mat. 9:27-34) mentions these incidents. Jesus, then, accompanied by his disciples, goes into Lower Galilee, again visiting Nazareth, where he is the second time rejected, the account given in Luk. 4:14-29, being held to describe an earlier incident of the Lords ministry. If that be correct, the Savior gave them a second opportunity to accept the gospel after his fame as a great Teacher had been established, and when they rejected him a second time he returned no more.
EXPLANATORY NOTES
I. CHRIST REJECTED AGAIN AT NAZARETH. Mar. 6:1. And he went out from thence. From Capernaum, where he made his home. Came to his own country. To Nazareth, the town where he had been reared from childhood and had lived until he was thirty years of age. Whether his mother still lived in Nazareth is a matter of conjecture. Cook says: The works wrought in the interval (since his first rejection, nine months before, April, A.D. 28), the effects of his personal influence, the progress made in spite of all opposition, might be expected to work upon the minds of the Nazarenes so far as to prepare them for listening to him, notwithstanding their former rejection. Natural sympathy would draw him thither. His sisters, probably married to Nazarenes still dwelt there. His disciples follow Him. The twelve apostles are meant. They now constantly attended his footsteps. The presence of the Lord and his companions at Nazareth would, no doubt, produce a strong effect. His fame had extended over all Israel.
Mar. 6:2. When the sabbath day was come. The seventh day of the week, Saturday, the Jewish Sabbath, always observed by the Savior as a part of the Jewish law which remained in force until he died upon the cross. The language implies that one day or more elapsed between his arrival and his public teaching. It had been the practice of Jesus, from early childhood, to attend all the synagogue services; and he was still suffered to do so, in spite of the opposition he had excited. When Sabbath came, therefore, he went to morning worship. He began to teach in the synagogue. The synagogues of the Jews were the town and village churches, where they worshipped in their various quarters for ordinary occasions when they need not go up to Jerusalem. Most probably there would be only one in so small a place. But in all the Jewish synagogues there was a freedom of speech allowed; and there would be no objection, therefore, to one like Jesus, who had already achieved for himself a name as a remarkable rabbi, addressing the assembled congregation. Many hearing, were astonished. The usual effect upon those who heard the wonderful Teacher was produced. The sentiments which follow were probably expressed while he was teaching. A Jewish audience was not as decorous as the modern congregation in the United States or Great Britain. Some uttered one thing and some another. From whence hath this man these things? The things, namely, that he was saying. The simple people marveled at his facility and power of utterance, and at the weighty character of the thoughts that were conveyed by the utterances. What wisdom is this? They admitted the existence of great intellectual and rhetorical superiority; but they stood in doubt in reference to the origin of such superiority; was it from above, or from beneath? Such mighty works, As the evangelist notes in Mar. 6:5, that no mighty work had been done in Nazareth, these must refer to what had been reported there. They do not venture to deny his wisdom or his miracles, but, by wondering at them, really bear witness to them. This admission left them inexcusable, both intellectually and morally, for not receiving Jesus as the true Messiah.
Mar. 6:3. Is not this the carpenter? This, and the Jewish custom which required every father to teach his son a trade, whatever pursuit in life he might eventually follow, indicate that Christ worked in his earlier years at the carpenters trade with his father. St. Marks is the only gospel which gives this name as applied to our Lord himself. In Mat. 13:55, it is said that they called him the carpenters son. There is no contradiction; some called him one, some the other name. The word translated carpenter here is of wider meaning than our word carpenter. It includes all workers in wood, our cabinet-maker as well as carpenter. Son of Mary. Though neither of the evangelists speak of Josephs death, yet it may be plainly inferred that Christ was now called the son of Mary (Mar. 6:3), because of her being a widow. See Luk. 8:19; Joh. 2:12; Joh. 19:25-27. Brother of James, etc., . . . sisters here with us. These four were either (1) own brothers and sisters of Jesus, children of Joseph and Mary; or (2) children of Joseph by a former marriage; or, (3) cousins (brothers taken in the wider sense of near relatives), children of Clopas and Mary, sister of Mary the mother of Jesus (Joh. 19:25, with Mar. 15:40). The weight of Protestant authority, on the whole, favors the idea that they were own brothers of Jesus. For a discussion of this subject, see my Commentary on John, pp. 48, 49, Of the four brethren here named, James came to have authority hardly, if any, less than that of an apostle, as the leading figure in the church at Jerusalem. He was called by early writers James the Just, and wrote the Epistle of James. He must not be confounded with the apostle James, who was the brother of John. Of Joses and Simon nothing more is known. Judas was probably the author of the Epistle of Jude. They were offended. That is, they stumbled, and fell into error. That Jesus was a carpenter, had grown up in their midst, and that they knew all about his family, proved to them that he could not be the Messiah, whom they expected to be a temporal prince surrounded with earthly splendor. His pure life for thirty years in their midst, his surpassing wisdom and mighty works counted nothing with them.
Mar. 6:4. A prophet is not without honor. This was a common proverb that Christ applied to his case, showing that he was rejected on these natural principles, not because they had not evidence in his works, but because they had prejudice against his lowly origin among men. The proverb is founded on human experience. There is a kind of natural jealousy among the companions and neighbors of a man who rises from their level until he is far above them.
Mar. 6:5. And he could there do no mighty work. His power was not changed. His miracles were not feats of magic, but required two conditions to call them forthan opportunity, and a sufficient moral purpose. Unbelief prevented both. The unbelieving would not come for healing; to heal such would be contrary to his purpose in the miracles, the demonstration of his spiritual power. Hence he could not. When men do not believe, they do not give him the opportunity to save them, and to save the unbelieving is contrary to his purpose, and impossible.Schaff. He could not, not from a lack of power, but because the conditions that he always required before he would exercise his power were absent. Those who expect his blessing must come for it in faith.
Mar. 6:6. He marvelled. Our Lord does not marvel at other human things generally; but he does marvel, on the one hand, at faith, when, as in the case of the centurion, it overcomes in its grandeur all human hindrances, and, on the other, all unbelief, when it can, in the face of numerous divine manifestations, harden itself into a willful rejection on himself. See Mat. 8:10. And he went. He now seems to have left Nazareth, never to return to it, or preach in its synagogue, or revisit the home where he had so long toiled as the village carpenter. Went round about the villages. On the evening of the day of his rejection at Nazareth, or more probably on the morrow, our Lord appears to have commenced a short circuit in Galilee, in the direction of Capernaum.
II. THE APOSTLES SENT FORTH.Mar. 6:7. And he called unto him the twelve. The apostles. After long wanderings and continuous trials, the twelve were now, in their Masters opinion, in a measure prepared to work by themselves in spreading the new kingdom. Matthew gives a touching reason for the mission of the twelve. It was because he pitied the multitude, who were like harassed panting sheep without a shepherd, and like a harvest left unreaped for want of laborers (Mat. 9:36-38). Another reason was that the Master wished to train them for their great work under his direction. Two by two. They were sent out in pairs that they might counsel, help and encourage one another, an example that might still be followed with profit. Gave them power over unclean spirits. Their work was to cast out unclean spirits in the world and the divine authority was given to cast them out of the men who were possessed of demons. This power was needful that they might be able to demonstrate that they were the Lords messengers.
Mar. 6:8. Commanded them. There follows now the charge that he gave them, Mat. 10:5-42, gives this charge at much greater length, Nothing for their journey. Make no preparation, such as is ordinarily made on the eve of a journey; set out just as you are, God will provide for all your wants. The open hospitality of the East, so often used as the basis for dissemination of new thoughts, would be ample for their maintenance. A staff only, A walkingstick as used in journeys upon foot to support and ease the traveler. Matthew (Mat. 10:10) gives neither staves; i.e., they were to take one only. Scrip, A wallet or small bag (compare 1Sa. 17:40), It was so called, perhaps, because it was designed to hold scraps, trifling articles, scraped off, as it were, from something larger, It was part of the pilgrims or travelers equipage. Money. Literally, brass, or rather copper, said to be the first ore that was wrought. Copper having been early used for money, the word has sometimes that meaning.
Mar. 6:9. Be shod with sandals. Such as they had on at the time, without waiting for shoes especially adapted for the journey. In Matthew, they are directed not to wear shoes; here, to be shod with sandals. The shoe of the ancients resembled the modern shoe; the sandal was simply a sole of leather, felt, cloth, or wood, bound upon the feet by thongs. Not put on two coats. Literally, tunics. The tunic (Greek) was the inner garment, worn next the skin, usually with sleeves, and reaching to the knees. It answered rather to our shirt than to our coat. The entire outfit shows that they were plain men, to whom there was no extraordinary self-denial in the matter or the mode of their mission. They were going to their brethren (Mat. 10:5), and the best way was to throw themselves on their hospitality. They were accustomed to live in about this way.
Mar. 6:10. In what place soever ye enter into a house. On their arrival at a city, they were to settle down in the first house to which they obtained access, which, however, was not to exclude prudence and well ascertained information (Matthew); and, once settled in a house, they were to keep to it, and try to make it the center of a divine work in that place. This injunction was meant to exclude fastidious and restless changes.
Mar. 6:11. Shake off the dust . . . testimony against them. By this symbolical action they vividly shook themselves from all connection with such, and all responsibility for the guilt of rejecting them and their message. Such symbolical actions were common in ancient times, even among others than the Jews. More tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrah. See Gen. 13:13; chaps. 18, 19. The cities that stood out in the history of the world, as most conspicuous for their infamy, were yet less guilty (as sinning less against light and knowledge) than those who rejected the messengers of the King.
Mar. 6:12. They went out, and preached that men should repent. This is one-half of the brief, unambitious narrative of the first apostolic tour of the apostles. Going out from the Lords presence, or the place where he delivered these instructions, they proceeded to fulfill them, not at random or confusedly, but on a systematic method, going about or through the country and among the villages, or from town to town. Men should repent. The same message which had been already brought by John the Baptist and by Christ himself. The time had come for preaching the cross of Christ.
Mar. 6:13. They cast out many devils. In this verse we have the other half of the evangelists report of the first apostolic tour. Anointed with oil. To suppose that the oil was used medicinally, is contrary to the whole tenor of the narratives. It was the vehicle of healing power committed to them an external sign such as our Lord sometimes used to connect himself and the person cured. It was probably also a symbol of anointing by the Holy Spirit.Schaff. The Jews were in the habit of anointing their faces and hair with oil every day when they went among their fellows. This was omitted when sick or fasting. The apostles anointed a sick man when about to heal him with a word and send him forth. It meant that the patient was able to go out among his fellow-men.
FACT QUESTIONS 6:1-13
286.
How far from Capernaum to Nazareth?
287.
What other incidents occur after the raising of the daughter of Jairas before he arrives at Nazareth? (Cf. Mat. 9:27-34)
288.
What of the mother of Jesuswhere was she living?where were his sisters? Were they married?
289.
Was Jesus keeping the law by worshipping in the synagogue?
290.
How did those of Nazareth express their astonishment?
291.
If Jesus did no mighty works in Nazareth which mighty works are meant in Mar. 6:2?
292.
What Jewish custom was observed in the fact that Jesus was a carpenter?
293.
What is inferred in the expression Son of Mary?
294.
Give the three opinions as to who were the four of Mar. 6:3.
295.
Why is a prophet without honor in his own country?Please do not give a superficial answerrelate this to our blessed Lord and answer accordingly.
296.
What were the two conditions upon which Jesus could perform His mighty works?
297.
What are the two things that cause our Lord to marvel?
298.
What was the reason for the mission of the twelve? Cf. Mat. 9:36-38.
299.
What was the purpose of the mission?
300.
Read Mat. 10:10 and Mar. 6:8 and explain the apparent contradiction.
301.
What was a scrip? What kind of money? Why sandals? What is meant by two coats?
302.
In what way did Jesus prevent fastidiousness and restless change?
303.
Why shake the dust from their feet?
304.
Please explain the purpose in anointing with oil.
Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series
SUMMARY 6:17:23
The testimony for Jesus furnished by the preceding section, is based chiefly on the opinions which men formed concerning him. The disciples, though slow and hard of heart to realize his true nature, were constrained by the continued demonstration to acknowledge his inherent divine power. The masses of the people who had witnessed his miracles were wild with excitement wherever he went, and they brought to him their sick from every quarter, a practice which could not possibly have been kept up had not his cures been real and unfailing. His enemies, though they differed in opinion as to the source of his miraculous power, with one consent acknowledged its reality, and none of them counted him less than a prophet. The strange conceit that he was John the Baptist, or that he was one of the old prophets raised to life again, attests the struggle of unbelieving minds in trying to solve the problem of his power and of his being. Even the Nazarenes, who, of all his enemies, knew him most intimately and rejected him most scornfully, were constrained to wonder whence he obtained his wisdom and his mighty works. There was only one solution of the problem which was satisfying to the mind, and those alone were satisfied with their own conclusion and rested in it, who believed him to be the Christ and the Son of God. And to this day the men who have rejected this conclusion and have tried to account for the career of Jesus in some other way, have been driven to conceits as baseless and as unreasonable as any of those adopted by the Jews.McGarvey.
Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series
VI.
(1-6) And he went out from thence.See Notes on Mat. 13:54-58.
His disciples follow him.St, Matthew does not name this fact. As put by St. Mark it seems to imply that the disciples did not accompany their Master, but came subsequently.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
Chapter 6
WITHOUT HONOR IN HIS OWN COUNTRY ( Mar 6:1-6 ) 6:1-6 Jesus left there and came into his own native place, and his disciples went with him. When the Sabbath came he began to teach in the synagogue. Many, as they listened, were amazed. “Where,” they said, “did this man get this knowledge? What wisdom is this that has been given to him? And how can such wonderful things keep happening through his hands? Is not this the carpenter, Mary’s son, the brother of James and Joses and Judah and Simon? Are his sisters not here with us?” And they took offence at him. So Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honour except in his own native place, and amongst his own kinsmen and in his own family.” And he was not able to do any wonderful deeds there, except that he laid his hands on a few sick people and healed them. And he was amazed by their unwillingness to believe. He made a tour of the villages teaching.
When Jesus came to Nazareth he put himself to a very severe test. He was coming to his home town; and there are no severer critics of any man than those who have known him since his boyhood. It was never meant to be a private visit simply to see his old home and his own people. He came attended by his disciples. That is to say he came as a Rabbi. The Rabbis moved about the country accompanied by their little circle of disciples, and it was as a teacher, with his disciples, that Jesus came.
He went into the synagogue and he taught. His teaching was greeted not with wonder but with a kind of contempt. “They took offence at him.” They were scandalised that a man who came from a background like Jesus should say and do things such as he. Familiarity had bred a mistaken contempt.
They refused to listen to what he had to say for two reasons.
(i) They said, “Is not this the carpenter?” The word used for carpenter is tekton ( G5045) . Now tekton ( G5045) does mean a worker in wood, but it means more than merely a joiner. It means a craftsman. In Homer the tekton ( G5045) is said to build ships and houses and temples. In the old days, and still to-day in many places, there could be found in little towns and villages a craftsman who would build you anything from a chicken-coop to a house; the kind of man who could build a wall, mend a roof, repair a gate; the craftsman, the handy-man, who with few or no instruments and with the simplest tools could turn his hand to any job. That is what Jesus was like. But the point is that the people of Nazareth despised Jesus because he was a working-man. He was a man of the people, a layman. a simple man–and therefore they despised him.
One of the leaders of the Labour movement was that great soul Will Crooks. He was born into a home where one of his earliest recollections was seeing his mother crying because she had no idea where the next meal was to come from. He started work in a blacksmith’s shop at five shillings a week. He became a fine craftsman and one of the bravest and straightest men who ever lived. He entered municipal politics and became the first Labour Mayor of any London borough. There were people who were offended when Will Crooks became Mayor of Poplar. In a crowd one day a lady said with great disgust, “They’ve made that common fellow, Crooks, Mayor, and he’s no better than a working man.” A man in the crowd–Will Crooks himself–turned round and raised his hat. “Quite right, madam,” he said. “I am not better than a working man.”
The people of Nazareth despised Jesus because he was a working man. To us that is his glory, because it means that God, when he came to earth, claimed no exemptions. He took upon himself the common life with all its common tasks.
The accidents of birth and fortune and pedigree have nothing to do with manhood. As Pope had it,
“Worth makes the man, and want of it the fellow;
The rest is all but leather or prunello.”
As Burns had it,
“A prince can mak’ a belted knight,
A marquis, duke, an’ a’that!
But an honest man’s aboon his might–
Guid faith, he mauna fa’that!
For a’that, an’a’that,
Their dignities an’a’that,
The pith o’ sense an’pride o’worth
Are higher rank than a’that.”
We must ever beware of the temptation to evaluate men by externals and incidentals, and not by native worth.
(ii) They said, “Is not this Mary’s son? Do we not know his brothers and his sisters?” The fact that they called Jesus Mary’s son tells us that Joseph must have been dead. Therein we have the key to one of the enigmas of Jesus’ life. Jesus was only thirty-three when he died; and yet he did not leave Nazareth until he was thirty. ( Luk 3:23.) Why this long delay? Why this lingering in Nazareth while a world waited to be saved? The reason was that Joseph died young and Jesus took upon himself the support of his mother and of his brothers and sisters; and only when they were old enough to fend for themselves did he go forth. He was faithful in little, and therefore in the end God gave him much to do.
But the people of Nazareth despised him because they knew his family. Thomas Campbell was a very considerable poet. His father had no sense of poetry at all. When Thomas’ first book emerged with his name on it, he sent a copy to his father. The old man took it up and looked at it. It was really the binding and not the contents at all that he was looking at. “Who would have thought,” he said in wonder, “that our Tom could have made a book like that?” Sometimes when familiarity should breed a growing respect it breeds an increasing and easy-going familiarity. Sometimes we are too near people to see their greatness.
The result of all this was that Jesus could do no mighty works in Nazareth. The atmosphere was wrong; and there are some things that cannot be done unless the atmosphere is right.
(i) It is still true that no man can be healed if he refuses to be healed. Margot Asquith tells of the death of Neville Chamberlain. Everyone knows how that man’s policy turned out in such a way that it broke his heart. Margot Asquith met his doctor, Lord Horder. “You can’t be much of a doctor,” she said, “as Neville Chamberlain was only a few years older than Winston Churchill, and I should have said he was a strong man. Were you fond of him?” Lord Horder replied, “I was very fond of him. I like all unlovable men. I have seen too many of the other kind. Chamberlain suffered from shyness. He did not want to live; and when a man says that, no doctor can save him.” We may call it faith; we may call it the will to live; but without it no man can survive.
(ii) There can be no preaching in the wrong atmosphere. Our churches would be different places if congregations would only remember that they preach far more than half the sermon. In an atmosphere of expectancy the poorest effort can catch fire. In an atmosphere of critical coldness or bland indifference, the most Spirit-packed utterance can fall lifeless to the earth.
(iii) There can be no peace-making in the wrong atmosphere. If men have come together to hate, they will hate. If men have come together to refuse to understand, they will misunderstand. If men have come together to see no other point of view but their own, they will see no other. But if men have come together, loving Christ and seeking to love each other, even those who are most widely separated can come together in him.
There is laid on us the tremendous responsibility that we can either help or hinder the work of Jesus Christ. We can open the door wide to him–or we can slam it in his face.
HERALDS OF THE KING ( Mar 6:7-11 ) 6:7-11 Jesus called The Twelve to him and he began to send them out in twos. He gave them power over unclean spirits. He ordered them to take nothing for the road except a staff. He ordered them not to take bread, or a wallet, or a copper coin in their belts. He ordered them to wear sandals and, he said, “You must not put on two tunics.” He said to them, “Wherever you enter into a house, stay there, until you leave that place; and, if any place refuses to give you hospitality, and, if in any place they will not listen to you, when you leave there, shake off the dust from the soles of your feet, to bear witness to the fact that they were guilty of such conduct.”
We will understand all the references in this passage better if we have in our minds a picture of what the Jew in Palestine in the time of Jesus ordinarily wore. He had five articles of dress.
(i) The innermost garment was the chiton ( G5509) , or sindon ( G4616) ; or tunic. It was very simple. It was simply a long piece of cloth folded over and sewn down one side. It was long enough to reach almost to the feet. Holes were cut in the top corners for the arms. Such garments were commonly sold without any hole for the head to go through. That was to prove that the garment was in fact new, and it was to allow the buyer to arrange the neck-line as he or she wished. For instance, the neckline was different for men and women. It had to be lower in the case of women so that a mother could suckle her baby. At its simplest, this inner garment was little more than a sack with holes cut in the corners. In a more developed form it had long close-fitting sleeves; and sometimes it was opened up so that it was made to button down the front like a cassock.
(ii) The outer garment was called the himation ( G2440) . It was used as a cloak by day and as a blanket by night. It was composed of a piece of cloth seven feet from left to right and four and a half feet from top to bottom. One and a half feet at each side was folded in and in the top corner of the folded part holes were cut for the arms to go through. It was therefore almost square. Usually it was made of two strips of cloth, each seven feet by a little more than two feet, sewn together. The seam came down the back. But a specially carefully made himation ( G2440) might be woven of one piece, as Jesus’ robe was ( Joh 19:23). This was the main article of dress.
(iii) There was the girdle. It was worn over the two garments we have already described. The skirts of the tunic could be hitched up under the girdle for work or for running. Sometimes the tunic was hitched above the girdle, and in the hollow place so made above the girdle a parcel or a package could be carried. The girdle was often double for the eighteen inches from each end. The double part formed a pocket in which money was carried.
(iv) There was the head-dress. It was a piece of cotton or linen about a yard square. It could be white, or blue, or black. sometimes it was made of coloured silk. It was folded diagonally and then placed on the head so that it protected the back of the neck, the cheek-bones, and the eyes from the heat and glare of the sun. It was held in place by a circlet of easily stretched, semi-elastic wool round the head.
(v) There were the sandals. They were merely flat soles of leather, wood or matted grass. The soles had thongs at the edges through which a strap passed to hold the sandal on to the foot.
The wallet may be one of two things.
(a) It may be the ordinary travellers’ bag. This was made of a kid’s skin. Often the animal was skinned whole and the skin retained the original shape of the animal, legs, tail, head and all! It had a strap at each side and was slung over the shoulder. In it the shepherd, or pilgrim, or traveller carried bread and raisins, and olives, and cheese enough to last him for a day or two.
(b) There is a very interesting suggestion. The Greek word is pera ( G4082) ; and it can mean a collecting-bag. Very often the priests and devotees went out with these bags to collect contributions for their temple and their god. They have been described as “pious robbers with their booty growing from village to village.” There is an inscription in which a man who calls himself a slave of the Syrian goddess says that he brought in seventy bags full each journey for his lady.
If the first meaning is taken, Jesus meant that his disciples must take no supplies for the road, but must trust God for everything. If the second meaning is taken, it means that they must not be like the rapacious priests. They must go about giving and not getting.
There are two other interesting things here.
(i) It was the Rabbinic law that when a man entered the Temple courts he must put off his staff and shoes and money girdle. All ordinary things were to be set aside on entering the sacred place. It may well be that Jesus was thinking of this, and that he meant his men to see that the humble homes they were to enter were every bit as sacred as the Temple courts.
(ii) Hospitality was a sacred duty in the East. When a stranger entered a village, it was not his duty to search for hospitality; it was the duty of the village to offer it. Jesus told his disciples that if hospitality was refused, and if doors and ears were shut, they must shake off the dust of that place from their feet when they left. The Rabbinic law said that the dust of a Gentile country was defiled, and that when a man entered Palestine from another country he must shake off every particle of dust of the unclean land. It was a pictorial formal denial that a Jew could have any fellowship even with the dust of a heathen land. It is as if Jesus said, “If they refuse to listen to you, the only thing you can do is to treat them as a rigid Jew would treat a Gentile house. There can be no fellowship between them and you.”
So we can see that the mark of the Christian disciple was to be utter simplicity, complete trust, and the generosity which is out always to give and never to demand.
THE MESSAGE AND THE MERCY OF THE KING ( Mar 6:12-13 ) 6:12-13 So they went out and heralded forth the summons to repentance; and they cast out many demons, and anointed many sick people with oil and healed them.
Here in brief summary is an account of the work that the Twelve did when Jesus sent them out.
(i) To the people they brought Jesus’ message. The word used is literally that used for a heralds proclamation. When the apostles went out to preach to men, they did not create a message; they brought a message. they did not ten people what they believed and what they considered probable; they told people what Jesus had told them. It was not their opinions they brought to men; it was God’s truth. The message of the prophets always began, “Thus saith the Lord.” The man who would bring an effective message to others must first receive it from God.
(ii) To the people they brought the King’s Message; and the King’s message was, “Repent!” Clearly that was a disturbing message. To repent means to change one’s mind and then to fit one’s actions to this change. Repentance means a change of heart and a change of action. It is bound to hurt, for it involves the bitter realization that the way we were following is wrong. It is bound to disturb, because it means a complete reversal of life.
That is precisely why so few people do repent–for the last thing most people desire is to be disturbed. Lady Asquith, in a vivid phrase, speaks of people who “dawdle towards death.” So many people do that. they resent all strenuous activity. Life for them is “a land where it is always afternoon.” In some ways the positive, vivid, swashbuckling sinner who is crashing his way to some self-chosen goal is a more attractive person than the negative, nebulous, loiterer who drifts spinelessly and without direction through life.
There is a passage in the novel Quo Vadis? Vinicius, the young Roman, has fallen in love with a girl who is a Christian. Because he is not a Christian she will have nothing to do with him. He follows her to the secret night gathering of the little group of Christians, and there, unknown to anyone, he listens to the service. He hears Peter preach, and, as he listens, something happens to him. “He felt that if he wished to follow that teaching, he would have to place on a burning pile all his thoughts, habits and character, his whole nature up to that moment, burn them into ashes and then fill himself with a life altogether different, and an entirely new soul.”
That is repentance. But what if a man has no other desire than to be left alone? The change is not necessarily from robbery, theft, murder, adultery and glaring sins. The change may be from a life that is completely selfish, instinctively demanding, totally inconsiderate, the change from a self-centred to a God-centred life–and a change like that hurts. W. M. Macgregor quotes a saying of the Bishop in Les Miserables. “I always bothered some of them; for through me the outside air came at them; my presence in their company made them feel as if a door had been left open and they were in a draught.” Repentance is no sentimental feeling sorry; repentance is a revolutionary thing–that is why so few repent.
(iii) To the people they brought the King’s mercy. Not only did they bring this shattering demand upon men; they brought also help and healing. They brought liberation to poor, demon-possessed men and women. From the beginning Christianity has aimed to bring health to body and to soul; it has always aimed not only at soul salvation, but at whole salvation. It brought not only a hand to lift from moral wreckage, but a hand to lift from physical pain and suffering. It is most suggestive that they anointed with oil. In the ancient world oil was regarded as a panacea. Galen, the great Greek doctor, said, “Oil is the best of all instruments for healing diseased bodies.” In the hands of the servants of Christ the old cures acquired a new virtue. The strange thing is that they used the things which men’s limited knowledge knew at that time; but the spirit of Christ gave the healer a new power and the old cure a new virtue. the power of God became available in common things to the faith of men.
So the Twelve brought to men the message and the mercy of the King, and that remains the church’s task today and every day.
THREE VERDICTS ON JESUS ( Mar 6:14-15 ) 6:14-15 King Herod heard about Jesus, for his name was known everywhere. He said, “John the Baptizer has risen from the dead. That is why these wonderful powers work through him.” Others said, “It is Elijah.” Others said, “He is a prophet, like one of the famous prophets.”
By this time news of Jesus had penetrated all over the country. The tale had reached the ears of Herod. The reason why he had not up to this time heard of Jesus may well be due to the fact that his official residence in Galilee was in Tiberias. Tiberias was largely a Gentile city, and, as far as we know, Jesus never set foot in it. But the mission of the Twelve had taken Jesus’ fame all over Galilee, so that his name was upon every lip. In this passage we have three verdicts upon Jesus.
(i) There is the verdict of a guilty conscience. Herod had been guilty of allowing the execution of John the Baptizer, and now he was haunted by what he had done. Whenever a man does an evil thing, the whole world becomes his enemy. Inwardly, he cannot command his thoughts; and, whenever he allows himself to think, his thoughts return to the wicked thing that he has done. No man can avoid living with himself; and when his inward self is an accusing self, life becomes intolerable. Outwardly, he lives in the fear that he will be found out and that some day the consequences of his evil deed will catch up on him.
Some time ago a convict escaped from a Glasgow prison. After forty-eight hours of liberty he was recaptured, cold and hungry and exhausted. He said that it was not worth it. “I didn’t have a minute,” he said. “Hunted, hunted all the time. You don’t have a chance. You can’t stop to eat. You can’t stop to sleep.”
Hunted–that is the word which so well describes the life of the man who has done some evil thing. When Herod heard of Jesus, the first thing that flashed into his mind was that this was John the Baptizer whom he had killed, come back to reckon with him. Because the sinning life is the haunted life, sin is never worth the cost.
(ii) There is the verdict of the nationalist. Some thought that this Jesus was Elijah come again. The Jews waited for the Messiah. There were many ideas about the Messiah, but the commonest of all was that he would be a conquering king who would first give the Jews back their liberty and who would then lead them on a triumphant campaign throughout the world. It was an essential part of that belief that, before the coming of the Messiah, Elijah, the greatest of the prophets, would come again to be his herald and his forerunner. Even to this day, when the Jews celebrate the Passover Feast, they leave at the table an empty chair called Elijah’s chair. They place it there with a glass of wine before it, and at one part of their service they go to the door and fling it wide open that Elijah may come in and bring at last the long-awaited news that the Messiah has come.
This is the verdict of the man who desires to find in Jesus the realization of his own ambitions. He thinks of Jesus, not as someone to whom he must submit and whom he must obey; he thinks of Jesus as someone he can use. Such a man thinks more of his own ambitions than of the will of God.
(iii) There is the verdict of the man who is waiting for the voice of God. There were those who saw in Jesus a prophet. In those days the Jews were pathetically conscious that for three hundred years the voice of prophecy had been silent. They had listened to the arguments and the legal disputations of the Rabbis; they had listened to the moral lectures of the synagogue; but it was three long centuries since they had listened to a voice which proclaimed, “Thus saith the Lord.” Men in those days were listening for the authentic voice of God–and in Jesus they heard it. It is true that Jesus was more than a prophet. He did not bring only the voice of God. He brought to men the very power and the very life and the very being of God. But those who saw in Jesus a prophet were at least more right than the conscience-stricken Herod and the expectant nationalists. If they had got that length in their thoughts of Jesus, it was not impossible that they might take the further step and see in him the Son of God.
AN EVIL WOMAN’S REVENGE ( Mar 6:16-29 ) 6:16-29 But when Herod heard about it, he said, “This is John, whom I beheaded, risen from the dead.” For Herod had sent and seized John and had bound him in prison because of the affair of Herodias, his brother Philip’s wife–because he had married her. For John had said to Herod, “It is not right for you to have your brother’s wife.” Herodias set herself against him, and wished to kill him, and she could not succeed in doing so, for Herod was afraid of John, because he well knew that he was a just and holy man, and he kept him safe. When Herod listened to John he did not know what to do, and yet he found a certain pleasure in listening to him. But a day of opportunity came, when, on his birthday, Herod was giving a banquet to his courtiers and to his captains and to the leading men of Galilee. Herodias’ daughter herself came in and danced before them, and she pleased Herod and those who were reclining at table with him. The king said to the maiden, “Ask me for anything you like and I will give it to you.” He swore to her, “Whatever you ask me for, I will give you, even up to half of my kingdom.” She went out and said to her mother, “What am I to ask for myself?” She said, “John the Baptizer’s head.” At once she hurried into the king and made her request. “I wish,” she said, “that here and now you will give me the head of John the Baptizer on a plate.” The king was grief-stricken, but, because of the oath he had taken, and because he had taken it in front of his guests, he did not wish to break his word to her. So immediately the king despatched an executioner with orders to bring his head. The executioner went away and beheaded him in prison, and brought his head on a plate, and gave it to the maiden, and the maiden gave it to her mother. When his disciples heard about it, they came and took away his body and laid it in a tomb.
This story has all the simplicity of tremendous drama.
First, let us look at the scene. The scene was the castle of Machaerus. Machaerus stood on a lonely ridge, surrounded by terrible ravines, overlooking the east side of the Dead Sea. It was one of the loneliest and grimmest and most unassailable fortresses in the world. To this day the dungeons are there, and the traveller can still see the staples and the iron hooks in the wall to which John must have been bound. It was in that bleak and desolate fortress that the last act of John’s life was played out.
Second, let us look at the characters. The marriage tangles of the Herod family are quite incredible, and their inter-relations are so complicated that they become almost impossible to work out. When Jesus was born Herod the Great was king. He was the king who was responsible for the massacre of the children in Bethlehem ( Mat 2:16-18). Herod the Great was married many times. Towards the end of his life he became almost insanely suspicious, and murdered member after member of his own family, until it became a Jewish saying, “It is safer to be Herod’s pig than Herod’s son.”
First, he married Doris, by whom he had a son, Antipater, whom he murdered. Then he married Mariamne, the Hasmonean, by whom he had two sons, Alexander and Aristobulus, whom he also murdered. Herodias, the villainess of the present passage, was the daughter of this Aristobulus. Herod the Great then married another Mariamne, called the Boethusian. By her he had a son called Herod Philip. Herod Philip married Herodias, who was the daughter of his half-brother, Aristobulus, and who was therefore his own niece. By Herodias, Herod Philip had a daughter called Salome, who is the girl who danced before Herod of Galilee in our passage. Herod the Great then married Malthake, by whom he had two sons–Archelaus and Herod Antipas who is the Herod of our passage and the ruler of Galilee. The Herod Philip who married Herodias originally, and who was the father of Salome, inherited none of Herod the Great’s dominions. He lived as a wealthy private citizen in Rome. Herod Antipas visited him in Rome. There he seduced Herodias and persuaded her to leave her husband and marry him.
Note who Herodias was: (a) she was the daughter of his half-brother, Aristobulus, and therefore his niece; and (b) she was the wife of his half-brother Herod Philip, and therefore his sister-in-law. Previously Herod Antipas had been married to a daughter of the king of the Nabataeans, an Arabian country. She escaped to her father who invaded Herod’s territory to avenge his daughter’s honour and heavily defeated Herod. To complete this astounding picture Herod the Great finally married Cleopatra of Jerusalem, by whom he had a son called Philip the Tetrarch. This Philip married Salome who was at one and the same time (a) the daughter of Herod Philip, his half brother, and (b) the daughter of Herodias, who herself was the daughter of Aristobulus, another of his half brothers. Salome was therefore at one and the same time his niece and his grand-niece. If we put this in the form of a table it will be easier to follow. See the table below.
Herod The Great
Herod the Great married
—————————————————————————————————–
| | | | |
Cleopatra Doris Mariamnethe Mariamne Malthake
of Jerusalem | the Hasmonean Boethusian |
| | | | ——————-
| | —————— | | |
| | | | | | |
Philip the Antipater, Alexander, Aristobulus, Herod Philip, Herod Antipas Archelaus
Tetrach, murdered by murdered by murdered by who married who married
who married his father his father his father Herodias Herodias
Salome | |
Herodias Salome
Seldom in history can there have been such a series of matrimonial entanglements as existed in the Herod family. By marrying Herodias, his brother’s wife, Herod had broken the Jewish law ( Lev 18:16; Lev 20:21) and had outraged the laws of decency and of morality.
Because of this adulterous marriage and because of Herod’s deliberate seduction of his brother’s wife, John had publicly rebuked him. It took courage to rebuke in public an oriental despot who had the power of life and death, and John’s courage in rebuking evil wherever he saw it is commemorated in the Prayer-book collect for St. John the Baptist’s Day.
“Almighty God, by whose providence thy servant, John the
Baptist, was wonderfully born, and sent to prepare the way of thy
Son our Saviour, by preaching of repentance; Make us so to
follow his doctrine and holy life, that we may truly repent
according to his preaching; and after his example constantly
speak the truth, boldly rebuke vice, and patiently suffer for the
truth’s sake.”
In spite of John’s rebuke Herod still feared and respected him, for John was so obviously a man of sincerity and of goodness; but with Herodias it was different. She was implacably hostile to John and determined to eliminate him. She got her chance at Herod’s birthday feast which he was celebrating with his courtiers and his captains. Into that feast her daughter Salome came to dance. Solo dances in those days in such society were disgusting and licentious pantomimes. That a princess of the royal blood should so expose and demean herself is beyond belief because such dances were the art of professional prostitutes. The very fact that she did this is a grim commentary on the character of Salome, and of the mother who allowed and encouraged her to do so. But Herod was pleased; and Herod offered her any reward; and thus Herodias got the chance she had plotted for so long; and John, to gratify her spleen, was executed.
There is something to learn from every character in this story.
(i) Herod stands revealed before us.
(a) He was an odd mixture. At one and the same time he feared John and respected him. At one and the same time he dreaded John’s tongue and yet found pleasure in listening to him. There is nothing in this world so queer a mixture as a human being. It is man’s characteristic that he is a mixture. Boswell, in his London Diary, tells us how he sat in church enjoying the worship of God and yet at the same time was planning how to pick up a prostitute in the streets of London that same night.
The strange fact about man is that he is haunted both by sin and by goodness. Robert Louis Stevenson speaks about people “clutching the remnants of virtue in the brothel or on the scaffold.” Sir Norman Birkett, the great Q.C. and judge, speaks of the criminals he had defended and tried. “They may seek to escape but they cannot; they are condemned to some nobility; all their lives long the desire for good is at their heels, the implacable hunter.” Herod could fear John and love him, could hate his message and yet not be able to free himself from its insistent fascination. Herod was simply a human being. Are we so very different?
(b) Herod was a man who acted on impulse. He made his reckless promise to Salome without thinking. It may well be that he made it when he was more than a little drunk and flown with wine. Let a man have a care. Let a man think before he speaks. Let him never by self-indulgence get into a state when he loses his powers of judgment and is liable to do things for which afterwards he will be very sorry.
(c) Herod feared what men might say. He kept his promise to Salome because he had made it in front of his cronies and was unwilling to break it. He feared their jeers, their laughter; he feared that they would think him weak. Many a man has done things he afterwards bitterly regretted because he had not the moral courage to do the right. Many a man has made himself far worse than he is because he feared the laughter of his so-called friends.
(ii) Salome and Herodias stand revealed before us. There is a certain greatness about Herodias. Years after this her Herod sought the title of King. He went to Rome to plead for it; instead of giving him the title the Emperor banished him to Gaul for having the insolence and the insubordination to ask for such a title. Herodias was told that she need not share this exile, that she might go free, and she proudly answered that where her husband went she went too.
Herodias shows us what an embittered woman can do. There is nothing in this world as good as a good woman, and nothing as bad as a bad woman. the Jewish Rabbis had a quaint saying. They said that a good woman might marry a bad man, for by so doing she would end by making him as good as herself. But they said that a good man might never marry a bad woman, for she would inevitably drag him down to her own level. The trouble with Herodias was that she wished to eliminate the one man who had the courage to confront her with her sin. She wished to do as she liked with no one to remind her of the moral law. She murdered John that she might sin in peace. She forgot that while she need no longer meet John, she still had to meet God.
(iii) John the Baptizer stands revealed before us. He stands as the man of courage. He was a child of the desert and of the wide open spaces, and to imprison him in the dark dungeons of Machaerus must have been the last refinement of torture. But John preferred death to falsehood. He lived for the truth and he died for it. The man who brings to men the voice of God acts as a conscience. Many a man would silence his conscience if he could, and therefore the man who speaks for God must always take his life and his fortune in his hands.
THE PATHOS OF THE CROWD ( Mar 6:30-34 ) 6:30-34 The apostles came together again to Jesus, and they told him all that they had done and taught. He said to them, “Come you by yourselves into a lonely place, and rest for a while.” For there were many coming and going and they could not find time even to eat. So they went away in the boat to a lonely place all by themselves. Now many saw them going away and recognized them; and they ran together there on foot from all the towns and went on ahead of them. When Jesus disembarked he saw a great crowd, and he was moved to the depths of his being with pity for them, because they were like sheep who had no shepherd; and he began to teach them many things.
When the disciples came back from their mission they reported to Jesus all that they had done. The demanding crowds were so insistent that they had no time even to eat; so Jesus told them to come with him to a lonely place on the other side of the lake that they might have peace and rest for a little time.
Here we see what might be called the rhythm of the Christian life. The Christian life is a continuous going into the presence of God from the presence of men and coming out into the presence of men from the presence of God. It is like the rhythm of sleep and work. We cannot work unless we have our time of rest; and sleep will not come unless we have worked until we are tired.
There are two dangers in life. First, there is the danger of a too constant activity. No man can work without rest; and no man can live the Christian life unless he gives himself times with God. It may well be that the whole trouble in our lives is that we give God no opportunity to speak to us, because we do not know how to be still and to listen; we give God no time to recharge us with spiritual energy and strength, because there is no time when we wait upon him. How can we shoulder life’s burdens if we have no contact with him who is the Lord of all good life? How can we do God’s work unless in God’s strength? And how can we receive that strength unless we seek in quietness and in loneliness the presence of God?
Second, there is the danger of too much withdrawal. Devotion that does not issue in action is not real devotion. Prayer that does not issue in work is not real prayer. We must never seek the fellowship of God in order to avoid the fellowship of men but in order to fit ourselves better for it. The rhythm of the Christian life is the alternate meeting with God in the secret place and serving men in the market place.
But the rest which Jesus sought for himself and for his disciples was not to be. The crowds saw Jesus and his men going away. At this particular place it was four miles across the lake by boat and ten miles round the top of the lake on foot. On a windless day, or with a contrary wind, a boat might take some time to make the passage, and an energetic person could walk round the top of the lake and be there before the boat arrived. That is exactly what happened; and when Jesus and his men stepped out of the boat the very crowd from which they had sought some little peace was there waiting for them.
Any ordinary man would have been intensely annoyed. The rest Jesus so much desired and which he had so well earned was denied to him. His privacy was invaded. Any ordinary man would have resented it all, but Jesus was moved with pity at the pathos of the crowd. He looked at them; they were so desperately in earnest; they wanted so much what he alone could give them; to him they were like sheep who had no shepherd. What did he mean?
(i) A sheep without the shepherd cannot find the way. Left to ourselves we get lost in life. Principal Cairns spoke of people who feel like “lost children out in the rain.” Dante has a line where he says, “I woke up in the middle of the wood, and it was dark, and there was no clear way before me.” Life can be so bewildering. We can stand at some cross-roads and not know what way to take. It is only when Jesus leads and we follow that we can find the way.
(ii) A sheep without the shepherd cannot find its pasture and its food. In this life we are bound to seek for sustenance. We need the strength which can keep us going; we need the inspiration which can lift us out of ourselves and above ourselves. When we seek it elsewhere our minds are still unsatisfied, our hearts still restless, our souls still unfed. We can gain strength for life only from him who is the living bread.
(iii) A sheep without the shepherd has no defence against the dangers which threaten it. It can defend itself neither from the robbers nor the wild beasts. If life has taught us one thing it must be that we cannot live it alone. No man can defend himself from the temptations which assail him and from the evil of the world which attacks him. Only in the company of Jesus can we walk in the world and keep our garments unspotted from it. Without him we are defenceless; with him we are safe.
LITTLE IS MUCH IN THE HANDS OF JESUS ( Mar 6:35-44 ) 6:35-44 When it was now late the disciples came to Jesus. “The place,” they said, “is lonely, and it is now late. Send them away that they may go into the surrounding countryside and villages and buy themselves something to eat.” He answered, “You give them something to eat.” “Are we,” they said to him, “to go away and buy ten pounds worth of loaves and so give them something to eat?” “How many loaves have you?” he said to them. “Go and see!” When they had found out, they said, “Five and two fishes.” He ordered them to make them all sit down in groups on the green grass. So they sat down in sections of hundreds and of fifties. He took the five loaves and the two fishes, and he looked up into the heaven and blessed them and broke the loaves. He gave them to the disciples to serve the people with them. and he divided up the two fishes among them all. And they all ate until they were completely satisfied; and they gathered up the broken pieces of bread and what was left of the fishes–twelve basketsful. And those who ate the loaves amounted to five thousand men.
It is a notable fact that no miracle seems to have made such an impression on the disciples as this, because this is the only miracle of Jesus which is related in all four gospels. We have already seen how Mark’s gospel really embodies the preaching material of Peter. To read this story, so simply and yet so dramatically told, is to read something that reads exactly like an eye-witness account. Let us note some of the vivid and realistic details.
They sat down on the green grass. It is as if Peter was seeing the whole thing in his mind’s eye again. It so happens that this little descriptive phrase provides us with quite a lot of information. The only time when the grass would be green would be in the late springtime, in mid-April. So it is then that this miracle must have taken place. At that time the sun set at 6 p.m., so this must have happened some time in the late afternoon.
Mark tells us that they sat down in sections of a hundred and of fifty. The word used for sections (prasiai, G4237) is a very pictorial word. It is the normal Greek word for the rows of vegetables in a vegetable garden. When you looked at the little groups, as they sat there in their orderly rows, they looked for all the world like the rows of vegetables in a series of garden plots.
At the end they took up twelve basketsful of fragments. No orthodox Jew travelled without his basket (kophinos, G2894) . The Romans made a jest of the Jew and his basket. There were two reasons for the basket which was a wicker-work affair shaped like a narrow-necked pitcher, broadening out as it went down. First, the very orthodox Jew carried his own food supplies in his basket, so that he would be certain of eating food that was ceremonially clean and pure. Second, many a Jew was an accomplished beggar, and into his basket went the proceeds of his begging. The reason that there were twelve baskets is simply that there were twelve disciples. It was into their own baskets that they frugally gathered up the fragments so that nothing would be lost.
The wonderful thing about this story is that all through it runs an implicit contrast between the attitude of Jesus and the attitude of the disciples.
(i) It shows us two reactions to human need When the disciples saw how late it was, and how tired and hungry the crowd were, they said, “Send them away so that they can find something to eat.” In effect they said, “These people are tired and hungry. Get rid of them and let someone else worry about them.” Jesus said, “You give them something to eat.” In effect Jesus said, “These people are tired and hungry. We must do something about it.” There are always the people who are quite aware that others are in difficulty and trouble, but who wish to push the responsibility for doing something about it on to someone else; and there are always the people who when they see someone up against it feet compelled to do something about it themselves. there are those who say, “Let others worry.” And there are those who say, “I must worry about my brother’s need.”
(ii) It shows us two reactions to human resources. When the disciples were asked to give the people something to eat, they insisted that ten pounds, or what the King James Version calls two hundred “pence” was not enough to buy bread for them. The word the King James Version translates penny is denarius. This was a Roman silver coin worth about 3p. It was the standard day’s wage of a working man. In effect the disciples were saying, “We could not earn enough in more than six months’ work to give this crowd a meal.” They really meant “Anything we have got is no use at all.”
Jesus said, “What have you got?” They had five loaves. These were not like English loaves: they were more like rolls. John ( Joh 6:9) tells us they were barley loaves; and barley loaves were the food of the poorest of the poor. Barley bread was the cheapest and the coarsest of all bread. They had two fishes, which would be about the size of sardines. Tarichaea–which means the salt-fish town–was a well known place on the lake from which salt-fish went out to all over the world. The little salt-fishes were eaten as relish with the dry rolls.
It did not seem much. But Jesus took it and worked wonders with it. In the hands of Jesus little is always much. We may think that we have little of talent or substance to give to Jesus. That is no reason for a hopeless pessimism such as the disciples had. The one fatal thing to say is, “For all I could do, it is not worth my while trying to do anything.” If we put ourselves into the hands of Jesus Christ, there is no telling what he can do with us and through us.
THE CONQUEST OF THE STORM ( Mar 6:45-52 ) 6:45-52 Immediately he made the disciples embark on the boat and go across ahead to Bethsaida while he sent the crowd away. When he had taken leave of them, he went away into a mountain to pray. When it was late the boat was half way across the lake and Jesus was alone upon the land. He saw that they were sore beset as they rowed, for the wind was against them. About the fourth watch of the night he came to them walking on the sea, and it looked as if he meant to pass them by. When they saw him walking on the sea they thought it was a ghost, and they cried out in terror, for they all saw him and they were distracted with fear. At once he spoke with them. “Courage!” he said. “It is I. Don’t be afraid.” And he came into the boat with them, and the wind sank to rest. And they were exceedingly astonished within themselves, because they did not understand about the loaves because their minds were obtuse.
After the hunger of the crowd had been satisfied, Jesus immediately sent his disciples away before he dismissed the crowd. Why should he do that? Mark does not tell us but most probably we have the explanation in John’s account. John tells us that after the crowd had been fed there was a move to take Jesus and to make him king. That was the last thing Jesus desired. It was that very way of power that once, finally and for all, he had rejected at the time of his temptations. He could see it coming. He did not want his disciples to be infected and caught up in this nationalistic outburst. Galilee was the hotbed of revolution. If this movement was not checked, there might well emerge amongst the excitable people a rebellion which would wreck everything and lead to disaster for all concerned. So Jesus sent away his disciples lest they too should become inflamed by this movement, and then he calmed the crowd and bade them farewell.
When he was alone, he went up into a mountain to pray. Thick and fast the problems were descending upon him. There was the hostility of the orthodox people; there was the frightened suspicion of Herod Antipas; there were the political hotheads who would make him a nationalistic Messiah against his will. At this particular time there was many a problem on Jesus’ mind and many a burden on his heart.
For some hours he was alone amidst the hills with God. As we have seen, this must have happened about mid-April, and mid-Aped was the Passover time. Now the Passover was deliberately fixed for the full moon, as Easter still is. The Jewish night ran from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. and it was divided into four watches–6 p.m. to 9 p.m., 9 p.m. to 12 midnight, 12 midnight to 3 a.m., and 3 a.m. to 6 a.m. About three o’clock in the morning Jesus looked from the mountainside out across the lake. The lake was only four miles across at that point, and in the light of the moon it lay stretched out before him. The wind was up and he saw the boat, with his men in it, having a hard struggle to reach the other side.
See what happened. Immediately Jesus saw his friends in trouble his own problems were set aside; the moment for prayer was past; the time for action had come; he forgot himself and went to the help of his friends. That is of the very essence of Jesus. The cry of human need to him surpassed all other claims. His friends needed him; he must go.
What happened we do not know, and will never know. The story is cloaked in mystery which defies explanation. What we do know is that he came to them and their storm became a calm. With him beside them nothing mattered any more.
When Augustine was writing about this incident he said, “He came treading the waves; and so he puts all the swelling tumults of life under his feet. Christians–why afraid?” It is the simple fact of life, a fact which has been proved by countless thousands of men and women in every generation, that when Christ is there the storm becomes a calm, the tumult becomes a peace, what cannot be done is done, the unbearable becomes bearable, and men pass the breaking point and do not break. To walk with Christ will be for us also the conquest of the storm.
THE DEMANDING CROWDS ( Mar 6:53-56 ) 6:53-56 When they had crossed over and reached land they came to Gennesareth, and moored the boat there. When they had disembarked from the boat the people immediately recognized him; and they ran all over that countryside, and, wherever they knew he was, they began to carry to him on pallets those who were ill. And whenever he came into villages or towns or country places, they laid the sick in the open spaces, and they kept begging him to be allowed to touch even the tassel of his robe; and all who touched it were restored to health.
No sooner had Jesus landed on the other side of the lake than once again he was surrounded by crowds. Just sometimes he must have looked on the crowds with a certain wistfulness, because there was hardly a person in them who had not come to get something out of him. They came to get. They came with their insistent demands. They came–to put it bluntly–to use him. What a difference it would have made if, among these crowds, there had been some few who came to give and not to get. In a way it is natural that we should come to Jesus to get things from him, for there are so many things that he alone can give: but it is always shameful to take everything and to give nothing, and yet it is very characteristic of human nature.
(i) There are those who simply make use of their homes. It is specially so with young people. They regard their homes as being there to cater for their comfort and their convenience. It is there they eat and sleep and get things done for them; but surely home is a place to which we ought to contribute, from which we ought not only to be taking all the time.
(ii) There are those who simply make use of their friends. There are some people from whom we never receive a letter unless they want something from us. There are those who regard other people as existing to help them when they need their help, and to be forgotten when they cannot be made of use.
(iii) There are those who simply make use of the church. They desire the church to baptize their children, marry their young people and bury their dead. They are seldom to be seen there unless they wish some service. It is their unconscious attitude that the church exists to serve them, but that they have no duty whatever towards it.
(iv) There are those who seek simply to make use of God They never remember him unless they need him. Their only prayers are requests, or even demands, made of God. Someone has put it this way. In American hotels there is a boy called the “bell-hop.” The hotel guest rings the bell and the bell-hop appears; he will fetch anything the guest wishes on demand. Some people regard God as a kind of universal bell-hop, only to be summoned when something is needed.
If we examine ourselves, we are all, to some extent, guilty of these things. It would rejoice the heart of Jesus if more often we came to him to offer our love, our service, our devotion, and less often to demand from him the help we need.
-Barclay’s Daily Study Bible (NT)
Fuente: Barclay Daily Study Bible
55. JESUS’S SECOND VISIT TO NAZARETH, vv. AND REJECTION THERE, Mar 6:1-6 .
(See notes on Mat 13:54-58.)
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
‘And he went out from there and he comes to his own country, and his disciples follow him. And when the Sabbath was come he began to teach in the synagogue.’
Jesus returned home to ‘His own country’, the place where He had been brought up, and presumably visited His family if they were still living there. He had not forgotten them and He may well have thought of giving His disciples a rest. Not so much had happened in that area, and it was among the hills, so there were no crowds. But when the Sabbath came He went to the synagogue and was asked to speak there and His words were such that the people attending were amazed.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Jesus Is Rejected In His Own Neighbourhood (6:1-6).
Having preached continually in the area by the Sea of Galilee and around Capernaum, and having revealed His glory through His activities, Jesus now returned to His own neighbourhood, that is, around the Nazareth area, no doubt in order to visit His family, but also in order that He might proclaim His message there. But here He was soon to be ‘put in His place’, for He discovered that the people there had little interest in Him because they knew Him too well, or at least, they thought that they did. We should note the deliberate stark contrast. He has revealed His power over nature by stilling the storm, He has revealed His authority over the spirit world by healing the demoniac, He has revealed His power over death by healing Jairus’ daughter, but to these people He is only ‘the son of Joseph’. Reality could not destroy prejudice.
It is possibly significant that neither Mark nor Matthew mention Nazareth. They speak rather of ‘His own country’. It may therefore be that He did not at this time visit Nazareth, and that what is described here took place in a neighbouring town where His married sisters had gone to live.
On the other hand it could be that Luk 4:16-30 reflects this time. But the differences rather suggest that in fact that incident was behind Him and that here He was trying again in His own neighbourhood now that He was more established. On the other hand, while Luke does appear at first sight to put the incident he describes at the beginning of Jesus’ ministry it is not strictly so, for Luk 4:15; Luk 4:23 demonstrate that even His visit then took place after some considerable ministry, especially at Capernaum. So the positioning in Luke may simply be because it fitted in with, and accentuated, his portrayal of the continuing new activity of the Holy Spirit (Luk 1:15; Luk 1:35; Luk 1:41; Luk 1:67; Luk 2:25-27; Luk 3:16; Luk 3:22; Luk 4:1; Luk 4:14), firstly because it demonstrated that Jesus’ whole ministry was in the same power, and secondly because it laid from the beginning the foundation that if the Jews would not listen to Him He would go to the Gentiles.
But it is noteworthy that there Luke makes no mention of the disciples, although that is not decisive as Luke pointedly and deliberately (if he had Mark in front of him) ignores the disciples until chapter 5, even though he describes the healing of Simon’s wife’s mother. If it is the same incident though, it is surprising that neither Mark nor Matthew mention the attempt on Jesus’ life and His significant escape.
The truth is that it is quite possible that the incidents actually occurred in different synagogues. This in Mark (and in Matthew) is not actually said to be in Nazareth, only in ‘His own country’, thus in the district containing Nazareth. It could have been at Cana where Jesus and His family were clearly well known (Joh 2:1-11). If He had previously been dragged out of the Nazareth synagogue we can understand why He might have avoided going back there even when He visited His own neighbourhood, for He never sought to be unnecessarily provocative. Perhaps it was because Mark wanted his readers to recognise that it was in the area where Jesus was brought up, even though not in Nazareth itself, that he did not specifically mention names. Indeed we might ask, if it was actually in Nazareth why did Mark not say so? He has mentioned Nazareth earlier (Mar 1:9; Mar 1:24).
Alternately, if it was in Nazareth (Mar 6:3 might be seen as suggesting so, but Cana might equally apply if the family were regular visitors there) it could be that their anger, so quickly aroused in the incident in Luke, had as quickly died down, and that having since heard about His great success and powerful activity they had reconsidered what had so badly upset them the first time and were prepared to give Him, although somewhat grudgingly, a second chance. After all, they may have thought, He had then only been an enthusiastic beginner. But if so their displeasure would soon be roused again. The question is, however, merely academic. It affects not a jot the significance of the passage.
Analysis of 6:1-6.
a
b And many hearing Him were astonished, saying, “From where has this man learned these things?” and “What is the wisdom that is given to this man and what mean such mighty works (‘powers’) wrought by His hands?” (Mar 6:2).
c Is this not the carpenter (or ‘craftsman’), the son of Mary and the brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon? And are His sisters not here with us? ” (Mar 6:3 a).
d And they took offence at Him (Mar 6:3 b).
c And Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honour, except in his own country (patris ’autou as in Mar 6:1) and among his own kin and in his own house” (Mar 6:4).
b And He could there do no mighty work (‘power’) except that He laid His hands on a few sick folk and healed them, and He marvelled because of their unbelief (Mar 6:5-6 a).
a And He went round about the villages teaching (Mar 6:6 b).
Note that in ‘a’ He behaves in His own country as He does elsewhere, but in the parallel it is with a paucity of results. In ‘b’ they react to His teaching and manifestations of power, and in the parallel His mighty power is limited by their unbelief. In ‘c’ they stress that He is but one of them, and in the parallel Jesus points out that no prophet is accepted in such circumstances. Central in ‘d’ is the fact that they took offence at Him..
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Jesus’ Divine Power and Glory Is Revealed While His Own Townsfolk Are Blinded To The Truth About Him (4:35-6:6a).
In the first part of this new section Jesus power and glory will now be revealed in four ways:
As the One Who can tame the sea with a word – power over nature (Mar 4:35-41).
As the One with supreme power over even a multitude of evil spirits – power over the other world (Mar 5:1-20).
As the One from Whom power could flow out to cleanse the unclean – power over all uncleanness (Mar 5:24-35).
And as the One with power to raise of the dead – power over death itself (Mar 5:21-41).
Each incident revealed something of Who He was, and revealed His power over nature, over the spirit world, over uncleanness and over life itself. And the three main examples of His power are seen as brought about by His word. He is such that His word controls nature, is authoritative over the spirit world and defeats death itself (note the growth in concept, moving from nature, through the ‘other world’, to life and death itself). He ‘upholds all things by His powerful word’ (Heb 1:3). He is seen as the Lord of Creation, both of Heaven and earth. And all this is then followed by an indication that, even so, many would not believe in Him because of their prejudice.
Analysis of 4:35-6:6a.
In this subsection Jesus passes over the Sea of Galilee to the other side, and then finally returns and comes back to ‘His own region’. It can be analysed as follows:
a Sailing across the sea of Galilee Jesus stills a mighty storm with His powerful word, while His disciples reveal their unbelief and ask, ‘Who is this?’ (Mar 4:35-41).
b He reveals His power over unclean spirits by healing a demoniac and commands the healed man to ‘go and tell’ (Mar 5:1-20).
c He reveals His power over uncleanness by healing a woman who is constantly losing life sustaining blood, thus making her ritually ‘unclean’ (Mar 5:25-34).
b He reveals His power over death by raising Jairus’ daughter (Mar 5:21-43).
a He reveals His powerful words and mighty works, while His own townsfolk reveal their unbelief and ask ‘Where did this man get all this?’ (Mar 6:1-6 a).
Note that in ‘a’ Jesus reveals His mighty word of power, and the disciples reveal their unbelief and ask ‘Who is He?’, while in the parallel His own townsfolk wonder at His mighty words and, revealing their unbelief, ask ‘from whence has He these things?’ In ‘b’ Jesus reveals His power over supernatural spirits, and in the parallel He reveals His power over death. Centrally in ‘c’ He heals an unclean woman who represents the uncleanness of Israel.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
SECTION 3. Jesus’ Ministry Throughout Galilee and In The Surrounding Regions (4:35-9:32).
After the initial opening up of the story of Jesus with its continual emphasis on His unique authority, Who He was and what He had come to do (Mar 4:1-3), and the series of parables which have indicated how the Kingly Rule of God was to expand (Mar 4:1-34), Mark now indicates how this expansion continued to occur through the ministry of Jesus in Galilee and the surrounding regions. At the same time he continues to expand on the glory and authority of Jesus Christ Himself as revealed in His activities. This last which lead up to the disciples’ recognition that He is the Messiah (Mar 8:29-30), in His subsequently being revealed in glory on a mountain in the presence of Peter, James and John (Mar 9:2-8), and in Jesus reinterpretation of His Messiahship in terms of the suffering Son of Man (Mar 8:31; Mar 9:9; Mar 9:12; Mar 9:30-32).
The emphasis on the suffering Son of Man will be the final emphasis of this section (Mar 9:30-32), and must therefore be seen as one of its primary aims. In view of the power and authority that He constantly revealed, it must have seemed totally contradictory. But Mark makes quite clear that it was so. In the midst of His powerful activity Jesus constantly made clear that He had come to die.
Meanwhile Mark totally ignores any ministry of Jesus in Judaea, together with His regular visits to Jerusalem for the feasts (as described by John). These would undoubtedly have taken place. No pious Galilean Jew would have failed over a period of time to make regular pilgrimages to Jerusalem for the different feasts. But Mark rather wants the concentration on His ministry to be seen as taking place in Galilee, with Jerusalem seen as the place which will reject and crucify Him. He is thus concerned to present a full picture of the glory of Christ, while facing his readers and hearers up to the fact that it will finally result in suffering and death, although always as leading on to His resurrection.
Analysis of 4:35-9:32.
Jesus leaves the regions around Capernaum (Mar 4:35).
a Sailing across the sea of Galilee alone with His disciples Jesus stills a mighty storm with His powerful word, while His disciples reveal their unbelief and ask, ‘Who is this?’ (Mar 4:35-41).
b He reveals His power over unclean spirits by healing a demoniac and commands the healed man to ‘go and tell’ (Mar 5:1-20).
c He reveals His power over uncleanness by healing a woman who is constantly losing life sustaining blood, thus making her ritually ‘unclean’, but above all over death by raising Jairus’ daughter. It is a manifestation of His glory to the three who have come apart with him to witness His glory and there are also two other witnesses to His glory (the child’s father and mother) (Mar 5:21-43).
d His own townsfolk do not know Who He is. He reveals His powerful words and mighty works so that His own townsfolk reveal their unbelief and ask ‘Where did this man get all this?’ (Mar 6:1-6 a).
e He sends out His disciples to teach and with authority over unclean spirits, and they reveal their faith and are successful (Mar 6:6-13).
f Herod executes John the Baptist, and offers his head on a dish, revealing the ways and the type of ‘food’ of the kingly rule of man on earth, while fearing his resurrection (Mar 6:14-29).
g The disciples return from their mission telling Him of the signs that they have accomplished and are called aside to be alone with Jesus. They are fulfilling the ministry that should have been the Pharisees had they but believed (Mar 6:30-32).
h Jesus feeds five thousand with five loaves and two fish, revealing the provision of heavenly food in the Kingly Rule of God on earth (Mar 6:33-44).
i Jesus walks to His disciples on the water, and they cry out in their unbelief and reveal their failure to hear and speak clearly because their hearts are hardened and they do not understand. They are spiritually deaf (Mar 6:45-52).
j The people gather to Him and He heals all who come to Him (Mar 6:53-56).
k Jesus challenges the Pharisees and Scribes with the fact that they pay more heed to tradition than to the word of God, and points out to the crowds that it is not outward things that defile a man but what is within the inner man (Mar 7:1-22).
j The Syro-phoenician woman comes to Him and He heals her stricken son (Mar 7:24-30).
i He heals the deaf and speech impaired man, a picture of the need of the disciples, and of Israel (Mar 7:31-37).
h He feeds the four thousand in Gentile territory and gives them bread from God’s table (Mar 8:1-10).
g The Pharisees reveal what is within them by seeking a sign, upsetting Jesus deeply and He declares that no sign will be given, which reveals why their ministry is barren so that they can have no part in His work (Mar 8:11-13).
f Jesus tells His disciples to beware of the leavened bread (the teaching) of the Pharisees and of Herod (or of the Herodians), and to hear and understand (Mar 8:14-21).
e The blind man’s eyes are gradually opened (Mar 8:22-26).
d The disciples do recognise Who Jesus is and learn that He must suffer. (They have learned from where He had ‘got all this’) (Mar 8:27 to Mar 9:1).
c Jesus is transfigured in such a way that His glory is revealed before the chosen three. The three come apart with Jesus and two other witnesses (Moses and Elijah) bear witness to His glory (Mar 9:2-13).
b The demon possessed boy is remarkably healed (Mar 9:14-29).
a The disciples are alone with Jesus and learn that spiritual storms lay ahead for Him and for themselves, receiving the fuller revelation of Who He is (Mar 9:30-32).
Jesus returns to Capernaum (Mar 9:33 a).
Note firstly how this whole section is sandwiched within visits to Capernaum, which had become a kind of headquarters for Jesus and His disciples. All therefore that takes place in this section radiates out from Capernaum. The section begins in ‘a’ with Jesus’ power revealed over nature in the stilling of the storm, while in the parallel Jesus tells His disciples of the ‘storm’ that yet awaits Him in the future to which He must submit. Nature He can control, but man must be allowed to perform his evil will to the utmost if mankind are to be saved. In ‘b’ He heals the demoniac, and in the parallel He heals the demon possessed boy. Both are extreme cases of possession. In ‘c’ He takes Peter, James and John apart and, in the presence of two witnesses (the girl’s father and mother), raises a young girl from the dead, revealing that He is the Lord of life, and in the parallel He takes Peter, James and John apart and is transfigured before them in the presence of two witnesses, Moses and Elijah, revealing that He is the Lord of glory. In both cases what has been seen is not to be spread abroad. In ‘d’ Jesus’ own townsfolk fail to recognise Him and ask ‘Where did this man get all this?’. while in the parallel His disciples do recognise Him and recognise where His power does come from, it is of God. In ‘e’ He sends out His disciples to teach and to have authority over unclean spirits, and they reveal their faith and their growing awareness, and are successful, and in the parallel we have the picture of the blind man whose eyes are gradually opened, a picture of what is happening to the disciples (it comes before the incident where the eyes of the disciples are known to have been opened when they confess His Messiahship). In ‘f’ Herod executes John the Baptist, and offers his head on a dish, revealing the ways and the type of ‘food’ offered under the kingly rule of man on earth, while in the parallel Jesus warns His disciples to beware of the leaven of Herod. In ‘g’ the disciples return from their mission telling Jesus of the signs that they have accomplished and are called aside to be alone with Jesus, while in the parallel the Pharisees are vainly looking for signs and He leaves them. In ‘h’ Jesus feeds five thousand Jewish believers with five loaves and two fish, revealing the provision of heavenly food in the Kingly Rule of God on earth, and in the parallel He feeds four thousand Jewish and Gentile believers with seven loaves and some fish, revealing the same. In ‘i’ Jesus walks to His disciples on the water, and in their unbelief they cry out and reveal their failure to hear and speak clearly, a result of the fact that their hearts are hardened so that they do not understand. They are spiritually deaf. And in the parallel a man who is deaf and stammering in his speech is healed. In ‘j’ the people gather to Him and He heals all who come to Him, and in the parallel the Syro-phoenician, typical of the Gentiles, comes to Him and He heals her daughter. Centrally in ‘k’ Jesus challenges the Pharisees and Scribes with the fact that they pay more heed to tradition than to the word of God, and points out to the crowds that it is not outward things that defile a man. It is what is within the inner man.
This larger section is divided up into smaller subsections of which the first is Mar 4:35 to Mar 6:6 a.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Sermon: Jesus Sends Forth His Disciples to Preach In Mar 6:1-6 Jesus could do no mighty works in His hometown of Nazareth because of their lack of faith in His Word. He then sends forth His disciples in Mar 6:7-13 to preach as He has demonstrated to them.
Outline Here is a proposed outline:
1. Jesus is Rejected at Nazareth Mar 6:1-6
2. Jesus Commissions the Twelve Mar 6:7-13
Mar 6:1-6 Jesus is Rejected at Nazareth ( Mat 13:54-58 , Luk 4:14-30 ) Mar 6:1-6 tells us the story of how Jesus Christ was rejected at His hometown of Nazareth. We find this story in Luke’s Gospel placed at the beginning of His Galilean ministry. This is because Luke’s Gospel uses this story to show the authority and anointing of His teaching ministry. Mark’s Gospel records this same story in the midst of Jesus’ Galilean ministry and places emphasis upon how Jesus preached the Gospel and because His message was rejected He was unable to perform miracles; thus, Mark emphasizes preaching and miracles. Matthew’s Gospel is the most brief as it simply emphasizes how Jesus faced offences and how He handled it.
Comparison of Jesus’ Visit to Nazareth in the Synoptics The Synoptic Gospels give parallel accounts of Jesus’ visit to Nazareth (Mat 13:54-58, Mar 6:1-6, Luk 4:16-30). While the Gospel of Luke introduces Jesus’ public ministry beginning with His visit to His hometown of Nazareth, the Gospels of Matthew and Mark offer a prior record of Jesus’ early public ministry before He entered His hometown. Thus, Jesus had “taught in their synagogues, being glorified of all” (Luk 4:15) prior to entering the town of Nazareth. In other words, the narrative material of Jesus’ public ministry prior to His visit to Nazareth recorded in Matthew and Mark (Mat 4:12 to Mat 13:53, Mar 1:14 to Mar 5:43) shows us how Jesus was glorified throughout Galilee for His miracles and healing power before entering His hometown. Luke’s introductory statement (Luk 4:14-15) also tells us that Jesus continued to minister mightily in Galilee after being rejected in Nazareth. Jesus ministered in the power of the Spirit, teaching in their synagogues, and being glorified by the people. Thus, Luk 4:14-15 serves as an introductory passage of Jesus’ anointing and fame in Galilee, with examples found in the narrative material of Luke that follows. Although He was initially rejected in His hometown of Nazareth and was not able to heal the sick (Mar 4:16-30), the Galileans glorified Him while teaching in the synagogues (Mar 4:15; Mar 4:22). Later in a synagogue in Capernaum “they were astonished at his doctrine: for his word was with power” (Mar 4:32), “they were all amazed” (Mar 4:36), “(Peter) was astonished, and all that were with him” (Mar 5:9), “there a fame abroad of him” (Mar 5:15), “they were all amazed, and they glorified God, and were filled with fear” (Mar 5:26). The Galileans were amazed and declared that with authority and power He speaks. It is this authority that gave Him dominion all manner of sickness and disease. Luke’s account of Jesus’ Galilean ministry will place emphasis upon Jesus teaching and preaching with divine authority and power over every area of man’s life: sickness, sin and Jewish customs, including nature itself. He begins His Galilean ministry in the power of the Spirit (Mar 4:14). As a result, He heals the multitudes in the region of Galilee. This is the two-fold emphasis in Luke’s Gospel of His Galilean ministry, of preaching the Gospel under the anointing of the Holy Spirit, an emphasis not found in Matthew and Mark.
The Infancy Gospels Grant Osborne notes how the recognition of Jesus as a simple carpenter by the people of Nazareth contradicts the stories recorded in the Infancy Gospels of miracles that Jesus performed as a child recorded. [102] Had Jesus performed miracles as a child, the people of Nazareth would have reacted differently, greatly fearing Him, rather than running Him out of the city.
[102] Grant R. Osborne, Matthew, in Zondervan Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament, ed. Clinton E. Arnold (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2010), 550. The stories of Jesus working miracles as a child are recorded in the Gospel of Thomas, the Gospel fo Pseudo-Matthew, and The Arabic Gospel of the Infancy. See Montague Rhodes James, The Apocryphal New Testament being the Apocryphal Gospels, Acts, Epistles, and Apocalypses (Oxford: The Clarendon Press, c1924, 1963), 49-82.
Mar 6:1 And he went out from thence, and came into his own country; and his disciples follow him.
Mar 6:2 Mar 6:2
Mat 4:23, “And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all manner of sickness and all manner of disease among the people.”
Mar 6:6, “And he marvelled because of their unbelief. And he went round about the villages, teaching.”
Faith was not in their heart, because they did not hear and received the words of Jesus.
Rom 10:17, “So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.”
Mar 6:3 Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary, the brother of James, and Joses, and of Juda, and Simon? and are not his sisters here with us? And they were offended at him.
Mar 6:3
Mar 6:3 Comments We have a reference in Mar 6:3 to two authors of the New Testament, James and Juda. Early Church tradition tells us that these two brothers of Jesus wrote the General Epistles of James and Jude. James, the brother of the Lord, is mentioned eleven times in the New Testament. Here is a list of the other ten verses:
Mat 13:55, “Is not this the carpenter’s son? is not his mother called Mary? and his brethren, James , and Joses, and Simon, and Judas?”
Act 12:17, “But he, beckoning unto them with the hand to hold their peace, declared unto them how the Lord had brought him out of the prison. And he said, Go shew these things unto James , and to the brethren. And he departed, and went into another place.”
Act 15:13, “And after they had held their peace, James answered, saying, Men and brethren, hearken unto me:”
Act 21:18, “And the day following Paul went in with us unto James ; and all the elders were present.”
1Co 15:7, “After that, he was seen of James ; then of all the apostles.”
Gal 1:19, “But other of the apostles saw I none, save James the Lord’s brother .”
Gal 2:9, “And when James , Cephas, and John, who seemed to be pillars, perceived the grace that was given unto me, they gave to me and Barnabas the right hands of fellowship; that we should go unto the heathen, and they unto the circumcision.”
Gal 2:12, “For before that certain came from James , he did eat with the Gentiles: but when they were come, he withdrew and separated himself, fearing them which were of the circumcision.”
Jas 1:1, “ James , a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes which are scattered abroad, greeting.”
Jud 1:1, “Jude, the servant of Jesus Christ, and brother of James , to them that are sanctified by God the Father, and preserved in Jesus Christ, and called:”
Juda, or Jude, the brother of the Lord, is mentioned two other times in the New Testament.
Mat 13:55, “Is not this the carpenter’s son? is not his mother called Mary? and his brethren, James, and Joses, and Simon, and Judas ?”
Jud 1:1, “ Jude , the servant of Jesus Christ, and brother of James, to them that are sanctified by God the Father, and preserved in Jesus Christ, and called:”
Mar 6:4 But Jesus said unto them, A prophet is not without honour, but in his own country, and among his own kin, and in his own house.
Mar 6:4
Mat 13:57, “And they were offended in him. But Jesus said unto them, A prophet is not without honour, save in his own country, and in his own house.”
Mar 6:4, “But Jesus said unto them, A prophet is not without honour, but in his own country, and among his own kin, and in his own house.”
Luk 4:24, “And he said, Verily I say unto you, No prophet is accepted in his own country.”
Those family and friends who had grown up with Jesus and lived with Him had a difficult time accepting Him as the Messiah, while the rest of Galilee received Him gladly. Andrew Wommack quotes this proverb, “Familiarity breeds contempt.” [103] In other words, when we become too familiar with someone, we generally are less likely to praise his gifts, and more likely to condemn his weaknesses. Although Jesus Christ had not faults, no sin, He was fully human. Those who became familiar with His humanity had a difficult time embracing His deity. The writings of the New Testament reveal that Paul the apostle had a greater revelation of who Jesus Christ was than did the Twelve who walked with Him for three and a half years. This is because Paul only knew Jesus as the Resurrected Christ. He did not have to lay aside his experience of walking with Jesus as flesh and blood. It is easier for us to understand the revelation of the deity of Jesus Christ than it was for those who walked with Him on earth because we can only view Him by the Word of God through the revelation of the Holy Spirit. Thus, Jesus said, “Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed.” (Joh 20:29) There is a greater blessing in believing for those who have not seen Him because it is easier to take hold of the Word of God through the enlightenment of the Holy Spirit.
[103] Andrew Wommack, “Familiarity Breeds Contempt,” in One Year With Jesus: February 16 th , [on-line]; accessed 17 February 2012; available from http://www.awmi.net/devotion/jesus/feb_16; Internet.
Mar 6:5 And he could there do no mighty work, save that he laid his hands upon a few sick folk, and healed them.
Mar 6:5
[104] Leon Morris, The Gospel According to Matthew, in The Pillar New Testament Commentary (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1992), 376.
Comments Mar 6:5 does not say that Jesus “would” not do mighty works there. It says that he “could” not do these mighty works. Jesus is always willing to heal. The next verse tells us the reason why He could not heal the sick. It was because of doubt and unbelief. This passage shows us that faith is the key to receiving from God. When we believe His Word, we may a way for His divine will to be fulfilled in our lives, though it pass over a multitude of others in doubt and unbelief.
God will not violate man’s will. We must be in agreement with God’s will in order for Him to be able to work in our lives. The people of Nazareth chose by their own will to refuse what Jesus Christ had to offer them because of the hardness of their hearts.
Mar 6:6 And he marvelled because of their unbelief. And he went round about the villages, teaching.
Mar 6:6
Mar 6:7-13 Jesus Sends Forth His Disciples to Preach ( Mat 10:1-42 , Luk 9:1-6 ) Mar 6:7-13 gives us the account of Jesus sending out the twelve apostles to preach the Gospel and heal the sick.
Comparison of Parallel Passages – When we compare this story in the three Synoptic Gospels, we can easily recognize how they each emphasize their themes by the differences given in each account. We find Mark clearly emphasizing the proclamation of the Gospel by His disciples with signs and miracles accompanying them. This version is thus emphasizing the theme of the Gospel of Mark.
Mar 6:12-13, “And they went out, and preached that men should repent. And they cast out many devils, and anointed with oil many that were sick, and healed them.”
Luke’s Gospel emphasizes the fact that they took the Gospel to many towns and villages when it says, “(they) went through the towns, preaching the gospel, and healing every where.”
Luk 9:6, “And they departed, and went through the towns, preaching the gospel, and healing every where”
Matthew’s Gospel makes no reference to the preaching of the disciples, but rather, gives us a lengthy discourse by Jesus. This is because Matthew’s Gospel is structured around Jesus’ five discourses.
Mar 6:7 And he called unto him the twelve, and began to send them forth by two and two; and gave them power over unclean spirits;
Mar 6:8 Mar 6:9 Mar 6:8-9
Mar 6:10 And he said unto them, In what place soever ye enter into an house, there abide till ye depart from that place.
Mar 6:11 Mar 6:12 Mar 6:13 Mar 6:13
[105] Leon Morris, The Gospel According to Matthew, in The Pillar New Testament Commentary (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1992), 376.
Comments In Mar 6:13 we read where the twelve apostles cast out devils and healed many that were sick. We see this two-fold aspect of ministering healing to the people throughout the Gospels.
Mat 8:16 – When the even was come, they brought unto him many that were possessed with devils: and he cast out the spirits with his word, and healed all that were sick.”
Scripture Reference – Note the other New Testament passage where the sick are anointed with oil:
Jas 5:14, “Is any sick among you? let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord :”
Mar 6:12-13 Comments The Work of the Evangelist The comment that the disciples “went out and preached that men should repent” is unique to the Gospel of Mark. Mar 6:7-13 reflects the office of the evangelist, who goes forth and preaches repentance and works miracles. When comparing the parallel passage of Mat 10:1-42, we note that Matthew records the lengthy discourse that Jesus delivered to the disciples prior to sending them out, with no comment made about the work of the disciples, accurately reflecting the office of the teacher emphasized by Matthew’s Gospel. The parallel passage of Luk 9:1-6 abbreviates Jesus’ discourse and says the disciples preached the Gospel and healed the people, which is part of the office of the prophet.
Fuente: Everett’s Study Notes on the Holy Scriptures
The Preaching Ministry of Jesus Christ Mar 1:14 to Mar 13:37 describes the preaching ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ as well as the miracles that accompanying the proclamation of the Gospel. His public ministry can be divided into sections that reflect God’s divine plan of redemption being fulfilled in Jesus’s life.
Outline Here is a proposed outline:
1. Indoctrination – The Preaching of Jesus Christ in Galilee Mar 1:14 to Mar 4:34
2. Divine Service Training the Twelve in Galilee Mar 4:35 to Mar 6:13
3. Perseverance: Preaching against Man’s Traditions Mar 6:14 to Mar 7:23
4. Perseverance – Beyond Galilee Mar 7:24 to Mar 9:50
5. Glorification – In Route to and in Jerusalem Mar 10:1 to Mar 13:37
Fuente: Everett’s Study Notes on the Holy Scriptures
Divine Service In Mar 4:35 to Mar 6:13 the emphasis moves from indoctrination through preaching the Word of God to preparing the Twelve for divine service, where Jesus begins to train to His disciples about the Kingdom of God. Jesus first trains the Twelve by example (Mar 4:35 to Mar 5:43), then He sends them out preach and heal for themselves (Mar 6:1-13).
Outline Here is a proposed outline:
1. Narrative: Demonstrating Preaching & Miracles Mar 4:35 to Mar 5:43
2. Sermon: Jesus Sends Forth His Disciples to Preach Mar 6:1-13
Fuente: Everett’s Study Notes on the Holy Scriptures
Jesus at Nazareth.
Another tour of Galilee:
v. 1. And He went out from thence and came into His own country; and His disciples follow Him.
v. 2. And when the Sabbath-day was come, He began to teach in the synagogue; and many hearing Him were astonished, saying, From whence hath this man these things? and what wisdom is this which is given unto Him, that even such mighty works are wrought by His hands?
v. 3. Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary, the brother of James, and Joses, and of Juda, and Simon? and are not His sisters here with us? And they were offended at Him.
v. 4. But Jesus said unto them, A prophet is not without honor but in his own country, and among his own kin, and in his own house. From thence, from Capernaum and its vicinity, Jesus went away. The city which He had chosen as His home during His Galilean ministry had had ample opportunity of hearing Him and of knowing and accepting Him as the Savior of the world. Till now the success of His preaching had not been unqualified. The people were willing enough to see the Prophet perform miracles, but took little or no interest in the Word of eternal life. And so He removed the mercy of His presence from them, returning there only at the end of His labors in the North. He went to His fatherland, to His home town, Nazareth. It was the city in which He had grown up, from which He hailed, in which He naturally took a great interest, chapter 1:9-24. His disciples, especially the Twelve that were now enrolled under that name, followed Him. Their theological training was being carried forward with all speed, for the time was short. When it was Sabbath, Jesus went to the synagogue. Note: Throughout the gospels, the attendance of Jesus at services is related as a matter of course; it was self-evident for Him to be in the place where the Word of God was taught, at the time set apart for that purpose. Here the usual courtesy shown to a visiting teacher was extended to Him: He began to teach. It was not merely that He started His discourse, but He wanted the people of His home town to be the beneficiaries of the Gospel-message; for since the beginning of His ministry He had not been in this neighborhood. The address, or talk, as He delivered it that morning, was of a nature and of a content such as to provoke the greatest surprise and astonishment among His hearers. The comments were many and varied, and Mark records them faithfully: Whence did all this come to this man, this ability to speak, the wonderful content of His address, the power to perform such mighty works of which we have been told? Such speech, such wisdom, such powers in such a well-known person? How is it possible? What can it mean? But this eagerness for information, which might well have served as a type of curiosity for saving knowledge, was soon replaced by jealousy and contempt, the spirit of opposition. Some sneering remarks are heard: Is not this the carpenter, the worker in wood? the trades of the carpenter, the joiner, and the cabinetmaker being united in one person. A Christian writer of the second century who had been born in Samaria relates that Jesus during His early manhood made plows and yokes. The people of Nazareth thought they were thoroughly familiar with His family and antecedents. The son of Mary He is to them, Joseph having died, according to tradition, when Jesus was eighteen years old. His brothers (half-brothers, cousins) James and Joses and Judas and Simon were well known to the townspeople, as were the sisters of Christ (half-sisters, cousins). They thought that these facts precluded the possibility of His having learned anything worthwhile, not realizing that they were thereby passing judgment upon their own town and upon themselves, just as is done today, in similar situations. The upshot of the whole matter was that they were offended at Him, that is, they took offense wrongfully. Note: Even today people take offense at the lowliness of the Gospel and its preaching. If it came to them in the guise of something new, a new philosophical system, they would think it worth their while; but the simplicity of the Gospel, and the fact that they have been familiar with its teaching, as they foolishly think, from their youth, sets them against its glorious tidings and shuts them out from the glories of heaven. Jesus, among other things, Mat 13:54-57, reminded them of a proverbial saying which fitted the case perfectly: Not is a prophet without honor except in his fatherland and among his kinsmen. This is a truth which is universally accepted. Instead of rejoicing over the fact that God has given one of their own family, out of their own midst, gifts and abilities to accomplish something for His honor, the kinsmen and former fellow-citizens will do everything in their power to discredit him. That was Christ’s experience.
