Mark 5-6 Chapter Study
In Chs. 1-3, Mark gives us a
general overview of Jesus’ ministry.
He
tells us that Jesus taught with authority and performed miracles of great
power.
In chs. 4 & 5, he gives examples
of Jesus’ teaching and miracles.
Mark gives us three
examples of Jesus’ power.
Which we looked at last
week.
The second example shows
Jesus’ power over the spiritual realm.
1 Then they came to the other side of the sea, to the
country of the Gadarenes. 2 And when He had come out of the boat,
immediately there met Him out of the tombs a man with an unclean spirit, 3
who had his dwelling among the tombs; and no one could bind him,
not even with chains, 4 because he had often been bound with
shackles and chains. And the chains had been pulled apart by him, and the
shackles broken in pieces; neither could anyone tame him. 5 And always,
night and day, he was in the mountains and in the tombs, crying out and cutting
himself with stones.
This poor man! He was demon-possessed and tormented so badly
his humanity had been degraded to the point were he was more like an animal
than a man.
He
was in the last stages of possession, where the demons were doing their best to
kill
him.
There was probably no more
pitiable picture of humanity than this poor man.
His
humanity had been totally subsumed under the control of demons that’d so tormented
him he was completely out of control as far as normal life and society were
concerned.
In the same way that God
loves us & has a wonderful plan for us, the devil hates us and has a
hideous plan for us.
If you want to know what the
devil has planned for you, look at this guy!
You think that sin offers
something desirable and appealing? Look
at this poor man and observe where sin leads.
Many people think that if
they become a Christian they’ll lose all their friends and end up being lonely. No – it’s sin that leads to
loneliness.
The
devil wants desperately to isolate you, to cut you off from
others and drive you from the warmth of human companionship.
Look
at this
guy – he’s living in tombs, alone.
6 When he saw Jesus from afar, he ran and worshiped Him.
As soon as Jesus landed on
the eastern shore of the lake, this demon-possessed man rushed forward and
began to worship Jesus. See, even the
demons have to worship God.
As
it says in Philippians 2 – every knee shall bow & every
tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, those in the heavens, those on earth,
& those under the earth! [Phil.
2:10-11]
7 And he cried out with a loud voice and said, “What
have I to do with You, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I implore You by God
that You do not torment me.” 8 For He said to him, “Come out of the man, unclean spirit!”
By which Mark means Jesus HAD said this before the demon spoke.
9 Then He asked him, “What is your name?”
And he answered, saying, “My name is Legion; for we are many.”
Jesus took pity on this poor
man & commanded the demons to come out.
But
they plead with Him not to pass the final judgment on them– that day was
yet future & they requested they not be confined to the place of eternal
judgment yet.
That’s
when Jesus required the demon to identify itself.
As we saw a couple weeks ago,
the Jewish exorcists spent many hours trying to get a demon to give up its name
because they thought that was the key to deliverance.
Jesus
simply asks, and the demons reply that there are many of them.
A
Roman legion consisted of between 3 & 6,000 !!!
So –
if the key to deliverance was to get a demon to give up its name, & this
took days
to accomplish, this poor guy will never be free.
Jesus
was not now using the Jewish method of exorcism by asking the demon for its
name; He was giving evidence to the disciples of His power.
He’d
instantaneously calmed the storm on the lake just an hour or two before, now
He’s about to effect a deliverance of a man which to the Jewish mind was an absolute
impossibility.
10 Also he begged Him earnestly that He would not send
them out of the country.
This request fascinates
me. Why would they not want to be sent
out of that country?
We’ll
come back to this.
11 Now a large herd of swine was feeding there near the
mountains. 12 So all the demons begged Him, saying, “Send us to the
swine, that we may enter them.” 13 And at once Jesus gave them
permission. Then the unclean spirits went out and entered the swine (there were
about two thousand); and the herd ran violently down the steep place into the
sea, and drowned in the sea.
The demons KNEW Jesus was going to set this man
free.
They
knew they were leaving – but the thought of being un-embodied terrified
them.
Part
of the loss these fallen angels experienced when they rebelled with
Satan was their angelic glory.
Now
they’re so hungry for that glory they ache to be clothed in humanity.
As
humans we bear a measure of glory because we’re created in the image of God.
But
whatever demons touch they degrade and pollute, as they did with this man.
They
turned him into little better than an animal.
