Mark 6 — They Had Not Understood About the Loaves

Today’s Passage: Mark 6

This is a full chapter, and at first it looks like four separate stories laid side by side. Nazareth takes offense at the carpenter it thought it knew. The Twelve are sent out two by two. John the Baptist is beheaded at a king’s banquet. Five loaves and two fish feed five thousand people in a lonely place, and then, late that same night, Jesus comes walking across the sea and quiets the frightened men in the boat with two words, “It is I.” But Mark ties the whole thing together at the end with a single sad line. When the wind died down the disciples were astonished, because they had not understood about the loaves, and their hearts had been hardened. So this is not really four lessons at all. It is one failure to see who Jesus is, told over four times.

As you read, hold this: They had not understood about the loaves.

Mark 6:1–13 (BSB)

¹ Jesus went on from there and came to His hometown, accompanied by His disciples. ² When the Sabbath came, He began to teach in the synagogue, and many who heard Him were astonished. “Where did this man get these ideas?” they asked. “What is this wisdom He has been given? And how can He perform such miracles? ³ Isn’t this the carpenter, the son of Mary and the brother of James, Joses, Judas, and Simon? Aren’t His sisters here with us as well?” And they took offense at Him. ⁴ Then Jesus said to them, “Only in his hometown, among his relatives, and in his own household is a prophet without honor.” ⁵ So He could not perform any miracles there, except to lay His hands on a few of the sick and heal them. ⁶ And He was amazed at their unbelief. And He went around from village to village, teaching the people. ⁷ Then Jesus called the Twelve to Him and began to send them out two by two, giving them authority over unclean spirits. ⁸ He instructed them to take nothing but a staff for the journey—no bread, no bag, no money in their belts— ⁹ and to wear sandals, but not a second tunic. ¹⁰ And He told them, “When you enter a house, stay there until you leave that area. ¹¹ If anyone will not welcome you or listen to you, shake the dust off your feet when you leave that place, as a testimony against them.” ¹² So they set out and preached that the people should repent. ¹³ They also drove out many demons and healed many of the sick, anointing them with oil.

The wonder in the synagogue quickly curdles into offense. Instead of asking where such wisdom could possibly have come from, the people of Nazareth count off the names of His family to cut Him back down to their own size. Jesus puts words to the pattern, that a prophet is honored everywhere but in his own hometown, and then Mark tells us something he records only rarely: that Jesus was amazed, this time at their unbelief. He lays His hands on a few of the sick, heals them, and moves on. They thought they already knew exactly who this man was, and because of that they never came to understand Him at all.

Then He sends the Twelve out, two by two, and tells them to travel light, with no bread, no bag, and no money in their belts, so that they will have to lean the whole weight of the journey on Him. Their message is the same one Jesus and John had preached, a call to repent, and He shares with them His own authority over unclean spirits. This is how the kingdom moves forward, through ordinary pairs of sent men. And notice one small thing they are told to leave behind: bread. Before the chapter is over, these same men will need to learn where bread truly comes from.

Mark 6:14–29 (BSB)

¹⁴ Now King Herod heard about this, for Jesus’ name had become well known, and people were saying, “John the Baptist has risen from the dead! That is why miraculous powers are at work in him.” ¹⁵ Others were saying, “He is Elijah,” and still others, “He is a prophet, like one of the prophets of old.” ¹⁶ But when Herod heard this, he said, “John, whom I beheaded, has risen from the dead!” ¹⁷ For Herod himself had ordered that John be arrested and bound and imprisoned, on account of his brother Philip’s wife Herodias, whom Herod had married. ¹⁸ For John had been telling Herod, “It is not lawful for you to have your brother’s wife!” ¹⁹ So Herodias held a grudge against John and wanted to kill him. But she had been unable, ²⁰ because Herod feared John and protected him, knowing that he was a righteous and holy man. When he heard John’s words, he was greatly perplexed; yet he listened to him gladly. ²¹ On Herod’s birthday, her opportunity arose. Herod held a banquet for his nobles and military commanders and the leading men of Galilee. ²² When the daughter of Herodias came and danced, she pleased Herod and his guests, and the king said to the girl, “Ask me for whatever you wish, and I will give it to you.” ²³ And he swore to her, “Whatever you ask of me, I will give you, up to half my kingdom!” ²⁴ Then she went out and asked her mother, “What should I request?”

And her mother answered, “The head of John the Baptist.” ²⁵ At once the girl hurried back to the king with her request: “I want you to give me the head of John the Baptist on a platter immediately.” ²⁶ The king was consumed with sorrow, but because of his oaths and his guests, he did not want to refuse her. ²⁷ So without delay, the king commanded that John’s head be brought in. He sent an executioner, who went and beheaded him in the prison. ²⁸ The man brought John’s head on a platter and presented it to the girl, who gave it to her mother. ²⁹ When John’s disciples heard about this, they came and took his body and placed it in a tomb.

