A
ReMARKable Life Series
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The gospel of Mark is a short, action-packed book that focuses on how Jesus Christ is the Messiah for every man, woman, and child. Christ – fully man, fully God. But Jesus wasn't the rescuer God's people had imagined, and many didn't recognize Jesus as their answer to prayer. We, too, can miss out on what God wants for us if we're only looking for answers that fit our expectations. Join us for this series as we explore Jesus' heart for people and we can change the world by serving one person at a time and helping them connect with God.
4.
More Than A Story Teller (Mark 6:6b-7:37)
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Jesus and the 12 withdraw from Nazareth, and He continues to teach and minister from town to town in the region and eventually leaves Galilee. He sends the 12 out to minister, empowering and instructing them in their mission. The story of the beheading of John the Baptist at the command of King Herod is recounted. Jesus feeds 5000 men and those with them, and walks on water, again proving who He is by these and more miracles. In the face of this, the opposition of the Pharisees and the Jewish religious establishment mounts. Though Jesus confronts His opposition, He nevertheless by so doing seeks to show them the true Kingdom of God.
Sermon
Preparation Guide
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Importance – What are the central ideas of the text?
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Jesus calls His followers to minister in His name. (Mark 6:7-13, 30)
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Jesus is the ultimate and total provider. (Mark 6:8-10, 42, 51 & 52)
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Jesus constantly reaches out and responds to those in need because of His love and compassion. (Mark 6:34, 38-44, 55 & 56; 7:33)
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Implications – What questions should the listener be asking?
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Where and how are you sent to minister in His name?
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Do you rely on God's provision and empowering? If not, how can you?
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Do you have a heart of compassion for those in need like Jesus did? If not, ask God to give you that kind of heart.
Talk
it Over Discussion Guide
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Interpretation – What is the text telling/showing us?
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Why did Jesus send out the 12?
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Why did Jesus give the 12 the instructions He gave to them?
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What is the importance of the story of John's death to the overall story of the gospel of Mark?
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What did the feeding of the 5000+ and Jesus' walking on the water show about Him, and why did the 12 not seem to get it?
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What was the error of the religious authorities in their view of ritual cleansing? Why was Jesus correct to indict their unbelief?
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Why did Jesus leave the Galilee region? Why did He bring His message to the Jewish people first?
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Describe the faith of the Syrophoenician woman and the men who brought the deaf man with the speech impediment.
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Why did Jesus command people not to broadcast the news about what He was doing?
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Implementation – What should the listener’s response be?
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What is the message that you carry with you as a follower of Jesus?
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Why are people (like King Herod) afraid of the truth and of righteousness?
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What What does the story of the feeding of the 5000+ mean to you? What are the implications for your life?
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What does Jesus' walking on the water mean to you? Why is it important that Jesus thought enough about the 12 to try to get them rest, to calm the water and to continually explain to them what He was teaching?
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What is faith? How much faith is required for Jesus to respond?
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What can be the problem with religious traditions and authorities?
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What does it mean to you that evils come from inside and make one unclean? What can one do about those evils that are within?
Sermon
Teaching Notes (as
prepared by Pastor Dick Murphy)
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Investigation – What’s generally going on in this area of Scripture?
In
the last Notes, we left Jesus amazed at the unbelief of the people of
His home town, Nazareth (Mark 6:6a). Consequently He left Nazereth
and taught in the other villages in Galilee (Mark 6:b). Presumably
to extend the reach of His ministry, and as a forerunner to His doing
so through the Church, Jesus commissioned the 12 to ministry and sent
them out in pairs (Mark 6:7). The story of their Jesus’
instructions and their ministry is told in verses 7-13 and 30 of
chapter 6. While it is not clear from the text when this ministry of
the 12 took place, and where, it seems it is still in the Galilee
region. In any case, the 12 are sent by Jesus to preach His message
of repentance, to do healings and to cast out demons, all the things
that Jesus Himself was doing. The 12 go in His power, not theirs, as
His emissaries; their ministry is to be personal, spiritual and
shared, and is to be based on fully trusting God for literally
everything (Mark 6:8). They are to be considerate of their hosts,
staying with them until they leave town, and conscious of the
judgment aspect of Jesus’ message, namely that rejection of the
message brings judgment (Mark 6:11). So the 12 went out and
ministered, and they did just what Jesus had told them to do (Mark
6:13, 30).