And
now that they’re about to be turned out, they plead with Jesus to let them have
some body, any body – there are pigs nearby – a whole herd of them; that will
suffice.
So Jesus consented, the
demons left the man, entered the herd, and the swine, driven immediately mad,
rushed down the hillside into the lake and drowned.
Where
this took place is known as
14 So those who fed the swine fled, and they told it
in the city and in the country. And they went out to see what it was that had
happened. 15 Then they came to Jesus, and saw the one who had
been demon-possessed and had the legion, sitting and clothed and in his
right mind. And they were afraid. 16 And those who saw it told them
how it happened to him who had been demon-possessed, and about the
swine. 17 Then they began to plead with Him to depart from their
region.
The swine herders ran back to
town and told everyone what had happened.
A huge
crowd went out to the shore and found Jesus, the disciples and the formerly
demon-possessed man all sitting there as normal as can be.
They
marveled, worshipped Jesus, and pleaded with Him to stay and teach and heal
among them! NOPE. They pressed Jesus to leave!
Why would they do this?
Simple – Jesus was messing with their income.
2,000
pigs is a lot of cash and while it’s great to see the demon-possessed guy is
better, to their thinking it would have made better sense to let him remain
possessed than to lose a herd of swine.
How
many pigs is a man worth? To the Gadarenes – less than 2,000.
As we saw in our study
recently in Numbers, the Gadarenes were the descendants of the Tribe of Gad,
one of the original tribes of
By
request, they’d settled outside the eastern borders of the
Promised Land, saying that the area was perfect for their livestock.
Of
greater concern to them than living in the place of God’s promise was living in
the place of maximum income.
Here they are 1,500 years
later and their still making the same foolish choice.
It’s
all very well & good that Jesus has amazing power and can bring instant
relief to an impossible case like this demon-possessed man.
But
when He goes messing with their pocketbook – well that’s taking the religion
thing too far.
They begged Jesus to leave!
And
that gives us a clue as to why the demons asked to not
be banished from this area. They knew
what kind of people lived in Gadera.
They
were compromised, greedy, irreligious people who were prime targets for their
diabolical plans.
Later
Jesus will tell a story about a demon which is expelled from a man, but when it
returns to check the guy out and see how he’s doing, discovers the man is still
spiritually lost and so goes and gets other demons many times worse than it is
and they re-infest the man.
The demons who’d possessed
this man in Gadera knew the people of the region were the kind who would not
tolerate Jesus’ presence if He was going to affect their income.
They
might have to leave this guy, but there’d soon be a whole
flock of new candidates for possession.
When
you look Jesus in the face and tell Him to go away – You’ve just done a supremely
foolish & dangerous thing!
This story speaks powerfully
to us about just how real our faith & religion are.
If
what we say we believe doesn’t affect our finances then we don’t really
believe it.
Jesus
taught on this often – He said money was a gauge that marks our true level of
spirituality.
18 And when He got into the boat, he who had been
demon-possessed begged Him that he might be with Him.
This isn’t hard to understand
is it?
19 However, Jesus did not permit him, but said to him, “Go home to your friends, and tell them what
great things the Lord has done for you, and how He has had compassion on you.” 20 And he departed and began to proclaim
in
If the man left with Jesus,
there would be NO ONE there to tell
the straight and honest story about what happened and the region would be
turned against Jesus so that when He returned later, they’d be opposed to Him.
Jesus
knew this man’s testimony would keep the door of future ministry open.
Many people, especially many young
men, get saved, and think that they need to go into full-time ministry;
meaning, they think they’re called to be a pastor.
But
God wants us to live out our faith in whatever setting or vocation we’re
in, just so long as it’s nothing inherently illegal or immoral.
You
can’t be a “Christian drug-dealer, gang-banger, loan-shark or stripper.”
“Christian
assassin” – No, that’s not going to cut it.
We must stop looking at life
as divided between the secular and the sacred.
As
the people of God, all of life is sacred—every moment of it.
And
in the work of the Kingdom of God, it’s just as needed that we have Christians
serving in the schools, in the malls, in engineering, insurance, investing,
sales, the media, and government as being pastors.
The
point is to live out our faith where ever we are and whatever we’re doing.
This guy did a great job of obeying Jesus in the
region of
21 Now when Jesus had crossed over again by boat to the
other side, a great multitude gathered to Him; and He was by the sea. 22 And
behold, one of the rulers of the synagogue came, Jairus by name. And when he
saw Him, he fell at His feet 23 and begged Him earnestly, saying, “My
little daughter lies at the point of death. Come and lay Your hands on her,
that she may be healed, and she will live.”