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann
EXPOSITION
Mar 6:1
Our Lord now left the neighbourhood of Capernaum, and came into his own country, the district of Nazareth, where he had been, not born indeed, but brought up, and where his kinsfolk after the flesh still lived. Nazareth would be about a day’s journey from Capernaum. This was not the first public exercise of his ministry at Nazareth. Of that and its results St. Luke gives us the account (Luk 4:16). It would seem reasonable to suppose that, after the fame which he had now acquired, he should again visit the place where he had been brought up. His sisters were still living there. St. Mark here again uses the historical present , “he cometh,” for which there is better authority than for . His disciples follow him. Only the chosen three had been with him in the house of Jairus. The presence of the whole body of the disciples would be valuable at Nazareth.
Mar 6:2
As usual, he made the sabbath the special time for his teaching. And many hearing him were astonished. They were astonished at the ability, the sublimity, the holiness of his teaching, as well as at the signs and wonders by which he confirmed it. “Many” hearing him; not all. Some listened with faith; but “the many” (there is some authority for )were envious of him. Whence hath this man these things? The expression, “this man,” is repeated, according to the best authorities, in the next clause, What is the wisdom that is given (not “unto him,” but) unto this man? There is a contemptuous tone about the expression.
Mar 6:3
Is not this the carpenter? St. Matthew (Mat 13:55) says, “the carpenter’s son.” We infer from this that our Lord actually worked at the trade of a carpenter, and probably continued to do so until he entered upon his public ministry. We may also infer that Joseph was now no longer living, otherwise it would have been natural for his name to have been mentioned here. According to St. Chrysostom, our Lord made ploughs and yokes for oxen. Certain]y, he often drew his similitudes from these things. “No man putting his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God” (Luk 9:62). “Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me “(Mat 11:29). Christ was the son of a carpenter. Yes; but he was also the Son of him who made the world at his will. Yea, he himself made the world. “All things were made by him,” the Eternal Word. And he made them for us, that we might judge of the Maker by the greatness of his work. He chose to be the son of a carpenter. If he had chosen to be the sou of an emperor, then men might have ascribed his influence to the circumstances of his birth. But he chose a humble and obscure condition, for this, among other reasons, that it might be acknowledged that it was his divinity that transformed the world. Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary, and brother of James, and Joses, and Judas, and Simon? Some have thought that these were literally brethren of our Lord, sons of Joseph and Mary. Others have considered that they were his legal half-brothers, sons of Joseph by a former marriage. This view is held by many of the Greek Fathers, and has something to recommend it. But, on the whole, the most probable opinion is that they were cousins of our Lordsons of a sister of the Virgin Mary, also called Mary, the wife of Cleophas, Clopas, or Alpheeus. There is evidence that there were four sons of Clopas and Mary, whose names were James, and Joses, and Simon (or Symeon), and Judas. Mary the wife of Clopas is mentioned by St. Matthew (Mat 27:56) as the mother of James the less and of Joses. Jude describes himself (Jud 1:5) as the brother of James; and Simon, or Symeon, is mentioned in Eusebius as the son of Clopas. It must be remembered also that the word , like the Hebrew word which it expresses, means not only “a brother,” but generally “a near kinsman.” In the same way the “sisters” would be cousins of our Lord. According to a tradition recorded by Nicephorus (Jas 2:3), the names of these sisters or cousins were Esther and Tamar. And they were offended in him. They took it ill that one brought up amongst them as a carpenter should set himself up as a prophet and a teacher; just as there are those in every age who are apt to take it amiss if they see any one spring from a trade into the doctor’s chair. But these Nazarencs knew not that Jesus was the Son of God, who of his great love for man vouchsafed to take a low estate, that he might redeem us, and teach us humility by his example. And thus this humility and love of Christ, which ought to have excited their admiration and respect, was a stumbling-block to them, because they could not receive it, or believe that God was willing thus to humble himself.
Mar 6:4
A prophet is not without honor, save in his own country, etc. One reason for this is that it is almost natural for persons to hold of less account than they ought, those with whom they have been brought up and have lived on familiar terms. Prophets are commonly least regarded, and often most envied, in their own country. However unworthy may be the feeling, the inhabitants of a district, or members of a community, do not like to see one of themselves put above them, more especially a junior over a senior, or a man of humble origin over a man well born. But it should be remembered that God abhors the envious, and will withhold the wonders of his grace from those who grudge his gifts to others. The men of Nazareth, when they saw Christ eating, and drinking, and sleeping, and working at his trade, like others, despised him when he claimed respect and reverence as a Prophet, and especially because his relations according to the flesh were of humble condition; and Joseph more particularly, whom they supposed to be his real father, for they could not imagine or believe that he was born of a virgin, and had God alone for his Father.
Mar 6:5, Mar 6:6
And he could there do no mighty work. This is a remarkable expression. He could do no mighty work there. The words imply want of powerthat in some sense or other he was unable to do it. He did indeed perform some miracles. He laid his hands upon a few sick folk, and healed them; but he wrought none of his greater miracles there. Of course, even these less striking miracles ought to have sufficed. in a miracle there must be the suspension of some known law of nature; and one clear instance of such suspension ought to be as conclusive as a hundred. Then it must be remembered that it is not God’s method in his dealings with his creatures to force conviction upon them when the ordinary means prove insufficient. For men’s actions must be free if they are to be made the test of judgment, and they would not be free if God constrained men to obey his will. The men of Nazareth had sufficient evidence had they not chosen to be blinded, and a greater amount of evidence would only have increased their condemnation. So their unbelief thwarted his purposes of mercy, and he went in and out amongst them like one hampered and disabled, marvelling at their unbelief, or rather marveling because of their unbelief ( ). The condition of mind of these Nazarenes was what caused amazement to the Saviour. At length he turned away from Nazareth, never, so far as we know, to visit it again; for this was their second opportunity, and the second occasion which they deliberately rejected him. What, however, they refused he immediately offered to others. He was not discouraged. He went round about the villages teaching.
Mar 6:7
At Mar 3:7 we had the account of our Lord’s selection of the twelve. Here we find the notice of their being first sent forth. Their names have already been recorded. He gave them authoritymark the imperfect ()over unclean spirits. St. Matthew (Mat 10:1) adds, “and to heal all manner of sickness and all manner of disease.” But St. Mark here fixes the attention upon the great central object of Christ’s missionto contend against evil in every form, and especially to grapple with Satan in his stronghold in the hearts of men.
Mar 6:8
They should take nothing for their journey, save a staff only. St. Matthew says (Mat 10:10), according to the best authorities ( ), they were not to take a staff. St. Luke says the same as St. Matthew. The meaning is that they were not to make any special provision for their journey, but to go forth just as they were, depending upon God. Those who bad a staff might use it; those who had not one were not to trouble themselves to procure one. The scrip () was the wallet for food. They were to take no money in their purse ( ); literally, brass in their girdle. St. Mark, writing for Romans, uses this word for money. St. Luke, writing for Greeks, uses the term () “silver.” St. Matthew (Mat 10:9) says, “provide neither gold, nor silver, nor brass.”
Mar 6:9
But be shod with sandals. This is quite consistent with what St. Matthew says (Mat 10:9), that they were not to provide themselves with shoes ( ). According to St. Matthew, shoes are forbidden directly; according to St. Mark, they are forbidden by implication, where he says that they were to be shod with sandals. Shoes are here forbidden which cover the whole foot, not sandals which only protect the soles of the feet lest they should be injured by the rocky ground. The soil of Judaea was rocky and rough, and the climate hot. The sandals therefore protected the soles of the feet, and yet, being open above, kept the feet more cool, and therefore fit for the journey. It is worthy of our notice that, after our Lord’s ascension, we find St. Peter using sandals when the angel, who delivered him out of prison, said to him (Act 12:8), “Gird thyself, and bind on thy sandals.”
Mar 6:10
There abide, till ye depart thence. They were not to change their lodgings in any place. This direction was given to them, lest, if they did, they might appear to be fickle and restless; or lest they might hurt the feelings of those with whom they had first lodged. And they were not to stay too long anywhere, lest they should be burdensome to any.
Mar 6:11
Shake off the dust ( ) literally, the soilthat is under your feet. St. Matthew and St. Luke use the word () “dust.” A very significant action. The dust was shaken off as an evidence of the toil and labour of the apostles in journeying to them. It witnessed that they had entered the city and had delivered message, and that their message had been refused. The very dust, therefore, of the place was a defilement to them. “It shall be more tolerable,” etc. This clause is omitted by the best authorities; it was probably copied from St. Matthew.
Mar 6:12
They preached that men should repent. This was their great work, to which the miracles were subordinate.
Mar 6:13
And anointed with oil many that were sick, and healed them. It is hardly possible to separate this from the reference to the use of oil for the sick, in Jas 5:14. Unction was employed extensively in ancient times for medicinal purposes. It is recorded of Herod the Great by Josephus (‘Antiq.,’ 17:6, 5) that in one of his sicknesses he was “immersed in a bath full of oil,” from which he is said to have derived much benefit. The apostles used it, no doubt not only on account of its supposed remedial virtues, but also as an outward and visible sign that the healing was effected by their instrumentality in the name of Christ, and perhaps also because the oil itself was significant of God’s mercy, of spiritual comfort and joy” the oil of gladness.” Neither this passage nor that in St. James can properly be adduced to support the ceremony of “extreme unction;” for in both these cases the result was that the sick were restored to health. The so-called sacrament of” extreme unction “is administered immediately before death, when the sick person is in articulo morris.
Mar 6:14
This Herod is called by St. Matthew (Mat 14:1) “the tetrarch;” and so also by St. Luke (Luk 9:7); though it should be noticed that St. Matthew, in the same context, at Verse 9, calls him “king.” The word “tetrarch” properly means the sovereign or ruler of the fourth part of a territory. He is known as Herod Anti-pus, son of Herod the Great, who had appointed him “tetrarch” of Galilee and Peraea. Herod Antipas had married the daughter of Arctas, King of Arabia, but deserted her for the sake of Herodias, his brother Philip’s wife. John the Baptist is risen from the dead; that is, “is risen in the person of Jesus Christ.” St. Luke. (Luk 9:7) says that at first Herod was “much perplexed ()” “about him. At length, however, as he heard more and more of the fame of Christ’s miracles, he came to the conclusion that our Lord was none other than John the Baptist risen again. Such is the opinion of St. Chrysostom, St. Augustine, and others. At that time the views of Pythagoras respecting the transmigration of souls were generally current, and probably influenced the troubled mind of Herod. He had put to death an innocent and holy man; and it is a high testimony to the worth of the Baptist that, under the reproaches of a guilty conscience, Herod should have come to the conclusion that he had risen from the dead, thus probably giving the lie to his own opinions as a Sadducee; and terrified lest the Baptist should now avenge his own murder. “What a great thing,” exclaims St. Chrysostom,” is virtue! for Herod fears him, even though dead.” It should not be forgotten that this is the same Herod who set Jesus at nought and mocked him, when Pilate sent him to him, in the hope of relieving himself of the terrible responsibility of condemning one whom he knew to be innocent.
Mar 6:17
In prison. Josephus (‘Antiq.,’ 18.5, 2) informs us that this prison was the fort of Machaerus, on the confines of Galilee and Arabia, and that there John was beheaded. Herod’s father had built a magnificent palace within that fort; and so he may have been keeping the anniversary of his birthday there,
Mar 6:18, Mar 6:19
For John said unto Herod. The Greek tense () implies more than the simple expression, “he said;” it implies a repeated warning. We learn from St. Matthew (Mat 14:5) that Herod would have killed John before, but he feared the people. Here St. Mark says that Herodias set herself against him, and desired to kill him; and she could not; for Herod feared John. There is no contradiction between the two evangelists. The case appears to have been this: that at first Herod desired to put John to death, because John had reproved him on account of Herodias. But by degrees John gained an influence over Herod by the force of his character, and by his holy life and teaching.
Mar 6:20
The words in the Authorized Version are, When he heard him, he did many things ( ), and heard him gladly. But according to the best authorities the reading should be ( ), he was much perplexed. In St. Luke, as stated above, we have (), “he was much perplexed.” Nor is there any inconsistency in the next clause in St. Mark, if we accept this reading. Herod was not utterly depraved. There was to him a charm, not only in the character, but in the discourses of John the Baptist. But he was an inconsistent man, and was continually the victim of a conflict between the good and the evil within him, in which evil, alas! triumphed. Herodias, on the other hand, had always wished to get rid of John, as the stern and uncompromising reprover of her adultery and incest; and so at length she persuaded Herod to give way. “For,” says Bede, “she feared lest Herod should at length repent, and yield to the exhortations of John, and dissolve this unreal marriage, and restore Herodias to her lawful husband.”
Mar 6:22
The words should run thus: And when the daughter of Herodias herself came in . The intention of the evangelist is to point out that it was Herodias’s own daughter who danced, and not a mere professional dancing-girl. Josephus mentions that dancing-women were admitted to feasts by the Jews; and Xenophon testifies to the same custom amongst the Greeks.
Mar 6:24
And she went out, and said unto her mother, What shall I ask? ( )according to the best authorities ( ), What should I ask?
Mar 6:25
I will that thou forthwith give me in a charger ( ) the head of John the Baptist. John the Baptist seems to have had a presentiment of his speedy end when he said, “He must increase, but must decrease.”
Mar 6:26
And the king was exceeding sorry. We cannot suppose that this was a pretended grief. The true reason is doubtless to be found in the relentless animosity of Herodias. Herod must have known well that he could not be bound by his oath in reference to a petition so unreasonable and so iniquitous. Nevertheless he thought that “the words of a king were law.” St. Augustine says, “The girl dances; the mother rages. A rash oath is made amidst the excitement and the voluptuous indulgence of the feast; and the savage desires of Herodias are fulfilled.” For the sake of his oaths ( ); the plural shows that he repeated the rash promise once and again.
Mar 6:27
He sent forth an executioner (); literally, a soldier of his guard; one of his body-guard, in constant attendance as messenger or executioner. It is a Roman word from speculari, to watch. St. Jerome relates that when the head of the Baptist was brought, Herodias barbarously thrust the tongue through with a bodkin, as Fulvia is said to have done over and over again, the tongue of Cicero; thus verifying what Cicero had once said while living, that “nothing is more revengeful than a woman.” Because they could not bear to hear the truth, therefore they bored through with a bodkin the tongue that had spoken the truth.
Mar 6:29
The taking up of the corpse by the disciples would seem to intimate that it lay uncared for and unburied until the disciples showed their respect for it. Josephus says that after the beheading, the mutilated remains were east out of the prison and left neglected. God’s judgments at length found out Herod. For not long after this he was defeated by Aretas in a great battle, and put to an ignominious flight. Herodias herself and Herod were banished by a decree of the Roman Senate to Lyons, where they both perished miserably; and Nicephorus relates that Salome, the daughter of Herodias, died by a remarkable visitation. She fell through some treacherous ice over which she was passing, and fell through it in such a manner that her head was caught while the rest of her body sank into the water, and thus it came to pass that in her efforts to save herself her head was nearly severed by the sharp edges of the broken ice.
Mar 6:30
The narrative, which had been interrupted by this parenthesis relating to John the Baptist, is now taken up again. The apostles. This is the only place where St. Mark calls them apostles. In the parallel passage, St. Luke (Luk 9:10) says that they told him all that they had done. St. Mark adds, with more detail, and whatsoever () they had taught. They gave him a full account of their mission.
Mar 6:31
Our Lord cared for his disciples. They required rest after the labour and excitement of their ministry; and it was impossible to find the needful refreshment and repose where they were so thronged by the multitude.
Mar 6:32
And they went away in the boat ( ) to a desert place apartthe boat, no doubt, which our Lord had ordered to be always in attendance upon him. We learn from St. Luke (Luk 9:10) that this desert place was near to “a city called Bethsaida.” It seems that there were two places called Bethsaidaone in Galilee proper, and the other to the north-east of the Sea of Galilee. It was to the neighborhood of this latter place that our Lord here directs the boat to take him. The other Bethsaida is mentioned lower down at Verse 45. The word Bethsaida means the “fish village.”
Mar 6:33
This is very graphic. The Greek in the first part of this verse runs thus, according to the best authorities: : And theyi.e. the peoplesaw them going, and many knew them. They saw them departing, and observed what direction the boat took, and then hastened thither on foot, and outwent them; and so were ready to meet them again on the opposite shore when they landed. The distance by land from the place where they started would be about twenty miles.
Mar 6:34
Our Lord had gone to this desert place for retirement and rest; but finding the multitude waiting For him, his compassions were stirred, and he began to teach them many things. He was moved with compassion, because they were as sheep not having a shepherd. No animal is more helpless, more stupid, more in need of a shepherd, than the sheep. St. Chrysostom observes that the scribes were not so much pastors as wolves, because, by teaching errors both by word and by example, they perverted the minds of the simple.
Mar 6:35
And when the day was now far spent. The English, like the Greek, is here very idiomatic ( ). The English is retained in the Revised Version as it came through the Authorized Version from Tyndale. The present participle appears in the Sinaitic Manuscript and in the Cambridge Codex. His disciples came unto him, and said. The best reading is ( ), and were saying. St. Matthew (Mat 14:16) says, “They need not depart; give ye them to eat.” Thus our Lord prepared the way for his miracle, tie detained the multitude till the day was far spent, so that the disciples might be induced to pray him to dismiss them. This would open the way for him to direct the disciples to feed them. And thus the miracle would appear all the more evident in proportion as they found themselves in a strait, and utterly destitute of the needful supplies of food for such a multitude in the desert. St. John’s account here is much more full. He tells us (Joh 6:5) that Jesus, addressing Philip, said, “Whence are we to buy bread, that these may eat?” And he adds, “This he said to prove him: for he himself knew what he would do.” Our Lord, it would seem, asked Philip rather than the others, because Philip was simple-minded, sincere, and teachable, rather than clever, and so was accustomed to ask things which appeared plain to others. We have an instance of this simplicity of mind in the question which he asks (Joh 14:8), “Lord show us the Father, and it sufficeth us.”
Mar 6:37
Two hundred pennyworth of bread. The penny, or “denarius,” was the chief Roman silver coin, worth about eight-pence halfpenny. Upon the breaking up of the Roman empire, the states which arose upon its ruins imitated the coinage of the old imperial mints, and in general called their principal silver coin the “denarius.” Thus the denarius found its way into this country through the Anglo-Saxons, and it was for a long period the only coin. Hence the introduction of the word into the Authorized Version. Two hundred pennyworth would be of the value of nearly seven pounds. But considering the constant fluctuation in the relation between money and the commodities purchased by money, it is in vain to require what number of loaves the same two hundred denarii would purchase at that time, although it was evidently the representation of a large supply of bread.
Mar 6:38
Five (loaves), and two fishes. St. John tells us (Joh 6:9) that the loaves were of barley, and that the fishes were small (); St. Mark says . Barley bread was considered an inferior and homely kind of food, very inferior to bread made of wheat flour. The comparative value of the two kinds of bread is given in Rev 6:6. “A measure of wheat for a penny, and three measures of barley for a penny.” The psalmist alludes to the greater excellence of wheat flour: “He would have fed them also with the finest wheat flour” (Psa 81:16).
Mar 6:39
All were to sit down by companies ( )St. Luke (Luk 9:14) says that the companies were about fifty each ( )upon the green grass. St. John says (Joh 6:10) that “there was much grass in the place.” This indicates the time of the year. The grass was growing, and it was green. It would not be green in that district after April. Thus St. Mark’s account of the state of the grass at that time (an account evidently repeated from an eye-witness) coincides with the account of St. John, who says that “the Passover, a feast of the Jews, was at hand” (Joh 6:4).
Mar 6:40
And they sat down in ranks ( ); literally, they reclined. The Greek word means “a garden plot” or “bed,” literally, a bed of leeks. They were disposed symmetrically. Probably the English word “ranks” expresses the meaning as clearly as any could do. This arrangement was probably made, partly that the numbers might be better known, partly that all things might be done in an orderly manner, and that each might have his portion. St. Matthew’s account (Mat 14:21) seems to imply that the “men” were separated from the “women and children.”
Mar 6:41
All the synoptists give our Lord’s acts in the same words. The taking of the food into the hands would seem to have been a formal act before the” blessing,” or “giving of thanks,” for it. Probably our Lord used the ordinary form of benediction. This is one amongst other instances showing the fitness and propriety of” grace before meat.” In considering the miraculous action which followed the benediction, our reason is baffled. It eludes our grasp. It is best simply to behold in this multiplying of the food, both the bread and the fishes, an act of Divine omnipotence; not indeed now, as at the beginning, a creation out of nothing, for here there was the nucleus of the five loaves and the two fishes, but an act of creative development of the food in its best kind; for all the works of God are perfect, He gave () would be better rendered, he was giving. It was in his hands that the miracle was wrought, and the food continually multiplied.
Mar 6:42, Mar 6:43
They did all eat, and were filled (). It might be rendered, were fulfilled, according to the old meaning of “fulfill.” It is probable that the women and children were a considerable number; for they would be, if possible, even more eager then the men to see the great Prophet. When all had eaten and were satisfied, they took up broken pieces, twelve basketfuls, and also of the fishes. St. John tells us that this was done by the express command of Christ (Joh 6:12); and the existence of these fragments, far more in quantity than the original supply, was a striking testimony to the reality of the miracle, and that there was enough and more than enough for all. It does not become us to pry too curiously into the method of our Lord’s working; but the number of these baskets (), namely, twelve, seems to suggest that he first broke the loaves, and in breaking multiplied them, and distributed them into these baskets, one for each apostle, and that the food, as it was distributed by the disciples, was more and more multiplied, as needed, so that at length they brought back to Christ as many basketfuls of fragments as they had first received from him, and much more than the original supply. It is obvious here to remark that by this stupendous miracle our Lord showed himself to be the true Bread of life, by which the spiritual wants of all hungering souls may be supplied. “For,” says St. Augustine,” he was the Word of God, and all the acts of the Word are themselves words for us. They are not as pictures, merely, to look at and admire; but as letters which we must seek to read and understand.”
Mar 6:45
The other side. It would seem, as has already been stated, that there were two Bethsaidas (or “places of fish”fish-villages)one to the north-east of the Sea of Galilee, not far from where the Jordan enters it, called Bethsaida Julias; and the other on the western side of the sea itself, near to Capernaum. Again and again our Lord crossed this sea to escape the crowds who followed him about, and now wished “to take him by force and make him a king.” He desired for a time to be in retirement, in order that he might pray with the greater earnestness, and freedom from interruption. He also wished to make occasion for the miracle which was to follow, namely, the stilling of the tempest.
Mar 6:46, Mar 6:47
St. Mark is careful, like St. Matthew, to tell us that when the even was come he was alone on the land. Both the evangelists desire to call attention to the fact that, when night came on, the disciples were alone in their boat and Jesus alone on the land. It was nightfall; and St. John informs us that “the sea was rising by reason of a great wind that blew.” Then it was that the Lord left his place of prayer on the mountain, and walked upon the sea, that he might succor his disciples now distressed by the storm. It would appear that our Lord had been obliged to use a little pressure to induce his disciples to leave him: “He constrained them ( )
Mar 6:46
And when he had sent them away ()more literally, had taken leave of them, that is, the multitudehe departed into a mountain ( ); literally, into the mountain; that is, the high table-land at the foot of which the multitude had been fed. Towards the north-east of the Sea of Galilee the land rises rapidly from the shore. To pray ().This is a very full word, implying the outpouring of the heart to God. Our Lord did this that he might teach us in our prayers to shun the crowd, and to pray in silence and in secret, with collected mind. There is here, too, a special example for the clergy, namely, this: that when they have preached they should go apart and pray that God would make effectual that which they have delivered; that he would himself give the increase where they have planted and watered, and renew their spiritual strength, that they may return again to their labour refreshed by communion with him.
Mar 6:47
And when even was come. It was now advancing onwards into night; the wind was rising and blowing against them. Then it was that the Lord left his place of prayer on the mountain, that he might succor his disciples in their difficulties.
Mar 6:48-50
And he saw them toiling in rowing. The Greek is, according to the best readings (not ) . The word means more than “toiling;” it means literally, tormented. It is well rendered in the Revised Version by distressed. It was only by painful effort that they could make head against the driving storm blowing upon them from the west, that is, from the Mediterranean Sea. About the fourth watch of the night he cometh unto them, walking on the sea. The Jews formerly divided the night into three watches; but when Judaea became a Roman province they adopted the Roman division. The Romans changed the watches every three hours, lest through too long watches the guards might slumber at their posts. These periods were called “watches.” If the night was short, they divided it into three watches; if long, into four. Therefore the fourth watch began at the tenth hour of the night, that is, at three o’clock in the morning, and continued to the twelfth, that is, to six o’clock. It would seem, therefore, that this storm lasted for nine hours. During that time the disciples had rowed about twenty-five or thirty furlongs, that is about three Roman mileseight furlongsmaking a mile. The Sea of Galilee is not more than six miles broad at its widest part. They were therefore now ( ) “in the midst of the sea,” as St. Mark expresses it; so that, after rowing for nine hours, they had hardly crossed more than half over the sea. The Sea of Galilee is, speaking roughly, about twelve miles from north to south and six from east to west. It may be asked why our Lord suffered them to be tempest-tossed so long; and the answer is:
1. It was a trial of their faith, so as to urge them to seek more earnestly the help of God.
2. It was a lesson to accustom them to endure bard-ness.
3. It made the stilling of so tedious and dangerous a storm all the more grateful and welcome to them at last.
The Fathers find a fine spiritual meaning in this. Jerome says, “The fourth watch is the last.” So, too, St. Augustine, who adds that “he who has watched the ship of his Church will come at length at the fourth watch, at the end of the world, when the night of sin and evil is ended, to judge the quick and the dead.” Theophylact says, “He allows his disciples to be tried by dangers, that they may be taught patience, and does not come to them till morning, that they may learn perseverance and faith.” Hilary says, “The first watch was the age of the Law, the second of the prophets, the third of the gospel, the fourth of his glorious advent, when he will find her buffeted by the spirit of antichrist and by the storms of the world. And by his reception into the ship and the consequent calm is prefigured the eternal peace of the Church after his second coming” (see Wordsworth’s ‘New Testament:’St. Mat 14:1-36). He walked on the sea. This he did by his Divine power, which he possessed as God, and which, when he pleased, he could assume as man. Infidelity is at fault here. Paulus the rationalist, revived the ridiculous idea that Christ walking on the sea merely meant Christ walking on the shore, elevated above the sea; but the interpretation was rightly denounced by Lavater as “a laughable insult on logic, hermeneutics, good sense, and honesty.” Was it because our Lord simply walked on the shore that the disciples “cried out and were troubled”? Was it merely for this that they were “sore amazed at themselves beyond measure and wondered”? Yet such are the shifts to which unbelief is reduced when it ventures to measure itself against the acts of Omnipotence. He would have passed by them. An expression something like that in St. Luke (Luk 24:28), “He made as though he would go further,” although there the Greek in St. Luke is different ( ). Here it is : literally, he wished to pass by them; so at least it appeared to the disciples. It has been suggested that our Lord did this that the disciples might more clearly see how the wind was stilled in his presence. They supposed that it was an apparition ( ); literally, a phantom. Why did they suppose this? Partly from the idea that spectres appear in the night and in the darkness to terrify men, and partly because in the darkness they could not so readily recognize that it was Jesus. Then the fact that our Lord” would bare passed by them,” flitting past them as though he eared nothing for them and had nothing to do with them, but was going elsewhere; this must have increased their terror. But now came the moment for him to calm their fears. Straightway he talked with them soothingly. Be of good cheer: it is I; be not afraid. Now, Christ did this that he might teach his disciples to conquer fear and temptation, even when they are very great, and that so the deliverance and the consolation might impress them all the more powerfully and sweetly in proportion to their former terror. “‘It is I’I, your Lord and Master, whom you know so well, and of whose goodness and omnipotence you have already had so much experience; I, your Master, who do not come to mock you as a phantom, but to deliver you both from fear and from storm.” It will be observed that St. Mark omits all mention of Peter’s act of faith “in going down from the boat, and walking upon the waters to come to Jesus,” as recorded by St. Matthew (Mat 14:28). Throughout this Gospel, as already noticed, St. Peter is kept in the background.
Mar 6:51, Mar 6:52
The amazement of the disciples was very great. Nor was the impression confined to them alone. St. Matthew (Mat 14:33) tells us that they who were in the boat came and worshipped him. They felt, at least for the ‘moment, that they were brought into awful nearness to One whose “way is in the sea,” and whose “path is in the great waters,” and whose “footsteps are not known.” They needed not, however, to have been so amazed, for they had just witnessed his power in the miracle of the loaves; but they understood not ( ) concerning the loaves, but their heart was () hardened; literally, stupefied and blinded.
Mar 6:53
They came into the land of Gennesaret; literally ( ), they came to the land unto Gennesaret. This was the plain on the western side of the sea sometimes called “the lake of Gennesaret.” The name Gennesaret (says Cornelius a Lapide) means “a fertile garden.” There was a city originally called “Chinnereth” or “Cinneroth,” mentioned in Jos 19:25, which probably gave one of its names to this lake.
Mar 6:54-56
Straightaway the people knew him. Some, no doubt, had known him before, he was now the general object of interest and attraction wherever he went. They began to carry about on their beds ( ) those that were sick, where they heard he was. The original is very expressive ( where they heard, He is there. But the best authorities omit . Villages, or cities, or fields (Greek, ); literally, country, where the pursuits of agriculture would be going on. They laid the sick in the streets (Greek, )literally, market-places; the proper renderingthat they might touch if it were but the border of his garment. The border () means the” fringe” or “hem;” the garment was the outer robe worn over the tunic. And as many as touched him were made whole ( ); might mean either “him” or “it,” that is, “the border of his garment.” But the difference is of little importance; for it was faith in those who touched which brought the healing virtue to the sick, whether they touched the Saviour himself or only his clothes.
HomilETICS
Mar 6:1-6
Unbelief.
Our Lord may have had two reasons for leaving Capernaum and for visiting Nazareth. One, a personal reasonto see his mother and his sisters, who seem to have been married there. The other, a ministerial reasonto escape from the busy throngs who resorted to him by the lake, and to take a new center for evangelistic labours on the part of himself and his disciples. It is singular and instructive that Nazareth should have perhaps twice furnished a striking instance of human unbelief and offense with “the Nazarene.”
I. THE UNREASONABLENESS AND INEXCUSABLENESS OF UNBELIEF IN CHRIST. There were several facts, which took away all excuse from the conduct of the inhabitants of Nazareth.
1. He was well known to them. They had been acquainted with him for many years, and they had seen in him nothing but truth and integrity. His claims, therefore, should have been fairly and candidly considered.
2. He brought with him a great and acknowledged reputation. In the most populous parts of Galilee he had fulfilled a ministry which had excited the deepest interest. His miracles were undeniable and undenied, He was the object of general attention and of widespread faith.
3. He came to Nazareth and taught publicly, thus giving his townsmen an opportunity of judging for themselves of his wisdom and moral authority. They confessed with astonishment the extraordinary character of his teaching. Yet they did not believe. And how many among us, who have even greater opportunity of forming a just judgment concerning Jesus, are found judging falsely, and consequently rejecting the Lord of life and of salvation! They judge against the evidence, and their conclusion-in no way damaging to himis condemnation to themselves.
II. THE GROUNDS OF UNBELIEF IN CHRIST. It was unreasonable, but not inexplicable or arbitrary.
1. The Nazarenes were prejudiced against Jesus, because of his origin and circumstances. The son of so lowly a mother, the brother of sisters in so obscure a position, how could Jesus be regarded by his worldly townsmen with reverence? A craftsman himself, and one of an humble family, he was little likely to be received at Nazareth as he had been received elsewhere, even in the metropolis itself.
2. The other ground of prejudice was educational deficiency on the part of Jesus. He was the Prophet of Nazareth, and had not been trained in the rabbinical schools of learning. Whence had he his qualifications? What had been the source of his knowledge, the inspiration of his wisdom, the secret of his power? It was all a mystery to themsomething at variance with their beliefs, and in contradiction to their prejudices. Very similar are the objections which men still make to Christ. Had he come a king, a conqueror, a philosopher, a scholar, then men might have honored and welcomed him. But he came from God; and to the unspiritual there could be no more serious and fatal ground of offense than this,
III. THE REBUKE OF UNBELIEF. “A prophet is not without honor,” etc. There was sadness in Christ’s language and tones. Yet what a reproach was hereby conveyed to the unbelieving! They might be offended; there were those who would believe, who would evince gratitude and render honor. When we think how clearly our Lord must have foreseen the stupendous and eternal results of his ministry, we may appreciate the nobility and self-restraint of his attitude and language, and at the same time we may recognize the severity of his rebuke.
IV. THE CONSEQUENCES OF UNBELIEF.
1. The impression upon the Saviour’s mind is briefly described: “He marvelled.” An expression this, which gives us an insight into his humanity, and which reveals to us the depths of moral obliquity into which the cavillers had fallen.
2. The results to the people of the town were lamentable. The Prophet had come with power to bless, and prepared to heal and help. But he required the co-operation of faith; and, when this was withheld, “he could do no mighty work.” A few sick folk were healed, but many forfeited a blessing within their reach.
3. Yet the rejection of Jesus by his fellow-townsmen was the occasion of benefit to others. Finding no congenial soil at Nazareth, Jesus proceeded elsewhere, to labour where labour might be more appreciated. “He went round about the villages teaching.” The indifference or contempt of the unspiritual and self-sufficient may be the occasion of enlightenment and consolation to the lowly, the receptive, the needy.
APPLICATION.
1. The coming of Christ to a soul, to a community, is a moral probation, involving the most serious responsibility.
2. It is the most fatal guilt and folly, in considering the claims of Christ, to overlook the wisdom and the grace of his character and ministry, and to regard circumstances at which the superficial and the carnal may take offense.
Mar 6:7-13
The mission of the twelve.
The twelve disciples now first became apostles. This sending forth was a prelude to their life-long mission, to be fulfilled alter their Lord’s ascension. They had now been long enough with the Master not only to have imbibed much of his spirit, but to have learned the nature of his ministry and to have entered into its methods. Their evangelistic journey would be disciplinary to themselves and profitable to the population of Galilee, and it would increase and extend the interest of the people in the ministry of the Lord.
I. THE PREPARATION FOR THE MISSION, Wisdom and simplicity are here alike apparent,
1. The twelve were grouped into pairs. This was for the sake of companionship, and to secure that none should be unfriended and unsupported; as well as, in all likelihood, to bring about that one should supply the other’s lack.
2. They were sent as pilgrims. Two things only they were to take with themtheir sandals and their staves, which were part of their natural equipment as travelers afoot.
3. Yet they were forbidden to provide for their journey. luxuries and superfluities they must not take with them, neither must they provide for their subsistence, but must act upon the expectation that the labourer would be deemed worthy of his hire. In all these respects the instructions given to the twelve were significant of the method in which our Lord desires his people to undertake their spiritual mission to mankind. The work is to be done in fellowship and with mutual sympathy and support; it is to be done in the spirit of those who are in the world but are not of the world, who are not entangled in its snares, and who mind heavenly things.
II. THE NATURE AND PURPOSE OF THE MISSION. like their Lord, the apostles were enjoined to have compassion upon the varied needs of their fellow-men, to address themselves to the supply of both spiritual and temporal wants.
1. They were to summon men to repentance, the indispensable and universal condition of pardon and life to sinful, guilty men. A change of mind and heart alone could prepare men for the blessings of the Messianic kingdom.
2. At the same time they were to confront the power of evil in its most malignant manifestations, and to cast out demons in the name of that stronger One who was binding the spiritual tyrant of mankind.
3. And they were to heal the sick, both as a symbolic act, and as a proof and exercise of true and practical benevolence. All this they did efficiently and successfully, in the authority of their Divine Lord. The nature of this commission is parallel with that given by our Saviour to his whole Church; for he has put his people in charge with the welfare of mankind, both socially and temporally, and also spiritually.
III. THE SPIRIT OF THE MISSION. The directions given by the Master as to the apostles’ bearing with regard to those to whom they ministered were worthy of himself. There is a beautiful combination of meekness and dignity in these instructions, very like the Lord who gave them. Wherever received with cordiality, the apostles were directed to abide with their hosts, grateful for kindness and content with their entertainment. Wherever their message was rejected and they were disregarded, the twelve were commanded to “shake off the dust under their feet” for a testimony against the unbelieving and impenitent. The servants of the Lord Jesus cannot too carefully study these counsels, in considering in what spirit they shall fulfill the commission entrusted to them in human society. On the one hand, all selfish desires, all pride and restlessness, must be repressed; on the other hand, the high vocation must be esteemed, the office must be magnified, the authority of the Redeemer must be upheld, and the responsibility of rejecting the gospel must solemnly, and with appropriate dignity, Be cast upon the unbelieving and unspiritual.
PRACTICAL LESSONS.
1. All Christians may be reminded of their position in this world as the representatives and ministers of Christ.
2. All hearers of the gospel may be admonished as to the serious responsibility they incur when a message from heaven is brought before their minds.
Mar 6:14-29
Sin-hating righteousness.
The growing fame of Jesus reached all parts of the land and all classes of society. Not only the poor and diseased, the neglected and the despised, heard of the compassionate heart and the mighty deeds of the Son of man; the learned were jealous of his influence with the people, and powerful rulers wondered what was the secret of his power. Many were the explanations given of the new Teacher’s authority. Whilst some traced a resemblance between him and the olden Hebrew prophets, others even deemed him the greatest of the orderElijah himself, returning to the land of his ministry, in accordance with what was deemed the inspired prediction. But the most singular of all conjectures was that of Herodthat John the Baptist, whom he had beheaded in circumstances of atrocious dishonor to himself, had arisen from the dead. Mentioning this conjecture, the evangelist is naturally led to relate the incident of the forerunner’s violent deathone of the most awful, tragic incidents in all history. Simply tracing the narrative, we meet with successive embodiments of moral fact and law.
I. THE APPREHENSIONS OF A GUILTY CONSCIENCE. There seems to have been but little in the ministry of Jesus to recall that of John. John did no miracle; the fame of Jesus was largely owing to the miracles by which his ministry was continuously signalized. The power to attract multitudes was the one point obviously in common. But any association was sufficient to revive within Herod’s breast the memory of his weakness and his crime, and to reproach him with the destruction of a blameless and heroic, prophetic man. “Thus conscience doth make cowards of us all!”
II. THE RESENTMENT OF THE VICIOUS UNDER REBUKE. Antipas was guilty of a double incest and a double adultery; he married his niece, who was also his brother’s wife, that brother being still alive; and drove his own spouse from him by contracting this sinful union. Herodias was probably influenced by ambition in accepting a position so disgraceful. Amidst the silence or the applause of the courtiers, one voice arose to condemn this shameless conduct. It was the voice of the upright and dauntless John, whose rebuke was, “It is not ]awful!” No wonder that the wretched woman set herself against the stern prophet; his presence, his life, must have been to her an incessant reproach. Fain would she have killed him, fearing this influence with the king, and trembling for her own precarious position. There is no hatred so virulent and awful as the hatred of sinners against faithful and righteous rebuke.
III. THE CONFLICT BETWEEN CONSCIENCE AnD PASSION. The unhappy Herod was torn by two conflicting forces. On the one hand, the malice of Herodias urged him to put the fearless John to death, and thus to silence his rebukes; on the other hand, he respected and feared the holy and dauntless prophet, and he was impelled to listen to his words, hearing him eagerly, yet with unsolved perplexity of mind. He kept his prisoner safely, even from the malice of his paramour, whom he would gladly have gratified had not his conscience barred the way.
IV. YOUTH AND BEAUTY THE INSTRUMENT OF VINDICTIVENESS. There is a strange contrast between the frivolous and fascinating performances of youth and loveliness, and the dark designs in the background. Herodias watched and delighted to see the passions of her sensual husband moved at sight of her daughter’s charms, to hear the rash promise from those unrighteous lips. Base were the means, and baser still the end. When woman’s charms are used not only to provoke lust, but to induce to cruelty, can there be a more awful instance of the misuse of the fair gifts of the Creator? Yet history tells of many a tale like this, though perhaps or none so utterly and so irredeemably mournful.
V. FALSE HONOUR AND WICKED PRIDE PREFERRED TO JUSTICE. Vengeance and malice in Herodias are fitly matched with weakness and unrighteousness in her paramour. There can be no question that it is right to break a promise when the promise involves in its fulfillment the commission of a crime. Such a promise it is wrong to make, but to fulfill it makes one wrong two. The motives of Antipas were vile and mean; he wished to gratify the malice of a woman, and to vindicate his arbitrary authority in the presence of his guests. And for such motives he was ready to sacrifice a good man’s life.
VI. MALICE TRIUMPHANT. The foolish word was kept; the wicked woman was gratified; the infamous deed was done. As the Lord expressed it, “Elijah came, and they did unto him whatsoever they listed.” Although the world is ruled by a just Providence, righteousness does not always prosper; vice and crime are not always restrained, or even immediately and manifestly punished. The voice of just rebuke is often silenced; the head of innocence is often laid in the dust; “the godly man faileth;” the vilest men are exalted. All this is permitted that there may be scope for the exercise of faith; that virtue may be tried as in the furnace; that men may learn to look forward to a future state, in which grievances shall be redressed, and retribution shall be made, and the righteousness of the Divine Judge shall be fully vindicated.
VII. THE GOOD MOURN WHOM THE BAD DESTROY. During his brief ministry John had made many disciples, had attached to him many friends. During his captivity, his admirers had been severed from him. Now came the last opportunity for manifesting their reverential affection. When the company of the Baptist’s disciples, hearing of their master’s violent death, gathered themselves together, and carried the mutilated body to the tomb, what a contrast they afforded to the company of carousers, in whose presence Herod’s foolish oath had doomed a brave, pure man to death! It is well, even if “evil entreated” by the frivolous, sensual, and malicious, to have a place in good men’s hearts, and after death to live in the remembrance of the righteous.
Mar 6:30-44
No rest for Jesus.
The twelve have fulfilled their brief mission of evangelization, have returned to their Master, and tell him of the incidents and results of their mission. Jesus takes occasion to rest, and to give them rest, and with this intent withdraws to a desert place. This passage shows us with what result.
I. THE PURPOSES FOR WHICH THE Lord SEEKS RETIREMENT.
1. Perhaps to escape from the notice of Herod, who, having heard of his fame, may seek to get him within his power, even as before he had imprisoned John.
2. To secure a brief petted of bodily repose for himself and for the twelve. Their time and attention have been so occupied, that they have had no leisure even for their meals. It is bad economy in Christian workers to neglect the claims of the body, which needs to be kept, by food, exercise, and repose, in a sound and healthy state, that work for Christ may be done vigorously and cheerfully.
3. To enjoy leisure for spiritual intercourse. The twelve need to be taught that they may teach others; and this is a kind of work which needs leisure and quiet, and uninterrupted hours. The wise and experienced may spend their time to advantage in equipping the young and active among Christ’s disciples for spiritual campaigns.
II. THE MULTITUDE INVADE THE LORD‘S RETIREMENT.
1. It is a sign of their eager interest to see and hear the great Teacher and Physician. The tidings spread; the people anticipate their Benefactor; they outrun him, and are ready to meet him when he disembarks.
2. They find him willing to sacrifice his ease for the sake of his ministry. Having perhaps taken a few hours’ repose and slumber as the boat has rocked at anchor near the shore, Jesus lands, only to find the people awaiting him upon the beach. Instead of pushing off again and seeking a remoter seclusion, Jesus readily addresses himself to his work. A lesson this in diligence and zeal!
3. The sad condition of the people awakens Christ’s commiseration. Others might have said, “The people are comfortable and cared for.” But Jesus sees that spiritually they are as sheep without a shepherd, and his heart is touched at the spectacle. It needs the Spirit of Jesus to look thus upon the spiritually destitute and famishing, to penetrate through their outward guise to their souls’ needs,
III. JESUS PROVIDES FOR THEIR SPIRITUAL WANTS.
1. He teaches them; he, the Source of wisdom, imparts from his abundance to their necessities.
2. He teaches them at length and with variety. What the “many things” were in which he instructed them we know not, but may judge from the record of his discourses. So the swift hours pass on. He speaks as never man spake, and the people hear him gladly.
IV. JESUS SUPPLIES THEIR TEMPORAL NEEDS.
1. In this his action is in contrast with the spirit of his disciples, who would first have him dismiss the multitude, and who then put obstacles in the way of supplying their wants. We have no reason to blame the disciples, but we have reason to admire the Master.
2. Jesus uses the provision which is at hand. The bread is obviously and utterly insufficient, yet the Lord makes use of it, and chooses rather to multiply than to create. Our Divine Master here gives us a needed lessonto turn all things to good accountto employ the circumstances, the opportunities, the gifts Providence appoints for us, rather than to grieve that we have not other means of usefulness.
3. He acts in an orderly method. His directions as to the seemly and convenient arrangement of the multitude are in consonance with Divine wisdom, and are an example and admonition for us. God is not the author of confusion in any Churches; confusion is the devil’s work. “Order is Heaven’s first law.”
4. Jesus sets an example of gratitude. “looking up to heaven, he blessed.” A rebuke to such as take their daily food without giving of thanks; an admonition to remember whence the most common and customary of our mercies come.
5. He makes use of his disciples. Observe the honor which the Divine Lord puts upon human agency and instrumentality. The disciples could not provide; that was no reason why they should not distribute. The feeblest can offer, to his hungering neighbors, the bread of life eternal.
6. He satisfies the need of all. It is a vast crowd; yet not one is left unfed. There is in Christ “enough for enough for each, enough for evermore.” It is a symbol of the sufficiency of the Divine provision for all the spiritual necessities of mankind. The bread of heaven came down, and “giveth life unto the world.“
7. The provision is even superabundant; it is more than enough. How royally and munificently the Lord of all provides for his dependent creatures! There is yet room at his table, and bread in his store, bounty in his heart, and blessing in his hands. “Come, for all things are ready!”
Mar 6:45-52
“It is I.”
How picturesque and impressive is the scene! Jesus has dismissed the multitude, and has sent his disciples away in the boat to the western shore. He himself has retired to a mountain, by prayer to calm his spirit and to strengthen himself for his ministry. Night comes on; the wind rises from the west, and the waters of the lake are lashed into a storm. By the fitful light of the moon, breaking now and again through the drifting clouds, Jesus, as he stands upon the hilltop, observes the boat tossed upon the waves. Her sails are down, and the disciples are rowing, toiling, but are making no way against the gale. Jesus descends the hill, and, in the exercise of his supernatural power, walks upon the water. The superstitious fishermen, naturally enough, take the figure approaching them for a spectresome foreboding spirit of the deepand they’ cry aloud in terror. Then come the words, so authoritative and so gentle, “Be of good cheer: it is I; be not afraid!” The hearts of the disciples and the waves of the lake alike are calmed. Amazement fills every breast, and as they approach the land, the rescued mariners adore with fresh admiration their Deliverer and Lord.
I. CHRIST‘S PEOPLE HAVE SOMETIMES TO PASS THROUGH A SEA OF TROUBLE.
1. Circumstances without may conspire with fears within. Christians are in trouble as other men, and they sometimes dread lest they should be overwhelmed.
2. Christians may encounter trouble in the very act of obeying Christ. Just as the twelve met the storm in fulfilling their Lord’s directions to return to Gennesaret, so we may meet with trials and dangers in the path of obedience. If so, let us not count it strange.
II. CHRIST OBSERVES AND SYMPATHIZES WITH HIS PEOPLE IN THEIR TROUBLE. They may be unconscious and forgetful of this. little did the twelve, as they toiled in rowing, imagine that the eye of their Master was upon them; but it was. From the hill-top he witnessed their struggles; he, the Lord of the waves, suffered their violence; he, his disciples’ Friend, allowed them to come into extremity, and did not prevent their fears. So he may, for good reasons, allow his people to experience distress. Yet he is not unmindful and not unmoved. He thinks of them, watches over them, sympathizes with them. He may seem absent, but he is not.
III. CHRIST‘S PRESENCE AND VOICE BRING COMFORT AND PEACE TO THE HEARTS OF THE TROUBLED. Faith discerns that presence, though unseen; that voice, though unheard. “‘It is I!’I, who love you; I, who died for you; I, who provide for your wants, and watch over your souls; I, who sent you on life’s voyage; it is I, who am with you always, who now come to seek and save you!” When Jesus says, “Be of good cheer; be not afraid!” his are no empty words; they are words fitted to banish fear, to instil confidence, to inspire courage, to awaken hope.
IV. CHRIST‘S POWER AND GRACE BRING DELIVERANCE TO HIS TROUBLED ONES. We are indebted to him for more than sympathy. His tender kindness, his strong promises, his unfailing faithfulness, all issue in practical aid, in gracious interposition. He is the Lord of all hearts, and can assuage the tempests of the soul. He controls all circumstances, and compels all to co-operate for his people’s good. “He maketh the storm a calm;” “So he bringeth them to the desired haven.” Who, upon the troubled sea of time, would be without a Comforter so gracious, a Helper so mighty?
V. CHRIST‘S INTERPOSITIONS AWAKEN THE AMAZEMENT, REVERENCE, AND GRATITUDE OF HIS PEOPLE. Like the twelve, we have often too much reason, when we experience the compassionate interference of our Lord upon our behalf, to blame ourselves because our hardness of heart has made Divine deliverance seem strange to us. This is just what we ought to have looked for, to have expected with assurance. Oh for grace, that when the voice from heaven addresses us, “It is I,” we may respond, “It is Thou, indeed, O Lord, whom we honor, upon whom we call, in whom we trust! It is thou, whose presence is ever dear, whose voice is ever welcome, whose heart is never cold, and whose help is never far!”
APPLICATION.
1. An encouragement to obedience.
2. A rebuke to fear.
3. An assurance of Divine sympathy.
4. A call to grateful adoration.
Mar 6:53-56
The popularity of the Divine Physician.
At this time the tide of Christ’s popularity was at the flood. In a few verses, the evangelist strikingly depicts the general excitement which the presence of the Prophet of Nazareth awakened amidst the thronging and busy population.
I. THE PRESENCE OF THE DIVINE PHYSICIAN AMONG THE PEOPLE. Jesus sometimes retired to desert solitudes; but, for the most part, he chose to live among the people, and to be accessible to all classes and to all characters. This might well be his motive for spending so much of his life in the thickly peopled district on the western shores of the lake of Gennesaret. As the Son of man, Jesus mingled freely with the race he came to save and bless.
II. THE SPREAD AMONG THE PEOPLE OF THE GOOD TIDINGS. If Jesus was willing to live and work amongst the inhabitants of this district, they, for their part, were eager to embrace every opportunity of intercourse with him. Not that they were generally influenced by high motives that they resorted to him as to a spiritual teacher. It is evident that the interest felt in Jesus was very largely owing to his power and willingness to heal the sick and suffering. But, from whatever motive, it is of the highest importance that the children of men should be led to interest themselves in Christ. The tidings that Jesus is the Saviour of the world deserve to be published far and wide, as the best news for all mankind.
III. THE AGENCY EMPLOYED TO BRING THE NEEDY INTO THE PRESENCE OF THE SAVIOUR. As we read the vigorous language of the evangelist, we seem to see the eager, kindhearted people, the peasantry and the fishermen, hurrying throughout the district, seeking out all the diseased and infirm, carrying them on their couches to the places where Jesus is expected, and laying them in the open spaces, that they may be brought under the notice of the mighty and benevolent physician.
IV. THE CONTACT OF THE PATIENTS WITH THE PHYSICIAN. The healing looked for was effected, not by means and instruments, but by the great Healer himself. Accordingly, what the sufferers desired was, to lay hold upon Jesus, or even upon the hem or fringe of his garment. An indication this of the method of the sinner’s salvation. To come to Christ, and spiritually to lay hold upon him,such is the condition of securing all the blessings which Jesus brings to man.
V. THE EXPERIENCE OF HEALING. It mattered not how many came, by whom they were brought, in what place they encountered Jesus, from what disease they suffered; “as many as touched him were made whole.” There is no limitation to the healing power or to the healing grace of Immanuel. He is “mighty to save;” he saves “to the uttermost.;” and his salvation is perfect and eternal.
APPLICATION.
1. This narrative reminds the sinner where to look for deliveranceto Christ, and Christ alone.
2. This narrative sets before us the office of the Church; it is to bring sinful souls to the one Divine, almighty Saviour.
HOMILIES BY A.F. MUIR
Mar 6:1-6
Jesus visiting his own country.
By going thither
I. HE GRATIFIED A HUMAN YEARNING. In a previous chapter he is reported to have asked, “Who is my mother and my brethren?” He now shows that those broad human relations he had claimed did not imply the neglect of nearer ones, or indifference to them. He sought to benefit his own people in the highest way, oven whilst he would not suffer the narrow claims of his home to interfere with the wider claims of his kingdom. Have we so interpreted home relations, patriotism, local attachment, social ties?
II. HE ILLUSTRATED AFRESH AN OLD AND FAMILIAR EXPERIENCE.
1. He was one of many, yet by himself even in this.
2. One of the greatest of griefs to a pious spirit, to be hindered from doing good and conferring benefit.
3. A greater humiliation than his human birth, because a moral one consciously experienced.
III. HE EXHIBITED DIVINE MERCY.
1. Past offenses were forgiven.
2. Although conscious of restriction because of their unbelief and indifference, he still persisted in his works of mercy.M.
Mar 6:2, Mar 6:6
The twofold wonder awakened by the gospel.
I. IN MEN.
1. Because of contrast between the apparent origin and the Divine pretensions of Christ.
2. Because of the seeming disproportion between the results actually produced and the instruments. A curious phase this of human incredulity, as if the works did not speak for themselves! Failing the discovery of an evidently great cause, the results themselves are not credited with being what they seem to be. This is characteristic of human nature in all ages.
II. IN CHRIST. The unbelief itself, of which the human astonishment at his words and works was but the sign, was a still greater marvel to our Saviour. The believing, ingenuous soul cannot understand unbelief. And truly there is something unnatural and not to be looked for in the incredulity exhibited by men towards truth and goodness, and the proffered mercy of God.M.
Mar 6:2, Mar 6:3
Detracting from the Divine greatness of Christ.
I. How THIS IS DONE.
1. By attributing to secondary causes Divine effects.
2. Absence of faith and spiritual sympathy.
3. By being offended at the mystery of his humiliation, either in himself or his followers.
II. WHAT IT PRODUCES.
1. Unsatisfied indecision. Perpetual questioning.
2. Hardening of heart.
3. The doubter‘s own loss. Not only the works of mercy he might have wrought, but the Merciful One himself, are thus forfeited.M.
Mar 6:6
Christ ministering to the villages.
I. REJECTED IN ONE DIRECTION, THE SAVIOUR BEGINS AFRESH ELSEWHERE.
1. Indomitable zeal, and inextinguishable love for souls.
2. Divine wisdom. The sinning city or individual not altogether abandoned even when left alone. When the Redeemer cannot work within a heart, he will work about it. Where faith is not at once forthcoming, evidence is accumulated, and the unbelieving are approached from new directions and points of vantage. Every sinner is besieged by Christ. The country rends up fresh elements to the growing population of the cities; how important that it should send godliness and righteousness with these!
II. IT IS THE SPIRIT OF CHRISTIANITY TO CARE FOR THOSE WHO ARE AT A DISADVANTAGE.
1. They were out of the way and apt to be overlooked.
2. They were unfavourably situated for the rapid spread of new ideas.
3. They were for the most part humble. “To the poor the gospel is preached” was one of the characteristics of Christianity, of which John was to be informed; and it might have been added, “by Christ himself.” The moral influence of this example. How ought all ministers of the gospel and Christian labourers to eschew self and the love of fame! The grandest work of the ministry may be performed in the humblest sphere. Men are to be evangelized for their own sakes.M.
Mar 6:7-13
The mission of the twelve.
Already the Master had called them more than once. He had “many things to say” unto them, and was ever drawing them into closer sympathy with himself, and a higher sense of individual responsibility. St. Mark is not so full as St. Matthew, but from what he does tell us we are able to understand the nature of the work and its reason. The disciples are now to become apostles.
I. CHRIST PREPARES AND AUTHORIZES HIS OWN MINISTERS. There was need for this. Many whom he had cured were proclaiming him, not only without permission, but against his express command; and the devils were continually confessing him. This was inconvenient on account of danger to his person, because of the fact that he had been charged with being in collusion with Beelzebub, and the misrepresentation that took place as to the nature and aims of his kingdom. Christ first says, “Come, follow me,” ere he says, “Go.” He “began to send them forth by two and two,” i.e. tentatively, as they were ready, and as his purpose demanded. “Great is the authority of conferring authority” (Bengel).
1. The representatives of the Christian ministry were qualified for their task by the personal instruction of the Master, and communion with him in suffering.
2. Those most highly qualified to proclaim the gospel waited until he authorized them.
3. Their appointment had relation to their personal fitness and the exigencies of Christ‘s work. All the disciples do not seem ever to have been away from Christ at one time.
II. WHEN CHRIST HAS PREPARED HIS DISCIPLES HE HAS WORK FOR THEM TO DO. Their office was not to be a sinecure. The state of society, its rampant evils, its transitional character, and the attitude of expectancy exhibited by many, were so many reasons for their being sent forth.
2. There is never a time when earnest Christian effort is needed.
3. The adaptation of men is to be considered in determining the ministry they have to perform.
III. THE APOSTLESHIP INVOLVED TESTIMONY, MORAL APPEAL, AND SUPERNATURAL POWER. (Verses 7, 11-13.) The particular duties of the Christian ministry are determined by the demands of the age, etc, in which it is carried on, but in essence they are always the same.
IV. IT INVOLVED A DIVINE COMMUNION AND A HUMAN FELLOWSHIP.
1. He sent them forth, but his spiritual presence went with them. It was only of what he had given that they could communicate to others, and as he accompanied their efforts with his power.
2. He sent them “by two and two.” For mutual comfort, help, and co-operation. The deficiencies of one would be made up in the gifts of the other.
V. THE EQUIPMENT FOR IT WAS SPIRITUAL, NOT MATERIAL; DIVINE, NOT HUMAN. What they were to take with them is suggested only by the directions as to what they were not to take. It was in their message and its spiritual accompaniment their influence was to consist. The Master who sent them would provide for them. Christianity, which subsidizes all honorable means and influences, is independent of all. “Silver and gold have I none, but what I have give I thee” (Act 3:6).M.
Mar 6:14-16
Accounting for Christ.
Interesting as a photograph of contemporary opinion. Abrupt, picturesque, graphic. “He said” (” they said,” in some ancient authorities, as in Luke) is to be understood impersonally or of Herod. If the latter, the very repetition of Herod’s statement, in Mar 6:16, gives us fresh insight into the workings of Herod’s mind.
I. THERE IS EVEN A VARIETY OF OPINION IN THE WORLD ABOUT CHRIST. Whenever he is heard of human thought is exercised about him. The element of the extraordinary is always recognized as attaching to his personality and action. “However great be that variety, yet often the truth lies outside of it” (Bengel)
II. CHRIST HAS TO BE ACCOUNTED FOR. Very little was as yet known about him in Galilee, yet the question as to who he was at once arose. The reason of this is that the character of Christ is a challenge to the spiritual nature of man.
1. It appeals to the spiritual hopes of men. Even with the most debased and degraded, it is from the unseen that help and salvation are looked for. The common Jewish notion, that Elijah should come again, and the more general one, that the prophets were not dead, but reappeared at different times to repeat their messages, were but phases of the inextinguishable hope that characterizes the popular mind in all ages. They both start into life again at the appearance of Christ. He cannot be thought of by them but religiously or spiritually, the religious nature of his work is so pronounced. “The thoughts of many hearts shall be revealed.”
2. Conscience is addressed. It is the king who fancies he detects the ghostly association. The guilty past started up in all its horror. John’s faithful teachings and lofty example could not be forgotten. Was it the long-slumbering national conscience of the Jews that identified Christ with the prophets, whom their fathers had killed? It is the guilty conscience that fears him; the believer hails him with rapture and delight. So the Son of man judges the secrets of men all through time, and at the judgement day.
III. ANY BUT THE HIGHEST ESTIMATE OF CHRIST WILL PROVE UNSATISFACTORY. Popular opinion was at variance within itself; it falls below the true dignity of Christ.
1. There was, of course, an element of truth in their guesses. All true spiritual workers are represented by Christ, and their work is identified in greater or less degree with his. The kingdom of God is one in all its manifestations through all time. The higher personality and office of Christ is inclusive of all lesser ones. He was a Prophet, and more.
2. It was an inversion of the true order of reference which they perpetrated. Those prophets were but dependents of Christ, owing all their power and illumination to his indwelling Spirit.
3. Their error was due to moral causes Had their fathers received the prophet message instead of killing him, the generation of Christ’s day might better have understood his gospel. The lairs of heredity and traditional. mental attitude had much to do with their blunders, but most of all their own rejection of John, or supine allowance of his death. It seemed as if the spiritual consciousness of the Jews was condemned to stationariness at the very point of Divine revelation where John had failed to reform them. And so all men’s lack of faith and their unworthy conceptions of Christ have a moral root also. It is only as Christ himself, by his Spirit and teaching, enables us that we can truly say, “Our Lord, and our God.”M.
Mar 6:17-29
A soul’s tragedy.
I. FALSE STEPS. (Mar 6:17.)
1. Unlawful relations.
2. Resisting the messenger of God.
II. CONFLICTING INFLUENCES. The fearless court-preacher and the woman he denounced. The messenger of Truth and the associate in pleasure and vice. Representative of the way in which evil and good incarnate themselves, and work upon the heart of every man. The temptation to which Herod was subject was great; but he was not left without moral witness and aid.
III. SATAN‘S INSTRUMENT AND OPPORTUNITY. (Mar 6:21-25.)
1. The instrument is in a sense self-prepared, coming as it does out of the very heart of moral complication and love of unhallowed pleasure.
2. Yet is it also chosen and armed by the evil one.
3. It is an instrument calculated to work insidiously, unsuspectedly, and yet surely and irrevocably. Who would imagine that a damsel would wield such tremendous destinies? The weakness of every man is thoroughly understood by the enemy of souls, and unscrupulously appealed to. The works of Satan are rather hidden than manifest.
4. The attack is made when the moral sense is drowned in sensual pleasure and excitement. Company, wine, the fascination of the dance, and the flattering of pride by the presence of the Galilean nobles. What importunity cannot secure, a skillful manoeuvre may attain by surprise. The end is gained, provisionally, in the royal offer to the maid; a concealed, implicit pledge of what is not at the moment realized. Indefinite promises like this are full of danger; they cover so many unthought-of possibilities, and carry with them the illegitimate show of obligation even with respect to things not contemplated when the promise is given. The moral sense which is insensible to real duties avenges its perversion by manufacturing fictitious obligations, and attributing chief importance to them. “Honour” is the counterfeit of morality in many minds. A promise made as Herod made his is foolish and wrong, yet it cannot bind its maker to the performance of a further wrong. If men were only a tithe as attentive to their vows to God as to their vain and boastful promises and challenges to one another, they need fear no consequences. We bind ourselves with our own ropes. It was a birthday on which Herod committed spiritual suicide. Many a parallel to this may be found in the lives of men.
IV. THE CATASTROPHE. The career of sin has been likened to playing the devil with his own loaded dice. The thoughtless word of Herod committed him according to his perverted sense of honor, and the sequel was already predetermined and inevitable.
1. In sanctioning John’s death, Herod violated the deepest instincts of his nature, and rejected the voice of God.
2. Crowned a life of sin by a heinous and irrevocable crime.
3. (Humanly speaking) Destroyed his own hopes of salvation. His history henceforth is one of steady degeneration and ever darker crime. In many lives there are determining circumstances like this of Herod; they put mountains and abysses between the sinner and the God he has dishonored. “John the Baptist is risen from the dead;” “Whom I beheadedJohn: he is risen,” are discoveries which lighten not one whit the burden of his guilt, and bring no hope to his despair. They are the wails of a remorse from which has departed the grace and power of repentance. Yet is Christ greater than John, and able to save from even greater crimes than the murder of John, if he be but recognized and believed.M.
Mar 6:30, Mar 6:31
Telling Jesus.
(Cf. Mat 14:12, Mat 14:13.) Christ the central Figure all through the evangelic narrative. His personal importance is never obscured. It is from him apostles go forth; it is to him they return. Kings note his presence and works, and the people crowd to his ministry.
I. WHAT THE APOSTLES TOLD JESUS. “All things whatsoever they had done, and whatsoever they had taught.”
1. They narrated their experience. Most of them had to speak of their work and its results. It had exceeded their most sanguine expectations. The people had received them everywhere with joy, and they had nothing but success to relate. A few, however (Mat 14:12), had a tale of personal sorrow to pour into his ears. They had been disciples of John the Baptist, whom Herod had just beheaded. Their hopes had been dashed to the ground, and they scarcely knew what else to do than “tell him.” More disquieting still was their story, for they informed him that the tetrarch was anxious to see him, as he fancied he was John, whom he had beheaded, risen from the dead. So varied is the history of the Christian life!
2. It was but imperfectly understood by themselves. What they had done (i.e. miracles and exorcisms) was in their estimation most important, and is naturally enough mentioned first by the evangelist. By-and-by they were to learn that it was only for the sake of the teaching accompanying them that the “signs” were of any value. And so it was with the sorrow and fear of the disciples of John; they knew not their real consequence. Both were probably exaggerated. Still they did not feel they had to wait until everything was clearly and fully understood. All alike are drawn towards him. We, too, spontaneously pour forth our sorrow and joy, our fear and our confidence, into his ear, sure of sympathy and help.
II. WHY DID THEY TELL JESUS?
1. A sense of responsibility. It was he who commissioned them at the first, and they felt bound to carry back their report. He was the subject of their preaching, and of chief importance. And it was only as his power was imparted and continued to them that they were able to proceed.
2. A feeling of interest. The very enthusiasm and excitement brought them back to Jesusthe pleasure of telling him all the wonders and successes of their mission. Points, too, that specially struck their attention were referred to him for explanation.
3. A yearning for sympathy. They felt that he would most heartily respond to their mood, whether of elation or despondency. No one ever came with a genuine human feeling to Christ, and received a rebuff.
III. HOW DID HE RECEIVE THEM? He had evidently listened to their whole story. Now they met with:
1. Kindly appreciation.
2. Gracious provision for their needs.
3. Precautions for their mutual safety.M.
Mar 6:31
Christ’s offer of rest.
I. THE PECULIAR GIFT OF JESUS TO HIS SERVANTS. “Into a desert place;” only Christ to speak with them, to comfort and to advise.
II. A MANIFOLD PROVISION FOR HIS SERVANTS‘ NEEDS. Calm after excitement; repose after labour; meditation upon Divine marvels and experiences. Security from threatening dangers.
III. A PREPARATION FOR FUTURE SERVICE. “Rest a while.“M.
Mar 6:31
The Christian worker’s rest.
I. IN A WORLD WHERE THERE IS NO TRUE REST.
II. PROCEEDING FROM THE LORD.
1. Divinely commanded.
2. Divinely prepared.
3. Divinely shared.
III. TO FIT FOR FURTHER SERVICE.M.
Mar 6:31
“Coming and going.”
I. A PICTURE OF THE WORLD‘S LIFE.
II. INDICATIVE OF THE WORLD‘S SPIRITUAL STATE.
III. AN OCCASION OF DIFFICULTY TO THE CHURCH.M,
Mar 6:32-34
Christ’s sympathy for men.
I. How IT WAS CALLED FORTH.
1. The physical exhaustion and hunger of the people.
2. Their restlessness.
3. Their inarticulate longing for some higher truth and life.
II. THE CHARACTER IT ASSUMED. Shepherdly anxiety and care.
1. An intense compassion and solicitude.
2. A deep religious sense of the Divine ideal from which they had departed. The spirit, the very words of prophecy, occur to him in the connection (Num 27:17; Zec 10:2).
3. A practical undertaking of their care.
III. HOW IT EXPRESSED ITSELF. He taught them many things. By word and act he strove to lift their hearts to God, and to suggest the ineffable mysteries of his kingdom. The miracle that followed.M.
Mar 6:34
The shepherdly emotion of Christ.
I. NATURALLY ELICITED.
II. A DIVINE INTERPRETATION OF HUMAN DISTRESS,
III. A FULFILMENT OF THE WORLD‘S HOPE.
IV. AN UNCONSCIOUS PROOF OF HIS BEING THE SAVIOUR OF MANKIND.M.
Mar 6:35-44
Feeding the five thousand: a miracle.
One of the most signally demonstrative and masterly of Christ’s miracles, whether we consider the circumstances in which it was wrought, the details of its carrying out, or the dimensions and absoluteness of the result. How carefully the evidence was accumulated by Christ of the truly miraculous nature of this work! It was a grand display of
I. WISDOM.
1. A practical (and symbolical) discipline of the Church in its great function towards the world.
2. A demonstration to the world of the principles and order of the kingdom of God.
II. POWER.
1. Creative.
2. Multiplying human resources.
III. MERCY. Wisdom and power co-operative towards the accomplishing of the highest blessing. Mercy the chief work of God as of man.
1. Bodily, in the relief of the hunger, consideration for the weariness of the multitude.
2. Spiritual, in giving spiritual bread, in teaching dependence upon God, and in enjoining economy of Divine gifts.M.
Mar 6:35-44
Feeding the five thousand: a parable.
It is no less remarkable in this aspect; perhaps it was its suggestion of spiritual things which was its chief aim. It sets forth the physical and spiritual dependence of men upon God, and the Divine Father’s willingness and power to provide for his children; or, the sufficiency of the kingdom of God for the sustenance of its subjects. The nature and principles of Divine mercy to mankind are also suggested.
I. THE POVERTY OF THE CHURCH. Both discovered and concealed; discovered to itself, concealed from the world. How delicate the consideration and tact of Christ!
1. In position. In the desert. For its needs no dependence upon the world is suffered, whose gold and silver and bread are “not convenient.”
2. In material supplies. Only five loaves and two fishes, and these, as it were, adventitious.
3. In spiritual resource.
(1) In evangelical sentiment. How callous the suggestion”Send them away”! There is no sense of responsibility for the well-being of the multitude, physically or spiritually. The question as to the “two hundred pennyworth of bread” is full of selfish dismay; the sacrifice is contemplated as not only great, but not to be entertained. “Give ye them to eat” conveys rebuke as well as command.
(2) In administrative expedients. They had everything to learn. No spiritual imagination is forthcoming to conceive of Divine aid in a grave exigency of the kingdom of God, to plan for the supply of those who have been led, by eagerness for the bread of life, to imperil their command of material necessities. Had the true feeling been there, the ideas and inspirations required to give effect to it would not have been wanting. Has the Church of to-day yet risen to its high vocation? Our missionary enterprise and inward institutional development have not been proportionate to our light and privilege. Surely the day is at hand when all these half-hearted and disappointing efforts shall be left behind and forgotten in more vigorous, comprehensive, and statesmanlike undertakings.
II. THE RICHES OF CHRIST.
1. A satisfying, saving fullness, administered through the appointed means of grace already existent in his Church. The material resources of his people can never be of primary consequence; for:
2. Means rightly used in his name will be indefinitely multiplied to satisfy all the demands made upon it. One man, with the Spirit of the Lord in him, will be more powerful than Synods and Churches without it. And the means used thus must ever appear disproportionately insignificant as compared with the result. “What is little becomes an abundance through the blessing of God” (Godwin).
III. CONDITIONS OF COMMUNICATION TO MEN. There was an antecedent ground for Christ’s consideration, viz. that the people had exposed themselves to inconvenience and danger through desire for his doctrine; corresponding to the principle, “Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you.” “He provideth the lower good for those who were seeking the higher” (Godwin). But the immediately declared conditions were:
1. Obedience. The disciples were to do as he bade them, and so through them, in turn, the crowd. The resources at handloaves and fisheswere to be sought for, calculated, and brought forth. The people are bidden to place themselves in a position most fittingly and impressively to receive the benefit to be conferred.
2. Order. There is something very impressive in the symmetrical arrangement, “by hundreds and by fifties.” It was manifestly a measure of the highest importance from the point of view of “supply.” “Order is Heaven’s first law.” In the kingdom of God all things must “be done decently and in order.” A settled government, properly appointed officers, and, in general, method, system. So in the economy there must be no waste. The saving from one season is to be the supply of another.
3. Divinely commissioned service. Some have supposed that the multiplication of the bread was effected in the hands of Christ; some, in the hands of the disciples; some, in the hands of the multitude; others, in all three stages of its administration. Yet are the apostlesthe called and commissioned servants of Christthe true “stewards of the mysteries.” The qualification, however, is not mechanical, but spiritual. It is the Spirit of Christ in them that fits them for their task, and ensures their efficiency.
4. Prayer. The meal is a communion with God. His blessing must be asked. It is sacramental Only as God blesses the provision can it be sufficient. It is obvious that the grand condition of all these requirements is faith. It is the calling forth and exercising of this which crowns the miracle as a consummate grace.M.
Mar 6:43
Spiritual economy.
From other accounts we learn that this measure was ordered by Christ. The power and the restraint of Christ are about equally demonstrative of his divinity. A strict and immediate economy is demanded in his kingdom. We are to appreciate the grace received; its very fragments are to be precious. The life and work of the Christian have to exhibit a wise and careful stewardship. This direction
I. IS A SOLUTION TO ONE OF THE GREATEST DIFFICULTIES IN CONNECTION WITH PRAYER.
1. Answers are apparently withheld because they have already been granted and we do not realize it.
2. Further blessing is denied because that actually received has been wasted or despised.
II. DISCOVERS A COMMON SOURCE OF WEAKNESS AND WANT IN SPIRITUAL LIFE.
1. We have not enough because there has been carelessness and waste.
2. We have not enough (or abundance) because we have been selfish. There has been no desire to keep what has been received for others.
III. TEACHES US GREAT HUMILITY AND GRATITUDE IN THE USE OF SPIRITUAL SUPPLIES.M.
Mar 6:45-52
Jesus walking on the sea.
I. THE SERVANTS OF THE LORD ARE EXPOSED TO OPPOSITION AND DANGER IN CARRYING OUT HIS COMMANDS.
II. WITHOUT THE CONSCIOUSNESS OF HIS PRESENCE DIFFICULTY APPEARS INSURMOUNTABLE.
III. HE IS EVER AT HAND TO BLESS THOSE WHO ARE STRIVING TO OBEY HIS WORD.
IV. WHEN HIS SERVANTS ARE READY TO RECEIVE HIM HE WILL COME TO THEIR RESCUE, AND EVERY OBSTACLE WILL BE OVERCOME.
V. SUCH TEMPTATIONS ARE INTENDED TO DISCOVER THEIR NEED OF HIM, AND TO CONFIRM THEIR FAITH IN HIM.M.
Mar 6:45-52
Jesus walking on the sea: interpreted of the Church.
I. EVANGELICAL TASTES. The vessel and crew represent the Church of Christ; the sea, the variable circumstance of world-life; the voyage, the commission of the Church from her Lord; the storm, the adverse spirit of the world; the apparition, the spiritual advent of our Lord into the heart and mind of his Church; CapernaumChrist’s “own city”the city of God, to which the Church brings all true believers.
II. SPIRITUAL LESSONS.
1. The Church of Christ, in discharge of her great mission, must be separate from the spirit of worldliness. The crowd left upon the darkening shore was animated by the unconverted, carnal mind that cannot understand the things of God; but it must nevertheless be ministered to. This mind is full of unspiritual interpretations of the mission and person of Christ (cf. Joh 6:14, Joh 6:15). But Christ himself, from whom the disciples were parted, was not yet manifested to themselves as the Son of God and Saviour of the world. He was as yet, so far as their conceptions of him were concerned, the “Christ after the flesh” of whom Paul spoke, and therefore but an element or phase of that world-spirit with which he had been associated in the miracle of the loaves and fishes. These together represent, then, the forms the world-spirit assumes, and through which it endeavors to work.
2. The Church‘s distress arises from various causes, external and internal, but chiefly the latter.
(1) The opposition of the world-spirit, increasing as the direction of the vessel becomes more determinate, and developing bitterness, fury, and persecution. Against these the Church strives.
(2) Inward sources of disquietude and weakness. The conception of Christ carried away by the disciples was in large measure a fleshly one, and a worldliness struggles within the heart of believers. The first stages of Christian life in the individual and in the historic Church are marked by low ideas of the person and work of Christ, producing estrangement from him, fear, and weakness.
3. The deliverance of the Church consists in receiving Christ “after the spirit,” in faith and communion. This advent is supernatural. It is out of the eternal calm, spiritual elevation, and moral stability of the mountain of Divine communion. Advancing to and with his people through the turmoil of world-life, he is at hand to bless according to the measure of reception accorded him, ready to reveal himself to them that look for him and cry to him, and proving himself the One who “overcometh the world.” This spiritual Christ (not an apparition, though appearing to the superstitious fear and ignorance of the Church as such) is the true, substantial, and eternal Christ, who will work out an instant and complete salvation for his people, perfecting their spiritual life, and leading them to their journey’s end.M.
Mar 6:45-52
Christ’s retirement.
There are three essential elements discerniblewithdrawal from man, approach to God, and return to man.
I. SEASONS OF PRIVACY AND RETIREMENT ARE ESSENTIAL TO THE SPIRITUAL WELFARE OF THOSE WHO HAVE MUCH PUBLIC LIFE AND WORK.
II. A GREAT MINISTRY MUST BE SUSTAINED BY CONSTANT, PROFOUND DEVOTIONS,
III. THE PRAYER OF THE SAINT IS AS HELPFUL AND NECESSARY TO THE WELFARE OF OTHERS AS HIS PRACTICAL WORK.
I. DIFFICULT OF ATTAINMENT. Much publicity jarred and fretted his nature. Yet he could not be rude or unkind. The multitude must be sent home; the disciples required to be removed from the dangerous excitement of the scene “Constrained””sendeth the multitude away.” Only Christ could do this, and at what cost! His rest must be legitimately won, and therefore no duty or kindness is neglected.
III. A NECESSITY OF HIS SPIRITUAL NATURE.
III. UTILIZED IN THE HIGHEST OCCUPATIONS,
IV. BROKEN IN UPON BY HUMAN SYMPATHIES AND SOLICITUDES,M.
Mar 6:53-56
Secondary benefits of the gospel.
I. THESE ARE GENERALLY FIRST RECOMMENDATION.
II. THE END THEY ARE MEANT TO SERVE.
1. To draw men to Christ.
2. To demonstrate that the gospelthe Christblesses the whole man and the whole life.
III. THEIR SNARE AND DANGER.M.
HOMILIES BY A. ROWLAND
Mar 6:2, Mar 6:3
Jesus, the rejected Teacher.
When the evangelist states, in the preceding verse, that Jesus “went out from thence,” he is referring not so much to the house of Jairus as to the town of Capernaum. Thence he went forth to the village of Nazareth, in whose fields he had often played as a child, and in whose houses and streets he had laboured as a man. In the world, yet not of it. On a certain sabbath day he preached in the synagogue (for Nazareth possessed but one), where he had worshipped in his childhood with Mary, and which he had afterwards attended as a village artisan. St. Luke records the address he delivered, in which he proclaimed himself to be the Messenger of comfort of whom Isaiah had spoken. This only led to his rejection and to a brutal attempt upon his life, so that the Nazarenes unconsciously justified Nathanael’s question, “Can any good thing come out of Nazareth?” In a true and lofty sense, the Lord was the Representative of his brethren, the Ideal to which they are to be conformed. From what he was and from what he experienced, we may constantly learn something respecting ourselves. We are reminded by this scene of the following truths:
I. THAT WE DO NOT ALWAYS FIND ENCOURAGEMENT WHERE WE MOST NATURALLY LOOK FOR IT, If there was a place in Palestine where the Lord might have fairly anticipated a welcome, it was Nazareth. Other cities might suspect him, when he came to them as a stranger, but in Nazareth he had been known for years. There had never been an act of unkindness done by him, or a word of evil uttered by his stainless lips. With gentleness greater than a woman’s, with bravery loftier than a hero’s, he had walked uprightly and lovingly amongst this people. Cast out elsewhere, he ought to find shelter and be surrounded by love and loyalty here. He came as King Alfred came among his Saxons: when overwhelmed by superior forces, he yet refused to bate one jot of heart and hope. He came, as we come sometimes from places where we have been suspected or wronged, to the home where we believe the best will be made of us. But even Nazareth cast him out. Truly, he was “despised and rejected of men.” It is enough for the servant that he be as his Master. Sometimes. like him, we may suffer from want of sympathy where we confidently expected it. Possibly, for example, you are brought to serious thought; you feel that the world passes away, and the lust thereof; you are conscious that there is around you a spiritual world, for which you are utterly unprepared. Filled with anxiety and distress, you venture to open your heart to those at home; but, although it is nominally a Christian home, you are laughed at for your pains, or are recommended change and cheerful society. But you feel that it is not this you want, when your “heart and flesh cry out for the living God.” Whenever, under such circumstances, you are tempted to anger or discouragement, lift up your thoughts to him who was tempted even as you are, and yet was without sin.
II. THAT MAN IS NOT THE MERE CREATURE OF CIRCUMSTANCES. The Son of God was in one sense infinitely removed from us, yet in his human relations he was “made like unto his brethren.” And he, in all his purity and devoutness, came forth from a town notorious for its ignorance and degradation. He grew up there as a sweet flower does upon a heap of refuse, drawing nourishment to itself from the reeking soil, and transmuting it into beauty and fragrance by the power of its own life. So has it been with many of his followers. No man is absolutely dependent upon the place in which he is born or educated for what he is. He has a God-given individuality. Besides the external training, there is also an inward education, which is more productive of result. Examples of this are seen in social life. There are some who are envied now for their circumstances of abundance, who were not born in them. They have had many an effort and many a failure, but have been faithful and hopeful throughout. They started with few advantages, were sent early to business, had but slight education; yet, with a sense of independence of man, linked with a consciousness of dependence upon God, they have risen above their former mean surroundings. Thus is it in the moral and religious sphere. You must not suppose that, because you have not a Christian home, you are “committed to do” some abominations; or that, because you live out of sight of the worse forms of degradation and irreligion, you are discharged of all responsibility in regard to these. Circumstances are not to mould you, but you are to rule and triumph over them; and, by the grace of God, may come forth from a despised and degraded condition as one of the kingly sons of God.
III. THAT NO MAN IS DEGRADED BY COMMON WORK. “Is not this the carpenter?” What right has he to assume the position of a teacher? Yet these Jews were for the most part more sensible in their views of manual work than many Englishmen. It was the custom amongst them even for rabbis to learn some handicraft. But then, as now, it was one thing to be a learned man with power to turn to manual occupations for amusement, and quite another thing to earn bread by it, and in the intervals of labour to teach others. This is what Jesus did.’ Whether, as Justin Martyr reports, he made ploughs for the husbandmen or not, at least it is certain that the Builder of the heavens and the earth humbled himself to so lowly a condition that his neighbors could say of him. “Is not this the carpenter?” or, as Matthew puts it, “Is not this the carpenterson?” He had fallen in with Joseph’s condition, and had recognized his own as being marked out for him by his reputed father’s choice. Often our work is so settled for us, and our plans and preferences are thus altered by others, or rather through them by him who appoints for every man the bounds of his habitation. Sometimes, for example, a young fellow has entered on the study of the law; but his father dies, and leaves a business on the continuance of which the livelihood of the widow and younger children depends. All the cherished prospects of life are then rightly sacrificed upon the altar of love and duty, It would not be right to dissipate the work of another’s life, especially if it were that of one’s own father; and if the business be one in which you could serve others and serve God, let it be undertaken heartily and gladly. let there be no department of life-work in which you would be unwilling to bend your back fro’ the heaviest burden. All such occupations Christ has touched and sanctified and honored, so that in them “whatsoever you do, you may do it heartily, as unto the Lord.”A.R.
Mar 6:3-5
“They were offended in him.”
Whether the narratives of the three synoptic evangelists refer to one visit to Nazareth or to two visits, is a question which has been eagerly discussed. Give suggestions for the settlement of the dispute. Possibly such discrepancies were allowed to exist that we might care less for the material, and more for the spiritual element in the Gospels; that we might concern ourselves less with external incidents in the life of Jesus, and more with the Christ who liveth for evermore. Those who rejected our Lord at Nazareth have their followers in the present day, who are influenced by similar motives. let us discover the reasons and the results of their conduct.
