Mark 6:30-44: Feeding and Following

I had a professor that used to tell us, "if you are ever on Jeopardy and they ask you what miracle story is the only one that occurs in all four gospels, you better know the right answer after taking my class...and I will expect you to show your appreciation for what you learned from me by mailing a check for a small portion of your winnings."  The miracle he was referring to was the feeding of the 5,000, and it is indeed the only miracle that occurs in all four of the gospels.  Perhaps this should cause us to take note of what it is that Jesus does exactly, and why His actions are so significant.
To truly understand this manifestation of Jesus' power and goodness, we need to look beyond the miracle and see how Jesus' actions reveal to us His true identity, and how they instruct us to act as His disciples.  I have often over-looked Jesus response to the disciples when they bring up the problem of feeding this large group of people.  He doesn't mince words when he instructs them, "you give them something to eat."  The disciples expected to turn the crowd loose to fend for themselves, and yet Jesus takes the opportunity to teach them that they should concern themselves with the needs of others.  Do our attitudes and actions as Jesus' disciples live up to what He has envisioned for us?  Jesus' actions when he does obtain a little bit of food are noteworthy.  He takes, looks up to heaven, says a blessing, breaks, and then gives.  Many of us take, and some of us even look up to heaven and acknowledge God as the giver of our blessings, but how many of us then divide what we have and share it with others?  Jesus' teaches us what it means not only to say we are thankful, but also to demonstrate that appreciation through our actions.
This miracle story teaches us something about how we should act as followers of Jesus, but it also reveals something about who Jesus is.  The phrase "the good shepherd" is never used by Mark, but Jesus' character- especially when contrasted with that of Herod- identifies Him as such, even if the title is never used.  Herod, Israel's supposed leader, is shut up in his palace feasting with the elites, and executing the righteous and innocent like John the Baptist.  Jesus however, walks among the people, having compassion on them and seeing to their needs.  In Numbers 27 Moses expresses fear that after his death, the Israelites will become as "sheep without a shepherd".  In that instance God chooses Joshua to act as Moses successor.  Now, centuries later, we see Jesus, whose name is a form of Joshua's name, having compassion on the crowd because they are like "sheep without a shepherd."  Moses fears have been realized, and yet God has acted by providing a new, better Joshua to meet both the temporal and eternal needs of His people.  In ways that invoke the 23rd Psalm, Jesus makes the people lie down in green pastures (v. 39), and prepares for them a table (v. 41).  In the person of Jesus Christ, God has faithfully fulfilled the promise He made to Israel through the prophet Ezekiel:
"For thus says the Lord God: Behold, I, I myself will search for my sheep and will seek them out.  As a shepherd seeks out his flock when he is among his sheep that have been scattered, so will I seek out my sheep, and I will rescue them from all places where they have been scattered on a day of clouds and thick darkness.  And I will bring them out from the peoples and gather them from the countries, and will bring them into their own land. And I will feed them on the mountains of Israel, by the ravines, and in all the inhabited places of the country.  I will feed them with good pasture, and on the mountain heights of Israel shall be their grazing land.  There they shall lie down in good grazing land, and on rich pasture they shall feed on the mountains of Israel.  I myself will be the shepherd of my sheep, and I myself will make them lie down, declares the Lord God.  I will seek the lost, and I will bring back the strayed, and I will bind up the injured, and I will strengthen the weak, and the fat and the strong I will destroy.  I will feed them in justice." 
- Ezekiel 34:11-16

God has indeed come among us as a shepherd, searching us out and rescuing us, making us lie down and feeding us.  He calls each one of us to Himself.  Do you hear, or better yet do you recognize, the voice of your shepherd?        

                                            

Mark 6:14-29: An Inconvenient Truth

The truth isn't always popular, and it's often inconvenient.  As disciples of Christ, the challenge is telling the truth even in those times when it hurts.  Whether it stings someone else emotionally or causes our own lives turmoil, our vindication comes ultimately because of our willingness to cling to our proclamation of the truth, even when that proclamation has dire circumstances.  There is no greater example of such determined truth-telling than that of John the Baptist, a man who often found himself in hot water because of the truthfulness of his testimony.

We see clearly illustrated in John's story that there will come a time when telling the truth will make us enemies.  Sadly for John, his witnessing made enemies of not only King Herod, but also his wife Herodias.  Being surrounding by sycophants and courtiers, Herod was probably not used to hearing his actions criticized.  And yet, John didn't hesitate to share an honest opinion of Herod's marriage to Herodias, specifically the opinion that it violated the law.  Though we have no indication that John mentioned it, Herod was also guilty of building his capital on a pagan cemetery (making it inhabitable to any law-observant Jew), and naming it Tiberias (after a Roman Emperor of all people).  Of course it's possible that John had something to say about these things, but the text makes it clear that Herod's wife Herodias took specific issue with his criticism of her marriage to Herod, and states that she had a "grudge" against him, or "had it in for" him.  This vocal opposition to the marriage of Herod and Herodias would ultimately lead to John's beheading, an execution chosen as a means of demeaning and dishonoring the condemned.  If the powers that be will treat a prophet like John the Baptist in such a way, how will they respond to one who is greater, whose actions themselves proclaim the message of God's kingdom at work in the world?  What treatment can Jesus expect to receive at the hands of such people?  