Jesus is back at
One
of those who came was one of the most important men of the community – Jairus,
a ruler
of the synagogue. This means he was a
city council member.
The synagogue in
The
discoveries made there have revolutionized our understanding of first century
synagogues.
24 So Jesus went with him, and a great multitude
followed Him and thronged Him. 25 Now a certain woman had a flow of
blood for twelve years, 26 and had suffered many things from many
physicians. She had spent all that she had and was no better, but rather grew
worse. 27 When she heard about Jesus, she came behind Him in
the crowd and touched His garment. 28 For she said, “If only I may
touch His clothes, I shall be made well.”
As Jesus followed Jairus to
his house a woman pressed toward him through the crowd.
She
was intent on touching Him.
The
other gospels tell us her whole aim was simply to make contact with the hem of
His garment.
Remember
the command in Numbers God gave the people of
They
were to be a reminder that they were called into covenant with Him to be a holy
people.
The
people believed that when Messiah came, He would be the embodiment of holiness
and that the tassels of his garment would possess healing virtue.
This woman was desperate. She’d been afflicted with a flow of blood for
12 years.
This
would have made her ritually unclean & caused her to be exiled from normal
family & social life.
She’d
spent her entire fortune on doctors and none had brought relief.
But
now she’d come to believe Jesus was the answer to her need & would not be
denied access to Him.
The
rules might say she couldn’t be out in the crowd like this, but she didn’t
care.
She
set her faith on one goal – touching Jesus.
29 Immediately the fountain of her blood was dried up,
and she felt in her body that she was healed of the affliction. 30 And
Jesus, immediately knowing in Himself that power had gone out of Him, turned
around in the crowd and said, “Who
touched My clothes?” 31 But
His disciples said to Him, “You see the multitude thronging You, and You say, ‘Who touched Me?’ ” 32 And He looked around to see her who had
done this thing. 33 But the woman, fearing and trembling, knowing
what had happened to her, came and fell down before Him and told Him the whole
truth. 34 And He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has made you well. Go in peace, and be healed
of your affliction.”
She was fearful of the
judgment of the crowd when they realized she was unclean yet among them.
But
she figured it would be better to risk their wrath than to deny the call of the
One she now knew as Lord.
Jesus
let all of them know that it was the woman’s faith in Him that had resulted in
her healing.
As you know, Jesus is the
epitome of humility. Humbleness finds its consummate expression in Him.
Yet
Jesus never hesitated to encourage people to believe in Him and to look to Him
as the One who was worthy of worship.
Now, this seems contradictory
– and it would be if it were anyone but Jesus!
Jesus
encourages people to believe in & worship Him, not because it makes Him
feel better.
Jesus
doesn’t need to inflate His own sense of self-esteem and worth!
No,
He encourages our faith & worship not because HE GETS ANYTHING out of it; He knows WE DO!
We
were created to know and love God – and when we do what we were created for,
then we discover the joy and peace that eludes the rest of humanity.
Believing
in & worshipping Jesus makes us more alive, more human, more centered in
the things that make life full and good.
35 While He was still speaking, some came from the
ruler of the synagogue’s house who said, “Your daughter is dead. Why
trouble the Teacher any further?”
In their thinking, Jesus was
good as a healer. But raising the dead wasn’t an act of healing – it was
a miracle! Jesus’ power was great, they
thought, but it certainly wasn’t that great!
36 As soon as Jesus heard the word that was spoken, He
said to the ruler of the synagogue, “Do not be afraid; only believe.”
37 And He permitted no one to follow Him except Peter, James, and
John the brother of James. 38 Then He came to the house of the ruler
of the synagogue, and saw a tumult and those who wept and wailed loudly.
Jesus pared down the group
going to Jairus’ house probably out of sensitivity to the parents who’d be
devastated by this news.
He
wanted Peter, James & John to go with Him because as the inner circle of
the disciples, He wanted them to see just how far-reaching His
authority & power extend.
When they arrived at Jairus’
house, even though it’s only been a few minutes since the girl died, already
there’s a little crowd of professional mourners there.
These
guys were the 1st century equivalent of “ambulance–chasers.”
They
made their living off other people’s grief.
When
someone died, they’d show up in their sackcloth & ashes and begin weeping,
wailing; making a scene of the most desperate sorrow.