Word
of Jesus’ ministry was spreading far and wide. Even King Herod
(not the King Herod of Matthew 2:1, who was Herod the Great. The
Herod Mark mentions is one of his sons, Herod Antipas, who was given
a portion of his father’s kingdom by the Romans on his father’s
death, specifically the regions of Galilee and Perea. He did not
actually have the title of king from Rome, but the title was
popularly used. His brother was Philip who ruled in the area of
Palestine and in the Northeast.) Mark uses the mention of King Herod
to ask the question, “Who is Jesus really?” in the context of the
answers people were giving. Some viewed Jesus as John the Baptist
risen from the dead; others viewed Him as Elijah; still others as a
prophet (Mark 6:14 & 15). Mark also uses the mention of King
Herod and John the Baptist to give an account of John’s death.
Remember that John’s ministry had ended when he was taken into
arrested (Mark 1:14), and now we learn that it was King Herod who had
arrested him and put him in prison (Mark 6:17). Upon learning of
Jesus ministry of miracles, Herod was thinking that John whom
he had beheaded (Mark
6:16) had risen. Herod thought this out of guilt and remorse, not
because he thought highly of Jesus. Mark then tells us that Herod
had John arrested at the behest of his wife, Herodias, who had left
Philip to live with Herod (who was actually her uncle!). John called
the King out for his living in this incestuous relationship
(Leviticus 18:16), and Herodias hated him for it, wanting him dead.
Herod acted as john’s protector, however, listening to him, and
knowing him as a righteous man. But Herodias got her way when, at a
birthday party Herod held for himself with all his high officials and
Galilean leaders (Mark 6:21), she had her daughter dance for Herod
and his guests (likely a lewd dance) which so pleased Herod that he
made an oath in front of his guests to give her whatever she wanted.
The girl immediately went to her mother who told her to ask for the
head of John the Baptist, which the girl did and added “at once”
and “on a platter.” In that culture, oaths were considered
irrevocable, so Herod had no choice but to follow through
notwithstanding exceeding sorrow, and forthwith had John beheaded and
his head brought on a platter and given to the girl who then gave it
to Herodias. John’s disciples took John’s body and buried it.
Why all this detail from Mark concerning John the Baptist? It seems
Mark’s purpose is to show that Jesus is not John the Baptist
resurrected, that the opposition to the gospel is reflected in the
rejection by Herod and Herodias of the application of the truth of
John’s message, and that the good news will nevertheless continue
to be told.
Upon
the return of the 12 from their ministry, Jesus wisely suggests they
get away from the crowds and rest (And this is a good reminder to all
who minister the gospel … it’s OK and in fact wise to pull back
from ministry from time to time; rest is truly a “God thing.”).
So they leave in the boat to go to a remote place on the other side
of the Sea of Galilee (Mark 6:31 & 32). Meanwhile, the crowds
figure out what’s going on and travel on foot to where Jesus is
headed, actually arriving there ahead of them (Mark 6:33). Instead
of being irritated that He and the 12 cannot get away from the
multitude, Jesus’ heart of compassion and love goes out to them as
He realized they were just sheep without a shepherd (Mark 6:34). So
He taught them until the evening at which point the 12 told Jesus He
should send them away to get food. Amazingly, Jesus told the 12 to
give them something to eat. Impossible! There were (as we learn in
a few verses) literally thousands of people there, and feeding them
would cost far more money than any one of them had (Mark 6:37).
Then, to show that He is indeed God the provider, Jesus has them find
and bring him some bread, which they do, bringing Him 5 loaves and 2
fishes (hardly enough for two people), and proceeds to put the people
into groups of 50 and 100, and after blessing the food, keeps
breaking it until there was enough food for everyone and 12 baskets
full left over. Mark tells us “they all ate and were satisfied.”
(Mark 6:42). Indeed, as the divine provider, Jesus showed that He
meets needs, having just fed 5000 men plus women and children who had
nothing. Interestingly, contrast this feeding with the banquet that
King Herod gave to the so-called important people who supposedly had
everything (Mark 6:21).