I. INDIFFERENCE TO CHRIST SOMETIMES ARISES FROM FAMILIARITY WITH HIS SURROUNDINGS. The inhabitants of an Alpine village live for years under the shadow of a snow-clad mountain, or within hearing of a splendid fall which comes foaming down its rocky bed; but they do not turn aside for a moment to glance at that which we have come many miles to see. This indifference, bred of familiarity, characterized the Nazarenes. They had known the great Teacher as a child, and had watched his growth to manhood. He did not come upon them out of obscurity, as a startling phenomenon demanding attention; but they knew the education he had received, the teachers at whose feet he had been sitting, the ordinary work he had done, etc. Jesus himself acknowledged the influence of this, when he said, “A prophet is not without honor, save in his own country, and among his own kin, and in his own house.” We warn our hearers against similar peril; for there are many who have known their Bibles from childhood, who remember the old pictures which at first aroused some interest in it, who have attended public worship for years, and yet their lives are prayerless, and it may be said of them, “God is not in all their thoughts.” Beware of that familiarity with sacred things which will deaden spiritual sensibility. Most of all, let us who think and speak and work for Christ pray that our hearts may ever be filled with light and love, and may be kept strong in spiritual power.
II. CONTEMPT FOR CHRIST SOMETIMES SPRINGS FROM ASSOCIATION WITH HIS FRIENDS “Is not this the brother of James, and Joses, and of Juda, and Simon? and are not his sisters here with us?” Possibly there was nothing known about them which was in antagonism to the truth and purity Jesus proclaimed, but as there was nothing wonderful about them, it was the more difficult to believe there was anything Divine about him. Far more reasonably, however, does the world misjudge our Lord because of what is seen in us. Earthly, ordinary, and spiritually feeble as we are, we nevertheless represent him. He speaks of truth, and is “the Truth,” yet sometimes the world asks concerning his disciples, “Where is their sincerity and transparency?” We profess to uphold righteousness, yet in business, and politics, and home-life we sometimes swerve from our integrity. let there be but living witnesses in the world such as by God’s grace we might become, and through whom there should be the outgoings of spiritual power, and then society would be shaken to its very foundations. When the rulers saw the boldness of Peter and Johnthe moral change wrought in these Galilean peasants”they took knowledge of them, that they had been with Jesus;” and “seeing the man who had been cured” standing beside them, as the result of their work, “they could say nothing against it.”
III. THE REJECTION OF CHRIST BRINGS ABOUT A WITHDRAWAL OF HIS INFLUENCE. “He could there do no mighty work.” He could not. His power was omnipotent, but it conditioned itself, as infinite power always does in this world; and by this limitation it was not lessened, but was glorified as moral and spiritual power. In Nazareth there was an absence of the ethical condition, on the existence of which miracles dependedan absence, namely, of that faith which has its root in sincerity. If we have that, all else is simplified; if we have it not, we bind the hands of the Redeemer, who cannot do his mighty work, of giving us pardon and peace, because of our unbelief. Christ marvels at it. He does not wish to leave us, but he must; and old impressions become feebler, the once sensitive heart becomes duller, and we become “hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.” “To-day, if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts.” Nevertheless, he leaves not himself without a witness. If he must quit Nazareth, he will go “round about the villages teaching,” encircling the town with the revelations of power which it will not receive into its midst. And though he “can do no mighty work” such as Capernaum had seen, he will lovingly “lay his hands upon a few sick folk,” who in an unbelieving city have faith to be healed. “Thou despisest not the sighing of a contrite heart, nor the desire of such as be sorrowful.”A.R.
Mar 6:7-12
Preparations for preaching.
From amongst his disciples our Lord selected a few who were to be in a peculiar sense his representatives and ambassadors, and they have had their successors in all the ages of Christendom. Mark significantly says,” Then Jesus began to send them forth;” for ever since that day he has been giving similar work, and qualifying similar representatives. A study of their characteristics and of their instructions may be profitable to us.
I. THEY WERE TO GO FORTH FROM THE PRESENCE OF JESUS. All the apostles had companied with him, and so had heard his instructions and been witnesses of his work. This qualified them for their mission. They were not to teach dogmas which might be read up as for an examination, but they were to tell of a life, of a person, of a death, of a man through whom they had known God. Hence Jesus “called them to be with him,” and then sent them forth. This principle has always prevailed in the Church. Moses would never have proclaimed God’s law, or known it, unless he had gone into his presence on Sinai. Elijah would never have dared to attempt what he did, had he not been able to realize the truth of his often-uttered declaration, “The Lord God of Israel, before whom I stand!” These disciples could not have spoken as they did, unless they had been with Jesus. So, if we merely get up certain facts or theories, and rehearse them in the audience of the people, without ever having a sense of our Lord’s nearness, our work will be a spiritual failure. First let us come and see the Lord in the temple, as Isaiah did, and when we hear his voice, and have our tongue touched with a live coal from off the altar, we shall be ready to say, “Here am I; Lord, send me.”
II. THEY WERE TO BE WILLING TO WORK TOGETHER. “He began to send them forth by two and two,” for their mutual encouragement and help. Show the advantage of Christian friendship and fellowship. We lose spiritual culture by the isolated condition of Christian life, United work does not always bring pleasure, but it always brings discipline, often through the trials which come from incompatibility of temperament. Picture to yourself the experience of the disciple who was appointed by our Lord to have Judas Iscariot as his companion. Simon the Cananaian would see and lament his growing selfishness and avarice; he would fear to weaken his influence or damage his reputation among strangers, and yet would feel he must be loyal both to Judas, and his Lord. What self-control this would beget! what charity, which would shut its eyes to evil to the very last! what discipline of self! what earnestness of prayer for guidance! And if an unpleasant companionship may be thus fruitful, much mare may the companionship that is pleasant become so, if it be the appointment of the Lord. When two young people agree to link their destinies for weal or woe, to bear with each other’s failings, and to strengthen one another’s hands, it is a happy thing when they can say and feel, that “the Lord Jesus sent them forth by two and two.”
III. THEY WERE TO BE CONTENT WITH THE USE OF MORAL INFLUENCE. On entering a town, they were not to demand accommodation from strangers by some display of miraculous power, but they were to inquire who in the town was worthy, i.e. who was receptive, being numbered amongst the devout ones who were “waiting for the consolation of Israel.” The home of such a one was to be the center from which the apostles worked. If their message was rejected, on leaving the place they were to “shake off the dust under their feet for a testimony against them”an act symbolic of renunciation of influence and responsibility, and of the announcement of coming judgment. They were not to attempt to force men to listen and obey. Spiritual work is slow, but sure. We are not to endeavor, by the establishment of a great organization, to embrace all in a nominal Christianity, nor are we to conquer men by physical force, as Mahomet did; but are to seek lovingly and prayerfully to turn one soul from darkness to light, that it may become the source of illumination to others.
IV. THEY WERE TO EXERCISE SELF–DENIAL AND CHEERFUL TRUST IN GOD, This was the meaning of the instructions given in verses 8, 9. They were to make no special provision for their journey, but were to go forth prepared to deny themselves; ready to live in the spirit of pilgrims; burdened with the fewest possible earthly things; free from all care, because the Father cared for them. When the Church has their spirit, she will win their results.A.R.
Mar 6:21-28
The murderers of John the Baptist.
The name of Herod Antipas is associated with that of our Lord on three occasions. The first is mentioned in this chapter. On the second he sends a threatening message through the Pharisees (Luk 13:31); and on the third, with his men of war, he mocked the world’s Redeemer (Luk 23:8-12). These together afford an example of the progressive nature of sin. Herod passed from superstitious fear to anger, and from anger to mockery and scorn. He “walked in the counsel of the ungodly,” and “stood in the way of sinners,” and at last “sat in the seat of the scornful” (Psa 1:1-6.). It appears to have been the extension of our Lord’s influence, doubtless through the work of his newly appointed apostles, which aroused the interest and fear of Herod. The miracles which were wrought vividly brought before his guilty conscience the terrible crime which he had recently committed, in the murder of John the Baptist, of which Mark gives us the most graphic and detailed narrative we have. The feast described could hardly have taken place in Tiberias, but probably in some other palace close by the castle of Machaerus, in which John was a prisoner. In the scene which is here portrayed we see three types of character, represented by the three chief actors in this tragedy, which are worthy of our study.
I. CONSIDER HEROD AS AN EXAMPLE OF MORAL WEAKNESS, He was the son of Herod the Great, by Malthace, a Samaritan woman, and inherited his father’s vices without his vigor. Profligate and luxurious, he had no vestige of moral greatness. His language was that of a braggart, as we can see in his promise that he would give “the half of his kingdom;” as if he were a mighty Ahasuerus, whereas he was but the subordinate ruler of the small districts of Galilee and Peraea. In the scene before us we notice in him the following faults:
1. He was disloyal to his convictions. Impressed by John’s words, he did not forsake his sins. like Pilate, he acknowledged the innocence and dignity of his victim, yet he had not the moral courage to set him free. To know the right, and yet to fail in following it, is the germ of grosser sins.
2. He was easily influenced by circumstances. “A convenient day” came at last for Herodias’s purpose, a time when the weak king would be inflamed by wine and lust. The tempter ever waits and watches for such occasions to effect the moral ruin of those who do not resolutely resist him. The opinion of the civil and military officials around him also prevented Herod’s refusal of Salome’s request. like all moral cowards, he had more fear of the scorn of men than of the wrath of God.
3. He was led gradually to the worst crime, There had been a time when he would have shrunk from the murder of John; but he had been gradually prepared for it. His sinful connection with Herodias blunted any sensibility to good, as sensuality always does. His unwillingness to put her away led him to silence the bold preacher who denounced his crime. And when licentiousness had led to persecution, it was not long before persecution led to murder.
4. He was moulded by the stronger will of companion in guilt. The weakness of a vacillating man is easily overcome by one who is resolutely bad. Give examples from Scripture, and illustrations from daily life, of the perils besetting those who have no moral firmness and strength.
II. CONSIDER SALOME AS AN EXAMPLE OF ABUSED GIFTS. Physical beauty is as much God’s gift as wealth, or position, or mental talent. Too often it has been used for the sake of display, for the gratification of vanity, or for the excitement of evil passions. Many have hereby been led into moral ruin. Salome degraded herself unspeakably by coming forward in this shameless dance. Forgetting all decency and decorum, she danced” in the midst,” that is, in a circle of half-intoxicated admirers.
1. Her regal dignity was forgotten. With amazement the historian records that it was the “daughter of Herodias herself” (not “of the said Herodias” )a princess of royal blood. Even social position and family repute may be fairly regarded as defences against sin.
2. Her maiden modesty was sacrificed. In modern social life Christians should set themselves against all that seems to have the slightest tendency to this.
3. Her feminine tenderness was repudiated. The twenty-fifth verse indicates that she eagerly shared her mother’s hatred against John. But her womanly pity should have pleaded for the life of a helpless prisoner, and this God-given characteristic of her sex being trampled underfoot, made her crime the more revolting when she accepted the bleeding head of the murdered prophet.
III. CONSIDER HERODIAS AS AN EXAMPLE OF UNSCRUPULOUS WICKEDNESS. She was to Herod what Jezebel was to Ahab, or what lady Macbeth was to her husband.
1. Her vices were great. Abandoned licentiousness and malignant cruelty.
2. Her influence was disastrous over both Herod and her own daughter Salome. She ruined herself and others too. For all such there will come a terrible awakening and retribution. “Who hath hardened himself against God, and prospered?”A.R.
Mar 6:31
Recreative rest.
The disciples had been teaching the people, and meeting their objections; they had been curing the sick, and had seen effects startling even to themselves. Exultant over the work they had done, they were in some danger of forgetting its spiritual issues, and needed a reminder that it was more important to have one’s name in the book of life than to have power to cast out. devils. Agitated, restless, and weary, they returned to their Lord, and he, understanding their deepest wants, bade them follow him into a quiet retreat, that they might rest a while. Each sabbath day should bring us also to Jesus, that he may lead us into rest.
I. RECREATIVE REST IS RECOGNIZED BY GOD AS A NECESSITY FOR MAN. We are so constituted that a constant strain on the same powers will either degrade or destroy them. The absence of physical rest would produce madness or death. But if we had only physical recreation, if there were no provision for the cultivation of the mind and of the affections, if we knew nothing of the quietude of home and the rest of the Lord’s day, we should soon become little better than the beasts which perish. This revelation shows that our “Father knoweth that we have need of these things.” The Holy Book is not out of the sphere of our human necessities. It is wet with the tears of the sorrowful, and thumbed by the horny hands of the toiler, and through it the Son of man still cries, “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” The second chapter in the Book of Genesis speaks of rest as well as of work. One of the fundamental laws given on Sinai ordained that on six days we should work, but that on the seventh we should do no manner of work. Prophecy points on to a distant future, and declares “there remaineth a rest for the people of God.” There is, indeed, no true want which God has not met. If the feeblest of his creatures requires food of a certain kind, it is placed beside it from the first. The butterfly, for example, which we sometimes use as a type of carelessness, deposits her eggs by unerring instinct where the young caterpillars may find their proper food. And the God who giveth to each his food sees that we want rest, and provides for it. When our day’s work is done, and we are tired, weariness provides and fits for repose, and “the sleep of the labouring man is sweet.” When we are in danger of becoming hard and worldly amid the cares of business, God places around us at home restful endearments and softening influences. And often on the sabbath day he says with effectual power, “Oh, rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for him.”
II. RECREATIVE REST SHOULD HAVE A JUST RELATION TO EARNEST WORK, Everything of value has its own standard. Art, for example, is of value in proportion to taste. Rest finds its value in proportion to work. The mere pleasure-seeker loses the very thing he seeks because he seeks it; for pleasure is the complement of effort, toil, and sacrifice. Rest is the shadow thrown by the substance work, and you reach the shadow when you have passed by the substance that throws it. Nothing is more pitiable than the sight of a blase, self-indulgent epicure, who has never done any genuine work, and who saunters through life voting everything to be a weariness. How vivid is the contrast between his enjoyment and that of the schoolboy who comes home after passing his examination; or the man of business who rejoices to get free and renew the joys of his boyhood! The same principle applies to things spiritual. Those who have known no struggle with doubt or temptation, who have made no sacrifice for the Master, know little or nothing of the rapture which comes to others when, as they pray, there comes a burst of sunshine through the darkness. There would be more enjoyment of God’s rest if only there were a more thorough doing of God’s work. The converse of all this is true. legitimate rest prepares for work. If an indulgence or recreation makes duty distasteful, so that we go back to it with surly discontent, then either the pleasure has been of the wrong kind, or it has been indulged in in a wrong spirit. The disciples who went into the desert to rest “a while” were soon at work again, and their retirement with Christ had increased their knowledge and power. Such should be the effect of each sabbath day. Its morrow should find us endued with more courage, patience, and hope, in our daily toil. The rest at Elim was as important for Israel as the march from the Red Sea.
III. RECREATIVE REST IS INTENDED TO EXERCISE A WHOLESOME INFLUENCE ON CHARACTER. Many questions are asked concerning various forms of recreation, whether for Christians they are legitimate or not. Incidentally some tests have already been suggested. What is their effect upon the work of life? Do they fit us for doing it better, or do they lead us to turn from it with loathing? And what is their effect on Christian work? Is that more, or is it less hearty, devout, and spiritual, because of our pleasure-taking? But, besides these, there is a more subtle test to be found in the effect of recreation on character. Rightly chosen and enjoyed, it may do much to supply our personal deficiencies. We are seeking to become men in Christ Jesusto have all the possibilities of manhood, so far as they are innocent, developed and strengthened, and not to have a few characteristics abnormally strong. If we are becoming stern in our fight with difficulties, the relaxations of home-life should make us considerate and gentle. It is well that there is a time to laugh, as well as a time to weep; and that God sends us that which will lift us out of the narrow groove in which the uniformity of life would keep us. If recreation is to have the effect on character which is highest and best, it must be enjoyed in conscious fellowship with Christ. The final test about any doubtful recreation would beWould Christ share this? Is it he who has said, “Come ye apart with me, and rest a while” ? We rejoice in the belief that he does share in our recreations. He is with us under the whispering trees, and beside the sea as it rolls in upon the shore. He walks with us, as of old, across the corn-fields, and beside the hedgerows, with their marvellous wealth of life and beauty; and as we commune together he bids us think of the minuteness and tenderness of our Father’s care. To many weary disciples he still is saying, “Come ye yourselves apart into a desert place, and rest a while.”A.R.
Mar 6:41
Christian care for the needy.
Observe the contrast between this feast on the mountain and the festival just alluded to in the palace of Herod. There self-indulgence, folly, and guilt prevailed; here the necessities of the body were generously met, and hungry souls were satisfied and gladdened. Describe the scene. let us learn some of the lessons here inculcated by him who on all occasions was an example to his disciples.
I. WE SHOULD DEVOUTLY RECOGNIZE GOD IN THE SUPPLY OF EARTHLY WANTS. When our Lord came here he found religion divorced from common things. It had become a matter of ceremonies, of place and time, of ecclesiastical fast and feast, and therefore one of the main purposes of his teaching and miracles was to associate God with everything in men’s thoughts. He worked as a carpenter, and so toil was sanctified; he cured diseases, and the work of the physician and of the nurse was ennobled; he went to a wedding feast, and hallowed marriage; he blessed little children, and directed their joys heavenward; he spoke of lilies in the field, of corn white unto the harvest, of birds nestling in the trees, and so made nature vocal with God’s teaching; and here, when he took into his hands the bread and fish with which he would provide a labourer’s meal for the hungry people, he looked up to heaven as the source whence it came, and blessed it, so that to the disciples the common meal became a sacrament. Too often we are unmindful of this teaching, and attribute our successes to our own skill and strength. Therefore God allows some disaster to come, so that in the recognition of human helplessness Divine goodness may begin to be considered. “Lord, we cannot satisfy this great necessity,” said the disciples; and as they looked despondently on the handful, he looked hopefully and thankfully to heaven, leading them to think of him who satisfies the desire of every living thing.
II. WE SHOULD ALWAYS CULTIVATE THOUGHTFUL CONSIDERATION FOR OTHERS, These people, on their way to the Passover at Jerusalem, had turned aside to hear the Prophet of Nazareth. They did not profess to be his followers, although they were sufficiently interested in what they heard to remain till all their provisions were exhausted. Then the disciples thought it was time that they should depart, and were unprepared for the command, “Give ye them to eat.” Our Lord was not like those Christians who withhold their sympathy from all but their fellow-believers, nor did he argue that the hungry people ought to have foreseen the difficulty, and made reasonable provision to meet it. He was the “express Image” of him who is kind to the unthankful and to the unworthy. God never withholds his beneficence till his creatures deserve it. He watches the supplanter leaving his father’s house after a shameful sin, and even to him, in his merited loneliness, the heavens are opened. He hears the murmuring of the people of Israel, yet causes the manna to fall round about their camp. And when he sees no sign of the world turning to him, he sends for its redemption his only begotten Sou; and “while we were yet sinners, Christ died for the ungodly.” The goodness of the Lord, as well his chastisement, should lead us to repentance. Through us that goodness should reveal itself to others. Jesus said of this undeserving crowd, “I have compassion on the multitude;” and so he sought to inspire his disciples with pitifulness towards all who are in need.
III. WE OUGHT WILLINGLY TO MAKE SACRIFICES FOR OTHERS EVEN WHEN OUR GIFTS SEEM INADEQUATE TO THEIR WANTS. The disciples themselves were hungry, and all that was to be had was this bread and fish which a boy in the crowd was carrying; but of it Jesus said, “Bring them hither to me.” At once it was given up, though it was evident that what might have sufficed for the twelve disciples was ridiculously insufficient if divided between five thousand men, besides women and children, Yet even this, which was very small as a gift, but very great as a sacrifice, was by the Lord’s blessing made enough for all. It is the sacrifice in it which constitutes the value of every offering presented to God. We might have supposed that one with infinite power would have despised so trivial a supply as this; but God always uses what man has, as far as it will go. Even under the wing of the cherubim the hand of a man must be. When man can do nothing, God does all; but when man can do anything, God requires he should do it to the utmost. The manna will cease directly it is possible to revert to the old law of sowing and reaping. It is thus with Christian enterprise. The world shall be won for Christnot independently of human effort, but as a result of God’s work through it. Concerning all that we can offer of wealth and talent and work, though it is inadequate to the world’s necessity, Christ says, “Bring it hither to me.”A.R.
Mar 6:45-51
Christ walking on the sea.
This miracle was no unmeaning portent, but was full of spiritual significance. In Scripture the people are often spoken of under the figure of the sea and its waves (Dan 7:3; Rev 13:1). Christ had just assuaged popular passion, and now he calmed the troubled sea, which was symbolic of it. Here, then, we may see a sign of the coming dominion of the spirit of Christianity over the sea of nations. We content ourselves, however, now with learning a few truths respecting our Lord and his disciples which are exemplified here.
I. WE LEARN RESPECTING OUR LORD:
1. Christ‘s disciples would send away the people who were hungry, but Christ himself sends them away when they are too well satisfied. The reason for dismissing the crowd is given in Joh 6:15. They were greatly excited by a miracle, repetitions of which would ensure the provisioning of armies, and the success of a revolution. Hence Christ sent them away. “He hath filled the hungry with good things, but the rich he hath sent empty away.” The prodigal is welcomed when he comes home starving and helpless. We must go to him acknowledging sin and weakness, and not confident in ourselves.
2. Christ withdrew himself from earthly honors, whereas too often his disciples greedily seek them. Our Lord “constrained” his disciples to go away, for they were evidently loth to do so. It was for their, good. They were in danger of becoming infected (if they were not already infected) with the spirit of the people. To them it seemed that the longed-for kingship of their Lord was within reach. But for the second time he resisted the temptation”All this will! give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me.” And for them he answered in a most unexpected way the prayer, “lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.”
3. Christ left us an example of secret and earnest prayer. He was alone with God at the close of that exciting day. The quiet of eventide calls us also to secret prayer. Our Lord hereby renewed his strength, and from it he came forth to conflict and victory. “Pray to thy Father, which is in secret.”
4. Christ is often out of our sight, but we are never out of his. Lost to the sight of his disciples, he nevertheless “saw them toiling in rowing.”
II. WE LEARN RESPECTING HIS DISCIPLES:
1. We are sometimes left to toil on in darkness, without Christ‘s realized presence. He leaves us alone for a time that we may feel our need of him. Though the wind may be “contrary” to us, it is a good wind if at last it brings our Saviour near.
2. Our extremity is his opportunity. It was about “the fourth watch of the night”between three and six in the morningthat Jesus came; and the hours had been so long and weary since they started upon their voyage, that they must have been fast losing hope and courage. The darkest hour is just before the dawn.
3. If our strength is insufficient to bring us to him, his strength is sufficient to bring him to us. It was so when he redeemed the world. He came to earth because we could not climb to heaven. It is so in our special occasions of necessity. He sometimes comes for our deliverance in unexpected ways”walking on the sea.”
4. In all our troubles Jesus says, “It is I; be not afraid.“.A.R.
HOMILIES BY R. GREEN
Mar 6:1-6
The carpenter; or, the dignity of honest labour
“In his own country,” “in the synagogue” where he had learned in his youth, he now “began to teach.” There were “many” who knew him, who had seen him pass in and out amongst them, talking to them, perhaps like, yet unlike, the other growing youths and the young men working for them, an artisanone of many. These “hearing him were astonished;” and though “the wisdom,” of his teaching they could not deny, nor the “mighty works” wrought by his hands, yet, as they knew him and his relatives full well, they were “offended in-him,” and believed not. So easily is the poor frail heart led away from blessing by prejudice. How great was the loss of these needy Nazarenes! “He could there do no might work save” (oh, wonderful reserve!) “that he laid his hands on a few sick folk, and healed them.” let us leave this unbelief for the presentit will arrest our attention again and againand let us see the high tribute paid to the honourableness of lowly labour by this Doer of “mighty works”this “Prophet” robbed of his “honor among his own kin, and in his own house. If labour was first imposed as a curse, it as turned truly into a blessing by this example of him who thus helped to cultivate the fields around. Here pride is truly shamed if it looks upon labour as beneath it: it was not beneath him who is above us all. let every son of toil see in this “carpenter’ the highest evidence that all handicraft is exalted to a true dignity, and that hard industry, so far from being a degradation, is honorable and honored. Now, since the “prophet is not without honor,” let not “the carpenter” be; for in this instance they are one. The occupancy of a sphere of lowly industry by Christ henceforth consecrates it
I. A SUITABLE OCCUPATION OF TIME. The responsibility of rightly occupying our time cannot be evaded. Of it, as of all other talents, an account must be rendered.
1. Diligent, honest labour is a profitable employment of time.
2. It is healthful.
3. It saves from the degenerating influence of indolence.
4. It is a source of pure and beneficent enjoyment.
II. As AN HONOURABLE MEANS OF MAINTENANCE.
1. There is nothing degrading in honest toil.
2. It has its essential value in the world’s great market. It deserves its fair remuneration; and, inasmuch as it is in a high degree necessary for the well-being of society, its claims are everywhere, if not always justly, recognized.
3. In a man’s employment of his strength and skill in procuring what is needful for his own life and for those dependent upon him his independence of character is preserved and his best affections stirred.
III. As A WORTHY SERVICE TO OTHERS. By the constitution of human society, it is the plain duty of each to promote to the utmost of his ability the well-being of all others. The products of industrial toil, especially of handicraft, are useful in the highest degree. Without them the comfort of large communities must be greatly impaired. He, therefore, who is called to labour, “working with his hands” the thing that is good, is a useful and honorable servant of his race.
1. In the lowliest spheres, the loftiest powers are not necessarily degraded. The “Christ of God” was a “carpenter.”
2. In those spheres the holiest sentiments may be cherished, and the holiest character remain untarnished.
3. Whilst in them the humblest labourer may know that his toil is honored, for it was shared by his Lord.G.
Mar 6:7-13
The apostolic commission.
“The harvest truly is plenteous” and ” the labourers are few,” therefore “the Lord of the harvest” would “send forth labourcrs late his harvest.” To this end “he called unto him the twelve,” and gave them the grandest commission ever entrusted to man. let us consider that commission in
I. ITS IMPOSED CONDITIONS.
1. In company: “by two and two.” Thus for mutual encouragement and help. For the heart of the strongest may fail in presence of danger, difficulties, and threatened death.
2. In poverty: “He charged them that they should take nothing for their journey, save a staff only; no bread, no wallet, no money in their purse.” The source of their power and influence with men was thus shown to be not of earth, while no false motives were present to draw men to them. And they, the teachers of faith in God, would be the highest examples of that faith. So in simple wisdom were they to go forth, and in every city seeking the man that was worthy, abide with him, honoring with their prayer of peace the house that judged them worthy to cuter.
3. In danger: “As sheep in the midst of wolves” shall ye be. They whom ye go to bless will become your foes. “Up to councils” shall ye be delivered; “in their synagogues they will scourge you;” “before governors and kings shall ye be brought;” “hated of all men,” ye shall be persecuted from city to city.
4. Yet in safety the life exposed for truth and righteousness is not wholly undefended. “The Spirit” of the “Father speaketh in” them in the hour of need; the patiently enduring “shall be saved.” Even if men “kill the body,” they” are not able to kill the soul;” and the Father, without whom not a sparrow shall fall on the ground, watches the minutest incident of the imperilled life”the very hairs of your head are all numbered;” “while at length the confessor of Christ among men will he also confess before his” Father which is in heaven.” Moreover, in all this “the disciple” is but “as his Master”that Master and Lord who will reward the least service done to himself, and punish their foes as his ownthat Master and Lord who declared that the life lost in his cause should be most truly found.
II. ITS TRUST; or, the terms of the commission. How grand, how honorable, how precious to the worldthe world of ignorant, suffering, sinful men! “He gave them authority over the unclean spirits.” “As ye go,” he said (Mat 10:7, Mat 10:8), “preach, heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out devils.” So the great mission has for its object the removal of the evils of human life. Its foulness, its suffering, its error, its subjugation to evil, are all to be combated. Truly this was “to preach the kingdom of God” (Luk 9:2). Happy are the subjects of so good a King!
III. ITS LIMITATION. “Not into any way of the Gentiles, not into any city of the Samaritans,” but solely “to the lost sheep of the house of Israel,” may they go. So the promises to the fathers are fulfilled. Truly “God did not cast off his people which he foreknew.” Truly “all the day long” did he “spread out” his “hands” even to them who “as touching the election are beloved for the fathers’ sake.” Yet “the time is at hand” when “even to the Gentiles also God will grant repentance unto life;” and out of them will he take “a people for his name.” But, according to his will; the order must be observed: to “the Jew first,” and, seeing he is the God of Gentiles, “also to the Gentile.” Yet, “let the children first be filled.”
IV. ITS SUCCESS. “And they went out, and preached that men should repent,” and they preached the gospel, and cast out devils, and healed the sick. Few and simple are these words; yet do they declare conquests greater than armies could gain, and works of service to men that lift these labourers to a pitch of unapproachable honor. When the world is won to true wisdom, these men and their works shall be magnified above every other; and when the Church awakes to her true wisdom, she will see that herein is the pattern for all time of the chief principles by which the kingdom of God is to be extended in the earth.G.
Mar 6:14-29
Herod: the disordered conscience.
The fame of the disciples reaches the ears of Herod, and has the effect of recalling to him a shameful deed of blood with which his memory is charged, and leads him, in contradiction to his Sadducean professions, to declare, John, whom I beheaded; he is risen. Thus two diverse characters are brought near together. There are others in view, but they are not prominent. There is the royal dancer, with her skilfulness and obedience, sacrificing her high prospects”unto the half of my kingdom”to the foal wish of her mother. We see her visage of corrupt loveliness, over which a cloud gathers, settling on her heated brow, as she finds that her whole reward is to be a gory dish; and we see the half-exposed coarseness of her unmaidenly spirit, which could receive and carry the bleeding head and lay it at her mother’s feet. That motherno. Alums, to what depths can poor human nature descend! Few words are needed to describe the two principal figures. The peace, the serenity, and the brightness of a heavenly life in the one, standing beside the darknessthe pitchy black darknessof evil in the other. One a rough man from the wilderness, but the chosen herald of the great King, of Whom it was declared that of all born of women a greater than he had not been. A great man, yet humble and meek; not worthy to loose the sandals of his Master’s shoes, yet brave enough to reprove a wicked prince to his face. This was one. The other is than prince, the representative of a licentious court in a licentious age, big with the pride of conquest, yet trembling from fear of the people. A mixture of coarse animal courage with the weakness and vacillation which indulgence brings. But a man with conscience. His heart a dungeon, across whose dark gloom shoots one ray of light. Little is said of Johnvery few words; a mere profile. “It is not lawful for thee to have thy brother’s wife.” What faithfulness! What brave fearlessness! Good men and brave always bear testimony to the authority of law. “It is not lawful” is a prickly hedge on either side of the path of life. Once more of John, bringing Herod more into view. “Herod feared John, knowing that he was a righteous man and a holy, and kept him safe. And when he heard him, he was much perplexed; and he heard him gladly.” So the silent power of a holy life is declared by the example of its influence over this reprobate. Into the darkest chambers of that dark heart this ray penetrates. Anal the words of warning and teaching alternately please and pain”he was much perplexed.” Herod is evidently a weak man. He is impressible, but he lacks firmness of characterthe hardness of texture that retains the impression of the hand laid upon it. He yields to good, but it is not lasting; he yields equally to evil. He is sufficiently alive to the claims of holiness to pay them tribute, but not sufficiently so to prevent the rage of passion. He is open to the appeals of a holy life; not less to the demands of a dancing-girl. He fears John, and he fears public opinion. He is weakthat weakness which is wickedness. He would give half his kingdom to a girl whose dance delighted him, and he would give the head of the man whom in his heart he honors to satisfy her demands. True, he was sorry”exceeding sorry;” “but for the sake of his oaths, and of them that sat at meat, he would not reject her.” Oh, what noble fidelity! Oh, what honor! Yet has he not sufficient fidelity to truth to say, “Over that man’s life I have no power;” nor honor enough to say, “That head is not mine to give.” What an unbalanced spirit! what a turbulent sea! This character reveals
I. THE NECESSITY FOR A RULING PRINCIPLE IN LIFE; “the single eye,” which, while it gives unity to the whole character, preserves by its simplicity from the entanglements of temptation.
II. THE NECESSITY FOR PROMPT DECISION, BASED UPON PRINCIPLES ACKNOWLEDGED BY CONSCIENCE.
III. THE DUTY OF AN UNQUESTIONING SUBMISSION TO THE LAW OF RIGHT.
IV. And it teaches the terrible lesson that THE HABITUAL INDULGENCE WILL UNDERMINE THE WHOLE STRENGTH OF MORAL CONVICTION AND SENSE OF EIGHT.G.
Mar 6:30-44
The miracle of the loaves.
The apostles, having returned to Jesus after their first tour of healing and preaching, relate to him “all things whatsoever they had done, and whatsoever they had taught.” Touched with consideration for them, Jesus withdraws them “apart into a desert place, to rest a while.” But they could not be hid. The people saw them departing, and gathered, “from all the cities, a great multitude.” To the eye of the Merciful they were “as sheep not having a shepherd,” and his deepest sympathies were touched. “He had compassion on them,” and he “healed their sick,” and he became the Shepherd of their souls, and “began to teach them many things.” So the day passes and the evening draws nigh, and the disciples in their fear desire him to send the people away to “buy themselves something to eat,” little knowing that the source of all was near at hand. Jesus’ demand to the disciples to “give them to eat” quickly evoked the demand, “Shall we go and buy?” for little recked they that “five loaves” and “two fishes” could feed so great a multitude. But he, “looking up to heaven, blessed,” and that for which he blessed was blessed; and he brake, and still he brake, for probably the increase was in his hands. “And they did all eat, and were filled.” So the insufficiency of our poor human resources is shown to be no hindrance to the accomplishment of the great Divine purposes; and the folly of having regard to our means alone is strikingly shown. Five loaves, with his blessing who gives bread daily, are ample to meet the wants of a multitude. In those five loaves were the apostlesso small a bandrepresented. How could they meet the needs of the world? But he would meet that need, and with but a little Church, a few apostles, and a few writings; and this he foreshadowed. The ground of the world’s hope lies in his compassion and his means of help. But the miracle stands for ever to condemn the fear of those who think that the time must come when the fields will be insufficient to feed the nations of men. The “compassion’ which then saw the multitudes will still be awake, and the power which could feed that multitude on a few cakes will in all time give daily bread for the asking. To fear in the presence of God for our life, what we shall eat, is as grave a fault as to fear him is a lofty virtue. The miracle is a doing in an unusual way what at all other times is done by well-known and ordinary methodsmethods that are so regular in their orderly succession we are led to depend upon them as unfailing; and we call them “laws of nature.”
I. It teaches us (if we did not otherwise know it) that all feeding is from the Divine hand.
II. It declares that God feeds men in tenderness and compassion. The bread comes to the thoughtful, made savoury with the Divine goodness.
III. It points us to those many processes of nature which are (like the disciples in this account) the hands of the servants of his will to bear to us God’s gifts.
IV. It shows to us that, in all God’s good gifts to us, the littleness of the human means and of natural resources is no hindrance to the fullest satisfaction of our wants.
V. It illustrates to us that in God’s house economy reigns, and that with all plentifulness there is to be no wastenothing lost. His gifts are precious in his own sight at least.
VI. And it quietly teaches the duty of a thankful reception of all he bestows a blessing God for his gifts, which speedily returns as a blessing upon the gift.
But though this miracle met the bodily wants, and though it teaches its good lessons concerning the care that in compassion gives daily bread to the needy, yet it has its lofty spiritual aspect. It leads our wondering and admiring thoughts up to him who is the Bread of life to the world, and the very Life itself. And it demands from disciples that they catch the spirit of their Master, and in compassion care for every multitude in every place that “is desert.”G.
HOMILIES BY E. JOHNSON
Mar 6:1-6
Christ at home.
I. THE WONDROUS IN EVERY–DAY LIFE. When they heard him in the synagogue they were “much struck,” Mark says. Where did all this wisdom come from? So does the parent wonder at the sayings of the child. “Where did he get such thoughts?” The boy goes from the village, and soon comes back to astonish the gossip, with his broad views of life and his easy and confident manners. Experience is full of these surprises. Nothing is more astonishing now than the empire which the Child of Nazareth sways in the world of thought and conduct.
II. THE JEALOUSY OF HOME–GROWN GREATNESS. The people of Nazareth stumbled at Jesus. So are our thoughts under the tyranny of custom. If one should tell us that our little son or brother was great, we should find it hard to believe. ‘Tis want of faith in the living God, who works wherever, whenever, howsoever he wills. Beware of that narrow egotism which even now may be shutting us out from light and beauty, divinity and blessedness.
III. THE MOST INVINCIBLE OF OBSTACLES IS THE WILL OF MAN. How deep was the truth of the saying, that against stupidity even the gods fight in vain! There was sarcasm in the saying of Jesus (verse 4). Often has it been repeated. He “wondered at their want of faith.” Full of faith and love himself, ’twas hard to understand the want of response to it. “He was not able to do any work of power there.” Ask, when the business of the kingdom does not seem to be going forward (except on a small scale, verse 5), whether the cause may not be want of wish, want of will, want of prayer.J.
Mar 6:7-13
Missionaries.
I. MISSIONARIES MUST NOT BE, AS A RULE, SOLITARY MEN. For counsel, defense, cheerfulness, “two are better than one.” Without artificially imitating this example, in natural and quiet ways it will be found good to follow.
II. MISSIONARIES, AS A RULE, MUST BE FRUGAL MEN. NO luxuries; bare necessaries compose their outfit. It is like the soldier in “marching order,” or the exploring traveler. Luxury is a relative term, but the Christian minister will always put it in a secondary place.
III. MISSIONARIES, AS A RULE, MUST NOT BE SEDENTARY MEN. They are sent with a witness. They must deliver a few clear statements, sound a blast upon the trumpet that calls to repentance, and then forward again. The rule for the pastor is very different. We must try to understand our call.
IV. MISSIONARIES, AS A RULE, MUST ACT DIRECTLY UPON THE CONSCIENCE OF MEN. This is a great canon, and a mark of distinction between the missionary and the pastor. “They, departing, proclaimed that men should repent.” A fresh voice, delivering this word, “Repent!” with intensity and power, will awaken echoes. Bat, repeated in the same place by the same person, the effect must wear off. Solid and continuous instruction then is needed. The teacher must sow where the exhorter has broken up the fallow ground.J.
Mar 6:14-16
Wonder and fancy.
Incidentally how much light on human nature do we gain from the Gospels!
I. PERSONAL FORCE ALWAYS ATTRACTS ATTENTION. The man cannot be hidden. Even the “lion” of the hour merely is an expression of spiritual force. Who is he? whence came he?
II. THE POPULAR CONSCIENCE RECOGNIZES THE FORCE OF CHARACTER. They felt that something new had come into the world of thought and feeling. It is always worth while taking note of the direction of popular interest. Herod learned much from the people. However wide of the mark their conjectures as to the personality of Jesus might be, their instinctive recognition of his greatness was unerring.
III. THE SUPERSTITION OF THE BAD MAN. It is often seen that unbelief and superstition, as in the expressive language of the Germans, Unglaube and Aberglaube, are generally found together, springing from One root. The truth is, that in an idle, voluptuous mind any sort of thought springs up, rife as weeds in warmth and rain. The only way to think truly is to feel purely and act rightly.J.
Mar 6:17-29
The hero’s death.
I. THE HERO OF CONSCIENCE CONTRASTED WITH THE VOLUPTUARY. The former chooses to be true and loyal to the right rather than to live; the latter postpones everything to “life,” in the lowest and most sensual acceptation of the word. Yet the wicked man involuntarily respects the good man.
II. THE SLAVE OF SPURIOUS HONOUR CONTRASTED WITH THE SERVANT OF THE TRUTH. Herod excuses his violent deed; nay, he pretends that it is required in order to satisfy his word as a man of honor. Such a one as his victim would never have given his word in such a case.
III. THE TRUE PARTS OF MEN IN LIFE OFTEN SEEM TO BE REVERSED. John loses his head at the order of Herod. The sublime hero bows before the weak tyrant. So is it in the “whirligig of time.” Unless we keep our eye firmly fixed on the unseen and spiritual, it may appear that all things are turned upside down. But there is only one relation of things, and that is God’s. Herod is really to be pitied. Over John is extended the shield of omnipotence, and in the very moment of his violence Herod is most weak. (Comp. R. Browning’s poem, ‘Instans Tyrannus.’)J.
Mar 6:30-34
Rest and work.
I. THERE IS NO TRUE REST WHICH HAS NOT BEEN EARNED BY WORK.
II. THE DUTY OF RESTING HAS THE SAME REASONS AS THE DUTY OF WORKING.
III. SOLITUDE IS THE PROPER REFRESHMENT AFTER PUBLIC WORK, AND PREPARATION FOR IT.
IV. THE SPIRIT CAN NEVER BE AT LEISURE FROM COMPASSION, SYMPATHY, AND LOVE.J.
Mar 6:35-44
The multitude fed.
I. THE COMPASSION OF CHRIST. It is for the body as well as the soul. The foundation of work upon the soul is cure for the body. It is contrasted with the disciples’ carelessness. Their spirit is that which leads men to get rid of irksome duty. “Send them away!” Let them shift for themselves. Christ’s example teaches that where a want is seen, those who see it should be the first to seek to supply it.
II. LOVE IS RICH IN RESOURCES. It seemed a physical impossibility to feed those thousands without bread, without money. This beautiful story, like that of Elijah and the widow of Zarephath in the old time, teaches that “a little may go a long way.” If the best use is made of existing means, they will be found insensibly to multiply; not always by what we term a “miracle,” i.e. some process out of the ordinary operation of law, but in accordance with law, which may be better.
III. METHOD IN BENEFICENCE. The multitude is broken up and distributed in parties, as if in preparation for a grand banquet. The spirit of love and goodness works by method. When we introduce order into our works, we reflect the law of Heaven and imitate the thought of God. Waste of material and waste of labour is generally for want of this.
IV. IN GOD‘S FEASTS THERE IS EVER ENOUGH AND TO SPARE. The people were not only satisfied, but there was enough left to furnish forth a future repast. The whole is a parable of the truths and laws of the Spirit. Love is the deepest root of social and political economy. It teaches the value of means, in view of the greatness of the ends. It stimulates prudence and calculation. For the individual, the complaint is generally not sound, that he has “not enough to live on.” To reduce wants is the same as to increase means, and is a sure secret of wealth. For the community, the far-reaching and benevolent wisdom of the legislature may avail more than mere abundance of harvests. With order, religious principle, liberality and frugality, the tables of the people will be furnished with bread. To cheapen the means of living and oppose war is the duty of the Christian politician.J.
Mar 6:45-52
The vision on the lake.
I. THE FRAILTY OF FAITH.
1. In loneliness. Jesus had gone away. The disciples were in the middle of the lake, amidst a stormy sea. It is a picture of a life-experience. In loneliness we sink into weakness and cowardice, having been brave in the fellowship and under the contagious influence of superiors.
2. In the withdrawal of its Object from the field of vision. They could not see Christ. We want to see, when the whole need is that we should trust. we want to unite incompatible things; willing to trust so soon as we see a good prospect of safety; cast down with apprehension when the inner sight, kept clear, would open its vista of cheering hope. Those men were yet to learn, in the language of one of them, to “believe in the Saviour, though now we see him not.”
II. TERROR AT THE SUPERNATURAL. They saw Jesus passing, and were terrified, for they thought it was a ghost. Involuntary fear in the presence of the supernatural is the symptom of our weak and dependent nature. When Jesus appeared as Jesus, he drove all fear away; when he passed into the chiaro-oscuro of perception, standing as it were in a region intermediate between earth and heaven, as here on the lake, as on the Mount of Transfiguration, terror fell upon their souls. Fear in the mind reflects the presence of God. Modified by intelligence, purified from superstition, fear passes into that reverence which is the ground-tone of religious feeling.
III. THE TERRORS OF GOD CONCEAL, HIS LOVE. Behind the tempest is his “smiling face.” The voice of the Comforter and Saviour of man speaks from the dread apparition of the lake. So from out the mystic scenes of nature, the Alpine tempest and avalanche, the mountainous swelling of the Sea, and all human changes and turbulences of history, speaks a voice, clear, calm, and still, if we will but hearken, like that which greeted Elijah: “Have courage; it is I. Child of man, I love thee; rest on me and be at peace.” It is when we realize that we are members of the kingdom of spirit and under the protection of its Head, that we can defy the “wild deluge of cares.” It is not because God is not near to us, or that help! is not available, that we tremble and feel forlorn; it is because, like the disciples, our “minds have become dull.”J.
Mar 6:53-56
Commotion in Gennesaret.
I. A STIR AMONG THE, SICK AND THEIR FRIENDS. We read of “fashionable events” and “arrivals in the fashionable world.” This was not such. The quality of a movement teaches much as to its origin. The poor and sick know their friends, and their thronging is a testimonial to worth.
II. THE PROGRESS OF HEALING AND PITY. Contrast with the progress of the conqueror or the cold pomp of royalty. Wherever Christ goes, and men come into contact with him, they are made well. Worth much is the testimony of any suffering one to the private Christian: “I am the better for seeing you; you do me more good than the doctor.” There is a contagion of health as well as of disease.J.
HOMILIES BY J.J. GIVEN
Mar 6:1-6
Parallel passage: Mat 13:54-58.
The refection at Nazareth.
I. Our LORD‘S VISIT TO NAZARETH. This chapter commences with our Lord’s removal from the house of Jairus, the ruler of the synagogue, where he had performed the miracle recorded at the close of the last chapter; or rather from Capernaum, where the synagogue appears to have been situated. In either case he proceeded to visit his fatherlandnot in the wide sense of that term, but in the narrower meaning of the township where his parents’ home had been, and where his own childhood, youth, and early manhood had been spent. It is scarcely necessary to remind our readers that, while Bethlehem was the place of our Lord’s nativity, and while Capernaum is called his own city, as the place of his frequent resort and the scene of so many of his mighty works, Nazareth was the place where he had been brought up. In a beautiful, basin-like valley, enclosed by some fifteen hills, was situated this place of world-wide renown. The town or village of Nazareth seems to sleep among the hills. The hills around this happy valley, as it has been called, have been compared to the petals of a rose, or the edge of a shell, with the little town on the lower slope of the western hill which rises high above, and which, from its elevation of nearly six hundred feet, commands one of the finest prospects in Palestine, with the Great Sea and Carmel on the west, the great plain of Esdraelon two miles to the south, Tabor six miles to the south-east, and Hermon’s snowy summit away to the northward.
II. CAUSE OF HIS REJECTION. A previous rejection, if we mistake not, had taken place at Nazareth, and with greater violence than at this time, according to the record of St. Luke. On the previous occasion passion had impelled them; now prejudice blinds them. He had begun to address the congregation; his eloquence and oratory amazed them. He had not gone far, however, without interruption. They admit his superiority; they acknowledge his wisdom; but, in a sinister manner, they question its source and character, asking, “Whence is it? From above or below? What is it? Is it supernal or infernal? And then such mighty works are wrought by his hands! He is the instrument of some superior powernot the originating cause or author of them.” Such seems to be the insinuation. Envy and jealousy were at the root of this prejudice. They canvassed the humble position of his family, and the lowly occupation of its members. “Is he not,” they said, “a carpentera common carpenter, and the son of a carpenterthe village carpenter? Is he not a carpenter himself?” They were ignorant of the dignity of labour, and the nobility of honest toil. They overlooked the fact that Jews were wont to learn a trade, and that, according to Jewish ideas, a parent who did not have his son taught a trade was regarded as guilty of training him to dishonesty. Justin Martyr preserves the tradition of our Lord having made ploughs and yokes and other agricultural implements. But they knew his family and friendsknew them so well that familiarity begat contempt. They knew who Mary was, Joseph having in all probability died before this time. They knew his brethren: sons of Joseph and Mary; or possibly his half-brotherssons of Joseph by a previous marriage; if not his cousins, children of Clopas and Mary. They knew his sisters. They could not brook his great and manifest superiority. Verily envy is a green-eyed monster; and so “they were offended in him.” Our Lord, no doubt, felt all this acutely, but accounted for it by the principle embodied in the proverb, that a prophet is without honor in three circleshis neighbors, relatives, and members of his household. No wonder he could not do mighty works there; not that there was any physical inability in the Saviour himself, but the forth-putting of his power was conditioned by the faithful disposition or otherwise of his hearers. Thus Theophylact makes this want of ability relative and owing to the want of faith in the recipients. “Not,” he says, “because he was weak, but because they were faithless.” Here there was a want of receptivity to such an extent that he marvellednot at their unbelief, but on account of it. It was not the object, but the cause (), of his astonishment. He wondered, as we read, at the faith of some no less than at the unbelief of others.J.J.G.
Mar 6:7-13
Parallel passages: Mat 9:35-38; Mat 10:5-42; Luk 9:1-6.
The mission of the twelve.
I. THEIR FIRST MISSIONARY ENTERPRISE. Our Lord had already, as recorded in Luk 3:1-38., made choice of his twelve disciples, to accompany himself during their time of training, and subsequently to go forth on their apostolic mission and with indubitable credentials of their commission. The time had now come for their first brief and tentative effort in that direction. They go “forth by two and two”in pairs ( , a Hebraism for , or ). The wisdom of this method is obvious for many reasons. It was the condition of true testimony according to the statement of the Old Testament, that “at the mouth of two or three witnesses every word should be established” or confirmed. Two are better than one for counsel and encouragement. Two would numerically warrant the expectation of the Divine presence in prayer, for “where two or three are met” together in God’s name, his presence is promised. In many ways two would be mutually helpful, and abundantly justify the prudence of the arrangement. Endued with miraculous power, they had no need of human recommendation; the powers they possessed were amply sufficient to certify the Divine origin of their mission; while the works of heavenly beneficence to suffering humanity were well adapted to gain them acceptance. With such abundant spiritual equipment, they received the Master’s word of command () to set out on their first expedition.
II. THEIR PHYSICAL EQUIPMENT. Their physical equipment, however, was of the scantiest kind. In fact, they were to make no special provision for themselves whatever; such provision might delay them when setting out, and impede them on their journey. Consequently they proceeded at once to their sphere of labour, without delay and encumbrance of any kind. Without staff, except the one in common or daily usethey were even expressly forbidden to acquire or provide for themselves ( ) another in addition, or for the particular purpose of their present mission; without shoes, save the sandals they every day wore (); without bread for immediate use; without scrip for provisions by the way, or copper in their purse to procure such; without two tunics, or under-garments,they set out on their first mission, pensioners on the providence of God and the pious hospitality of his people.
III. THE ARRANGEMENT FOR THEIR LODGING. They were not at liberty to lodge in any or every house that might open its door to them. They were to act circumspectly in this matter, and carefully inquire, on entering a city or village, who in it was worthy. By acting without due discrimination in this particular, and lodging in disreputable quarters, they might imperil their own reputation or bring discredit on their mission. Once they had obtained a suitable stopping-place, they were not to change for another, even if the offer of a better place of sojourn or superior accommodation should tempt them to such a step. Their wants were few, their mode of life simple, and with the humblest hospitality it behoved them to be content. In case such Oriental and usual hospitality was denied them, or in the event of their being refused admittance, they were, by a significant symbolic act, to express their renunciation of all intercourse with persons guilty of such churlish rudeness or barbarous want of hospitality. They had rejected them, though they went in their Master’s name; and, rejecting them, they rejected the Master who sent them, and thus cut themselves off from future opportunities of blessing.
IV. THE DOCTRINE THEY PREACHED. Above all was the great doctrine which they preached. That doctrine was repentancethe doctrine which our Lord’s forerunner had proclaimed before; the doctrine which our Lord himself reiterated; the doctrine which, joined to faith, became afterwards one of the elements in that twofold apostolic testimony, when, after their Lord’s resurrection and ascension, the apostles went forth, declaring “repentance toward God, and faith toward the Lord Jesus Christ.” While thus busied in seeking the salvation of men’s souls, they did not neglect the sufferings of the body; but cast out devils and healed the sick, using oil, if not medicinally, at least symbolically, to establish a point of contact or connection between them and their patients.J. J.G.
Mar 6:14-29
Parallel passages: Mat 14:1, Mat 14:2; 6-12; Luk 9:7-9.
The murder of the Baptist.
I. CONJECTURES ABOUT CHRIST. The name of Jesus had now attained great celebrity; it was fast becoming a household word; the cures he had effected, the demons he had ejected from human bodies, the dead he had raisedhis wonderful works were on every tongue. Some detracted, others wondered, but most applauded. The missionary tour of the apostles, brief as it was, had given fresh currency and wider diffusion to reports already circulated far and near. His fame had made its way into the court of the tetrarch, and thus reached the ears of royalty itself. The personality of the great Wonder-worker was keenly canvassed; conjectures were rife on the subject. Some affirmed he was Elias, who had come as the forerunner of Messiah; others, not seeing their way to go so far as to accept him for the Prophet long expected, or even the precursor of that great Prophet, simply asserted he was a prophet; while some fancied that, after a long and dreary interval, a new era of prophetic activity was commencing, and so that a person like one of the old prophets had appeared.
II. CONSCIENCE STRONGER THAN CREED. Such were the conjectures afloat, and such the conflicting opinions of the people. Not so Herod; other thoughts stirred within him; something more than mere curiosity Was at work in his case; he was startledthoroughly perplexed, and quite at a loss (, St. Luke) to know what to think of the matter. in his extreme perplexity and agitation he expressed his opinion in a very surprising manner, and in the following very striking and abrupt words:”Whom I myself beheadedJohn: he is risen from the dead;” adding, “And on this account mighty powers operate in him.” What a wonderful evidence of the power of conscience we have here! Herod, we have good reason to believe, was a Sadducee, for “the leaven of Herod,” mentioned by St. Mark (Mar 8:15), is identified with “the leaven of the Sadducees” spoken of in the Gospel of St. Matthew (Mat 16:6). The Sadducees denied the existence of angel or spirit, and also the resurrection of the dead; and yet this loose-living, unbelieving Sadducee fell back at once on an article of belief which he had all his life denied. The power of conscience had overmastered his creed. His guilty conscience had conjured up before him the murdered man as restored to life, and returning, as it were, with power from the spirit-world.
III. A PARALLEL CASE. A somewhat similar instance of the mighty power of that monitor within occurs in an instructive narrative in the forty-second chapter of the Book of Genesis. When Joseph, before making himself known to his brethren, had put them in ward three days, and subsequently released them on condition of retaining one as a hostage till the rest returned with their youngest brother, in proof of their good faith and of their being true men and no spies, “they said one to another, We are verily guilty concerning our brother, in that we saw the anguish of his soul, when he besought us, and we would not hear; therefore is this distress come upon us.” There was nothing apparently in the circumstances of the case, unpleasant as those circumstances were, nor in the condition imposed on them, hard as it seemed, to remind them of their cruel treatment of their long-lost brothernothing to recall his memory, absolutely nothing, save the still, small voice within; in other words, the power of a guilty conscience.
IV. THE CIRCUMSTANCES THAT OCCASIONED THE BAPTIST‘S DEATH. The evangelist now turns aside to narrate the circumstances that led up to the death of John the Baptist. Herod Antipas, ethnarch of Galilee and Peraea, called “tetrarch” by St. Matthew, as inheriting only a fourth part of the dominions of his father, Herod the Great, and styled “king” by St. Mark, had seduced his brother Philip’s wife, with whom he was now living in an adulterous connection. The Baptist boldly but faithfully lifted up his voice against this sin. addressing earnest and repeated remonstrances to Herod; for, as we read, he kept saying ( being imperfect), “It is not lawful for thee to have her,” The vindictive spirit of Herodias was roused in consequence; she resolved to have her revenge, but was unable to prevail on her husband to gratify her fully in this particular. He arrested the Baptist and imprisoned him, putting him in chains. He still, however, retained some respect for him, as a good and holy man whom he had heard often, and by whom he had been influenced to do many things; though rather means that Herod kept him in safety, or preserved him from Herodias’s machinations, than that he esteemed him highly. Besides, state policy stood in the way of further violence. Herod shrank from the unpopularity which he was certain to incur by such a course; perhaps even worse consequences might ensue. To deprive i the people of their favourite might lead to insurrection. Josephus, however, attributes the murder of John by Herod to Herod’s “fear lest the great influence John had over the people might put it into his power and inclination to raise a rebellion.” This wicked woman bided her time, harbouring her secret grudge and ill-concealed resentment (, equivalent to “she held fast within or cherished inward wrath,” or “set herself against,” Revised Version); while implies “she had a settled desire” ); but the favorable opportunity at last arrived. The king was celebrating his birthday festival by an entertainment to the magnates of his realmhigh officers of the army, military tribunes, or chiliarchs, and other functionaries, civil or ecclesiastical, of distinguished rank. But besides this great assemblage of Galilean nobles and the splendor of the feast itself, a new feature was added to the entertainment. Salome, daughter of Hero-dins, in forgetfulness of the due decorum of her rank and the natural modesty of her sex, volunteered to play a part little better than that of ballet-girl before the assembled grandees of Galilee, and thus to heighten the enjoyment of the king’s guests. The king looked on in rapture, immensely pleased by the easy condescension, and charmed with the agility and graceful movements of the fair danseuse. He was sensible of the sacrifice she had made in compliment to his majesty; for a Persian queen once lost her crown, and was willing to submit to the loss, rather than, at the sacrifice of her queenly or womanly modesty, to appear, even by the king’s express command, in the presence of his banqueters. Being, in consequence, in a grateful, generous mood, he determined not to be outdone in magnanimity. There and then, of his own motion, he promised Salome whatever she asked, if it should amount to half his kingdom: he backed his promise by an oath, yea, by more than one, for we read of oaths (), as confirmatory of that promise. The girl was somewhat nonplussed by the largeness of the king’s bounteous offer. She hesitated; but a prompter was not far to seek. She repaired to her mother, no doubt expecting direction in the matter of gold, or jewels, or diamonds, or girlish ornaments of some sort. But no; that wicked woman had set her heart on what no gold could purchase, and no gems procure. It was no less than the Baptist’s head.
V. REFLECTIONS ON ALL THIS.
1. Surely the maiden, bold as she was, must have been shocked at the proposal; surely she must have recoiled from such a cruelty; surely she must have required strong and powerful urgency to bring herself to present such a bloody petition. And this we think is implied in the word employed by St. Matthew, and signifying “made to go forward,” and so instigated. She soon, however, recovered her sprightliness. Once her scruples were overcome, she returned in haste, and with eagerness preferred the ghastly request for John the Baptist’s head to be given her immediatelylest time might cool the royal ardorand in a charger, one of the platters used in the feast, and thus one of those just at hand, to make sure of the execution on the spot. The terms are expressive of the utmost eagerness and haste: “Give me hereimmediately in a charger,” is the demand after she had “come in straightway with haste.”
2. The king at once repented, but too late; he was excessively sorry (). This word is only used twice again in the New Testamentof the Saviour in his agony, and of the rich ruler in parting, perhaps for ever, from the Saviour. But then there was the false shame consequent on repeated oaths, and because of the presence of so many persons of quality. How could he break the former? How could he insult, by withdrawal of his kingly promise or breach of faith, the latter? How could he set aside () a promise made before so many, and confirmed by so many oaths?
3. At once a guardsman (, either equal to , a satellite or body-guard, or equal to , a spy, or scout; at all events, a guardsman of Herod now at war with Aretas) is despatched. The head is brought, dripping with blood. Oh, horrid sight! It is handed on a platter to the maiden; and she, maiden though she was, received it, and, maiden though she was, bore it away to her mother. The word “maiden” (, equivalent to little or young maiden) is repeated, as if to stigmatize the untender, unfeeling, and beyond expression unmaidenly, conduct of this princess.
4. So ended the last act of this bloody tragedy. It now remained for the sorrowing disciples of the Baptist tearfully and tenderly to take up the corpse (, equivalent to cadaver) of their beloved master, and consign it to its last resting-place in the tomb.
VI. ADDITIONAL REMARKS.
1. A nearly parallel case, or a crime somewhat similar to that of Herod, is referred to in strongest terms of condemnation by Cicero, in the twelfth chapter of his ‘Treatise on Old Age,’ as follows:”I indeed acted unwillingly in banishing from the senate I.. Flaminius, brother of that eminently brave man, T. Flaminius, seven years after he had been consul; but I thought that his licentiousness should be stigmatized. For when he was consul in Gaul, he was prevailed on by a courtesan, at an entertainment, to behead one of those who were in confinement on a capital accusation; but lewdness so abandoned and so desperate, which was combining with private infamy the disgrace of the empire, could by no means be visited with approbation by myself and Flaccus.”
2. It was in a gloomy dungeon, in the strong old castle of Machaerus, that the Baptist was imprisoned and beheaded. That place was in Persia, nine miles east of the Dead Sea, and on the borders between the dominion of Herod and of Aretas. It is thus described by Josephus in relation to its strength: “The nature of the place was very capable of affording the surest hopes of safety to those that possessed this citadel, as well as delay and fear to those that should attack it; for what was walled in was itself a very rocky hill, elevated to a very great height; which circumstance alone made it very hard to be subdued. It was also so contrived by nature that it could not be easily ascended; for it is, as it were, ditched about with such valleys on all sides, and to such a depth that the eye cannot reach their bottoms, and such as are not easily passed over, and even such as it is impossible to fill up with earth.”J.J.G.
Mar 6:30-44
Parallel passages: Mat 14:13-21; Luk 9:10-17; Joh 6:1-14.
Miraculous provision.
I. THE FEEDING OF THE FIVE THOUSAND.
1. The vivid description of St. Mark. In connection with this miracle, St. Mark describes the recognition of our Lord by the multitude, their running together on foot, their outspeeding the Saviour, their arrival at the place of disembarkation before him, the compassion that moved him, the instruction he gave them. He describes, moreover, the green grass on which the multitudes sat down, their divisions into hundreds and fifties, their reclining company after company (literally, a convivial party, and , a Hebraism, like of verse 7) or as though in military order, the resemblance of the multitudes thus seated to the plots of a garden ( , equivalent to “beds of leeks,” from , a leek, and the structure another Hebraism)the whole exhibiting a stirring and life-like scene. The importance of this miracle may be inferred from all four evangelists recording it.
2. The time of year. From the fresh greenness of the grass we infer the season of the year, and can better account for the great multitudes that crowded the grassy space near Bethsaida. It was springMarch or Apriland so the season of the Passover, as we are expressly informed by St. John; the pilgrim companies were on the move in that direction, and hence the greatness of the crowds tibet followed the Saviour. Another miracle of feeding the multitudes is recorded by St. Matthew, in the fifteenth chapter of that Gospel towards its close, and also by St. Mark (Mar 8:1-9). That the two miracles are quite distinct, is shown by the following circumstances:
(1) In the miracle of feeding the four thousand just referred to, our Lord himself introduces the matter of supply.
(2) The provision for the smaller number of four thousand was greater, being seven loaves and a few small fishes; while here for the five thousand there are only five loaves and two fishes.
(3) The baskets in this first miracle are called by the four evangelists , small wicker-baskets; on the second occasion they are called both by St. Matthew and St. Mark , rope-baskets, so largo that in one of them Paul was let down the wall of Damascus; and from , as if woven work, or rather from , wheat, as if a vessel for wheat. Our Lord also, when making reference to the two miracles, makes the same distinction; thus, “When I brake the five loaves among five thousand, how many baskets () full of fragments took ye up? They say unto him, Twelve. And when the seven among the four thousand, how many baskets () full of fragments took ye up? And they said, Seven.”
II. SOME SALIENT POINTS OF THE MIRACLE, AND THE LESSONS TAUGHT.
1. The way of duty way of safety. The first lesson here taught us is that the way of duty is the way of safety: We see on the surface of the narrative the satisfaction of the multitudes on recognizing our Lord, their eager haste in coming up with him, their earnest desire for his teaching, their prolonged attention to his utterances. Long without a right guide, long wanting a true leader, long punting for the green pastures and still waters, long athirst for” the sincere milk of the Word” they have found at last the Good Shepherd; they know his voice, and follow him. They had much to learn, and our Lord taught truths he taught them, they had almost forgotten the claims of the body till the cravings of nature forced themselves upon them; at all events, they had laid aside their usual forethought for the supply of those wants. And now the day is far spent, the shades of evening are closing round them; they find themselves in a place distant from any human habitation, and destitute of the articles of human food. How are they to meet the emergency? Whence are they to obtain the refreshment they so much need? How were they to get” two hundred pennyworth of bread,” which, if we reckon the denarius at eight pence halfpenny, would cost upwards of 7? No doubt they thought of different expediences. The disciples proposed one course, our Lord pursued another. The Lord is a rich provider; he never falsifies the promise, “Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you.” Here, then, we are bidden to “stand still, and see the salvation of God.” The result is recorded in the words, “They did all eat, and were filled.”
2. The compassion of the Saviour. His compassionate heart embraces all his people’s wants, and those wants at all times. In the exercise of that compassion he remembers the body as well as the soul. He remembered it in creation; he remembered it in redemption: “We wait for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of the body.” He remembers it in his providential care over it, and provision for it from day to day. With his own lips he taught this cheering lesson when on earth, “Your heavenly Father knoweth ye have need of all these things.” And he that gave us so much unasked, will not refuse us what we need when he is asked. “He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, shall he not with him also freely give us all things?”
3. Nature of this miracle by which he supplied tacit wants. Our Lord on this occasion exhibited his compassion in supplying the people’s wants by an act of creative power. Some of his miracles are restorative, as when he restores sight to the blind, speech to the dumb, motion to the lame, hearing to the deaf, and power to the palsied limb. Some are redemptive, as when he rescues the poor demoniac from the foul fiends that had usurped such power over him. Some are punitive, as when he blasted the barren tree, as a symbolic lesson to all cumberers of the ground, and swept away the ill-got gains of the swinish Gadarenes. One is transformitory, as when he turned the water in the waterpots of Cans into wine. The miracle before us is an act of creative power; for in what other light can we regard the multiplication of five loaves and two fishes into a supply of food sufficient for such a multitude, so that “they did all eat, and were filled “? He lays all nature under contribution to supply his people’s wants. Even an act of creation will not be withholden, if their necessities require it.
4. The Saviour‘s love of order. “Order,” says the poet, “is Heaven’s first law;” “Let everything be done decently, and in order,” is the apostle’s command. Our Lord confirms both by his example, in the orderly arrangement and disposition into rank and file, as it were, which he here directs. Whether we are in the Church or in the worldthat is, whether we are engaged in the arrangements of the one or in the affairs of the otherwe shall do well to observe this law of order. “A place for everything,” says the old maxim, “and everything in its proper place; a time for everything, and everything at its right time.” Such orderly regulation of all our matters would save time; it would save trouble; it would facilitate work; it would further largely the success of our pursuits and plans. Here all saw the miracle, all were fed, all were satisfied; no one was neglected, no one passed over or passed by.
5. His devotion. Never did our Lord lose sight of the glory of God. This was the object ever prominently kept in view. Before he brake he looked up to heaven and blessed, and brake at once (, aorist) the loaves, and was giving (, imperfect) bit by bit, as it were, to the disciples for distribution by them among the multitude. As Creator, he multiplied the loaves; as creature, he looked up for Heaven’s blessing on them. From every gift we are to look up to the Giver; in every gift we are to recognize the Author; for every gift we are to record our grateful acknowledgments; in every bounty we are to own the grace and goodness and greatness of the heavenly Benefactor. To see God in all his works, to trace him in all his ways, to obey him in all his will, to adore him in all the outgoings of his loving-kindness towards us, and to see him in every blessing he bestows, is the lesson taught us by the example of Christ in this passage, and by the exhortation of his apostle in that other passage, “Whether therefore ye eat or drink,’ or whatever ye do, do all to the glory of God.”
6. The duty of frugality. Mighty and magnificent as the works of nature are, there is no needless expenditure of force. Many of the great agencies employed serve a variety of ends. Many results often proceed from one single cause. So in the domain of miracle. He never resorts to miracle when ordinary means will suffice. Amid all that vast abundance which our Lord created on this occasion, he suffers nothing to go to loss. Here we see the same attention to the great things and the little things. He allows nothing to go to waste. “Gather up the fragments,” he said. Surely this teaches us economy, surely this enjoins thrift, surely this enforces the old proverb, “Waste not, want not.” Surely this is condemnatory of all extravagance in every department, whether of food, or raiment, or place of abode, or manner of life, or course of conduct.
III. DAILY BREAD AND ITS PROVISION.
1. The wonderful is not necessarily miraculous. Some hold that the daily bread which God gives us, which we eat, and by which we are sustained, is a miracle as great, or greater, because a standing miracle, than the feeding of five thousand with five loaves and two fishes, or the feeding of four thousand with seven loaves and a few small fishes. They refer to the fact that the seed covered in the earth dies and lives again, growing up under the rains of the spring and the suns of the summer, and in due season ripening into the golden grain of the harvest, then made into bread, and becoming wholesome food; and allege that in all this we have a miracle great as the multiplying by our Lord of the loaves and the fishes; that omnipotence is as much required in the one case as in the other; but that what is rare we call miraculous, while what is common and usual we call a law or process of nature; though both alike are manifestations of the mighty power of God. This reasoning appears plausible, and has an element of truth in it, but it mistakes the real nature of miracle. It is, in fact, pretty much the view of Augustine, who, besides confounding the wonderful with the miraculous, regards miracle as simply an acceleration of a natural process; for he says of the miracle at Cana that “he made wine in a wedding feast, who makes it every year in the vines; but the former we do not wonder at, because it occurs every year: by its constant recurrence it has lost, or ceased to command, admiration.” The chief element of miracle is hereby overlooked. We admit that nature is an effect whose cause is God, and that omnipotence is at work in the processes of nature as well as in the really miraculous result; yet not in the same way. That which differentiates the one from the other is, that God in the one case produces the result by immediate efficiency, in the other by means of secondary or subordinate causes; in the one by a direct act of volition, in the other by the processes of nature. To attribute a miracle to the operation of a higher but unknown law is a gratuitous assumption, and is as unnecessary as it is unsatisfactory. To regard it as the result of an accelerated law of nature, is overlooking the fact that the really miraculous element in such a case is this very quickening into rapid result, or hastening in a forcible and extraordinary manner the ordinary process. It has been said, somewhat rhetorically, “We breathe miracles, we live by miracles, we are upheld every day miraculously, and that individual has a blind mind or a hard heart (or both) who does not see, or seeing does not recognize, the hand of our heavenly Father in all those gifts of his providence and bestowments of his bounty, by which we are sustained and surrounded.” Now, to convert the rhetorical into the real, we must substitute for “miracles,” each time the word occurs in the cited paragraph,” marvels “or “wonders,” that is, processes that are wonderfulindeed, quite marvellous, but in no strict sense miraculous; and then, with this alteration, the devoutness of the sentiments expressed commends itself to our admiration.
2. Daily bread, though not a miracle, is God‘s gift. It may be objected, that our daily bread is not so much God’s gift as the fruit of man’s labour. Who then, O man, we may well ask, has given you the hand to labour, the strength to use it, the health to employ it? Who, moreover, has given you the fruitful field to till, the former and the latter rain to refresh and ripen the growing grain? Or, going further back, who has imparted to the seed, sown or planted, the power of growth or development? Still further, who counteracts the hurtful effects of too much drought, or neutralizes the baneful consequences of excessive moisture, or tempers the scorching heat, or checks the pinching cold? Who protects the root from the worm that would injure it, or saves the ear from the blight that would taint it? Who prevents the mildew that would damage the maturing grain, or the disease that would quite destroy it? Or who rebukes the curse of barrenness that would render all efforts useless? Who watches over the various stages of the cropfirst the blade, then the ear, afterwards the ripe corn in the ear, till, having weathered all the storms that endangered it, and escaped all the perils to which it was exposed, the golden grain is safely gathered at length into the garner? Who has thus blessed the labour of your hands, establishing your handiworks each one? Who but God? Who, then, is the Giver of your daily bread? Who but God? Thus Moses said to Israel: “When thou hast eaten and art full, then thou shall bless the Lord thy God ..Beware… lest when thou hast eaten and art full, and hast built goodly houses, and dwelt therein; and when thy herds and thy flocks multiply, and thy silver and thy gold is multiplied, and all that thou hast is multiplied; then thine heart be lifted up, and thou forget the Lord thy God,… and thou say in thine heart, My power and the might of mine hand hath gotten me this wealth. But thou shall remember the Lord thy God: for it is he that giveth thee power to get wealth.” Who has not admired and fallen in with the sentiments of the beautiful hymn?
O God of Bethel, by whose hand
Thy people still are fed;
Who through this weary pilgrimage
Hast all our fathers led;
“Our vows, our prayers, we now present
Before thy throne of grace;
God of our fathers, be the God
Of their succeeding race.”
IV. SPIRITUAL FOOD: ITS NATURE AND NECESSITY.
1. The necessity of spiritual food. From this miracle of feeding the multitude with bodily food, our Lord, as was his wont, took occasion, as we learn from the parallel passage of St. John, to call attention to spiritual food. From the bread wherewith he had fed their bodies, he passed naturally to that which is equally necessary and equally indispensable to support and sustain the soul. He showed them that, as bread is the staff of life for the body, there is something equally essential to the life of the soul. It matters not by what name we call itwhether manna, or bread, or fleshthe thing remains the same.
2. The nature of this spiritual food. He proposes himself to them for the purpose specified, telling them plainly and positively that he himself was that spiritual nutriment. “I,” he says, “am the Bread of life.” Nor does he stop with this; he proceeds to explain in some sort, or at least to extend, the sentiment to which he had given utterance, by the additional statement, “My flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed.” By this, as it appears to us, he hinted at his coming in the flesh and shedding his blood upon the cross; for how else could his blood be separated from his flesh but by being shed? He thus intimated, under the thin veil of an almost transparent figure, his incarnation and atonementhis life as an example, and his death as an expiation, in other words, the benefits procured by his manifestation in the flesh, and the blessings purchased by his sacrificial blood-shedding on the cross.
3. This food partaken of by faith. He enforces all this by urging their acceptance of these benefits and blessings. They have been secured, but, in order to be fully enjoyed, they must be partaken of; and they cannot be partaken of without faiththey cannot be made our own without faith; in a word, great as they are and precious as they are, they can in no way benefit or profit us without the exercise of faith. Accordingly, he sets forth faith under the suitable symbol of eating and drinking, and graciously invites to its exercise. He encourages them to the performance of this duty by several considerations of the most cheering kind. He holds forth to them the prospect of a living and lively union that would thence ensue, and ever after exist, between him and them; he promises them nourishment, life, and comfort as the consequences of that union; and he comforts them with the assurance of fellowship and friendship in time, and unspeakable felicity through all eternity; for he says, He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me, and I in him;” again he says, “My flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed;” while he further adds, to crown all, “Whose cateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life.”
4. Want of food, natural and spiritual: its effects. There is no difficulty in forming a correct idea of the condition of body that would result from want of daily bread. It would stunt an individual’s growth, make him a starveling in appearance, and leave him without strength for work of any kind. Similar, but still worse, is the condition of soul resulting from the want of spiritual bread. Without Jesus, who is the living Bread that came down from heaven, there is neither life nor growth, neither grace nor strength, nor spiritual power of any description in the soul. On the other hand, by union with Christ we live. So it was with the apostle: “Nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.” By virtue of that union we are strengthened. So with the same apostle: “I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.” By means of this union we receive spiritual food daily, and thus “grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.” By this heavenly food we are qualified for spiritual work and warfare. Hence our Lord’s direction, “Labour not for the meat which perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life.” Hence the blessing pronounced on those “who hunger and thirst after righteousness;” hence, too, we can cordially join in the well-known words-
“Good is the Lord! He gives us bread;
He gives his people more;
By him their souls with grace are fed,
A rich, a boundless store.”
Three practical duties we learn from the whole:
(1) cordiality in accepting the provisions of the gospel by living faith on our living and loving Lord;
(2) contentment with our lot, and thankfulness for daily bread, as also for the spiritual food of the soul; and
(3) entire consecration to that God in whom “we live, and move, and have our being,” “who satisfieth our mouth with good things,” and “filleth our soul as with marrow and fatness.”J.J.G.
Mar 6:45-56
Parallel passages: Mat 14:22-36; Joh 6:15-21.
Miraculous protection.
I. WALKING ON THE WATER.
1. Almighty power. Every one who has glanced over the early pages of English history is familiar with the story of Canute the Dane. That king wished to reprove the fulsome flattery of his courtiers when they spoke of his power as unlimited. He ordered his chair to be set by the seaside as the tide was coming in. He peremptorily commanded the waves to withdraw, and waited a while as if for their compliance. He seemed to expect prompt obedience, and watched to see them retire; but onward, onward came the surging sea; its waves kept steadily advancing, till the monarch fled before it, and left his chair to be washed away in its waters. He then turned to his courtiers, and solemnly reminded them that that Sovereign alone was absolute whom the winds and waves obeyedwho controlled the former, and set bounds to the latter, saying, “Hitherto shall ye come, but no further.” The sacred writers claim it as the peculiar prerogative of God to gather the wind in his fists and bind the waters in a garment. Job, in celebrating the attributes of the Almighty, applies to him the sublime and striking sentence, “Which alone spreadeth out the heavens, and treadeth upon the waves of the sea.”
2. Comparison of two similar miracles. There are two miracles of our Lord which have a close resemblance to each other, and at the same time considerable dissimilarity. One of these is that recorded in this passage, and called his “walking on the waters;” the other is distinguished by the name of his “stilling the storm” (Mar 4:35-41). By comparing these together, we find that the circumstances of the disciples were much worse, and their distress much greater, at the time referred to in this passage than on the former occasion. we may glance
(1) at the stilling of the storm, which we purposely passed over at its proper place in the fourth chapter. Combining the words of the three evangelists who describe that former miracle, we cannot fail to be struck with the exceedingly graphic nature of that description, and that in so few words. We are, in fact, made to see it as though the whole were transpiring before our eyes, so truly pictorial is the recital. There is first the sudden squall, its severity, its rapid descent upon the lake (, St. Luke), the agitation that ensued (, St. Matthew), the waves as they kept sweeping over the deck of the small craft, their beginning to fill with water, the peril in which the passengers found themselves (, St. Luke); while Jesus remained all the time fast asleep in the hinder part of the ship on a pillow. Then follow the alarm of the disciples, the twice-repeated appeal of “Master, master” ( , St. Luke) evidencing their trepidation and terror, their eager cry for instant help (, aorist imperative, St. Matthew) in their present perishing condition, the quiet dignity and self-possession of the Saviour, his rebuke to the spirit of the storm; or perhaps we may regard the former word as a command to the sea and the latter to the wind, as if he commanded the roar of the water to be silent, and the howling of the wind to be still, the spirit thereof being muzzled, as the word literally imports; while the imperative of the perfect implies that the work was instantaneouscompleted soon as the word was uttered. Then we have the storm falling as suddenly as it roseat once spending its force, wearing itself out and ceasing from very weariness. The calm that ensued was as great in proportion as had been the storm, with the milky whiteness of the foam that now alone remained from the storm, on the tranquil waters (), if we derive the word from , milk; or with the “smile that dimpled” the face of the deep, if we derive the word from . All these incidents are not so much narrated as exhibited. It may be added, as an interesting circumstance in the respective descriptions of the evangelists St. Mark and St. Matthew, that while the former, in his usual graphic and pictorial style of description, represents the waves as pitching or beating, or actually throwing themselves on the vessel so that it was filling (), the latter describes the boat as covered () with the waves. Hence it has been inferred, with good reason, that St. Matthew’s point of view was plainly from one of the other vessels that, we are told, accompanied, and from which he saw the waves hiding out of sight, the boat in which the Saviour was; while St. Mark, or rather St. Peter, from whose lips he had the description, was evidently in the same boat with our Lord, and from inside the vessel observed the waves rushing up against her sides, and filling her. Besides, the word reminds us of the use of , to put to silence, literally muzzle, used by St. Peter in 1Pe 2:15. But
(2) though the storm may have been equally great in the case of the miracle just described as in that of the passage before us, yet there were several modifying circumstances in the former that are not found in this latter case. On that occasion we read that “there were also with him other little ships;” at the time specified in this passage the ship in which the disciples sailed was alone. On the former occasion the Saviour was with them and in the boat; on this he was both absent and distant. On the former occasion they had the advantages, no inconsiderable ones, of day and light about them; on this they were surrounded by the darkness and dead of night. On the former occasion they were not, it would seem, far from landthey had just launched forth (), as St. Luke informs us; on this they were in the midst of the sea (). On the former occasion the storm had come down on the lake, and, for aught we know, was bearing them rapidly forward towards their destination; on this, we are expressly told, it was against them”the wind was contrary () unto them.” These points of comparison prove the extreme peril which the disciples were at this time. Great as had been their danger before, it is greater now.
3. Cause of these dangerous storms. Such sudden dangerous storms are still of frequent occurrence on that small inland lake. The best comment on all this physical commotion, and the best explanation of the nature and cause as well as scene of this miracle, may be found in Thomson’s ‘The Land and the Book.’ There, after his notice of a storm which he had witnessed on the lake, we find the following account:”To understand the causes of these sudden and violent tempests, we must remember the lake lies lowsix hundred feet lower than the ocean; that the vast naked plateaus of Jaulan rise to a great height, spreading backward to the wilds of the Hauran and upward to snowy Hermon; that the water-courses have cut out profound ravines and wild gorges, converging to the head of this lake, and that these act like gigantic funnels to draw down the cold winds from the mountains. On the occasion referred to we suddenly pitched our tents at the shore, and remained for three days and nights exposed to this tremendous wind.”
4. The difficulty of the disciples. Their difficulty was equal to their danger. They were toiling (, literally, tortured, baffled, tested as metals by the touchstone) in rowing, and we cannot but commend them for their conduct. They were using the proper means, and that is ever right to do; but the means did not avail. They were employing every energy; but it was to no purpose. They were putting forth all their strength; but it was utterly fruitless, and without result. The wind was still against them. Whether it was blowing a gale, as it does when it travels at the rate of sixteen miles an hour, or whether it was blowing a high gale, when it goes with the rapidity of thirty-six miles an hour, or whether it was blowing a storm, which it does when it sweeps with the speed of sixty miles an hour, or proceeding with hurricane fury at ninety miles an hour,whatever may have been the velocity of that wild wind, it was rude and boisterous; and, what made matters worse, it was directly oppositeright ahead. There they were struggling, toiling, tugging; but all in vain. There they were working with all their might; but still their frail barque was the plaything of wind and watertossed by the waves and the sport of the storm. They themselves were every moment expecting to find a watery grave in that tempestuous sea.
5. Another source of distress. There was another source of distress, and one which aggravated their difficulty and added to their danger. That was the continued absence of the Master. When he had sent them awayin fact, “constrained” () them, as though reluctant to go without himhe remained alone on the land. But why leave them at all? Or why leave them so long? Or why especially leave them at such a critical juncture? Or why, at least, delay his coming in their great emergency? They would naturally think of the storm that once before had befallen them on that self-same sea. They would think of the glorious Personage that then sailed with them in the self-same boat. They would think of the sound slumber he enjoyed,, as he lay on the cushion in the stern. They would think of his calm composure when he awoke. They would think of the short but stern command he uttered, when he rebuked so effectually the tempest, and hushed it into a calm. They would think of that gracious presence that curbed the winds and calmed the waves and checked even the swell of the waters. They would think, “Were he with us now, he would still the storm, and we should soon be safe on shore.” They would think of the petition they presented to him, the prayer they prayed, the fervency of spirit that inspired it, the faith that dictated it, the frailty that cleaved to it when they said, “Lord, save us.!”there was faith; “we perish!”there their faith was weak. Ever and anon, as they regarded the war of elements that raged around, they would sigh for their absent Lord, and long for land. No wonder, for had Christ been in the boat all would have been well.
6. The Saviour‘s presence is safety. Nearly half a century before Christ, a great conqueror attempted to cross the stormy Sea of Adria in a small boat. The waves rolled mountains high. The courage of the sailors failed them. They refused to venture further. It was a sea in which no boat could live. Soon, however, they were reanimated and encouraged to renew their toil, when the conqueror discovered himself, and told them who and what he was, in the characteristic words, “You carry Caesar and his fortunes.” With Christ in the boat, the disciples might have flung their fears to the winds, for One infinitely greater than Caesar would have been thereOne who could have stirred their hearts and raised their courage with the emboldening words, “You carry Christ and his Church.”