They
got paid by the volume of tears they wept & wails they sobbed.
[Show
tear jar]
Since
Jairus was a wealthy & powerful man, this gig would pay handsomely.
They
had been waiting for the news to go out his daughter had finally died so they
could rush to his house & begin mourning.
They
were doing was auditioning. They hoped
Jairus would select them to be one of the half dozen or so hired mourners.
39 When He came in, He said to them, “Why make this commotion and weep? The child
is not dead, but sleeping.” 40 And
they ridiculed Him. But when He had put them all outside, He took the father
and the mother of the child, and those who were with Him, and entered
where the child was lying.
When Jesus arrived at Jairus’
house He told the mourners to beat it – their services weren’t needed. They didn’t take this interference in their
affairs well.
But
Jesus expelled them just the same, then took the parents & disciples into
the child’s room.
41 Then He took the child by the hand, and said to her, “Talitha, cumi,” which is translated, “Little girl, I say to you, arise.” 42 Immediately the girl arose and walked,
for she was twelve years of age. And they were overcome with great
amazement. 43 But He commanded them strictly that no one should know
it, and said that something should be given her to eat.
And there it is – Jesus raised
a dead 12 year old girl to life.
He
just took her by the hand & said, “Arise” and she got up.
Their reaction was stunned
amazement.
You
can imagine just how far the swing of emotion went for this mother &
father.
From
the absolute depths of despair to the height of joy in the blink of an eye.
As difficult as it would be,
Jesus told them they were not to make a big deal about it – but rather, just
give the girl something to eat.
Her
sickness had probably meant she hadn’t eaten for some time and her first need
was practical – food!
Some friends of mine who are
really strong and mature in Christ, lost their little son.
He
was born with some health problems and when he was just a couple years old he
died.
They
prayed for him, believed God for his healing and pleaded with the Lord to touch
him. But he died and they grieved deeply
for him.
Why does God heal some and
not others.
Why
is one 2 year old restored to life while another is taken?
I
don’t know! But this I do, those of us
who are
healed
of sickness, even raised from the dead, will eventually die.
All
of those Jesus touched and healed 2000 years ago, including this 12 year old
girl, they all died. They all came down
with some illness or had an accident that led to their eventual death.
The
touch of Christ didn’t prevent them from eventual pain & suffering.
But
if they listened carefully to Him, His words brought hope, peace, &
confidence that even if their body’s should grow old & sick, they would never
really die.
Faith
in Christ means that even when the body wears out, the soul lives on in glory.
And
this is why Jesus put the emphasis on His word, on His teaching when the people
wanted to see more of the miracles.
Even
today, people get all excited by seeing healing & miracles.
God
has healed many people here at Calvary.
But
like Jesus, we don’t make a big show & production out of it.
We
won’t become a miracle mill, a healing hall where the spiritual thrill-seekers
come to be get their weekly booster shot of excitement.
If
we promoted
the miraculous, we’d see the place fill up with the curious.
I’d
rather see the place filled, as it is tonight, with the serious, not the mere curious.
As
wonderful as it is to have our bodies touched by the miraculous power of God,
it’s far better to have our souls healed by the awesome & powerful Word of
God.
By the way, let me pose you a
little riddle.
How old was Jairus’ daughter?
12 How many years had the woman who
touched Jesus on the way to Jairus’ house been afflicted? 12
Is
this a coincidence – or might there be a connection?
We
examined this in our study in Matthew – but I’ll leave it for you
to ponder.
1 Then He went out from there and came to His own
country, and His disciples followed Him.
Because that’s what disciples
do – they follow their rabbi.
2 And when the Sabbath had come, He began to teach in
the synagogue. And many hearing Him were astonished, saying, “Where did
this Man get these things? And what wisdom is this which is given
to Him, that such mighty works are performed by His hands! 3 Is this
not the carpenter, the Son of Mary, and brother of James, Joses, Judas, and
Simon? And are not His sisters here with us?” So they were offended at Him.
Jesus grew up in Nazareth &
had spent the first 30 years of his life there.
These
people knew him and his family well.
Nazareth was not a large city
– it was little more than a humble little village, a work-camp really.
Herod was building the city
of Sepphoris
just a few miles north of Nazareth.
It
was going to be his new headquarters & the capital of Galilee.
Its
architecture was classic Roman, complete with a theater.
Sepphoris
had a college of mural-making & today possesses some of the most extensive
& well-preserved murals of the ancient world.
