Bible Commentaries
Mark 6

Verses 1-56

VI 1-6 Jesus at Nazareth; cf.Matthew 13:53-58; Luke 4:16-30—Commentators are not in agreement on the question whether Lk, which records a visit to Nazareth early in the Galilean ministry, deals with the same incident as Mk and Mt. It is difficult to understand how, in the course of a single visit, the people of Nazareth changed so suddenly from admiration of Christ’s wisdom to scepticism and murderous hostility. A possible solution of the problem is that the accounts of two separate visits have been joined together. On the occasion of his first visit, Matthew 4:13, Jesus was well received, Luke 4:16-22. But on this later occasion the atmosphere was less friendly. His townsmen were disappointed and jealous that Jesus had left Nazareth and favoured Capharnaum and other cities with his miracles. They refused to recognize the superiority or extraordinary mission of one who had grown up amongst them and, finally, tried to kill him, Luke 4:23-30.

1. ’His own country’ (Gk ’ His fatherland’), i.e. Nazareth; cf. 1:9, 24. In paying this visit to Nazareth Christ’s purpose was to preach the kingdom of God. He was accompanied by the disciples who would have learned a useful lesson for their own ministry from the rejection of Christ by his townsmen.

2. The people of Nazareth were all the more astonished at Christ’s wisdom because they knew that he had not attended a rabbinical school.

3. These questions reflect the change from admiration of Christ to scepticism and ill-will. He had returned to Nazareth with the reputation of a prophet and wonder-worker, but his townsmen took offence. Their attitude was that they knew his relatives and his own humble way of life too well to accept him as a divinely appointed teacher. ’The carpenter’. This is the only passage in the Gospels which reveals this fact of the hidden life of Christ. ’The son of Mary’. The form of the expression in Gk, ?+? ??+?ò? Mtð+??, indicates that Jesus was the only son of Mary. ’Brother . . . . sisters’, cf. 3:31-35, § 729e.

4. Jesus answered the scepticism of the people of Nazareth with a proverb which is a particular application of the familiar truth that jealousy and familiarity create a prejudice against one who is well known. His words disclose the real reason for the offence they have taken at him and also affirm his own claim to be a prophet

5. Christ’s power to work miracles was not limited or lost, but faith, which his townsmen lacked, was normally demanded for the exercise of this power.

6. Christ’s wonder was real; the attitude of his townsmen was something new in his human experience.

7-13 Mission of the Twelve; cf.Matthew 10:1, Matthew 10:9, Matthew 10:11, Matthew 10:14; Luke 9:1-6—7. Christ had chosen the Twelve to be with him and that he might send them to preach, 3:14. They had been in his company for a considerable time, and as a further step in their preparation for the task which lay before them, 16:15-20, they are now directly associated with his personal ministry. In order to lend authority to their message of repentance, 12, Christ gave them power over the unclean spirits.

8-9. The meanin of these instructions is that they are to undertake their task in a spirit of complete detachment from material or personal considerations, with entire trust in divine providence. The verbal discrepancy between Mk, which allows a staff and sandals, and Mt and Lk, which forbid shoes and even a staff, does not affect the sense. ’Each one wished to convey that Christ had commanded the Apostles to take nothing more than was needed for immediate use’, Maldonatus, Comment. onMt 10:10. 10-11. When they have found hospitality in a respectable house the Apostles are to remain there. Changing from one house to another would lay them open to the charge of inconstancy and be likely to cause jealousies and contentions. By ’shaking the dust from their feet’ they would signify the breaking off of relations and refusal to accept any further responsibility for people who had shown themselves unworthy; cf.Acts 13:51.12-13. The proclamation of the message of repentance and the driving out of demons emphasize the spiritual character of the kingdom for which the preaching of the disciples is a preparation. ’Anointed with oil’. According to the Council of Trent (Sess. 14, c. 1, Dz908), the Sacrament of Extreme Unction is ’insinuated’ in this passage; cf.James 5:13 ff. Oil was commonly used at the time in the dressling of wounds, etc. Here, however, it is clear that there is question of an anointing which has results far beyond those customarily associated with ordinary medical treatment. It is probable that the Apostles were acting in accordance with a definite instruction of Christ. The anointing which they practised foreshadowed Extreme Unction in somewhat the same way as baptism by the Apostles during Christ’s life, John 4:2, foreshadowed the Sacrament of Baptism.

14-16 Herod’s Opinion about Jesus; cf.Matthew 14:1 f.; Luke 9:7-9—14a. ’and he said’. According to another Gk reacting, ’and people were saying’. Herod Antipas,tetrarch of Galilee and Peraea, had undoubtedly heard of Christ before this, but the mission of the Twelve had created a stir throughout the whole country and speculation about Jesus was rife. While some were of opinion that he was the Baptist risen from the dead, others, recalling the teaching of the Scribes, Mark 9:10 f., thought it was Elias who had come to prepare for the Messias. Others regarded Christ as a prophet like one of the prophets of old. Herod’s guilty conscience drove him to accept the opinion that the Baptist had risen from the dead.