II. THE EYE OF CHRIST IS ON THE BOAT THAT CARRIES HIS DISCIPLES.
1. His omniscience. He saw it alltheir difficulty and danger and distress. His eyes were upturned to heaven in prayer, yet he saw all that was transpiring. The night was pitchy dark, yet he saw that small speck tossed like a cork upon the waters of that stormy sea. He had constrained them to embark, but he kept his eye upon them. He saw their fears, but he meant to teach them a new lesson of faith and confidence. He saw them from the distant mountain to which he had retired apart to pray. It is positively stated that he saw them. He saw them, though he was on the mountain-side and they were on the sea; he saw them from a distance which the ken of no mortal eye could reach; he saw them through the darkness of the night; he saw them in their panic terror; he saw them and all their embarrassments; he saw them when they did not, and when they could not, see him. “Be of good cheer!” he said. I did not forget you; I did not forsake you; I had you on my heart; I had you in my eye all the time. I did not fail to look on you, though you failed to look to me; I did not shut up my compassions, though you restrained prayer. You were neither out of sight nor out of mind. I was resolved you should not perish, nor a hair of your head fall. Boisterous as the wind was, I had charged it not to presume to harm you; rough as the sea was, I had commanded it not to dare to destroy your frail craft or damage one of the crew. Absence does not limit my power; distance does not separate you from my presence; danger and difficulty and distress only make you dearer, and call forth my more tender care.
2. His love is unchanging. Jesus is the same Saviour still, “the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever.” “Be of good cheer!” he said. These words, though addressed to the first disciples, have sent their echo down along the centuries, and bring comfort to disciples still. In them Christ addresses you, reader, and myself. By them he says to every faithful follower, “Mine eye is on thee; it has been on thee hitherto; it will be on thee to the end. You may rest assured I will never fail theeno, never forsake thee.” Again, the words of the Saviour, “Be of good cheer!” are backed by another fact which presents itself to us in this passage, and that fact is the purpose for which our Lord had retired to the lone mountain-side. He was passing the night in prayer, not specially for himself but for his discipleshis disciples then and now; yes, for his disciples in that slight ship and on that stormy sea. They toiled and rowed; he prayed. They were suffering; he was supplicating. They were struggling; he was interceding. They were buffeting the waters; he was bearing them, as High Priest, on his heart before God in the holy of holies of that mountain solitude. They were ready to faint; he was praying for them that they might not faint, and that their faith might not fail. They were longing for the Master; he was exercising his love on their behalf.
3. A true picture of the Christian‘s life. It is so stillas it was it is, and ever shall be, on the part of our dear Redeemer and his redeemed ones. We have before us a true picture of life-of human life, of the Christian’s life. We are toiling in this world below; the Saviour is employed on our behalf in the world above. We are in circumstances of peril and pain; the Saviour bids us “be of good cheer!” and look up to him; “he has overcome the world.” We are afloat on the sea of life; our barque is fragile, the wind is high, the storm scaresome, the sea raging, and we are tossed upon its waters; but Jesus is over all, and looks down on all, and will save through all,’ for “he is able to save to the uttermost all that come unto God by him.”
4. The suitable season for succor. Once more he says, with yet another meaning, “Be of good cheer!” I did not come, it is true, when the storm began, nor when the first night-watch set in. I knew you would have wished me then, that you would have been glad to see me coming then, that you would have hailed my arrival then. But you knew little of the difficulties that beset you then, little of your own inability to cope with them then, little of the impotence of your own efforts then. You knew not, at least not sufficiently then, that the power of man is weakness, and the wisdom of man is folly. You knew comparatively little of your need of a higher hand and a stronger arm to save you then, and little also of the great mercy of deliverance. For the like reason I came not in the second watch, nor even in the third. The fourth watch had commenced, and still I saw reason to delay my coming. It was half run and more before the proper moment arrived. I did not postpone nor defer an instant longer than was meet. Soon as the minute-hand pointed to the right moment on the dial-plate of time, I came, and came at once, without further or any unnecessary delay.
5. God’s time is the right time. God‘s time is not only the right time, but the best time. By his coming the time he did, the Saviour said in effect to the disciples, and through them to us, when we, like them, are tossed by the down-rushing winds and the upheaving waves of a troublesome world, Had I come sooner, it would have been premature on my part, and not expedient for you. Had I come sooner, it would have been pleasanter, but not so profitable for you. Had I come sooner, I should have consulted your feelings more than your interests. This fourth watch, and this last part of it in particular, is the season of your extremity and the time of my opportunity. Thus it is still. When you, reader, were saying, “Hath God forgotten to be gracious? Is his mercy clean gone for evermore?” his grace and mercy were drawing very near. When you were ready to give up all for lost, and about sinking into despair, then the Saviour said, I have come to give you confidence, to impart to you consolation, and inspire you with hope; in a word, to impress on your heart these words of comfort that now fall upon your ears. I come, therefore, as is my custom, at the moment best for the Creator’s glory and the creature’s good. Further, by the words,” Be of good cheer!” he reminds us of the fact that we never enjoy rest so much as after long hours of labour, we never enjoy safety so much as after a time of danger, we never enjoy sleep so much as after a day of toil, and we never enjoy a calm so much as after a time of storm. Some of us can attest this by personal experience. We have often been to sea, but only once in a storm. And never did we so thoroughly enjoy the land, or rest so sweetly on the shore, as after that terrible storm.
6. Application to ourselves. Thus will it be with all the dear children of God. After the tempests of earth, we shall enjoy the tranquillity of heaven all the more. After weary wanderings and a sorrowful sojourn in this vale of tears below, we shall relish far more keenly the rest and home above. Not only so, there is no common measure by which we can gauge the true relative proportions of these storms of earth and that sunshine of the skies. The great apostle of the Gentiles felt this when he said, “Our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory.”
III. THE ANNOUNCEMENT OF OUR LORD‘S PRESENCE.
1. A mistake. The announcement of the Saviour’s presence is contained in the words, “It is I.” When he did come the disciples mistook him. First they see through the gloom of night the dark object at some distance, then they discern the outline of a human figure standing out amid the darkness of the night and against the lowering sky. They never for one moment supposed it was the Saviour. “What can that phantom form be?” they thought within themselves. They had doubtless many conjectures, but sin gave its gloomy interpretation to the scene. It is a phantoma spirit! they said; a spirit of evil, a spirit of woe, to take vengeance on the guilty! So it was with Herod; and so it was with Joseph’s brethren, as we have seen; so it was with Belshazzar. So, too, with ourselves many a time. Not unfrequently we mistake our own best blessings; we think them distant when they are close at hand. Nay, we often mistake them altogether; we regard as a curse the very thing that God meant to prove a blessing. The dark cloud of his providence “we so much dread,” even when it is “big with mercy,” and ready to burst with” blessings on our head.” We continue our mistake, until God becomes “his own Interpreter, and makes his meaning plain.” It was thus with the disciples here, until Jesus revealed himself in a manner not to be mistaken, and said, “It is I.” Often and often in time of trouble, of trial, of toil, of difficulty or danger or distress, of adversity or affliction, we have said individually, “All these things are against me;” all these things are tokens of Divine displeasure; all these things are messengers of wrath. Jesus draws near and whispers to the soul, Not so; that trial, that cross, that bereavement, that sickness, thus distress of whatever kind, came from me; it was my doing; it was I sent it; I was the Author of it; I sought by it your good; it is I, and you are to recognize me in it; it is I. “Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me.”
2. A calm succeeds the storm. When all is storm around, when all is dark within, when of all human sources of consolation we are constrained to say with the patriarch of Uz, “Miserable comforters are ye all;” just then, it may be, a happy thought occurs to us, a ray of heavenly light shines down upon us, a gleam of comfort comes to cheer us. We fear we are imposing on ourselves. Not so. Jesus comes in a way not to be misapprehended, and says to us, “It is I;’ you need not be afraid. The winds have fallen and the waters subsided. It was I, says Jesus; they did it at my bidding.
3. The real source of succor. Relief comes. We are rescued from danger; from sickness we are restored to health; out of a situation of discomfort and unrest we are relieved. At such times we are apt to speak of the immediate instrumentalities in the case, and to attribute the change to second causes. This passage corrects that error. In it Jesus says, “It is I;” in other words, that medicine that proved so effectual derived its efficacy from me; it was I directed to it. Those friends that were so kind in the day of your trouble were moved to sympathy by me. It was I prompted them; it was I put it into their heart; it was I placed it in their power. “While some trust in horses, and some in chariots, we will make mention of the Name of the Lord.” Thus, in all that betides the Christian, Jesus takes a part; in all the variety of change, and scene, and condition, and circumstancethat wonderful co-operation of all things for our goodwe trace the presence of the Saviour. In the painful things and the pleasant, in the heights and depths, in the ups and downs, in the joys and sorrows, we are assured of the Saviour’s power and presence; he is conducting us through all to the goodly land afar off.
“When the shore is won at last,
Who will count the billows past?”
4. Jesus with us all the way.
(1) When the hour of our departure is at hand, when the last conflict approaches, when the darkness of death is beginning to envelop us, when we are passing through the dark valley of death-shade, the same Friend is at our side, the same friendly hand is on our shoulder, and the same fond voice sounds in our ears. It is the voice of Jesus, saying, “It is I;” death is my minister, my messenger; he can do you no harm; I have removed his sting. My rod and staff will comfort you; through me you will be more than conqueror, and will be able to challenge Death himself, and say, “O Death, where is thy sting? O Grave, where is thy victory?” “This God is our God for ever and ever: he will be our guide even unto [rather, over] death.”
(2) Again, on the resurrection morning, when all that are in their graves shall hear the voice of the Son of God and come forth, the same voice will reverberate through the graves of the poor and the tombs of the rich with the words, “It is I;” “I am the resurrection and the life;” “My dead men shall live; together with my dead body shall they come;” or, more literally and more correctly, “my dead body shall they come.” There is not merely conjunction, not only unionall this is true, and all this is much; but more is meant, for the words “together with” are in italics, and so we are notified that they are not in the original. Thus there is identity; our Lord identifies himself with the dead in Christ. He is the Head, they are the members; and thus, one in life, one in death, they shall be one in the resurrection, and one through all eternity; therefore it is, “My dead body shall they come.”
(3) Also in the day of judgment, when “we shall all stand before the judgment-seat of Christ,” the same loving tones will cheer us. The Judge on the throne will stoop down and say to his people,” It is I.” The same Saviour that shed his blood for youin whom you believed, whom you obeyed, whom you followed, loved, and servedis now your Judge. It is I that said to you on earth, “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” It is I, your Elder Brother, who say to you now in heaven, ‘Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you before the foundation of the world.”
5. Words of courage as well as comfort. Words of courage are also spoken by him. He adds, “Be not afraid.” Be not afraid of temptation, for with every temptation he will prepare a way of escape. Be not afraid of trials; they enlarge your experience: “the trial of your faith worketh patience; and patience, experience; and experience, hope.” Be not afraid of tears; they will soon be wiped away: even now the tears you shed cleanse the eyes, so that you see spiritual things more clearly. Be not afraid of toils; they will soon be past, and then “there remaineth a rest for the people of God.” Be not afraid of troubles, for “through much tribulation we must enter the kingdom of God.” Be not afraid of the perplexities of the wilderness; he will “guide you by his counsel” all the way. Be not afraid of the dark night of storm; for the dark clouds will scatter, and the feet of Omnipotence will come walking on the water. Be not afraid of the storms of persecution; “blessed are ye when all shall persecute you for the Saviour’s sake.” Only make sure you are his, and all the blessings of the covenant will be your portion.
6. The feeling of danger a precursor of safety. “He would have passed by them.” Why was this? Just that they might fully feel their need of his help, and earnestly apply for it. Salvation is the response of heaven to man when, in his misery, he cries for it. We have read of a young prince who toiled much and traveled much, who was often in danger, many times in perplexity, frequently in difficulties. But he was never left alone; a faithful friend called Mentor was ever at his sidehis counsellor, caretaker, guide, and guardian. How much greater is our privilege, to whom Jesus says, “It is I; ‘I will be with you all the way; I will be with you at every turn of the way; I will be with you in every time of need; I will be with you in every place of peril; I wilt be with you in the darkness of the night and amid the terrors of the storm! In calm majesty he will come, walking on the surface of the foam-crested wave; nor will he pass you by, but provoke your confidence, and prove your faith, and pour into your ears the inspiriting words, “Be of good cheer: it is I; be not afraid.”
“Thus soon the lowering sky grew dark
O’er Bashan’s rocky brow;
The storm rushed down upon the bark,
And waves dashed o’er the prow.
“The pale disciples trembling spake,
While yawned the watery grove,
We perish, MasterMaster, wake!
Carest thou not to save?’
” Calmly he rose with sovereign will,
And hushed the storm to rest.
‘Ye waves,’ he whispered, ‘Peace! be still!’
They calmed like a pardoned breast.”
J.J.G.
Fuente: The Complete Pulpit Commentary
Mar 6:1-6 . See on Mat 13:54-58 , who follows Mark with slight abbreviations and unessential changes. As respects the question of position , some advocates of the priority of Matthew have attributed to Mark an unthinking mechanism (Saunier), others a very artistic grouping (Hilgenfeld, who holds that the insusceptibility of the people was here to be represented as attaining its climax).
The narrative itself is not to be identified with that of Luk 4:16 ff. See on Matt.
] from the house of Jairus. Matthew has an entirely different historical connection, based on a distinct tradition, in which he may have furnished the more correct .
] for the first emergence and its result are meant to be narrated.
After elimination of , the words from to are to be taken together as an interrogative sentence, and on to forms again a separate question of astonishment.
] presupposes that they have heard of the miracles that Jesus had done (in Capernaum and elsewhere); these they now bring into association with His teaching.
. ] that is, by laying on of His hands , by taking hold of, touching , and the like; Mar 6:5 . Comp. Act 5:12 ; Act 19:11 .
Mar 6:3 . ] According to the custom of the nation and of the Rabbins (Lightfoot, p. 616; Schoettgen, II. p. 898; Gfrrer in the Tub. Zeitschr. 1838, p. 166 ff.), Jesus Himself had learned a handicraft. Comp. Justin, c. Tryph. 88, p. 316, where it is related that He made [94] ploughs and yokes; Origen, c. Celsum , vi. 4. 3, where Celsus ridicules the custom; Theodoret, H. E. iii. 23; Evang. infant. 38; and see generally, Thilo, ad Cod. Apocr. I. p. 368 f. The circumstance that Mark has not written , as in Mat 13:55 , is alleged by Hilgenfeld, Evang. p. 135 (“Mark tolerates not the paternity of Joseph even in the mouth of the Nazarenes”), Baur, Markusevangel. p. 138, and Bleek, to point to the view of the divine procreation of Jesus. As though Mark would not have had opportunity and skill enough to bring forward this view otherwise with clearness and definitely! The expression of Matthew is not even to be explained from an offence taken at (Holtzmann, Weizscker), but simply bears the character of the reflection, that along with the mother the father also would have been mentioned. And certainly it is singular, considering the completeness of the specification of the members of the families, that Joseph is not also designated. That he was already dead, is the usual but not certain assumption (see on Joh 6:42 ). In any case, however, he has at an early date fallen into the background in the evangelical tradition, and in fact disappeared: and the narrative of Mark, in so far as he names only the mother, is a reflection of this state of things according to the customary appellation among the people, without any special design. Hence there is no sufficient reason for supposing that in the primitive-Mark the words ran: , (Holtzmann).
] Matthew, by way of correction, has . See on Mat 13:55 . The brother of James of Alphaeus was called Joses . See on Mat 27:56 ; Mar 15:40 .
Mar 6:4 . The generic is not to be misapplied (so Schenkel) to make good the opinion that Jesus had not yet regarded Himself as the Messiah .
. . . . [95] ] graphic fulness of detail; native town, kinsfolk, house, proceeding from the wider to the narrower circle; not a glance back at Mar 3:20 (Baur, p. 23).
Mar 6:5 . ] neither means noluit (Verc. Vind. Brix. Germ. 2), nor is . superfluous; but see on Mat 13:58 . Theophylact says well: , .
Mar 6:6 . . ] on account of their unbelief. is never thus used with in the N. T. (not even in Joh 7:21 ) and in the LXX. But the unbelief is conceived not as the object , but as the cause of the wondering. Comp. Ael. V. H. xii. 6, xiv. 36: . Jesus Himself had not expected such a degree of insusceptibility in His native town. Only a few among the sick themselves (Mar 6:5 ) met Him with the necessary condition of faith.
. . .] seeking in the country a better field for His ministry.
] as Mar 3:34 , belonging to .
[94] Whether exactly “with an ideal meaning,” so that they became symbols under His hand, as Lange, L. J. II. p. 154, thinks, may be fitly left to the fancy which is fond of inventing such things. No less fanciful is Lange’s strange idea that the brothers of Jesus (in whom, however, he sees sons of his brother Alphaeus adopted by Joseph) would hardly have allowed Him to work much, because they saw in Him the glory of Israel! Comp., on the other hand, Mar 3:21 ; Joh 7:5 . We may add that, according to the opinion of Baur, Mark here, with his , “stands quite on the boundary line between the canonical and the apocryphal” ( Markusevang , p. 47).
[95] The form , which, though erroneous, had been in use, is here recommended by Buttmann, neut. Gr. p. 22 [E. T. 25]; and it is so adequately attested by B D ** E F G, al. (in * the words . . . . are wanting) that it is, with Tischendorf, to be adopted. In Luk 2:44 the attestation is much weaker. Mark has not further used the word.
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
7. The Lords Conflict with the envious Unbelief of His own City; His Triumpn over Human Prejudice; His Return to the Mountain-Villages. Mar 6:1-6
(Parallels: Mat 13:54-58; Luk 4:14-30.)
1And he went out from thence, and came1 into his own country; and his disciples follow him. 2And when the sabbath day was come, he began to teach in the synagogue: and many hearing him were astonished, saying, From whence hath this man these things? and what wisdom is this which is given unto him, that even such mighty works are wrought2 by his hands? 3Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary, the brother of James, and Joses,3 and of Juda, and Simon? and are not his sisters here with us? And they were offended at him. 4But Jesus said unto them, A prophet is not without honour, but in his own country, and among his own kin, and in his own house. 5And he could there do no mighty work, save that he laid his hands upon a few sick folk, and healed them. 6And he marvelled because of their unbelief. And he went round about the villages, teaching.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
See the parallels on Matthew and Luke.As to Nazareth, consult Robinson, 3. 419; Winer, Reallex.; my Leben Jesu, ii. 550. Marks narrative is not only identical with Mat 13:54 seq. but also in its leading features with Luk 4:16, as is manifest from the recurrence of the question, Is not this Josephs son? and the saying, A prophet, etc. Notwithstanding, the points of time are so diverse, and have such an interval between them, that we must, following Matthew and Mark, assume a second and later appearance in Nazareth; one, however, which was only transitional and brief, inasmuch as the unbelief of the people of Nazareth remained the same. The special features of the narrative seem to belong mainly to the former of the two occasions. But how can a second visit of our Lord to Nazareth be conceivable, after he had been once rejected there? The first rejection had been no better than a tumult. This time He visits His own city in quietness, and for His own repose, after the decree to kill Him had gone forth from the Galilean Pharisees. But, experiencing the same utter lack of sympathy and regard on the part of His former fellow-citizens, He retreated back into the surrounding mountain-villages. It was the time (in the first year of His ministry) when He had accomplished the itineration of the mountains in the first Galilean journey, as also the second Galilean voyage over the sea to the farther bank; and when He was on the point of travelling over the towns of the valley of Southern Galilee, in the direction of Jerusalem. As He would confirm and corroborate this third and last Galilean preaching-journey by sending out the Twelve, a retreat into the mountains, and especially to a particular mountain, was fixed upon to precede. And He most probably took this occasion of visiting the district of Nazareth.
Mar 6:1. And He went out from thence.Not merely, that is, from the house of Jairus. From this time forward, He ceased to have His abiding residence in Capernaum, although He still assembled His disciples around Him there on passing occasions. After the first conflict in Nazareth, He went down to Capernaum; He now designedly abandons again His permanent abode in Capernaum, without formally giving up His residence there.
Mar 6:2. He began to teach.This does not mean His first entrance and its result; it rather refers to the interruption that soon followed.That even such mighty works are wrought by His hands.The is characteristic. They regard the doctrine of Christ merely as a secret doctrine, which was intended to be the medium or instrument for the ultimate end of working miracles. And they enviously assume that this mysterious doctrine must have been entrusted to him by some one in a suspicious manner. Hence the emphasis laid upon the hands (laying on of hands, touching, etc.), as the method of performing the miracle. The working hands of the carpenter, they would say; as appears from what comes next.
Mar 6:3. Is not this the carpenter?According to the custom of the Jewish people, even the Rabbis learned some handicraft. We have the example of the Apostle Paul: see Lightfoot, Schttgen. But Justin Martyr (contr. Tryph.) has the tradition, that Jesus made ploughs and the like. Whether with an ideal allusion, so that they became in His hands symbols, as Lange (Leben Jesu, ii. p. 154) thinks, may very properly be left to fancy. Meyer. That Jesus regarded with a symbolizing mind and interpretation the toil of the fisherman, the fall of the sparrow from the housetop, the play of the children in the market-placeall this is not matter of mere fancy. But there is a kind of fancy, which men call inductive proof. It is represented, further, as a mere airy and baseless notion, to suppose that the brethren of Jesus would hardly have suffered Him to work much, because they saw in Him the glory of Israel. And yet it is not an airy and baseless notion, that His brethren early sought to deliver Him from the machinations of His enemies. What really deserves to be called fancy in the theological domain, is that aggregation of myth and anecdote which the scholastic learning of the present day so much abounds in.
No dogmatic importance can be attached (with Bauer and others) to the omission of the carpenters son, which Matthew has; since the expression, the carpenter, is only a stronger declaration of the same thing. But the former expression would not occur to the people of Nazareth, since they spoke from recent observation or past remembrances. In this way, the position of Jesus was referred back to, or identified with, Josephs. And it is obvious to suppose that Joseph had long before (between the twelfth year and the thirtieth of the Lords life) gone off the scene. As has primarily a general meaning, and signifies any artisan, some, following Justin, have thought it signified here a maker of carriages, etc.; while others have interpreted into smith. But smith in the New Testament is , and is specifically a faber lignarius. Whether workmanship in wood was distributed into various kinds of handiwork, is a question not settled.The brother of James.As to the brethren of the Lord, comp. on Matthew. The apocryphal tradition adds to the four brethren, two sisters of our Lord: Esther and Tamar or Martha. Romanist expositors have, without reason, or for reasons well known, made these the sisters of His mother. These sisters seem to have been married in Nazareth; and therefore did not accompany the migration of Marys family to Capernaum.
Mar 6:4. Among his own kin.Naturally, the immediate dependants and followers of Jesus stood related in manifold ways to the people of Nazareth. Christ does not say that His own house remained unbelieving, in the common sense of the term. But that there were restrictions of faith to be overcome even in this circle, springing from too great familiarity, is proved not only by the history of the Lords brethren, but also by that of His mother.
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL
1. See on Matthew.This narrative exhibits to us the narrow, petty, bigoted, envious unbelief, which was unable to apprehend and understand the Divinely great in its human nearness and familiarity; and this makes the section a most striking example of unbelief, as it confronts and embarrasses the Lord. It is the unconscious self-condemnation and self-contempt of the spirit which, alienated from God, and sunk into the lowest level, cannot appreciate the prophet that has arisen in its own city. In our Lords experience of this kind of unbelief,to which a prophet is nowhere less esteemed than in his own country, and among his own kin,we have fore-written for us a long chapter of the history of the world and of the Church. The history of Monophysitism, on the one hand, and of Nestorianism and Rationalism, on the other, may be referred to this principle. The prejudice of the base nature, that out of Nazareth, in the immediate neighborhood, from our own home, and finally out of humanity itself, nothing good can come, led to all those systems in succession which, on the one hand, dehumanize the God-man, and, on the other, undeify Him. But when we say that Christ celebrated His triumph over this unbelief of envious prejudice and of human self-depreciation, we do not thereby assert that He removed that unbelief in anything like a magical manner. He triumphed over it rather by leaving it alone, by going on His way, and by performing His miracles in the neighborhood around. He drew round the pestilent prejudice a circle of divine manifestations, like a besieger. The honor paid to the Divine, which from all sides reacts upon this centre of prejudice, and leads back the homeborn, with acclamation and celebrity on all hands, to his home againthat is His final triumph over Nazareth, over Judaism, over humanity.
2. And He could there.This does not express inability in itself; but, as Theophylact rightly observed, it indicates the absence of the ethical conditions on which the miracles of Jesus depended. His miraculous power was not magical; but an ethical influence which required and presupposed faith. It is true that Christ also creates faith; but then that presupposes the felt need of faith. It is true that He excites that feeling also; but then that presupposes susceptibility, and the capacity of reception. And if this likewise is awakened by Him, it further presupposes sincerity, and a certain devotion which could not become hardened through evil motives into the always evil act of the heart of unbelief. The Evangelist further shows us that Jesus wrought miracles, even in this circle, according to the slender measure of faith there was; for he adds the observation, that He laid His hands upon a few sick folk, and healed them. Thus, he distinguishes from these lower miraculous works, the great manifestations of His wonder-working power; these latter could have and should have no demonstration under such circumstances. The condition on which the miraculous power of Christ was suspended was the reflection and copy of the conditions upon which the divine omnipotence, in love wisdom and righteousness, deals with the freedom of the world of spirits.
3. And He marvelled.Fritzsche: (they wondered at Him, on account of their unbelief), following only two cursive MSS.: manifest error of copyist. Meyer: Stress has with great propriety been laid upon the contrast between the wondering of our Lord at the faith of the Gentile centurion, and His wondering at the unbelief of His own countrymen, who had so long been witnesses of His divine life. Jesus does not marvel at other human things generally; but He does marvel, on the one hand, at faith, when it overcomes in its grandeur all human traditional hindrances, and, on the other, at unbelief, when it can, in the face of multitudes of divine manifestations, and under the daily view of the opened heavens, harden itself into the pitiful acceptance of dead traditional prejudices. The former wondering might, humanly speaking, elevate and strengthen Himself; the latter, on the other hand, grieve and restrain His divine Spirit. He hastens away from the sphere of such spiritual evils, that He may in the distance unloose those spiritual breezes that shall dissipate them all. The Accusative ( ), on account of their unbelief, makes His astonishment all the more emphatic. It was hard for Him to reconcile Himself to this seemingly unconquerable dulness and limitation.
4. The history of Nazareth has been repeated on a large scale in the history of Israel. Israel, as a whole, also made the nearness of Jesus, His external not being afar off, an occasion of unbelief and fall. This temptation, resulting from the constant beholding of the Holy One with common eyes, was pointed to in Deu 30:14, according to Pauls interpretation of it in Rom 10:8. It is the temptation which besets the intimates and fellow-citizens of chosen spirits and great geniuses; which besets theologians in the daily study and service of the truths of revelation, ministers in their commerce with the ordinances of grace, and all the lesser officers of the house of God in their habitual contact with the externals of divine things. It is the temptation also of ancient towns and churches, which have enjoyed exalted privileges, and indeed of the whole Church itself. When the Son of man cometh, shall He find faith on the earth?
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL
See on the parallel passages of Matthew and Luke.Jesus was renounced by His own city, both at the beginning and at the end of His Galilean labors: or, the stiffneckedness of prejudice, which is bound to the lower and earthly sense by a thousand bonds (envy, cowardice, indolence, self-delusion, dissipation, slavish sympathies and antipathies, etc.).How far was Jesus actually of Nazareth, how far not?No man is altogether of the place where he was born or brought up: 1. He is so in his derivation, but not in his individuality; 2. he is so in his outward lot, but not in his personal endowments; 3. he is so in his external training, but not in his internal education; 4. he is so in his human relationship and acquaintance, but not in his highest relations; 5. he is so in the petty events of life, but not in his greater fortunes; 6. he is so in his immediate calling, not in his highest vocation and destiny.Christ an alien, and yet at home, in His own city; both in an infinite measure: every man the same in his own degree.The error of the men of Nazareth concerning the coming of Christ: 1. They forgot that He was of Bethlehem; 2. they did not know that He was from heaven.The double origin and the double home of Christ: 1. An original contrast in Him; 2. an analogous contrast in every mans life below.How Christ victoriously contends with the unbelief of prejudice among His own countrymen: 1. Prejudice everywhere opposes Him; and that, a. in an impure and gross apprehension of His dignity, as of a magical secret doctrine and art; b. in the reckoning up of all His earthly relationships, in order to urge them to the disparagement of His heavenly dignity; c. in a slavish community of envious and low judgment upon His life. 2. How the Lord lays hold of and overcomes this prejudice: a. He refers it all to a universal fact, which they might afterwards reflect upon (a prophet is not without honor, etc.); b. He does not forget, but heals, the few who needed and were susceptible of help among His scorners; c. He gathers up His influences, and withdraws; d. and He causes the light of His presence to shine brightly throughout the whole district around.How the Lord surrounds the places which exhibit a corrupted prejudice against Him with the fiery circles of His divine deeds, in order to subdue them.The Lords not being able in Nazareth, an expression of the divine freedom as over against the abuse of human freedom.The Lords impotence a testimony to His perfect power and ability: 1. Of the divine power of His love (patience); 2. of the divine skill of His love (wisdom).The sacred conditionality and free self-limiting power of Christ.The omnipotence of God is not lessened, but glorified as spiritual power, by the fact that it conditions itself in love, wisdom, and righteousness.To the man who had lost himself, and become to himself an object of contempt, the Lord brings back again his life.Christ is both far off and nigh at hand, in order to overcome the stolid, careless minds of those who are bent on this world.Christs retirement among the villages; or, the loftiness of the Gospel in its humility.Christs own city, the old and the new: 1. Poor Nazareth, which rejects Him; 2. the great city of God in heaven and upon earth, in ten thousand places, which glorifies Him.Nazareth a symbol of multitudes of streets and places rendered desolate by spiritual guilt.How the Lords love with holy tenderness encircles His poor land and people.
Starke:Majus:The unreasonableness and wickedness of our countrymen should never restrain us in the performance of our duty, or cause us to forget any of our obligations to them.Nov. Bibl. Tub.:Birth, lineage, and descent are far from making a man a Christian; they often rather, on account of prejudices, are the greatest hindrances to Christianity.Quesnel:Wicked men often admire and magnify gifted preachers; but they are never without some excuse or other for not obeying their instructions.It is common enough for those who would defeat the force of a sermon, to exalt themselves above the preacher.When we entertain ourselves with a thousand strange matters that have no connection with spiritual profit, the power of the divine word is lost.Canstein:He who built heaven and earth became, in His humbled condition upon earth, a carpenter.Christ honored and sanctified all honorable human employments and handiwork.Quesnel:Christs humiliation has been to many a stone of stumbling and an occasion of falling; while it was most essentially necessary to our external exaltation.Hedinger:What is there that can grieve the Christian teacher beyond contempt and evil fruits?Christs example is a most mighty consolation.Nova Bibl. Tub.:Thou complainest that God saves thee not, and dost not reflect that thou thyself hast bound His hands.Quesnel:The unbelief of a whole people does not hinder the mercy of God from extending to the small number of the righteous who are found amongst them.Braune:Faith, which in its nature is receptive love, alone makes us partakers of the grace of God, which is imparting love.
Schleiermacher:We find this (that a prophet is without honor in his own country) true among men, even as we sometimes find the contrary of it true. When any one is distinguished beyond others in any particular, his fellow-townsmen take pride in him, their vanity being flattered. Yet the contrary is not arbitrary, but usually dependent on the earlier or later period, and various spiritual or worldly influences. (The prophets killed, and the sepulchres of the prophets garnished.)Much impressive truth is lost upon men, because they do not so much regard the matter as the source from which it comes.Christ has as much cause to marvel at the unbelief of the present time, as He had to marvel in His own time.Gossner, on Mar 6:4 :A warning to all preachers who do not like to leave their own home, kin, and country.Nothing more outrages Gods goodness than unbelief or rejection of it.
Footnotes:
[1]Mar 6:1.Tischendorf, , after B., C., L., .
[2]Mar 6:2.Codd. C.*, D., K., ; B., L., , which Tischendorf adopts.
[3]Mar 6:3.Codd. B., D., L., Versions, Lachmann, Tischendorf, read ; the reading occurs in some cursive MSS.
Fuente: A Commentary on the Holy Scriptures, Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical by Lange
CONTENTS.
The LORD JESUS is here, spoken of with contempt by his countrymen. He sends forth his Disciples. Herod hears of CHRIST, and is alarmed. JESUS feeds the Multitude. He is seen walking on the Sea. He heals the Sick.
AND he went out from thence, and came into his own country; and his disciples follow him. (2) And when the sabbath-day was come, he began to teach in the synagogue: and many hearing him were astonished, saying, From whence hath this man these things? and what wisdom is this which is given unto him, that even such mighty works are wrought by his hands? (3) Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary, the brother of James, and Joses, and of Judah, and Simon? and are not his sisters here with us? And they were offended at him. (4) But Jesus said unto them, A prophet is not without honour, but in his own country, and among his own kin, and in his own house. (5) And he could there do no mighty work, save that he laid his hands upon a few sick folk, and healed them. (6) And he marvelled because of their unbelief. And he went round about the villages, teaching.
I detain the Reader on those verses to remark, that what became in the view of the enemies of CHRIST matter reproach, is, to the friends and followers of the Lamb, subject of heartfelt joy. Is not this the carpenter, say they? Yes! say I; and blessed be my LORD, for his grace and condescension, in being so. For I would have the Reader understand, that in CHRIST becoming a curse for his redeemed, it behoved him, to undergo that curse in all its branches. The tenor of the curse pronounced at the fall, ran in those words: In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread; meaning toil and labor. Had not JESUS therefore toiled and labored for his bread, this part of the curse would not have lighted upon him, neither could he then have been said to have borne it. But by laboring with his hands for his daily bread, he literally fulfilled that part of the curse. And though he might have fed himself as he fed others, by working a miracle; yet then could he not have come up, in this point, to the object intended. So far therefore is CHRIST’s labor in the employment of a carpenter, from lessening the authority of his mission, that without it he would not have answered the character of our Redeemer, in redeeming us from the curse of the law being made a curse for us. Gal 3:13 .
Reader! hath it pleased the LORD in his providence, to place you in a low estate. Look to him who when on earth had not where to lay his head; and though the LORD, Creator and proprietor of all things, lived and toiled, for his daily bread! See observations on Luk 2:51-52 .
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Mar 6:3
In a letter written from Pavia, during his early mission there, Savonarola explains to his mother why he is working in Lombardy instead of nearer home. ‘Seeing that He hath chosen me for this sacred office, rest ye content that I fulfil it far from my native place, for I bear better fruit than I could have borne at Ferrara. There it would be with me as it was with Christ, when His countrymen said: Is not this man a carpenter, and the son of a carpenter? But out of my own place this has never been said to me; rather, when I have to depart, men and women shed tears, and hold my words in much esteem.’
References. VI. 3. C. Jerdan, Pastures of Tender Grass, p. 44. C. W. Stubbs, Pro Patria, p. 160; see also Christian World Pulpit, vol. xlv. 1894, p. 129. J. Farquhar, The Schools and Schoolmasters of Christ, p. 61. Mark Guy Pearse, Christian World Pulpit, vol. li. 1897, p. 118. T. Vincent Tymms, ibid. vol. lxvii. 1905, p. 264. J. Clifford, The Dawn of Manhood, p. 34. C. New, The Baptism of the Spirit, p. 231.
Mar 6:4
Mr. Bentham is one of those persons who verify the old adage, that ‘a prophet has most honour out of his own country’. His reputation lies at the circumference; and the lights of his understanding are reflected, with increasing lustre, on the other side of the globe. His name is little known in England, better in Europe, best of all in the plains of Chili and the mines of Mexico.
Hazlitt, Spirit of the Age.
The following extract from Horace Walpole touches a similar chord: ‘Adieu, retrospect! It is as idle as prophecy, the characteristic of which is never to be believed where alone it could be useful, i.e. in its own country.’
Compare Mrs. Oliphant’s account of Edward Irving’s reception in Annandale in 1828.
References. VI. 5, 6. R. Scott, Oxford University Sermons, p. 276. A. Maclaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture St. Mark I.-VIII. p. 237.
Abnormal Unbelief
Mar 6:6
I. As Jesus stood face to face with the unbelief of His townsmen, His kinsfolk, and even of the disciples themselves, He found Himself in a world that jarred His Divine instincts and sensibilities. Although it was true of Him here, as in Jerusalem at a later stage, ‘He knew what was in man,’ He did not look for such a deadening psychic atmosphere. The crisis through which He passed must have been akin to that of the child trained in a refined and gracious home, who goes forth into the world to find a treasured name bandied about by scoffers and treated as though it were of little worth. ‘He marvelled because of their unbelief.’
1. Is not the pained surprise flushing his face as eloquent of Divine Sonship as a glint of transfiguration splendour? Our Lord’s amazement at this widespread unbelief is a sign of separateness from His infirm and blemished contemporaries. Could He visit again even those who call themselves by His name the same anomaly would recur.
2. This flash of surprise shows that, during His thirty years’ sojourn in Nazareth, Jesus had not been subdued to the temper of doubt abroad, but had kept untarnished the fine bloom of His faith.
3. As we see this surprise reflected in the face of Jesus, may we not infer that He came down to His work amongst men from a holy world, where faith was the all-pervading law? That world had put its enduring imprint upon His personality, or rather Hist personality had put its sovereign imprint upon the: world.
II. Our Lord’s amazement must have been aggravated as He marked the frivolous causes which fostered this unbelief, and the poor apology His fellow-townsmen made for themselves. Faith is a spiritual principle, demanding for its growth and fruitful development congruous conditions. It is not intellectual in its origin, although some of the perplexities which assail our faith and test its genuineness can only be dispelled by close and clear thinking. It cannot be created by the methods of logic, or finally destroyed by the processes of criticism. If we analyse current phases of unbelief, we find that many causes have entered into it It is, perhaps, not to be wondered at when the great tumultuous passions of the flesh blind the eyes, and men refuse to believe what is holy; but it is strange and curious, when the only excuse men offer for their lack of faith is that the authority which invites it is devoid of pomp and outward trappings. Hands which have held plane and saw can scarcely be Divine. If the townsmen of Nazareth had believed in a man of God because he was a professional scribe, rather than a carpenter, such homage of social rank would have been specious and would have been no better than the unbelief which astonished Jesus. They despised the man who had lived and wrought alongside them, though He was wise in word and holy in deed. In the sacredness of One Who had toiled for His daily bread, and wore homely clothes, they could put no confidence. They had eyes for dress and rank, but none for truth, honour, holiness, transcendent personal force.
Vanity always proves itself a prolific soil for the growth of unbelief.
III. In His dependence upon the co-acting faith of men, Jesus Christ reflects the ways of God in the world Today. We forget how God conditions His work in our midst, and aim inane reproaches against His dealings with us; whilst all the time we know that, apart from our cooperation, He will not do great things for us. This is an established method of His redemptive government.
Let us see to it that we have a faith which satisfies the Lord upon Whom it takes hold and helps on His redemptive acts.
T. G. Selby, The Strenuous Gospel, p. 245.
References. VI. 6. Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xvi. No. 935. VI. 7, 12, 13. R. E. Hutton, The Crown of Christ, vol. ii p. 391. VI. 7; VII. 23. W. H. Bennett, The Life of Christ According to St. Mark, p. 84. VI. 16. A. Maclaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture St. Mark I.-VIII. p. 247. E. B. Speirs, A Present Advent, p. 149. W. H. Hutchings, Sermon-Sketches, p. 89. VI. 16, 20. S. Horton, Christian World Pulpit, vol. lvii. 1900, p. 115. VI. 17-28. A. Maclaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture St. Mark I.-VIII. p. 256.
Mar 6:18
Speaking of Fnelon’s ‘Tlmaque,’ in his Lectures on the Ancien Rgime, Kingsley protests: ‘It is something to have spoken to a prince, in such an age, without servility and without etiquette, of the frailties and dangers which beset rulers; to have told him that royalty, “when assumed to content oneself, is a monstrous tyranny: when assumed to fulfil its duties, and to conduct an innumerable people, as a father conducts his children, a crushing slavery, which demands an heroic courage and patience”. Let us honour the courtier who dared to speak such truths.’
If the canker of the age can be traced to any single source, it is to the Princess herself. Its sycophancy had its apotheosis in every word said or written to, or said or written of, and meant to be seen by, the sovereign. An abject form of so-called loyalty vitiates and mars almost all the loftiest prose and verse of the time…. A margin of servility remains, either explanation of which is alike distasteful; for, honest or dishonest, it showed an otherwise incredible weakness of judgment or character. Bacon’s treatment of Essex was nowise treacherous, but it was not noble; his relation to James was ignoble.
Prof. Nichol’s Bacon, I. 24, 67.
Mar 6:20
When George Fox arrived in Edinburgh in 1657, he was summoned by the magistrates, examined, and then ordered to leave Scotland in a week’s time. ‘I desired them to hear what I had to say to them, but they said they would not hear me. I told them Pharaoh heard Moses and Aaron, and yet he was a heathen and no Christian, and Herod heard John the Baptist; and they should not be worse than these. But they cried, Withdraw, withdraw!’
References. VI. 20. W. C. E. Newbolt, Church Times, vol. xxxii. 1894, p. 219. Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. vi. No. 347; vol. xxvi. No. 1548. VI. 26-29. G. Salmon, Non-Miraculous Christianity, p. 155. VI. 30-44. W. M. Taylor, The Miracles of Our Saviour, p. 268. A. Maclaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture St. Mark I.-VIII. p. 262. John Laidlaw, The Miracles of Our Lord, p. 74.
A Desert Place
Mar 6:31
Few sentences in the New Testament are more pathetic than this: ‘There were many coming and going, and the Apostles of Jesus had no leisure so much as to eat’. Jesus had sent them away to do their beneficent work upon the bodies and the minds of men. They had done it; and now they had come back and gathered about Him to tell Him of all that had befallen them. Jesus listened with an interest mingled with joy and pity. He knew that for the happy prosecution of the work of life men need not only enthusiasm but strength. And so when their tale is told, He simply says, ‘Come by yourselves apart into a desert place, and take a little rest’. And in words of simple pathos, the Evangelist adds, ‘For crowds were coming and going, and they had not even a chance to eat’. So, at the Master’s bidding, they entered a boat and went away to a desert place apart.
This is indeed very touching; but the sequel is more touching still. For the kind wish of Jesus was defeated by the importunity of the crowd; and when they crossed to their desert place where they had hoped to be by themselves apart, they found the place crowded with a waiting throng that had hurried round the lake on foot. The work had to be begun again, and the repose seemed further off than ever. In the attitude of Jesus to this new and unexpected obligation, we get a glimpse into the depths of His great heart. An ordinary man would have resented the appearance of a crowd which so effectively dispelled all hope of repose and deprived Him and His of the rest they so sorely needed. But not so Jesus. ‘When He landed and saw the great crowds, He had pity upon them and began to teach them many things.’ Those who had come to Him in such a way He could in no wise cast out. The seeming annoyance He accepted as a Divine opportunity, and tired and disappointed as He and His disciples were, He gladly and uncomplainingly began again the great work which His Father had given Him to do.
I. It is worth pondering that Jesus deliberately sought for Himself and His disciples to escape from the crowd. It is also worth pondering that that escape proved impossible. In such a world as ours we are sometimes compelled by circumstances, or by regard for some high moral law, or for the sake of a needy brother, to act against our better knowledge. We know very well that we must spare ourselves, or our strength and to that extent, our efficiency will be impaired. Yet the circumstances of our life so arrange themselves that to spare ourselves is impossible; and so long as we have strength to stand upon our feet, we must go on with our work. These exacting demands, which seem at times so cruel, have no doubt their high compensations both here and hereafter; but while we must learn the stern obligation of service from the willingness of Jesus to do what He could for the crowd at the very time that He so yearned to be alone with His disciples, we have also to learn from His desire that they should go apart and perhaps many of us need this lesson still more how indispensable is rest and loneliness to all continued and effective work.
II. It is not without interest that the words for ‘come’ and ‘rest’ which Jesus used in His invitation to the disciples are the same as those in which He gave to all that laboured and were heavy laden that other invitation which has rung as an evangel throughout the centuries: ‘Come unto Me and I will give you rest’. Perhaps here, too, in the suggestion that they go to a desert place there is a similar undertone. Not merely in the desert place will the inspiration be; for Jesus is to be there too. Nor is it only through going apart by themselves that they will renew their strength; for they are to go apart with Him. But all the same, the passage sounds an immortal warning to men who are consumed by zeal for the work to which they are giving their lives. The strongest and the most zealous need to go apart into a desert place and rest awhile. They need it for their own sake; they need it for their work’s sake. Much of the work has to be done ‘in the midst of the street’; and we can only possess our souls there in patience and peace if we have rested for awhile apart in the desert place.
III. It was to satisfy two needs that Jesus urged upon His disciples this escape from the crowd the need of aloofness and the need of rest. First, ‘Come by yourselves apart’. The disciples had no doubt enjoyed some measure of success in their mission, and they may have been a little elated by their temporary popularity. At any rate, it was now time for them to go apart by themselves, away from the disturbing illusions of the crowd, to a desert place where they could view themselves and their work in truer perspective. A crowd is a terrible thing and a good man may well fear it He will fear its false standards of success. He will fear lest he come to measure his worth by the size of his crowd. He will fear lest he come to care more for their applause than to tell them the truth. Yes, the crowd is a menace to a man’s true estimate of himself; and as he loves his soul, he will once in a while leave it all for the desert place where there is little to turn his head or distort his vision of the eternal things. ‘For my part,’ said Stevenson, ‘I should try to secure some part of every day for meditation, above all, in the early morning and the open air.’ Apart from men, and, above all, in the healthful presence of the primeval things, the sky, the mountains, the sea, we can look ourselves more honestly in the face, lift up our hearts to God, and give our panting lives a chance.
When Pre Didon had been banished to Corsica, Pasteur wrote to him: ‘You will come back with your soul still loftier, your thought more firm, more disengaged from earthly things’. Most of the world’s best work has been done by men who prepared for it in some desert place. Jesus began His own ministry with a season in the wilderness, and often afterwards he sought the loneliness of the mountain-side. Paul had his Arabia, and John Bunyan his prison. The street has its place in the religious life, but so also has the desert. He will work best for the crowd who has rested in the wilderness. And not less needful than when first it was spoken is this healing word of Jesus to the crowded and distracted lives of men Today: ‘Come by yourselves apart into a desert place, and rest yourselves awhile’.
J. E. McFadyen, The City With Foundations, p. 227.
Rest the Basis of Character
Mar 6:31
There are two ways of looking at life, and there are two ways of living. The one attracts but does not; satisfy. The other satisfies while it attracts. The former, which is the natural, is broad and shallow. The latter, which is the spiritual, is not less wide, but it is deep. In the one case the man begins with observation and ends in criticism, spending himself in busy activity till there is nothing left but self-disgust In the other an ever-growing sympathy expands into the life and love of God.
I. The life of prayer the only real and true life is one that springs from a profound sympathy with the universe, which sees in the great order of which we form a part not only the length and the breadth, but also, and much more vividly, the depth.
The man of prayer is he whose work in the world is the stronger because it manifests the sense of God’s nearness; who, always busy, is yet ever at rest; about whom the casual stranger feels that there is a background, a hidden life, a fountain of living water from wells of salvation that our father Jacob gave us not.
II. And the men of prayer teach their brethren that which is the hardest, while it is the truest lesson of life, how to die.
Why is it that we are so slow to learn the secret: of Jesus? When He has bidden us watch and pray; when He has begged that for His sake we will give Him one last hour; He comes and finds us sleeping, for our eyes are heavy and the flesh is weak.
And yet it is just for these supreme moments that Christ came into the world. He came, that out of the deep of our human character He might cry to the Father in that perfectness of unbroken communion, wherein prayer gathers itself up into words that are the expression of a life ‘Thy will be done’. Not once nor twice in that career of tireless activity did He go away and pray, ‘saying again the same words’. For Jesus’ life meant not to do but to be, not to live but to die. Jesus Christ did most for the world when He was doing nothing. The finished work of Christ is not the bustle of a great activity, but the peace of a surrendered life.
J. G. Simpson, Christian Ideals, p. 183.
Mar 6:31
We must know how to put occupation aside, which does not mean that we must be idle. In an inaction which is meditative and attentive, the wrinkles of the soul are smoothed away. The soul itself spreads, unfolds, and springs afresh, and, like the trodden grass of the roadside or the bruised leaf of a plant, repairs its injuries, becomes new, spontaneous, true, and original.
Amiel.
‘A man,’ said Carlyle once, ‘must not only be able to work, but to give over working.’
References. VI. 31. S. Baring-Gould, Plain Sermons on Sunday Observance, p. 33. W. Pierce, Christian World Pulpit, vol. lxiv. 1903, p. 93. C. F. Aked, ibid. vol. lxvi. 1904, p. 85. A. B. Boyd Carpenter, ibid. vol. lxx. 1906, p. 180. W. P. Balfern, Lessons from Jesus, p. 47. T. Teignmouth Shore, The Life of the World to Come, p. 53. C. J. Vaughan, Last Words in the Parish Church of Doncaster, p. 259. Stopford A. Brooke, Short Sermons, p. 246. G. S. Reaney, Religion in Common Life, p. 24.
Mar 6:34-35
See P. G. Hamerton’s Intellectual Life, pp. 350 f.
References. VI. 34. R. W. Church, Village Sermons (2nd Series), p. 91. C. S. Robinson, Simon Peter, p. 211. VI. 34-43. Mark Guy Pearse, Jesus Christ and the People, p. 23. VI. 35-44. Archbishop Trench, Notes on the Miracles of Our Lord, p. 217. VI. 36, 37. J. C. Edghill, Church Times, vol. xxxvii. 1897, p. 641.
Mar 6:37
Once, when asked by the rector of his church to subscribe to a fund for erecting ten new churches in Manchester, Cobden replied: ‘The first and most pressing need of the poor is for food; all other wants are secondary to this. It is in vain to try and elevate the moral and religious character of a people whose physical condition is degraded by the privation of the first necessaries of life; and hence we are taught to pray for our daily bread before spiritual grace…. Until this object [i.e. the repeal of the Corn Laws] be attained, I shall be compelled to deny myself the satisfaction of contributing to other public undertakings of great importance in themselves, and secondary only to the first of all duties the feeding of the hungry. It is for this reason that I am reluctantly obliged to decline to contribute to the fund for building ten new churches. My course is, I submit, in strict harmony with the example afforded me by the Divine Author of Christianity, who preached upon the mountain and in the desert, beneath no other roof than the canopy of heaven, and who yet, we are told, was careful to feed the multitude that flocked around him.
References. VI. 37. G. Campbell Morgan, Christian World Pulpit, vol. lxxiii. 1908, p. 289. Archdeacon Colley, ibid. vol. xliii. 1893, p. 253. J. D. Jones, ibid. vol. lix. 1901, p. 144. VI. 45-51. Eugene Bersier, Twelve Sermons, p. 177. VI. 45-52. Archbishop Trench, Notes on the Miracles of Our Lord, p. 228. John Laidlaw, The Miracles of Our Lord, p. 87. VI. 45-53. W. M. Taylor, The Miracles of Our Saviour, p. 282. VI. 48. C. S. Robinson, Sermons on Neglected Texts, p. 152. J. S. Wood, Christian World Pulpit, vol. lii. 1897, p. 310.
The Misunderstood Christ
Mar 6:49
I. The Misunderstood Christ. Why was it the disciples ‘cried out’? Why was it that when they saw Him they were troubled? This is the answer. They took Jesus for other than He was.
Multitudes are troubled by Christ, hate the very name and thought of Christ, because they cleave to their sins and have said to evil be thou my good. But while admitting all that, I do not believe it wholly meets the case or accounts for the prevailing indifference or hostility to Christ.
Men are indifferent to Christ, not to say hostile to Him, because of the false ideas they have of Him, because of the distorted representations given to them of Him. They imagine, somehow, that He will empty and impoverish life for them. They do not realize that wherever He goes He carries joy and brightness with Him, and always transmutes life’s water into wine. And so it comes to pass that multitudes reject their Best Friend, and face life’s temptations and trials without Christ’s succour; and try to bear life’s sorrows without Christ’s comfort, and go down into the valley of the shadow of death without His presence to strengthen them.
II. The Welcome Given to the Real Christ The disciples were troubled by the phantom Christ they thought they saw, but when He spoke to them, and they realized it was Jesus Himself, they received Him willingly, gladly, eagerly into the ship.
When men see the real Christ their hearts are drawn to Him. This Christ without fleck or fault Himself, but identifying Himself in His love and pity with our sinful race compassionating men, helping men, hoping for men with an indomitable hope, and dying for them in the might of His sacrificial love men have no fault to find with this Christ. The Christ of the schools may not attract them very much; the Christ they see in the average Christian may even repel them; but the real Christ always wins admiration, worship, love.
J. D. Jones, Christian World Pulpit, vol. lxxii. 1907, p. 257.
References. VI. 50. W. Gilbert, Christian World Pulpit, vol. lxx. 1906, p. 68. A. Maclaren, Creed and Conduct, p. 15. VI. 52. Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xxi. No. 1218. VI. 54, 55, 56. H. Scott Holland, Christian World Pulpit, vol. liv. 1898, p. 193. VI. 56. A. MacKenzie, ibid. vol. lii. 1897, p. 166. VII. 8. Charles Gore, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xlvii. 1895, p. 145. VII. 9-13. J. H. Bernard, From Faith to Faith, p. 181. VII. 12. H. Scott Holland, Christian World Pulpit, vol. lxxiv. 1908, p. 216.
Fuente: Expositor’s Dictionary of Text by Robertson
Herod and Herodias
[An Analysis]
Mar 6
(1) Christian doctrine applicable to all classes of men; (2) Christian doctrine calculated to excite the pro foundest surprise; (3) Christian doctrine always conveying the impression of unique power; (4) Christian doctrine showing the insignificance of the personality of its teachers. Even Christ himself, according to the flesh, seemed poor and inadequate when viewed in the light of the wondrous revelations which he made to the world.
The questions put by those who heard Jesus Christ show (1) That even the greatest speakers cannot escape personal criticism. It is often suggested that earnest men succeed in drawing the attention of their hearers to the doctrine rather than to the speaker, but the life of Christ is a proof to the contrary; (2) that prejudiced hearers will sacrifice the truth because of the objectionableness of the instrument through which it is conveyed; (3) that such hearers actually dishonour God in their attempt to exalt him, because they deny his power to turn the humblest, poorest agency to the highest uses.
This incident may be treated as showing some of the difficulties of the Christian ministry: (1) The difficulty of locality, Jesus was now in “his own country;” (2) the difficulty of personality, ancestry, appearance, poverty, earnestness considered as indicative of presumption; all enter into this difficulty of personality. There is a still deeper truth underlying this difficulty: Individuality of spirit, claim, manner, always provokes criticism. The glory of the highest revelation of Christianity is that personality is superseded by spirituality. The speaker is to be forgotten in the speech. When both personality and doctrine are to be considered, the danger is that the former may be made to assume undue prominence. Instead of inquiring, What is said? the inquiry will be, Who said it? Personality is a mere question of detail in comparison with the truths which nourish and save the soul.
4. But Jesus said unto them, A prophet is not without honour, but in his own country, and among his own kin, and in his own house.
(1) Jesus Christ taking his stand upon a great principle; (2) Jesus Christ claiming his prophetic character in the face of opposition.
This answer may be regarded as showing the true method of encountering difficulties and dealing with opponents. Jesus Christ might have defended his relatives against the sneers of the critics. He might also have availed himself of the tu quoque argument, and shown how little reason his censors had to make remarks about his social connections. Were the servants inspired with the spirit of the Master, they would show corresponding independence and courage. It is remarkable that the people should have so boldly condemned any part of Christ’s ministry when they daily saw how great was his power in working miracles. They never, so far as can be discovered from the narrative, show any fear of his wonderful power. They appear to have treated him with as much freedom and insolence as if he had never shown his almighty influence over the laws of nature.
5. And he could there do no mighty work, save that he laid his hands upon a few sick folk, and healed them.
6. And he marvelled because of their unbelief. And he went round about the villages, teaching.
This statement (1) refutes the notion that where there is a true ministry there will be great success; (2) shows the tremendous difficulties which the human will can oppose to the highest purposes of God; (3) justifies the true worker in leaving the sphere in which he has been unsuccessful, to carry on his work under more favourable circumstances. The sphere has much to do with the development of the man. It is unreasonable to teach that a minister can be equally useful in all places. This remark must not be abused by the supposition that, because a man cannot get on where he is, he would infallibly get on somewhere else. Only in so far as Christ has called him to do his work will it be true of him that he will find a sphere in which he can work successfully.
7. And he called unto him the twelve, and began to send them forth by two and two; and gave them power over unclean spirits;
8. And commanded them that they should take nothing for their journey, save a staff only; no scrip, no bread, no money in their purse:
9. But be shod with sandals; and not put on two coats.
10. And he said unto them, In what place soever ye enter into an house, there abide till ye depart from that place.
(1) Christ the originator of missionary effort; (2) Christ the source of missionary power; (3) Christ the provider of missionary wants. There is no detail too minute to escape the notice of the Master. He does not teach carelessness, he encourages dependence. It would be an abuse of the spirit of the text to insist that missionaries in our own day should go forth exactly according to these literal instructions. When the church is rich, the missionary should not be made an example of poverty. When the church is poor, the missionary who has Christ’s spirit in him will not be deterred by a prospect of hard endurance. The one vital question relates not to the outward circumstances, but to the spirit in which missionary work is undertaken.
11. And whosoever shall not receive you, nor hear you, when ye depart thence, shake off the dust under your feet for a testimony against them. Verily I say unto you, It shall be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrha in the day of judgment, than for that city.
(1) The servant should always carry in his heart the words of his Master. Those words are wanted in times of darkness and trial. The riches of Christ are spiritual. They are hidden in the heart. Ideas, promises, divine assurances, are better than weapons of war. (2) The servant can only be identified with the Master by spiritual sympathy. The servant must not only do the Master’s work, he must do it in the Master’s spirit, and for the Master’s sake. (3) The tremendous responsibility of those who have gospel proposals made to them. If they reject them, “it shall be more tolerable for Sodom,” etc. This is founded upon reason. It must be more criminal to shut out midday than to exclude dawn to reject the Son, than to neglect a prophet. (4) The solemn and awe-inspiring fact that all ages are to culminate in a day of judgment! Sodom, Capernaum, Egypt, England, shall confront each other at a common bar! “From them to whom much has been given,” etc. (5) The infinite comfort to the good man of knowing from Christ’s own lips that there is to be a day of judgment. He remits his cause to that day. He is relieved as to the vindication of character and service, and feels at liberty to do his holy work.
12. And they went out, and preached that men should repent.
13. And they cast out many devils, and anointed with oil many that were sick, and healed them.
Their work was divided into three parts: it was moral, intellectual, and physical.
(1) It was moral. They preached that men should repent. This was fundamental. The apostles addressed themselves to the heart. No ministry can be permanently useful and successful which proceeds upon a superficial estimate of human depravity. The ministry goes down in power when it modifies its demands for human repentance.
(2) It was intellectual. They cast out devils. They restored the use of reasoning faculties. Of course, this might include a great moral work, but not necessarily. To expel a devil is one thing, to bring men to repentance is another. Restored reason does not involve the sanctification of the heart In our ministry we may quicken mental power, we may enrich our hearers with many profound or brilliant ideas, we may elevate their thinking, and secure their highest admiration, yet may not lead them to repentance before God.
(3) It was physical. “They anointed with oil many that were sick, and healed them.” They never treated death as a blessing. They valued every form of life. Christ’s whole gospel is constructive. Christianity is still the greatest of healing powers. Keep its laws, and you will walk in life, or if disease come upon you there will come also such views of God, of eternity, and truth, as will deliver from the dominion of death. Atheistic suffering is one thing, Christian suffering is another. If it is hard to suffer in the friendless desert, where no kind voice can speak one word of hope, what of suffering in the wilderness of atheism, and dying under unbroken gloom?
Beautiful is the picture of men sent forth on such an errand. Observe, this is what Jesus Christ is daily doing, seeking out men who warn, and teach, and heal. More: every man who feels that he is sent of Christ on this work will go to his Master for help, and rely upon his Master for success. Who sent me? What is his name? “I am that I am.” It is enough! It is Omnipotence!
14. And king Herod heard of him; (for his name was spread abroad:) and he said, That John the Baptist was risen from the dead, and therefore mighty works do shew forth themselves in him.
King Herod is supposed to have been a Sadducee, and therefore to have discredited the doctrine of resurrection. Under the torment of conscience, however, he asserted the very doctrine which, as a speculator, he denied! Learn that creeds should rest upon a moral, rather than upon an exclusively intellectual basis. In the long run conscience will put down all other voices.
15. Others said, That it is Elias. And others said, That it is a prophet, or as one of the prophets.
These men represent the speculators of society. Conscience is hardly concerned in their case. They give themselves to the consideration of mere problems or puzzles. They represent, too, the persons who can talk about religious subjects without having any religious feeling. Religion is to them only a topic of the day. It is something to be remarked upon, and then dropped in favour of something else. There are men around ourselves who suppose that to admire a preacher is to admire Christ, and that to be critical about sermons is to be concerned about truth.
16. But when Herod heard thereof, he said, It is John, whom I beheaded: he is risen from the dead.
Here is the reply of conscience to the suggestion of fancy. Herod was not to be soothed by guess-work. There is a profound truth here, viz., that high moral excitement is beyond the control of merely intellectual skill. The gospel shows its divinity in the influence which it brings to bear upon the desires and sufferings of the self-accusing heart. Herod may be taken as the type of men who cannot be satisfied with fanciful theology or with flattering applications of partial truths. He wishes to get at realities, and to be faithful to himself, and to the facts which are around him. Earnest hearers make earnest preachers.
17. For Herod himself had sent forth, and laid hold upon John, and bound him in prison for Herodias’ sake, his brother Philip’s wife: for he had married her.
18. For John had said unto Herod, It is not lawful for thee to have thy brother’s wife.
19. Therefore Herodias had a quarrel against him, and would have killed him; but she could not:
20. For Herod feared John, knowing that he was a just man and an holy, and observed him; and when he heard him, he did many things, and heard him gladly.
21. And when a convenient day was come, that Herod on his birthday made a supper to his lords, high captains, and chief estates of Galilee;
22. And when the daughter of the said Herodias came in, and danced and pleased Herod and them that sat with him, the king said unto the damsel, Ask of me whatsoever thou wilt, and I will give it thee.
23. And he sware unto her, Whatsoever thou shalt ask of me, I will give it thee, unto the half of my kingdom.
24. And she went forth, and said unto her mother, What shall I ask? And she said, The head of John the Baptist.
25. And she came in straightway with haste unto the king, and asked, saying, I will that thou give me by and by in a charger the head of John the Baptist.
26. And the king was exceeding sorry; yet for his oath’s sake, and for their sakes which sat with him, he would not reject her.
27. And immediately the king sent an executioner, and commanded his head to be brought: and he went and beheaded him in the prison,
28. And brought his head in a charger, and gave it to the damsel: and the damsel gave it to her mother.
29. And when his disciples heard of it, they came and took up his corpse, and laid it in a tomb.
Man may be slain, but truth cannot be annihilated. John was buried, but the gospel was still making way in the world. It has been thought that Herod Antipas (son of Herod the Great) was a Sadducee, and that this exclamation respecting Jesus testified in a remarkable manner to the power of conscience in relation to theological belief. The Sadducees denied the resurrection of the dead; yet conscience rebelled against the theory, and forced the superstitious tetrarch into this confession. Whether it be true or not that Herod was a Sadducee, it is certainly true that the moral nature does, on great occasions, clear its way through all fanciful theories and speculations, and become authoritative as the voice of God in the soul. Man overlays his spiritual constitution, so to speak, with creeds which flatter his vanity and give false peace to his conscience; but crises supervene which effect a moral resurrection, and give man to feel the discrepancy between the wants of his nature and the promises of false creeds. There is a great quickening and educational force in the exceptional circumstances of life. Crises make history. Man cannot tell what he is until some special event makes his soul quake with fear, or brings upon him the light of a great joy. As with individuals, so with nations; monotony would kill them; all enthusiasm would die out, and corruption would become universal. God has so arranged his government that monotony is broken up by startling events, the thunderbolt, the pestilence, the mildew, come suddenly upon us, death teaches life, and the grave calls to heaven. In all great crises, both in individual and national life, there is an instinctive movement of the soul towards God. The temporary creed is subordinated to the normal constitution; and it is most solemn to watch the soul in its resurrectional moods how impatient it is of mere speculation, and how anxious for positive doctrine and assurance. It then lives double life; with frightful energy it clears the field of false friends, and with startling rapidity passes over the chasms of the past, and brings up all the sins which have weakened and deformed itself. When Herod heard of the fame of Jesus a species of resurrection occurred. The night of Bacchanalian revel came back; the holy prophet’s blood dripped upon the palace floor again; and the soul said, This Jesus is the man whom I murdered! There is, so to speak, a moral memory as well as a memory that is merely intellectual. Conscience writes in blood. She may brood in long silence, but she cannot forget. All the universe helps her recollection. Every leaf of the forest contains her indictments, and every voice of the air prompts her remembrance. The revel passed, the dancing demon-hearted daughter of Herodias went back to her blood-thirsty mother, the lights were extinguished, and the palace relapsed into its accustomed order; but the prophet’s blood cried with a cry not to be stifled, and angels with swords of fire watched the tetrarch night and day. All men are watched. The sheltering wing of the unseen angel is close to every one of us. The eye sees but an infinitesimal portion of what is around, we are hemmed in with God! This great truth we forget; but exceptional circumstances transpire which for a moment rend the veil, and give us to see how public is our most secret life, how the angels hear the throb of the heart, and God counts the thoughts of the mind.
We see how behind all such feeling as Herod’s there are explanatory circumstances. Such feeling can be accounted for. Learn how life comes back upon a man, giving current events unexpected and even tragical meanings, and forcing him to look steadily at himself. This doctrine has, of course, two bearings: goodness will come up, as well as wickedness. The paragraph should be homiletically treated in its unity; still, several verses may afterwards be taken separately. For example, the 17th verse may be taken as the basis of a discourse upon the forcible putting away of good influences. A man can refuse to hear any more preaching; he can commit the printed Bible to the flames: he can avoid every company in which the divine name is honoured: and many other things he may do through sheer force or by dogged obstinacy. But the greatest things lie far beyond the reach of mere force.
The 19th verse may show the impiety of social resentments: showing (1) That social defiance does not necessarily arise from social justice. (2) That it is fallacious to suppose that in all quarrels both sides are wrong. Herodias had a quarrel with John, yet Herodias alone was wrong, and John was the servant of God. (3) That in some quarrels there are the purposes of murder. Herodias would have killed John; in effect, therefore, she was guilty of murder. Her heart had slain him, though he was beyond the reach of her hand.
The 20th verse shows the good points in a bad character. (1) Herod feared John; had respect for his moral qualities. (2) Herod recognised the excellences of John; acknowledged him to be “a just man and an holy.” (3) Herod was interested in the ministry of John, he heard him gladly. All this may be found where there is no saving grace in the heart, and in the case of Herod was found in connection with a most reproachable life! Caress a mad dog, because of its silken hair; pet a murderer, because of his taste in dress; but never call him a saint whose morality is but an outward decoration.
30. And the apostles gathered themselves together unto Jesus, and told him all things, both what they had done, and what they had taught.
31. And he said unto them, Come ye yourselves apart into a desert place, and rest awhile: for there were many coming and going, and they had no leisure so much as to eat.
32. And they departed into a desert place by ship privately.
On the words “rest awhile,” a sermon upon occasional rest might be founded. Look at the invitation (1) as given by Jesus Christ: he was careful even of men’s physical energies; nothing escaped his attention; if we would trust him in physical and temporal matters he would do more for us. “Rest awhile” is a mother’s gentle word; it is a sister’s suggestion; it is most tenderly sympathetic. Look at the invitation (2) as relating to spiritual work. Great mistakes made about labour. Men may work without using their hands. Hardly any phrase is less correctly used than the expression “the working classes.” Thought prostrates the thinker. Sympathy taxes every power. He who works with his hands has an easy life compared with him who works with his brain. He who gives ideas gives life. Look at the invitation (3) as limited as to time; rest awhile. It is not, Give up the work; abandon it in disgust; leave it to others; it is rest awhile. Rest should be a preparation for service. There is morality even in resting. Conscience should have something to do with holidays. It may be right to rest one hour, it may be immoral to rest two. There is morality in sleeping, in recreation, in all things.
33. And the people saw them departing, and many knew him, and ran afoot thither out of all cities, and outwent them, and came together unto him.
34. And Jesus, when he came out, saw much people, and was moved with compassion toward them, because they were as sheep not having a shepherd: and he began to teach them many things.
The great considerations which determine the conduct of Jesus Christ: (1) Earnestness on the part of people: they ran; they outwent the evangelistic company. When Jesus sees faith he never fails to reward it. (2) Destitution, “because they were as sheep not having a shepherd.” Jesus proceeded upon the principle that men could not live without instruction. A shepherd is needed in all human societies. Men must be organised, taught, disciplined. There are men divinely qualified to interpret truth; they have insight, sympathy, and faculty of delicate and forcible expression. There are other men who can only receive what is given to them by God’s ministry. They are as sheep, they need a shepherd. Curious things are occasionally done by the human flock: the sheep think themselves quite as good as the shepherd; the sheep often tell the shepherd that they are tired of him, and sometimes they break his heart!
35. And when the day was now far spent, his disciples came unto him, and said, This is a desert place, and now the time is far passed:
36. Send them away, that they may go into the country round about, and into the villages, and buy themselves bread: for they have nothing to eat.
37. He answered and said unto them, Give ye them to eat. And they say unto him, Shall we go and buy two hundred pennyworth of bread, and give them to eat?
38. He saith unto them, How many loaves have ye? go and see. And when they knew, they say, Five, and two fishes.
39. And he commanded them to make all sit down by companies upon the green grass.
40. And they sat down in ranks, by hundreds and by fifties.
41. And when he had taken the five loaves and the two fishes, he looked up to heaven, and blessed, and brake the loaves, and gave them to his disciples to set before them; and the two fishes divided he among them all.
42. And they did all eat, and were filled.
43. And they took up twelve baskets full of the fragments, and of the fishes.
44. And they that did eat of the loaves were about five thousand men.
Jesus Christ calls upon his followers not only to discover social wants, but also to relieve them. Imagine the disciples coming to Jesus to suggest something in the way of compassion! The disciples were exceedingly quick in finding out that the day was waning, and that the place was not favourable to hospitality; but it never occurred to them that they themselves ought to feed the multitude. Some men are remarkably sharp in finding out difficulties, and pointing to external circumstances; yet they never dream that instead of merely indicating the want, they ought to supply it. They gave very cheap and easy advice to the Master; with sparkling neatness they said to him, “Send the multitude away.” As if they cared more for the multitude than Jesus did! There are many excellent statisticians in the Church; men who can strike averages, and add up three columns of figures at a time, and show the multitude how to get away. Such men may, by a condescending and inscrutable Providence, be made some use of in the world; but from a human point of view it is not easy to clear up the mystery of their birth. Let it be carefully observed that the disciples were called by Jesus to do what may be described as a secular work. They were told to give the people bread. This work they undertook at Christ’s bidding. Here is a great lesson. The Church does even its outside work, its physical and philanthropic service, immediately under Jesus Christ’s hand. The holy Master orders every department of the household. We keep the Church door, because we are appointed thereunto by the Master himself. The preacher and the distributor of bread are both Christ’s servants. The Church is called upon to deal with all questions which affect the wellbeing of society: with education, with pauperism, with emigration, with sanitary arrangements, with amusements; in short, with everything that is needful for the healthy development of human life. Some men have an extraordinary way of dividing and distributing themselves. For example, they go to church as religious men, they go to the town council merely as citizens, they go to the school-board simply as educationalists; when they buy and sell, they have no Christian creed. When they sit at the board of health, they think it irreverent to name the name of Christ; and as for opening the meeting of the town council with prayer, they would think him a madman who proposed anything so monstrous. Yet these very men are most pious on Sunday, and severely critical in estimating the theological soundness of their respective pastors. When we are filled with Christ’s spirit, we shall do everything in his name, and for his sake; the state will be swallowed up in the Church, and the secular will be glorified by the spiritual.
It should be pointed out that the poorest resources, when religiously used, are more than sufficient to meet all demands. Look at the resources, five loaves and two fishes! Look at the demand, five thousand men! Look at the result, “they did all eat, and were filled.” Use what you have, and it will grow. Use it religiously, and it will be more than sufficient: this doctrine applies to mind, to strength, to time. You have more mind than you supposed. Use it, and you will be surprised how it answers your appeal. Your strength will go much further than it has yet gone. “Put on thy strength.” Call thyself up to the highest point of power. Most of us are living within our strength. We are afraid of exhausting ourselves, forgetting that in Christ’s service exhaustion is recreation. As for time, make it! Sleep less, eat less, talk less, and you will find time enough. Observe particularly for this is the vital point of the argument that all our resources are to be used religiously “looking up to heaven, he blessed and brake.” No man loses by the heavenward looks of his life. Some men say they have not time to pray. Nor have they time to die, but they must find it.
The Church ought to be the one inclusive society the sanctuary, the school, the hospital, the reformatory, the home of the whole world. “They need not go away: give ye them,” that is the appeal of Christ to the Church.
45. And straightway he constrained his disciples to get into the ship, and to go to the other side before unto Bethsaida, while he sent away the people.
46. And when he had sent them away, he departed into a mountain to pray.
When he had worked, he prayed! If the Master prayed, can the servant do without prayer? Whilst yet upon earth, Jesus Christ prayed for others, his intercession was not reserved for heaven. In this case, however, it is permissible to suppose that he prayed specially and exclusively for himself. We know from other sources that he did actually make his own circumstances the subject of repeated and most agonising prayer. All that he had done up to this time was indicative of the great thing which was yet to be done. It was in Christ’s heart to bring to the maturity of the Cross all the germs of love and sacrifice which were present in his daily ministry. Have we not had experience of some such feeling as this: We have fed a multitude; it is enough; we may now be satisfied; our work is finished; and so our life has been in danger of falling short of a higher purpose? A man may do many great works, and yet never do the greatest: he may feed a multitude, yet never go to Gethsemane: he may suffer many to touch him, and yet at last may shun the Cross! So after every great work we should hasten to a mountain to pray, that our ideal may be kept steadily and clearly before us, and that our main work should not be evaded through our incidental service, however beautiful and useful that service may be.
47. And when even was come, the ship was in the midst of the sea, and he alone on the land.
48. And he saw them toiling in rowing; for the wind was contrary unto them: and about the fourth watch of the night he cometh unto them, walking upon the sea, and would have passed by them.
49. But when they saw him walking upon the sea, they supposed it had been a spirit, and cried out:
50. For they all saw him, and were troubled. And immediately he talked with them, and saith unto them, Be of good cheer: it is I; be not afraid.
51. And he went up unto them into the ship; and the wind ceased: and they were sore amazed in themselves beyond measure, and wondered.
The subject may be regarded as showing the relation of Jesus Christ to the Church. (1) That relation sometimes appears to be very distant. In this case, for example, the ship was in the midst of the sea, and Jesus Christ was alone upon the land. There have been times when the Church has apparently drifted away from Christ; there are also times when the alienation seems to have begun on the part of Christ. Is the separation real or is it merely apparent? (2) That relation often discovers itself most substantially and pathetically under circumstances of trial and sorrow. See how this is proved in the incident: the circumstances were loneliness, danger, helplessness.
From this incident three things are clear: (1) That Christ himself may not be known by the Church; (2) that some fears which distress the Church are not altogether unfounded; (3) that a recovered sense of the presence of Christ brings with it complete and enduring calm and joy.
The incident may be regarded as showing some differences between Jesus Christ and his followers: (1) He was master of events; they were slaves of circumstances. (2) He was ever calm; they were often filled with fear. (3) He saw the whole of every case; they saw but part of it. (4) He had power to approach them; they had no power to move towards him.
52. For they considered not the miracle of the loaves: for their heart was hardened.
The miracles are to be considered in their connection and unity. The miracles are to have a cumulative value; as also are providences. Life is thus to help life; yesterday is to be the hope and defence of the heart in relation to tomorrow. The unity of the divine power is to be realised by the believer; it is one with God whether he quiet a storm or feed a multitude, heal the sick or raise the dead. In proportion as we realise this, we are delivered from the tyranny of mere circumstances or appearances; we live under the dominion of the divine, not under the fear of the external and transient.
The uselessness of miracles as moral agents is painfully demonstrated by this circumstance: “For their heart was hardened.” If any miracle could have softened the heart, a miracle of this particular nature would have done so; it was the expression of a compassionate feeling on the part of Christ, as well as a display of supreme power; yet it was immediately forgotten, and the selfishness of human nature re-asserted itself. Some aspects of the divine nature can only be truly seen through the heart. We degrade life by making it into a merely intellectual puzzle; it is elevated when regarded as a development of the moral nature.
53. And when they had passed over, they came into the land of Gennesaret, and drew to the shore.
54. And when they were come out of the ship, straightway they knew him,
55. And ran through that whole region round about, and began to carry about in beds those that were sick, where they heard he was.
56. And whithersoever he entered, into villages, or cities, or country, they laid the sick in the streets, and besought him that they might touch if it were but the border of his garment: and as many as touched him were made whole.
A repetition of an old fact. Men work in many cases from the lower to the higher; in many cases, indeed, they satisfy themselves with the lower only. The people in this instance were deeply concerned about their physical condition, but not one sign of concern about their spiritual relations did they exhibit. Jesus Christ might have made this circumstance a basis for the keenest and justest reproach. In addressing his own disciples, he constantly urged them not to think about the body, or meat, or raiment; all these things he treated with comparative indifference or contempt; yet in the instance of those who were not his disciples he was graciously willing to meet them on their own terms, and to do as much for their bodily welfare as if they had no souls. His great object was to lay hold upon the moral attention of the world. In some cases the proposition of Christian doctrine would have been a waste of energy and of time; in such cases Jesus Christ began with the physical condition and necessities of those who were around him, and so sought to quicken the ear of the heart to receive the doctrines which heal and bless the soul. The lesson to the Church is clear. The Church must begin wherever an opportunity is offered; it may be in relieving the necessitous, in giving education to the ignorant, in seeking the social improvement of the masses; Christ’s injunction to the Church is, “Begin somewhere.” From his own example we are to learn that the physical is but to be introductory to the spiritual; because to heal the body without seeking to relieve the soul is actually to aggravate the sinfulness of sin by giving the sinner a new lease of power in his evil way. The idea that the shadow of Christ passing over the sick would heal them is suggestive of the fact that there is no waste of power in the ministry of Jesus Christ. A look broke Peter’s heart. A touch of the hem of his garment healed a poor woman. His shadow passing over the sick cooled the fevered and gave rest to weariness; truly the shadow of the Saviour is better than the lustre of all suns!
The action of the people is most suggestive: they seized the opportunity of Christ’s presence to secure the blessings which they most desired. “Now is the accepted time,” etc. “Seek ye the Lord while he may be found.” The people were not excited about Christ’s coming after he had been in the country; they were excited at the very time of his, presence, knowing that if they neglected the critical hour the opportunity might never recur. The argument is this: If men were so anxious promptly to seize a physical advantage, how intense should be their urgency in seeking the higher blessings of moral and intellectual redemption and sanctification?
Fuente: The People’s Bible by Joseph Parker
Christ Condemned
Mar 6:1-6
It was not a ministry that elicited cordial response. Sometimes the teacher has to work with a conscious reluctance which disables him. There is a sense of weariness in the whole tone of this paragraph; it is discoverable even in the attitude and action of the Son of God. This, said he, is the synagogue, and this is the Sabbath day, and this is the sacred roll, historical, prophetical, poetical; but these people do not want to hear me. I know it by their countenances; every eye blinks with suspicion, every man is waiting for my halting; here I have to encounter a tremendous resistance of soul. Sometimes the teacher could encounter open hostility, and become eloquent under the pungent attack; but what can he do with the cold heart? what can any man do in the presence of indifference? Oppose the gospel, and the gospel will find its own replies: challenge it to combat, and its sword will flash out in the light instantly, and never be put back until the victory has been determined; but what could even the Son of God do with simple suspicion, unexpressed and unavowed dislike, prejudice, and distrust? Had there been open detestation the case would have been better. You can answer detestation, you cannot reply to prejudice; you do not know where it is, where it originates, how it develops, what colour it assumes, and what subtle courses it pursues in the whole intricacy of the human mind and heart. We have seen Jesus Christ in the presence of hostile throngs, but to see him in the presence of his own countrymen, and, so to say, townsmen and fellow-villagers, and to see him encountered by simple blank suspicion, is a new view of this Man, whose ministry comprehended every aspect and every necessity of human nature.
Yet it was difficult to repress opinion. The people said among themselves, “From whence hath this man these things?” He has no right to them; this wine ought not to have been in this goblet; the water is good, but how rough the vessel: could we not have had this same water in fine porcelain? It would have tasted better in a pure crystal; we do not like this man’s way of giving it: we cannot deny what he says; he is wise, shrewd, penetrating; an able man, wonderful, striking, unique: but how is it that he can do these mighty works? He was never trained in this direction; he lacks the guinea-stamp of the schools; he has not been ordained by rabbi or learned man or authentic authority of any kind; there are the miracles, but how did he come to work them? If some high priest or scribe had worked these miracles we would have applauded them, the balance of things would have been equal; but how can the carpenter, the son of Mary, the brother of James, and Joses, and of Juda and Simon do these things? They, like many others, started the argument from the wrong end. They should have said: Seeing the works are so excellent, the worker himself must be good. If we would adopt that standard of reasoning, what prejudice would be dispelled, what new charities would be opened up and exercised and come to noble fruition! Let us say so with regard to sects, communions, denominations: why say, These people are rough, therefore they can do no beautiful thing? Why not say, contrariwise, The thing done is beautiful, therefore, under the rough exterior there must be some hidden, latent, divinely-originated loveliness? That would be right, that would be just; the spirit of charity would make such a criticism noble. We are apt to think that because the instruments are rude, therefore what the instruments are seeking to express must be rude also. That is false in reasoning, and it is unjust in morality: what is the thing being taught, what is the thing being done, what is the doctrine being declared, what are the results of the pursuit and the declaration? If men are made honest, sober, wise, honourable, if they are proved to be worthy of trust and all the honours of citizenship, the thing itself which has wrought out this issue must be credited with divinity, must be regarded as an aspiration. It must be a very difficult thing for persons who have known the carpenter, the son of Mary, the brother of James, and Joses, and of Juda and Simon, to believe anything that he says. Did Jesus resent this? When did he resent anything? He was the Son of man, he understood contempt, he knew the evil genius of suspicion. “They were offended at him,” but he held himself ready to do mighty works on their account if by faith they would allow him to show his omnipotence. This seems to be the attitude of all good men towards suspicious and suspecting persons. Whatever others do, be sure you always act the gentleman. Poor men can do so; men who have had no advantages of a social, academic, or other kind, can by meekness and pureness of soul, sweetness and simplicity of disposition, be real aristocrats, gentlemen, knights. Whenever persons, therefore, mock you, or indulge and use mischievously prejudice against you, always show that you vindicate your position, not by your resentment, but by your gentleness, forbearance, magnanimity. Say, in sweet Christian monologue, They would not do so if they knew better; probably they only see me from an exterior point of view; they do not understand all my purpose, they only hear part of what I say, and they listen with too much credulity to what others say about me, and especially against me; perhaps if they knew me better they would not be resentful, prejudiced, unkind, hostile, and unamiable. That is the speech for a Christian to make; it is hard to compose, it is all but impossible to deliver; but even this miracle lies within the almightiness of the Holy Ghost, God the Holy Spirit. Let us ask him to make us gracious when others are ungracious, magnanimous when others are supercilious and petulant and unjust; and let us ask God to show us that there is after all no argument equal to a character. Silence may be a miracle; a closed mouth in the presence of evil imputation may be the best exculpation: “He was led as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth”: what if that silence were the consummation and expression of his omnipotence?