From
the gospel of John, we learn that the crowd was so taken by the
miracle that Jesus had just performed that they were going to take
Him by force and make Him king (John 6:14 & 15), which was
clearly not why Jesus came into the world. He was not a political
Messiah the Jews hoped for, and hence He made the 12 leave
immediately by boat to Bethsaida (Mark 6:45), sent the people away,
and went away to the mountain to pray (Mark 6:46). It was a time of
crisis, namely that the temptation was present to take His ministry
in a direction that was other than what the Father and He purposed.
It was a time for prayer (another good lesson for all of us in
ministry). During the night, between 3-6am, Jesus amazingly saw from
afar that the 12 were having trouble in their boat because of
difficult headwinds. So Jesus came to them, walking on the water of
the Sea, the 12 thought they were seeing a ghost, and were so
frightened them that they cried out. But He spoke to them and
assured them who He was, and came into the boat whereupon the winds
ceased (Mark 6:47-51). The 12 were utterly astonished, but should
they have been? Mere hours before they had witnessed Jesus
multiplying bread and fish enough to feed thousands. Surely this was
the Messiah, God in Person, and so walking on water and stopping the
winds should not be a surprise. But they had missed it; Mark notes
that their hearts were hardened. Even Jesus’ closest followers
were having trouble seeing Him as more than a story teller.
Ultimately
they arrived at the northwest shore of the Sea, at Gennesaret, and
the people recognized Jesus immediately. So, the ministry scene
continues, with people coming from all around for healing. Mark
6:53-56 seems to summarize Jesus’ ministry to date in terms of its
impact: people flocked to Him wherever He went, and He responded with
healing miracles, undoubtedly teaching them at the same time, and all
with a heart of compassion (Mark 6:34) and to reveal that He truly is
the Messiah in whom is salvation and forgiveness from sin. But how
would people respond to what He was saying and who He really was?
Was it just to get healed and nothing more? Was it just to disprove
who He was? The tension in Mark’s story is building with each
passing verse.
And
sure enough, chapter 7 begins with another group of religious
authorities from Jerusalem who are following Jesus to judge Him,
critique Him, and discredit Him. But why? Because Jesus didn't fit
their expectations; because Jesus didn't adhere to their
“traditions;” because Jesus threatened their nicely wrought
religious order; because Jesus was drawing people away from them and
their teachings. In short, they came to Jesus for all the wrong
reasons. So they indict Jesus and His followers for not adhering to
the Jewish rules about ritual cleansing (which Mark explains in
verses 3 and 4). These men weren't worried about Jesus or His health
or that of the 12; they were concerned that they weren't “following
the right rules.” Interestingly, they didn't criticize Him
directly, but asked why His disciples didn't “walk according to the
tradition of the elders.” (Mark 7:5). Jesus was unfazed His
response was basically that they were hypocrites for equating man's
rules with God's Law and actually using man's rules to end-run God's
law, all with the appearance on the outside of righteousness yet with
unbelief and disobedience on the inside. He even gave an example of
one of their rules that, when followed, allowed a child to avoid
having to care for his or her parents and thus nullified the
requirement of the Law to honor one's parents (Mark 7:9-13). Then
turning to the crowd, He told them directly that it's not the food
that makes one unclean but what comes from the inside (Mark 7:14 &
15) In private, He spoke to the 12 to explain what He meant,
marveling at their inability to understand. Sin
comes from the heart, and nothing that goes into a person (i.e.,
whatever kind of
food)
makes him or her unclean if their heart is full of evil, and He named
a number of evil things that come from within (evil thoughts, sexual
immorality, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, slander, pride,
foolishness. Mark 7:21 & 22). The religious authorities had
missed the entirety of the point of the Law, keeping the externals
while rebelling in their hearts, such that what Isaiah the prophet
pointedly said about the religious authorities of his day (Isaiah
29:13) was absolutely true of those seeking to indict Jesus in His
day.
The religious authorities weren't following God; they were
following man.