Herod’s court shows us what weak power really looks like. Herod is fascinated by a holy man and even likes to listen to him, and yet he is so enslaved to the approval of his guests that he will commit murder rather than take back a reckless oath. When he later hears about Jesus, all his guilty conscience can imagine is the ghost of the man he killed, risen to haunt him. He does not understand Jesus any more than Nazareth did. And so Mark sets a banquet of death here, only to place a banquet of bread a few verses further on. Two tables, two kings, and only one of them actually feeds His people.

Mark 6:30–44 (BSB)

³⁰ Meanwhile, the apostles gathered around Jesus and brought Him news of all they had done and taught. ³¹ And He said to them, “Come with Me privately to a solitary place, and let us rest for a while.” For many people were coming and going, and they did not even have time to eat. ³² So they went away in a boat by themselves to a solitary place. ³³ But many people saw them leaving and recognized them. They ran together on foot from all the towns and arrived before them. ³⁴ When Jesus stepped ashore and saw a large crowd, He had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. And He began to teach them many things. ³⁵ By now the hour was already late. So the disciples came to Jesus and said, “This is a desolate place, and the hour is already late. ³⁶ Dismiss the crowd so they can go to the surrounding countryside and villages and buy themselves something to eat.” ³⁷ But Jesus told them, “You give them something to eat.” They asked Him, “Should we go out and spend two hundred denarii to give all of them bread to eat?” ³⁸ “Go and see how many loaves you have,” He told them.

And after checking, they said, “Five—and two fish.” ³⁹ Then Jesus directed them to have the people sit in groups on the green grass. ⁴⁰ So they sat down in groups of hundreds and fifties. ⁴¹ Taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, Jesus spoke a blessing and broke the loaves. Then He gave them to His disciples to set before the people. And He divided the two fish among them all. ⁴² They all ate and were satisfied, ⁴³ and the disciples picked up twelve basketfuls of broken pieces of bread and fish. ⁴⁴ And there were five thousand men who had eaten the loaves.

Jesus offers His tired men some rest, but the crowd’s need runs on ahead of them and is already waiting on the shore. He looks at the people and sees sheep without a shepherd, and so instead of sending them away He teaches them, and only then does He feed them. “You give them something to eat,” He tells the disciples, and the command lays their empty hands bare so that the full baskets afterward can teach them something they could not learn any other way. He takes the bread, blesses it, breaks it, and gives it, and every last person eats until they are satisfied. Twelve baskets of broken pieces are gathered up when it is over, one, we might almost say, for each slow-learning disciple to carry home. Here in the wilderness the true Shepherd is feeding His flock, just as God once fed Israel with manna. The loaves were a revelation of who He is, and the Twelve are about to miss it.

Mark 6:45–56 (BSB)

⁴⁵ Immediately Jesus made His disciples get into the boat and go on ahead of Him to Bethsaida, while He dismissed the crowd. ⁴⁶ After bidding them farewell, He went up on the mountain to pray. ⁴⁷ When evening came, the boat was in the middle of the sea, and Jesus was alone on land. ⁴⁸ He could see that the disciples were straining to row, because the wind was against them. About the fourth watch of the night, Jesus went out to them, walking on the sea. He intended to pass by them, ⁴⁹ but when they saw Him walking on the sea, they cried out, thinking He was a ghost— ⁵⁰ for they all saw Him and were terrified. But Jesus spoke up at once: “Take courage! It is I. Do not be afraid.” ⁵¹ Then He climbed into the boat with them, and the wind died down. And the disciples were utterly astounded, ⁵² for they had not understood about the loaves, but their hearts had been hardened. ⁵³ When they had crossed over, they landed at Gennesaret and moored the boat. ⁵⁴ As soon as they got out of the boat, the people recognized Jesus ⁵⁵ and ran through that whole region, carrying the sick on mats to wherever they heard He was. ⁵⁶ And wherever He went—villages and towns and countrysides—they laid the sick in the marketplaces and begged Him just to let them touch the fringe of His cloak. And all who touched Him were healed.

While the disciples strain at the oars against a headwind, Jesus is alone on the mountain, praying. Then He comes to them across the water, and Mark says He meant to pass by them, the way God once passed by Moses and Elijah to show them who He was, until their cry of fear drew Him in. “It is I,” He says, take courage, and He climbs into the boat, and the wind drops away. Yet even after all of this they still do not understand about the loaves. When they land at Gennesaret the sick are carried out on their mats from every direction, begging only to touch the fringe of His cloak. Nazareth had not seen Him. Herod had not seen Him. And the Twelve, who ate the bread with their own hands, still had not seen Him either.