There is great comfort to be derived from the incident narrated by the evangelist. One would say, given a preacher, wise, gracious, sympathetic, lovely in personal character, and unquestionably supreme in ability, and known to be ineffably tender in disposition, and the people must recognise him, welcome him, believe what he says, and repronounce in action the doctrine of his lips. That theory is dissolved and annihilated by this incident. It was the Son of God that was contemned, disbelieved, rejected. We hear even upon platforms that where the gospel is faithfully presented the people are hungering and thirsting for it, and are prepared to respond to its appeals, and invitations, and challenges. That was not the case with Jesus Christ. He was the Gospel, yet he was called Beelzebub; he was the Son of God, and was stoned for making the claim; there was no guile in his soul, there was no blackness of iniquity upon his sweet sacred lips; the people wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth, and their wonder never rose into religion, trust, and praise. Let faithful men, therefore, be not too much discouraged. The reason of failure is not in you, necessarily; there is room enough for self-inquest, piercing examination of the heart, trying of the reins and thoughts and motives and purposes; you may hold continual self-assize; but the Son of God was despised and rejected of men; we hid, as it were, our faces from him; we spat upon his face, and plucked the hair from his cheeks. Say not, therefore, that if you had ideal beauty and loveliness and moral charm you would fall down in an attitude of piety, and accept the revelation as the very incarnation of God. History contradicts you, consciousness ought to restrain such an ebullition of impious pretension; we ought to know ourselves enough to know that men can go from temples to cesspools, can go from the altar where the blood of the Sacrament is drunk, and drink deeply out of the cup of devils. Human nature can do miracles of this kind. We ought by this time to be acquainted with the fact that impossibility is one of the easiest exercises we have ever to accomplish.
Jesus, like himself, generalised upon the incident; he said, “A prophet is not without honour, but in his own country, and among his own kin, and in his own house.” He did not say, I am suffering from a thorn that never pierced any other man; I am the victim of an unusual and unprecedented suspicion: he simply allied himself by sympathetic union with the great lines of history and said, Nothing has happened to me that is uncommon; this is but a repetition of the beginning, the very genesis of history is in this conduct. “A prophet is not without honour, but in his own country, and among his own kin, and in his own house ” because people will not look further than locality, visible characteristic, and limited uniqueness of speciality, infirmity, or other trait of disposition and relationship. Men will not listen to the music, they will handle the instrument; we have nothing to do with the organ, we have everything to do with the music. Not where Jesus came from but what he has to say should be our supreme inquiry: not the Nazarene but the Son of man can touch every point in the circumference of human relationship and human need. Judge every man by this standard; judge every Christian communion by this standard. If sects that you dislike are doing good, acknowledge it, and say, After all, there is something better in these people than I thought there was; I was wrong; by the fruit the tree shall be judged; good fruit never grew on bad trees: this fruit is sweet, therefore the tree cannot be bad. When we reason thus, I repeat, we shall get back to simplicity, trustfulness, charity, co-operation, and that wondrous exercise of mutual honour which results in mutual provocation to love and good works.
He was ready to do mighty works, but they would not allow him. You cannot drive the engine unless you light the fire. Many men have fuel enough. You have seen a grate full of fuel; was it a fire? Why do not you put your hands down to that grate and warm them? It is a grate. Your answer is simple, direct, and sufficient. The grate is there, the fuel is there; but where is the spark, the fire? So Jesus Christ himself was prepared to do many mighty works there, but there was no faith-spark, no love-fire, no answering heart, no cry that made him who heard it feel-that the urgency of human need was pleading with his all-sufficiency. It is right to fix the blame properly. If men are not saved, it is their own blame. Never can I believe that God has said to any man, I will not save you; I have made up my mind that you are not to be saved. God never said such words or thought such thoughts. He is the God and Father of us all: God so loved the world; Jesus Christ came to seek and to save the lost. If any man is not lost Christ had no mission to him; if a man can stand before Christ and say, I am perfectly well in body, soul, and spirit, Christ says, Then I came not to you, for you have no need of a physician. But first let the man be found. Jesus Christ does not retire from this sphere, saying, I could have done mighty works there, but I would not; he says in effect, I wanted to do mighty works, but the people would not allow me to do so because of their unbelief.
“He laid his hands upon a few sick folk “; they are always ready to take what they can get; they are always prepared to follow the suggestion and urgency of conscious pain and need. Jesus Christ was always welcomed to the sick-chamber after all other doctors had left; Jesus was never called first; after all the visitors had gone downstairs, saying, There is no hope, it is a case of dissolution, then they sent for the Son of God: a tribute, but not intended; a compliment, but not so expressed. Let us lay it down as a doctrine that may sober the mind and constrain the heart in right directions, that where men are not conscious of mighty works on the part of God, the reason is in their own unbelief. If we had believed more we should have enjoyed more; if our faith had been greater, then had our grace been larger and richer. Lord, increase our faith.
Now Jesus goes away. “He marvelled because of their unbelief.” They marvelled at his mighty works; he marvelled at their want of faith. Why do not these people see that life is faith, and that faith is life, and that without faith life is a mockery, a transient dream? Why do they not comprehend the sublime philosophy which says that faith creates the universe and enjoys it? Faith builds new heavens, rolls new earths into place covered with summer and harvest, and faith enjoys as of right the creations of its splendid energy. Let us abide in the confidence of this doctrine. This will do more for us than any theory, suggestion, or possession of man. We cannot explain it; if we could explain it, it would be but a geometrical figure. Astronomy is never satisfied; it has its glasses, and it looks on the surface, but it says in its palpitating, discontented, resurgent heart, The worlds are beyond; these are outposts, spirit lamps: I want to be millions upon millions of miles beyond: all that height is crowded with stars, and this mean glass, this horrible mockery of optics, could only see a speck here and a speck there: and my astronomic record, what is it but an account of a phase of the moon, a throb in a cloud that means that there is another star there, pulsing, beating, waiting to be detected, weighed, measured, watched with astronomic reverence. Yet if we say the same theologically we are fanatics, enthusiasts, poor addle-brained little creatures. That is not so. Faith says, What you see is very little; that is the outside of the cloud; it is beautiful, but but but And in that sublime hope we endure all things; we purify ourselves.
Fuente: The People’s Bible by Joseph Parker
XXXII
OUR LORD’S GREAT MINISTRY IN GALILEE
Part VII
STILLING THE TEMPEST, THE TWO GADARENE DEMONIACS, SECOND REJECTION AT NAZARETH, SENDING FORTH THE TWELVE, AND HEROD’S SUSPICION
Harmony -pages 66-75 and Mat 8:18-23 ; Mat 11:1 ; Mat 13:54-58 ; Mat 14:1-12 ; Mar 4:34-5:20 ; Mar 6:1-29 ; Luk 8:22-40 ; Luk 9:1-9 .
When Jesus had finished his discourse on the kingdom, as illustrated in the first great group of parables, he crossed over the Sea of Galilee to avoid the multitudes. While on the bosom of the sea a storm swept down upon them, as indicated by Luke, but our Lord had fallen asleep. So the disciples awoke him with their cry of distress and he, like a God, spoke to the winds and the sea, and they obeyed him. Such is the simple story of this incident, the lesson of which is the strengthening of their faith in his divinity.
Upon their approach to the shore the country of the Gadarenes occurred the thrilling incident of the two Gadarene demoniacs. The story is graphically told here by Matthew, Mark, and Luke, and does not need to be repeated in this interpretation, but there are certain points in the story which need to be explained. First, there are some difficulties: (1) The apparent discrepancy of long standing, relating to the place, is cleared up by Dr. Broadus in his note at the bottom of page 67 (see his explanation of this difficulty);
The long famous instance of “discrepancy” as to the place in this narrative has been cleared up in recent years by the decision of textual critics that the correct text in Luke is Gerasenes, as well as in Mark, and by Dr. Thomson’s discovery of a ruin on the lake shore, named Khersa (Gerasa). If this village was included (a very natural supposition) in the district belonging to the city of Gadara, some miles south-eastward, then the locality could be described as either in the country of the Gadarenes, or in the country of the Gerasenes
(2) Matthew mentions two demoniacs, while Mark and Luke mention but one. This is easily explained by saying that the one mentioned by Mark and Luke was probably the prominent and leading one, and that they do not say there was only one. Second) there are some important lessons in this incident for us: (1) We see from this incident that evil spirits, or demons, not only might possess human beings by impact of spirit upon spirit, but they also could and did possess lower animals. (2) We see here also that these evil spirits could not do what they would without permission, and thus we find an illustration of the limitations placed upon the Devil and his agencies. (3) There is here a recognition of the divinity of Jesus by these demoniacs and that he is the dispenser of their torment. (4) There is here also an illustration of the divine power of Jesus Christ over the multitude of demons, and from this incident we may infer that they are never too numerous for him. (5) The man when healed is said to have been in his right mind, indicating the insanity of sin. (6) The new convert was not allowed to go with Jesus, but was made a missionary to his own people) to tell them of the great things the Lord had done for him. (7) The Gadarenes besought him to leave their borders. Matthew Henry says that these people thought more of their hogs than they did of the Lord Jesus Christ. Alas I this tribe is by far too numerous now.
Following the Harmony, we find that after crossing back to the other shore Jesus revisits Nazareth and teaches in their synagogue. Here he was rejected as at first. He did some works there, but was limited by their unbelief. Their questions as to his origin indicate their great stupidity and throw light on the question of “the perpetual virginity” of Mary, showing that the Romanist contention here is utterly groundless. Before leaving them Jesus announced a fact which has been experienced by many a man since that time, viz: that a man is often least appreciated by his own people.
In Section 55 (Mat 10:1-42 ; Mar 6:7-13 ; Luk 9:1-6 ) we have the first commission of the twelve apostles. The immediate occasion is expressed in Mat 9:36 . (See the author’s sermon on “Christ’s Compassion Excited by a Sight of the Multitude.”) These apostles had received the training of the mighty hand of the Master ever since their conversion and call to the ministry, and now he thrusts them out to put into action what they had received from him. The place they were to go, or the limit of their commission, is found in Mat 10:5-6 . This limitation to go to the Jews and not to the Gentiles seems to have been in line with the teaching elsewhere that salvation came first to the Jews and that the time of the Gentiles had not yet come in, but this commission was not absolute, because we find our Lord later commissioning them to go to all the world. What they were to preach is found in Mat 10:7 and what they were to do in Mat 10:8 . The price they were to ask is found in the last clause of Mat 10:8 . How they were to be supported, negatively and positively, together with the principle of their support, is found in Mat 10:9-11 . The principle of ministerial support is found also, very much elaborated, in 1Co 9:4-13 , and is referred to in 1Co 9:14 as an ordinance of our Lord. The manner of making this operative on entering a city is found in Mat 10:11-12 . The rewards of receiving and rejecting them are found in Mat 10:13 , while the method of testimony against the rejectors is expressed in Mat 10:14-15 .
The characteristics of these disciples are given in Mat 10:16 : “Wise as serpents, and harmless as doves.” If they should have had the characteristic of the dove alone they would have been silly; if the serpent alone, they would have been tricky. But with both they had prudence and simplicity. In this commission we find also that they were to be subject to certain hazards, recorded in Mat 10:18 . Their defense is also promised in Mat 10:19-20 . The extent of their persecutions is expressed in Mat 10:21-22 . Their perseverance is indicated in the last clause of Mat 10:22 . In Mat 10:23 we have the promise that the Son of man would come to them before they had gone through all the cities of Israel. What does that mean? There are five theories about it, all of which are amply discussed by Broadus (see his Commentary in loco).
The consolations offered these disciples, in view of their prospective persecutions, are as follows (Mat 10:24-31 ): (1) So they treated the Lord, (2) all things hidden shall be made known, (3) the work of their persecutors is limited to the body, but God’s wrath is greater than man’s and touches both soul and body, and (4) the Father’s providential care. The condition of such blessings in persecution, and vice versa, are expressed in Mat 10:32-33 . From this we see that they were to go forth without fear or anxiety and in faith. The great issue which the disciples were to force is found in Mat 10:34-39 . This does not mean that Christ’s work has in it the purpose of stirring up strife, but that the disturbance will arise from the side of the enemy in their opposition to the gospel and its principles, whose purpose means peace. So there will arise family troubles, as some yield to the call of the gospel while others of the same family reject it. Some will always be lacking in the spirit of religious tolerance, which is not the spirit of Christ. In this connection our Lord announces the principle of loyalty to him as essential to discipleship, with an added encouragement, viz., that of finding and losing the life. In Mat 10:40-42 we have the identity of Christ with the Father which shows his divinity and also his identity with his people in his work. Then follows the blessed encouragement of the promise of rewards. When Jesus had thus finished his charge to his disciples, he made a circuit of the villages of Galilee preaching the gospel of the kingdom.
From this incident come three important lessons for us: First, we have here the origin and development of a call to the ministry as follows: (1) Christ’s compassion for the perishing and leaderless, (2) prayer to God that he would send forth laborers, and (3) a positive conviction that we should go. Second, there is also suggested here the dangers of the care for fine preaching: (1) If it has its source in anxiety and selfishness it restrains spirituality; (2) it manifests itself in excitement and excess which adulterates spirituality; (3) it leads to weariness or self-seeking and thus destroys spirituality. Third, we have here several encouragements to the preacher: (1) The cause is honorable; (2) the example is illustrious; (3) the success is certain; (4) care is guaranteed; (5) the reward is glorious; (6) the trials become triumphs; (7) the identification with Christ.
The account of the miracles wrought by the disciples of Jesus on this preaching tour impressed Herod Antipas, as well as those wrought by Jesus himself, the impression of which was so great that he thought that John the Baptist was risen from the dead. The account in the Harmony throws light on the impression that was made by the ministry of John. Some were saying that Jesus was Elijah or one of the other prophets, but Herod’s conscience and superstition caused him to think it was John the Baptist, for he remembered his former relation to John. Then follows here the story of how John had rebuked Herod which angered his wife, Herodias, and eventually led to John’s death at the band of the executioner. Josephus gives testimony relative to this incident. (See chapter X of this “Interpretation.”)
There are some lessons to be learned from this incident. First, we are impressed with the courage and daring of the first Christian martyr, a man who was not afraid to speak his convictions in the face of the demons of the pit. Second, the life must leave its impress, but that impress will be variously interpreted according to the antecedents and temperaments of the interpreters. Third, the influence of a wicked woman, often making the weak and drunken husband a mere tool to an awful wicked end. Fourth, the occasion of sin and crime is often the time of feasting and frivolity. Just such a crime as this has often been approached by means of the dance and strong drink. Fifth, we have here an example of a man who was too weak to follow his conviction of the right because he had promised and had taken an oath. He had more respect for his oath than he had for right. Sixth, there is here also an example of the wickedness of vengeance. It is a tradition that when the daughter brought in the head of John and gave it to Herodias, her mother, she took a bodkin and stuck it through the tongue of John, saying, “You will never say again, It is not lawful for you to have your brother’s wife.”
QUESTIONS
1. Give the time, place, circumstances, and lesson of Jesus stilling the tempest.
2. Tell the story of the two Gadarene demoniacs.
3. What two difficulties here, and how is each explained?
4. What seven important lessons for us in this incident?
5. Give the story of the second rejection of Jesus at Nazareth and its several lessons.
6. What was the immediate occasion of sending forth the twelve apostles on their first mission?
7. What preparation had they received?
8. Where were they to go, or what was the limit of this commission?
9. Why was it limited, and was it absolute?
10. What were they to preach, and what were they to do?
11. What price were they to ask?
12. How were they to be supported, negatively and positively, and how do you harmonize the Synoptics here?
13. What was the principle of their support and where do we find this principle very much elaborated?
14. How is this principle referred to in 1Co 9:14 ?
15. What was the manner of making it operative on entering a city?
16. What rewards attached to receiving and rejecting them?
17. What was the method of testimony against those who rejected?
18. What was to be the characteristics of these disciples?
19. To what hazards were they subject?
20. What was to be their defense?
21. What was to be the extent of their persecution?
22. What was text on the perseverance of the saints, and what was its immediate application to these apostles?
23. Explain “till the Son of man be come.”
24. What were the consolations offered these disciples?
25. What was the condition of such blessings?
26. In what spirit were they to go forth?
27. What great issue must they force? Explain.
28. What principle of discipleship here announced?
29. What proof here of the divinity of Jesus Christ?
30. What promise here of rewards?
31. What did Jesus do immediately after finishing his charge here
32. What lessons here on the origin and development of a call to the ministry?
33. What dangers of the care for fine preaching?
34. What seven encouragements from this incident to the preacher of today?
35. How was Herod and others impressed by the miracles of Jesus and his disciples?
36. What several conjectures of Herod and others?
37. What part was played in this drama by John? by Herod? by Herodias and by Salome, the daughter of Herodias?
38. What testimony of Josephus on this incident?
39. What lessons of this incident?
Fuente: B.H. Carroll’s An Interpretation of the English Bible
1 And he went out from thence, and came into his own country; and his disciples follow him.
Ver. 1. See Trapp on “ Mat 13:54 “
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
1 6. ] REJECTION OF JESUS BY HIS COUNTRYMEN AT NAZARETH. Mat 13:54-58 , where see notes.
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
1. ] . ., not, from the house of Jaeirus , by the expression . in the corresponding clause. I may go out of my own house into a neighbour’s , but I do not say, I go out of my own house into Lincolnshire: the two members of such a sentence must correspond : I go out of Leicestershire into Lincolnshire so, as corresponding to . . ., must mean from that city , i.e. Capernaum. This against Meyer, who tries on this misinterpretation to ground a difference between Matt. and Mark.
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
Mar 6:1-6 a. Jesus at Nazareth (Mat 13:53-58 cf. Luk 4:16-30 ).
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
Mar 6:1 . . It is not said, but it is very probable, that this was another of Christ’s attempts to escape from the crowd into a scene of comparative quiet and rest (the hill , Mar 3:13 , the eastern shore , Mar 5:1 , Nazareth , Mar 6:1 ). Mt. gives this incident at the close of the parable collection; Lk. at the beginning of the Galilean ministry. Mk.’s connection is the most historical, Lk.’s is obviously an anticipation. It is the same incident in all three Gospels. : vide notes on Mt., ad loc. . Mt. omits this.
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
Mark Chapter 6
Mar 6:1-6
Mat 13:53-58 ; cf. Luk 4:16-30 .
There are three divisions I would make in the portion before us, in order to examine it more conveniently: First, the unbelieving rejection of Christ in “His own countryt=41.6.1-41.6.56#bkm55- “; secondly, the mission of the Twelve; thirdly, the power – yet, alas! fatal weakness, withal – of an unpurged conscience, as illustrated in King Herod’s behaviour to John the Baptist.
First, the unwearied Servant comes into His own country, followed by His disciples. “And when the Sabbath was come, He began to teach in the synagogue; and many hearing Him, were astonished, saying, Whence has this man these things? and what is the wisdom that is given to Him,t=41.6.1-41.6.56#bkm56- and such works of power are done by his hands? Is not this the carpenter,t=41.6.1-41.6.56#bkm57- the son of Mary, the brother of James, and Joses, and of Juda, and Simon, and are not his sisters here with us? And they were offended in Him.”
But what a lesson! The power of His teaching was owned, and the mighty works done by His hands; but even the despised Nazarenes stumbled at the lowly Lord – the lowly Servant – of all. The meanest of mankind is not free from the same spirit of the world which blinds the highest. In truth, the god of this world blinds all that are lost. The fact may come out more conspicuously in the princes of this world, where resources cannot help them to discern and proclaim the Lord of glory; but the universality of the moral blindness is shown in such conduct as that of the men of Nazareth to the Lord Jesus. That the true heir to the throne of David, to speak of His regal glory, should be a “carpenter” was and is too much for flesh and blood. And yet, when it is believed, the grace of His humiliation is as striking as the need for it was urgent and absolute, if God was to be glorified and man delivered according to His mind. It is clear, also, that the grace of all He became and endured is only rightly seen by those who see in Him the Son – He is the true God and eternal life.
Here, however, even as prophet He is rejected; and Jesus bows to it is the common lot of those who labour for God in a world which knows them too well to pay them honour, and yet knows them not, as it knew Him not. “A prophet,” said He, “is not despised, save in his own country, and among his kinsmen, and in his own house.” And as thus He speaks, so He acts, or rather does not act. For “He could there do no work of power, save that He laid His hands upon a few infirm persons, and healed them.” How admirable the perfection of His service! It seems to me that nothing displays it more than such ways as these: “He could there do no work of power.” Yes, He, the Creator of all, the Sustainer of all, could do nothing mighty there. He was the ever-dependent and obedient man who had come to do, not His own will, but the will of Him that sent Him. “All things were made by Him; and without Him was not anything made that was made”; (Joh 1:3 ) yet He could there do no mighty work. Blessed Lord! greater art Thou to me in Thy weakness thus than in Thy strength, whereby all things consist. And yet there was the gracious exercise of healing as far as was morally consistent with the people and the place in God’s eyes. For “He laid His hands upon a few infirm persons, and healed them.” “And He marvelled,” adds the Spirit of God, “because of their unbelief.”t=41.6.1-41.6.56#bkm58- This did not, however, hinder His testimony in the neighbourhood; for He “went round about the villages teaching.”
Mar 6:7-13 .
Mat 10:1-15 ; Luk 9:1-6 .
Secondly, He called the Twelve, and began to send them forth by two and two, and gave them power over unclean spirits, and commanded them that they should take nothing for their journey, save a staff only, etc. I do not think the importance of the Lord’s sending out His servants, whether the Twelve or others, is adequately estimated by most. It was not yet, it could not be till His death and resurrection, that their mission could have its full character of world-wide grace. Still, it is a most precious principle, this sending out of His messengers with a message of grace, as it was a new thing in the earth. And what a tale it told of the real, though hidden, glory of Him who sent them! For who could thus commission and qualify with power over unclean spirits, save one who was consciously Divine? And what injunctions for His ambassadors! “No wallet, no bread, no money in their belt ‘t=41.6.1-41.6.56#bkm59- but shod with sandals, to put not on two coats.” Truly, His kingdom and His service were not of this world, else would the Lord have provided otherwise. Yet they went forth with the fullest sense of authority. “And He said to them, In what place soever ye enter into an house, there abide till ye depart thence.” How wise and careful of the dignity of His messengers, as well as watchful lest the message should be compromised by the self-seeking of those charged with it! “And whatsoever place* shall not receive you, nor hear you, when ye depart thence, shake off the dust under your feet for a testimony to them.” That He was the Son of God, the Saviour, did not lessen, but aggravate, the criminality of those who despised Him in their persons. The substance of this preaching was that men should repent. There is no Divine work in the sinner without repentance. There may be a sort of belief of no value without it; indeed, nothing is more common in Christendom. But it is not so where the Holy Spirit is at work, who ploughs up the conscience as well as brings home to the heart the good seed that may be sown. External signs accompanied them; for they cast out many demons, and anointed with oil many that were sick, and healed them.
*”Whatsoever place”: Edd., with BL, 69, etc. “Whosoever” has the support of AD, later uncials, almost all cursives, Old Lat. Syrsin pesch.
The latter part of this verse [in T.R.] seems an accommodation from Mat 11 and Luk 10 , with changes. Yet the ancient testimony is ample (B.T.). The authorities supporting the words “Verily, I say unto you, It shall be more tolerable for Sodom or Gomorrha in [the] day of judgment than for that city” are AE, etc., 1, 69, most Syrr. Memph. Edd. follow BCDL, Syrsin Old Lat. and Jerome’s Vulgate.
Mar 6:14-29 .
Mat 14:1-12 ; Luk 9:7-9 .
The third point to be noticed now is the solemn history of conscience in Kingt=41.6.1-41.6.56#bkm60- Herod, who, on hearing the fame of Jesus, imputed the miracles to John the Baptist, as risen from the dead. There was the usual variety of opinion and uncertainty among men, but Herod’s bad conscience made him positive that it was John, whom he had beheaded. What a torment even here it is, unless in the yet more desperate case of those who are religiously seared! The Holy Spirit then turns aside to give the account of the circumstances, and to explain why Herod was thus uneasy and perplexed. The wicked Herodias, whom the tetrarch had guiltily married, though she was his brother’s wife, had sought her revenge in vain. For, spite of his censure, John stood high in Herod’s esteem as a just and holy man; and Herod, having heard Him, did much,* and listened gladly. But there the fair show ended. Satan found the way to shut him up to a course from which there was no escape, save by repentance and the acknowledgment of his sins. It grew out of a royal revel where Herodias’ daughter danced to the content of Herod and his guests, and drew from the king the rash promise, with an oath, to give her what she asked, to the half of his kingdom. Now was the opportunity of the vindictive adulteress, who instructed her daughter to demand at once the head of John the Baptist upon a dish. And the king (whose fear for John had no higher source than nature), while very sorry, yields for the sake of his character before his guests, immediately sends one of the guard to despatch the prisoner,t=41.6.1-41.6.56#bkm62- and presents his head to the damsel, as she also does to her mother. What an evident net of Satan’s laying for the feet of one who was not without feeling! and how powerless is conscience where God’s servant is in one scale and the poor plighted honour of man in the other! How simple it all is in God’s presence! The devil’s promises are better broken than kept.
*”Did many things”: so ACD, etc., all cursives, Old Lat. Syrsin hcl, etc. (see note t=41.6.1-41.6.56#bkm61- at end). Edd. follow ABL, Memph. for “was perplexed.”
“The daughter of the same Herodias”: so Nestle, etc., with AC, later uncials, most cursives, all vv. (including Syrsin). Hort “His daughter Herodias,” which is the reading of BDL.
The latter part of the chapter, as well as the former, is singularly full of instruction for the service of the Lord. First of all we had the Lord’s own portion. Not only was He refused in His title of King or the Messiah, but despised as God’s servant. They heard His doctrine and were astonished at His wisdom no less than His power, but there was one thing that outweighed all in their minds – “Is not this the carpenter?” And so He was. It appears, hence, that our Lord really thus wrought. He was not only the son of a carpenter, but a carpenter Himself. The Creator of heaven and earth spent a considerable part of His sojourn in this world in this lowly labour day by day.
Our Lord accordingly, shut up from doing great deeds, turns to an unobtrusive work. Although debarred by their unbelief from rendering a conspicuous testimony to His glory, He did lay His hands upon “a few infirm persons, and healed them.” There was no such thing in our Lord as mortified feeling; He turns calmly from the scorn that hindered His mighty works there to occupy Himself with cases few and inconsiderable. Can we overlook even in this Christ’s perfection as the servant?
The next thing we saw was the sending out of the Twelve. There was the combination of two elements in them hard to reconcile. They were to be placed in circumstances that would leave them open to the contempt of everyone. They were to have no money in their belt, not even two coats, not shoes but sandals; they were to be without wallet or provision for the way. What could seem to be more helpless or more dependent than their condition? Yet none the less they, being sent forth as the messengers of the King, were invested with His own power. One remarkable proof of it was the power given them over unclean spirits. “He began to send them forth by two and two [there was association in their service], and gave them power over unclean spirits.” And so sent out, not only did they preach that men should repent, but they cast out many devils, and anointed with oil many that were sick, and healed them. The paramount thing in the mind of the Lord was the dealing with the power of Satan. There is much unbelief among men as to this. The world has grown old in material inventions, and as times pass over the earth men get so accustomed to the power given to man over external nature that they are apt by these very circumstances to forget and deny the unseen power and wiles of Satan. It was therefore of great importance that the disciples, who were called and sent by God’s authority, in going forth through the land of Israel, should be clothed with the Divine power, as far as it was communicable, for Christ’s sake.
But there is another thing, too, which is of great importance for the service of the Lord. As they called men to repent, so there is an astonishing answer in the conscience. The word reaches the heart even where it is least likely, as in the case of Herod, who is the instance the Spirit of God gives us here. Where men do not repent, still there is conscience, and the word does not fail to probe it. They may not heed the warning, they may turn from it, they may try to forget it, and may succeed for a time in stifling all right feeling, but the barb is there, and although, as in a strong man, the effect of a wound may not be palpable for a time, still, when the day of weakness comes, then the old wound reappears, and what youthful vigour enabled him to slight may give increasing trouble till the whole scene is closed. We have in Herod the history of a soul that had his conscience reached by the word of God, but nothing more. We know well that there is such a thing as resisting the Holy Ghost on the part of unconverted men; it is the commonest thing possible where God’s word is known, though it is not only resisting the word, but the Spirit, of God. Therefore it was that Stephen said, when addressing the Jews, “Ye do always resist the Holy Ghost: as your fathers did, so do ye.” (Act 7:51 ) The Holy Ghost so far uses the word as to touch the conscience, and whosoever refuses this resists both the word and Spirit of God. In Herod’s case it was only John’s testimony, but it was a mighty one, as far as the conviction of sin was concerned. John the Baptist did not pretend to bring in redemption; his main object was to point to One who was coming. But there was a mighty work produced through him in leading men to the sense that they could not do without the Lord. Thus he brought before men that all was ruined in the sight of God, and that, so far from things being prosperous or happy, the axe was lying at the root of the tree, judgment was at the door. And so it was, only that, first of all, the judgment that man deserved fell, by grace, upon Christ. That was the unlooked-for form in which Divine judgment took place then in the cross. It was a most real dealing of God, but it was a judgment for the time stayed from falling upon the guilty, which fell upon the guiltless Son of God, and thereby redemption is accomplished. The whole work of Christ for the Church of God has come in during the time of man’s – Israel’s – being left by the Lord to himself. It is the time of God’s long-suffering, the world being permitted to follow its own way in the rejection of the Gospel as much as in the crucifixion of Christ. This is what the world is doing now, and soon to consummate, when judgment will come. Thus, conscience is shown in a man that felt what was right, and heard the word gladly for a time. But there was no repentance, no submission of his soul to the conviction that for a moment passed before his mind of what was true, just, and of God. The consequence was that circumstances were so managed by the enemy and permitted of God that Herod should evince the worthlessness of natural conscience even as regards the very person whom he had owned as a prophet. But at any rate all was lost now, and a guilty hour at a banquet, where the desire to gratify one as bad or worse than himself, ensnared his weakness and involved his word. There is the end of natural conscience. Herod orders what he would not have conceived it possible for him to do. But we little know the power of that unclean and subtle adversary the devil. It is just the counterpart of what the Lord was doing in grace by His disciples – He gave them power over the unclean spirit. Men repent, and the power of Satan must be broken in order to this. Here, on the contrary, was a man who knew he was in an evil case; but the power of Satan was never really broken. There was no going to God in the sense that he could not deliver himself. The result was that Herod went on till in this evil hour the terrible deed was done; all was over, and he, no doubt, given over to despair or indifference. Had there been the sense of the grace which is in Christ, there was grace enough to have blotted out that or any sin; but the heart that refuses to bow in conscience to God never acknowledges the grace there is in Christ.
Mar 6:30-44 .
Mat 14:13-21 ; Luk 9:10-17 ; Joh 6:1-13 .
Having thus again a little sketched the truth in this part of the chapter as regards the principles of God for guiding in service, we may pass on. The Apostles gathered themselves unto Jesus, and told Him all things, both what they had done and what they had taught. Now, there was great simplicity in this, and a most wholesome thing it is for anyone engaged in the Lord’s work to go to Jesus with what has been done and taught. It is well to examine, and perhaps rehearse; but to whom can we do it with safety but to Jesus? There is such a thing as going out in service, but there should be the returning and telling Jesus all that we have had to do or say. There may be occasions where it is well and comely to cheer others with the wonderful works of God; but there is no time where it is not well and wholesome to go to the Lord about it. In His presence there is no danger of being puffed up, and thinking of ourselves more highly than we ought to think. There we learn how little we are, and the defectiveness even of that which we most desire for the edification of one another. Our Lord thoroughly shows His interest and sympathy in this, and says to them: “Come ye yourselves apart into a desert place, and rest awhile: for there were many coming and going, and they had no leisure so much as to eat.” Well for us if we needed thus to rest more – that is to say, if our labours were so abundant, our self-denying efforts for the blessing of others were so continual, that we could be sure that this was the Lord’s word for us, “Come ye into a desert place, and rest awhile”! I am afraid that sometimes we rather need to be stirred up to feel what a claim souls have upon us, what we owe, not merely to the saints of God to seek their blessing, but to every creature, for we are debtors to all. Having such a Christ as we have, we ought to feel that we have riches enough for everything – riches of grace in Him, not merely for the saints of God, but for the poorest of sinners. The Twelve had so discharged their mission that our Lord could tell them thus to turn aside and rest awhile. There was more than rest for the body: with Him what repose for the soul! It is a good thing at times to be thus alone, and yet not alone – alone from man that we may be with the only One who can give us fresh strength and, at the same time, adequate lowliness for the better discharge of our service, whatever it may be.
They depart, then, into a desert place by ship privately. Now, it is the Lord’s way of goodness that I think so well worthy of note in this place. We do not make enough of the Lord; we are not quite simple in our thoughts of His interest with us in all the details of circumstances day by day; we do not always think of Him as a real, living, tender friend occupied with us and intent upon our good, and even deigning to care for our bodies as well as our souls. Here is the proof of it as to the Twelve.
“And many saw them departing, and recognised them,* and ran together there on foot out of all cities, and outwent them. And [Jesus] when He came out, saw a great crowd, and was moved with compassion for them, because they were as sheep not having a shepherd. And He began to teach them many things.” This is exceedingly sweet, because His object in retiring was to have given His disciples leisure, they had not time so much as even to eat, and the haste of the multitude was really an intrusion, and yet the Lord at once turns to the crowd in love. Here, again, there is no such thing as the slightest expression of disturbed feeling. There was no coldness shown to the intruders. On the contrary, He enters upon this fresh service with the same alacrity that He had turned aside with His disciples in order to give them a little rest by the way. More than that, He looks with compassion upon the multitude, “because they were as sheep not having a shepherd. And He began to teach them many things.” He at least knew no leisure; at any rate, where did He ever take advantage of it, although there was infinitely more to try and weary Him as a man than ever fell upon any other? At once He turns to teach these needy men that which they little knew they needed.
*”Recognised them”: so Edd., after AKL, etc., many cursives, including 33, Syr. Memph. AEth. EFG, etc., 69, have “him”; whilst BD and Amiat. have neither “him” nor “them.” This is an illustration of W. H.’s “conflate” readings (Introduction, p. 95 ff.).
“And when it was already late in the day,tid=35#bkm63- His disciples came unto Him and said, This is a desert place, and it is already late in the day. Send them away that they may go into the country and into the villages round about, and buy themselves bread, for they have nothing to eat.”* Oh, do we not see the reflection of ourselves here? “Send them away.” Was that all the disciples could think or say? Had they not profited more by the past experience of their Master? Had they not profited by the grace the Lord had been for so long a time displaying towards poor, shepherdless Israel? “Send them away.” Send them away from Jesus! Without refreshment from Jesus! This was what even disciples could propose to the Lord Himself. Is not this what we learn of our own hearts? Do we not continually discover our little ability to count upon grace and to turn its boundless resources to meet present difficulties? When we have seen the Lord’s ways we may admire them, but faith is especially shown in knowing how to avail ourselves of what is in Christ for the want that is actually before us. Here the lack was in others; but what a lack in themselves when the unbelief of disciples thus vents itself to the Lord! “Send them away that they may go and buy bread. But He answered and said unto them, Give ye them to eat.” It is always so that He acts – “give.” He loves a bountiful giver; He was so Himself, and He was now about to open the hearts of the disciples to feel aright. It was not only what was needed in an authoritative mission throughout the land of Israel when the kingdom was going to be set up, but now it was a heart for the poor, despised, and wretched in Israel. The Lord would give the disciples His own sympathies. He would make them know what they themselves lacked – teach them to feel what there is in Christ even for the men who had no feeling for His wants, no consideration for the Lord in the retirement that He had sought. But this does not change the grace that is in Christ. Whatever may be the fault of another, we have to look well to it that it brings out from us the patient wisdom of grace. It is the hardest thing we have to learn. Here the disciples break down; but it was in the presence of One who only turned it to the account of leading them to a perception of His own grace. This is the great point of the whole chapter; it is the fitting of others for the service on His own approaching and entire rejection.
*Edd.: “buy themselves something” (, fragments) “to eat,” with B(D)L Syrsin Memph. Text (the “received”) is that of AE, etc., and other Syrr.
Here we have not only adequate power, but adequate affection. Power over the unclean spirit we have seen, moral power through the word, even over a natural man’s conscience, had been proved; but now we have the perception of the Lord’s feelings, His compassion for a multitude, even though unbelieving. There are many who truly believe in the love the Lord has for the Church, but they do not at all understand the deep pity He has toward poor man as such. Now, this the Lord was showing here. It is not a question merely of believers, but we have persons who, it is plain, were merely seeking to get what they could from Jesus, following Him on their own account – not for life eternal, not because of their sins, nor was it for the miracles even that they had seen, but for what He could give them for this life. The Lord did not refuse even this, but the disciples knew nothing of this grace. They had authority conferred on them they had proved communicated power along with this they had come and told the Lord what they had done and taught. But where was their affection answering to the Lord’s? That they had it not is betrayed by their words to Him. The Lord had now to communicate His own thoughts and feelings to them, and He does it after this sort: “He answered and said unto them, Give ye them to eat.” They do not need to go: they do not need to buy. What Jesus tells them is to give – “Give ye them to eat.” “And they say unto Him, Shall we go and buy two hundred pennyworth of bread, and give them to eat?” This is another working of unbelief in them. Not that they had the least thought of going and buying; but they wanted to put their insuperable difficulty before their Master. But what do we need such a one as Christ for if not for that which we cannot even touch? The greater the difficulty, the more suited is the occasion for the Lord to display Himself. He is Lord of all; and if He is, what can a difficulty be but only an appeal to His power, and which shows it was ever beyond measure. “Give ye them to eat.”
“He saith unto them, How many loaves have ye? Go [and] see. And when they knew, they say, Five and two fishes.” This is a feature that I think it well to notice, because it is important practically. The Lord loves, however truly working in His own power, to make use of that which we might despise in human wisdom. Moses may plead his impotence, but the Lord will make use of that man of slow speech. If He employ Aaron too, He will put the sentence of death upon everything that flesh leans upon. So now our Lord draws upon the resources that were already in the hands of the disciples. Not that such things as they had could have availed without Him; but that He is ever with us, in one way or another, ever ready to work and bless, according to His almighty power and goodness.
When they brought word that there were five loaves and two fishes, doubtless it was with the conviction that no answer could be less satisfactory. How wise they were in thinking it a vain thing that such a multitude could be fed by anything that they possessed! But it is the way of God to make use of the weak and little as truly as to abase that which is self-confident of its greatness. And as the Lord was about to act upon this very principle with the Twelve, He was now teaching them the same as to the feeding of the multitude then around them. It was the exerting His own creative power on that which was utterly contemptible – at least, in human eyes. The five loaves and two fishes seemed to be absurd for such a multitude. But what was it not in the hands of Jesus?
But He does another thing. He commands that they should sit down by companies upon the green grass, and they sat down in ranks by hundreds and fifties.tid=35#bkm64- The Lord is not unmindful of outward order and decorum in His arrangements. He was about to work a stupendous miracle, and He arranges the people carefully, bringing before their eyes the conviction of what there was in Him for the need of man. He was really there, the promised One, that was to feed His poor with bread (Psa 132:15 ). Where were they that they had never thought of Him, that they did not count upon such love as this for a still greater want than the bread that perishes for the body? But it was the Lord acting from His own goodness, and in no respect even according to the mind of a disciple. The multitude was unprepared for the work, but the disciples were just as blind. They no more expected what was coming than the multitude. Our being believers is no proof at all we shall have faith for any particular exigency before us. Present dependence upon God is necessary to give us a just thought of the Lord’s ways; otherwise we may be as foolish as if we had no faith at all, and we shall be sure to be so if we do not measure the difficulties by Jesus. Bring Him in and the difficulty is at an end.
But, further, the Lord employs the disciples between Himself and the multitude. How continually we find the Lord returning good for their evil, putting honour upon the poor disciples who so little appreciated His feelings of love and compassion! He does not distribute the bread directly, as if He made no account of His servants. He meant to show His disciples that the love of Christ delights to work in human channels. The same unbelief, which on one side sees nothing in Jesus, on the other is apt to overlook and deny the use Jesus makes of suited instruments to dispense His blessings in this world. But as it was Jesus alone who was the source of it all, the disciples were to be the. channels, both learning and teaching what grace could do to them, and through them. The disciples, accordingly, take the bread from the hands of Jesus, and thus it is that the supply is provided for the vast multitude. It was the Lord’s way then, and it is His way now. The wonders of His grace are not, as it were, all reserved for His own exclusive hand: for although He alone is the constant, active spring of grace, yet at the same time He works by whom He will, and He puts often the most honour upon the least comely member; for as we know it is in Nature the most vital and essential member that is the most guarded and the least apparent, so it is in His body the Church: “He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord.” (1Co 1:31 ) He Himself was among them as “he that serveth.” It is in no way the Lord showing the worth of this one or that one, but displaying His own grace and power according to His own sovereign will. But the disciples must learn that, if they were rebuked and their unbelief made most apparent, the Lord’s grace was not altered towards them – nay, His grace could employ them immediately afterwards to be the distributors to the famishing multitude of the bread of His providing. What grace toward them!
The whole scene is most instructive, and particularly so as giving us to see the manner of His own service and the failure of others. “When He had taken the five loaves and two fishes, He looked up to heaven, and blessed, and broke the loaves, and kept giving them to His disciples to set before them. And the two fishes He divided among all. And they all ate and were satisfied. And they took up twelve hand-baskets full of the fragments and of the fishes. And they that ate of the loaves were five thousand men.”* The very fragments far exceeded the provision they had at first, but even the fragments were not to be forgotten or despised. What simplicity of care, even where He ensured that there should be the testimony before their eyes of the miraculous character of the whole transaction!
*, 1 and some other copies with Arm. have “about 5,000 men.”
Vv.45-52
Mat 14:22 , Mat 14:23 ; Joh 6:15-21 .
The next scene has also its lesson for us. “Immediately He constrained His disciples to go on board ship, and to go on before to the other side, to Bethsaida,tid=35#bkm65- while He sends away the crowd. And when He had dismissed them, He departed into the mountain to pray.” It was one of the great signs of the Messiah that He would satisfy His poor with bread, as you may remember in Psa 132 . The Lord ought to have been thus recognised, but He was not. Accordingly He sent them away. The people, instead of being gathered to the Lord as to their King, have been for a season at least put aside. He has dismissed the multitude because of their unbelief; He has departed from Israel for a time, and gone on high to take the place of intercession. And while the Lord is there the disciples are exposed to all the storms and fluctuations of this lower scene. “And when evening was come, the ship was in the midst of the sea, and He alone on the land. And He saw them toiling in rowing, for the wind was contrary to them.” It is a little picture of what was to be accomplished by-and-by. The Lord is gone on high now; He is not with the multitude, neither is He in bodily presence with the disciples. He has left the Jews for the time; He is also away from the disciples. They have their work to do, but apparently they make no progress. But in the midst of the contrariety of all things around them He comes again. “About the fourth watch of the night He cometh unto them, walking upon the sea; and would have passed by them. But when they saw Him walking upon the sea they supposed it had been an apparition, and they cried out. For all saw Him, and were troubled. And immediately He talked with them, and says to them, Be of good courage; it is I; be not afraid. And He went up to them into the ship, and the wind ceased.”tid=35#bkm65a-
Mar 6:53-56 .
Mat 14:34-36 .
Then we find that, having come to shore with the disciples, the Lord accomplished all that was spoken. “When they had come out of the ship they recognised Him immediately, and ran through that whole region round about, and began to carry about on couches those that were ill, where they heard He was. And whithersoever He entered, into villages, or cities, or country, they laid the sick in the market-places, and besought Him that they might touch, if it were but the border of His garment; and as many as touched Him were healed.” It is a little picture of what will be the consequence of the Lord’s return to the earth. When the Lord and His disciples rejoin the shore that He has left, when He comes back again, whatever there is of human woe, wretchedness, weakness, sickness, in this world, all will flee before the presence and touch of the Son of God. He will then and thus manifest His goodness. Accordingly, what we have here is the consummation and triumph of all ministry in His own ministry. The disciples are shown in their weakness meanwhile, but encouraged by the prospect of His return in power and glory, when all shall be made good that the Lord has ever promised, and that He has led His people to expect in this world. It is a good thing for our souls to realize that while our Lord is away we are not to be discouraged by difficulties – not cast down if the wind is contrary and ourselves toiling in vain, yet not in vain. It is He who has sent us across that troubled sea; it is He who meanwhile intercedes for us, and as surely will He come to us; and when He does return, all that is lacking He will supply, all that hinders will be removed, and then will the universe duly, fully exult in its Lord, our Lord and Master, when He shall be exalted from sea to sea, and from the river unto the ends of the earth. This is what the final circumstances of the chapter typify. It may cheer us in any little service that is before us now. It is instruction for the service of the Lord, beginning with His own rejection in shame and ending with His glorious return, when all sickness and misery disappear before His presence.
NOTES ON Mar 6 .
55 Mar 6:1 . – “His own country.” See note 22; also Rville i. 390.
56 Mar 6:2 . – Some remarks have already been made in note 23 upon the “education” (speaking ) of our blessed Lord. It is quite needless to consider whether He in youth ever entered the portals of such an academy as in the Talmud is called a yesheybah ()$ for the accuracy of the Jews in the taunt recorded in the passage of John cited in the earlier note may remain unquestioned. His “new doctrine” (Mar 1:27 ) was His prophetic word, as to which cf. Amo 7:14 f. It was creative, not created (Schlottmann, 144; cf. Joh 7:46 ). Wernle, in “Beginnings of Christianity,” vol. i., p. 36, describing the Lord as “Layman,” says that He “redeemed His listeners from the theologians” (p. 99). May we not add that such redemption is to be had in our day from the critics likewise? As Sir R. Anderson has said in a recent book, we do not propose to exchange thraldom to the one set of men for bondage to the other. Wernle’s book has been translated by one cleric and edited by another. “All laymen,” we are told by him, “accept the most obvious contradictions, and do not strive after any inner harmony” (p. 379), Surely those who live in the proverbial glass house might withhold their stones. “Laymen” are not so idiotic (see Greek of 1Co 14:23 ). Wernle’s countryman Weizscker (“Textbibel”) has rendered by Uneingeweihte, “uninitiated” (shall we say in “mysteries”?). Cf. 2: 14 there. The writer of that Epistle co-ordinates them with , Unglubige, “unbelievers.” Lawyers, describing critics as “laymen,” will tell these that they are miserable judges of evidence, in statements that seem to conflict.
57 Mar 6:3 . – “The carpenter.” As to the humiliation of this pursuit, see “Ecclesiasticus,” xxxviii. 24-34, and cf. Delitzsch, “Jewish Artisan Life in the Time of Christ” (1902).
In Mat 13:55 we have the “carpenter’s Son.” That is one of the variations from Mark’s record found in the first and third Evangelists which some critics idly imagine represent a later tendency to tone down Mark’s language, so as to divest the record of the Master of what was considered derogatory to it; whilst others represent Mark as “secondary,” because he does not speak of Christ as son of Joseph (Schmiedel, col. 1846). True, such is what “literary analysis” can accomplish. How very appropriate to the second Gospel is the disclosure that the servant Son of God thus wrought with His own hands, sanctifying all human service, and doubtless maintaining a widowed mother!
It is on record that when the Emperor Julian (“the Apostate”) was engaged in his last campaign, a Christian soldier was asked by a scornful officer, What was the Carpenter doing just then? The answer received was, “Making a coffin.” The Emperor fell in that very battle (Sozomen, Ecclesiastical History,” v. 8).
“The son of Mary” (cf. Luk 4:22 , “the son of Joseph”). It is common for critics to allege against the virgin-birth of the Lord being historical the fact that Mark is silent about it. In this strain writes Menzies. Mary herself “knows nothing of His having been born in any extraordinary way.” If, however, our second Gospel were the earliest, what could be more reasonable than to conclude that during the lifetime of the Lord’s mother the circumstances of His birth Divine wisdom and propriety of human feeling combined to withhold? The perfection of the Bible does, of course, lie in its matchless fusion of Divine and human, a truism constantly urged by critics, but feebly apprehended in any helpful, fruitful way by themselves. The Tbingen scholar Baur, who adhered to Matthew’s priority, used this verse in support of his idea that Mark did know of the virgin-birth! See, further, note in Farrar, “Life of Christ,” p. 63.
As to there being no genealogy in Mark W. Kelly has written: “Who would ask the pedigree of a servant?” (“Exposition of John,” p. 8),
58 Mar 6:5 , Mar 6:6 . – Faith in the Person of Christ attaches in the second Gospel to His function as Prophet; in Luke’s to, that of Priest; in Matthew to His being the King. With Mark’s narrative cf. Peter’s words in Act 3:22 .
A comparison of this place with Mat 13:58 affords some critics another illustration of their fad that Matthew, or the “editor” of his Gospel, revised Mark’s too naive statements!
A distinction may be made between the “supernatural” and the “miraculous” in respect of the efficacy of ordinary prayer (Drummond, p. 13 f.). Some answers to prayer, however, may fall under the miraculous.
On the general subject of miracles, see notes 27, 54 above.
Schmiedel’s discrimination of certain passages of Mark which for him constitute the “foundation pillars for a truly scientific life of Jesus” (cols. 1881-1883 of his article in “Biblical Encyclopaedia”), Fairbairn well characterises as an illusion that mistakes critical ingenuity for historical science (“Philosophy of the Christian Religion,” p. 304).
With reference to the passage under consideration, Bousset (p. 56; E.T., p. 49) makes the Lord’s being unable all a matter cognizable by human psychology. For the believer it suffices to know the method of the “psychology” which is Divine. Men may have pressure put on them to come within the range of spiritual blessing (Mat 20:17-19 ), but faith is a gracious gift, in no way the result of compulsion. In the first Gospel (Mat 11:12 ) force is exerted by men themselves, who seek God with all their heart (Deu 4:29 ). According to Mat 22:11 , Mat 22:12 , a man already in the presence of the Host is found not to have accepted that vesture which, according to the custom of ancient princes, was offered by them to their guests (cf. Phi 3:12 ).
One may be sure that Richard Hooker did not foresee the use which would be made in our day of his position in the “Ecclesiastical Polity” that God is Himself governed by His own laws.
59 Mar 6:8 . – “No money in their belt.” Dr. R. F. Horton, according to his “Revelation and the Bible” (p. 367), has allowed himself to be strangely misinformed as to the practice of Christians whom he describes as “the most emphatic in maintaining the Divine infallibility of the Bible.” He alleges that they “reject the inference of St. Paul in favour of paid ministry.” He would be right if by “paid” he merely meant stipulated remuneration, which is unknown in the community amongst whom W. Kelly laboured. It contains most of the few who really act upon the precepts of Scripture bearing on hired ministry (1Co 9:9 , etc.). Material support of ministry exercised in faith is a Divine obligation which they ever recognise.
60 Mar 6:14 . – “The King.” Herod’s title was “Tetrarch,” strictly not “King.” Dr. A. B. Bruce, on Mat 14:9 , says that “it was natural for Mark,” writing for Romans, “to use this title, as it was applied freely in Rome to all Eastern rulers” (Cf. Rville, i. 236; and Farrar, “Life of Christ,” p. 305, where it is described as a “courtesy title”).
60a Mar 6:15 . – With the Greek of this verse, cf. end of Jdg 16:11 , in LXX, “a man like any other ordinary man.” Wellhausen’s “scarcely Greek” (ad loc.) is poor criticism (cf. notes 1, 78).
61 Mar 6:20 . – Field (“Notes on the Translation of the New Testament,” p. 29 f.) inclined to the reading , “did” (many things). “Herod,” he remarks, did all but the vital thing – “dismissing his wife.”
62 Mar 6:21 . – Wellhausen (ad loc.) relies on the statement of Josephus that the Baptist was executed at Machaerus, on the other side of the Jordan. Even so, there was nothing to prevent the Tetrarch’s summoning his Galilean courtiers thence. We meet with scribes and Pharisees “from Jerusalem” among Christ’s audience in Galilee or Perea; so in the first verse of the next chapter (cf. Luk 13:31-34 ). According to the critic’s view, such ministry must have been exercised in the very neighbourhood of the metropolis. From exaggeration in idea of “local colouring,” Wellhausen would place the scene of verse 27 here in Galilee (“into the sea”), and not Judea (cf. Burkitt, p. 61).
63 Mar 6:35 . – “Late in the day” i.e., between three and six p.m., which time already the French still describe as soir, the first of the Jewish two evenings. In verse 47 we have the second evening (six o’clock to dusk).
64 Mar 6:40 . – The description here is explained by Luk 9:14 . The people were arranged as one hundred in front and fifty deep.
65 Mar 6:45 . – Wellhausen here avails himself of an old difficulty created by comparison of Joh 6:17 with Mark’s statement. In Mark we find , “Bethsaida”; in John , “Capernaum.” Indeed, , which is sufficiently accredited by the textual evidence (its omission in the Sinaitic Syrian version is insignificant), exhibits the difference of prepositions involved. They occur together again in 11: 1, where stands for the direction taken; for the point arrived at or actually reached (cf. the quotation in Luk 4:26 ). There is no inconsistency, nor “conversion of B. into C.,” as Wellhausen puts it. Trench (“Miracles,” p. 296) says: “This Bethsaida (cf. Joh 1:44 ) lay on the west side of the lake, in the same direction as Capernaum, and near to it.” Wellhausen himself has “not far from Capernaum.”
65a Mar 6:52 . – should not be rendered by concerning the loaves, as R.V., or about, etc., as in the “Workers’ New Testament,” but by through, etc., as Wellhausen. The loaves supplied the ground of the disciple’s misapprehension (cf. in Mar 9:37 , Mar 13:6 ).
Fuente: William Kelly Major Works (New Testament)
Mark
THE MASTER REJECTED: THE SERVANTS SENT FORTH
Mar 6:1 – Mar 6:13
An easy day’s journey would carry Jesus and His followers from Capernaum, on the lake-side, to Nazareth, among the hills. What took our Lord back there? When last He taught in the synagogue of Nazareth, His life had been in danger; and now He thrusts Himself into the wolf’s den. Why? Mark seems to wish us to observe the connection between this visit and the great group of miracles which he has just recorded; and possibly the link may be our Lord’s hope that the report of these might have preceded Him and prepared His way. In His patient long-suffering He will give His fellow-villagers another chance; and His heart yearns for ‘His own country,’ and ‘His own kin,’ and ‘His own house,’ of which He speaks so pathetically in the context.
I. We have here unbelief born of familiarity, and its effects on Christ Mar 6:1 – Mar 6:6.
We note in their questions, first, the glimpse of our Lord’s early life. They bring before us the quiet, undistinguished home and the long years of monotonous labour. We owe to Mark alone the notice that Jesus actually wrought at Joseph’s handicraft. Apparently the latter was dead, and, if so, Jesus would be the head of the house, and probably the ‘breadwinner.’ One of the fathers preserves the tradition that He ‘made plows and yokes, by which He taught the symbols of righteousness and an active life.’ That good father seems to think it needful to find symbolical meanings, in order to save Christ’s dignity; but the prose fact that He toiled at the carpenter’s bench, and handled hammer and saw, needs nothing to heighten its value as a sign of His true participation in man’s lot, and as the hallowing of manual toil. How many weary arms have grasped their tools with new vigour and contentment when they thought of Him as their Pattern in their narrow toils! The Nazarenes’ difficulty was but one case of a universal tendency. Nobody finds it easy to believe that some village child, who has grown up beside him, and whose undistinguished outside life he knows, has turned out a genius or a great man. The last people to recognise a prophet are always his kindred and his countrymen. ‘Far-away birds have fine feathers.’ Men resent it as a kind of slight on themselves that the other, who was one of them but yesterday, should be so far above them to-day. They are mostly too blind to look below the surface, and they conclude that, because they saw so much of the external life, they knew the man that lived it. The elders of Nazareth had seen Jesus grow up, and to them He would be ‘the carpenter’s son’ still. The more important people had known the humbleness of His home, and could not adjust themselves to look up to Him, instead of down. His equals in age would find their boyish remembrances too strong for accepting Him as a prophet. All of them did just what the most of us would have done, when they took it for certain that the Man whom they had known so well, as they fancied, could not be a prophet, to say nothing of the Messiah so long looked for. It is easy to blame them; but it is better to learn the warning in their words, and to take care that we are not blind to some true messenger of God just because we have been blessed with close companionship with him. Many a household has had to wait for death to take away the prophet before they discern him. Some of us entertain ‘angels unawares,’ and have bitterly to feel, when too late, that our eyes were holden that we should not know them.
These questions bring out strongly what we too often forget in estimating Christ’s contemporaries-namely, that His presence among them, in the simplicity of His human life, was a positive hindrance to their seeing His true character. We sometimes wish that we had seen Him, and heard His voice. We should have found it more difficult to believe in Him if we had. ‘His flesh’ was a ‘veil’ in other sense than the Epistle to the Hebrews means; for, by reason of men’s difficulty in piercing beneath it, it hid from many what it was meant and fitted to reveal. Only eyes purged beheld the glory of ‘the Word’ become flesh when it ‘dwelt among us’-and even they saw Him more clearly when they saw Him no more. Let us not be too hard on these simple Nazarenes, but recognise our kith and kin.
The facts on which the Nazarenes grounded their unbelief are really irrefragable proof of Christ’s divinity. Whence had this man His wisdom and mighty works? Born in that humble home, reared in that secluded village, shut out from the world’s culture, buried, as it were, among an exclusive and abhorred people, how came He to tower above all teachers, and to sway the world? ‘With whom took He counsel? and who instructed Him, and taught Him?’ The character and work of Christ, compared with the circumstances of His origin and environment, are an insoluble riddle, except on one supposition-that He was the word and power of God.
The effects of this unbelief on our Lord were twofold. It limited His power. Matthew says that ‘He did not many mighty works.’ Mark goes deeper, and boldly days ‘He could not.’ It is mistaken jealousy for Christ’s honour to seek to pare down the strong words. The atmosphere of chill unbelief froze the stream. The power was there, but it required for its exercise some measure of moral susceptibility. His miraculous energy followed, in general, the same law as His higher exercise of saving grace does; that is to say, it could not force itself upon unwilling men. Christ ‘cannot’ save a man who does not trust Him. He was hampered in the outflow of His healing power by unsympathetic disparagement and unbelief. Man can thwart God. Faith opens the door, and unbelief shuts it in His face. He ‘would have gathered,’ but they ‘would not,’ and therefore He ‘could not.’
The second effect of unbelief on Him was that He ‘marvelled.’ He is twice recorded to have wondered-once at a Gentile’s faith, once at His townsmen’s unbelief. He wondered at the first because it showed so unusual a susceptibility; at the second, because it showed so unreasonable a blindness. All sin is a wonder to eyes that see into the realities of things and read the end; for it is all utterly unreasonable though it is, alas! not unaccountable and suicidal. ‘Be astonished, O ye heavens, at this.’ Unbelief in Christ is, by Himself, declared to be the very climax of sin, and its most flagrant evidence Joh 16:9; and of all the instances of unbelief which saddened His heart, none struck more chill than that of these Nazarenes. They had known His pure youth; He might have reckoned on some touch of sympathy and predisposition to welcome Him. His wonder is the measure of His pain as well as of their sin.
Nor need we wonder that He wondered; for He was true man, and all human emotions were His. To one who lives ever in the Father’s bosom, what can seem so strange as that men should prefer homeless exposedness and dreary loneliness? To one whose eyes ever behold unseen realities, what so marvellous as men’s blindness? To one who knew so assuredly His own mission and rich freightage of blessing, how strange it must have been that He found so few to accept His gifts! Jesus knew that bitter wonder which all men who have a truth to proclaim which the world has not learned, have to experience-the amazement at finding it so hard to get any others to see what they see. In His manhood, He shared the fate of all teachers, who have, in their turn, to marvel at men’s unbelief.
II. The new instrument which Christ fashions to cope with unbelief.
The first point is the gift of power. Unclean spirits are specified, but the subsequent verses show that miracle-working power in its other forms was included. We may call that Christ’s greatest miracle. That He could, by His mere will, endow a dozen men with such power, is more, if degree come into view at all, than that He Himself should exercise it. But there is a lesson in the fact for all ages-even those in which miracles have ceased. Christ gives before He commands, and sends no man into the field without filling his basket with seed-corn. His gifts assimilate the receiver to Himself, and only in the measure in which His servants possess power which is like His own, and drawn from Him, can they proclaim His coming, or prepare hearts for it. The second step is their equipment. The special commands here given were repealed by Jesus when He gave His last commands. In their letter they apply only to that one journey, but in their spirit they are of universal and permanent obligation. The Twelve were to travel light. They might carry a staff to help them along, and wear sandals to save their feet on rough roads; but that was to be all. Food, luggage, and money, the three requisites of a traveller, were to be ‘conspicuous by their absence.’ That was repealed afterwards, and instructions given of an opposite character, because, after His ascension, the Church was to live more and more by ordinary means; but in this journey they were to learn to trust Him without means, that afterwards they might trust Him in the means. He showed them the purpose of these restrictions in the act of abrogating them. ‘When I sent you forth without purse . . . lacked ye anything?’ But the spirit remains unabrogated, and the minimum of outward provision is likeliest to call out the maximum of faith. We are more in danger from having too much baggage than from having too little. And the one indispensable requirement is that, whatever the quantity, it should hinder neither our march nor our trust in Him who alone is wealth and food.
Next comes the disposition of the messengers. It is not to be self-indulgent. They are not to change quarters for the sake of greater comfort. They have not gone out to make a pleasure tour, but to preach, and so are to stay where they are welcomed, and to make the best of it. Delicate regard for kindly hospitality, if offered by ever so poor a house, and scrupulous abstinence from whatever might suggest interested motives, must mark the true servant. That rule is not out of date. If ever a herald of Christ falls under suspicion of caring more about life’s comforts than about his work, good-bye to his usefulness! If ever he does so care, whether he be suspected of it or no, spiritual power will ebb from him.
The next step is the messengers’ demeanour to the rejecters of their message. Shaking the dust off the sandals is an emblem of solemn renunciation of participation, and perhaps of disclaimer of responsibility. It meant certainly, ‘We have no more to do with you,’ and possibly, ‘Your blood be on your own heads.’ This journey of the Twelve was meant to be of short duration, and to cover much ground, and therefore no time was to be spent unnecessarily. Their message was brief, and as well told quickly as slowly. The whole conditions of work now are different. Sometimes, perhaps, a Christian is warranted in solemnly declaring to those who receive not his message, that he will have no more to say to them. That may do more than all his other words. But such cases are rare; and the rule that it is safest to follow is rather that of love which despairs of none, and, though often repelled, returns with pleading, and, if it have told often in vain, now tells with tears, the story of the love that never abandons the most obstinate.
Such were the prominent points of this first Christian mission. They who carry Christ’s banner in the world must be possessed of power, His gift, must be lightly weighted, must care less for comfort than for service, must solemnly warn of the consequences of rejecting the message; and so they will not fail to cast out devils, and to heal many that are sick.
Fuente: Expositions Of Holy Scripture by Alexander MacLaren
NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Mar 6:1-6 a
1Jesus went out from there and came into His hometown; and His disciples followed Him. 2When the Sabbath came, He began to teach in the synagogue; and the many listeners were astonished, saying, “Where did this man get these things, and what is this wisdom given to Him, and such miracles as these performed by His hands? 3Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary, and brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon? Are not His sisters here with us?” And they took offense at Him. 4Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honor except in his hometown and among his own relatives and in his own household.” 5And He could do no miracle there except that He laid His hands on a few sick people and healed them. 6And He wondered at their unbelief.
Mar 6:1 “Jesus went out from there” This refers to Capernaum, which had become His Galilean headquarters.
“came into His hometown” This is literally “his native place” and refers to Nazareth (cf. Mar 1:9; Mar 1:24), where He grew up. It was twenty miles southeast of Capernaum. Apparently it was a recent settlement of Judeans.
“and His disciples followed Him” Jesus trained His disciples by taking them with Him at all times (see Robert Coleman’s The Master Plan of Evangelism). Much of Jesus’ teachings and miracles were for their benefit.
Mar 6:2 “to teach in the synagogue” Jesus regularly attended synagogue. He was often invited to speak as a guest teacher, which was a common practice.
“the many listeners were astonished” They did not disagree with His teachings, but questioned His qualifications and schooling. This is similar to the Pharisees questioning His authority.
“‘Where did this man get these things'” Jesus’ wisdom, power, and authority surprised everyone. As a child Jesus was just like the other village children. Different groups kept asking where these attributes came from? It was obvious to all that Jesus had great wisdom and authority!
“such miracles as these performed by His hands” Capernaum was only 20 miles from Nazareth so word of His miracles had spread.
Mar 6:3 “‘Is not this the carpenter'” The word for carpenter means “craftsman” which can mean a worker in wood, metal, or stone. Justin said it referred to someone who made ploughs and yokes (i.e., Dial. 88:8). Apparently Jesus had become the town carpenter after Joseph’s untimely death.
“‘the son of Mary'” Like “this man” of Mar 6:2, this may have been an attempt to show contempt. The townspeople would have known of Mary’s pregnancy. Origen says the original text read “the son of the carpenter and Mary” because it was so highly unusual for the mother to be mentioned. Because of Joh 8:41 some see this related to the widely spread rumor that Jesus was an illegitimate child of a Roman soldier. Most of the MSS variations are based on the theological bias of copyists who may have feared that the doctrine of the Virgin Birth was being comprised by the Matthean parallel phrase “the son of the carpenter and Mary” (cf. Mat 13:55).
“‘the brother of'” This shows the normal childhood of Jesus (cf. Luk 2:40; Luk 2:52). It also shows Mary had other children. Of this list of brothers and sisters (cf. Mat 13:55-56), two, James and Jude, are NT authors.
NASB”they took offense at Him”
NKJV”they were offended at Him”
NRSV”they took offense at him”
TEV”they rejected him”
NJB”they would not accept him”
This is the term skandalon, which meant a baited trap stick. We get the English term “scandal” from this Greek term.
This concept had great OT Messianic significance (cf. Psa 118:22; Isa 8:14; Isa 28:16). Just like the religious leaders the townspeople could not overcome their bias (cf. Mar 6:4).
Mar 6:4 “A prophet” Mar 6:4 was a popular proverb of Jesus’ day. Jesus was surely more than a prophet, but that was one of the titles used by Moses of God’s special coming One (cf. Deu 18:15; Deu 18:18).
Mar 6:5 “He could do no miracles there” This does not imply weakness on Jesus’ part, but willful limiting of His ministry. The Mat 13:58 parallel has “did not” instead of “could not.” Jesus was not a respecter of persons; He had no favorites. Luk 7:11-14 shows that Jesus did not always demand a faith response, but it was the normal prerequisite. Faith in God and in Jesus opens the door to the spiritual realm. How much faith is not as important as in whom it is placed!
“He laid His hands on a few sick people” See Special Topic at Mar 7:32.
Mar 6:6 a
NASB”He wondered at their unbelief”
NKJV”He marveled because of their unbelief”
NRSV”he was amazed at their unbelief”
TEV”He was greatly surprised, because the people did not have faith”
NJB”he was amazed at their lack of faith”
This is an imperfect active indicative, implying repeated action. Jesus was amazed by the peoples’ blindness and hardness (Jesus was rejected twice in Nazareth, cf. Luk 4:16-31). In the presence of great truth, even miraculous signs (cf. Mar 6:2), they refused to believe (cf. Isa 6:9-10).
Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley
into. Greek eis. App-104. Not the same as Mar 6:53.
His own country = His native country: i.e. Galilee, App-169. This was His second visit (Mat 13:54),
country. Greek. patris.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
1-6.] REJECTION OF JESUS BY HIS COUNTRYMEN AT NAZARETH. Mat 13:54-58, where see notes.
Fuente: The Greek Testament
Shall we turn to Mark’s gospel, chapter 6.
Jesus had been in the city of Capernaum there on the northern part of the Sea of Galilee. And He has just brought back to life the daughter of Jairus, one of the rulers of the synagogue there in Capernaum. Now He is leaving Capernaum and with His disciples He is returning back to His hometown of Nazareth. It’s probably thirty to thirty-five, well maybe forty miles from Capernaum to Nazareth.
And he went from thence ( Mar 6:1 ),
The thence would be Capernaum, the Sea of Galilee.
and came into his own country ( Mar 6:1 );
That is, His hometown of Nazareth.
and his disciples follow him. And when the sabbath day was come, he began to teach in the synagogue: and many hearing him were astonished, saying, From whence hath this man these things? and what wisdom is this which is given unto him, that even such mighty works are wrought by his hands? ( Mar 6:1-2 )
So, they were astonished, or the word in Greek is scandalon. They were stumbled by Him because they knew Him. And they said, “Where did He get all of this?”
Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary ( Mar 6:3 ),
The fact that He is referred to as the son of Mary would indicate that Joseph was already dead. Chances are that Joseph died rather early and that Jesus stayed at home until He was thirty years old in order to provide for the family. At the death of His father, He would have had to have been the family provider. Now, this word carpenter is in the Greek, an artificer. Actually, He was the kind of fellow that, no matter what you needed done, was just a handyman. He could make anything from scratch. So, anything from building a little shed to building a house, He was just one of those men skilled with His hands and was capable of doing just about anything. And He no doubt remained at home until the rest of His younger brothers and sisters were able to be out on their own. And so, they said,
Is this not the carpenter, the son of Mary, the brother of James, Joses, and of Juda, and Simon? and are not his sisters here with us? And they were offended at him ( Mar 6:3 ).
Scandalized, that would be a transliteration of the Greek word scandalon. He was a stumbling stone. It means a stumbling stone. They were stumbled at Him because they knew Him.
But Jesus said unto them, A prophet is not without honor, but in his own country, and among his own kin, and in his own house ( Mar 6:4 ).
So there’s an implication there that even His own brothers, His own kin did not really honor Him, His own house. But He’s not without honor; He goes elsewhere to get honor. But in His own country they don’t recognize Him; they refuse to recognize Him because they know Him.
And he could there do no mighty work, save that he laid his hands upon a few sick folk, and healed them. And he marveled because of their unbelief. And he went round about the villages, teaching ( Mar 6:5-6 ).
He didn’t do many marvelous works there in Nazareth simply because of the unbelief. The unbelief kept them from coming. Had they come, surely they could have been healed. But He just laid His hands upon a few of the sick folk, but there wasn’t any marvelous miracles wrought there in Nazareth as there had been around the Sea of Galilee. “And He went around the villages there teaching.”
And he called unto him the twelve, and began to send them forth by two and two; and gave them power over unclean spirits; and commanded them that they should take nothing for their journey, save a staff only [only their walking stick]; no scrip [but they were not to take any scrip], no bread, no money in their purse: but [they were to] be shod with sandals; and not put on [but they were not to take] two coats [two outer garments]. And he said unto them, In what place soever ye enter into a house, there abide till ye depart from that place. And whosoever shall not receive you, nor hear you, when ye depart thence [from there], shake off the dust under your feet for a testimony against them. Verily I say unto you, It shall be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgment, than for that city ( Mar 6:7-11 ).
Notice, the Lord does speak of degrees of judgment that will come upon people. Some people are concerned that all people receive the same punishment. Not so. Jesus said, “If a person knows the will of God and does not according to it and is doing evil, he will be beaten with many stripes. Yet, a person who has done things that really deserve or are worthy of many stripes because he did not know the will of the Father, will be beaten with few stripes. For unto whom much is given, much is required; to whom little is given, little is required.”
Now, He is saying that it’s going to be more tolerable for the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah in that day of judgment. Earlier He had said that the men of Sodom will arise with this generation and will condemn it. Or the men of Nineveh, rather, for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, “Behold, the greater than Jonah is here!” So, there will be degrees of judgment, punishment meted out by God. And we don’t know the final disposition that God will be making of the sinful people. There is not enough given to us in scripture to form hard, fast kind of judgments ourselves. That’s in God’s hand. I don’t know what God will do with that person who has never had the opportunity of knowing Jesus Christ or even hearing about Jesus Christ. I don’t know what God will do to them. The Bible isn’t specific in that area. I know it will be much easier on him than it will be on you if you have heard the gospel and reject it. So, rather than being so worried about him, you better start worrying about yourself. You see, you’re responsible for what you know. And he who knows the will of the Father and yet does not accordingly, that’s the fellow that’s in big trouble. And so, just what judgment and by what measure God is going to mete out, that’s something that He has reserved to Himself. And I’m glad for that.
There’s one occupation I would never want, and that is that of a judge. I just could not face that awesome responsibility of determining the sentences that should be meted out to men. You know, to determine whether or not a fellow is innocent or guilty, or the degree of guilty. That’s just something I really would never want to have to do. And I thank God I don’t have to.
So there will be degrees. More tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrah than for that city that rejected the disciples as they went out to witness for Him.
And they went out, and preached that men should repent ( Mar 6:12 ).
The same message that John the Baptist preached, “Repent, for the kingdom of God is at hand.” Change, turn.
And they cast out many devils, and anointed with oil many that were sick, and healed them ( Mar 6:13 ).
Now, in the epistle of James, he said, “Is there any sick among you? Let them call for the elders of the church, and let them anoint them with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord shall raise them up” ( Jas 5:14-15 ). Now, there are some Bible expositors who say that this word anoint is literally to massage. I don’t know. The Bible scholars say a lot of things I really don’t know about. If it were to massage, then it would seem to indicate that there was some kind of a healing process through the massaging with oil. That, I can’t believe. I believe that the anointing with oil was purely a symbolic act.
As last week we were sharing with you, the importance of having a point of contact for releasing faith. And how the woman coming through the crowd said, “If I can just but grasp onto His garment, I know that I will be healed.” And when she grasped His garment, immediately she felt in her body that she was healed. And Jesus stopped and said, “Who touched Me?” It was a point of contact where she released her faith and was healed. Faith was no longer just a passive thing to her; it became active, it was released. It wasn’t, “I know the Lord can, oh, I’m sure He’s able,” but, “I know He is now.” And it’s that “now” activating a faith. I believe that the anointing of oil has this very same value. It is a symbolic act; the oil is scripturally symbolic of the Holy Spirit. And so we as a church do practice anointing with oil. Not massaging, just anointing with oil in the name of the Lord; and the oil, being the symbol of the Holy Spirit. So on Saturday night, the elders gather and if there are any sick within the church, and you would like to have prayer by the elders of the church, you can come on Saturday evening to the library room. And there they minister to those that are sick, anointing with oil, praying for them. And the Lord is faithful and God has touched. And there have been many marvelous healings and miracles wrought through prayer there in the Saturday night prayer service. It’s not something that we make a big deal over. I don’t think God’s word makes that big a deal over it. We don’t try to glorify any individual through this prayer. We feel that the benefit of having the elders pray for you is that no person is singled out for glory; only the Lord is singled out for glory. So there isn’t the developing of some personality cult where “brother so-and-so laid his hands on me.” But, we would rather you to know that the Lord wants to lay His hand upon you. And He is so good; He uses such as us as His instruments, that through us He might do His work.
And so the disciples, as they went out, were anointing with oil. This is the first reference to it, and the only reference within the gospel. And the only other reference I know is in James where he just says, “If there’s any sick among you, let him call for the elders of the church.” We’ll get to James, maybe, if the Lord tarries. Many that were sick were thus healed.
And King Herod heard of him [Jesus]; (for his name was spread abroad;) and he said, That John the Baptist was risen from the dead, and therefore mighty works do show forth themselves in him. [But] others said, That it is Elias [Elijah]. And others said, That it is a prophet, or as one of the prophets. But when Herod heard thereof, he said, It is John, whom I beheaded: he is risen from the dead ( Mar 6:14-16 ).
Herod, no doubt, had a guilty conscience concerning John. This family of Herod had to be one of the most messed up families in history. It is so messed up that I would try and explain to you how messed up it is, but I’d probably get messed up trying to explain it. But this is Herod Antipas. He was the son of Herod the Great. Herod the Great was the one who was the Herod at the time of the birth of Jesus. He was the one to whom the wise men came and inquired of where the Messiah was to be born. He was the one who said, “Go search diligently for the young child. When you’ve found Him, come and let me know that I may come and worship Him.” He was the one that ordered all of the babies in the area of Bethlehem to be killed who were two years old and under. He was paranoid; he was always fearful that someone was going to try and kill him and take the throne.
Part of his paranoia was probably the result of the fact that he was such a little runt. He was about four feet, nine inches tall. And being a little man, he had great ambitions. And whenever he would build something, he would build it out of huge stones. The Western Wall of Jerusalem today is a testimony to the building prowess of this fellow Herod, these huge stones that make up the wall that was the retaining wall for the temple mount. The Herodian, out near Bethlehem and then the Masada, down near the Dead Sea; other tremendous building monuments that were done by Herod known as Herod the Great.
But because he was so paranoid, he married his first wife Doris who had a son, and he killed them both, that is Doris and the son. Then he married another woman named Miriam and she had two sons. Now, one of these two sons had a daughter named Herodias. Then, Herod got paranoid about Miriam and the two sons; he thought they were plotting against him, and so he put her to death and the two sons. And then he missed her after she was dead, and he began to mourn for her. And so, he built a tower and all there in Jerusalem as a monument to Miriam because he missed her so much. At this point, a saying developed, “It’s safer to be Herod’s pig than to be his son.” Because at this point he had wiped out both wives and all of their children. He sort of cooled down from this point onwards. He married another gal by the name of Miriam, had a son by the name of Herod Philip, who moved to Rome and was just a wealthy merchantman. But Herod Philip married his niece, Herodias, who was the daughter of the assassinated brother, who was a half-brother to Herod Philip. So, she was his wife and his niece all at the same time. Now, Herod married another gal and she had a couple of sons, of which one was Herod Antipas. This is the Herod in our story. Herod Antipas was the ruler over a portion of the kingdom that his father Herod the Great had ruled over. Over the area up in the Galilee region.
Now, Herod Antipas went to Rome and visited his half-brother, Herod Philip. Now, Herod Philip and Herodias, his niece, had a daughter that they named Solomane. And Herod Antipas, when he was in Rome visiting his brother, fell in love with Herodias, his brother’s wife who was also his niece, and talked her into leaving his brother, her husband, and marry him and return and reign with him in Galilee. Now, John the Baptist was a straight shooter. And John the Baptist spoke out against this unlawful action by Herod Antipas. And so, we read,
For Herod himself had sent forth and laid hold upon John, and bound him in prison for Herodias’ sake, his brother Philip’s wife; for he had married her. For John had said unto Herod, It is not lawful for thee to have thy brother’s wife ( Mar 6:17-18 ).
Now, Herod, he liked to listen to John; though he didn’t obey, he liked to listen to this guy. He was fascinated by John. But Herodias had it in for him. She was a very ambitious woman, scheming. Finally, she talked Herod Antipas to go to Rome and they, both of them, went to Rome together to ask the emperor to give him the title of king. The emperor of Rome, rather than giving him the title of king, banished him to gall. And that’s the end of Herod Antipas and the history of him. But, at this point, Herodias was really upset, because John had spoken out against their marriage, saying, “It isn’t lawful for you to have your brother’s wife.”
Therefore Herodias had a quarrel against him, and would have killed him ( Mar 6:19 );
She was so angry she would have killed him in the quarrel. John was just laying it on straight to her, and they were quarreling. She became angry, and had she been able to, she would have killed him. She was so angry with him.
but she could not: For Herod feared John, knowing that he was a just man and holy, and observed him [he listened to him]; and when he heard him, he did many things, and he heard him gladly ( Mar 6:19-20 ).
He liked listening, but it was some sort of a strange thing where a person likes to hear you, but yet, they don’t follow it.
And when a convenient day was come, that Herod on his birthday made a supper to his lords, [and] high captains, and [those] chief estates of Galilee; and when the daughter of the said Herodias came in, and danced, and pleased Herod and them that sat with him, the king said unto the damsel, Ask of me whatsoever thou wilt, and I will give it thee ( Mar 6:21-22 ).
Now, the solo dances by women in those days were very sensual and usually done only by prostitutes. And of course, the whole purpose was the inflaming of the passions. And that Herodias would allow her daughter to perform such a dance before these men show of what low moral character she was. She was a woman without morals, allowing her daughter to go before these men with this sensual dance. Herod, being aroused by the dance, pleased, he said unto her, “Ask me whatever you want and I will give it to you.”
And he sware unto her, Whatsoever thou shalt ask of me, I will give thee, unto the half of my kingdom ( Mar 6:23 ).
It must have been quite a dance.
And she went forth, and said unto her mother, What shall I ask? And she said, The head of John the Baptist. And she came in straightway [immediately] with haste unto the king, and [she] asked, saying, I will that thou give me by and by [immediately] in a charger the head of John the Baptist. And the king was exceeding sorry; yet for his oath’s sake, and for their sakes which [of those that] sat with him, he would not reject her ( Mar 6:24-26 ).
He had put himself in a corner, and because of the oath and the fact that it was done in front of these fellows he couldn’t back down. Pride wouldn’t let him. And so, he did that unlawful murderous thing, adding sin to sin, compounding the situation.
and he went and beheaded him in the prison, and brought his head in a charger, and gave it to the damsel; and the damsel gave it to her mother. And when the disciples heard of it, they came and took up the corpse, and laid it in a tomb [buried it] ( Mar 6:27-29 ).
Now, Herod, no doubt, had a guilty conscience over this that lasted. So later on when he heard the fame of Jesus, heard the miracles of Jesus, he heard of Him, “There’s a fellow there doing all kinds of miracles.” He said, “It’s John the Baptist; he’s come back from the dead.” It was a haunting guilt of his deed. He couldn’t get John out of his mind. Perhaps he was even comforted by the thought that it must be John the Baptist come back from the dead, because he knew that what he had done was wrong. And that’s the end of that particular segment of the story.
Now we come back. “Meanwhile, back at the ranch…”
Jesus had sent his apostles out to minister. And now, they come back from this preaching mission.
And the apostles gathered themselves together unto Jesus, and [they] told him all [of the] things, both what they had done, and what they had taught ( Mar 6:30 ).
They were sharing with Him the marvelous meetings, the conversions, the healings, the power, the glory of their experience of going out in His name and preaching His gospel. Having received their reports,
And he said unto them, Come ye yourselves apart into a desert place, and [let’s] rest a while: for there were [so] many [people who were] coming and going, and they had no leisure [time], so much as to eat [not even enough time to sit down and eat] ( Mar 6:31 ).
Now, they have enough time to grab something as you’re going by the table, but in those days eating was a big ceremony. You sat down and you really made a big deal out of eating. And they didn’t have any time for that. They were being too pressured by the crowd. So, Jesus, seeing the pressure, the weariness, invited them to go over to the other side of the lake where it was more of a deserted area that they might just rest. It probably sounded great to the disciples.
And they departed into a desert place by ship privately. And the people saw them departing, and many knew him [They knew who it was], and [so they] ran afoot thither out of all cities, and outwent them ( Mar 6:32-33 ),
Now, Capernaum is at the northern end of the Sea of Galilee. It’s only about six miles wide; you can see all the way across the Sea. And so, it was easy for them to watch the direction the little boat was going. And so, they just ran around the upper end of the island. And as they passed through Bethsaida, Koraisan and those cities, people no doubt questioned them where they were going. You know, if you see someone running and you think, “Well, what’s going on?” You see a group of people running and you say, “Hey, what’s happening?” “Oh, Jesus is going to be landing over here on the other side.” “Oh, alright.” And so, a big group of people joined them out of each of the cities. Until finally, when Jesus landed with his disciples, there were at least five thousand men beside the women and children that were waiting for the little boat to dock. At this point, I can imagine that the disciples were rather irritated with the inconsiderate nature of the people. “You know, don’t you realize that we’re needing rest, we want rest, we need to get away? We want to relax.” And you’re tired, easy to get irritated. And I’m sure that the disciples were irritated with this crowd.
And Jesus . . . was moved with compassion toward them ( Mar 6:34 ),
Rather than being irritated, it touched Him; it touched His heart. “Oh, these blessed people, so hungry for God, a real experience with God.” And He was moved with compassion, because He looked at them in an entirely different light. Whereas the disciples were perhaps looking at them as a nuisance, Jesus saw them as poor little sheep without a shepherd. They don’t know where they’re going; they’re lost. They have no defense.
because they were as sheep not having a shepherd [but He saw them as sheep without a shepherd] ( Mar 6:34 ):
And because He had the heart of a shepherd, it touched Him; it moved Him.
and he began to teach them many things. And when the day was now far spent [getting evening], his disciples came unto him [with a problem], and said, [Look,] This is a desert place, and now the time is far passed [it’s getting late], [Lord: you better] send them away, that they may go into the country round about, and into the villages, and buy themselves bread: for they have nothing to eat. He answered and said unto them, give ye them to eat [Well, give them something to eat]. And they say unto him, Shall we go and buy two hundred pennyworth of bread, and give them to eat? [ What do you mean? You want us to go into town and try and buy five thousand dollars worth of bread, so we can feed these people?] He saith unto them, How many loaves have ye? go and see.[Well, how much bread do you have? Go out and check.] And when they knew, they say, Five, and two fishes. [So, they went out and checked and they came back, and they said, “Well, there’s a little kid here that has five loaves and two fish. That’s all we’ve got.”] And he commanded them to make all sit down by companies upon the green grass. And they sat down in ranks, by hundreds, and fifties. And when he had taken the five loaves and the two fishes, he looked up to heaven, and blessed, and brake the loaves, and gave them to his disciples to set before them; and the two fishes divided he among them all. And they did all eat, and were filled. ( Mar 6:34-42 ).