Nazareth was really little
more than a work-camp for the Jewish workers who were constructing Sepphoris.
In
v. 3, the people referred to Jesus as a “carpenter.”
The
Greek word is “tekton” [tek-tone] and refers to a craftsman.
Traditionally,
this has been translated as ‘carpenter’ but a trip to Sepphoris will reveal
that far more than carpentry, what was needed was masons.
So
it’s possible, & more & more NT scholars are coming to this conclusion,
that Jesus, along with Joseph before Him, were probably a masons.
In any case, the people of
Nazareth have heard all about Jesus’ spreading fame as a powerful rabbi.
Now
that He’s back home & teaching in their own synagogue, they come to hear
Him.
And
while His Words carry the ring of authority, they cannot get past their prejudices
concerning Him.
They demand of Him – “Where’d
you get Your s’mikah, Your authority???”
Remember,
Jesus had not followed the route the other rabbis of Galilee had followed.
That
He’s known in Nazareth as a craftsman means He’d not followed
the route expected of rabbis. [Rehearse
it]
While
Jesus was the best student every to have applied Himself to the study of the
Word of God, He did not follow that route.
How
do we know He was the best student ever? That story of Him at 12 when He was
reasoning with the priests in the temple in Jerusalem!!
So,
why didn’t Jesus follow the usual route to being a rabbi?
Because
the needs of His family demanded He go to work – as a mason.
Joseph
was gone – when we don’t know.
What
we do know is that Joseph dropped out of the picture after he & Mary had
produced 4 other sons and at least a couple sisters.
As
the eldest, support for the family would have fallen on Jesus’ shoulders.
He
didn’t leave home to start His mission as Messiah until His brothers had grown
old enough to take his place, and the proper age for becoming a rabbi had
arrived – 30.
The people of Nazareth knew
all of this. In their eyes, Jesus was no rabbi – He was a carpenter, a mason!
So
where did He get s’mikah / authority to be a rabbi and to teach them?
The word that had spread
about Jesus was that He might be the Messiah.
The
people of Nazareth scoffed at this – that the Messiah would have brothers and
sisters, normal people that they knew personally, was absurd to them.
4 But Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honor except in his own country,
among his own relatives, and in his own house.” 5 Now He could do no mighty work there, except that He laid
His hands on a few sick people and healed them. 6 And He
marveled because of their unbelief. Then He went about the villages in a
circuit, teaching.
The problem of the people of
Nazareth was an assumed familiarity with Jesus.
Because
they thought they already knew Him, they rejected the possibility of learning
anything new by listening to Him.
And
this refusal to believe resulted in their missing out on all that Jesus could
have brought them.
Jesus spoke in v. 4 about the
danger of assuming we know God and have nothing left to learn.
I recently talked to a guy
who told me that he’d given his life to Christ a few years ago, then his whole
world went into the gutter, and he blamed God for it.
He
said God tricked him, and that he hated God for it.
He
came close to spitting in my face, saying my attempts to convert him were
despicable.
Now, his assumptions about
God are all wrong – but it was clear he was not going to change those beliefs
no matter what I said.
Everything
I said to him was filtered through his assumption that God is evil and wants to
destroy him.
The people of Nazareth serve
as a huge warning to us – that we, as people who’ve become familiar with the
things of God, can hold assumptions that end up keeping us from
experiencing Him in a deeper & more powerful way.
One of my consistent prayers
for myself and for this church is that we do not hold thoughts that are
unworthy of the Lord, that distort our knowledge of Him.
Friend, be careful of what
you assume God can & cannot do. He
is God!
Let
the Scriptures & Spirit reveal Him to you – do not let your assumptions put
God in a box.
7 And He called the twelve to Himself, and began
to send them out two by two, and gave them power over unclean spirits.
When Jesus left Nazareth, He
made a circuit of the villages of that area.
As
He went, the disciples got a great lesson in His method of preaching, teaching,
and meeting the practical needs of the people.
Once they’d been shown what
to do, Jesus told them to go do it; to carry on in the other little burgs
scattered across Galilee.
He sent them out by twos for
the encouragement & support they could provide each other.
As
they went, He authorized them to be official representatives of the Kingdom of
God.
This
meant when they came face to face with demonic power, they could defeat it.
8 He commanded them to take nothing for the journey
except a staff—no bag, no bread, no copper in their money belts— 9 but
to wear sandals, and not to put on two tunics.