John isn't the only person we can learn from in this story.  As Christians we are called to proclaim the truth, but as imperfect sinners, there will also be times when we need to hear very difficult truths.  How will we respond when the truth is inconvenient?  We see Herod was intrigued by John's message, but he lacked the character to respond in the necessary way.  Herod is greatly disturbed when his own oath forces him to acquiesce to John's execution.  The Greek word  perilypos, which the ESV translates as "exceedingly sorry", is used only one other time in the gospel of Mark, to describe Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane.  If we think of Jesus' agony in the garden, we can then imagine the internal conflict that Herod was experiencing.  He knew what he should do, but he proved incapable of doing it, setting off an emotional and spiritual civil war within.  It's easy to overlook the fact that this story is introduced by way of referencing Jesus' increasing popularity.  What we have in Mark 6 is a recounting of what had already happened to John, set in motion because many thought Jesus to be John the Baptist back from the dead.  Was this Jesus the resurrected John, a martyred prophet resurrected and thus vindicated by God?  While we know that in fact that was not the case, we can also understand why Herod would fear that Jesus' ministry was ultimately a sign that he had chosen the wrong side.  Which "side" have you chosen?  When confronted with the tough truth of who Jesus is, how have you responded?

A final thing we can take away from the story of John's death is that our cause and our message, is bigger than we are.  Looking through the world's eyes, it would appear that Herod won in his confrontation with the message proclaimed by John the Baptist.  However, history, and ultimately God vindicates John at the same time that it vindicates Jesus.  In an appropriate twist of fate, Herod would go to war with the Nabateans some time after John's death, partially over his past divorce of a Nabatean princess.  That twist of fate would prove to be not only appropriate but also ironic in that it was this divorce which cleared the way for Herod's marriage to Herodias.  In the end, Herod's marriage was not only the cause of John the Baptist's undoing, but also Herod's as well.  While the text refers to Herod has a king, technically speaking he was merely a tetrarch, and it would actually be his request to be made a king that would get him exiled by Caligula in 39 AD.  Herod's exile sent him hundreds, if not thousands of miles from his "kingdom", where he was never heard from again.  Contrast this with John, who even in death was shown a great deal of respect by his disciples, who retrieve his body for a proper burial.  Those same disciples continue his ministry, helping prepare the way for the proclamation of the kingdom of God, and ultimately the church. 

One died shamefully, but is honored to this day as an example of what it means to proclaim the truth with boldness and without reservation.  The other lived gloriously, but died in exile, forgotten by all those whom the sought to impress and rule over.  In referring to the treatment of John the Baptist perhaps John Chrysostom summed it up best when he said of Herod that  “he cut off the head but he did not cut off the voice.  He curbed the tongue but he did not curb the accusation.”  When we proclaim the truth, no matter what happens to our head or our tongue, our voice is never silenced.      

Mark 6:7-13: nothing for the journey

Every day when I leave my house I go through a ritual.  A quick pat to the back left pocket confirms I have my wallet, with a similar one to the back right pocket verifying that I have my phone.  A pat of my left thigh to see if I have my keys and all that is left is a checking of my shirt pocket to be sure my glasses are there.  Wallet, phone, keys, glasses, all things I deem necessary for even a quick trip away from home.
In Mark 6 the disciples are sent out on a much longer journey than the ones I typically go on, and yet they are expressly forbidden from taking many of the things we would deem to be essential.  This prohibition is an attempt on Jesus' part to force His disciples to rely on God.  One way or the other they will learn to trust in God, even if that has to happen because everything else they could possibly rely on has been taken away.
As the church in America, we live and work in the richest society, allowing us to utilize a variety of ministry tools.  And yet, the church is growing the fastest in the third world, where church gyms, stage lighting, and youth group ski trips are all but unheard of.  How do you get youth to come to church without enticing them with a trip?  How do you hold people's attention without mood-lighting and sophisticated worship videos?
Could it be that there is something that people need more than trips and entertainment?  Could it be that people are interested not so much in the glitz and glamour of church, but in the glory of Christ?  The experience of the church in the third world would say that such is indeed the case.  Perhaps instead of throwing more money at our efforts to evangelize, we should focus on ensuring that our churches don't obscure the God that they exist to proclaim.
Jesus' instructions to the disciples not only call for a reliance on God, but they also redefine the community of faith, God's chosen people.  Lineage will no longer be a determining factor in whether you are a member of the family of God.  Instead, each person's response to Jesus' message will place them squarely in or out of God's people.  The bottom line in this episode, as well as the entire gospel of Mark is this- it isn't what we call ourselves that matters, but how we respond to the good news brought by Jesus Christ.  When confronted with God's work in our world, how do we react?  Do we prepare ourselves for the journey of following Jesus, or do we watch as others depart, shaking the dust from their feet because of our refusal to believe?