That particular Greek word translated filled would be better translated glutted, literally translated glutted. “They all ate and were glutted.” I mean, they ate until they couldn’t eat any more.
And they took up twelve baskets full of the fragments, and of the fishes. And they that did eat of the loaves were about five thousand men ( Mar 6:43-44 ).
So, the first of the two recorded incidences where Jesus miraculously fed the multitude with just a few loaves of bread. Here, five thousand men beside women and children, probably ten to fifteen thousand people being fed by five little sandwich loaves and two little fish. But then, collecting, that’s the interesting thing, collecting twelve baskets full of the fragments after everyone was glutted.
And straightway [immediately] he constrained his disciples to get into the ship, and to go to the other side before unto Bethsaida, while he sent away the people. And when he had sent them away, he departed into a mountain to pray ( Mar 6:45-46 ).
A busy day. You try to escape for rest. You arrive on the shore and there’s ten thousand people waiting for you. And so you give of yourself until it’s late in the evening, and then you perform the miracle. Now you must really be ready for that rest. He ordered His disciples to get into the ship and to head back over to the other side, passing by Bethsaida to get on over, while He Himself sent away the multitude of people. But then, you need rest. And how did He find His rest? He departed into a mountain to pray. He found strength always through prayer. It was a place of rest and a place of strengthening. Oh, that we would learn the strength of prayer. Again, one of the greatest encouragements to pray or the greatest display of our need for prayer is the fact that Jesus prayed. Now, if He felt prayer was such an essential part of His own life, being who He was, how much more essential is prayer to us? If He felt that He could not get along without it, how in the world do you think you can get by without it? Prayer surely is one of the most neglected spiritual functions in the body of Christ. It’s something that you need to seriously consider. I am certain that the world would be much better off today if there were more people praying. Our lives would be much better off if we prayed more. God help us. There’s tremendous power that has been made available to each of us, but we must take advantage of it through prayer.
And when even was come [it was now night], the ship was in the midst of the sea, and he [was] alone on the land. And he saw them toiling in rowing ( Mar 6:47-48 );
I told you see the Sea of Galilee is not very wide at that point. It is possible that it was a full moon night. If so, on a full moon you can see across the sea and everything that’s on the sea. That full moon is so bright over there you can’t believe it. And you could see them as the moon, of course, was reflecting across the water.
for the wind was contrary unto them [a wind had come up and it was against them] ( Mar 6:48 ):
But they were rowing. Now, I like this, because they were in this position because Jesus had commanded them to get in the ship and go. Obeying the command of Christ, they were actually being put in a position of strain. You who think that by following the will of the Lord everything is going to be just so rosy, peaches and cream, you’ve got another thing coming. Jesus ordered them to go across the sea against the wind, against the storm. He put them in this position of toil and strain, and they were already weary and tired. But I love their dogged obedience.
Now, it would have been a lot easier for them to just turn the boat around and row with the thing on back, you know. “Why try and fight this, you know?” Because you’re rowing and you’re not going anywhere, you know. Here’s the candlelight of Bethsaida off to the right side and, I guess if you’re going backwards it’d be off to your left side. But, you know, you’re rowing and the lights are still in the same place after an hour. “Oh, no. But Jesus told us to go.” And they were in this condition because they were obeying the command of the Lord. I love it.
And the Lord sat there watching them. He saw them toiling in rowing, the wind was contrary. Now,
and about the fourth watch of the night ( Mar 6:48 )
I mean, He really let them go at it for a while, because the fourth watch of the night begins Act 3:00 in the morning. The fourth watch Isa 3:00 in the morning to Mar 6:00 in the morning. So I mean, these guys had really been going at it, and Jesus just sitting there watching them. “Lord, it’s not fair.”
And about the fourth watch of the night he cometh unto them, walking upon the sea, and would have passed by them [acted like he was just going to walk right past them] ( Mar 6:48 ).
Someone asked me if I thought that Jesus ever laughed. I think He has a tremendous sense of humor. You know, they’re toiling, they’re rowing and all, and He comes walking across the sea; you know, just like He doesn’t see them, like He’s walking right past them.
But when they saw him walking upon the sea, they supposed it had been a spirit, and cried out [thought it’s got to be a ghost, and they started crying out in fear]: for they all saw him, and were troubled. And immediately he talked with them, and saith unto them, Be of good cheer: it is I; be not afraid. And he went up unto them into the ship; and the wind ceased: and they were sore amazed in themselves beyond measure, and [they] wondered. For they considered not the miracle of the loaves [feeding of the five thousand with just the five loaves and two fish]; for their heart was hardened ( Mar 6:49-52 ).
It was just, they saw it, but they didn’t.
And when they had passed over, they came into the land of Gennesaret, and drew [near] to shore ( Mar 6:53 ).
So, they didn’t go to Capernaum, but actually a little south from Capernaum to the area of Gennesaret, which is near the little area of Magdala from which Mary Magdalene came. Now, you that have been to Israel have the advantage of being able to picture all of this in your mind.
And they came into the land of Gennesaret, and drew to the shore. And when they were come out of the ship, straightway they knew him [as soon as they got out of the boat, the people recognized him], and ran through that whole region round about, and began to carry about in beds those that were sick, where they heard he was. And whithersoever he entered, into villages, or cities, or country, they laid the sick in the streets, and besought [they begged] him that they might touch if it were but the border of his garment: and as many as touched him were made whole ( Mar 6:53-56 ).
So that woman who had first touched the Lord sort of opened up an area where many people then came to the place of releasing their faith by touching Him. “And as many as touched were made whole.” “
Fuente: Through the Bible Commentary
Mar 6:1.[45] , follow) Although they were not all admitted to see the raising of Jairus daughter.
[45] ) from thence: this term has a wider sense in this passage of Mark than in Mat 13:53, and has respect to the whole sojourn of the Saviour at Capernaum and the adjacent district. Jairus dwelt in Capernaum; and, not long after the resurrection of his daughter, the parables recorded in Matthew 13, etc., were put forth near Capernaum.-Harm., p. 325.
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
Mar 6:1-6
SECTION SIX
OPINIONS OF MEN, AND MORE MIRACLES
Mark 6:1 to 7:23
1. OPINION OF THE NAZARENES
Mar 6:1-6
(Mat 13:54-58; Luk 4:16-31)
1 And he went out from thence;–From Capernaum, where he had raised from the dead the (laughter of Jairus. Not only from the house of Jairus, but from the city of Capernaum. Then ended his stay in Capernaum.
and he cometh into his own country;–Nazareth and its neighborhood. His mother and Joseph lived here before his birth (Luk 1:26-27; Luk 2:4), and Jesus was reared there (Mat 2:23; Mar 1:9; Luk 2:39; Luk 2:41; Luk 2:51), and was called a “Nazarene” (Mat 2:23; Mar 1:24). Nazareth is not mentioned in the Old Testament, but occurs first in Matthew (Mat 2:23). It derives its celebrity from its connection with the history of Christ.
and his disciples follow him.–The twelve (verse 7) and probably many others who went with him from place to place.
2 And when the sabbath was come, he began to teach in the synagogue:–[Synagogues had been built in all the towns of Judea, Samaria, and Galilee, and in the towns of the heathen nations wherever Jews in any number dwelled. The synagogue was the house of meeting. With the building of the synagogue came the weekly meeting, reading the scriptures, and the abandonment of idol worship by the Jews. They met in the synagogues every Sabbath to read the scriptures. Jesus, in traveling around through the country, habitually entered the synagogues on the Sabbath to read the scriptures and teach the people. In these teaching journeys he healed the sick and relieved the suffering, and was praised and glorified of all. The early ministry of Jesus had a seeming success that the latter did not. This is often true of any cause. Truth commends itself to the hearts of the common people. Often a cause is popular until the opposition has time to organize and strengthen itself, and then difficulties arise, old prejudices are aroused. Then the fairweather friends turn back and walk no more with the truth; only the true and steadfast will stand in such trials.]
and many hearing him were astonished,–Probably the multitude is meant. There was a freshness, an originality in his teachings that compelled their attention and excited their wonder.
saying, Whence hath this man these things?–The designation is contemptuous–“this man” that we all know. The wisdom with which he spake created the inquiry into these things.
and, What is the wisdom that is given unto this man,–[Jesus manifested no miraculous power until the Holy Spirit came upon him as he came up out of the waters of baptism. After he received this Spirit and had been tempted he returned into Galilee, working miracles through the power bestowed upon him, and the fame of this power went abroad throughout Galilee and adjoining countries.]
and what mean such mighty works–There were whispers already circulating that he had learned in some way, since his residence in Nazareth, to use the powers of the Prince of Darkness, and this was the explanation of his miracles.
wrought by his hands?–Which so recently were employed in servile and mechanical work. Let the Lord’s day find you at the Lord’s house, and let it find you ready to teach always the clear revelation of God’s will which must be an astonishment to the worldly.
3 Is not this the carpenter,–Not as indicating that that business is low or unworthy, but as putting him on a level with themselves. Among the Jews there was nothing degrading in a trade. Even the rabbis learned trades. Said they, “He who does not teach his son a trade, is much the same as if he taught him to be a thief.” “A boy with a trade is like a garden well fenced.” Justin Martyr says that Jesus made plows and the like. Matthew has, “Is not this the carpenter’s son?” indicating his reputed sonship to Joseph. Probably both sentences were uttered in the busy whispering which went on in the congregation.
the son of Mary,–His mother was also well known. Joseph, perhaps, now was no longer living, otherwise it would have been natural for his name to have been mentioned here. In his previous visit they spoke of him as “Joseph’s son,” a reference to Joseph as then living, or still remembered. (Luk 4:22.)
and brother of James, and Joses, and Judas, and Simon?–Words should be taken in their first and ordinary meaning, unless there are some reasons for not doing so. These reasons are entirely wanting, and these “brothers” are to be considered the sons of Mary. (Mat 12:46; Gal 1:19.) The scriptures allude to Mary as the wife of Joseph and the mother of Jesus, her first born. (Mat 1:25; Luk 2:7.)
and are not his sisters here with us?–After Jesus was born, Mary became the mother of at least six other children. The fair interpretation of this passage is that these were the sons and daughters of Joseph and Mary. The people in the neighborhood thought so, and spoke of them as such.
and they were offended in him.–That is, the foolish prejudice arising from familiarity, and disinclination to allow their equals to be exalted above themselves, caused them to stumble at his claims, and finally reject them.
4 And Jesus said unto them, A prophet is not without honor, save in his own country,–A proverbial saying, doubtless, and expressing a worldwide truth. It is rarely that a community realizes the greatness of its own sons till they come back with the stamp of greatness from the outer world. Cities contend to be considered the birthplace of men dead, who could scarcely find shelter therein when living. This is a fact in human experience, presenting a general truth, of which the treatment of Jesus in the present instance was an example. A stranger sees the public and spiritual acts of a prophet, and recognizes his heavenly character; but neighbors and acquaintances fix their thoughts upon his earthly relationships, to a partial or total exclusion of his higher excellences, and thus come to a wrong conclusion. Prejudice and rejection are the result. That our Lord as a prophet should receive such treatment was highly unreasonable and wicked on the part of his former neighbors and acquaintances. His wisdom and miracles should have overcome all prejudice and unbelief.
and among his own kin, and in his own house.–Among his relatives, and in his own family, with whom he was brought up from childhood. His brothers did not believe on him. (Joh 7:3-5.) This proverb was strikingly illustrated in this instance, when the Son of God himself, with power to work miracles, could prove to be no exception to the general rule as expressed by this saying. Jesus advances this as a general truth. There might be some exceptions to it, but he was not an exception. Everywhere else he had been more honored than at home.
5 And he could there do no mighty work,–A most significant sentence this, as showing even the miracles of Jesus to depend upon the receptivity of the subject. Their prejudices kept them from hearty faith in him; and this seems to have extended to almost the entire community. They did not believe, and they could not be healed. The frequent mention of faith as the medium of healing in the miracles that he wrought prepares us for this as an explanation of failure. It applies as well to the healing of the malady of the soul. It depends upon the sinner as much as upon God. The teaching that faith is a direct, special, and irresistible gift of God is untrue, because then the Savior would have been without excuse in failing to heal. The needy one exercises faith, and instantly the healing power responds. The reason for not doing mighty works was unbelief.
And he went round about the villages teaching.them.–[They had heard the report of his healing the afflicted in Capernaum, but did not believe it, so asked that he should do the same in Nazareth. Jesus had grown up quietly as a boy among them, with no display of power. They were slow to believe great and wonderful things of him, and demanded the evidence in a spirit that hindered his doing it. Their spirit was one of defiant unbelief like that which demanded, “Let him come down from the cross” if he be the Son of God. He stated the truth that we are slow to believe one reared among us, whom we have known as a common associate, as our companion and equal, can do great things. He had done many works in Capernaum–more than he had in his native city.]
6 And he marvelled because of their unbelief.–He is spoken of here simply in his humanity. To his serene spirit, which lived in an atmosphere of perfect faith, it was a marvel that his countrymen, the chosen people of God, should reject salvation when it came directly to their doors.
And he went round about the villages teaching.–Practically shut out from the city, he would not abandon the district, and therefore went among the little hamlets of which there were so many in Palestine, where no houses are built entirely alone. Not being received in Nazareth, his own city, he pursued the course he required of his disciples, by going to other places. Though rejected in his own city and by his own people, he did not allow this to keep him from going on with his mission. He moved on in his field of operation, from village to village. He now leaves Nazareth forever. A sad thought indeed.
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
“He could there do no mighty work.” Not that He in Himself was unable, for His hands laid on a few sick folk brought healing, but that the condition of wilful and persistent unbelief limited the power of the people to receive.
This is the first sending forth of the twelve. There are three definite points of equipment, and they cover the whole area of necessity, from minute detail to the utmost limit of their work.
1. They were “to go shod with sandals.”
2. They were to go two by two.
3. They were to go provided with His authority. His parting instructions were very simple, yet drastic. They went, and preached, and healed.
The fame of Jesus spread, and reached the court of Herod. He, utterly depraved, and unscrupulous, trembled with fear. Why should Herod have feared? The very fame of Jesus was a continuity of the messages of the forerunner; and Herod, unable to recognize the King, feared the gruesome reappearance of the dead. So does sin make cowards of men when the Light approaches.
The messengers returned to tell Jesus their doings and teachings, and they went away together. The crowds saw them departing, and outran them round the shore. When He saw that waiting multitude, with its deep need, He was moved with compassion and “began to teach them many things.” Then He fed them. Then He sent the disciples away. The reason for this is found in Joh 6:14-15, where we are told, “They would have taken Him by force and made Him a King.” He would have no kingship based only on a selfish satisfaction.
Fuente: An Exposition on the Whole Bible
REJECTION AT NAZARETH
6:1-6. Jesus visits Nazareth, and teaches in the synagogue. His countrymen express their surprise at the wisdom and power displayed by one so obscure in his origin, and Jesus is prevented by their unbelief from the usual exercise of his healing gifts.
1. -And he went out thence. With these words Mk. connects this visit with the events of the preceding chap.
Mt. places this visit after the parables, saying expressly that it was after he had ended these parables1 (13:54-58). Lk. tells us of a visit to Nazareth at the beginning of his ministry, 4:16-30, in which Jesus quotes the same parable as in this visit, of the prophet not without honor except in his own country. And the position in which he places this rejection at the beginning of the ministry in Galilee, and just before the record of the beginning of Jesus residence in Capernaum, seems to indicate a connection between these events in the authors mind. However, Lk. inserts in v. 23 a reference to works done in Capernaum, which is inconsistent with the place which he assigns to the visit, previous to the settlement in Capernaum. Mt. also notes the leaving Nazareth and settling in Capernaum, but places this present event after the parables. The accounts cannot be harmonized, except on the supposition of a repetition of the visit to Nazareth, and his rejection there. It is easy enough to suppose that Jesus visited his family several times, and met this ungracious reception at the hands of his countrymen, but it is also quite evident that the Evangelists have got hold of one story, marked by the same details throughout, and have placed this one rejection in different parts of the Gospel. Two things are evident in regard to the chronological arrangement of the Gospels; first, that the Evangelists intended to make such an arrangement, and secondly, that their several arrangements do not always agree.
-his own country. Nazareth is the place meant, the residence of his family, and where he had lived himself up to the beginning of his public ministry.
comes, instead of came, Tisch. Treg. WH. RV. BCLD Harcl. marg.
2. . There was no regularly appointed person to perform this office in the synagogue, but the might select any one to read the lessons and to preach.1 If any Rabbi was present, they would avail themselves of him for the purpose. Jesus used this opportunity as long as it was open to him, but he seems to have been denied the synagogue after a time.
-and the many hearing him.
Insert before , Tisch. (Treg. marg.) WH. RV.marg. BL 13, 28, 69.
The many means here the multitude, all except a few.2
;-Whence to this man these things? The demonstratives bring into sharp contrast the man and the things done by him; this man of whom we know everything and nothing great, and these wonderful things. The same thing is repeated in the next clause, where replaces in the Crit. text. They imply by their question, which is evidently contemptuous in its tone, that these things are unaccountable, and their inference is not creditable to him, as it might easily be, from such facts. They reason that anything legitimate of this kind would have shown itself in his early life. . With this reading, the question in this v. resolves itself into three, or rather two questions and an exclamation. The substitution of the participle for the verb in the last part makes it an exclamation. The picture is of several groups of objectors, of which one throws out the sneer, Whence to this one these things? another takes it up in the same tone, And what is the wisdom given to this one? and a third exclaims, And such miracles done through his hands!
, instead of , after , Tisch. Treg. WH. RV. BCL Memph. (most mss. Lat. Vet. Vulg. illi). Omit before *et c ABC2 EFGHLMSUV 1, 13, 28, 33, 69, mss. Lat. Vet. Vulg. Memph. , instead of , Treg. WH. RV. *et c BL 33, mss. Lat. Vet. Memph.
3. -the wood-worker. Mt. says ,-the son of the carpenter, 13:55. The word , which is found in the N.T. only in these two parallel passages, means any worker in wood, rarely in any other substance. -the son of Mary. The dropping out of Joseph in the gospel narrative probably indicates his death before this time of Jesus ministry. -and brother. On the nature of this relation, see on 3:18. It should be added, in proof of the improbability that these were anything else than brothers of Jesus, that Luk 2:7 speaks of Jesus as the first-born son. There is no more baseless, nor for that matter, prejudiced theory, in the whole range of Biblical study, than that which makes Jesus the only child of Mary.
, instead of , Tisch. Treg. WH. RV. BCDL one ms. Lat. Vet. Memph. Pesh.
-they were made to stumble in him, prevented from proper action by what they saw in him. On the meaning of the verb, see on 4:17. The prep. denotes the person in whom the stumbling block is found. But its use in such a connection is unusual in Greek. And the repetition of the exact language in Mat 13:57 furnishes another item in the linguistic proof of the interdependence of the Synoptical Gospels.
4. -And Jesus said to them.
, instead of , Tisch. Treg. WH. RV. BCDL 33, most mss. Lat. Vet. Vulg. Memph. Pesh.
-a prophet. The word means in classical Greek an interpreter of the gods, or of their oracles, and then in general, a seer. In the Biblical usage, it denotes an inspired teacher.
-kinsmen.1
, instead of , Tisch. Treg. WH. B* D2 EFGHLUV 1, 33, 69, 124, 209, 262, 271, 346. Insert after , Tisch. Treg. WH. RV. BC* KLM2 ( ) 28, 71, 218, 235, most mss. Lat. Vet. Vulg. Memph. Syrr.
This proverb has various forms, among them the one stating the principle on which they are all based being Familiarity breeds contempt. It applies exactly to the case of our Lord at Nazareth, where he was brought up, and in that early private life showed no signs of the supernatural powers of his public ministry. There is always some difference that separates public from private life, a man not being called upon for the same exercise of his powers in the one as in the other. And to the unthinking person, this is a defect, because it seems to indicate something unreal, put on for the occasion, in the greatness of the man in whom it appears. And of course, if there is any real descent, the charge is true. But in the case of our Lord, there was only the difference that naturally belongs to the difference of the two spheres. In the same way, a statesman does not continually air his wisdom in private, which may be a sign of his greatness.
5. -he could not. Of course, this was a moral inability. Jesus required faith for the performance of his miracles, and that was wanting here; nay, there was a positive disbelief, no mere doubt. He found elsewhere a poor wavering faith, but not enough lack to hinder his work of physical healing, though it kept him out of mens souls. But here the general unbelief of the nation reached its climax, and prevented even this one good that his countrymen generally permitted him to do them.
-except that he healed.1 -sick folk EV.2
6. -he marvelled at their unbelief.3
, instead of , Tisch. WH. BE*.
Jesus wonder was a part of his humanity. He had a wonderful intuitive knowledge of men, and his proverb shows that he traced this unbelief to its source; he could account for it, that is to say: but it exceeded his expectations, and excited his wonder.
-he went round about the villages. Jesus had left Capernaum for a time, and being rebuffed at Nazareth, he does not return to the former place, but makes a tour of the villages about Nazareth.
MISSION OF THE TWELVE
7-13. Jesus sends out the twelve to aid him in his more extended work. His instructions to them.
Jesus is now engaged in one of those journeys through Galilee, in which he branches out from his more restricted work in the neighborhood of Capernaum, and instead of keeping the twelve with him after his ordinary custom, he sends them out in groups of two to help him in his work of proclaiming the kingdom, and preaching repentance, and healing the sick. His instructions, which are evidently practical in their nature, not ascetic, nor involving any important principle, are that they should not encumber themselves with any unnecessary outfit, nor spend their time in finding better entertainment than that which first offers itself in any place that they enter.
7. -This statement belongs immediately with the preceding . Evidently, this mission of the twelve is for the purposes of this wider work undertaken by him. In this going around from place to place, this attempt to cover more ground than usual, he calls in the aid of his disciples. -Since the appointment of the apostles, this is the first mention of such a general circuit as this, and hence this is designated as the beginning of Jesus sending them forth. So Meyer and others. Morison treats it as an idiosyncrasy of Marks, a part of his vividness of style. And I am inclined to agree with him, that the general use of this verb in the Gospels is periphrastic and peculiar, many of the cases not yielding to treatment. But it is not peculiar to Mk., and this is a case in which there is evidently a beginning pointed out.
-two by two.1 . -authority over the unclean spirits. This is to Mk. the representative miracle, being mentioned by him frequently as if it were by itself, where it is evident that it must have been accompanied by other miracles. See 1:39, 3:15, Tex. Crit. It was so accompanied in this case. See v. 13
8. -This was to be the only addition to their home outfit, the only thing that they were to take for the road. Mt. and Lk. do not make this exception, but expressly include the stick among the prohibited things. , -no bread, no wallet (or haversack). This order, adopted by Tisch. Treg. WH. RV. is the natural order. The words belong together, as do and . is a leather sack, haversack, used to carry provisions. is the girdle or belt, in which they carried money. means brass, or copper, and secondarily, money of any kind.
, instead of , Tisch. Treg. WH. RV. BCL 33, Memph.
9. -The participle is put in the acc. as if to agree with a preceding acc. with an inf. The command to wear sandals seems superfluous, but it is really a part of the injunction against any luxury in their outfit, being contrasted with shoes protecting the upper part of the feet as well as the soles. There is no contradiction between this and the command not to buy sandals for the journey, Mat 10:9, the latter being directed against the purchase of extra sandals over and above what they were wearing. But, while there is no contradiction, there is a difference; they are two orders about this same matter of sandals. All that we can gather about it is, that Jesus gave some direction about sandals in connection with the general direction for simplicity of equipment, of which the several Gospels have preserved different accounts. -do not wear two tunics.1 Mt. and Lk. say that they were not to have or provide two tunics. But this forbids their wearing two, referring to a custom of dress belonging to persons of distinction, who wore two , an inner and an outer. See Bib. Dic., article Dress, and Dic. of Antiq., article Tunica. In general, these directions are against luxury in their equipment, and also against their providing themselves with what they could procure from the hospitality of others. Evidently, if they took no food and no money, this dependence on others would be their only resort. See Mat 10:10.
Treg. marg. WH. read , which is also the reading of Beza and Elzevir, with B2 S *. L and some others read . Improbable and unsupported.
10. -there thence. The first of these refers to in the preceding, and the second to . They were to remain in the one house until they left the place. This injunction is directed evidently against a restless and dissatisfied changing from one house to another. They were to be satisfied with the hospitality offered them. See Luk 10:7.
11. , -With this reading, the subject changes in the second clause, so that it reads, whatever place does not receive you, and they do not hear you.
, instead of , Tisch. Treg. WH. RV. BL gr 13, 28, 69, 124, 346, Memph. Harcl. marg.
-This was a symbolical act, signifying that the actor considered even the dust of the place as defiling. See Luk 10:11. -for a testimony unto them, not against them. It was to testify to the men themselves what the act signifies, viz. that these heralds of the Kingdom of God shook off all association with them as defiling. The rest of the verse is to be omitted. It is evidently copied from Mat 10:15.
Omit , Verily I say unto you, to end of verse, Tisch. Treg. WH. RV. BCDL 17, 28, most mss. Lat. Vet. Vulg.
12. -they made proclamation that men should repent. On the meaning of the verbs, see on 1:4. with the subj. denotes the contents of their proclamation, the same as the inf., not its purpose. See Win. 44, 8, a.1
, instead of , Tisch. Treg. WH. RV. BCDL Pesh. Harcl. marg.
13. -they anointed with oil. This is the only place in the N.T., except Jam 5:14, in which anointing and healing are mentioned together. Anointing was a frequent specific, however, in ordinary medical treatment, and this would suggest its use in the symbolism of supernatural healing. -this word occurs only four times in the N.T., and two of these, the only ones in Mk., are this and v. 5 In this account of what the disciples did, we have the purpose of their mission, which is only implied in v. 7.
HERODS CONJECTURE
14-16. Herod hears of the miracles performed by the disciples, and explains them by the supposition that Jesus is John the Baptist, whom he has beheaded, and who has risen from the dead.
Herod Antipas, the tetrarch of Galilee, from his residence at Tiberias on the southern shore of the lake, would not hear much of Jesus. Our Lord never went there himself, owing probably to the unsympathetic attitude of the court, and its corrupting influence on the Jewish element of the population.2 But it is possible that the disciples, in this more extended tour, had come near enough to attract the attention of Herod, who was usually careless of the religious, or even of the possible political aspects of Jesus work. And the king, so called by courtesy, conscience stricken by his execution of John the Baptist, thinks that these miracles of which he hears are the work of the resurrected prophet.
14. -the object of this verb is evidently the things just narrated, the work accomplished by the twelve. -this explains the preceding statement, showing how the works of the disciples led to these conjectures of Herod and others in regard to Jesus himself. Jesus became known through the works of his disciples, and hence Herod found it necessary to account for him in some way.
The Herod who beheaded John was Herod Antipas, son of Herod the Great and Malthace, and in the partition of his fathers kingdom, he was made tetrarch of Galilee and Pera.1
-and he said that John has risen from the dead.
, and they said, Treg. marg. WH. RV.marg. BD 6, 271 mss. of Lat. Vet. Improbable, as it makes Herod take up a common rumor, v.16, whereas it is evident that this strange conjecture started with the kings conscience. , instead of , Tisch. Treg. WH. RV. BDL 33, Latt. Memph. Pesh.
Herods superstition and his guilty conscience raised this ghost to plague him. It has been suggested that Herod makes the statement in regard to Johns resurrection in order to account for the difference between his natural life, in which he performed no miracles, and this report of wonderful works. But it seems doubtful if Herod went so curiously into the matter as this. Rather, he wishes to account for these phenomena, and he does it by attributing them to a man who had proved himself so far above mortal man by his own resurrection, that any other wonders seemed natural for him. -the powers work in him, are active in him. In conjunction with a verb like , returns to its proper meaning of powers.
15. -And others said.
Insert after Tisch. Treg. WH. RV. ABCDEHKLS Latt. Memph. Harcl.
-Referring to the expectation that Elijah would return to the earth before the great day of the Lord (Mal 4:5). -that it is a prophet like one of the prophets. The words do not express the idea that he was just a prophet, like one of the ordinary prophets, in distinction from the great prophet Elijah. This would require the idea of ordinariness to be more definitely expressed. It is the likeness to the old prophets, rather than unlikeness to some special one of them, that is meant to be emphasized. We do not need to suppose that these different opinions were expressed by people in conversation with each other, which would lead us to dwell on the points of contrast. But it is quite probable that they were isolated statements, uttered at different times, and brought together here.
Omit after , Tisch. Treg. WH. RV. BC* L 1, 28, 33, 209. Omit , or, before , Tisch. Treg. WH. RV. ABCL mss. Lat. Vet. Vulg. Memph. Pesh.
16. , -Herod said, John, whom I beheaded.
, instead of , Tisch. Treg. WH. RV. BCL 33, one ms. Lat. Vet. Omit before , Tisch, Treg. WH. RV. BDL 1, 28, 33, 67, 124, 209, Latt. Syrr.
Herods conjecture does stand in contrast with these others, of which he has heard. -Herod dwells upon the thought, that this prophet who has now risen from the dead was beheaded by himself. Hence the relative clause, which contains this statement of the beheading, is placed first and is expressed.
, -John, this one was raised.1
Omit , after , Tisch. Treg. WH. RV. * et c BDL 69, 106, 346, mss. Lat. Vet. Vulg. (Memph.). Omit , from the dead, after , Tisch. (Treg.) WH. RV. BL 33, Memph. Hier.
-this one was raised. The pronoun, which is not necessary to the construction, is introduced in order to continue the solemn emphasis of the whole statement. Luk 9:7-9 says that Herod was perplexed by the report that John had risen from the dead, and said, John I beheaded, but who is this? exactly reversing the positions of Herod and of the other parties to this discussion in our account.
IMPRISONMENT AND EXECUTION OF JOHN
17-29. Mk. tells the story of Johns imprisonment and death at the hands of Herod, in order to explain Herods allusion to his beheading of John.
Mk. has alluded to the fate of the Baptist, and now proceeds to tell the story of it. Herod Antipas had been married to a daughter of Aretas, king of Arabia, but on a visit to Jerusalem he had become enamoured of Herodias, the wife of his disinherited brother, and herself a member of the Herodian family, and had contracted an adulterous marriage with her. Here is where Mk. takes up the story, with Johns reproof of this adultery. It incensed Herodias especially, and though Herod imprisoned the brave prophet, he was so impressed with Johns saintliness, and even a sort of superstitious fear of him, that he protected him against his wifes fury. But Herodias, who was biding her time, took advantage of a birthday feast given by Herod, and sent her daughter to dance before the king, and when the gratified king swore to give the girl anything she might ask, Herodias instructed her to ask for the head of John. The king was fairly trapped, and though sorely against his will, he sent a soldier and beheaded John in prison.
Philip, commonly known as Herod, was son of Herod the Great and Mariamne, the daughter of the high priest Simon, and was disinherited by his father, living as a private citizen in retirement. Secular history tells of only one Philip, the tetrarch of Gaulanitis and other districts E. of Galilee, and Volkmar and Holtzmann contend that the Evv. have confounded him with the disinherited brother, who was known only as Herod. Winer, Meyer, Weiss, and others answer that there may have been two Philips, as there were two Antipaters, especially as they were only half-brothers. Herodias was niece of both her husbands, being daughter of Aristobulus, another of Herods sons. It was on the occasion of a feast given by Philip to his brothers at Jerusalem, that Antipas became enamoured of the beauty of Herodias, and she of his power, and they began the intrigue which ended in their adulterous marriage. Antipas became involved in a war with Aretas, king of Arabia, his father-in-law, on account of his desertion of his first wife for Herodias. The marital relations of the Herodian family were a most extraordinary mixture, though belonging to the general license of the age. This is one of the places where the Gospels bring us into contact with the Gentile world, the Herodians being Gentile in their extraction and spirit, though nominally Jews in their religion, and the note of that Gentile world was open vice and profligacy, while of the Jewish leaders it was hypocrisy.
17-29. 17. -for Herod himself. serves to keep up in Mk.s account the emphasis which Herod had put on the , v.16. -seized.1 -for he had married her. This states more particularly the connection between Herodias and the imprisonment of John, already denoted by . It is an independent statement of cause, usually introduced by .2 But strictly, the causal conjunction is out of place, except in connection with Johns rebuke, of which it is the cause, and not of Johns imprisonment. Properly, this is one of the steps leading up to the imprisonment, and would be denoted by a relative clause, .
18. -for John had said.1 -it is not lawful for thee. See Lev 18:16, Lev 20:21. But John would emphasize not so much the departure from Jewish law, for which Herod had slight regard, but the broader ground of common morals.
19. -AV. had a quarrel against him. But it is doubtful if the words had this meaning. It requires the ellipsis of to explain it, and it is unusual to leave so specific a word to be implied, though the use of with the verb is quite frequent. On the other hand, it would be quite common to supply a word like with the verb, and that would give us the meaning, she kept her eye (mind) on him. But the phrase, though quite natural, does not seem to occur. A third supposition is, that the verb may be used, like the Latin insto, intransitively, she followed him up, did not relax hostility against him. On the whole, this seems the best rendering. Thay.-Grm. Lex. -and wished and could not. This representation, that Herodias was restrained from her vengeance by Herod is not borne out by Mt., who says that Herod wished to put John to death, but feared the people (14:5). Verse 9 says that he was grieved by Salomes demand, but this was evidently, in Mt.s account, for the same reason, viz. that he feared the people.
20. The statement of Mk. is that Johns righteousness made Herod afraid, and what John said both perplexed and delighted him, so that he preserved him. -feared. The kind of fear that Herod had of John is shown by the superstitious idea that he had of Johns resurrection. The prophets righteousness and holiness made him seem, even to Herods worldly sense, a man of God, and his fear therefore was of the God back of the righteous man. -and guarded him, viz. from the hostile intentions of Herodias. RV. kept him safe.2 -was much perplexed. The perplexity arose from the conflict between his fear of John and his entanglement with Herodias. -The peculiarity of the Hebraistic use of to tie together variously related statements is here curiously exemplified.3 The gladness with which Herod heard John is the tribute which the moral sense, even in bad men, pays to the truth, and to boldness and freshness in the utterance of it.
, was much perplexed, instead of , did many things, Tisch. Treg. marg. WH. RV. BL Memph.
21. -an opportune day, viz. for Herodias purposes. -on his birthday feast. This word is used in Greek for a service in commemoration of a dead friend. is the word for a birthday celebration.1 -grandees. A later Greek word. -chiliarchs. If we render the word literally, it means commander of a thousand, and its equivalent in our military phraseology is colonel. . -the first men of Galilee. His retainers, and especially his military officers, would be foreigners. These would be the men of the province.
, instead of , after , Tisch. Treg. WH. RV. BCL 13, 28, 69, 124, Latt.
22. . -the daughter of Herodias herself (RV.).2 The intensive pronoun is used here because such dancing was an almost unprecedented thing for women of rank, or even respectability. It was mimetic and licentious, and performed by professionals. -it pleased, rather than she pleased. The latter would require the subject of the verb to be the noun of the preceding gen. abs., a quite unnecessary grammatical irregularity.
, instead of , Tisch. Treg. WH. RV. BC* L 33, mss. Lat. Vet. Memph. , instead of , after , WH. RV.marg. BDL 238. This means that it was Herods daughter Herodias, who performed the dance, and involves a curious historical error. But this is no reason for rejecting a reading so well attested. Meyer and Tisch. slight the evidence. Weiss and Holtzmann condemn it as an exegetical impossibility, since Herodias with the art. must be the Herodias of v.19. But in spite of all this, the reading itself is not to be lightly set aside.
-and the king said. This reading is necessary with the change from the part. to the indicative in .
, instead of , Tisch. Treg. WH. RV. BC* L 33.
-girl. See on 5:41.
23. -he swore. This oath of Herod is the same that Ahasuerus made to Queen Esther, the . , to the half of my kingdom, being the exact language of the Sept. in the O.T. story (Est 5:3, Est 5:6, Est 5:7:2).
24. -And having gone out.
, instead of , Tisch. Treg. WH. RV. BL 33, Memph. ,1 instead of , Tisch. Treg. WH. RV. ABCDGL 28, 33, 124, 346. , instead of , Tisch. Treg. WH. RV. BL 28, Harcl.
25. -immediately with haste. Evidently, this haste was lest the kings ardor should cool. She and her mother both knew that nothing but the kings oath would make him do a thing so contrary to his own desires. This urgency is shown also in her request that it be done , forthwith. -a platter. The word charger used to translate it in the EV. is practically obsolete in this sense.
26. -the part. is used here concessively, though he was grieved, yet. -and those reclining at table.
Omit -with, in , reclining with him, Tisch. Treg. WH. RV. BC* L 42, Pesh.
-to refuse her. The verb belongs to later Greek.
27. -this is a Latin word, and means a scout, or secondarily, a member of the body-guard.
, instead of -, ABL 1, 108, 124, 131, 157, Harcl. marg. grk.
-commanded him to bring.
, instead of , to be brought, Tisch. Treg. WH. RV. BC etc.
28. -And having gone out.
, instead of , Tisch. Treg. WH. RV. BCL 1, 28, 124, most mss. Lat. Vet. Memph. ed. Pesh.
-beheaded, a later Greek word. -prison. Josephus tells us that John was beheaded in the castle of Machrus, and as this was one of Herods favorite resorts, it may well be that the feast, which was the occasion of the tragedy, took place there. And the whole story is framed on the supposition that the prison was near enough to the banquet hall to have the head brought immediately. Machrus was a ridge a mile long, over-looking a deep ravine, at one end of which Herod had built a great palace, while at the other end was the citadel in which John was confined. It was situated at the southern end of Pera, and east of the northern end of the Dead Sea. Some have supposed that Tiberias was the scene of both the feast and the execution, and others that the feast was there, and the execution at Machrus. But there does not seem to be any sufficient reason for setting aside Josephus testimony about the beheading of John, and in that case the narrative favors the supposition that the feast was in the same place. It is a piece of poetic justice that Aretas, the father of Herods rejected wife, made war upon his faithless son-in-law, and defeated him, so that Herod was saved only by the intervention of the Roman Emperor.
29. -means a fall, or secondarily, something fallen, and with ,-a corpse. But the omission of in this sense belongs to the later Greek. Mat 14:12 adds to this the statement that the disciples of John came and told Jesus.
RETURN OF THE TWELVE. FEEDING OF THE FIVE THOUSAND
30-44. Mk. now resumes his narrative of the mission of the twelve with an account of their return, and of their report to Jesus. On their return, probably to Capernaum, they are so beset by the multitude that they have no leisure even to eat, and Jesus seeks retirement with them on the other side of the lake. But the multitudes see them and follow on foot around the head of the lake. Jesus allows his compassion to get the better of his original purpose, and begins to teach the crowd which he found gathered when he landed. It is already late when it is brought to his attention by the apostles, that the multitude, in their eagerness to hear him, have failed to provide themselves with food. Whereupon, Jesus himself feeds them out of five loaves and two fishes which the disciples have brought for themselves.
30. -it is noticeable that the twelve, who are generally called disciples, are here given the name which describes their official work instead of their discipleship, and that the occasion, the only one in which the name is used in Mk., is one in which they were returning from that apostolic work. , . -whatever they did, and whatever they taught.1
Omit , both, before the first , Tisch. Treg. WH. RV. BCDELV 1, 28, 33, 131, Latt. Memph. Pesh. etc. Tisch. omits second with * C* 1, 271, Latt. It is more in Mk.s manner to retain the .
-And he says to them.
, instead of , said, Tisch. Treg. WH. RV. BCL 33, etc. ,1 instead of , Tisch. Treg. WH. RV. ABCM 40, 69, 108, 238, 346, 435, etc.
31. -you yourselves apart. The language is selected to emphasize as much as possible the privacy which Jesus wished to secure for them. -This verb belongs to the later Greek. It means to have opportunity or leisure for anything. As to the occasion of this departure, Mt. gives another account. According to him, Jesus took the disciples away to a solitary place across the lake when he heard the death of John the Baptist. Here, it is to give the disciples rest after their missionary journey, which it was impossible for them to get with the multitudes crowding about them and preventing even their eating.
, instead of , Tisch. Treg. WH. RV. ABEFGHLV , etc.
32. -and they went away. The point of departure was probably Capernaum, as it was on the lake, and it would be the most likely place for a rendezvous after their journey. -Lk. says that they went to Bethsaida, meaning the city on the east side of the lake. But when he comes to tell the story of the feeding of the multitude, he also says that it was a desert place (Luk 9:10, Luk 9:12).
33. , . -and they saw them going, and many knew (them).
Omit , the multitudes, after everything except a few cursives. , instead of , Treg. WH. B* D 1, 118, 209. Omit , him, after Treg. WH. RV. BD 1, 13, 28, 118, 131, 209, Vulg. Substitute , Tisch. AKLMU two mss. Lat. Vet. Memph. Syrr.
-on foot. They went around the head of the lake, and crossed the river at some ford. -they ran together. The prep. describes the coming together of the crowd from the many starting-places to the point for which they saw the boat heading. -outwent them. The verb means properly to go forward, to advance, or with the gen. to go before another. This use with the acc., meaning to reach a place before another, belongs to later Greek. The rest of the verse is to be omitted.
Omit , Tisch. Treg. WH. RV. BL 13, Vulg. Memph.
34. -And having come forth, he saw a great multitude. The part. refers to the disembarking from the boat. J., who is here parallel to the Synoptics for the only time between the account of the ministry of the Baptist and the final coming to Jerusalem, says that Jesus spent some time in the mountain with his disciples before the multitude came to him.
Omit after Tisch. Treg. WH. RV. BL 1, 20, 33, 69, 124, 209, one ms. Lat. Vet. Memph. , instead of , after Tisch. Treg. WH. RV. BDF 245, 253, mss. Lat. Vet. Vulg.
-had compassion.1
– is used here, instead of , because it denotes Jesus conception of the people, his thought about them. It is the fact, but the fact transferred to his mind.2 This expression is used also by Mat 9:36, in the passage which leads up to the account of the appointment of the twelve, and the sending them forth to supply the lack. It seems as if this feeling of Jesus towards the multitude had somehow impressed itself on the minds of the disciples especially at this period of his life, the period just preceding the close of the ministry in Galilee. The figure itself denotes the lack of spiritual guidance. Then, as always, there was no lack of official religious leadership, but the officials, the priests, and rabbis, were blind leaders of the blind. Notice also the human quality of Jesus action here. He seeks a quiet place to escape from the crowd for a time; is defeated in his purpose by the multitude invading his retreat; and he yields to their importunity and to his own exacting pity. It is a distinctly human change of purpose, such as foreknowledge would have prevented, and as an attestation of his humanity it brings him blessedly near to us.
35. -much time of day having passed. The only other instance in the N.T., in which is used to denote daytime is the parallel passage in Mat 14:15. See Thay.-Grm. Lex.
Tisch. WH. marg. read , coming to be a late hour, with D Latt.
-his disciples said.
, instead of , say, Tisch. Treg. WH. RV. BL 33, Memph.
-the place is desert; and so there is no place here for them to procure food. -already it is a late hour, and so there is short time for them to supply their wants. In their haste and eagerness to follow Jesus, they had neglected to bring anything with them, and in their absorption in his teaching, they had forgotten their ordinary wants. According to J. 6:5, this conversation was started by Jesus.
36. -they may buy for themselves somewhat to eat. The subj. is that of a deliberative question.
Omit after Tisch. Treg. WH. RV. BL 28, 102, mss. Lat. Vet. Memph. and after are to be omitted on substantially the same authority.
37. -two hundred shillings worth. The Revisers do a somewhat curious thing in translating this word penny, and then explaining in the margin that it means eight pence halfpenny (RV. Mat 18:28). The actual paying power was much greater than our shilling, as it represented a days wages. The sum is evidently suggested here as their hasty guess at the amount required to purchase a frugal supply for the crowd. It would also be a sum quite beyond their means, so that the question is meant to imply the absurdity of the whole thing. This question is not given in the other Synoptics, and in the fourth Gospel it takes the form of a statement that what is absolutely a large sum is quite inadequate for even a small supply of so big a crowd.
-give them.
, instead of , Tisch. D 13, 33, 69, 124, 229**, 346. Treg. WH. RV. ABL Latt. External evidence balanced between and , internal slightly favors , owing to the change of mood, which makes subj. an apparent emendation.
38. , -go, see.
Omit , and, between and Tisch. Treg. WH. RV. BDL 1, 33, 102, 118, 240, 244, two mss. Lat. Vet. Memph. Pesh.
-and having ascertained. The verb is used here in its inchoative sense to learn, instead of to know. The EV., and when they knew, leaves out the process which the Greek expresses.
39. -to recline.1
, instead of , WH. RV. B* G 1, 13, 28, 69.
-by parties. The repetition of the noun to express the distributive idea is Hebraistic. The word itself means a drinking party, i.e. the entertainment, not the guests. This present use belongs to the later Greek. -on the green grass. This is a characteristic touch given by Mk. alone, with his eye for pictorial details, but it is more important than that to us; for the grass is green in Palestine, especially in this hot Jordan valley, only at the time of the Passover. And so, here is one intimation in the Synoptics of more than one years ministry. And this is also the place where the fourth Gospel inserts a passover between the first and the last.
40. , -and they reclined in (regular companies like) garden beds, by hundreds, and by fifties.
, instead of , Tisch. Treg. WH. RV. BEFGHMV 1, 28. , instead of , before and Tisch. Treg. WH. BD Memph.
This descriptive word , garden beds, gives an admirable picturesque touch. The disposition of the people in orderly groups was for the more convenient distribution of the food.
41. -he blessed. This word in Greek means to praise, and only in Biblical Greek does it signify to invoke a blessing on a person or thing, copying from the Heb. use.
-and he broke in pieces.1 -and gave to his disciples to set before them.
Omit after Tisch. Treg. WH. RV. BL 33, 102, two mss. Lat. Vet. Memph. , instead of , Tisch. Treg. marg. WH. * BLM* * 42, 63, 122, 229, 251 **, 253.
-to all. In this, and the , all were filled, and , fillings of twelve baskets, and finally the , five thousand men alone, are enumerated the several things that point to the greatness of the miracle.
42. -they were filled, or satisfied.2 (-) -fragments (or of fragments), fillings of twelve baskets. is put in an emphatic position, drawing attention to the quantity of fragments even. It is noticeable that is used in all four accounts of this miracle, while in both accounts of the feeding of the four thousand, is used. There does not seem to be much difference, if any, between the kind of basket, and the identity of language in the Gospels in each account is the more remarkable.
, instead of , Treg. marg. WH. RV. BL . 13, 69, 124, 209, 346. , instead of , Tisch. Treg. marg. WH. RV. B 1, 13, 69, 124, 209, 346. , instead of , Tisch. Treg. WH. RV. BL 1, 13, 69, 124, 209, 346.
44. -five thousand men alone. is the Greek word for men, distinct from women and children. See Mat 14:21. The whole number then was much greater.
This is, with the exception of the raising of the dead, the most remarkable of all the miracles recounted in the Gospels, being the one in which secondary causes are out of the question, making it a purely creative act, a creation out of nothing. The rest of the provision did not come somehow out of the five loaves and two fishes, but was added to it by the mere creative word. All talk about acceleration of natural processes is mere talk, because there is here nothing to start from in such a process. Of course, this has led to all kinds of rationalizing. Paulus, and after him Holtzmann, suppose that Jesus set the example of utilizing such provisions as they had, those who had sharing with those who had not. And even Weiss, in order to preserve the historicity of the account in the face of an increasing skepticism in regard to so stupendous a miracle, admits the possibility of this explanation, only insisting that we have here a miracle of providence in bringing together such supplies even in a natural way, and that Jesus relied with serene confidence upon it. Schenkel explains it as a materialization of Jesus feeding of the multitude with spiritual food. But fortunately, we have here, as Weiss points outs, a concurrence of three eye witnesses, the Logia of Mt., the oral testimony of Peter, and the witness of John being all represented in the several accounts, and there is no doubt whatever of the fact that they represent it as an actual feeding of the multitude with five loaves and two fishes, after which there remained twelve baskets of fragments.
OUR LORD WALKS ON THE WATER
45-52. Immediately after the feeding of the multitude, and probably owing to the excitement caused by that, Jesus dismisses his disciples with some urgency to embark in the boat for Bethsaida on the west shore of the lake, while he himself dismisses the multitude. Having taken leave of them, Jesus goes up into the mountain in the neighborhood to pray. Meantime, the disciples were having a hard time with a contrary wind on the lake, and it was past three oclock in the morning, when Jesus came to them walking on the water. They thought that it was a ghost, but were reassured by his announcement of himself. With his coming, the wind ceased, and they were filled with an unreasonable amazement, not being prepared even by the miracle of feeding the multitude for this fresh wonder.
45. -immediately he compelled. This language expresses haste and urgency, for which, however, Mt. and Mk. give no reason. But the fourth Gospel states a fact, which would certainly account for this urgency, telling us that the people were about to come and seize him to make him a king (J. 6:15). According to this, Jesus knew that his disciples would side with the multitude in this design, and therefore dismisses them with this abruptness and imperativeness. -Luk 9:10 tells us that this was the name of the place where the miracle was performed. There were two places of the name, one on each side of the lake. See Bib. Dic. -while he himself dismisses. The emphasizes the fact that Jesus himself, having forced his disciples away, dismissed the multitude. It was an emergency in which he would trust no one but himself.
, instead of , Tisch. Treg. WH. RV. BL 1. E*K 28, 69, etc. read. .
46. -having taken leave of them. The verb is not used in this sense in the earlier Greek writers, who said, instead, . -the mountain, viz. in that place. -to pray. Mt. adds to this only the scene in Gethsemane as an occasion when Jesus retired to pray. This Gospel gives, besides these two, the occasion of his first days work in Capernaum (ch. 1:35). Lk. gives several others. The two mentioned in Mt. and the three of Mk. were crises in his life, two of them growing out of a sudden access of popularity, and the third out of the impending tragedy of his life. Prayer with Jesus was real, growing out of his human needs.
47. -evening.1 It was already evening (Mt.), or late (Mk.), or the decline of day (Lk.), when the question of feeding the multitude came up. That was, therefore, the early evening, from three to six oclock, and this the late evening, from six oclock till night.
48. -And seeing them he comes instead of he saw them and comes.
, instead of , Tisch. Treg. WH. RV. BDL mss. Lat. Vet. Vulg. Memph. Omit , Tisch. Treg. WH. RV. BL .
-distressed. This is one of the words in which the notion of trial or testing has run over into that of distress, since difficulty and hardship are so frequent forms of testing. The verb is formed from , a touchstone. -literally, driving. But the word is used frequently of rowing or sailing a boat. -the fourth watch. The Jews at this time divided the night into four watches of three hours each, and this was therefore the last watch, from three to six oclock. They had been having a hard time therefore, having been, at a moderate estimate, some eight hours in rowing three miles. Cf. J. 6:19.
-on the sea. It is one of the absurdities of rationalizing exegesis, that this has been made to mean on the shore of the sea, or in view of the obvious fact that the author cannot possibly have meant that, that the story, as it stands, is supposed to have arisen from a mythical handling of so common-place an event as walking on the shore. The miracle is one of those, moreover, that cannot, in our present state of knowledge, be explained away. Jesus miracles of healing can, most of them, be attributed to his extraordinary influence over the minds of those healed, though it may be doubted if the exceptional cases, such as the raising of the dead and the healing at a distance, do not so give the law to the rest as to turn even this possibility into an improbability. But here is a miracle upon inanimate matter, overcoming the difference in specific gravity between water and the human body, so that the water will support the heavier body. This miracle will yield to no rationalizing treatment, and in it, therefore, we are confronted with the problem of the miraculous without any alleviation. Nor does it yield any more to a legitimate historical criticism, which leaves our Lords miracles untouched, unless we accept it as an axiom of that criticism that the miraculous does not happen. And so it is with the problem of the miraculous as a fact, with which the life of our Lord confronts us.
-and he purposed to pass by them, or was on the point of passing by them. See Thay.-Grm. Lex. Would have passed by them, EV., would be expressed by the aor. ind. of , with . This was what he was on the point of doing when he was interrupted by their cry. His purpose at the time was that, and he waited for some demonstration on their part to change it.
49. -that it is an apparition. The lack of substance, or material reality, is emphasized by the word. In the dark, they did not recognize Jesus, and they could attribute the appearance on the water to nothing solid.
, instead of , Tisch. WH. RV. BL 33.
50. -for all saw him.1
, instead of , Tisch. Treg. WH. B. D and mss. of Lat. Vet. omit the clause.
-and he immediately spoke.
, instead of , Tisch. Treg. marg. WH. RV. BL 33, one ms. Lat. Vet. Memph. , instead of , Tisch. Treg. WH. RV. BL .
-I am it, where we say, it is I. The language of Jesus is reported in the same words by all the evangelists, except that J. omits .
51. . -and he went up into the boat. J. says, J. 6:21, that they purposed receiving him into the boat, but were prevented by the boats immediate arrival at the land. -the wind abated. This is evidently to be taken as a part of the miracle, as it is connected immediately with his coming to them.
-and they were exceedingly amazed1 in themselves. Their amazement was inward; they kept it to themselves.
Omit , beyond measure (Treg.) WH. RV. BL 1, 28, Pesh. Omit , and wondered, Tisch. Treg. (Treg. marg.) WH. RV. BL 1, 28, 102, 118, 209, mss. Lat. Vet. Vulg. Memph.
52. -this does not denote, as in RV., the object of the verb, concerning the loaves, but the ground of understanding, on the ground of the (miracle of the) loaves. The miracle of the loaves and fishes should have led to an understanding of the present miracles, but it did not have this effect.2 -but their heart was hardened. This hardness of heart is something quite different from our use of the same words, denoting blunted feelings and moral sensibilities. The Biblical denotes the general inner man, and here especially the mind, which is represented as so calloused as to be incapable of receiving mental impressions.
, instead of , Tisch. Treg. WH. RV. BLM2 S 33, Memph. Harcl. marg.
JESUS CROSSES THE LAKE AGAIN TO GENNESARET, AND MEETS AN IMPORTUNATE AND ENTHUSIASTIC MULTITUDE WHEREVER HE GOES
53-56. On their return to the western side, Jesus and his disciples land in the district of Gennesaret, and are no sooner landed, than the people recognize them, and there is a popular uprising throughout the region. Those who first recognize him spread the report from village to village, and wherever Jesus goes, they bring their sick to him, and beg that they may as much as touch the hem of his garment as he passes. And as many as touched were healed.
53. -they came upon the land to Gennesaret. Gennesaret was a fertile plain on the west side of the lake, about three miles long and a mile wide, lying just south of Capernaum. See Bib. Dic. This landing place was several miles south of Bethsaida, for which they had started originally, showing how much they had been driven out of their course. -they moored.
, instead of , Tisch. Treg. WH. RV. BL 28, 33.
55. , -they ran about all that country, and began.
, instead of , Tisch. Treg. WH. RV. BL 1, 13, 33, 69, Memph. Pesh. Omit in clause , Tisch. (Treg.) WH. RV. BL 102, Pesh.
-pallets.1
56. 2-and wherever he entered into villages, or into cities, or into hamlets.
Insert before and , Tisch. Treg. WH. RV. BDFL most mss. Lat. Vet. Vulg. Harcl. , instead of , Tisch. Treg. WH. BL . , instead of , Tisch. Treg. WH. RV. BDgr L 1, 13, 28, 33, 69, 124, 346.
-the fringe or tassel appended to the hem of the outer garment, which served to remind Jews of the Law. But probably this ceremonial use is not in mind here, and it means just the edge of the garment, as if that slightest touch would be healing. J. gives a different account of what followed the storm on the lake, viz. that he landed at Capernaum, and delivered the discourse on the bread of life in the synagogue (J. 6:22).
1 See Note on Relation of Synoptical Accounts at beginning of ch. 5, for the place of the parables in Mt.s account. And notice how Mt. thus connects the visit to Nazareth with the healing of Peters mother-in-law, which Mk. and Lk. put at the beginning of the Galilean ministry, while Mt., though connecting the two events as they do, puts them both at a late period.
Tisch. Tischendorf.
Treg. Tregelles.
WH. Westcott and Hort.
RV. Revised Version.
Codex Sinaiticus.
B Codex Vaticanus.
C Codex Bezae.
L Codex Regius.
D Codex Ephraemi.
Harcl. Harclean.
marg. Revided Version marg.
1 See Note on , 5:22.
13 Codex Regius.
28 Codex Regius.
69 Codex Leicestrensis.
2 See Win. 18, 3, end of section.
Codex Sangallensis
Memph. Memphitic.
Lat. Vet. Vetus Latina.
Vulg. Vulgate.
A Codex Alexandrinus.
E Codex Basiliensis.
F Codex Borelli.
G Codex Wolfi A.
H Codex Wolfi B.
M Codex Campianus.
S Codex Vaticanus.
U Codex Nanianus.
V Codex Mosquensis.
1 .Codex Basiliensis
33 Codex Regius.
Pesh. Peshito.
1 A barbarous declension, Thay.-Grm. Lex.
209 An unnamed, valuable manuscript.
346 Codex Ambrosianus.
K Codex Cyprius.
Syrr. Syriac Versions.
1 The regular construction would require the inf. here, this verb being in the same construction as , and not .
2 This is exactly our word invalid, or infirm.
3 is an unusual construction with , in fact, the only case of it in the N.T. (It seems quite improbable, both from the position and from the course of thought, that in J. 7:22, belongs with v. 21.)
1 -is a Hebrew fashion of expressing the distributive idea, where the Greeks would say or .
1 On this change from the indirect to direct discourse, see Win. 63, II. 2. The RV. indicates the change of structure by inserting said he. And the change in by inserting to go.
Bib. Dic. Smiths Dictionary of the Bible (1st or 2d edition).
Codex Petropolitianus
Win. Winers Grammar of N. T. Greek.
1 Morison makes a curious mistake in supposing that the aor. subj. of the TR. means might, while the pres. sub. means may. This difference is expressed in Greek by a change of moods, not of tenses.
2 See Schrer, II. I. 23, 33.
1 On the genealogy of the Herodian family, see Bib. Dic.
Latt. Latin Versions.
1 This is a case of the noun being attracted from the principal into the relative clause, and taking its construction.
Hier. Jerusalem Lectionary.
1 On the use of the aor. for the plup. in Greek, see Win. 40, 5 a. Burton, 52. Both of these, however, fail to account for the infrequency of the plup. in the N.T.
2 See Burton, 232.
1 See Burton, 29. In this case, the impf. contains an element of repeated action, not expressed by the plup. We combine both in he had kept saying.
AV. Authorised Version.
Thay.-Grm. Thayers Grimm.
2 AV. observed him. This comes probably from the meaning keep in mind, but it is not a legitimate derivation, nor is the meaning consonant with the context. See Morisons Note. Also Meyer.
3 Win. 53, 3 b. It is to be said, however, that while itself is never strictly adversative, it is used to connect statements more or less adverse. Only does not express the opposition.
1 See Win. 2, 1 d. Thay.-Grm. Lex.
2 Of the said Herodias, AV., would require the art. before .
1 This is the subj. of deliberative questions, in which advice is asked.
1 See footnote v.17. This is one of the cases, where, owing to the close conjunction of this with the principal verb, the absence of the plup. is most marked. But in relative clauses, the Greek rarely uses the plup. Win. 40, 5 a, .
1 The aor. differs from the pres. imp. here, as denoting beginning, instead of continuance. Get rest expresses it.
Codex Tischendorfianus
1 On the form and meaning of this verb, see on 1:41.
2 See Win. 55, 5 g, .
102 Codex Bibliothecae Mediceae.
1 In this sense of reclining at meals, the use of compounds with belongs to later Greek. Win. 2, 1 b.
1 The prep. in composition denotes the separation of the bread into parts by the breaking. See Thay.-Grm. Lex.
2 Properly is used of the feeding of animals.
1 See on 1:32.
1 On this use of the vowel of the first aor, in the sec. aor., see Win. 13, 1 a.
1 On the meaning of this verb, see on 2:12.
2 Win. 48 c, Mey. explain this by the German bei, as a temporal adjunct-in connection with, at the time of.
1 See on 2:4.
2 The N.T. uses to denote indefiniteness in a relative clause with a past tense of the ind., where the Greek uses the opt. without . Burton, 315.
Fuente: International Critical Commentary New Testament
the Widening Fields
Mar 6:1-20
In the opening paragraph of this chapter, we learn of hatred and rejection of those who had enjoyed the rich privileges of being the neighbors and associates of our Lord from His earliest days. They could not discern the divine in the human, the heavenly under the earthly veil. The Savior, therefore, driven from their towns, goes about among the villages, depriving Himself of the companionship of His disciples, in order to spread the good news as far as possible. The Lord is still in His Church through the Holy Spirit, but His power is limited and neutralized by our unbelief. It is useless to ask Him to put forth His great power and save us, so long as we have made it practically impossible for Him to do as we ask. The oldtime cry was: Why shouldst thou be as a mighty man that cannot save? The answer is supplied here: He could do no mighty work, and he marveled at their unbelief. Faith is our capacity for God, and there are several conditions for its nurture and growth.
With what simplicity the Twelve were started on their mission, Mar 6:7. But with what authority they spoke! Simplicity and power are closely allied. The truly strong soul is not in need of the external surroundings and circumstances on which others lean; and in proportion to our willingness to deprive ourselves of the sources of human confidence may we lay hold on and possess divine power.
Fuente: F.B. Meyer’s Through the Bible Commentary
The Prophet Without Honor (Mar 6:1-6)
The mighty works of Jesus had made a distinct impression on the mass of the people who heard Him with eagerness. But few of the more cultured and outwardly religious classes were prepared to acknowledge Him as the promised Servant of Jehovah who was to deliver Israel. Instead of assenting to His Messianic claims, they became suspicious of Him as an impostor and arrayed themselves in definite opposition to Him, even going so far as to seek some method whereby they might destroy Him. This attitude is apparent in Mark 6 and becomes increasingly prominent in Mark 7-10.
Jesus found opposition in His own neighborhood. As Mark 6 opens we see Him in the city of Nazareth and the region roundabout, where He had lived as a child and as a young man.
Jesus entered the synagogue where He must often have met with His fellow townsmen in the years gone by. There He taught in such a way that the people were astonished since they knew He was not a product of any of the rabbinical schools, but had lived among them as a carpenter. His family was well known to them. They spoke of Him as the son of Mary and the brother of James, Joses, Juda, and Simon. They also mentioned his sisters. This seems to prove conclusively that Mary had other children after the birth of Jesus, her firstborn (Mat 1:25). Romanists deny this and speak of Mary as ever virgin. They insist that the brothers and sisters here mentioned must have been children of Joseph by a former marriage, or possibly were cousins of Jesus. But this appears to be a mere subterfuge to evade the truth that Mary actually became the wife of Joseph.
Jesus answered His skeptical neighbors by saying, A prophet is not without honour, but in his own country, and among his own kin, and in his own house.
So intense was their incredulity that we are told He could do no mighty work there, although He healed a few sick ones who came to Him in their distress. God works in response to faith. Unbelief ties the hands of omnipotence, except in judgment, and the hour for judgment had not yet come.
Jesus marveled that those who had known Him so well should be so distrustful of Him and even opposed to Him. Lukes account tells us that they actually tried to hurl Him over the cliff on which the city was built. But passing through the midst of them, He went His way, grieved at their hardness of heart.
Jesus Sends Out His Couriers (Mar 6:7-13)
The twelve whom Jesus had already chosen to be with Him were now commissioned to go through the villages of Galilee to proclaim the gospel of the kingdom. The disciples were to call the people to repentance, so that they would be prepared to receive the King when He was revealed to them. Jesus sent the disciples out two by two that they might labor together in fellowship and testimony. He empowered them to heal the sick and cast out demons, thus accrediting them as His representatives.
Because the disciples were going to their own people Israel, and on account of the urgency of their errand, He told them to take nothing for their journey except a pilgrim staff-no scrips, (provision bags), no provisions, no money in their purses. They were to be shod with sandals and not to be encumbered with two cloaks.
When the disciples entered a city or village they were to accept hospitality from whoever offered it, and were to remain in that hosts house, if welcome, until they left town. There was to be no ground for the suspicion that they were seeking personal comfort or special recognition. Where the disciples were not received, they were to shake off the dust from beneath their feet as a testimony against those who spurned their message. For such there could be nothing but judgment ahead-a judgment far worse than that which fell on Sodom and Gomorrha.
Following their Masters instructions they went out preaching that men should repent-that is, change their attitude toward God. Repentance involves a new attitude in regard to self and sin. They also cast out demons and healed many who were sick. It is of interest to note that they anointed with oil those who came for healing, as commanded in the Epistle of James. This is the only other instance where this particular method is mentioned in connection with physical healing. Some have thought the oil was used as a remedy. The medicinal use of oil was an acceptable practice as indicated in the story of the good Samaritan who poured oil and wine into the wounds of the one who was left in a dying condition on the Jericho road. But oil is also the accepted symbol of the Holy Spirit, and it seems more likely that the anointing was intended to indicate the Spirits gracious action of healing in answer to the prayer of faith.
Herod Beheads John the Baptist (Mar 6:14-29)
The account of godless Herods perfidious treatment of John, the forerunner of Jesus, fills ones whole soul with horror, and yet it is but a portrayal of the capability of mans natural heart. When Herod heard of the miracles wrought by Jesus, his guilty conscience was aroused, and he said that John the Baptist had risen from the dead, and that therefore these mighty works were performed by him. Others thought He must be the promised Elijah who, according to Malachi, was to come to call Israel to repentance before the great and dreadful day of the Lord. Others said He was a prophet, or possibly one of the older prophets come back to life. But Herod was for the time being convinced that Jesus was none other than John revived. Herod lived over again the scene in which he had been reproved for Herodias sake. He was haunted by the imprisonment and finally the decapitation of the desert preacher. When Herod thought of the infamous treatment he had meted out to the fearless proclaimer of mans need to repent, he knew he had been guilty of a terrible crime before God and man.
Herod had been interested in Johns message at first, and had sent for him in order that he might hear for himself the desert preacher. As long as John dealt with the gospel of the kingdom, his royal but corrupt auditor listened with some measure of attention. But when the Baptist dared to rebuke the crafty and licentious monarch for his incestuous relations with his brother Philips wife, the kings ire was stirred. He endeavored to silence his reprover by shutting him up in a gloomy prison, probably Machaerus on the cliffs overlooking the Dead Sea. There John was left to languish. (In Mat 11:2-3 we read that while John was in prison he sent two of his disciples to question whether Jesus could indeed be the promised Messiah. This may have been done to satisfy Johns own doubts or to establish the faith of his disciples.)
While John was in prison Herod observed his birthday by inviting guests to a feast. The celebration was turned into a vile oriental orgy of drunkenness and debauchery. The daughter of Herodias was called in to add to the carnal enjoyment of the military and civilian chiefs and other dignitaries who were present. Her undoubtedly voluptuous dance so delighted the spectators that Herod impulsively offered the girl any favor up to half his kingdom as a reward for her performance.
Moved by her wicked mother, she asked for the head of John the Baptist on a charger (a large platter). Herodias fully exemplified the poets line, Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned. Shocked by her request the king would have refused compliance, but for his oaths sake given before all those present he did not dare refuse lest he lose face and become an object of ridicule to his retainers. After all, it would be only one more murder added to the many of which he was guilty already! So he at once sent an executioner to decapitate the prophet and bring his gory head as requested to the dancer, who in turn gave it to her mother.
One can imagine how Herodias gloated over the gruesome object as she realized those cold lips would never again charge her with adultery or other sins. But she had not seen the last of John the Baptist. In the day of judgment he will rise up to condemn her because of her callous indifference to the call to repentance.
When Johns disciples learned what had taken place they came and took the body of their master and gave it decent burial. In Mat 14:12 we read that they went and told Jesus, who entered into their great grief in tenderest sympathy.
Jesus Feeds the Five Thousand (Mar 6:30-44)
In this section of Mark we read of the return of the twelve from their preaching tour and the report they gave to Jesus. The apostles, with exuberant spirit, gathered around their Lord and told Him all that they had done and what they had taught as they went about visiting the villages of Galilee. He saw that they were perhaps too much occupied with their own success and that they were somewhat overwrought because of the strain under which they had been. So He invited them to leave the multitudes and retire to a quiet country place and rest a while. How much His servants need such seasons of quiet in company with Him! So they departed into a desert place- that is, a place in the open country away from any city or town, where they might obtain the physical recuperation and mental quiet that they needed so much. If we all took time for more such occasions, nervous breakdowns and heart attacks would not be so common among the servants of Christ.
Just how long the little company enjoyed the privacy and restful-ness of their time of retirement we are not told. But some people who saw the direction the group had taken carried the news to others, and soon a great crowd came together out of all the nearby cities and gathered about Jesus. He could not turn them away nor refuse to minister to them. To Him they were as sheep not having a shepherd, and His great heart was moved with compassion toward them, so that He began at once to teach them many things. With unwearied zeal He instructed them throughout all that day, seeking to make known to them the things concerning the kingdom of God.
The disciples became concerned about the hungry people who had been with the Lord Jesus all day. Many of them were far from their homes. The night was coming on, and it seemed to be both kind and prudent to urge them to return at once to their different homes. If they were to secure proper food before the night fell they should hurry away, for there was no provision made for them in that desert place, so far as the disciples could see.
Our Lords command to feed the crowd must have astonished His disciples. They had nothing to share with others, and they knew not where or how to obtain food in that secluded place. It was His desire to have the disciples consider the need of the people and their responsibility in regard to it, even as today He would have us be concerned about the spiritual dearth all about us and our responsibility to do our part in meeting its demands. We are all too quick to measure Gods ability to meet our needs by that which our eyes can see; instead we should remember that we are dealing with One who created a universe from nothing and sustains it by the word of His power.
How many loaves have ye? We know from the other records that Andrew discovered a lad with five of the flat loaves to which the people were accustomed and two small fishes (Joh 6:8-9). Someone has suggested that it was the boys own lunch-all of which he gave up that others might be fed. Little as it was, Jesus Christ could use it in a large way. In our emergencies we generally ask Whence? and How? forgetting that nothing is too hard for the Lord. He who multiplies the seed sown in the ground can take the little we bring and make it sufficient to meet the needs of many.
With authority the Savior ordered that the multitude should sit down in groups on the green grass where all could be properly served. His command was obeyed. They sat down, doubtless wondering what would happen next and questioning why He had hindered their hasty return to their homes. Our Lords command to make the men sit down was significant. Seated on the ground, all are practically on one common level. Distinctions of stature disappear. It was the no difference doctrine acted out.
Receiving the food from the hands of Andrew or of the expectant lad, the Lord Jesus gave thanks and began to break the bread and divide the fishes, handing supplies to the disciples. They in turn passed them out to the hungry folk who looked on wonderingly. When the Lord Jesus broke the bread and gave to His disciples that they might pass it on to the multitude, no one would be excused if he went away hungry. So today, as we offer the living bread to hungry souls, none need go without eternal blessing.
There proved to be an abundant supply for all. None was disappointed. No one ever need go hungry from the table that the Lord Jesus Christ spreads. Not only were all satisfied, but when the meal was over there were as many basketsful left as there were disciples. And the twelve had wondered where food could be procured for so many!
They that did eatwere about five thousand men. Mat 14:21 adds, Beside women and children. So actually the number was even more than five thousand, though doubtless not many women and children would be out in the desert to hear the great teacher that day.
Long centuries before He came into the world, it was written of the promised Messiah, I will satisfy her poor with bread (Psa 132:15) and He shall feed his flock like a shepherd (Isa 40:11). The feeding of the multitudes on two separate occasions must have recalled these prophecies to the minds of the people and caused them to wonder whether Jesus Christ might not be the One whose coming had been so long foretold.
When God brought Israel out of Egypt He spread for them a table in the wilderness (Psa 78:19). The Lord Jesus gave the hungry crowds, who had followed and listened to Him all day long, an example of the same omnipotent power. It is pitiable to note how unbelieving critics attempt to discredit these testimonies of our Lords creatorial glory. They insinuate that it was just a case of each one sharing his lunch with neighbors who had forgotten to bring any-so that as all ate together it seemed to them as though the food had been multiplied in a marvelous manner! Scripture tells us that at the mouth of twoorthree witnesses, shall the matter be established (Deu 19:15). Strikingly enough, the first of these miracles is one of the few given by each of the four evangelists. These men, whose integrity cannot be questioned, were either present on the occasion depicted or had been accurately informed by others. All four Gospel writers described the feeding as a supernatural occurrence. Christ, who multiplies the corn on a thousand hillsides and the fishes in all the seas, did in a few moments what is ordinarily accomplished through His divine power and wisdom in weeks or months of time.
By meeting the needs of the body, Christ taught the multitudes the compassion of God and His ability to meet every need of the soul. We shall find as we seek to serve our blessed Lord that the more we pass on to others, the more we have left for ourselves.
It never was loving that emptied a heart,
Nor giving that emptied a purse.
Jesus Walks on the Sea (Mar 6:45-56)
We have next a very striking dispensational picture of what the disciples of Christ would have to endure on the stormy sea of time while the Lord is interceding for them above.
After the feeding of the multitude Jesus directed His disciples to cross the lake. He did not go with them; but when they had left He went up into a mountain in order to be alone with His Father, to commune with Him in prayer.
The ship was in the midst of the sea. But it was under His eye, and His heart was concerned about His disciples who were laboring hard, toiling in rowing. The wind was contrary to them as they sought to reach their intended destination. Another has pointed out that the word here rendered toiling (Mar 6:48, kjv) is the same as that translated vexed in 2Pe 2:8, kjv. The word implies more than tense muscular activity. The disciples were in real mental distress and anxiety. They feared their boat might be swamped and they themselves drowned in the raging seas that threatened to engulf them. Possibly they were also vexed with one another and inclined to blame each other for the precarious condition in which they found themselves. What a picture this is of the state in which believers are found so often in their conflicts with circumstances during the physical absence of the Lord Jesus from this world!
How little the disciples realized as they struggled against wind and wave that all the time the eye of their Lord was on them and that His heart was concerned about them. And how easily we forget as we wrestle on toward heaven (as Rutherford put it), that our great high priest is ever looking down on us and making continual intercession for us!
As the earliest streaks of dawn were seen across the horizon about the fourth watch of the night, which was what we would call from 3:00-6:00 a.m., Jesus came down from the mount and walked on the sea toward the disciples. Apparently He was about to pass them by when the frightened disciples, terrified because they thought Him to be a ghost, cried out in alarm. He revealed Himself to them saying, Be of good cheer: it is I; be not afraid.
Astonished beyond measure they received Him into the ship and immediately the wind ceased. Details are given elsewhere that are omitted purposely here so that our attention may be focused on the fact that His coming to them brought an end to the storm. So will it be when He returns for His own.
The disciples were amazed at what had taken place. How quickly they forgot the evidence of His creatorial power in the multiplication of the loaves and fishes. They wondered in themselves concerning the mystery of our Lords personality.
Safely reaching the shores of Gennesaret at last, they had hardly left their boat before the people began coming to Jesus from all that district. He could not hide: His fame had preceded Him. So they came bringing the sick in beds, beseeching Him to heal them. As He moved about from village to village, from city to city, and even out in the open country, He was besieged by the crowds. They brought sick friends and relatives, begging that they might be permitted to touch even the border of His garment; and we are told that as many as touched him were made whole. God incarnate was walking about in the midst of His people, and it was His delight to relieve their sufferings and to cure them of their diseases. His saving-health was revealed wherever He went. Yet all this failed to convince the leaders that their long-waited-for Messiah had come to deliver them.
The next chapter tells of developing opposition that was to find its culmination in the cross.
Fuente: Commentaries on the New Testament and Prophets
Mar 6:1-3
I. Christian doctrine applicable to all classes of men.
II. Christian doctrine calculated to excite the profoundest surprise.
III. Christian doctrine always conveying the impression of unique power.
IV. Christian doctrine showing the magnificence of the personality of its teachers.
Parker, City Temple, 1871, p. 95.
References: Mar 6:1-6.-Parker, Christian Commonwealth, vol. vii., p. 575; H. M. Luckock, Footprints of the Son of Man, p. 119.
Mar 6:2-3
Does Labour block the way.
I. “Is not this mighty worker and wise teacher a carpenter?” Well, and what then? Skill in handling the plane and driving the saw does not expel wisdom from the speech, love from the heart and beauty from the life. “Carpenter” though He be, “never man spake like this Man.” It is undeniable, that the Nazareth artisan is the true King of the ages, and the rightful Lord of the souls of men.
II. The disaffected Nazarenes might have dispelled their passion-fed prejudice by simply recalling the leading names of their typical history. In the beginning God had set the stamp of His approval on human labour, and all along had chosen as the chief toilers for the higher and spiritual welfare of Israel and the world, those who were devoted to useful handicrafts or pastoral pursuits.
III. It would be unfair to treat this jaundiced jeer, this outburst of the lowest and rudest thought of Galilee, as though it expressed the prevalent Jewish idea of labour. Far from it. Handicrafts were specially honoured amongst the Jews, and the occupants of the highest posts of learning and tuition were most familiar with the lower forms of human toil.
IV. It is from the fullest life ever lived, a life unequalled in its sweet dignity and familiarity, tender strength and daring meekness, a life from which the moral grandeur never departs-it is from it we get the strongest witness that labour does not block the way to manhood. That life is set deep in the forests of human toil. So far as we know, Christ left the bench of the carpenter for the post of Teacher and Reformer. His work was His college. “He learnt obedience by the things which He suffered,” and acquired fitness for His ministry of brief but measureless energy, tender pathos, broad sympathies, and heroic self-sacrifice. The lowliest tasks well done are the best preparations for helpful ministries to the world.
V. Let us beware of the strong illusion which resides in the commonplace. Familiarity with Jesus as the son of Mary and brother of Joses, as playmate and fellow-workman, closed the eyes of the Nazarenes to the spiritual meaning of His life. This is the Carpenter indeed, but God is in Him to save the whole life of all men. Trust Him, love Him, and be like Him.
J. Clifford, The Dawn of Manhood, p. 20.
Reference: Mar 6:2, Mar 6:3.-Parker, Hidden Springs, p. 314.
Mar 6:3
The Holiness of Common Life.
I. The holiest of men may to all outward eyes appear exactly like other people. For in what does holiness consist but in a due fulfilment of the relative duties of our state in life, and in spiritual fellowship with God. Now the relative duties of life are universal. Every man has his own. That which makes one man to differ from another is not so much what things he does, as his manner of doing them. Two men, the most opposite in character, may dwell side by side, and do the very same daily acts, but in the sight of God be as far apart as light and darkness.
II. True holiness is not made up of extraordinary acts. For the greater part of men, the most favourable description of holiness will be found exactly to coincide with the ordinary path of duty, and it will be most surely promoted by repressing the wanderings of ambition, in which we frame to ourselves states of mind and habits of devotion remote from our actual lot, and by spending all our strength in those things, great or small, pleasing or unpalatable, which belong to our calling and position.
III. Any man, whatever be his outward circumstances of life, may reach to the highest point of devotion. In all ages the saints of the Church have been mingled in all the duties and toils of life, until age or the events of Providence set them free. There was nothing uncommon about most of them but their holiness. Their very lot in life ministered to them occasions of obedience and humiliation. They sought God fervently in the turmoil of homes and armies and camps and courts; and He revealed Himself to them in love, and became the centre about which they moved, and the rest of all their affections. Let us whose lot is cast in these latter times, when the Church has once more become almost hidden in the world, be of the holy fellowship of Him who to the eyes of men was only the carpenter, but in the eyes of God was the very Christ. Let us look well to our daily duties. The least of them is a wholesome discipline of humiliation; if, indeed, anything can be little which may be done for God.
H. E. Manning, Sermons, vol. ii., p. 220.
References: Mar 6:3.-W. Dorling, Christian World Pulpit, vol. v., p. 232; J. Johnston, Christian World Pulpit, vol. x., p. 85; Preacher’s Monthly, vol. vi., p. 164.
Mar 6:5-6
The text contains two remarkable instances, in a short space, of the manner in which the feelings and circumstances of men are ascribed to God in the Scriptures. It is said of Him who is Almighty, that He could there do no mighty work; it is said of Him to whom all things were known, that He marvelled because of their unbelief. It is very easy to see that these expressions are mere figures of speech; that Christ did not want the power to do miracles at Nazareth, but that there were some strong reasons for His not doing them, that it was, therefore, impossible for Him to work any; that He did not really marvel at their unbelief, but that it was so strange and unreasonable, that anyone except Him, to whom all hearts are open, might fairly have wondered at it.
I. But it is not on this account that I have chosen for my text this passage of the Scriptures; it contains another and much more important lesson. When it says that Christ could do no mighty work in Nazareth because of the unbelief of the people, it shows us how our sins defeat the gracious purposes of God towards us; how we hinder Him, in a manner, from doing what He wishes for our good; how we make it impossible for Him to avoid punishing us, although He has no pleasure at all in the death of the wicked, but rather that he should turn from his ways and live.
II. What is it that hinders us individually from finding in the Gospel all that we ought to find in it, or from experiencing in life a greater share of those comforts which God has promised to give to His people? What is become of the blessings which Christ has promised upon our hearty prayers; or of His assurance that where two or three are gathered together in His name, there is He in the midst of them? What should become of them, when we come here in a spirit of unbelief, so that our prayers are anything but the prayers of faith? God cannot make His good things plain to us if our hearts are hardened; nor can He show forth in us the mighty works of His grace, if He finds in us nothing but a dull and evil heart of unbelief.
T. Arnold, Sermons, vol. i., p. 75.
Reference: Mar 6:5.-J. Vaughan, Sermons, 7th series, p. 70.
This statement:
I. refutes the notion that where there is a true ministry there will be great success.
II. Shows the tremendous difficulties which the human will can oppose to the purposes of God.
III. Justifies the true worker in leaving the sphere in which he has been unsuccessful, to carry on his work under more favourable circumstances. Parker, City Temple, 1871, p. 95.
Mar 6:6
I. Let us consider the nature of unbelief. What is it? The word, so translated, will be found twelve times in the New Testament, and always in one signification. In its fullest sense, of course, it only exists in lands where men enjoy the light of revelation. Where there is little known there can be little unbelief. It consists in not believing something or other that God has said, some warning that He gave, some promise that He held out, some advice that He offers, some judgment that He threatens, some message that He sends. In short, to refuse to admit the truth of God’s revealed word, and to live as if we did not think that Word was to be depended on, is the essence of unbelief.
II. Let us now inquire why and wherefore unbelief is so wonderful. What is there in it that made even the Lord Jesus the Son of God marvel? (1) For one thing unbelief is a spiritual disease peculiar to Adam’s children, it is a habit of soul entirely confined to man. Angels in heaven above, and fallen spirits in hell beneath, saints waiting for the resurrection in Paradise, lost sinners waiting for the last judgment in that awful place where the worm never dies, and the fire is not quenched, all these have one point, in common, they all believe. Surely a habit of soul, so absolutely, entirely confined to living man, may well be called marvellous. (2) For another thing unbelief is marvellous when you consider its arrogance and presumption. For, after all, how little the wisest of men know, and none are more ready to confess it than themselves. How enormously ignorant the greater part of mankind are if you come to examine the measure of their knowledge. When a man says he is troubled with sceptical and unbelieving feelings about Christianity, while he has probably never studied a dozen pages of Paley, or Butler, or Chalmers, or Bishop Nelson, and never thought deeply about religion at all, it is impossible to avoid the conclusion that one of the most curious things in much unbelief is its wonderful self-conceit. (3) For another thing unbelief is marvellous when you consider its unfairness and one-sidedness. Who has not known that some of the minor facts and miracles of the Bible are the ostensible reasons which many assign why they cannot receive the book as true, and make it their rule of faith and practice. And all this time they refuse to look at three great facts:-the historical person Jesus Christ, the Bible itself, and the amazing change which has taken place in the state of the world before Christianity and since Christianity. (4) Unbelief is marvellous when you consider how the vast majority of those who profess it, drop it, and give it up at last. Few of us, perhaps, have the least idea how seldom any man leaves the world an unbeliever. If those who profess to deny revelation generally died happy deaths, and left the world in great peace and joy, holding their opinions to the last, we might well expect them to have followers. But when, on the contrary, it is the rarest thing to see an unbeliever dying calmly in unbelief, and giving no sign of discomfort, while the vast majority of unbelievers throw down their arms at last, and seek for the very religious consolation which they once affected to despise, it is impossible to avoid one broad conclusion. That conclusion is, that of all spiritual diseases by which fallen man is affected, there is none so truly marvellous and unreasonable as unbelief.
Bishop Ryle, Oxford Undergraduates’ Journal, May 27th, 1880.