Hospitality is a custom and
virtue of the Middle-Eastern world that exists to this day.
It
was even more pronounced in Jesus’ day.
When
a visitor came to town, it was inevitable that several people would invite him
to eat & stay at their house.
A
failure to invite strangers over was a sign of disgrace and it was only during
periods of total depravity in Israel that we see such hospitality denied to
visitors.
Traveling rabbis were the
object of special favor – & as Jesus sends out the disciples, He tells them
to live by faith.
They
aren’t to take along any provisions but to simply go and do what He’s been
doing.
As
they do, they can trust that God will take care of them.
This
was an important lesson for them to learn, because in just about a year and
half they will be doing this full-time when He leaves.
10 Also He said to them, “In whatever place you enter a house, stay there till you
depart from that place. 11 And whoever will not receive you nor hear
you, when you depart from there, shake off the dust under your feet as a
testimony against them. Assuredly, I say to you, it will be more tolerable for
Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgment than for that city!”
When they’re invited to a
home, they must stay there till they leave that village.
Jesus
knew what would happen – they would go to someone’s house, but as they preached
and healed, they’d become sought after and soon people would be asking them to
come and stay at their house, offering them incentives to get them to come.
Jesus
says “No” to this. The disciples must
not use their calling for selfish ends!
The
gifts they’ve been given of the Word & Power of God must never be turned
into tools to gain earthly reward.
God
will bless them as they faithfully obey Jesus, but they must not angle to
increase the blessing.
If their message &
ministry aren’t received, then they’re to depart & give testimony to the
fact that they’ve been rejected by warning the people of the consequences of
such rejection.
If
Sodom and Gomorrah stand as examples of God’s judgment, then rejecting Christ
will result in a judgment that makes Sodom and Gomorrah look easy.
12 So they went out and preached that people
should repent. 13 And they cast out many demons, and anointed with
oil many who were sick, and healed them.
The disciples were
duplicating the mission of Jesus! This
had to have blown their minds.
14 Now King Herod heard of Him, for His name had
become well known.
This marks a dangerous moment
– when news of Jesus finally reaches Herod’s ears.
Remember, the authorities
were leery of anyone who rose up among the Jews and began to gather a loyal
following.
This
had always meant a severe Roman crack-down.
And he said, “John the
Baptist is risen from the dead, and therefore these powers are at work in him.”
15 Others said, “It is Elijah.” And others said, “It is the Prophet,
or like one of the prophets.” 16 But when Herod heard, he said,
“This is John, whom I beheaded; he has been raised from the dead!”
While there were many
opinions on exactly where Jesus fit into the scheme of the Jewish prophets,
Herod believed Jesus was a reincarnation of John the Baptist.
The
reason why is because Jesus’ message was much like John’s – “Repent, for the
Kingdom of God is at hand.”
Herod’s conscience was
tormenting him too because He’d recently executed John even though he knew it
was terribly wrong. Mark tells us about
it . . .
17 For Herod himself had sent and laid hold of John, and
bound him in prison for the sake of Herodias, his brother Philip’s wife; for he
had married her. 18 Because John had said to Herod, “It is not
lawful for you to have your brother’s wife.” 19 Therefore Herodias
held it against him and wanted to kill him, but she could not; 20 for
Herod feared John, knowing that he was a just and holy man, and he
protected him. And when he heard him, he did many things, and heard him gladly.
Herod knew John was a man of
God and sent from God on a divine mission.
And
even though John had publicly denounced Herod for the sin of incest with his
sister-in-law, still he respected him.
When
John spoke out against him, he had to do something lest he appear weak before
his subjects, so he arrested John and had him thrown into the dungeon of one of
his many fortresses.
Herodias,
Herod’s former sister-in-law turned wife, hated John for his public
condemnation of her union with Herod.
She determined to do him in.
But
she couldn’t get around Herod who loved listening to John, and had even made
many decisions based on John’s counsel.
21 Then an opportune day came when Herod on his birthday
gave a feast for his nobles, the high officers, and the chief men of
Galilee. 22 And when Herodias’ daughter herself came in and danced,
and pleased Herod and those who sat with him, the king said to the girl, “Ask
me whatever you want, and I will give it to you.” 23 He also
swore to her, “Whatever you ask me, I will give you, up to half my kingdom.”
Herodias’ daughter was named Salome,
and tradition says she was quite a looker.
She
was Herod’s niece – the daughter of his brother Philipp.