17-29 The Death of the Baptist; cf.Matthew 14:3-12; Luke 3:19 f.—Mark had previously referred to the arrest of the Baptist, 1:14. This account of the circumstances of his arrest and death is introduced here in order to explain Herod’s statement. Herod had married a daughter of Aretas, king of the Nabataeans, but while on a journey to Rome became infatuated with Herodias the wife of Philip, a half-brother of his, who lived as a private citizen. When Herod’s wife became aware of his intention to divorce her she fled to her father, while Herodias abandoned her husband and went to live with Herod. The Law, Leviticus 18:16; Leviticus 20:21, expressly reprobated such a union, and John did not hesitate to denounce it. He thereby incurred the enmity of Herodias who ’nursed a grudge’ against him, 19, and wanted to have him put to death. But she was forced to bide her time because ’Herod stood in awe of John . . . and protected him, and was greatly perplexed when he heard him, and still listened to him gladly’, 20. The celebration of Herod’s birthday with a banquet for ’the high officials, tribunes and chief men of Galilee’, 21, gave Herodias her opportunity. Her daughter Salome, the child of her marriage to Philip, became the instrument of her evil designs. It was beneath the dignity of one of her rank to appear in the role of dancer at these festivities, but the performance was a pleasant novelty for guests accustomed to professional entertainers. Herod, evidently feeling obliged to show his appreciation in princely fashion, made an extravagant promise and rashly confirmed it with an oath. Herodias took full advantage of the situation, knowing that it would be difficult for Herod to reject even the outrageous request which Salome was instructed to make. Herod was grieved by it because of his esteem for John, but through shame before the guests and a superstitious fear of violating his oath ’he was unwilling to refuse her’, 26. Thus the malice of Herodias finally triumphed over the weakness of Herod. According to Josephus ( Ant. 18, 5, 2), the defeat which Herod subsequently sustained at the hands of Aretas was thought by many Jews to be a punishment for his treatment of the Baptist.

29. The place where the disciples buried the body of John is not known. In the 4th cent. the tomb of the Precursor was venerated near Samaria; cf. Theodoret, HE 3, 7.

30-44 Return of the Twelve and Feeding of the Five Thousand; cf.Matthew 14:13-21; Luke 9:10-17; John 6:1-15 —30-33. Mk here resumes the account of the Apostles’ mission from which it digressed at 14. As a result of the activity of the Twelve, fresh throngs were coming to Christ so that the disciples ’had not time even to eat’, 31. It was solicitude for the Apostles, not any fear of Herod’s intentions, which prompted Christ to take them away by boat to an uninhabited place near Bethsaida, Luke 9:10, where they could rest from their labours. But the crowds saw from the shore the direction they had taken and, surmising their destination, followed on foot. Mk alone has the detail that the crowds had arrived before Christ and the disciples, 33b.

34-44. The Feeding of the Five Thousand is the only miracle recorded by all four evangelists.

34. Though the presence of the crowd ended the prospect of a period of rest, Jesus did not resent this nor seek to go elsewhere. He had pity on them ’because they were like sheep without a shepherd’ (cf.Ez 34:5.) Christ was the Messianic shepherd foretold by Ez 34:23, and in fulfulment of that role he began to give them instruction. They had been neglected by those whose duty it was to give them guidance.

37b. ’Are we to go and buy two hundred denarii worth of bread, and give them to eat?’ 39. ’companies’: s?µpós?a, ’groups (of guests)’; ’green grass’ is to be found in Palestine only in the spring. This indication of the time of year at which the miracle was performed agrees with John’s statement that the Pasch was near, John 6:4.

40. ’ranks’: p?as?a?+´,garden-plots or flower-beds. The crowds when arranged in groups on the ground, which at this season would have had a rich carpet of flowers, looked like garden-plots in orderly arrangement.

41. ’blessed’. The usual formula of blessing was ’Blessed be Thou, Yahweh our God, King of the universe, who hast caused the earth to bring forth bread’. The multiplication of the loaves was a foreshadowing of the Eucharist and, together with the walking on the waters, 47-52, was a manifestation of power which made an admirable prelude to the Eucharistic discourse, John 6:26-72.

45-52 Jesus walks on the Waters; cf.Matthew 14:22-33; John 6:16-21—45a. Jesus compelled the disciples to leave lest they should be carried away by the misguided enthusiasm of the crowds who wanted to make him king, John 6:14 f. The miracle just performed by Christ was of the spectacular kind which, according to popular expectation, would mark the coming of the Messias. 45b. ’to go ahead of him to the other side towards Bethsaida’. Bethsaida-Julias, near which the miracle had taken place, was on the north-eastern shore of the Lake. This text seems to mean that there was another Bethsaida on the western shore. But there is no historical or archaeological evidence to support this. If the point of departure of the disciples was on the south side of the small inlet near the place where the miracle took place, then the text can be explained without reference to the western shore or to a second Bethsaida. Lagrange ( Saint Mare, 172) suggests that p?ò? BðTsaïda+´? means ’opposite Bethsaida’. Some MSS omit ’to the other side’.

50. ’All saw him’. There was no possibility of an illusion, yet the disciples could not understand how Jesus was walking on the waters.

52. They had failed to appreciate the full significance of the miracle of the loaves in so far as it shed light on the person of Jesus. ’For their heart was blinded’ (cf. 3:5); their understanding was dull. They lacked insight and penetration. Clearly the disciples were not witnesses whose imaginations were easily excited, and the value of their testimony is thereby enhanced.

53-56 Jesus returns to Gennesareth; cf.Matthew 14:34-36 —53. ’Having crossed over, they reached land at Gennesareth and moored the boat’. The plain at the north-west of the Lake was called Gennesar. It was renowned for its fertility.

55-56. Once more we see the unbounded enthusiasm of the crowds as they bring their sick to be healed by Christ.