Jesus
then took His ministry away from Galilee and instead went into
territory populated mostly by Gentiles. Clearly by such a move He
was underscoring that His message was for all. He went first to
Tyre, a city on the Mediterranean coast, northwest of Galilee. He
stayed in a home to avoid “announcing” His presence (Mark 7:24),
but the word of His presence got out anyway as even the folk in this
area had heard about this Jesus the miracle worker. Indeed, one
woman who had heard about Him and had a demon-possessed daughter came
to Him as soon as she knew He was in Tyre. She was a Gentile,
described by Mark as a “Syrophoenician” by birth. (The city of
Tyre belonged to ancient Phoenicia, an ancient people comprised of
various city-states along the Mediterranean coast. The Greek culture
had permeated much of the area, such that some translations
denominate this woman as a Greek, as opposed to a Gentile.) In any
event, she was not Jewish, and yet she came boldly to Jesus and
begged Him to drive the demon out of her daughter. Jesus' reply
seems very odd as He told her that the children need to eat first,
and it is not right to take the children's bread and feed it to the
dogs (Mark 7:27). What did He mean by that? In the Greek culture,
more well-to-do families had dogs as pets, as opposed to dogs being
mere scavangers in Palestine. The children in such households would
be fed before any food would be given to the pets. By this
illustration, Jesus was indicating that the gospel message was meant
first for the Jewish people, and He is not a magician. In effect, He
was asking her to demonstrate faith in Him as opposed to a request
for Him to do a pagan magic trick to “heal” her daughter. The
woman responded, and her answer showed that she understood the
priority of the Jewish people in terms of the message of this
prophet, but that even dogs get to eat crumbs (Mark 7:28). Notice
that she called Jesus “Lord” indicating at least some level of
faith in Jesus and His ability to heal her daughter even while
attending to the needs of His people first. Having witnessed her
faith, Jesus told her that her daughter was healed, and she went home
to discover it was true indeed (Mark 7: 29 & 30). The message in
this story was not so much Jesus' power to cast out demons, in this
case exercised from a distance, but that He was open to the faith of
all who came to Him believing, even to Gentiles!
Jesus'
ministry to Gentile areas continued after He left Tyre. He traveled
through Sidon, which was a city on the coast of the Mediterranean
north of Tyre, then to the Sea of Galilee and southeast into the
Decapolis region which was inhabited principally by Gentiles (Mark
7:31) While there, a man who was deaf and had a speech impediment
was brought to Him (Mark 7:32). Those who brought the man begged
Jesus to heal him. Did they have faith in Jesus' ability to heal
this man, or did they just think Him to be a pagan magician? It
seems the former, and one wonders what they knew of Jesus came from
the testimony in their area given by the demon-possessed man Jesus
had healed (Mark 5:18-20). The crowd that was gathered may have
wanted a public show by this man, Jesus, but He did not allow it and
instead took the man aside. He used gestures and signs (fingers in
the man's ears, putting spit on the man's tongue; looking up to
heaven) so that the man knew what He was doing. He spoke an Aramaic
word (which Mark translates for his readers) that was a command, “Be
opened.” and the man was healed immediately. As previously (Mark
1:34, 43; 5:43), Jesus told the man and his friends and the crowd not
to broadcast what had just happened, but to no avail. The people
were amazed and wouldn't stop talking about it (Mark 7:36 & 37).
In
this passage from Mark, we continue to see Jesus ministering in
Galilee and then beyond into Gentile areas, performing miraculous
healings, making food for thousands, walking on the water, and all
the while teaching that people need to repent for the kingdom of God
was at hand. He also sent the 12 out to minister likewise in Jesus'
name, which they did. And all along, the opposition continued from
the religious authorities, and we see also opposition to the
application of truth that resulted in the murder of John the Baptist.
The question, “Who do you say Jesus is?” is the common thread in
these stories, and the responses continue to be varied, with the most
striking responses of faith coming from the Gentiles, the ones the
Jews would least expect to respond much less to be given God's word.
And the 12 continue not to understand Jesus, though they see more and
more proofs of His divinity (the feeding of the 5000+ and the walking
on the water). Where is this all heading? Jesus' ministry is not at
all haphazard, but is intentional in terms of His spreading the good
news of the kingdom throughout several regions and resisting
attempts by people to mold His ministry to political ends. Jesus
came to bring salvation; He was the God-man who is showing Himself to
be such by unassailable miracles. And what does He ask? He calls
people to faith; to believe in Him based on what He has said as
attested in its truthfulness by what He has done. He is indeed the
Messiah; He calls people to follow Him. And that same message
resonates today.