She
danced a little boogie and got Herod pretty worked up so he blurted out a
foolish promise – to give her whatever she asked.
This
promise, made in front of all these officials and important people meant that
Herod couldn’t get out of it – he was bound to his promise.
24 So she went out and said to her mother, “What shall I
ask?” And she said, “The head of John the Baptist!” 25 Immediately
she came in with haste to the king and asked, saying, “I want you to give me at
once the head of John the Baptist on a platter.” 26 And the king was
exceedingly sorry; yet, because of the oaths and because of those who
sat with him, he did not want to refuse her. 27 Immediately the king
sent an executioner and commanded his head to be brought. And he went and
beheaded him in prison, 28 brought his head on a platter, and gave
it to the girl; and the girl gave it to her mother. 29 When his
disciples heard of it, they came and took away his corpse and laid it in
a tomb.
This is a sad story – but it
gives you an idea of how sick & sadistic Herodias & Salome were.
It
also makes us sober up to the state of affairs in Israel at this time and just
how precarious life was.
If
John could be executed because some girl excited an older man, how dangerous is
to for Jesus who’s fame has covered the land and who’s name is on the lips of
tens of thousands?
30 Then the apostles gathered to Jesus and told Him all
things, both what they had done and what they had taught. 31 And He
said to them, “Come aside by
yourselves to a deserted place and rest a while.” For there were many coming and going, and they did not even have time
to eat. 32 So they departed to a deserted place in the boat by themselves.
After being sent out, the
disciples returned & reported to Jesus.
Jesus
knew that they needed some time alone with Him to refresh and renew, so He took
them away, intending to spend some quiet time just with them.
33 But the multitudes saw them departing, and many knew
Him and ran there on foot from all the cities. They arrived before them and
came together to Him.
By this time there were some
in the crowd that knew Jesus’ routine and made a guess at where He was taking
the disciples.
They
rushed there ahead of time, running round the edge of the lake.
When
the boat with Jesus and the disciple pulled up, there was a multitude there
already.
34 And Jesus, when He came out, saw a great multitude and
was moved with compassion for them, because they were like sheep not having a
shepherd. So He began to teach them many things.
Even though Jesus’ plan was
to spend some quiet time with His boys, the scene before Him touches His heart
and He moved to meet the present need.
The
disciples still needed that private, quiet time with the Lord, and they would
get it, but not right now.
I so appreciate this story
because there are times in my life when I prayerfully make my plans and believe
the Lord has given me direction.
As I
move in that direction, something comes up that seems to thwart it.
It’s
a pressing need that I suddenly sense the Spirit saying is not a distraction, but a
real need I must attend to.
The
first direction is not cast aside, only delayed.
In
fact, looking back, I can see that what appeared to be an interruption was
actually a part of the journey in the original direction the Lord had given me.
Jesus will soon be alone with
the Disciples & all that happens from this point till then is part of the
experiences they had to have so that that time alone with the Lord could be as
full and rich as it could be.
Jesus
will ask them Who they think He is and Peter will say, “You are the Messiah,
the Son of the Living God.”
It
was things like what we are about to read that helped the disciples realize who
Jesus really was.
35 When the day was now far spent, His disciples came to
Him and said, “This is a deserted place, and already the hour is late. 36
Send them away, that they may go into the surrounding country and
villages and buy themselves bread; for they have nothing to eat.” 37 But
He answered and said to them, “You
give them something to eat.” And they
said to Him, “Shall we go and buy two hundred denarii worth of bread and give
them something to eat?”
The miracles the disciples
had been witnessing up to this point were mostly in the healing category.
They’d
seen sickness and disease healed and people with malady of the demonic
delivered.
They’d
witnessed the storm calmed too, but that had delivered them from imminent
danger.
How to provide food for a crowd so vast as this just did
not occur to them.
When
Jesus told them to feed the multitude, they said, “Even if we had 200 denarii,”
about half a year’s wages, “that still wouldn’t be enough to buy bread for all
these.”
In v. 44 we learn that there
were about 5,000 men in this crowd.
Adding
in women & children, this multitude could have numbered as much as 10-12,000!
Also,
as v. 35 says, it was a deserted place – even if they’d had that much money,
there was no town nearby, and at this time of night, no bakeries making bread.