References: Mar 6:6.-Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xvi., No. 935; Homiletic Quarterly, vol. ii., p. 262; Bishop Ryle, Three Hundred Outlines on the New Testament, p. 36; G. Matheson, Moments on the Mount, p. 142; Homilist, vol. vi., p. 199. Mar 6:7-13.-Preacher’s Monthly, vol. iii., p. 253; H. M. Luckock, Footprints of the Son of Man, p. 129; A. B. Bruce, The Training of the Twelve, p. 99. Mar 6:7-30.-W. Hanna, Our Lord’s Life on Earth, p. 205. Mar 6:12.-Todd, Lectures to Children, p. 9. Mar 6:14.-Homiletic Magazine, vol. xiii., p. 41. Mar 6:14-16.-W. Walters, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xx., p. 42. Mar 6:14-29.-R. S. Candlish, Scripture Characters and Miscellanies, p. 137; H. M. Luckock, Footprints of the Son of Man, p. 129; H. W. Beecher, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xx., p. 72. Mar 6:16.-Preacher’s Monthly, vol. v., p. 358; Homiletic Quarterly, vol. i., p. 534. Mar 6:17.-Homiletic Magazine, vol. xi., p. 235. Mar 6:17, Mar 6:18.-Ibid., p. 49.
Mar 6:20
The Peril of playing with Spiritual Convictions.
I. There is no greater peril than that of amusing ourselves with God’s truth, taking pleasure in hearing it, in joining in discussions about religion and objects connected therewith, yet not making it the rule of action, or really doing anything to promote those objects. The story of Herod which the text brings before us contains a remarkable instance of this. We can quite imagine with what emotions of alarm the lewd king may have heard the tale of the wild unearthly man, with his proclamation of a heavenly kingdom at hand, to whom the whole nation flocked. His own looseness of morals and living would predispose him to be struck by the severe, self-mortified life, which the Baptist led. His own violation of Divine and human law stood rebuked by the presence of that man, holy and just. The impure Herod saw in John one whom the shadows of eternity appeared visibly to encircle. To hear of him was as it were to enter into the cloud, and as he entered, he feared.
II. “He did many things.” Ah! it is just at this point that the whole history becomes so intensely practical. What those many things were which Herod amended at the bidding of John we vainly surmise. A few of the grosser corruptions of his foul course were perchance removed, or it may be John could hold back the stubborn king in some one occasional act of cruelty, or persuade him to pay some outward attention to the outward worship of God; but he could not, did not turn him to a thorough reformation of his own life. The only voice which had ever stirred the better spirit within him was quenched in blood, and the last state became worse than the first.
III. From Herod’s history we learn (1) how it may happen that a man who has manifested a certain interest in and deference to religion will yet turn against religion when it assails his cherished idol. (2) How religious instruction, when not honestly followed out, becomes itself a snare.
J. R. Woodford, Sermons on Subjects from the New Testament, p. 26.
References: Mar 6:20.-Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. vi., No. 347 vol. xxvi., No. 1548; Expositor, 1st series, vol. vii., p. 136; A. Barry, Cheltenham College Sermons, p. 229. Mar 6:21-Homiletic Magazine, vol. xiii., p. 148. Mar 6:22.-Expositor, 1st series, vol. vii., p. 133. Mar 6:25.-Clergyman’s Magazine, vol. i., p. 25; Outline Sermons to Children, p. 143.
Mar 6:26
Let us briefly examine the plea set up by Herod in the case before us. It was twofold.
I. The first was for his oath’s sake. In a moment of hasty excitement he had rashly promised on oath to give the girl whatever she would ask; and therefore he fancied himself bound to do as he had solemnly sworn. Now this would have been a valid plea if he had had any right to make such an oath, or if the thing required of him had been in itself indifferent. But as the case stands, he is only giving one sin as a reason for the commission of another. There is nothing in morals that can be plainer than this: that where there is an obligation of a higher and of a lower kind seeking to oppose each other, the lower must invariably yield to the higher, and not the higher to the lower one. No oath, however solemnly sworn, can bind a man to commit sin.
II. But if this plea will not stand, still less will the other that is alleged, and “for their sakes that were with him.” Who was to blame for their being there, and who were they that they should give laws to him, and absolve him from the higher law of God? Morality is not a fluctuating thing, a thing to be regulated like the climate, by the latitude of the place, or to vary with the character of the different companies into which we may chance to be thrown. It is the will of God, and like God, it is unchangeable and eternal. Truth is truth and a lie is a lie, no matter who is within hearing; holiness is holiness, and sin is sin, no matter who beholds it; and the companions by whom we surround ourselves, however much they may change our feelings in the commission of sin, cannot change the nature of the sin itself. We will venture to say that, if the monarch had only declared that it was impossible to grant such a request, there was enough of reverence for God’s law and human right in each of their breasts as at once to approve the deed, and Herod would have stood forth before them all a greater man than they had yet imagined him to be. In conclusion, note a few lessons from this interesting subject. (1)
Beware of the beginning of sin. It was this which so fettered Herod here, and gave such power to his plea of necessity for committing gross sin. (2) Beware of the companions with whom you connect yourselves. Say No. Learn to say it with emphasis, and soon you will rise so high in the esteem, even of sinners, that they will cease to torment you, and leave you to take the course your Saviour has marked out for you. (3) Above all, seek to have a saving interest in Jesus Christ, and the constant indwelling of His Spirit in your hearts.
W. M. Taylor, Life Truths, p. 163.
References: Mar 6:26.-R. S. Candlish, Scripture Characters and Miscellanies, pp. 156, 177.-R. W. Evans, Parochial Sermons, vol. i., p. 218. Mar 6:26, Mar 6:27.-J. Vaughan, Sermons, 10th series, p. 53.
Mar 6:30
Talking it over with Christ.
They had been for some time separated from Christ. It was necessary in order to their becoming healthy and stalwart Christ’s men, that they should not continue for ever at Christ’s side, but that with something of Him, something of His principles, His Spirit, His wisdom and grace, sown and sunk in them, they should begin to exercise at a distance from Him, clear of the support of His mighty personality.
I. But the Apostles have now returned from the excursion, and are found gathering “together to Him, to tell Him all things, both what they have done and what they have taught.” And how beautiful the readiness, the bold unshrinking readiness, they show to rehearse their proceedings at His feet, and to go over the whole story with Him. How suggestive of the patience, the tenderness, the thoughtful forbearance and sympathy, with which he had habitually treated them, and in reliance on which they had learned to be frank and free in exposing themselves before Him-had learned not to be afraid to tell Him everything.
II. A review of our activities-especially when we have been engaged in any earnest serious work, and even at the close of any period of occupation and effort-a review of our activities is always desirable, and often of great importance and value. It reveals points, sometimes of much interest and moment, in connection with them which otherwise would never be observed. We miss the divinely intended lessons and admonitions of our activities unless we review them. They throw off continually indications, revelations of ourselves, which we must look back to see.
III. The Apostles gathered themselves together unto Jesus. They brought their activities into the light of His presence; and was not that the very best thing they could do, if they wanted to estimate them rightly and to understand and profit by their teaching? Happy is he whose custom and whose comfort it is to go in to the Lord from time to time, for the purpose of showing Him all things, and reviewing and pondering His life before Him. Let us seek to do this. We shall find the rich help and benefit of it; and our sufficient strength for it will be found in the remembrance that He to whom we are to speak freely is our Father.
S. A. Tipple, Echoes of Spoken Words, p. 43.
Mar 6:30-31
Devotion possible in the Busiest Life.
We may learn from our Lord’s life of toil, that there is nothing in a life of perpetual labour to hinder our attaining to the highest measure of perfection. There was never any one whose life was fuller of endless employments, or more broken by countless interruptions than His. This may show us that the most laborious may be the holiest of saints. There are, however, two objections which may be made against this example. One is that He, being sinless, must needs be independent of the means and conditions on which holiness depends in us, and therefore could suffer no obstruction by the multitude of His employments. The other is, that His work was not secular but sacred. One answer will suffice for both these objections.
I. It is true that He, being sinless, must necessarily be beyond the power of the worldly hindrances which obstruct a life of devotion to us. But is there not something really unsound in the idea that anything which is our duty in life can be an obstruction to any other duty? Surely the truth must be, that whatsoever in our daily life is lawful and right for us to be engaged in, is itself a part of our obedience to God; a part, that is, of our very religion! A life of devotion does not mean a life of separation from active duties, but the discharge of all offices, high or low, from the most sacred and elevated to the most secular and menial, in a devout spirit.
II. But we may go farther, and say not only that the duties of life, be they never so toilsome and distracting, are no obstructions to a life of any degree of inward holiness, but that they are even direct means, when rightly used, to promote our sanctification. The weariness, crosses, disappointments, vexations, which arise in our daily tasks; the early hours and late; the crowding and thronging of the multitude-all these are but as the dust, ashes, and sackcloth of our just humiliation.
III. Another benefit in continual employment is, that it acts as a great check upon the temptations which beset an unoccupied and disengaged man. Next to prayer and a life of devotional habits there is nothing that keeps the heart so pure, and the will so strong and steadfast, as a life of continual duty.
H. E. Manning, Sermons, vol. ii., p. 305.
References: Mar 6:30-32.-A. B. Bruce, The Training of the Twelve, p. 107; W. Hanna, Our Lord’s Life on Earth, p. 214. Mar 6:30-34.-H. M. Luckock, Footprints of the Son of Man, p. 134. Mar 6:30-37.-J. W. Burn, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xx., p. 36.
Mar 6:30-42
The Marvellous Meal.
I. The disciples had been away from Jesus, on their first missionary tour, journeying on foot from town to town, preaching what He had taught them, and working miracles with the power which He had bestowed. When they returned, they had much to tell and to ask; and the Lord, seeing them in need of quiet and rest, said to them, “Come ye yourselves apart into a desert place, and rest awhile.” Jesus must have needed rest as much as they did, for we are told “there were many coming and going, and they had no leisure so much as to eat.” But it was not of Himself he thought, but of His disciples. Do you wish to be a real disciple of the Lord Jesus-really like Him? Then there is nothing you must more earnestly seek than this,-to be unselfish. We cannot overcome selfishness in our own strength, but we may in His of whom it is written, “Even Christ pleased not Himself.”
II. The hot noon has passed; the afternoon is wearing away; and the mountain shadows point towards us across the lake. Many of the people are sitting or lying on the grass, faint with hunger and fatigue. The disciples at last come to their Master and ask if He will not send the people away, that they may go into the villages and buy food, before the sun sets and night comes on. To their amazement, Jesus answers, “They need not depart; give ye them to eat.” The Lord bade them see what they could find. They brought word that there was a lad who had in his basket five cakes of barley bread and two small salted fish. “Bring them (said Jesus) hither to Me.” I wonder whether the lad objected to give up his basket, and whether the disciples paid him for it, or whether he gladly gave it as soon as he knew that the Lord asked it. If so, what an honour and happiness for him to supply the provision out of which the Lord fed all that multitude. He was repaid, as money could not have paid him. Doubtless, the Lord Jesus took care he should be no loser by yielding up his little store.
III. “They did all eat and were filled.” It was a very plain meal, only barley-cake and salt fish, with a draught of clear water from some cool mountain brook. Yet for the poorest and most friendless among the five thousand on the hillside-healed by the touch, taught by the lips, fed by the hand of Jesus, it would have been a poor exchange to have changed places with king Herod in his palace, or with the great emperor of Rome, Tiberius Csar himself.
E. R. Conder, Drops and Rocks, p. 224.
Mar 6:31
Christian Work and Christian Rest.
I. With all our Lord’s constant activity in doing good, let us hear the words of this text, “Come ye yourselves apart into a desert place, and rest a while.” We know from other places in the Gospels, of what rest our Lord was here speaking, and how He employed these hours of retirement and solitude. No doubt, partaking as He did of the bodily infirmities of our nature, He required rest literally and in the simplest sense of the word; and no doubt also that such periods of rest and entire refreshment are not only allowable, but useful and even necessary. Let Christ show us how we may refresh our bodies and minds without letting our souls suffer; how we may return from such retirement, strengthened alike in body and in mind, for the work that is set before us. These times, which our Lord passed in a desert place, generally among the mountains that rise at some little distance from the shores of the Sea of Galilee, were His favourite times of prayer and meditation. He who as God worked and does work for ever, yet as a man and for our example thought it right to vary His active labours with intervals of religious rest.
II. Here, then, in three parts of the text-in the zeal with which our Lord pursued His work, in the particular nature of it, and in the rest with which He thought fit from time to time to vary it-there is matter of special improvement for three classes of persons. The zeal with which He pursued His work, so that they had no leisure so much as to eat, is an example for that most numerous class who are merely following their pleasure, or who, if obliged to work, yet work unwillingly and grudgingly. The particular nature of Christ’s work is an example and a warning for those who, like the ground choked with thorns, are working indeed, and working zealously, but whose work is never of the same sort as Christ’s: it is worldly in its beginning and worldly also in its end. And in the rest which Christ took from time to time, and the uses which He made of it, even they who are actually labouring in His service may learn how alone their labour may be blessed to themselves as well as to others; how their work may indeed be such as that when they fail in this world they may be received into the everlasting habitations of God.
T. Arnold, Sermons, vol. ii., p. 150.
We learn from the text a lesson of zeal in the discharge of our daily duties. “For there were many coming and going, and they had no leisure so much as to eat.”
I. There are some dispositions which, from absolute indolence, seem to be zealous about nothing whatever-persons who appear neither to care about business or pleasure, who cannot be roused to take an active interest in anything. These are characters which exist, and which we must all have sometimes met with; but they are not common, neither are they very dangerous, because the general feeling of men is apt to despise them as stupid and insensible. A much more common case is that of persons who like some things exceedingly and are all alive whenever they happen to be engaged in them; but who do not like their common employment, and display about that no interest at all. This is a very common case, for it rarely happens that our employment is the very one which we should most choose, or the one which we most choose at this particular time, or under these particular circumstances.
II. True it is that we cannot do heartily what we dislike; but it is no less true that we may learn if we will to like many things which we at present dislike; and the real guilt of idleness consists in its refusal to go through this discipline. I might speak of the well known force of habit in reconciling us to what is most unwelcome to us; that, by mere perseverance, what was at first very hard becomes first a little less so, then much less so, and at last so easy that, according to a well known law of our faculties, it becomes a pleasure to us to do it. But although perseverance will certainly do this, what is to make us so persevering? If we go through the discipline it will cure us, but what can engage us to give it a fair trial? And here it is that I would bring in the power of Christ’s example; here it is that the grace of God, through Christ, will give us the victory. The Son of God pleased not Himself, and who are we who do not deny ourselves? His creatures, who owe everything to His goodness, and yet day by day are unworthy of it: His creatures, who, offending Him every hour, are yet impatient of anything but pleasure at His hands; who, with so much of that guilt for which He was pleased to be crucified, are yet unwilling to submit to that discipline which His pure and spotless soul endured cheerfully for no need of His own, but for our sakes.
T. Arnold, Sermons, vol. ii., p. 157.
The Religious Life.
I. The life of Christ was a busy life. The great work of redemption was so pre-eminently the work of Christ’s life, that we sometimes lose sight of the enormous and ceaseless work which He accomplished daily in teaching, in healing disease, in travelling from place to place, so that, on some occasions, “He had no time so much as to eat,” and was so fatigued at night that amidst a storm He slept soundly in a boat on the Galilean Sea. Thus the life of Christ was a life of earnest and active work. We can well imagine how the spotless holiness of Jesus of Nazareth consecrated every labour and hallowed every social scene. To many this will seem a complete type of the religious life. “Do your work honestly,” say they; “enter into the pleasures of life soberly, and there is no need for any special reverence or any extraordinary means of spiritual culture.”
II. But if we read our Master’s life carefully we see that there is another side to it. There were periods when He felt that He needed rest, retirement, struggle, prayer. Again and again He goes apart a while to the stillness of the garden, or to the solemn loneliness of the mountain-side. He would retire at intervals from the wear and tear and weariness of public life, and in meditation, and solitude, and prayer, would strengthen His spiritual nature-would deepen that hunger and thirst in His Divine soul for which the meat and drink were the doing of His Father’s will.
III. Our great duty at present is life. It is to live that God gives us energy of mind and body. Every one of us who knows even a little of the internal side of this great mass of human life, amid which our lot is cast, must feel deeply convinced that if all true and honest men, and all true and pure women, were to withdraw themselves from the world, it would be the taking away of the very salt which is preserving it from decay. While we thus go into life, however, let us remember how hard is the battle, how wearing and exhausting to our better nature are the passions and strifes amid which we have to move. Let us remember how this tends to weaken our spiritual strength, to enervate our spiritual life. We need seasons when the Master calls us, as His disciples, to come apart with Him and rest a while.
T. T. Shore, The Life of the World to Come, p. 52.
After Rest.
I. The great horror, which followed upon so base a crime as the murder of John Baptist, might have seemed, perhaps, to us to suggest that his death was the very moment for our Lord and His disciples to step out, to denounce at once the tyrant himself, and the sin and luxury of the upper classes; and, with the blood of the martyr before them, to commence a new cycle of preaching with a new prospect of success. But not so our Lord thought. From what He said and did, which was so very different, even we, in such different times, and in such quiet walks of life as ours, may perhaps learn some lesson for today. He received the news, and His only utterance seems to have been: “Come ye yourselves apart into a desert place, and rest a while.” The teaching of nature, God’s voice in the beauty of the wilderness-that seems to have been their healing and their strength.
II. The bidding would, while all obeyed it, awake different echoes in different hearts; some, perhaps, would understand it as He meant it, some would be only too willing to hide their sadness and their despair of anything good coming out of a land where the regenerators of society were marked for early doom, some in the sense of strength unused and courage unbroken would think (except that they trusted Him) that they were losing time. Had He not seriously said to them that they must work while it is called day because of the approach of that night in which no work can be done?
III. It is with feelings various as these that we look often on the rest of Death: some seem to reach such fulness of wisdom and sagacity, the rashness of youth gone and yet its courage left, the inexperience to which all seemed easy succeeded by the experience which has learnt that difficulties abound almost impregnable unless approached by the one access to their citadel. They see the moment come for some decisive step, and who so fit as they to take it? And even then, in the wisdom of God, though to our baffling, is the moment when such men are taken from the world. Who can conceive why that is the very hour when God says to them: “Come ye yourselves apart into a desert place, and rest a while?” We cannot realise the secret and the mystery of that place whither they go; but they find there Christ and the Apostles still, resting a while until the day of their recompensing work arrive.
Archbishop Benson, Boy Life: Sundays in Wellington College, p. 156.
The Saviour counsels retirement. He addresses the privileged Twelve; and recommends, proposes, will Himself lead and accompany, a withdrawal, a retreat, a seclusion from scenes and engagements and enjoyments too, which were in their own nature harmless, full of advantage to the persons busied in them, and to thousands and tens of thousands beside and beyond themselves. Jesus said to His disciples: “Come ye yourselves apart into a desert place, and rest a while.” When we compare St. Mark’s with St. Matthew’s narrative of this retirement we shall find three reasons for it.
I. St. Matthew expressly connects it with the tidings of the Baptist’s martyrdom. John’s disciples buried the corpse, and went and told Jesus. And “when Jesus heard of it, He departed thence by ship into a desert place apart.” Read in this the Saviour’s warrant for our mourning in the loss of friends. A near kinsman has been cut off by a sudden, a violent death. Was not Christ one with us in feeling it? Was He not here reproving by His example that stoical or that hyper-spiritual view of bereavement which would forbid the tear to flow, or the heart to ache, because it is God’s will, or because death is the gate of life.
II. St. Mark gives us a second reason for the retirement counselled in the text. He connects it with the return of the Apostles from a mission described in earlier verses of the chapter. Christ receives them with an invitation to solitude, as though He saw that the excitement of a special service needed its counteraction; that there was something in them of a spiritual elation akin to self-complacency, if not to self-glorying-requiring, therefore, that discipline not always for the present joyous, of a wilderness sojourn, literal or figurative, by which the soul recovers its juster, healthier estimate of greatness and littleness, of itself and God.
III. There is yet one third reason for this retirement, and St. Mark suggests it in the clause following the text: “For there were many coming and going, and they had no leisure so much as to eat.” The mere unrest of that busy life created the necessity of retirement. The mere business of a life is reason enough for its resting. The mere coming and going of many who want and seek and would employ this life, is enough in the mind of the holy and compassionate Lord to demand intervals of repose and recreation. How much more when there is taken also into the reckoning what an over-tasked and over-taxed life of necessity must be, in reference to the higher interests-to the well being of the soul.
C. J. Vaughan, Words of Hope, p. 247.
I. The Apostles’ mission was ended. Such special efforts must begin and end. Neither for the worker’s sake, nor for the sake of those worked upon, is it expedient that they should be other than temporary. The kind Saviour saw that the whole mission had been a heavy pull on their energies, both of body and mind. He saw that they were wrought up to a pitch of excitement; He saw they needed rest after toil, and quiet after excitement; He knew where they would get these-not by sitting still and doing nothing for a space amid the throng of men coming and going-not there: they must get apart to the calm seclusion of nature, where green hills and green trees and rippling streams should speak to their heart. Much grass-humblest, commonest, most beautiful of all vegetation-would pour its gentle refreshment into weary eye and aching brain. And so our blessed Redeemer’s words are to the outworn, wrought-up Apostles: “Come ye yourselves apart into a desert place, and rest a while.”
II. Far more needful now has the counsel grown which is set forth in my text. Never, in the history of this country, have there been days in which the work of cultured men was so hard, so eager, so exhausting, so perilous, to fagged brain and nerves, to fevered soul and spirit. If Christ were here as of old He would say such words as those of my text. “Come away from this crowd of human beings, come away from this overpressure and hurry of engagements; come away to a desert place, to the silent hills, to the lonely shore; come and rest a while: you need quiet that you may see your way.
III. One wonders how our Redeemer and His Apostles would rest. Probably as other wearied men would. At first pure idleness. To the worn-out that is absolute rest. For a while it would be delightful just to do nothing. But after a little time that will not do. Let every weary mortal, entering on his resting-time, provide some occupation for it. And finally, if you would enjoy rest, if you would come back with a soul set right; wiser, calmer, more hopeful, more charitable; to do your work better and more cheerfully, to bear with less irritation the provocations which all earnest people will know-all who desire to mend things and folk around them, see to it that you make the resting-time a time of distinct religious discipline.
A. K. H. B., Graver Thoughts of a Country Parson, 3rd series, p. 1.
Seclusions with Christ.
The world is too much with us. For some purposes it cannot be too much with us. With it, and in it, lies our work. To encourage the activities, to direct the energies, to foster the interests, of a little fragment of our generation-this is one of the highest works given to any man; to go out of the world would be to desert the post assigned, and to do despite to the wisdom which has assigned it. And yet the world may be too much with us.
I. There are some influences of the world which need a strong counteraction. One of these is irritation; it is scarcely possible for a man to go through a long day of business without some trial of temper. (2) Another evil influence is worldliness.
II. Out of these plain and everyday experiences of all springs, as of course, the qualifying and correcting necessity-“Come ye yourselves into a desert place, and rest a while.” This seclusion may be either periodical or occasional. (1) By a wise and merciful ordinance of God’s providence, all of us are taken aside, as it were, from the multitude in almost one-half of our earthly being. I speak not now of the ordinances of religion, but of appointments of nature. Think what night is, and then say what we should be without it. Think of its compulsory withdrawal from the exciting contests, the angry recriminations, the fallacious ambitions, the frivolous vanities, which belong to a day and to a multitude! Think of its natural tendency to recall the thought of dependence and of creatureship; to remind us of Him with whom darkness and light are alike, and who Himself neither slumbereth nor sleepeth. Where should we be, the best of us, if nature did not thus play unto the hands of grace?
III. And so we pass from the periodical to the occasional. God’s grace has many sinkings; It despises no method as insignificant, it overlooks, we believe, no person as beneath its notice. Upon one Christ tries His hand of healing thus, and upon another thus-adapting Himself with nicest discrimination to the antecedents, to the circumstances, to the character and to the life. But one thing you will always find-He begins by taking him aside from the multitude, saying, “Come apart for a while with Me.” Nothing can be done without that. Go aside with Christ now, and then there shall be no surprise, and no confusion, and no misgiving, if, when He comes for us, He even come suddenly, calling us to arise and follow Him through the pangs of a most suffering or a most startling death.
C. J. Vaughan, Last Words at Doncaster, p. 259.
The Christian Uses of Leisure.
I. One element of rest to be cultivated in leisure is communion with outward nature.
II. Another is intercourse with fellow-Christians.
III. A third is a closer converse with Christ Himself.
J. Ker, Sermons, 2nd series, p. 146.
References: Mar 6:31.-S. Leathes, Truth and Life, p. 134; J. F. Kitto, Church of England Pulpit, vol. ii., p. 129; H. W. Beecher, Christian World Pulpit, vol. ix., p. 243; E. W. Shalders, Ibid., vol. xiii., p. 195; A. Rowland, Ibid., vol. xxix, p. 332; Preacher’s Monthly, vol. iii., p. 255. Mar 6:31-34.-Ibid., vol. iii., p. 291. Mar 6:33-44.-A. B. Bruce, The Training of the Twelve, p. 120.
Mar 6:34
I. The spirit and object of our Lord’s teaching are given in the words of my text. His teaching is the teaching of a merciful Saviour, and its spirit is compassion and tenderness. “When He saw the people, He was moved with compassion toward them.” And its object is to save that which was lost; because they were as sheep not having a shepherd; therefore He was moved with compassion toward them, and began to teach them many things. It is not to make the wise wiser, or the good better, but to save those that were lost, to call the sinner to repentance. “The whole,” said He, “need not a physician.” By which and other such words, our Lord meant to show, that in order to take this teaching rightly, we must know ourselves to be such as we really are, and such as His teaching supposes us to be. That is, in coming to Him, we must not fancy that we have a knowledge and a goodness, imperfect indeed, but yet of some value, and requiring only to be improved and strengthened. We must come to Him as being sheep without a shepherd, sheep gone astray; as sick men needing a physician-these are His own figures; or, without a figure, we must come to Him as having no knowledge as to the great matter of saving our souls; as having no goodness that can abide God’s judgment.
II. Consider what it is to be looked on by Christ, our most merciful Saviour, with compassion. There is an evil about us, then, which we dream not of; a danger which we do not at all suspect. If Christ looks on us with compassion, ought we not to be afraid? Again, Christ looks on us with pity; we have been very ungrateful to Him; very unheeding; He has called, but we would not answer, yet still His look is one of pity. It might well be a look of anger, of judgment, but it is a look of compassion. That is, He still cares for us, He would that we should not perish, He would still be our Saviour. Let any one consider what it is to be so regarded by his Saviour, and then can he help turning to Him? When we turn He is ready to teach us many things; even the whole counsel of God.
T. Arnold, Sermons, vol. v., p. 178.
References: Mar 6:34.-C. Kingsley, Town and Country Sermons, p. 219. Mar 6:35-44.-E. R. Conder, Drops and Rocks, p. 224. Mar 6:38.-Preacher’s Monthly, vol. viii., p. 144.
Mar 6:39
Note:-
I. The need which comes to men of simply being fed by God, of ceasing from forth-puttingness and self-assertion, and simply being receptive to the influences which come to them from Divinity.
II. Two lessons come to us out of the scene. (1) Seek your life’s nourishment in your life’s work. (2) Make your most restful contemplation and your most receptive listening at the feet of God, not to be mere spiritual luxuries, but to be forms and modes of action.
Phillips Brooks, Contemporary Pulpit, vol. viii., p. 122.
Mar 6:45-51
The Disciples in the Storm.
The whole of this narrative is historical; all literally took place eighteen centuries ago; but at the same time this page of the Gospel is like a sublime parable whose minutest features comprise a teaching for all ages, and which is wonderfully adapted to sustain the faith of believers today.
I. What is it which so often troubles our faith in the Divine promises? It is the fact that God does not direct events and things for the triumph of His cause, and that that cause seems often to be vanquished by fatality. This is a contradiction which confounds us. God wants truth to prevail; He commands His Church to announce it to the world; His design is here express and manifest; and when, to serve Him, His Church puts itself to the work, God permits circumstances to array themselves against it and hinder it. We forget that Christ overcame the world only by raising against Him all its resistance; that the Cross has been a sign of triumph only because it has been an instrument of punishment, and that in its apparent impotence and ignominy we must at all times seek the secret of its power and of its invincible attraction.
II. History is like a night stretching across the ages; in all times believers are called to wait for God’s intervention, but God delays to come, and that is the supreme trial of faith-greater, perhaps, than the opposition of men and even of persecution. Often Christ appears to humanity as a phantom. That pure and holy image has often awoke in those who beheld Him for the first time, only mistrust, hostility, mockery, and more than one generation has hailed Him with a repellent cry.
III. But in the midst of the gloom which envelops the disciples a voice is heard. Jesus Christ has spoken. He has said, “It is I; be not afraid.” The Apostles recognise that voice; in the midst of the storm their hearts are penetrated with a Divine peace. It is the same at all seasons. There is an incomparable emphasis in Christ’s sayings. Yesterday we were in trouble and anguish, today we hear and are subdued. Explain who can this phenomenon. It is a fact for which witnesses would rise today in all parts of the world. Everywhere and in every age there are men who are enlightened, soothed, consoled, by this voice, and to whom it gives an invincible conviction, an immortal hope.
E. Bersier, Sermons, 2nd series, p. 48.
References: Mar 6:45-52.-A. B. Bruce, The Training of the Twelve, p. 128; H. M. Luckock, Footprints of the Son of Man, p. 140. Mar 6:47, Mar 6:48.-Homiletic Magazine, vol. vii., p. 83.
Mar 6:48
Mysterious Passages of Life.
I. The mysterious passages of life are as truly meant for us as when on that melancholy night Jesus decidedly and deliberately left His disciples till “the fourth watch,” till the very verge of daybreak, to labour alone with the rough waves, and to weary themselves in rowing in that stormy sea; while a Divine love seemed as if it took advantage of that cruel hour-for the more they strove the more helpless they grew. I do not say that this is life; but I say that every life, at all times, is hard work, and I say that every life has those special passages. They may be, and they are, in their intensity, a parenthesis, but still they are; and while they last they seem very long. It is then that we forget the smooth waters, and the favouring gale, and the sunny wave, and the happy converse, and the ever-lessening distance; and we see nothing but the swellings of our difficulties, and the dying-out of the specks of our ever-departing hope.
II. It is no little thing to have an object steadily in view, to know that that object is right, to labour for it intently, to sigh for it deeply, to pray for it wrestlingly; and yet, despite all the efforts, and all the sighs, and all the prayers, never to near it, but to see it going farther and farther away into the distance from us. And if that object be some high and holy thing, which seems not only for our spiritual good, a very necessity for our souls, but for God’s own glory, yet to toil and toil and weary ourselves upon labours that are nothing worth, is an exercise of faith that becomes extreme. The word of comfort is this, Jesus sees you. Darkness and distance shut out Him from you; but they never shut out you from Him. To be in His eye is life and safety. To please that eye is the one pure joy of human existence.
J. Vaughan, Fifty Sermons, 4th series, p. 187.
The Contrary Currents of Life.
The winds always seem contrary to those who have any high and earnest purpose in life. The stirring of a high and godly purpose is like swinging round with the head to the current. Thenceforth every moment must be an effort, every thought a prayer; or the stream will be sweeping you farther and farther from the longed-for shore.
I. We are able when thinking over this great matter, a life-course and its issues, to remind ourselves of the great life-course to which the winds were ever contrary, which something seemed always to sweep back from its end. Without question, life is a hard matter to the earnest, the night is dark, and the toil hard. Often the main support of faith is to look steadily to Him to whom the night was darker, the toil harder, and Who is seated now a radiant Conqueror at the right hand of the throne of God.
II. Let us look at the broad fact of the contrariness of the currents of life. With some there is a life-long struggle to fulfil the duty of some uncongenial calling, which yields no fair field of activity to the powers which they are conscious of stirring within. They never, in fact, can get fairly entered for the race in which they might have no small chance of winning the prize. There are others who are crossed in their dearest hope; life is one long, sad regret. There are others with a weak and crippled body enshrining a spirit of noblest faculty; with intense ardour pent up within. And most of us find that something is always rising up to cross us; life is never long without some menace or check.
III. Consider the reason and the rightness of this contrariness of the currents of life. It is to keep us always under strain. God sets things against us to teach us to set ourselves against things, that we may master them, and remain their masters for evermore.
IV. The Master is watching how the lesson prospers. Not from on high; not from a safe shore; but there in the midst of the storm He is watching, nay is walking, drawing nigh, in the very crisis of the danger and the strain. The Master, who holds all things in His hand, shares through the night the toil and strain of His pilgrims, and He rules all for their salvation and the world’s.
J. Baldwin Brown, The Sunday Afternoon, p. 353.
In this text we have:-
I. An interesting illustration of the effect of rapid transitions in outward circumstances upon internal religious experience. That day had been a great day to those disciples. In the morning they had returned from their extensive preaching tour, and begun to tell Jesus of their extraordinary success. The enthusiasm was overwhelming and intense, and the fervour of their souls must have kindled to the highest reach. As they joined in with Jesus in the exhausting labours His zeal led Him to undertake, they were quickened to exertions which really wore out their strength in the delight which they awakened. Out here on the chill water the disciples had no cheering alleviation of their work whatsoever; comfortless, wet to the skin with spray, cut to the bone by the raw spring wind, can we wonder that they speedily became fatigued, disgusted, petulant?
II. We see here the close and somewhat humiliating connection between wistful souls and weary bodies which always has to be recognised. Those skilled fishermen evidently had a hard time of it. They needed to put forth the most violent and persistent efforts in order to keep the small boat from being dashed to pieces before the hurricane. And, of course, they became positively tired out, and their faith had something like a melancholy failure.
III. We see that mere frames of desolate feeling give by no means a release from the pressure of diligent duty. That these disciples were impatient, or even unbelieving, offers us no reason to suppose they were so foolish as to imagine they might lay their oars in the bottom of the boat and let everything drift. Their duty and their need was to continue to do for themselves precisely what they knew Christ would wish, and what they remembered He had commanded.
IV. Jesus Christ, even in darkness, knows who has need of Him. “He saw them toiling,” so we read, and then we reflect how little reason these men had for being melancholy. Glancing again back over the waves, we see Jesus on His knees for a while, praying, no doubt, for them as well as for others, and anon rising up to begin the peerless walk upon the waters which has made that night historic for the ages. Our vicissitudes toss only ourselves, and overturn only our pride, and that not perilously. Jesus’ care remains steady.
V. We see that Jesus Christ sometimes delays His coming to believers till He is sure of a welcome. “He would have passed by them,” so we read again, What can this mean? When walking on the waves He did arrive at the boat-side, did He propose to give those forlorn men the go-by? No; He did it only to call into exercise the longing love which He knew they felt for Him, and so to get their earnest invitation to come into the vessel.
C. S. Robinson, Sermons on Neglected Texts, p. 152.
References: Mar 6:48.-W. M. Statham, Christian World Pulpit, vol. ii., p. 193; W. H. Jellie, Ibid., vol. vii., p. 216; Church of England Pulpit, vol. xvii., p. 193; Homilist, new series, vol. v., p. 154. Mar 6:52.-Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xxi., No. 1218.
Mar 6:56
Christ’s Healing Virtue.
I. The Healed. Those here noticed were evidently affected with a variety of diseases of body and mind. From the circumstances, indeed, that all the affected of the surrounding region were assembled around the Redeemer, we may justly imagine that in some the sight was quenched, that in some the hearing was destroyed, that in some the whole frame was enfeebled, and that in some the mind was laid altogether prostrate. But whatever was the variety and inveteracy of their diseases, we are assured that they were made whole. As the material frame of those who were brought to touch even the hem of the Redeemer’s garment was restored to a state of the most perfect soundness, so the moral nature of those who experience spiritual renovation is healed and fitted for immortal life.
II. The Source, or Fountain, of Healing. The cure, whether it was the restoration of sight or of hearing, or active power, or the casting out of devils, was effected simply by the silent but resistless virture which passed from the Redeemer when His person or even the hem of His garment was touched. In this we have a most expressive and beautiful emblem or representation of the great fountain of moral healing essential for the diseased and sin-stricken nature of man. Spiritual soundness and strength, moral freedom and blessedness, are to be derived simply and exclusively from Him who is become the great Physician of souls, the sole Fountain of internal purity and health.
III. The Medium through which the Healing Influence was transmitted. The cures which were effected on the sons and daughters of affliction gathered around the Redeemer were secured in the employment of such means as He sanctioned and approved. It was not the idle gaze of apathy and vulgar astonishment, that looked wonderingly around when the sound of the Redeemer’s fame was heard, or when His approach was announced, without any attempt to touch Him that was blessed with the healing virtue shed around His steps. No; it was the struggle to come near Him-it was the touch of His person, or the hem of His robe, prompted and sustained by the conviction that He was mighty to save, that met with the benediction, “Go in peace, thy faith hath made thee whole.”
Preacher’s Lantern, vol. iv., p. 625.
References: Mar 6:56.-J. Menzies, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xvii., p. 374; H. N. Grimley, The Temple of Humanity, p. 175; J. Keble, Sermons for Christmas and Epiphany, p. 348. Mark 6-8-Expositor, 1st series, vol. viii., p. 148. Mar 7:1-8; H. M. Luckock, Footprints of the Son of Man, p. 145. Mar 7:1-23.-A. B. Bruce, The Training of the Twelve, p. 79. Mar 7:1-30.-W. Hanna, Our Lord’s Life on Earth, p. 229. Mar 7:3.-Expositor, 1st series, vol. viii., p. 467. Mar 7:9-23.-H. M. Luckock, Footprints of the Son of Mam, p. 151. Mar 7:19.-Ibid., vol. iii., p. 308. Mar 7:20-23.-Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xxxii., No. 1911. Mar 7:21.-Clergyman’s Magazine, vol. iv., p. 225.
Fuente: The Sermon Bible
Chapter 6
1. The Servant rejected in Nazareth. (Mar 6:1-6. Mat 13:54-58; Luk 4:16-30)
2. The Servant sends forth the Twelve. (Mar 6:7-13. Mat 10:5-15; Luk 9:1-6)
3. King Herod troubled. (Mar 6:14-16. Mat 14:1-2; Luk 9:7-9)
4. The Martyrdom of John. (Mar 6:17-29. Mat 14:3-12)
5. The Servants withdrawal for Rest. (Mar 6:30-31. Luk 9:10-11)
6. The feeding of the Five Thousand. (Mar 6:32-44. Mat 14:13-21; Luk 9:12-17; Joh 6:1-13)
7. The Servant alone and His Return walking on the waters. (Mar 6:45-52. Mat 14:22-32; Joh 6:15-21)
8. New Manifestations of His love and Power. (Mar 6:53-56. Mat 14:34-36.)
1. The Servant rejected at Nazareth. Mar 6:1-6
Once more we find Him in Nazareth. The first thing is teaching, and though they were astonished at His wisdom and power, they did not own Him as the Lord, but called Him the Carpenter and were offended in Him. Such is the heart of man. Unbelief tied His hands, yet in Love He healed a few and marvelled because of their unbelief. But did He abandon them? Oh! the infinite patience and seeking Grace of this perfect Servant! He went round about the villages teaching, if perchance faith might yet respond to His willingness and power to heal.
2. The Servant sends forth the Twelve. Mar 6:7-13
Now He sends His Apostles forth and endows them with power. They are to depend in their ministry upon Himself. Thus they were to be His followers for He was ever dependent on God. Blessed principles are here which still hold good, though the sending forth had a special meaning for Israel (see Mat 10:5-15).
3. King Herod troubled. Mar 6:14-16
It is the story of a troubled conscience and fear produces the thought that it is John the Baptist risen from the dead.
4. The Martyrdom of John. Mar 6:17-29
The faithful herald of the Servant suffered martyrdom. In the whole sickening scene of lust and bloodshed the prince of this world, the god of this age is manifested in this awful rule and power. It is a picture of the present age in opposition to God. The lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life hold sway. And this evil age is not gradually improved and getting better, It is not abandoning its lusts and pride, its hatred of God and His Christ. As long as Satan is the ruler the age must be evil. In such a scene the Holy One came to minister and to give His life.
5. The Servants withdrawal for Rest. Mar 6:30-31
We have noticed different withdrawals of the Lord. He withdrew for prayer and to the sea and now when the Apostles gathered unto Him, the One to whom the fellow servants must ever gather, to give a report of what they had done and taught, He withdrew with them into a desert place. The Lord does not say anything about their success (Mar 6:13). There was danger of the self-exaltation of the messengers. The silence of the Lord puts a check upon it. It was His own power, which in goodness and mercy had done all this. Instead we hear Him say, Come ye yourselves apart into a desert place and rest awhile. This again is found nowhere but in Mark. How needful for all servants it is to heed this loving word. How easily in constant service a servant can be lifted up and attribute something to himself. True service only is possible by being occupied with the Lord. And therefore we must ever learn to seek the presence of God. He remembered the need of His messengers and the time of rest with Him gave them new strength.
6. The Feeding of the Five Thousand. Mar 6:32-44
Here we have the compassion of the Servant in remembering the physical need of the people. But before He supplied that need, He began to teach them many things. The Word stands always first. He came to serve. The giving of the Word followed by the works of goodness and power is the order maintained in His service. Note the contrast between Him and the request of the disciples. How untiring, loving, gracious He was in all His service for man. May we learn of Him. A comparison of the account of this miracle in the four Gospels will teach us many lessons. He feeds the poor with bread (Psa 132:15) as the true Shepherd of His people. He is the miraculous giver, but He uses His disciples in dispensing His blessing. His power for the good of others is at the believers disposal. And the little put into His hands was not only sufficient for all but more was left over than they had given to Him. And still He delights to take the little things and manifest through them His power, if we but trust Him.
7. The Servant alone and His Return walking on the Waters. Mar 6:45-52
All is full of blessed meaning. He is once more alone in the mountain to pray. His disciples are alone on the stormy sea. He is absent now and has sent the people ( Israel ) away. He is in the presence of God as our intercessor. The stormy sea with the contrary wind is a type of this present age. Trouble and perplexity is the lot of His disciples during His absence. About the fourth watch of the night He came unto them walking upon the sea. Mark does not mention Peter going forth to meet Him. They see Him coming, but do not recognize Him, believing Him a spirit. His loving voice soon assures them, Be of good cheer; it is I, be not afraid. Thus He will return across the stormy sea to meet and deliver His own. Blessed are we if we ever behold Him as the mighty One, who is above all circumstances and if we hear His words of comfort. How He cares for us. And when He comes the wind will cease.
8. New Manifestations of His Love and Power. Mar 6:53-56
What a scene of toil! What ministry in doing good! Dispensationally it stands for the blessed time, yet in store for this world, when He comes again. Then He who was the Son of Man in humiliation will, as Son of Man, with power and glory, be known to all. Then the earth will be blessed as Gennesaret was.
Fuente: Gaebelein’s Annotated Bible (Commentary)
CHAPTER 23
Is not this The Carpenter?
And he went out from thence, and came into his own country; and his disciples follow him. And when the sabbath day was come, he began to teach in the synagogue: and many hearing him were astonished, saying, From whence hath this man these things? and what wisdom is this which is given unto him, that even such mighty works are wrought by his hands? Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary, the brother of James, and Joses, and of Juda, and Simon? and are not his sisters here with us? And they were offended at him. But Jesus said unto them, A prophet is not without honour, but in his own country, and among his own kin, and in his own house. And he could there do no mighty work, save that he laid his hands upon a few sick folk, and healed them. And he marvelled because of their unbelief. And he went round about the villages, teaching.
(Mar 6:1-6)
In these six verses of Inspiration we are given a sad, bleak illustration of the wickedness of the human heart. Our Lord Jesus Christ returned from Capernaum to Nazareth, his hometown. He had performed notable miracles abroad, miracles which made his name famous, miracles which were commonly known to the people of his own little village, miracles which would have made him the town hero, except for one thing. This One who had done such miracles was also the embodiment of and taught the gospel of Gods free, sovereign, saving grace, contrary to their religious traditions. Therefore, instead of believing him, receiving him, and honoring him as the Christ of God, his own kinsmen and countrymen refused to believe him, despised him, and held him in contempt. He came unto his own, and his own received him not (Joh 1:11).
These verses call for our special attention. I want us to look at them carefully, line by line. As we do, I will direct your attention to five very important things revealed in them.
True Christianity
And he went out from thence, and came into his own country; and his disciples follow him (Mar 6:1). First, we see in verse one that true disciples follow their Master. That fact should be obvious to anyone. Just as Marxists are followers of Marx and Leninists are followers of Lenin, so Christians are followers of Christ. Those disciples at Antioch were such ardent followers of the Lord Jesus Christ that those who observed their doctrine and behavior called them Christians. Be sure you understand what I am saying. A Christian is not a person who says he is a Christian, or the person who professes the right doctrine. A Christian is a person who follows Christ. Our following Christ is not the basis of our hope or the ground of our assurance before God. It is Christs obedience unto death, not our obedience that gives us hope with God and assurance of his grace. Yet, if we do not follow Christ, whatever hope and assurance we have is a delusion.
We read here, His disciples follow him. I do not suggest, and the Word of God does not teach that his disciples follow him perfectly. But I am saying, and the Word of God does teach that all true believers follow Christ as their Lord and Master in the tenor of their lives. All who are saved by the grace of God bow to Christ as their Lord, take up their cross, willingly taking his yoke upon them, and follow him. The Word of God identifies Christians as people who follow Christ. These are they which follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth (Rev 14:4). Christians are followers of Christ. They follow him in believers baptism. They follow his doctrine, believing that which he has revealed. And they follow his example, loving and serving one another.
And that which is true of believers in general is true of gospel preachers in particular. Our Lord Jesus Christ is such a great and gracious Savior that, though the Jews tried to kill him the last time he was there (Luk 4:29), he yet returned to Nazareth once more to preach the gospel to his own people. The Son of God willingly walked in the open among his enemies and publicly preached the gospel to men who sought his blood. Faithful men, those who follow and serve Christ, willingly hazard their lives for the gospels sake (Act 15:25-26). Any man who does not hazard his life in the cause of Christ, who does not ignore his own interests and welfare, leaving it to his Master, Christ Jesus the Lord, to care for, protect, and provide for his servant, does not fit the pattern of these disciples.
Matthew Henry wrote, Whither he went, though it was into danger, his disciples follow him; for they had left all to follow him.
Public Worship
The second lesson to be learned from this passage is the fact that all who follow Christ addict themselves to the worship of God. When our Lord and his disciples came to Nazareth, or to any town or village, at the appointed time of worship they were found in the house of God. In Mar 6:2 we read, And when the sabbath day was come, he began to teach in the synagogue: and many hearing him were astonished, saying, From whence hath this man these things? and what wisdom is this which is given unto him, that even such mighty works are wrought by his hands?
It is the great privilege and responsibility of Gods people to addict themselves to the worship of God in the public assembly of his saints and to the ministry of the Word (Heb 10:25). In those days the appointed place of worship was the synagogue of the Jews. The appointed day of worship was Saturday, the Jewish sabbath day. Though the Jews and the synagogues had long since forsaken the oracles and worship of God, and had replaced the commandments of God with the traditions of men, they still professed to worship the Lord God and professed to reverence his Word.
We ought never to be found in churches where the gospel is not preached and our God is not worshipped. Yet, we must not forsake the assembly of Gods saints in worship. Sheep are social creatures. Unless they are very sick or utterly lost, you will never find them alone. We must not allow any earthly care or social concern to keep us from the house of God. This is the place where Christ has promised to meet with his people (Mat 18:20). This is the place where God sends forth his Word. It is here that God speaks to men. This is the place where we find food for our souls. This is the place where God is worshipped.
When our Lord Jesus came to the house of God, he taught the Word of God. There are many aspects of public worship which must never be neglected. The reading of Holy Scripture, the praise of God in song and public prayer, and the observance of baptism and the Lords Supper are matters of immense importance. However, that which is and always must be paramount in the house of God is the preaching of the gospel, the teaching of the Word of God.
We do not need to guess what the Savior preached in the synagogue. He expounded the law and the prophets, just as he had done the last time he was there, preaching the gospel to all who would hear him (Luk 4:16-32). He preached himself as the only Savior of sinners (Mar 6:18-19), the fulfillment of all the Scriptures (Mar 6:21), and the glorious sovereignty of God in the exercise of his saving grace (Mar 6:25-27). I have no hesitancy in asserting these things, because God the Holy Spirit tells us plainly that there is no preaching of the Word of God apart from the preaching of the gospel (1Pe 1:23-25).
There is no room in the house of God for religious entertainment, political propaganda, social crusades, psychological analysis, and religious dialogue. What we need and must have in the house of God is preaching, plain, forthright, dogmatic, decisive, gospel preaching!
When he had finished preaching the gospel, those who heard him were, as they had been before, both astonished by his wisdom and power, and offended by his doctrine (Mar 6:2-3). Though they acknowledged what they could not deny, his wisdom and power, they were offended by his gospel.
Nothing has changed. The offense of the cross has not come to an end. Those who faithfully preach the gospel of Christ will always find that natural, unregenerate, lost religious people are offended by the gospel. The gospel of Gods free and sovereign grace in Christ will never be palatable to people who do not know God. Total depravity offends mans pride. Unconditional election offends mans self-righteousness. Limited atonement offends men who will not submit themselves entirely to the merits of Christ or salvation. Irresistible grace offends mans sense of personal superiority and dignity. The sure preservation of Gods elect offends mans sense of religious fairness and righteousness.
Christs Humiliation
Third, the Spirit of God here reminds us again of the great humiliation of our Lord Jesus Christ. Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary, the brother of James, and Joses, and of Juda, and Simon? and are not his sisters here with us? And they were offended at him (Mar 6:3). Is not this the carpenter? This particular expression is found nowhere else in the Bible. Its implications are significant and far reaching. In order to redeem and save us the Son of God condescended to become a man, and, being found in fashion as a man, humbled himself in all things relating to manhood (2Co 8:9; Php 2:5-8; Heb 2:14-18).
In Christ becoming a curse for his redeemed, it behoved him to undergo that curse in all its branches. The tenor of the curse pronounced at the fall, ran in those words: .In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread; meaning toil and labor. Had not Jesus therefore toiled and labored for his bread, this part of the curse could not have lighted upon him. (Robert Hawker)
He who made heaven, and earth, and sea, and all that therein is, He, without whom nothing was made that was made, the Son of God Himself, took on Him the form of a servant, and in the sweat of His face ate bread, as a working man. This is indeed that love of Christ which passeth knowledge. Though He was rich, yet for our sakes He became poor. Both in life and death, He humbled himself, that through Him sinners might live and reign for evermore. (J.C. Ryle)
Living and working as an ordinary carpenter, our dear Savior taught us by example the honor of diligent labor and the dishonor of laziness, idleness, and slothfulness. Every honorable man is a working man. We ought to abhor idleness and teach our children to abhor it. Nothing is more repugnant than a man who claims to be a follower of Christ who will not work and provide for his own (Eph 4:27-28; 2Th 3:10; 1Ti 5:8).
Nothing is more pernicious for young people than to get a habit of sauntering. The Jews had a good rule for this that their young men who were designed for scholars, were yet bred up to some trade, as Paul was a tent-maker, that they might have some business to fill up their time, and, if need be, to get their bread.
(Matthew Henry)
By assuming the work and trade of a carpenter, our Redeemer placed great honor upon working people, that class of society commonly disdained by those who consider themselves the nobler part of society. The only things that might be more repugnant than lazy, loitering people are those who snub their noses at others whom they consider beneath them. Pride of place, pride of race, and pride of grace are utterly despicable!
Blessings Despised
But Jesus said unto them, A prophet is not without honour, but in his own country, and among his own kin, and in his own house (Mar 6:4). It is ever the tendency of our fallen, depraved nature to undervalue and disregard those things with which they are most familiar. The people of Nazareth were offended at our Lord. They did not think it possible that one who had lived among them for thirty years, whose family they knew well, one who was reared and trained as nothing but a carpenter could be worthy of such reverence, esteem, and adulation as many heaped upon this man. They certainly did not believe him to be a prophet of God, and most particularly did not believe it even remotely possible that he could be the Christ of God, as he claimed. Though the Son of God dwelt among them for thirty years, they looked upon him with utter contempt. Why? Because it is ever the tendency of flesh and blood to disregard and even despise those things with which we are most familiar, even when those things are more valuable than silver and gold and vital to the welfare of our souls.
The Word of God, the preaching of the gospel, the ordinances of divine worship, when readily and abundantly available, are rarely truly cherished as things which are vital and more precious than all earthly things. It is more true with regard to these things than with anything else, that familiarity breeds contempt. Be warned. Such contempt will not go unnoticed by God (2Ch 36:15-16; Mat 23:37-38).
The Greatest Evil
And he could there do no mighty work, save that he laid his hands upon a few sick folk, and healed them. And he marvelled because of their unbelief. And he went round about the villages, teaching (Mar 6:5-6).
The greatest, most astonishing evil in the world is the horrible sin of unbelief. There are two statements in these two verses that are simply astounding to me. They must not be glossed over lightly. First, we are told that our Lord could do no mighty work in Nazareth. Matthew tells us that the reason why he could do no mighty work there was the glaring, obstinate unbelief of the people who lived there (Mat 13:58).
Our Lord could have done at Nazareth anything he desired to do. He is the omnipotent God! Let no one ever imagine that the arm of omnipotence is halted or even hindered by the will and unbelief of man! He could have given these people faith as easily as he has given us faith. But because he would not do his mighty works in Nazareth, he, therefore, could not perform them. The fact is these people did not so much as ask a favor of him. Therefore, they received no favor from him. Because of their obstinate unbelief in the face of his manifest wisdom and power as the Son of God, they were not given the grace and favor of him working his wonders among them.
Then we are told that our Lord marvelled because of their unbelief. Only twice are we told that the Son of God marveled at anything. There were only two things that seem to have really made an impression upon the God-man as he walked through this world. He marveled at the faith of those from whom no one would expect faith: the centurion (Mat 8:7-13) and the Canaanite woman (Mat 15:21-28). And here Mark tells us that our Lord Jesus marvelled because of their unbelief. He marveled at the unbelief of those in whom we might most naturally expect to find faith. Here are men and women who had been all their lives, from one generation to another, favored with Gods Word, the oracles of divine worship, and even with the manifest presence and power of the Son of God. Yet, they believed not on him!
The unbelief of those who enjoy and are favored with the means of grace and the manifest saving power of Christ is truly as amazing as it is inexcusable. Unbelief is the oldest of all sins, the most common of all sins, the most inexcusable of all sins, and the most ruinous of all sins. Unbelief is blasphemy. Unbelief is the bold, brazen, suicidal assertion that God is a liar, the Son of God is a fake, and the Spirit of God is a delusion! Unbelief will be forever damning to the wicked!
It is not the lack of evidence that makes men and women unbelievers, nor the difficulties of Christian doctrine, nor the want of godliness, love, and mercy among believers, but their own unwillingness to trust the Lord of glory. Men and women vainly point at this and that as the reason for their unbelief. But the will not to believe on the Son of God arises from their love of sin, love of the world, and spiritual blindness. Yet, I hasten to add, the root of unbelief is never destroyed, even in Gods saints, so long as we live in this world. Lord, increase our faithI believe. Help thou mine unbelief!
Fuente: Discovering Christ In Selected Books of the Bible
and came: Mat 13:54, etc. Luk 4:16-30
Reciprocal: Luk 4:23 – thy country
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
AFTER THESE THINGS, leaving the lakeside He went into the district where His early life had been spent. Teaching in the synagogue, His words astonished them. They quite dearly recognized the wisdom of His teachings and the might of His acts, and yet all this wrought no conviction or faith in their hearts. They knew Him, and those related to Him according to the flesh, and this but blinded their eyes as to who He really was. They were not insulting in their expression of unbelief, as were the mourners in the house of Jairus; but it was rank unbelief nevertheless, so great that He marvelled at it.
The view that they had of Jesus was just that of the modern Unitarian. They were altogether convinced of His humanity, for they were so well acquainted with its origins as far as His flesh was concerned. They saw it so clearly that it blinded them to anything beyond, and they were offended in Him. The Unitarian sees His humanity, but nothing beyond. We see His humanity no less clearly than the Unitarian, but beyond it we see His deity. It does not trouble us that we cannot grasp intellectually how both can be found in Him. Knowing that our minds are finite, we do not expect to explain that into which infinity enters. If we could grasp and explain, we should know that what we thus comprehend is not Divine.
As a result of this unbelief, He could there do no mighty work, save that He healed a few sick folk, who, evidently, did have faith in Him. This emphasizes what we have just noted in connection with verse Mar 6:43 of Mar 5:1-43. As, in the presence of ribald unbelief, the Lord withdrew any testimony to Himself, so, in the presence of His unbelieving fellow-countrymen, He did no mighty works.
Now we might feel inclined to think that His action should have been just the opposite. But it does seem in Scripture that when unbelief rises to the height of mockery, the testimony stops-see, Jer 15:17; Act 13:41; Act 17:32 -Act 18:1. Also it is evident that though Jesus of Nazareth was approved of God… by miracles and wonders and signs (Act 2:22), yet the main object was not to convince stubborn unbelief, but to encourage and confirm weak faith. We are shown in Joh 2:23-25, that when His miracles did produce intellectual conviction in certain men, He Himself put no trust in the conviction so produced. Hence He did no great works in the Nazareth district. He could not do them. He was limited by moral considerations, not by physical ones. Miracles were not suitable to the occasion, according to Gods ways: and He was the Servant of Gods will.
What was suitable was the faithful rendering of a dear testimony; hence He went round about the villages, teaching. A great display of miracles might have produced a revulsion of feeling and intellectual conviction, which would not have been worth having. The steady teaching of the Word meant sowing the seed, and there would be some worth-while fruit from that, as we have seen.
This brings us to verse Mar 6:7 of this chapter, where we read of the twelve being sent forth on their first mission. Their period of training was now over. They had listened to His instructions, as given in Mar 4:1-41, and witnessed His power, as displayed in chapter 5. They had also had this striking illustration of the place that miracles should occupy, and of the fact that though there were times when they might be unsuitable, the teaching and preaching of the Word of God was always in season.
Miracles and signs of a genuine sort are not in evidence today; but the Word of God abides. Let us be thankful that the Word is always in season, and let us be diligent in sowing it.
The sending forth of the twelve was the inauguration of an extension of the Lords ministry and service. Hitherto all had been in His own hands, with the disciples as onlookers; now they are to act on His behalf. He was absolutely sufficient in Himself: they are not sufficient, and hence they are to go forth two and two. There is help and courage in companionship, for just where one is weak another may be strong, and He who sent them knew exactly how to couple them together. Companionship is specially helpful where pioneering work is being done; and so in the Acts we see Paul acting on this instruction of the Lord. Service is an individual matter, it is true, but even today we do well to esteem rightly fellowship in serving. We are Gods fellow-workmen (1Co 3:9. N. Tr.).
Before they left, they had power or authority given to them over all the power of Satan. They also had instructions to strip themselves of even the ordinary necessaries, carried by the traveller of those days. Further, they were given their message. As their Master had preached repentance in view of the kingdom (see Mar 1:15), so were they to preach it.
Those who serve today do not hold their commission from Christ on earth, but Christ in heaven; and this introduces certain modifications. Our message centres in the death, resurrection and glory of Christ, whereas theirs in the very nature of things could not do so. They discarded travelling necessities, inasmuch as they represented the Messiah on earth, who had nothing, but who was well able to sustain them. We are followers of a Christ who has gone on high, and His power is usually exercised in freeing His servants from dependence on props of a spiritual nature rather than from those of a material sort. We may certainly, however, take great comfort from the thought that He does not send His servants forth without giving them power for the service before them. If we are to cast out demons He will give us power to do it. And if our service is not that but something else, then power for the something else will be ours.
They-and we too-are to be marked by utmost simplicity: no running about from house to house in search for something better. They represented Him. He acted by proxy through them; and hence to refuse them was to refuse Him. His saying in verse Mar 6:11 as to Sodom and Gomorrah is similar to what He said of Himself in Mat 11:21-24. Those who serve Him today are not apostles, still in a lesser degree the same thing doubtless holds good. Gods message is not the less His message because it comes through feeble lips.
Their service, whether in preaching, casting out demons or in healing, was so effective that His Name-not theirs-was spread abroad, and even Herod heard His fame. This miserable king had so bad a conscience that he at once assumed that John the Baptist, his victim, had come to life. Others considered Christ to be Elijah, or one of the old prophets. No one knew, for no one thought of God as able to do some new thing.
At this point Mark digresses a little to tell us, in verses Mar 6:17-28, how John had been murdered at the behest of a vindictive woman. Evil man though he was, Herod possessed a conscience that spoke, and we see the masterly craft by which the devil captured him. The trap was set by means of a young woman with pretty face and form, an older woman attractive and revengeful, and a foolish vanity which made the unhappy king think much more of his oath than of Gods law. Thus the vain and lustful man was manouevred into the act of murder, with ultimate damnation for himself. His uneasy conscience only provoked superstitious fears.
In verse Mar 6:29, Mark merely records that Johns disciples gave his mutilated body burial. He does not add as Matthew does that they went and told Jesus (Mar 14:12). He passes on to record the return of the disciples from their journeyings, telling their Master of all that they had done and taught. It was then that the Lord withdrew them into a desert place, that apart from the crowd and the busy service they might spend quiet time in His presence. It is instructive to notice that the passage in Matthew makes it pretty certain that the distressed disciples of John also arrived just at that time.
Let us never forget that a period of rest in the presence of the Lord, apart from men, is necessary after a period of busy service. The disciples of John came from their sad service heavy-hearted and distressed. The twelve came from triumphant encounters with the power of demons and disease, probably flushed with success. Both needed the quiet of the presence of the Lord, which avails equally to lift up the drooping heart and check undue elation of spirit.
However, the period of quiet was but brief, for the people sought after Him in their crowds, and He would not say them nay. The heart of the great Servant comes out most beautifully in verse Mar 6:34, where we are told He was moved with compassion. The sight of them, as sheep not having a shepherd, only induced compassion in Him, not-as so often with us, alas!-feelings of annoyance or contempt. And He was moved by the compassion He felt; that is the wonder of it.
His compassion moved Him in two directions. First, to minister to them as to spiritual things. Second, to minister to them carnal things. Notice the order: the spiritual came first. He began to teach them many things, though what He said is not recorded; then when the evening was come He relieved their hunger. Let us learn from this how to act. If men have bodily needs it is good that we should meet them according to our ability; but let us always keep the Word of God in the first place. The needs of the body must never take precedence over the needs of the soul, in our service.
In feeding the five thousand, the Lord first of all tested His disciples. How much had they taken in as to His sufficiency? Very little apparently, for in answer to His word, Give ye them to eat, they only think of human resources and of money. Now any resources of a human sort that were present were by no means ignored. They were very insignificant, but they were appropriated by Jesus that in them His power might be displayed. He might have turned stones into bread, or indeed produced bread from nothing; but His way was to utilize the five loaves and two fishes.
His work has been carried on in just this way throughout the present epoch. His servants possess certain small things, which He is pleased to use. And further, He dispensed His bounty in an orderly manner, the people being seated in hundreds and fifties, and He employed His disciples in the work. The feet and hands that conveyed the food to the people were theirs. Today the feet and hands of His servants are used, their minds and lips are placed at His disposal, so that the bread of life may reach the needy. But the power that produces results is wholly His. The very feebleness of the means used makes this manifest.
As the perfect Servant He was careful to connect all that He did with heaven. Before the miracle took place He looked up to heaven and rendered thanks. Thereby the thoughts of the crowd were directed to God as the Source of all, rather than to Himself the Servant of God on earth. A word to ourselves, containing a similar principle, is found in 1Pe 4:11. The servant who ministers spiritual food is to do so as from God, that God may be glorified in it and not himself.
We may also extract encouragement from the fact that when the great crowd was fed, far more remained than the little with which they started. The Divine resources are inexhaustible, and the Servant who relies upon his Master will never run out of supplies. In this respect there is a very happy resemblance between the loaves and fishes placed in the hands of the disciples and the Bible placed in the hands of disciples today.
The feeding of the multitude accomplished, the Lord at once dispatched His disciples to the other side of the lake and gave Himself to prayer. He not only connected all with heaven by thanksgiving in the presence of the people, but He ever maintained touch for Himself as the Servant of the Divine will. From Joh 6:1-71 we learn that at this point the people were enthusiastic and would have made Him a king by force. The disciples might have been entrapped by this, but He was not.
The crossing of the lake furnished the disciples with a fresh demonstration of who their Master was. The contrary wind hindered their progress, and they toiled forward slowly. He again proved Himself supremely above both wind and wave, walking upon the water, and able to pass them by.
His word calmed their fears, and His presence in their boat ended the storm. In spite of all this, the real significance of it eluded them. Their hearts were not yet ready to take it in. Nevertheless the people generally had learned to recognize the Lord and His power. Abundance of need was presented to Him, and He met it with abundance of grace.
Fuente: F. B. Hole’s Old and New Testaments Commentary
Chapter 35.
Jesus at Nazareth
“And He went out from thence, and came into His own country; and His disciples follow Him. And when the Sabbath day was come, He began to teach in the synagogue: and many hearing Him were astonished, saying, From whence hath this man these things? and what wisdom is this which is given unto Him, that even such mighty works are wrought by His hands? Is not this the Carpenter, the Son of Mary, the Brother of James, and Joses, and of Juda, and Simon? and are not His sisters here with us? And they were offended at Him.”-Mar 6:1-8.
Our Lord and “His own Country.”
“His own country” is quite obviously Nazareth. The excitement caused by the healing of the woman with the issue of blood, and the still more wonderful miracle of the raising of Jairus’ daughter, was inconvenient and distasteful. And to escape from it our Lord left the crowded district round the lake, and withdrew into the much more quiet region of “His own country.” Commentators find it most difficult to decide whether our Lord, after He began to preach, paid one visit to Nazareth or two. The account in these verses before us obviously refers to the same visit as is described for us in Matt. xiii. The difficulty comes in trying to decide whether the visit which Matthew and Mark describe is the same as that recorded in Luke iv. There is, as you remember, a general similarity in the accounts all three Evangelists give of the reception Christ met with at the hands of the Nazarenes. All these tell us that Christ’s townsfolk, blinded by prejudice, refused to acknowledge His greatness. “They were offended in Him” (Mar 6:3, R.V.), and many scholars, impressed by this general similarity, have concluded that all three accounts refer to one and the self-same visit. On the other hand, there are certain points of difference that make equally competent scholars maintain that the accounts refer to two distinct and separate visits. Let me mention some of these points of difference. In Matthew’s and Mark’s accounts the Nazarenes content themselves with disparaging references to our Lord’s family and occupation; but in Luke’s account their fury against Him is so fierce that they make a determined attempt to kill Him. In Matthew’s and Mark’s accounts Jesus leaves Capernaum for Nazareth; in Luke’s account, the hostility of His own people drives Him from Nazareth to Capernaum. But far more weighty than verbal differences of this kind is the fact that Luke places His visit right at the beginning of our Lord’s ministry, while the visit recorded by Matthew and Mark took place after Jesus had been for months (eighteen months, Dr. Glover suggests) engaged in the work of teaching and preaching. On the whole, therefore, we are perhaps justified in concluding that Jesus paid two visits to His home town, and that it is the second of those visits that is referred to here.
His Prior Treatment at Nazareth.
If this was a second visit, its import is the more striking. For He had, on a previous occasion, been badly treated in Nazareth. They had not only rejected His message; they had tried their utmost to kill Him. For at the end of the sermon “they rose up, and cast Him forth out of the city, and led Him unto the brow of the hill whereon their city was built, that they might throw Him down headlong” (Luk 4:29, R.V.). Jesus had scarcely a friend in Nazareth. His own brethren did not believe in Him. They thought Him mad, and with Mary, their mother, they came one day to lay hands upon Him. Indeed, so complete was the alienation between our Lord and the members of His own family, that in that incident which Mark records in chapter iii., He almost repudiates relationship-at any rate, He declares that the men and women in His congregation, listening with receptive and obedient minds, were more really His mother and sisters and brothers than were Mary and James and Joses and Judas and Simon and the sisters referred to in this paragraph. On the whole, considering the condition of things in His own home, remembering the reception He met with on His first visit, it would have been quite natural and intelligible if Jesus had never gone near Nazareth again.
Mercy for Insult.
But our Lord is plenteous in mercy; “unwearied in forgiveness still, His heart could only love.” The rude reception He met with, the contemptuous rejection of His claims, could not, and did not, quench or even chill His love. And so in process of time He went back again, to give Nazareth another chance. He made this second visit, says: one of the baldest and driest of commentators, with the twofold purpose of renewing His relations with His mother and His brothers, and endeavouring again to commend Himself to His fellow-townsmen. That is exactly it. He went back, to give them all a second chance. You remember how the prophet, in the name of God, apostrophises Israel. Israel has sorely grieved God, and rebelled against Him, and done despite to His law, yet He yearns over Israel, “How shall I give thee up, Ephraim?” He cries, “Mine heart is turned within me, my repentings are kindled together” (Hos 11:8). And the heart of Jesus yearned over Nazareth, over His townsmen, over His old playmates, over His kinsfolk according to the flesh. This second visit to the town that had rejected Him was just the outcome of that yearning compassion and love.
The Second Chance.
The love that believes in the second chance is characteristic of Jesus. “Let us go into Juda again,” He said one day to His disciples. And the bare suggestion staggered them. “Rabbi,” they protested, “the Jews of late sought to stone Thee, and goest Thou thither again?” (Joh 11:8). Again-back to the stones; to the men who had sought to kill Him? Yes, again, to give them another chance. What love this is! that after men have cast Him out, and sought to kill Him, will come back again! Yet you and I need it all! My hope of acceptance and salvation lies here-that though I have stoned Christ and cast Him forth, He comes back again. By act and word we reject Christ, and repudiate Him, and rebel against Him, and bid Him depart! But, thank God, He does not leave us to our fate. He comes back again. He gives us another chance. The long-suffering of the Lord is our salvation. And I am tempted to add this word before I pass on-this belief in the second chance that characterised Jesus, characterises all who really possess His spirit. You remember the treatment Paul received at Lystra. This is what I read,-they “stoned Paul, and drew him out of the city, supposing he had been dead” (Act 14:19). What a reception to meet with! Paul hereafter will surely eschew a city that treated him so cruelly! Yet what I read in the next verse but one is this, “And when they had preached the Gospel to that city, and had taught many, they returned again to Lystra!” (Act 14:21). Back to the people who had stoned and well-nigh killed him, to give them another chance! And that is the spirit that will characterise all who have truly learned of Jesus. We shall always be eager to go again to those who have repelled and rebuffed us.
The Perfect Humanity of Jesus.
And now, let us look at what these Nazarenes said about Jesus, and the questions Jesus started in their minds. First of all, then, we have here their account of Jesus-of His family and upbringing and circumstances. “Is not this the carpenter,” they said, “the son of Mary, and brother of James, and Joses, and Judas, and Simon? and are not His sisters here with us?” (Mar 6:3, R.V.). This is a testimony from the Nazarenes to Jesus’ true and normal humanity. He was made in all things “like unto His brethren” (Heb 2:17), the writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews says, and here these Nazarenes place their seal to that great and comforting statement. Jesus was a true and genuine man. He had a normal and human development. As far as His humanity was concerned, the Nazarenes, it is clear, believed that Jesus was just like any one of themselves. They knew His mother Mary, His brothers and sisters; and, without entering upon the region of controversy, there is no adequate reason for supposing that these brothers and sisters referred to here were anything but real brothers and sisters, i.e. sons and daughters of Joseph and Mary. They were still amongst them,-plain, ordinary everyday people. They remembered that Jesus Himself had just been a craftsman in their midst. “Is not this the Carpenter?” they said. They had in their possession barrows and ploughs and chairs and tables of Jesus’ make. As far as outward circumstances were concerned, there was nothing to differentiate Jesus from any other Jew of humble birth.
-But a Distinction Apparent.
And yet there was a difference. That was the startling fact that forced itself upon the minds of these Nazarenes. There was a difference. There was all the difference in the world. Jesus had played with them, gone to school with them, worked with them and for them, and yet He was different from them. He had been brought up in the same home with James and Joses and Judas and Simon, and yet He was quite different from them. If these Nazarenes could have denied the difference they would. For all their local prejudices and jealousies and envies were up in arms. But the difference would not be denied. It would be as idle to deny that the sun shone as to deny the difference, the immeasurable difference, between Jesus and His own kin; yes, and every man they had ever seen or heard of. And their problem came in trying to account for this difference.
-The Speech of our Lord.
“Whence,” they said in their bewilderment, “hath this Man these things?” and “What is the wisdom that is given unto this Man?” and “What mean such mighty works wrought by His hands?” (Mar 6:2, R.V.). If Mar 6:3 is the Nazarenes’ testimony to our Lord’s real and normal humanity, Mar 6:2 is their testimony to His absolutely unique greatness. The three questions that leaped to their lips emphasise three separate aspects of the greatness of Christ. “Whence hath this Man these things?” is the first question, i.e. these things that He is saying. Here is their testimony to the wonder of the speech of Christ. “Never man spake like this Man” (Joh 7:46) was the testimony of the officers who were sent to seize Christ, but who returned with their errand unfulfilled. That is to all intents and purposes the testimony of these Nazarenes. They “wondered,” Luke says, in his account of His first visit, “at the gracious words which proceeded out of His mouth” (Luk 4:22). There was a charm and a winsomeness about Christ’s speech that not even the most callous and insensible could fail to feel. Even the “publicans and sinners drew near for to hear Him.” Even the “common people heard Him gladly.” And not only was Christ’s speech marked by grace and charm. It had the note of authority in it too. Perhaps this was the most astonishing thing about it. “He taught them as one having authority.” He spoke as one who had the right to command. He preached as one who had power to supersede even Moses. There was a whole universe between Jesus and every other teacher the land contained.
The Wisdom of Our Lord.
“What is the wisdom that is given unto this Man?”-this was the second question. He never “guessed at truth.” He declared the truth as one who knew. There was no “perhaps,” or “if” or “it may be,” in His speech. The note of certitude rang through it all. And as Jesus declared His Gospel men recognised its truth. Truth always has a self-evidencing power. And even these prejudiced Nazarenes could not fail to see that Jesus had a grip of truth, a knowledge of God, a familiarity with the eternal, that no prophet or psalmist had ever possessed. And it left them speechless with amazement. “What is the wisdom that is given unto this man?” they said.
The Works by Our Lord.
“What mean such mighty works wrought by His hands?”-that was their third question. The reference, no doubt, is to the miracles of healing wrought by Jesus, the news of which had reached His old home, and had set the whole place in a ferment. Acts of power were attributed to certain of the great prophets of the Old Testament, but they were exceptional and rare. Power, on the other hand, streamed forth from Jesus. “As many as touched Him were made whole.” No one in all their nation’s history had performed such acts of power as Jesus did. He was victor over disease, over leprosy, over death itself. How came Jesus by this power, which neither Elijah nor Moses could equal? “What mean such mighty works wrought by His hands?” These were the qualities about Jesus for which the Nazarenes could not account.
People in these days try to account for a man by his ancestry and training. And these things undoubtedly have an almost incalculable influence upon a man’s development. The Nazarenes did not talk as much as we do about heredity and environment But obviously these things were in their mind, and they had some notion of their effect on life. But what they felt was that heredity and environment completely failed to account for Jesus. For there was nothing remarkable about Jesus’ family. “Is not this the son of Mary?” they said, “and brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon?” It was not a case of inherited genius-which genius had come to its consummate flower in Jesus. Genius in any case is not sufficient to account for Christ’s wisdom. But as a matter of fact there was no genius. His relations were just plain, average, commonplace Jews. Nor was it a case of favourable environment; Jesus had had no early advantages. He had never been to college in Jerusalem. He had received the limited schooling a poor Jewish lad was wont to receive, and was then put to the carpenter’s bench. They said, “Is not this the Carpenter?” And so Jesus remained a problem to these Nazarenes. Ignoring or rejecting any idea of Divinity in Jesus, they found Him an insoluble problem. They had no category in which they could place Him. And, rather than confess Him to be the Sent of God, they preferred to believe He was inspired of the devil. “And they were offended in Him” (Mar 6:3, R.V.).
The Humanitarian Theory.
The Lord Jesus is still a problem to us. He confronts the world, and it is impossible to account for Him on merely humanitarian lines. I hold as tenaciously as any one to His real humanity, but I have no patience with the attempts that many make to whittle away His uniqueness, to reduce Him to the proportions of a merely superior man. I know it is difficult to form an intellectual conception of how Jesus can be at one and the same time very God and true Man. But if that is difficult-to think of Him as mere man is impossible. “Whence hath this Man these things?” “What is the wisdom that is given unto this Man?” How is it this Galilean peasant surpasses the greatest human intellects in the grasp of truth? “What mean these mighty works wrought by His hands?” How is it Christ has been able to do wonders in the way of salvation no human agency has ever been able to accomplish? Not likeness but uniqueness is what I see. Shut out His Divinity, and Jesus becomes a stumbling-block. But let His wisdom and power produce their due impression, and you will see in Him Very God as well as Very Man, and will fall at His feet saying, “My Lord and my God.”
Fuente: The Gospel According to St. Mark: A Devotional Commentary
How Unbelief Hindered Christ
Mar 6:1-13
INTRODUCTORY WORDS
We wish to take up two questions of Mar 6:2.
1. The first question: “From whence hath this Man these things?”
(1) We have back of the question an under-estimate of the Lord Jesus Christ. They called Him “This Man.”
(2) We have in the question an unmistakable quandary. They said in effect, He is a man, yet He works like God.
2. The second question: “What wisdom is this which is given unto Him?”
He not only wrought as none other ever wrought, but He spoke as none other ever spoke.
He spoke the truth as none other ever spoke. His Words were the Truth. He Himself was Truth. He never made a false statement nor presented a false claim.
He spoke the truth theologically. Of course He did, for He was God, and knew God. He did not theorize or guess-He knew.
He spoke the truth historically for He spoke in knowledge of all things, for He was before all things.
The people said, “Never man spake like this Man,” yet they would not acclaim Him God.
What wisdom was His? He, Himself, was Wisdom. Wisdom came from above, because He came from above.
I. HIS MIGHTY WORKS (Mar 6:2, l.c.)
Here are the works which we would consider for a moment: “Such mighty works are wrought by His hands.”
1. Consider His first miracle: turning the water into wine.
2. Consider His second miracle.
3. Consider the miracle that immediately preceded this study in Mar 5:1-43.
4. Consider the feeding of the multitudes and the necessary multiplying of the loaves and fishes.
5. Consider the storm on Galilee and the Master walking on the waves.
6. Consider the raising of the daughter of Jairus, and of the widow’s son, and of Lazarus, who had been four days dead.
Even so, Christ still lives and He still works.
II. HOLDING JESUS OF NAZARETH DOWN TO A HUMAN GENEALOGY (Mar 6:3)
Here is the way our Scripture reads: “Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary, the brother of James, and Joses, and of Juda, and Simon? and are not his sisters here with us?”
The people of that day, however, were no more prone to humanize the Lord than are the people of our day. There are multitudes who defame Him by denying that He is Son of God, and God the Son. They are quite as willing to put Him, in His birth, along with Mary’s other sons and daughters. They are quite as willing to make Mary an impure woman, with a son begotten out of wedlock.
1. To rob Christ of His Deity, begotten, by the Spirit, robs us of the Lord. The Book of Mark opens with those memorable words, “The beginning of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.” It must ever be true that if Jesus Christ were the Son of Joseph, He was not the Son of God; or if Jesus Christ was the Son of God, He was not the Son of Joseph.
Stated in another way, If Jesus Christ were the Son of Mary by Joseph, He was a sinner, as well as all other men are sinners; and He could not, then, be the Saviour, nor Lord.
2. To rob Jesus Christ of His Deity, begotten by the Spirit, therefore robs us of the Saviour. Had Christ been Joseph’s Son, He would have had sins of His own, and could not save others, for Himself He could not have saved.
As son of Joseph and Mary Christ could not have been holy, or undefiled, or separate from sinners; and without these attributes He would have had no value with which He could have redeemed the unholy, the defiled, the sinner.
III. MAKING IT IMPOSSIBLE FOR CHRIST TO DO MIGHTY WORKS (Mar 6:4-5)
1. Unbelief steels the heart against the Word of God. “He could there do no mighty work.” He could do, and did do, many mighty works in many places; but He could do none there. And why not? For this simple reason: God’s mighty works are dependent upon our faith. These townsmen denied Christ as God, made Him a mere man, and thus they gave the Lord no soil in which the seed of truth might grow. They gave Him no basis on which they could be recipients of His mercy.
2. Belief is ever the pivot on which God works. Have you not read, “According to your faith be it unto you”? Again have you not read, “What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them”? If unbelief shuts out the blessing, faith brings the blessing. Unbelief is black with the frown of God: belief is bright with His smiles.
3. Instead of increasing our works of unbelief, let us increase our work of faith. The church is ofttimes doing much, and believing little. The church is too frequently denying the miraculous, and emphasizing the vigor of an untrusting service.
How much the rather should we work in faith. After all, it is much better to believe than to work. Best of all is to work the works of faith.
May we pause to observe the mighty victories of faith that have marked the pathway of saints during the ages. The Holy Spirit has given us, in Heb 11:1-40, a partial statement of these. They lived and wrought and God was glorified.
IV. MARVELING AT THEIR UNBELIEF (Mar 6:6)
The Lord Jesus did not marvel at their wisdom, their might, their buildings, their herds, nor at their squalor or their sin. He marveled at their unbelief.
1. He marveled at their unbelief, because He was the fulfillment of the very Prophets they read daily in their synagogues. This significant passage of Scripture magnifies this truth: “For they that dwell at Jerusalem, and their rulers, because they knew Him not, nor yet the voices of the Prophets which are read every Sabbath Day, they have fulfilled them in condemning Him.” “And when they had fulfilled all that was written of Him, they took Him down from the Tree.”
2. He marveled at their unbelief because He was the One they needed to meet their every need. He had come to them as a Prince and a Saviour. He had come to save them from every power of the wicked one, and to set them free. He had come that they might have life, and have it more abundantly; yet they believed Him not.
He went about doing them good, yet they loved Him not. He healed their sick, raised their dead, fed their hungry mouths, yet they believed not on Him. The truth was, they loved darkness rather than light, Satan rather than Christ.
3. He marveled at their unbelief because they had every chance of knowing the truth, yet knew it not. Before their very eyes He stood as the One who had come forth from the Father. They were familiar with the facts of His birth and life; the message of the angels and their glorious magnificat; they knew of the visit of the shepherds, of the coming of the Magi, and the worship they accorded the Infant Christ. None of these things had been done in a corner.
They knew about Christ’s visit to the Temple at the twelfth year, of how the Lord had reasoned with the Masters of Israel.
V. HE WENT ABOUT TEACHING (Mar 6:6, l.c.)
“Never man spake like this Man.” When we think of Christ as a Teacher, we cannot but weigh the Words said of Him by some of the leaders of His day. We use them as our heading, because they place Christ above every other Teacher-no man ever spoke as He. He stood in a class by Himself. Would you not like to have slipped in to hear Him speaking? for instance, when He went up into the mount, and sat down, as His disciples gathered around Him, and He opened His mouth and taught them saying, “Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven”? Then, sentence after sentence, what matchless words of wisdom and beauty fell from His lips. We call it “The Sermon on the Mount,” and it is known and loved the world around, even after twenty centuries. His Word still holds an undimmed beauty.
Perhaps you would, the rather, join with the people who heard Him in Nazareth. We read of that day: “And all bare Him witness, and wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of His mouth.”
Perhaps you would, the rather, have joined the resurrection group to “whom also He shewed Himself alive * * by many infallible proofs, * * speaking of the things pertaining to the Kingdom of God.”
It does not matter when or where He spoke, His words were ever the Truth and the Life. When He spoke the winds and the waves obeyed. When He spoke the dead came forth, the sick were healed, the demons departed.
His very words were Spirit, and they were life.
VI. HE GAVE THEM POWER (Mar 6:7)
1. He sent them forth. In our key verse, the Twelve were sent forth. But, if we will listen deeply, we too may hear Him saying to us, “As My Father hath sent Me, even so send I you.”
It was the days on which He went up that He gathered His followers around Him, and said, “Go ye..” Beloved, let us be obedient to His commission. Let us go.
2. He gave them power. This was His portion. He never asked us to do a task for Him without first providing us with the needed strength for our task. He said, “I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves.” He also said, “Ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you.”
Unto this day, every ambassador of God is sent under the power of the One who said, “All power is given unto Me in Heaven and in earth. Go.”
3. How great is the power of the true witness of Christ. of the minister and His Word is a place of power such as no man else on earth possesses.
He gave them power over demons. Do we have less power than they?
Hear the once vacillating Peter at Pentecost as he thundered out the words of condemnation with one breath, and then the words of saving grace and redemption with his next breath.
Hell itself must move when a minister, backed with power from on high, speaks the words of truth.
VII. PREACHING REPENTANCE (Mar 6:12)
1. Repentance is a vital message for saint and sinner alike. We do not mean that a sinner may be saved by repentance alone. We do mean that a sinner comes to the Saviour who saves him from his sins, and therefore he must turn away from them.
Christians should always repent of any sin or wickedness that may overtake them. Here is a Scripture we do well to weigh. “God * * now commandeth all men every where to repent.” Here is another, “Repent, * * every one of you.” Here is still another: “And that repentance * * should be preached.” If we leave the message of repentance out of our preaching, we do not well. Hear John the Baptist as he preached, saying, “Repent ye: for the kingdom of Heaven is at hand.” Christ also began to preach and to say, “Repent: for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand.” Shall we excuse ourselves by saying that we are living in another age? Impossible! Paul said, “The goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance.”
2. The message of the Church, like that of John the Baptist, and Jesus, and the Apostles, should be a call to all men to repent of this their wickedness and to return to God. As we see it, repentance is indissolubly linked with saving faith. Could any man seek to be saved from sins which he was wholly unwilling to leave and renounce?
3. The call of God to the saint is a call to the negation of sin. In the Old Testament it reads this way, “Let the wicked forsake his way.” In the New Testament it reads this way, “Denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world.”
AN ILLUSTRATION
It is all-important to have a Saviour whom we can fully trust.
Jesus Christ is the only Hope of sinners. There is none other name whereby we must be saved.
Look to your passport if you wish to enter in to Glory.
Travelers to foreign lands will be familiar with the above demand, and will know how essential it is to possess a passport properly made out to meet the requirements of the authorities. If otherwise, serious difficulties may be encountered at ports and frontier stations.
While on a journey in the Near East in 1928, four of us were stopped at the frontier between Syria and Palestine, During examination of our passports and baggage, an official saw about half a dozen oranges in our car, and said to us, “You are not allowed to take oranges into Palestine.” We began to eat them, and so were allowed to enter “The Holy Land.”
If you desire entrance into any country you must comply with the regulations in force, or be refused admission. Yet some people think that they can enter Heaven, the land of pure delight, without a proper passport, and without paying due regard to God’s conditions of entry.
Concerning the Holy City, God has said, “There shall in no wise enter into it any thing that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination, or maketh a lie: but they which are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life” (Rev 21:27).
What is the passport for Heaven? “The Blood of the Lamb.”-John Newton.
Fuente: Neighbour’s Wells of Living Water
1
Open country means that where Nazareth was located (Mat 4:13). The reference cited tells that Jesus adopted Capernaum as his residence and many of his mighty works were done there, but he occasionally paid a visit to his boyhood home. Let it be noted that his disciples (apostles) followed him to Nazareth.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
THIS passage shows us our Lord Jesus Christ in “his own country,” at Nazareth. It is a melancholy illustration of the wickedness of man’s heart, and deserves special attention.
We see, in the first place, how apt men are to undervalue things with which they are familiar. The men of Nazareth “were offended” at our Lord. They could not think it possible that one who had lived so many years among themselves, and whose brethren and sisters they knew, could deserve to be followed as a public teacher.
Never had any place on earth such privileges as Nazareth. For thirty years the Son of God resided in this town, and went to and fro in its streets. For thirty years He walked with God before the eyes of its inhabitants, living a blameless, perfect life. But it was all lost upon them. They were not ready to believe the Gospel, when the Lord came among them and taught in their synagogue. They would not believe that one whose face they knew so well, and who had lived so long, eating, and drinking, and dressing like one of themselves, had any right to claim their attention. They were “offended at Him.”
There is nothing in all this that need surprise us. The same thing is going on around us every day, in our own land. The holy Scriptures, the preaching of the Gospel, the public ordinances of religion, the abundant means of grace that England enjoys, are continually undervalued by English people. They are so accustomed to them, that they do not know their privileges. It is an awful truth, that in religion, more than in anything else, familiarity breeds contempt.
There is comfort in this part of our Lord’s experience, for some of the Lord’s people. There is comfort for faithful ministers of the Gospel, who are cast down by the unbelief of their parishioners or regular hearers. There is comfort for true Christians who stand alone in their families, and see all around them cleaving to the world. Let both remember that they are drinking the same cup as their beloved Master. Let them remember that He too was despised most by those who knew Him best. Let them learn that the utmost consistency of conduct will not make others adopt their views and opinions, any more than it did the people of Nazareth. Let them know that the sorrowful words of their Lord will generally be fulfilled in the experience of His servants, “a prophet is not without honor, but in his own country, and among his own kin, and in his own house.”
We see, in the second place, how humble was the rank of life which our Lord condescended to occupy before He began His public ministry. The people of Nazareth said of Him, in contempt, “Is not this the carpenter?”
This is a remarkable expression, and is only found in the Gospel of Mark. It shows us plainly that for the first thirty years of His life, our Lord was not ashamed to work with His own hands. There is something marvelous and overwhelming in the thought! He who made heaven, and earth, and sea, and all that therein is-He, without whom nothing was made that was made-the Son of God Himself, took on Him the form of a servant, and “in the sweat of His face ate bread,” as a working man. This is indeed that “love of Christ that passeth knowledge.” Though He was rich, yet for our sakes He became poor. Both in life and death He humbled Himself, that through Him sinners might live and reign for evermore.
Let us remember, when we read this passage, that there is no sin in poverty. We never need be ashamed of poverty, unless our own sins have brought it upon us. We never ought to despise others, because they are poor. It is disgraceful to be a gambler, or a drunkard, or a covetous man, or a liar; but it is no disgrace to work with our own hands, and earn our bread by our own labor. The thought of the carpenter’s shop at Nazareth, should cast down the high thoughts of all who make an idol of riches. It cannot be dishonorable to occupy the same position as the Son of God, and Savior of the world.
We see, in the last place, how exceedingly sinful is the sin of unbelief. Two remarkable expressions are used in teaching this lesson. One is, that our Lord “could do no mighty work” at Nazareth, by reason of the hardness of the people’s hearts. The other is, that “He marvelled because of their unbelief.” The one shows us that unbelief has a power to rob men of the highest blessings. The other shows that it is so suicidal and unreasonable a sin, that even the Son of God regards it with surprise.
We can never be too much on our guard against unbelief. It is the oldest sin in the world. It began in the garden of Eden, when Eve listened to the devil’s promises, instead of believing God’s words, “ye shall die.”-It is the most ruinous of all sins in its consequences. It brought death into the world. It kept Israel for forty years out of Canaan. It is the sin that specially fills hell. “He that believeth not shall be damned.”-It is the most foolish and inconsistent of all sins. It makes a man refuse the plainest evidence, shut his eyes against the clearest testimony, and yet believe lies. Worst of all, it is the commonest sin in the world. Thousands are guilty of it on every side. In profession they are Christians. They know nothing of Paine and Voltaire. But in practice they are really unbelievers. They do not implicitly believe the Bible, and receive Christ as their Savior.
Let us watch our own hearts carefully in the matter of unbelief. The heart, and not the head, is the seat of its mysterious power. It is neither the want of evidence, nor the difficulties of Christian doctrine, that make men unbelievers. It is want of will to believe. They love sin. They are wedded to the world. In this state of mind they never lack specious reasons to confirm their will. The humble, childlike heart is the heart that believes.
Let us go on watching our hearts, even after we have believed. The root of unbelief is never entirely destroyed. We have only to leave off watching and praying, and a rank crop of unbelief will soon spring up. No prayer is so important as that of the disciples, “Lord, increase our faith.” [Footnote: There is a peculiar expression in this passage, which deserves notice. I refer to the words which say, that our Lord “could do no mighty work there, because of their unbelief.”
This expression of course cannot mean, that it was “impossible” for our Lord to do a mighty work there, and that although He had the will to do mighty works, He was stopped and prevented by a power greater than His own. Such a view would be dishonoring to our Lord, and in fact would be a practical denial of His divinity. With Jesus nothing is impossible. If He had willed to do works, He had the power.
The meaning evidently must be, that our Lord “would” not do any mighty work there, because of the unbelief that He saw. He was prevented by what He perceived was the state of the people’s hearts. He would not waste signs and wonders on an unbelieving and hardened generation. He “could not” do a mighty work, without departing from His rule, “according to your faith be it unto you.” He had the power in His hands, but He did not will to use it.
The distinction I have attempted to draw is doubly useful, because of the light it throws on another scriptural expression, which is often grievously misunderstood. I refer to the expression, “no man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him.” (Joh 6:44.) The words, “no man can come,” are often much misapprehended.
The text is a plain declaration of man’s natural corruption and helpless impotence. Man is dead in sin. He cannot come to Christ, except the Father draws him. In a word, he is unable to come. But what is the precise nature of his inability ? This is the very point on which misapprehension exists.
Once for all, let us clearly understand that man’s inability to come to Christ is not physical. It is utterly untrue to say that a man can have a strong decided will to come to Christ, and yet be stopped by some mysterious physical obstacle-that he can really and honestly have a will to come, and yet have no power. Such a doctrine entirely overthrows man’s responsibility, and leads, in many cases, to wicked continuance in sin. Thousands of ignorant people will tell you that “they wish to believe, and wish to come to Christ, and wish to be saved”-and yet say that “though they have the will, they have not the power.” It is a fatal delusion, and ruinous to many souls.
The truth is, that man’s inability to come to Christ, and impotence to that which is good, is moral, and not physical. It is not true that he has the will to come to Christ, but is unable. He is unable, doubtless, and has no power; but it is simply because he has no will. His will is the principal cause of his unconverted state, and until his will is changed by the Holy Ghost, he will never alter. He may not like this. But it is true. The fault of his condition is his own will. Say what he pleases, the blame lies there. He may pretend to have many good wishes, but in reality he has no honest, sincere WILL to be better. He “will not come to Christ that he may have life.”]
Fuente: Ryle’s Expository Thoughts on the Gospels
Mar 6:1. Went out from thence. From Capernaum.
His own country, i.e., Nazareth.
His disciples follow him. Mentioned by Matthew also; this opposes the identity with the visit mentioned by Luke.
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
Subdivision 1. (Mar 6:1-56.)
The unity of opposition and supremacy of divine grace.
With the unity of opposition; the supremacy of divine grace is seen: for, after all, God cannot be thwarted of His purpose of blessing, though His method of victory may be by a cross. Divine fullness pours itself out even in a wilderness, and though with contrary wind upon a stormy sea, Christ walks upon it, coming to them and the wind ceases; and on the farther shore all evil yields to Him and passes away.
1. (1) But first we see Him rejected by His own, to whom He comes with power which they needs must own, yet which though manifest in grace cannot win reception for Him. The pride of the natural heart is always the most stubborn opposer of the salvation of God, and cannot even discern the glory of that self-humiliation in Him who has drawn nigh to them. They stumble over the Stumbling-stone.
Yet in this decisive rejection of God’s message, there is nothing exceptional, except in the greatness of the Messenger. The Lord speaks of it, as only the exemplification of a common rule, that a prophet is not without honor save in his own country and among his own kindred. Human nature is, alas, consistent enough in evil to warrant such general statements: for “as in water face answereth to face, so the heart of man to man.”
In the face of this, as Mark above all emphasizes, the Servant of divine love, able to do little because of an unbelief at which He marveled, patiently did this – “laid His hands on a few infirm persons and healed them” – and seeking yet the way to their hearts, “went round about their villages, teaching.” How the perfect manhood of the Lord comes out, and is meant to come out, in this account. The divine glory that is His must not obscure the reality of that which appeals so powerfully to us in the tender human fashion in which the Son of God has come down to minister to men.
(2) He sends out now also the twelve, in extension of His personal testimony; two and two, the number of competent witness, and doubtless for mutual help. Mark emphasizes here as elsewhere the power over unclean spirits which is given them, over the dark and dreadful enemy of men; out of whose clutch they have to be rescued. They are sent forth in such a way as shall manifest in all this their absolute dependence upon Himself, – without provision either of food or money. They are to be shod with sandals, not the more luxurious “shoes;” and not to wear two coats. They are to be content also with what accommodation they find in the first house opening its doors to them; while, on the other hand, judgment is denounced on every place that will not receive nor hearken to a testimony accredited by divine power.
With their message, and with this sanction put upon it, they accordingly go forth.
2. We are taken back now to see the death of the Lord’s forerunner, in which His own is not obscurely intimated. Herod, indeed, we are told, alarmed by his guilty conscience, when he hears of the miracles wrought by Jesus, supposes him to be the Baptist, risen from the dead. Thereupon the awful story of lust and hate is given us with very little variation from what we have had in Matthew. It completes the rejection which Nazareth has shown us already, wedding the lusts of the flesh in unholy union with the pride of life. It binds together the world and its rulers in opposition to the throne of heaven; and its claims and grace alike. This is the world in which nevertheless God is to be glorified as nowhere else, and to reap a spiritual harvest which shall show forth the exceeding riches of His grace to the principalities and powers in heavenly places.
3. The Lord retires into the wilderness, the type of the world in the condition to which sin has reduced it, in the Old Testament as well as in the New. Here disciples, hands minister to the need of the multitude out of their own provision multiplying through His blessing on it. Five loaves and two fishes feed, and more than feed, five thousand men. The application is of the easiest, and made by Christians generally; and we have been through it in Matthew already: the fullness of its blessed meaning is as little to be exhausted, as the loaves were at the time here brought before us. It is one of those scenes, exceptional in the evangelic history, to which its four writers all contribute, while in John the Lord Himself develops from it His teaching as to the bread of life.
4. The passage across the sea of Galilee is also connected with the ministry in the wilderness in three of the Gospels, Luke alone omitting it. In each of these the Lord’s walking upon the water is recited, and His coming to the disciples toiling in the contrary wind. The walk of Peter on the water to meet the Lord, characteristic as we have seen it to be in Matthew, is omitted in the other accounts; the numerical change being in harmony with this. The general significance of what is here before us cannot be mistaken. The ascent of Jesus into the mount to pray, leaving His disciples alone upon the sea until His coming again; shows us unmistakably the limits of the trial-time of faith, in which is experienced the opposition of the “course of this world.” No doubt, apart from the great and final interference of the Lord on behalf of His people, there are abundance of lesser fulfillments in which He comes in and ends for a time the storm; and some too in which we do not discern for a time the familiar form, and are afraid; until the Voice says, “It is I;” and we wonder we could have failed for a moment to know it; and the storm for the time is over. And yet, how often do we find, when a new trial comes, that we are scarcely more prepared than before to recognize the One who comes afresh with it; and when He makes Himself known it is scarcely less a wonder.
5. But at last the sea is passed, as when He joins us in the end it will be, and then the blessing comes, even for the earth, when it shall “know,” like the men of Gennesaret, the One upon whom all blessing depends, and the blight upon the whole frame of things shall pass, with the spiritual sickness it attends and indicates.
Fuente: Grant’s Numerical Bible Notes and Commentary
EXPANSION AND OPPOSITION
These chapters deal with:
Jesus Visit to Nazareth (Mar 6:1-6); The Commission of the Twelve (Mar 6:7-13); The Martyrdom of John the Baptist (Mar 6:14-29); The Report of the Twelve (Mar 6:30-31); The Feeding of the Five Thousand (Mar 6:32-44); Jesus Walking on the Sea (Mar 6:45-52); Healing at Gennesaret (Mar 6:53-56); Opposition of the Pharisees (Mar 7:1-23); Dealing with the Syrophoenician Woman (Mar 7:24-30) and Recovering the Deaf and Dumb Man (Mar 7:31-37).
Read Mat 13:53-58 in comparison with Marks story of Jesus visit to Nazareth, and discover what is peculiar to the latter in verses 3-6. In the same way compare Mat 15:13, with Mar 6:31 of this lesson for a statement only given by Mark. Another calls attention to the fact that our Lord does not say anything about the success of the disciples when they make their report to him in this instance; in which silence on His part we find a necessary warning against all self-exaltation. It is of His power and grace that we are able to do anything with success or acceptance in His sight.
What notable feature of the walking upon the sea does Mark omit as compared with Matthew?
We considered the opposition of the Pharisees (Mar 7:1-23) in our comments on Matthew, but note here in detail the circumstantial evidence that Mark was writing for a Gentile people who were in consequence unfamiliar with Jewish customs (Mar 7:1-4).
In the case of the Syrophoenician woman note the comment of Mark (Mar 7:24), and the fuller description (Mar 7:25-26; Mar 7:30). What he omits is also significant, the appeal to Jesus as Son of David. See the comment on Mat 15:21-28.
The story of the healing of the deaf and dumb man is peculiar to Mark.
QUESTIONS
1. Name the different events of these chapters.
2. What is peculiar to Mark in the story of Jesus visit to Nazareth?
3. What statement is peculiar to Mark with reference to the report of the twelve?
4. What does the silence of Christ teach us in this instance?
5. Have you reviewed our comments in Matthew on the story of the Syrophoenician woman?
Fuente: James Gray’s Concise Bible Commentary
Our blessed Saviour having in the former chapter wrought two famous miracles, in curing a woman of her bloody issue, and raising Jairus’s daughter from death, we find him here in the beginning of this chapter passing into his own country, that is, the city of Nazareth in Galilee, called his own city and country, because he was there conceived, there brought up; there Joseph and Mary, and his kindred dwelt, and Christ with them, duting his private life, which was till he was thirty years of age.
Now our Saviour being come into his own country; observe, 1. What his employment was: he preached in their synagogues, and held communion with the Jewish church, although she had many corruptions in her.
Teaching us, by his example, not to desert and forsake the communion of such a church, in which there is found neither heretical doctrine nor idolatrous worship, although many things be found in her culpable and blame-worthy. The Jewish church was certainly such, and yet our Saviour maintained not occasional only, but constant communion with her.
Observe, 2. The influence and effect which our Saviour’s preaching had upon his own countrymen, the people of Nazareth: it did work admiration in them, but not faith; they were astonished, but did not believe. Men may be mightily moved and affected by the word, and yet may never be converted by it: the men of Nazareth wondered, and yet were offended: they did not believe in him, but were offended at him.
Observe, 3. The ground and cause of this their offence, and that was, the meanness of his extraction, and the poverty of his condition: Is not this the carpenter?
From whence the ancient fathers, particularly Justin Martyr, concluded, that our Saviour did work at his father Joseph’s trade during his father’s life, and thence was called the carpenter’s son; and when Joseph was dead, (which was before Christ was thirty years old, when he entered upon his public office,) he was then called the carpenter.
The ancients say, he spent his time in making ploughs and yokes, and that thence it was he drew so many similitudes in his preaching from the yoke and the plough. This we are sure of, that our Lord lived not thirty years before his manifestation idly and unprofitably. It is most probable that he followed his father’s calling, and wrought under him it being said, that he was subject to him, Luk 2:15, as a child to a parent and as a servant to his master.
Add to this, that it seems not only true, but requisite, that Christ should be of some trade, because by the Jewish canons all fathers were bound to teach their children some trade: doubtless our Lord, during his private life, did give no example of idleness. Indeed, after he entered upon his prophetic office, he no longer followed Joseph’s calling, but applied himself wholly to the work of the ministry: he made no more ploughs, but one to break up hard hearts; no more yokes, but one for the devil’s neck. However, in regard to our Savior’s low extraction and mean education, his countrymen were offended at him.
Learn hence, That the poverty and meanness of Christ’s condition, was that which multitudes stumbled at, and which kept many, yea most, from believing on him. None but a spiritual eye can discern beauty in a humbled and abased Saviour.
Learn, 2. That it is the property and practice of profane men to take occasion, from the outward quality and condition of God’s ministers, both to despise their persons, and to reject their doctrine.
Observe, 4. The reason assigned by our Saviour why the men of Nazareth despised him and set him at nought, because he was their countryman and acquaintance: their familiarity bred contempt. Teaching us, That very often the faithful ministers of God are most contemned and dishonoured where they are most familiarly known. Sometimes the remembrance of their mean original and extraction, sometimes the poverty of their parents’ condition, sometimes the indecencies of their childhood, sometimes the follies of their youth, are ripped up; all which are occasions of contempt, and gave ground for this proverbial saying, That a prophet is not without honour save in his own country. Which, like other proverbial speeches, holds true in the general, and that for the most part it is so, but it is not universally true in all persons and cases.
However, this good use may be made of our Saviour’s observation, to teach his ministers to be wise in conversing with their people, not to make themselves cheap and common in every company, not too familiar with all sorts of persons, nor to be light and vain in any company; for this will certainly breed contempt, both of their persons and ministry.
Our duty is, by strictness and gravity of deportment, to maintain our esteem in the consciences of our people, and to temper gravity with condescending affability. That minister who prostitutes his authority, frustrates the end of his ministry, and is the occasion of his own contempt.
Observe, 5. How this people’s contempt of Christ’s person, and unbelief of his doctrine, did hinder Christ from working miracles among them: He could do no mighty works there. Not because he was unable, but because they were unwilling. Not as if their infidelity abated his divine power, but they were unprepared to receive any benefit by him; his miracles would have been cast away upon such inconvincible persons. Who will sow upon barren sands, or water dead plants?
It was an act of justice in Christ to deprive the Pharisees of those advantages which they had so long resisted. Christ had a natural ability to do mighty works there, but no moral ability. He could not do it honourably, their unbelief was a moral hinderance; so then this inability proceeded from no deficiency in Christ’s power, but from a defect in their faith. he could not, because he would not; and he would not, because it was not fit for him so to do.
Although Christ be omnipotent, and has all power in his hands, yet unbelief binds his hands, and hinders him in the execution of that power. Unbelief is such a sin, as keeps men from being partakers of the benefits of Christ.
Observe, 6. How the incredulity and unbelief of this people was so great, that Christ wondered at it: He marvelled because of their unbelief. Not because he was ignorant of the cause of it, but because he had used such marvellous means for the curing them of their unbelief.
Learn hence, That unbelief is a great sin at all times; but when marvels are wrought for the cure and healing of it, and it remains uncured, it is a marvellous sin, and justly causes admiration and wonder in Christ himself: He marvelled because of their unbelief.
Fuente: Expository Notes with Practical Observations on the New Testament
Mar 6:1-6. And he came into his own country, &c. For an explanation of this paragraph, see the notes on Mat 13:53-58. Is not this the carpenters son? There can be no doubt that Jesus in his youth wrought with his supposed father Joseph. He could there do no mighty work Not consistently with his wisdom and goodness; it being inconsistent with his wisdom to work miracles there, where he knew the prejudices of the people would certainly prevent any good effect they might otherwise have had in promoting the great end he had in view in coming into the world; and with his goodness, seeing that he well knew his countrymen would reject whatever evidence could be given them of his being the Messiah, or a divinely-commissioned teacher. And, therefore, to have given them greater evidence would only have increased their guilt and condemnation. And he marvelled because of their unbelief He wondered at their perverseness in rejecting him upon such unreasonable grounds as the meanness of his parentage. It is justly observed here by Dr. Macknight, that
the Jews in general seem to have mistaken their own prophecies, when they expected the Messiah would exalt their nation to the highest pitch of wealth and power, for this was an end unworthy of so grand an interposition of Providence. When the eternal Son of God came down from heaven, he had something infinitely more noble in view: namely, that by suffering and dying he might destroy him who had the power of death; that by innumerable benefits he might overcome his enemies; that by the bands of truth he might restrain the rebellious motions of mens wills; that by the sword of the Spirit he might slay the monsters of their lusts; and that by giving them the spiritual armour he might put them in a condition to fight for the incorruptible inheritance, and exalt them to the joyful possession of the riches and honours of immortality. Wherefore, as these characters of the Messiah were in a great measure unknown to the Jews, he who possessed them was not the object of their expectation. And, though he laid claim to their submission by the most stupendous miracles, instead of convincing them, these miracles made him who performed them obnoxious to the hottest resentment of that proud, covetous, sensual people. It seems they could not bear to see one so low in life as Jesus was, doing things which they fancied were peculiar to that idol of their vanity, a glorious, triumphant, secular Messiah. Our Lord, therefore, having made this second trial with a view to see whether the Nazarenes would endure his ministry, and to show to the world that his not residing with them was owing to their stubbornness and wickedness, he left them, and visited the towns and villages in the neighbourhood where he expected to find a more favourable reception. Thus the unbelief of these Nazarenes obstructed Christs miracles, deprived them of his preaching, and caused him to withdraw a second time from their town. In which example the evil and punishment of mis-improving spiritual advantages, is clearly set forth before all who hear the gospel.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
LX.
JESUS VISITS NAZARETH AND IS REJECTED.
aMATT. XIII. 54-58; bMARK VI. 1-6; cLUKE IV. 16-31.
b1 And he went out from thence [from Capernaum]; and he cometh {aAnd coming} binto his own country; and his disciples follow him. c16 And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up [As to this city, see Mar 1:39, Mar 3:1, Mar 3:2). For comment on this usage of the synagogue see Isa 61:1, Isa 61:2; but the quotation embraces other lines from Isaiah.] where it was written, 18 The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, Because he anointed me to preach good tidings to the poor [Anointing was the method by which prophets, priests, and kings were consecrated or set apart to their several offices. This prophecy says that the Holy Spirit came upon Jesus because he was appointed to do [358] a work of divine helpfulness]: He hath sent me to preach release to the captives, And recovering of sight to the blind, To set at liberty them that are bruised, 19 To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord. [The prophecy set forth in physical terms what Jesus should perform in both the physical and spiritual realms. The prophecy closes with a reference to the jubilee year, which, being a time of liberation, forgiveness, and fresh starts, was a type of Christ’s ministry and kingdom.] 20 And he closed the book, and gave it back to the attendant [This officer corresponded to our sexton. Part of this duty was to take charge of the synagogue rolls], and sat down [Reader and congregation both stood during the reading; then, usually, both sat down to hear the passage explained. They stood out of reverence for God’s word]: and the eyes of all in the synagogue were fastened on him. [They had heard of his miracles, and were curious to see what he would say and do.] 21 And he began to say unto them, To-day hath this scripture been fulfilled in your ears. 22 And all bare him witness, and wondered at the words of grace which proceeded out of his mouth [The word grace refers rather to the manner than to the matter. The speech of Jesus flowed easily, and gracefully]: a54 And he taught {bbegan to teach} athem in their {bthe synagogue}: ainsomuch that bmany hearing him were astonished, aand said, {bsaying,} Whence hath this man these things? athis wisdom, and these might works? band, What is the wisdom that is given unto this man, and what mean such mighty works wrought by his hands? [They admitted his marvelous teaching and miraculous works, but were at a loss to account for them because their extreme familiarity with his humanity made it hard for them to believe in his divinity, by which alone his actions would be rightly explained. Twice in the early part of his ministry Jesus had been at Cana, within a few miles of Nazareth, and turning away from it had gone down to Capernaum. He did not call upon his townsmen to believe in him or his divine mission until [359] the evidences were so full that they could not deny them.] 3 Is not this the carpenter, cJoseph’s son? athe carpenter’s son? bthe son of Mary, and brother of James, and Joses, and Judas, and Simon? ais not his mother called Mary? and his brethren, James, and Joseph, and Simon, and Judas? 56 And his sisters, are they not all bhere with us? [They brought forth every item of trade and relationship by which they could confirm themselves in their conviction that he was simply a human being like themselves. The question as to his identity, however, suggests that he may have been absent from Nazareth some little time. As to Jesus’ kindred, see 1Ki 17:8-16, and the second at 2Ki 5:1-14. Palestine was filled with poor people even in times of plenty, so there must have been large numbers of hungry people during the long-continued period of famine. There has always been a large number of lepers in the land, and surely if any disease ought to prompt a man to lay aside his prejudices that he might obtain healing it was leprosy; but as Nazareth was now rejecting Jesus, so their ancestors had despised the two mighty prophets. Not one of all the hungry would have received bread from Elijah by an act of faith, nor did one of all the lepers ask healing from Elisha.] 28 And they were all filled with wrath in the synagogue, as they heard these things [The Nazarenes were jealous enough of the claims of Jesus when put in their most modest dress; but when Jesus placed himself alongside Elijah and Elisha, and likened his hearers to widows for want, and lepers for uncleanness, they were ready to dash him to pieces]; 29 and they rose up, and cast him forth out of the city, and led him [they evidently had hold of him] unto the brow of the hill whereon their city was built, that they might throw him down headlong. [Near the eastern end of Nazareth there is a cavern in the rock which forms a precipice down which, if a man were hurled, he would be killed. At the western end there is a perpendicular cliff about forty feet high, with a naked floor of rock at the bottom. To which place they led Jesus we can not decide.] 30 But he passing through the midst of them [361] went his way. [A simple statement of a marvelous fact. Miracles are not explained in the Bible.] b5 And he could there do no mighty work, a58 And he did not many mighty works there because of their unbelief. bsave that he laid his hands upon a few sick folk, and healed them. 6 And he marvelled because of their unbelief. [As to this statement that Jesus felt surprised, see page 273. “It should also be borne in mind,” says Canon Cook, “that surprise at the obtuseness and unreasonableness of sin is constantly attributed to God by the prophets.” The statement, therefore, is perfectly consonant with the divinity of Jesus.] c31 And he came down to Capernaum, a city of Galilee. [We have followed the chronology of Mark, according to which Jesus had already been living in Capernaum for some time. Luke tells of the rejection early in his narrative, and adds this line to show that from the earlier days of his ministry Jesus made Capernaum his headquarters.]
[FFG 358-362]
Fuente: McGarvey and Pendleton Commentaries (New Testament)
Mark Chapter 6
In that which follows, the history (properly so called) of His service is resumed (chap. 6). Only we see Him already rejected by a blinded people, in spite of the power which He had manifested, and which bore testimony to the glory of His Person. Nevertheless He pursues His service, and sends forth His disciples in order that no effort might be wanting; but with the testimony of the judgment that awaited those who should be guilty of the rejection of His mission-a rejection that was already taking place. The Lord however continues to give proof in mercy and in goodness that Jehovah, who had compassion on His people, was there; until at length He had to prepare His disciples for the certain result of His work, namely, His death by the hand of the Gentiles, to whom the chief priests would deliver Him.
To the Jews He was the carpenter, the son of Mary. Their unbelief stopped the beneficent hand of God with regard to themselves. Jesus carries on His work elsewhere, and sends forth His disciples-an act which implied the possession of divine power. It was still to Israel that the mission they received from Him directed them, and they were to pronounce judgment upon the land of Emmanuel, the land of Israel, as a polluted land, wherever their testimony should be rejected. They were to go forth resting on the mighty protection of Him who sent them, and they should lack nothing. He was sovereign Lord: all things were at His disposal. Christ can not only communicate blessings as the channel of blessing Himself, but can also confer on His disciples the power of casting out devils. The disciples fulfil their task. This passage shews forth in a remarkable manner the position and glory of Christ. He is the servant-for men, the carpenters son. In His new service, He takes no place but the filling up of that which God had given Him to do. He could do no mighty works there, because of their unbelief-ever ready to serve, but shut up, straitened in the exercise of His love, where no door opened to receive its influence; and nature judging according to sight never does. Only where a need was, His love, never tired, works-must work. The few sick folk profit by a love that despises none, because it never seeks itself.
But, in the following verse, He who could not work mighty works (because His service was dependent on divine conditions, on which God could found and carry on His intercourse with men, in order to reveal Himself) now gives power to others over all unclean spirits, a power which is divine. Any can work miracles, if God gives the power; but God alone can give it. They are to lack nothing, for Emmanuel was there; and to announce judgment if their message was rejected. Divine love had made Him entirely a dependent Servant; but the dependent Servant was God present in grace and righteousness.
But the effect of all these manifestations of power is, that the conscience of the king who then reigned in Israel is awakened; and the evangelist opens to us the history of the murderous opposition of the authorities in Israel to the witnesses for the truth. Herod had put John to death, in order to gratify the iniquity of a woman who pleased him-iniquity that he shared with her. A dance was worth the life of the prophet of God. Such was the ruler of Israel.
The apostles return. Jesus withdraws them from the inquisitive and needy crowd, by going into a desert place; but the multitude follow Him. Jesus, rejected as He is by the land He loved, has compassion on the poor of the flock, and manifests in their behalf the power of Jehovah to bless them according to Psa 132:1-18. He satisfies the poor with bread. Having sent the people away, He crosses the sea on foot; and, rejoining His disciples, the wind ceases-a figure, of which we have spoken when meditating on Matthew. Their work was finished. As to themselves, in spite of all His miracles, their hearts at that time were still hard, and forgot the miracles, one after the other. The Lord pursues His work of blessing. It was but to touch Him and be healed.
Fuente: John Darby’s Synopsis of the New Testament
CHAPTER 30
JESUS AGAIN REJECTED AT NAZARETH
Mat 13:54-58, & Mar 6:1-6. He went out from thence, and came into His own country [i.e., He went from Capernaum to Nazareth]; and His disciples follow Him; and it being the Sabbath, He began to teach in the synagogue; and many, hearing, were astonished, saying, Whence are these things to Him? and what wisdom is given to Him? Such miracles are performed by His hands! Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary? Is He not the brother of James, Joses, Judas, and Simon? Are not His sisters here with us? And they became offended in Him. And Jesus said to them, A prophet is not without honor except in his own country, among his relatives, and in his own house. And He was not able to do any miracle there, except, laying His hands on a few sick people, He healed them. And He was astonished on account of their unbelief. Matthew says, He did not many miracles there on account of their unbelief. You remember, early in our Lords ministry, when He first returned to Nazareth, after receiving the Holy Ghost at the Jordan, and the celestial fire flashing from His eyes, radiating from His countenance, and flaming along His words, interpenetrated the deep-seated carnality in the subterranean chambers of their fallen spirits, burning them intolerably; so they not only reject the truth, but determine to kill the Preacher, superinducing the necessity on His part to turn over humanity to the Divinity or become a martyr at that early day. Now that eighteen months have rolled away, and His mighty works and stupendous revelations have not only filled all Galilee and Judea, but aroused the heathen world from the slumber of four thousand years, turning on Him all eyes; again, actuated by the deep and unutterable love of His native land where He spent nine-tenths of His earthly life, He comes back, and gives them another chance, only to meet such a rebuff and rejection that He never more came back, but left them to settle the matter at the judgment-bar. While they long listened to the wonderful wisdom which flows spontaneously from His mouth, and remember His mighty works at Capernaum, only forty miles distant, and the resurrection of the widows son at Nain, only five miles from their own city; while they were astonished, electrified, and even delighted, they can not survive the remembrance, This is no one but that young carpenter, reared in our midst; the son of a poor mechanic, without education or any extraordinary opportunities; the brother of James, Joses, Judas, and Simon, whom we know so well; and His sisters are living here with us this day. What was the consequence? They could not brook these facts. And so they were offended in Him; i.e., they went back on Him, and could not acquiesce in the conclusion that He is a mighty prophet, sent down from heaven. N.B. He said He could not do any miracle at Nazareth on account of their unbelief, involving the legitimate conclusion that human faith is a necessary condition of Gods mighty work, both in the healing of the body and the salvation of the soul. If He had wrought miracles at Nazareth, doubtless His old acquaintances would have believed on Him; and so it is throughout this wicked world, going at race-horse speed to the bottomless pit, but we can not reverse the Divine order. We must believe in order to receive the mighty works of the Omnipotent Christ in behalf of both soul and body. We should not forget our Saviors maxim, A prophet is not without honor except in his own country. For this reason we have go in the Commission, as well as preach. We dare not change the Commission, and stay at home. Myriads of holy men and women, called of God to preach the gospel and save souls, paralyze their energies and bury their talents by staying at home.
Fuente: William Godbey’s Commentary on the New Testament
Mar 6:3. Is not this the carpenter? The jews were bound to teach their children some trade, as no man could say what the vicissitudes of life might be. Hence Lightfoot cites the following passage from the Talmud. It is incumbent on a father to circumcise his son, to redeem him, (by the half shekel) to teach him the law, and instruct him in some occupation. Again: Whosoever teacheth not his son a trade, teacheth him in fact to rob.
Mar 6:4. A prophet is not without honour, but in his own country. The fond adherence of a priest or a preacher to his own kindred and house, renders him but little service in his ministry. If he have faults, they are known there, and he becomes contemptible. If he have great talents, they excite envy, and he is opposed. If he makes himself familiar, he loses respect, by which his authority suffers; if he do not, he is counted proud, and is avoided. The property of an evangelical minister is to be, as it were, another Melchizedek, without country, without house, without relations, or to be as if he had none. QUESNEL.
Mar 6:14. Herod heard of him, for his name was spread abroad. Josephus, by giving John the highest character, as a virtuous man and a prophet, confirms all that the four evangelists have said of him. The day of Herod from this time was dark, and his end without honour. St. Mark, following St. Matthew, Mar 14:1-2, adds many other circumstances.
Mar 6:28. And brought his head in a charger. The custom is still the same in the east; the heads of culprits are brought to the prince or the judge, when the executioner receives his reward. And blood-money is a bitter reward.
Mar 6:56. Whithersoever he entered, into villages, cities, or country as many as touched him were made whole. These were the days of the Son of man. The brazen serpent lost not its virtue by healing many.
REFLECTIONS.
The martyrdom of John, mentioned in Mar 6:14-29, is a subject highly interesting to the church. He was arrested in his meridian lustre, and in a moment of his greatest usefulness and worth. His fame had attracted the admiration of Herod, and even the scribes durst not affirm that his baptism was of men. Herod therefore sent for him to the court. And was the interview happy between the worst and the best of men? John was the same at court as in the desert. He was still Gods servant, and Herods subject. He could not spend an hour in conversation, reciting his call, his ministry and success, without making a fair application of his doctrine to his royal auditor. He felt as a prophet for the soul of his sovereign, and attempted to disenchant his affections from the degrading chains of illicit love. What a model for ministers at court. We had once a Latimer; but ah, he is dead. The result was, that pride and anger gained the ascendancy in Herods mind, and John was sent to prison.
When a man ventures on a course of crimes he knows not where he shall stop. Herod having imprisoned John in a moment of wrath, thought of no farther vengeance, but the incestuous Herodias thirsted for blood. Criminal love is pregnant with mischief, and lawless passions unrestrained are the source of every mischief to a guilty mind. Herod was a wretch enslaved with various passions. Delighted with Salomes dancing, he rashly promised beyond prudence; and hampered by the ties of honour, he thought his oath more sacred than the life of a prophet. So he was drawn with regret to bring upon himself and his country the blood of the righteous.
Providence takes peculiar pleasure in crossing the carnal joys of worldly men. When Nebuchadnezzar promised himself the happiest of days on the dedication of his golden god, behold Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego would not worship the idol. When Belshazzar was boasting against the Lord, behold the handwriting troubled him. And now when Herod flattered himself with a jubilee of happy birthdays, behold his incestuous love drew his soul into a gloom of crimes which should never be chased away. Let us learn to tremble at sensual joy; and let him that glorieth, glory in the Lord, and in the knowledge of redeeming love.
Guilt is haunted with terror. When Herod heard of the miracles of Jesus, he said, this is John. Ah, that bloody head, how often did he see it in every apartment of his house! Ah, that bloody head, not all the waters of Jordan could wash away the stains. He needed neither sunshine by day, nor candle by night, to behold the ghastly sight. To his sadducean principles he had constant recourse; for the infidel will fly from his guilt to his creed. A thousand and a thousand times he whispered, There is neither resurrection, nor angel, nor spirit, nor future state. But ah, the opiate was fallacious, his creed belied his feeling. His conscience resounded with a deafening voice, There is a God who avenges the innocent, and punishes the guilty. There is a God who will not annihilate his patriarchs and martyrs for a momentary offspring. There is a God who has raised up John from the dead; and therefore mighty works do show themselves in him. Here indeed conscience was defective in knowledge, but not in sentiment. John was still alive with God, but it was Jesus who did the miracles, to show tyrants that they cannot frustrate the divine counsel. And providence presently realized his terrors. He was defeated by Arethas, king of the Arabians, and father of Herodias. And the Romans, on hearing of his conduct, banished him to Vienne. So Josephus, and so Eusebius testify.
Rash and unholy vows are among our most foolish sins, and they ought not to be kept. To break a sinful vow is the firstfruit of repentance, but to keep it is the confirmation of crime. It was happy for Saul that the army forced him to break his vow, which prohibited his men from tasting food, and to spare the life of Jonathan.
But what we most admire here is the prudence of Jesus. When he heard of this, still pursuing his work, he spake no evil of Herod; and not willing to fly in the face of government, he retired to heal and feed the multitude in the desert, as explained in Mat 14:13.
Fuente: Sutcliffe’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Mar 6:1-6. The Rejection of Jesus at Nazareth.Mk.s reason for inserting this incident at this particular point is obscure. It seems to belong to the early period. Jesus is once more in the synagogue as His custom was at the first, and the presence of the disciples is especially mentioned, as if they were not yet habitually in His company. Perhaps Mk. places the incident here as a first sign of waning public interest. The disciples, in the next section, are warned to expect similar indifference and antagonism. Jesus own country is clearly Nazareth (cf. Mar 1:9). The very familiarity of the townsfolk with Jesus obscures His greatness for them. As an Indian saying has it, There is always a shadow under the lamp. They were too close to Jesus to appreciate Him. Mk. alone has the reference to kinsfolk in Mar 6:4. This perhaps presupposes the incident in Mar 3:31 f. Mk. is also unique in the freedom with which he speaks of the restraint laid upon Jesus by the hostility of the Nazarenos. He does not hesitate to attribute the emotion of wonder to Jesus. Want of faith surprised Him. This is significant. It shows how natural trust in God seemed to Jesus.
Mar 6:3. The reading, Is not this the carpenter? is the best attested for Mk., but it is doubtful whether Mt. is not more original in reading, Is not this the carpenters son? Either reading might give offence to some Christians and be liable to change; either reading suffices to remind us that the early life of Jesus was associated with the everyday tasks of a Jewish artisan. The names of the brothers of Jesus may be mentioned because they had become leaders in the Church. There is no ground for questioning their blood-relationship to our Lord. The plain sense of the passage is, sons of the same mother, and indeed of the same father (Mat 1:25*).
Fuente: Peake’s Commentary on the Bible
Verse 1
His own country; the region of Nazareth.
Fuente: Abbott’s Illustrated New Testament
(Mark 6) THE SERVICE OF CHRIST WHEN REJECTED
The great truths that come before us in chapter six are connected with incidents that take place in the country, the king’s court, the desert place, the mountain and the stormy sea. In the first two incidents we learn the low moral condition of the world that rejects Christ: in the last three, we discover the fulness of the resources in Christ for those who follow Him apart from the course of this world.
(Vv. 1-6). In the first scene we see the Lord in His lowly service of love associating with the humble folk of “His own country,” “His own kin,” and “His own house”. He comes into their midst with divine wisdom, and divine power, ministering the truth among the poor of the land, and healing some sick folk; but in no wise does He pander to the vanity of human nature that loves pomp and display, and rejects men because of their humble origin. The Lord’s ministry of grace makes manifest this low moral condition of the people. They are indeed astounded at His teaching and His wisdom, and cannot but admit His “mighty works,” but “they were offended at Him.” The flesh is ever the same, so that in our day are we not in danger, at times, even as Christians, of hindering the work of God by the pride and vanity of the flesh that slights the ministry of a servant of God because of his humble origin; or, as servants, we may fail by seeking to obtain a hearing on the ground of wealth or social position. With the Lord all was perfect; the failure was on the part of the people. These simple country folk belittled the wisdom of the Lord’s teaching, and the might of His works by saying, “Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary?” And they said, “His brothers and sisters are with us.” They failed to discern the glory of His Person and the grace of His heart, that though He was rich yet for our sakes He had become poor that we through His poverty might be made rich. Thus the Creator had become the Carpenter, and the Son of God the Son of Mary. The Lord reminds those that reject Him, because of His humiliation, that “A prophet is not without honour, but in his own country, and amongst his own kin, and in his own house.” This does not imply that the Lord was rejected in His own country, as we might be, because of known weakness or failure, but that familiarity with Him in the affairs of this life are used to discount His divine mission from God.
The result is He could there do no mighty work because of their unbelief. It is a solemn consideration how much, in our day, unbelief may hinder the work of God. If faith, as in the case of the sick woman of the last chapter, draws forth the blessing, it is equally true that unbelief hinders its outflow. Nevertheless, His grace, rising above our pride and unbelief, healed some “sick folk” even though the blessing is limited to “a few”. “He marvelled because of their unbelief.” Alas! do we not at times give Him occasion to marvel at our unbelief? Nevertheless He pursued His way, teaching in the villages round about, unwearied in His service in spite of pride and unbelief.
(Vv. 7-13). The rejection of His service may hinder any performance of a mighty work in His own country, but it cannot stay the grace of His heart. Thus the Lord sends forth the twelve as a fresh witness to His presence in grace and power for the blessing of men. A striking witness is borne to His glory as a Divine Person by the fact that He “gave them power over unclean spirits.” Anyone can exercise power and perform miracles if the power is given to them – but, who but God can give the power? Further the manner in which they went forth was, in itself, a witness to the presence of the Lord of all. They were to go forth taking nothing for their journey. They were to rest in the providing care and protection of the Lord present on earth, who would so dispose of the hearts of men, and govern circumstances, that they would lack nothing.
Their mission was not to degenerate into a social round of visits. They were on the service of the Lord, and therefore were to abide in the same house in any particular place. The substance of their preaching was repentance, for the presence of the King, and the good news of the Kingdom, had been proclaimed, with the result that the leaders had rejected Christ because of the greatness of His claims, while the people had refused Him because of the lowliness of His position. The leaders accused Him of doing His mighty works by the power of the devil; the people aid He is only a carpenter. The nation is called to repent of this wickedness. Moreover, it was a final testimony for judgment was to be pronounced upon those that rejected this mission.
(Vv. 14-29). The result of this mission, accompanied by signs of power, was that “His name was spread abroad.” Would that all servants so ministered Christ that they left behind them a savour of Christ, and the sense of the preciousness of His Name. Alas! too often the preacher may be so advertised, and so many methods adopted that appeal to the natural man, that the preacher’s name becomes spread abroad rather than the Name of Jesus
Nevertheless, however widely the fame of Jesus may be proclaimed, unless there is a work of God in the soul, it only leads to speculation, as in that day, when some said that it was John the Baptist risen from the dead, others that it was a prophet. But the speculations of the human mind never reach the truth as to the Person of Christ. However, the fame of Christ reaches the court circle. Already we have seen the utter lack of all spiritual discernment in the lower classes, now we are to learn the low moral condition of the higher circles. With king Herod, the report of Christ does more than lead to speculation, it awakens an uneasy conscience. This leads to the story of his sin. He had formed a guilty marriage with his brother’s wife and had been rebuked for his sin by John the Baptist. This rebuke had aroused the enmity of Herodias the guilty adulteress. She would have killed John but could find no way to do so, or Herod feared John knowing that he was a just man and a holy. Herod, though an unprincipled man, could appreciate goodness in others, and indeed listened to John and did many things by his counsel. However, Herodias waits her time, and a court revel gave her the opportunity she sought. The king, pleased by a dance, makes a rash promise, and rather than break his promise has John killed. It has been well said, “The devil’s promises are better broken than kept.”
The rejection and murder of the Forerunner is a solemn indication that, in due time, Herod will take his part in the rejection and crucifixion of Christ.
(Vv. 30-44). The apostles, having fulfilled their mission, gathered themselves unto Jesus.” Having been sent forth by the Lord, they now return to Him. How good for every servant, when any little service has been accomplished, to get back to the Lord and tell Him all things that they have done and taught. Too often we are inclined to tell others, though at times it may be right to encourage the Lord’s people by telling them of His work. There is, however, this great difference, if we gather the assembly of God’s people together, as was the case with Paul and Barnabas at Antioch, it should be to rehearse “all that God had done, and how He had opened the door” (Act 14:27). But when, after service, we gather together unto Jesus, it is to tell Him what we have done and taught. How good for our souls to pass in review our acts and words in the presence of One, Who will never flatter, and before Whom we cannot boast, and from Whom nothing can be hid; there to learn, it may be, our weaknesses and defects. Alas! we may be full of ourselves and our service; but, in the Lord’s presence we can speak freely of all that possesses the thoughts and burdens the mind, and thus have our spirits calmed so that we may think soberly of ourselves, or forget ourselves and our service to be occupied with Himself. We have no record of any comment on their service, but we learn the Lord’s sympathy and care for His servants. They had spoken of their service, but He is concerned about them and the rest they need. Hence, He can say, “Come ye yourselves apart into a desert place and rest a while.” The eternal rest remains, but here there is the “rest a while.”
It has been pointed out that there are three reasons for the disciples being led apart into the desert place. First, the Lord retired into the desert on account of the murder of His witness, a sure sign of His own rejection and crucifixion. This indicated that the dispensation was about to change, and so the Lord takes a place outside and apart from the guilty nation. This dispensational reason is prominent in Mat 19:13. Secondly, there is a reason for the Lord taking an outside place in connection with the service of His disciples. Very naturally this has a prominent place in the gospel of Mark. Their service had taken them into the world, and had created such a stir that “there were many coming and going.” Under such circumstances the servant needs to be drawn apart from the restless spirit of the world to be with Himself, and rest a while. The third reason for this incident is presented in the gospel of Luke, where we learn that the disciples are drawn apart to be instructed of the Lord (Luk 9:10; Luk 9:18-27).
In our day we, too, need to be withdrawn from the world to learn that we are not of it, even if sent into it on the Lord’s service. Our blessings are heavenly not earthly. So, too, we need to be alone with the Lord to escape the spirit of the world, with all its restless activity, and never more so than when some little testimony for Christ has for the moment made some stir in the world. We also need to be in the privacy of the Lord’s presence to learn His mind.
At the Lord’s word they depart into the desert place privately. However, “the people saw them departing,” and, in their eagerness to reach Christ, “outwent them, and came together unto Him.” It seemed then that, after all, they would be robbed of their rest. But the Lord, in His tender care for His own, and compassion for the people, came out from the place of retirement to meet the people. There might be rest for His disciples: there was no rest for Him. His compassion would not let Him rest; so we read, “He began to teach them many things.”
When the day was far spent the disciples came from their rest, and said to the Lord, “Send them away.” It would seem as if the disciples looked upon them as intruders upon their rest and would fain be rid of them. But the Lord will not send them away hungry, for is it not written, “I will satisfy her poor with bread.” No failure on the part of Israel can wither up the kindness and compassion of the heart of Jehovah. He will “teach them many things” for the blessing of their souls, and provide the loaves and fishes to meet the need of their bodies. He is the same today; in spite of all our weaknesses and many failures He cares for our souls and provides for our bodies. Moreover, in carrying out this work of love, He uses others. He can say to the disciples, “Give ye them to eat.” But, as so often with ourselves, their faith was not able to use His power. They can only think of how much they would require, forgetting the vast resources they had in Christ. Having made manifest the utter inadequacy of their own resources, the Lord brings their little – the five loaves and the two fishes – into touch with heaven’s plenty, with the result that five thousand men “did all eat and were filled.”
(Vv. 45, 46). The story unfolded in the following verses brings again before us the great fact that the Lord was about to leave His disciples in a world from which He was rejected. The Lord had just fed the multitude, His compassion being drawn out to them as sheep not having a Shepherd. Alas! not only were they without one to lead them into green pastures, and care for their souls, but when the Good Shepherd came into their midst they had no eyes to discern His glory and no heart to receive Him. So, the Lord having sent away the people, “departed into a mountain to pray.” In picture the nation is dismissed, while He takes a new place on high to intercede for His own who are left to witness for Him in a world from which He has been rejected.
(Vv. 47 – 52). The disciples find that not only are they bereft of the bodily presence of the Lord, but that they have to face the storms of life, and have to toil in rowing. Everything in this world is contrary to the Lord’s people. But if the world is against us and the devil is opposed to us, the Lord on high is interceding for us. But if the Lord is absent, He is not indifferent to the storms and difficulties His people have to meet. “He saw them toiling,” and He came to them. But He came in a way that set forth His superiority to all the circumstances they were in, for He came “walking on the water.” The display of a power so far beyond that which is possible to man, filled the disciples with fear. “They were sore amazed in themselves beyond measure, and wondered.” But the One whose power is greater than all the storms that men or the devil can raise, is the One Who is for us. He had been praying for them on the mountain, He had seen them toiling, and now He comes to them. Nevertheless, He tries their faith, even as believers are often tested in our day, for we read, He “would have passed them by.” His power, His intercession, His loving care, are all at their disposal, but have they the faith to avail themselves of His fulness? In their trouble they cry out, “and immediately He talked with them,” saying, “It is I; be not afraid.” He may come to them in the glory of His power, above all storms, but He assures them that it is Himself – Jesus, their Saviour, Shepherd, Friend. The One that a little while before men had rejected as only a Carpenter, is now seen to be the Creator who can walk upon the sea, and Whom the winds and the waves obey.
Alas! like ourselves too often, the disciples had not “considered” the greatness of His power and grace displayed on a former occasion. Occupied with themselves and their difficulties their hearts were hardened and little able to avail themselves of their resources in Christ.
(Vv. 53-56). The chapter closes with a foretaste of the blessing of a future day when Christ will come again, and through a godly remnant of the Jews bring blessing to the earth. Then indeed the toil of the godly will be over, opposition will end, the storms will cease, and Christ will be received where once He was rejected.
Fuente: Smith’s Writings on 24 Books of the Bible
CHAPTER 6
1 Christ is contemned of his countrymen. 7 He giveth the twelve power over unclean spirits. 14 Divers opinions of Christ. 27 John Baptist is beheaded, 29 and buried. 30 The apostles return from preaching. 34 The miracle of five loaves and two fishes. 48 Christ walketh on the sea: 53 and healeth all that touch him.
Ver. 1. Going out from thence, i.e., from Capernaum, where He raised Jairus’ daughter.
He went into His own country, i.e., to Nazareth, where He was brought up.
Ver. 2. They were in admiration at His doctrine: literally, they admired in His doctrine. This is a Hebraism. For the Hebrews use as a preposition of contact either corporal or mental in the place of an accusative. Thus they say, I touch in the hand, instead of, I touch the hand; I believe in God, instead of, I believe God; I admire in wisdom, for I admire wisdom.
Ver. 5. And He could not do any miracles there. Could not, i.e., would not, because He did not think it proper to give what was holy to dogs, that is, to force His miracles upon unbelieving and ungrateful citizens. So could not is used for would not (Gen. xxxvii. 4, and John vii. 7). “Because,” says Victor of Antioch on this passage, “two things must coincide for the attaining of health, namely, the faith of those who need healing, and the power of him who will heal; therefore, if either of these be wanting, the blessing of a cure will not readily be attained.”
Ver. 6. He wondered because of their unbelief. This seems to conflict with what is said in Luk 4:22, And all bare Him record, and wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of His mouth. I answer, that the inhabitants of Nazareth wondered, indeed, that Jesus, the son of a carpenter, their well-known neighbour, should be so wise and eloquent, and yet were incredulous with respect to His doctrine and person, that He was in very deed the Messias or Christ. And that this was so is plain from what Luke subjoins.
Ver. 13. They anointed with oil many that were sick, and healed them. Some are of opinion that this anointing was the same as that of which S. James speaks in his Epistle (Jam 5:14), that is to say, the Sacrament of Extreme Unction. So Bede, Theophylact, Lyra, and others, who think that the Sacrament of Extreme Unction was at this time instituted by Christ, and that the Apostles by His command conferred it upon the sick, although they had not as yet been ordained priests.
But the contrary seems more probable. 1. Because the priest alone is the minister of this sacrament; but the Apostles were not yet priests, for Christ created them priests afterwards.
2. Because the Apostles here anointed all sorts of sick persons, those not baptized, and those not about to die. But Extreme Unction is conferred only upon those who are baptized, and in danger of death.
3. All who were here anointed by the Apostles were healed. But this is not the case in Extreme Unction, which has primary reference to the health and strength of the soul.
4. Because the Council of Trent (Sess. 14) says that the Sacrament of Extreme Unction was hinted at in S. Mark, but was commanded and promulgated to the faithful by S. James, the Lord’s brother. This anointing, therefore, was a type, and as it were a prelude, of the institution of the Sacrament of Extreme Unction, not the sacrament itself. This, then, was a miraculous anointing, or a gift of miracles, bestowed upon the Apostles for a time, that they might by its means confirm their preaching of Christ. It was not the sacrament itself. So S. Genoveva and many holy authorites were wont to heal the sick by means of oil blessed by them and sent to the sick. Victor of Antioch gives the reason why they used oil rather than wine,-“oil, amongst other things, assuages the affliction of labours, cherishes light, and promotes gladness.” Oil, therefore, which is used in the holy anointing, signifies the mercy of God, the healing of disease, and the enlightenment of the heart. In a similar way the baptism of John was not a sacrament, but a type and prelude of the Sacrament of Baptism.
Ver. 16. Which Herod hearing, said, John whom I beheaded, he is risen again from the dead. It was as if he said, The soul of John has passed into Jesus, and so there, as it were, by rising again, has become more divine, and works such great and stupendous miracles. Luke (ix. 7) says that Herod doubted at first, but afterwards, on account of the universal fame of the miracles of Jesus, believed that John had risen again in Him. So S. Chrysostom, Theophylact, Augustine, and others. For the opinion of Pythagoras concerning the metempsychosis or transmigration of souls was then very prevalent. S. Chrysostom says, “How great a thing is virtue! for Herod fears even the dead man.” For, as Rabanus says, “it is agreed by all that the saints shall have greater power when they rise again.” So also Bede.
Ver. 17. For Herod himself had sent and apprehended John, and bound him in prison for the sake of Herodias, the wife of Philip his brother, because he had married her. This Herod was not the Great, who was called Herod of Ascalon, who slew the infants of Bethlehem, but his son, surnamed Antipas, who arrayed Christ in a white robe and mocked Him. He it was who beheaded John the Baptist.
You will say, Herod Antipas was only a tetrarch, for so Matthew calls him (Mat 14:1). Why, then, does Mark here call him a king? I reply, he calls him king because he was the chief potentate in his tetrarchy, equal to a king in his kingdom. Wherefore he assumed the name of king, and it was given him by others, even by S. Matthew himself (Mat 14:9).
In prison. Josephus adds that John was incarcerated in the fortress of Macher, on the confines of Galilee and Arabia, where he was beheaded. This prison was made famous by S. John, for the place, says Philo (lib. de Joseph.), was not so much a prison as a school of discipline. Seneca says (in Consolat. ad Albinam), “When Socrates entered his prison, he was about to deprive the very place of ignominy, for that could not seem to be a prison where Socrates was.” Whence S. Cyprian (lib. 4, epist. 1, ad Martyr.) says, “0 blessed prison, which your presence has made illustrious: 0 darkness, brighter than the sun himself, where the temples of God have been!” The same (lib. 3, epist. 25) says concerning the chains of the martyrs, “They are ornaments, not bonds. They do not link the feet to infamy, but glorify them for the crown.” Wherefore S. Ambrose says (lib. de Joseph. c. 5) “Let not the innocent be distressed when they are the victims of false accusations. God visits His own, even in their prison. Then, therefore, is there the more help where is the greater peril. And what marvel is it if God visit those who are in prison, who speaks of Himself as shut up with His people in prison? I was in prison, He says, and ye visited Me not” (Matt. xxv. 44).
On account of Herodias. This Herodias was the daughter of Aristobulus, Herod’s brother. Herod, then, had married her who was his niece, being his brother’s daughter. So Josephus. Herodias, therefore, was the sister of Herod Agrippa, who killed James, and who was himself slain by an angel (Acts xii.). Wherefore Rufinus, and following him S. Jerome, Eusebius, and Bede, are in error, who say that she was a daughter of Aretas, a king of the Arabians. For they confound Herod’s first wife, who was the daughter of Aretas, with Herodias, his second wife. For Herod repudiated the daughter of Aretas to marry Herodias. For this reason Aretas made war upon him, and cut his army to pieces, as Josephus relates (lib. xviii. Antiq. c. 7), adding, “It was an opinion among the Jews that Herod’s army was destroyed by the just vengeance of God because of John the Baptist, a holy man, whom he had slain.”
His brother’s wife. You will say that Josephus (lib. xviii. Ant. c, 7, 9) says that she was the wife of another Herod, who was the brother of Philip and Herod Antipas. I reply that Josephus is in error in this matter, as well as in many others; unless you choose to suppose that Herodias was previously married to Herod Antipas. Josephus falls into another mistake in the same place, when he says that John was put to death not because of Herodias, but because Herod was afraid lest, on account of the concourse of the people to John, an insurrection might occur.
Whether Herodias married Herod whilst her husband Philip was alive, or after his death, commentators are not agreed. But it is certain that either way it was an illicit marriage, and involved incest, to which was added adultery, if Philip were still alive. For by Leviticus (xviii. 16) it is forbidden for a brother to marry his brother’s wife if there were offspring of the marriage, and Philip had left this dancing daughter, whom Josepbus calls Salome. But I say that Herod did marry Herodias during his brother’s lifetime, and against his will, and so committed a threefold sin,-the first, adultery; the second, incest; the third, violence. This is proved: 1st Because Josephus expressly asserts it (lib. xviii. Ant. c. 7). 2nd Because the incestuous marriage took place about the fifteenth year of Tiberius Csar; for that was when John began to preach, as is plain from Luk 3:1; but Philip died in the twentieth year of Tiberius, as Josephus affirms (xviii. 6), where he praises him for his justice and modesty. 3rd Because the Fathers everywhere accuse Herod of adultery, because he took away his wife from his brother, who was of a meek disposition, whilst he was yet living. Thus Herod took advantage of his gentleness.
Ver. 20. For Herod was afraid of John, knowing him to be a just man and a holy. At first, therefore, it was only Herodias who wished to kill John, as the rebuker of her adultery. Herod did not assent, as Mark here signifies, and Luke (Luk 9:7-9). But afterwards she persuaded Herod, which she did the more easily, because, as Josephus asserts, he was of a malignant disposition, and prone to cruelty; and he was incensed against John on account of his frequent reproofs. “Herodias was afraid,” says Bede, lest Herod should some time or other come to a proper mind under John’s rebuke, and dissolve the marriage, and restore Herodias to his brother Philip.”
Ver. 22. And when the daughter of the same Herodias had come in, and danced, and pleased Herod. That female dancers were formerly introduced into their feasts by the Jews out of luxuriousness appears from Josephus (lib. xii. Ant. c. 4). That there was a similar fashion among the Greeks we learn from Xenophon’s Symposium, and from Lucian’s Dialogue de Saltatricibus, where he shows by many examples, and by the opinions of philosophers, that dancing enervates even a manly mind. Truly saith Ecclesiasticus (c. 9), “Use not much the company of a female dancer, nor listen to her, lest perchance thou perish through her influence.” Truly saith Remigius (on Matt. xiv.), “The shameless woman brought up a shameless daughter, teaching her to dance instead of to be modest. Nor was Herod less to be blamed for allowing a woman to make a theatre of his palace-hall.”
Ver. 25. I will that forthwith thou give me in a dish the head of John the Bapist. You will say, John the Baptist was not, then, a martyr, because Herod slew him not because of his faith, nor because of his rebuking him for his adultery, but for the sake of pleasing this dancing girl, and fulfilling his promise. I answer by denying the conclusion. For, 1st This girl asked the head of John at the instigation of her mother, who wished to cut off John for reproving her adultery. Herodias, therefore, was the virtual cause of John’s death, because she impelled Herod to behead him. 2nd Herod assented to her. Knowing the malignant disposition of his wife, he gave way to her, and killed John. 3rd Herod himself desired to kill John, as Matthew says expressly (Mat 14:5); but he did not dare to do it through fear of the people, who made great count of John as a holy man. Lastly, many are of opinion that probably all was done collusively and of set purpose-namely, that Herod had suggested to Herodias that she should send her dancing daughter in to supper, and that she should ask for the head of John; that thus he might have from his promise a colourable pretext for killing him; and that this is the reason why Christ calls him a fox (Luk 13:32). S. John, therefore, was a victim of chastity, because he died a martyr for it, like S. Paul, S. Matthew, S. Clement, and many others.
Moreover, S. Gregory Nazianzen assigns a loftier cause for the early death of John from the hidden counsel of God (Orat. 20). “Who,” saith he, “was the precursor of Jesus? John, as a voice of speech, as a lantern of light; before Whom also he leapt forth in strength, and was sent forward to Hades by Herod, that there likewise he might preach Him who was shortly to come.” The same Nazianzen (Orat. 39) teaches that S. John, by the spirit of prophecy, was aware of this his martyrdom. For he says, “I ought, 0 Christ, to be baptized by Thee; yes, and for Thee.” For he had found out that he was to be baptized by martyrdom. For he knew what was to come; that as after Herod Pilate would reign, so Christ would follow him after life was over.
Ver. 26. The king was sorry, i.e., he pretended to be so, say SS. Hilary and Jerome. For he really wished John to be killed, as Matthew says. Wherefore the Gloss on the fourteenth of S. Matthew says, “Herod’s sorrow was like Pilate’s repentance” And the Interlinear, “The dissembler showed sorrow in his face, but was glad in his heart.”
But more simply. S. Chrysostom and Euthymius think that Herod was really sorry is the meaning of SS. Matthew and Mark. For though he wished John to die, yet he was sorry for his cruel and shameful death, that he should have killed so great a prophet for the gratification of a dancing girl.
For his oath’s sake. Herod made a pretext of his oath; for he knew that in such a case, that is, at such an iniquitous and sacrilegious a request of the girl, it was not binding. However, he thought it a king’s part not to retract it before the nobles, according to the saying, The word of the king is the king. Thus this worldling acted. Whence S. Augustine says, “A girl dances, and a mother rages, and there is rash swearing in the midst of the luxurious feast, and an impious fulfilment of what was sworn.” For, as S. Isidore says, faith ought to be broken in wicked promises; that is, an impious promise which is fulfilled by a crime.
Ver. 27. But sending an executioner, that is, a hangman; for soldiers were executioners and attendants of the prtors, and were armed with javelins (spicula). Hence they were called spiculators. (the word in the Vulgate translated executioner is spiculator). Our Gretzer (lib. 1, de Cruce, c. 25) is of opinion, from Suidas, that hangmen (carnifices) were called speculatores (for the Greek has , which is really a Latin word, and the same as speculator), Gr. , because it was their office to spy out the plans and movements of an enemy, to be around princes as their bodyguard, and to execute those whom they condemned. So also Franc. Lucas on this passage, Lipsius on Tacitus, and some others. These assert that Suetonius and Tacitus call a carnifex, speculalar. But they cite no passage in support of what they say. Neither have I been able to find any in which the word speculator is used for an executioner (carnifex), with the exception of this one in S. Mark. Spiculator, then, becomes in Greek. For the Greeks often change the vowel i into e, as the Italians also do.
He commanded his head to be brought in a dish. Thus did the savage season his feast with this horrible spectacle of cruelty. Bede adds, he wished all his guests to be associated with him in his cruelty. Moreover, S. Gregory says (Moral. lib. 3, c. 4), “God afflicts His own with infirmities, because He knows how to reward them in the highest. If God exposes to anguish those whom He loves, what are those about to suffer whom He rejects?”
S. John, then, has many laurels-1st That of doctor; 2nd of virginity; 3rd of martyrdom; 4th of a prophet; 5th of a hermit; 6th of an apostle; 7th of the precursor, index, and baptizer of Christ.
You will ask, At what time was John put to death? 1st Abulensis says it cannot be determined.
2nd. Bede, and from him Baronius (A.C. 33), Maldonatus, and Barradi think that John was slain about the time of the Passover in Christ’s thirty-third year. They support this view, because Matthew says (Mat 14:13) that Christ departed into the wilderness when He heard of the death of John, and there fed the 5000, an event which happened about the time of the Passover (John vi. 4).
3rd. And very probably, our Salianus (Annal. tom. 6, in fin. ad ann. Christi 32, num. 20) thinks that John suffered at the end of the thirty-second year of the life of Christ, probably in December. He proves this, because Nicephorus (lib. 1, c. 19) says that John at his death was thirty-two years and a half old; that is, at the completion of Christ’s thirty-second year. For John was born on the 24th of June, and was just six months older than Christ, who was born on the 25th of December of the same year. He gives us a second reason, because although Christ’s departing into the desert (Matt. xiv.) occurred about the time of the Passover, yet John’s death preceded it by some considerable time. For Christ departed not so much on account of John’s death, as because the fame of His own miracles had so greatly increased that many thought John had risen again in Him. But this took place when some considerable time, comparatively speaking, had elapsed after John’s death. That is to say, John’s being put to death took place in December, and Christ’s retiring into the desert about the following March. And the intervening period must have been taken up by the miracles which Christ wrought after John’s death, and by the fame of them being so widely spread abroad as to lead Herod to suspect that John had risen again in Jesus. This led Jesus to retire into the desert lest Herod should kill Him also.
Lastly, some think that John suffered on the 29th of August, because the Church keeps the Feast of the Decollation of S. John the Baptist on that day. Baronius, however, thinks that this day is kept in memory of the Invention of the head of S. John.
Ver. 28. And brought his head in a dish: and gave it to the damsel, and the damsel gave it to her mother. S. Chrysostom (in Matt. Hom. 49), S. Austin (Serm. 36, de Sanctis), S. Ambrose (lib. 3, de Virgin.) enlarge upon the indignity, yea, the sacrilege, of this murder. Apostrophising Herod, the latter cries, “Behold his eyes, even in death the witnesses of thy cruelty! He turns them away from the sight of thy dainties. His eyes are closed, not so much by the constraint of death, as by horror at thy luxury. That lifeless golden mouth, whose sentence thou couldst not endure, is silent, and yet it is dreaded.”
S. Jerome says that Herodias insulted the severed head, and punctured his most holy tongue with a needle; upon which the Father exclaims, “Do not boast thyself so much because thou hast done what scorpions and flies do. So did Fulvia to Cicero, and Herodias to John, because they could not bear the truth; they pierced the tongue that spoke the truth with a needle” (S. Jerome, Apolog. cont. Rufin. sub finem).
Wherefore the just vengeance of God burned against all who were concerned in this crime. Herod was defeated by Aretas. Afterwards he was banished with Herodias to Lyons, and deprived of his tetrarchy and everything by Caligula, at the instigation of Agrippa, the brother of Herodias, as Josephus relates (xviii. 10). Moreover, the head of the dancing daughter was cut off by means of ice. Hear what Nicephorus says, “As she was journeying once in the winter-time, and a frozen river had to be crossed on foot, the ice broke beneath her, not without the providence of God. Straightway she sank down up to her neck. This made her dance and wriggle about with all the lower parts of her body, not on land, but in the water. Her wicked head was glazed with ice, and at length severed from her body by the sharp edges, not of iron, but of the frozen water. Thus in the very ice she displayed the dance of death, and furnished a spectacle to all who beheld it, which brought to mind what she had done.” Hear also L. Dexter (in Chron. A.C. 34), ” Herod Antipas, with Herodias his incestuous mistress, was banished first to Gaul, and afterwards to Ilerda in Spain. Herodias dancing upon the river Sicoris when it was frozen, fell through the ice, and perished miserably.”
Placed it in a tomb. S. Jerome says that the body of S. John was buried at Sebaste, the former Samaria, where also the prophets Elisha and Obadiah were buried. Moreover, S. John wrought so many miracles at Sebaste that Julian the Apostate ordered his body to be burnt, but the Christians secretly conveyed away his relics. (Top )
[Ver. 52. For they understood not concerning the loaves; for their heart was blinded. Ver. 53. And when they had passed over, they came into the land of Genezareth, and set to the shore. Identified in 1972 by Father Jos O’Callaghan on Qum Ran Dead Sea scroll no. 7q5.-transciber]
Fuente: Cornelius Lapide Commentary
MARK CHAPTER SIX
Mar 6:1 And he went out from thence, and came into his own country; and his disciples follow him. 2 And when the sabbath day was come, he began to teach in the synagogue: and many hearing him were astonished, saying, From whence hath this man these things? and what wisdom is this which is given unto him, that even such mighty works are wrought by his hands? 3 Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary, the brother of James, and Joses, and of Juda, and Simon? and are not his sisters here with us? And they were offended at him. 4 But Jesus said unto them, A prophet is not without honour, but in his own country, and among his own kin, and in his own house. 5 And he could there do no mighty work, save that he laid his hands upon a few sick folk and healed them. 6 And he marvelled because of their unbelief. And he went round about the villages, teaching.
Again we see that miracles were based on the belief of the people, not the one doing the healing. He marveled at their UNBELIEF!
He has left a country where they did not want Him and now He is not well received in his own area. This is not an uncommon occurrence today. Not that I compare myself to a prophet or the Lord but when I moved back to my hometown and started a new job my employer had calls from the townspeople who they did not want me in their house to do the repairs on their appliances and televisions. In my case they knew what I was like when a teenager and they wanted no part of me.
These folks knew Jesus as a carpenter and just knew that He had nothing to say to them spiritually.
This is true of young people leaving for college and returning to town as a pastor. There will be those that will not accept him as a preacher. They think of the person as a young person growing up. In my hometown there was a lawyer (son of a lawyer as well) that they called Eddy for his growing up years – well his grown years – well his senior years. He was always Eddy the son of the lawyer even to his old age.
People in your hometown remember you as what you were, they often miss the fact that you have grown into an adult and that you might have changed. When the Lord called me to go off to Bible College I told one of my friends that I was going to be a preacher. His reaction was shock then laughter at how ridiculous an idea it was. He remembered me as the one that he played in the foxhole with over in the vacant lot that was overgrown with weeds and perfect for kids playing war.
The folks in the synagogue knew Christ as a child, they knew His folks and His family. Where in the world did He get all this new teaching?
“From whence hath this man these things?” was the people’s comment about his teachings. This is of great note. Those in the Synagogue would have been the more spiritual, the mature and those that knew the Old Testament, yet they did not recognize His message – the message fromHis own lips was not recognizable when compared to their belief from the Old Testament. That says a lot about how they understood the Old Testament – they did not.
They were offended at the teaching or more specifically by Him personally. The word translated “at” is normally translated “in” thus they were offended by everything that He was. Wonder if the disciples told him to “Not take it personally?” His very being seems to have offended them. The offense is in the passive tense. It was not an offense that was put on or made up, it was just His very presence and speech that was a total offence to their being. Rather hard not to take that personally 🙂
We spoke at a large country church while on deputation and there was a potluck after the service. They insisted on the guests going first. We went looking for a place to sit with our full plates and found seats quite easily in the large fellowship hall. As others filled their plates and sat down it was easily evident that there was something very wrong with us. The entire congregation filled their plates and sat down – at least a table and a half away from us. We sat at the table alone until the pastor and his wife came through the serving line last – they saw us sitting alone and came to our rescue.
I do not know if it was something I said, something they smelled, or if they just did not like strangers.
It is hard not to take something like that personally, but remember Jesus and his action – He just continued on with his mission.
It may be of interest to the reader to note the acceptance of preaching from outside speakers. Is their message from the Word? Is it accepted by the people? Are they in tune with the true Word or are they in tune with their interpretation of the Word. Many churches have been listening to the same old stuff based on man’s opinion for so long they oft times miss a message from the Word because they don’t recognize it as truth.
When in Bible College I found it of interest that the man with the solid Bible message gained little interest among the students. One morning a flamboyant man stood to speak, he read a part of a verse as a “Jumping off point” for his message. The jumping off point was followed with story upon story upon story upon story. Very interesting but there was no point to all of his stories and nothing from Scripture save the jumping off point.
As I was leaving chapel people were all atwitter about the great message, the great preaching etc. When I sat down in my next class the buzz was along the same lines. Several students turned to me when one of them asked what I thought of the message. I asked them to tell me what the message was, what it contained, what point was there and what Bible message they heard or maybe they could tell me how it impacted their life. The quiet was answer enough. I did not hear one more word about the message except from the young man who asked of my opinion – “You know Stan I think you are right.”
We learn from the Word of God and we should hear of it in the Lord’s services.Verse four speaks of the honor a prophet has “A prophet is not without honour, but in his own country, and among his own kin, and in his own house.” Note that there are three areas, country kin, and own house.
A man of God will have no honor in his country, among his family, nor among his own house. I can understand the country and extended family, but in your own house? Is this a statement that the prophet will not find honor in his own family? This seems to be true, though not in a negative sense. A father that is famous is just dad to the family, they have no focus on his outside activities.
I doubt that my children see me as preacher, I’m just dad and that is the way it should be. In fact most men do not talk of their outside accomplishments and their family may not even know what they have done for God. It is God that is the focus, not our accomplishments.
I have written before of my father and his disability, or being crippled in the terminology of the forties. He was paralyzed from the waist down and shuffled from point to point on two canes. He often gave a one legged man, that was crippled in my mind, when he was returning to work. I always felt sorry for this “crippled” man not ever thinking that my own father was also crippled. He was just dad to me.
As to extended family accepting the prophet often they do not understand the person’s commitment to God, they do not understand the person’s refusal to involve themselves in sinful practices, in ungodly conduct and as a result they are outsiders and have no respect within the family.
Not that this is a big problem, we should not be respected by lost people for they do not understand our thinking or our commitment. Added to this fact many Christians that are of limited commitment do not understand why anyone would take their Christianity so seriously.
If honor among man is your goal, you will not gain it by following God, but you may find that one day God will certainly honor you for your efforts and that is the honor that we all should see as our goal. Not that we seek honor, but that we seek to serve God and when found faithful He extends honor.
Fuente: Mr. D’s Notes on Selected New Testament Books by Stanley Derickson
6:1 And {1} he went out from thence, and came into his own country; and his disciples follow him.
(1) The faithless world by no means diminishes the virtue of Christ, but knowingly and willingly it deprives itself of the efficacy of it being offered unto them.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
2. Jesus’ rejection by the Nazarenes 6:1-6a (cf. Matthew 13:54-58)
Even though Jesus gave ample evidence that He was more than a mere man (Mar 4:35 to Mar 5:43), those who knew Him best on the physical plane still refused to believe in Him (Mar 6:1-6 a). This refusal led Jesus to turn increasingly from the multitudes to the training of His disciples (Mar 6:6 to Mar 8:30).
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
Mark mentioned the disciples’ presence with Jesus, but Matthew omitted that detail. Mark evidently recorded this incident because it constituted another occasion of discipleship training, a particular concern of Mark’s in this section of his Gospel. Jesus visited Nazareth as a rabbi preparing His disciples for their ministry. This was the second rejection in Nazareth that the synoptic writers documented. The first one came when Jesus left Nazareth to establish His base of operations in Capernaum (Mat 4:13; Luk 4:16-31).
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
Chapter 6
CHAPTER 6:1-6 (Mar 6:1-6)
REJECTED IN HIS OWN COUNTRY
“And He went out from thence; and He cometh into His own country; and His disciples follow Him.” Mar 6:1-6 (R.V.)
WE have seen how St. Mark, to bring out more vividly the connection between four mighty signs, their ideal completeness as a whole, and that mastery over nature and the spiritual world which they reveal, grouped them resolutely together, excluding even significant incidents which would break in upon their sequence. Bearing this in mind, how profoundly instructive it is that our Evangelist shows us this Master over storm and demons, over too-silent disease, and over death, too clamorously bewailed, in the next place teaching His own countrymen in vain, and an offense to them. How startling to read, at this juncture when legend would surely have thrown all men prostrate at His feet, of His homely family and His trade, and how He Who rebuked the storm “could there do no mighty work.”
First of all, it is touching to see Jesus turning once more to “His own country,” just at this crisis. They had rejected Him in a frenzy of rage, at the outset of His ministry. And He had very lately repulsed the rude attempt of His immediate relatives to interrupt His mission. But now His heart leads Him thither, once again to appeal to the companions of His youth, with the halo of His recent and surpassing works upon His forehead. He does not abruptly interrupt their vocations, but waits as before for the Sabbath, and the hushed assembly in the sacred place. And as He teaches in the synagogue, they are conscious of His power. Whence could He have these things? His wisdom was an equal wonder with His mighty works, of the reality of which they could not doubt. And what excuse then had they for listening to His wisdom in vain? But they went on to ask, Is not this the carpenter? the Son of Mary? they knew His brothers, and His sisters were living among them. And they were offended in Him, naturally enough. It is hard to believe in the supremacy of one, whom circumstances marked as our equal, and to admit the chieftainship of one who started side by side with us. In Palestine it was not disgraceful to be a tradesman, but yet they could fairly claim equality with “the carpenter.” And it is plain enough that they found no impressive or significant difference from their neighbors in the “sisters” of Jesus, nor even in her whom all generations call blessed. Why then should they abase themselves before the claims of Jesus?
It is an instructive incident. First of all, it shows us the perfection of our Lord’s abasement. He was not only a carpenter’s son, but what this passage only declares to us explicitly, he wrought as an artisan, and consecrated forever a lowly trade, by the toil of those holy limbs whose sufferings should redeem the world.
And we learn the abject folly of judging by mere worldly standards. We are bound to give due honor and precedence to rank and station. Refusing to do this, we virtually undertake to dissolve society, and readjust it upon other principles, or by instincts and intuitions of our own, a grave task, when it is realized. But we are not to be dazzled, much less to be misled, by the advantages of station or of birth. Yet if, as it would seem, Nazareth rejected Christ because He was not a person of quality, this is only the most extreme and ironical exhibition of what happens every day, when a noble character, self-denying, self-controlled and wise, fails to win the respect which is freelly and gladly granted to vice and folly in a coronet.
And yet, to one who reflected, the very objection they put forward was an evidence of His mission. His wisdom was confessed, and His miracles were not denied; were they the less wonderful or more amazing, more supernatural, as the endowments of the carpenter whom they knew? Whence, they asked, had He derived His learning, as if it were not more noble for being original.
Are we sure that men do not still make the same mistake? The perfect and lowly humanity of Jesus is a stumbling block to some who will freely admit His ideal perfections, and the matchless nobility of His moral teaching. They will grant anything but the supernatural origin of Him to Whom they attribute qualities beyond parallel. But whence had He those qualities? What is there in the Galilee of the first century which prepares one for discovering there and then the revolutionizer of the virtues of the world, the most original, profound, and unique of all teachers, Him Whose example is still mightier than His precepts, and only not more perfect, because these also are without a flaw, Him Whom even unbelief would shrink from saluting by so cold a title as that of the most saintly of the saints. To ask with a clear scrutiny, whence the teaching of Jesus came, to realize the isolation from all centers of thought and movement, of this Hebrew, this provincial among Hebrews, this villager in Galilee, this carpenter in a village, and then to observe His mighty works in every quarter of the globe, is enough to satisfy all candid minds that His earthly circumstances have something totally unlike themselves behind them. And the more men give ear to materialism and to materialistic evolution without an evolving mind, so much the more does the problem press upon them, Whence hath this man this wisdom? and what mean these mighty works?
From our Lord’s own commentary upon their rejection we learn to beware of the vulgarizing effects of familiarity. They had seen His holy youth, against which no slander was ever breathed. And yet, while His teaching astonished them, He had no honor in His own house. It is the same result which so often seems to follow from a lifelong familiarity with Scripture and the means of grace. We read, almost mechanically, what melts and amazes the pagan to whom it is a new word. We forsake, or submit to the dull routine of, ordinances the most sacred, the most searching, the most invigorating and the most picturesque.
And yet we wonder that the men of Nazareth could not discern the divinity of “the carpenter,” whose family lived quiet and unassuming lives in their own village.
It is St. Mark, the historian of the energies of Christ, who tells us that He “could there do no mighty work,” with only sufficient exception to prove that neither physical power nor compassion was what failed Him, since “He laid His hands upon a few sick folk and healed them.” What then is conveyed by this bold phrase? Surely the fearful power of the human will to resist the will of man’s compassionate Redeemer.
He would have gathered Jerusalem under His wing, but she would not; and the temporal results of her disobedience had to follow; siege, massacre and ruin. God had no pleasure in the death of him who dieth, yet death follows, as the inevitable wages of sin. Therefore, as surely as the miracles of Jesus typified His gracious purposes for the souls of men, Who forgiveth all our iniquities, Who healeth all our diseases, so surely the rejection and defeat of those loving purposes paralyzed the arm stretched out to heal their sick.
Does it seem as if the words “He could not,” even thus explained, convey a certain affront, throw a shadow upon the glory of our Master? And the words “they mocked, scourged, crucified Him,” do these convey no affront? The suffering of Jesus was not only physical: His heart was wounded; His overtures were rejected; His hands were stretched out in vain; His pity and love were crucified.
But now let this be considered, that men who refuse His Spirit continually presume upon His mercy, and expect not to suffer the penalty of their evil deeds. Alas, that is impossible. Where unbelief rejected His teaching, He “could not” work the marvels of His grace. How shall they escape who reject so great salvation?