38 But He said to them, “How many loaves do you have? Go and see.” And when they found out they said, “Five, and two
fish.” 39 Then He commanded them to make them all sit down in groups
on the green grass. 40 So they sat down in ranks, in hundreds and in
fifties. 41 And when He had taken the five loaves and the two fish,
He looked up to heaven, blessed and broke the loaves, and gave them to
His disciples to set before them; and the two fish He divided among them
all. 42 So they all ate and were filled. 43 And
they took up twelve baskets full of fragments and of the fish. 44 Now
those who had eaten the loaves were about five thousand men.
This is a wonderful story of
the power of Christ & many excellent Bible studies and sermons have been
preached on it.
Tonight what I want to make
sure we see is 2 things –
1)
The 12 baskets give us a clue as to why Jesus performed this miracle.
12
was a number the Jews had a special affinity for because they were a nation of
12 tribes.
Jesus
was letting the crowd know that He was the very same God who’d fed their
fathers in the wilderness.
If
they would receive Him, then as the Messiah, He would provide for them.
His
reign would bring prosperity and abundance, they would be filled with all good
things.
2)
While Jesus performed the miracle of multiplying the bread and fish – the
disciples were the ones who handed it out to the people.
The
same is true today. God wants to work in
people’s lives & provide for their needs in miraculous ways, but His hands &
feet are those which belong to His disciples.
The
power is God’s – the hand that bestows it is ours.
45 Immediately He made His disciples get into the boat
and go before Him to the other side, to Bethsaida, while He sent the multitude
away. 46 And when He had sent them away, He departed to the mountain
to pray.
Even more than spending time
alone with the disciples, Jesus needed to spend time alone with His Father.
The
shores of the Lake of Galilee are covered with hills, and the hills on that
eastern side are especially steep and high.
Jesus
climbed one & sat down to pray, able to see the boat that carried the
disciples.
47 Now when evening came, the boat was in the middle of
the sea; and He was alone on the land. 48 Then He saw them
straining at rowing, for the wind was against them. Now about the fourth watch
of the night [between 3 & 6
a.m.] He came to them, walking on the
sea, and would have passed them by. 49 And when they saw Him walking
on the sea, they supposed it was a ghost, and cried out; 50 for they
all saw Him and were troubled. But immediately He talked with them and said to
them, “Be of good cheer! It is
I; do not be afraid.”
While the Jewish teachers of
that day said there was no such thing as ghosts, the common people still held
to a belief in them.
Sailors
especially were fearful of apparitions on the water because they believed if
they were to drown at sea, the spirit of the deep would appear & glide to
them across the water just before dragging them into the depths.
That’s
why in v. 50 Marks says they were “troubled.” = ‘Terrified!’
Jesus’
word of greeting removed their terror of dying, and replaced it with an awe
that moved them to marvel at Jesus.
51 Then He went up into the boat to them, and the wind
ceased. And they were greatly amazed in themselves beyond measure, and
marveled. 52 For they had not understood about the loaves, because
their heart was hardened.
Mark makes it clear that at
this point, while the disciples are blown away by Jesus’ power & ability to
do things like walking on water, calming storms, and healing multitudes, they
don’t really have Him figured out yet.
The lesson of the feeding of
the multitude they’d just witnessed has not come home to them yet.
They
see in Jesus’ demonstrations of power something to create fear rather than
comfort.
The disciples were used to
how power is used among men – to control and manipulate; it’s a tool for
self-advancement.
The
feeding of the thousands, which they had assisted in, ought to have taught them
that Jesus’ power was used to help others.
Jesus
always
used power to serve others, to bless and benefit them.
Even
walking to them on the water was to help them realize Who He was.
That
knowledge would help them rein in & conquer all other fears.
But
at this point, they were missing that lesson.
53 When they had crossed over, they came to the land of
Gennesaret and anchored there. 54 And when they came out of the
boat, immediately the people recognized Him, 55 ran through that whole
surrounding region, and began to carry about on beds those who were sick to
wherever they heard He was. 56 Wherever He entered, into villages,
cities, or the country, they laid the sick in the marketplaces, and begged Him
that they might just touch the hem of His garment. And as many as touched Him
were made well.
The
popular expectation that the Messiah’s tassels would bring healing were being
fulfilled.
The moment when the
authorities will issue official orders of opposition to Jesus are just around the
corner, and Jesus now begins to move in more overt ways to reveal that He is
indeed Israel’s Messiah.
That
admission, coupled with the official opposition will polarize people into one
of two camps – those who believe in and follow Jesus and those who reject Him.