Talk - Mark 6 - Jesus feeds five thousand and walks on water...

So what do you think is going on here?
What questions do you have?
What leaps out at you?
What is Mark tryiing to tell us?

Read on and reply...!


Jesus Feeds the Five Thousand  30The apostles gathered around Jesus and reported to him all they had done and taught. 31Then, because so many people were coming and going that they did not even have a chance to eat, he said to them, "Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest."  32So they went away by themselves in a boat to a solitary place. 33But many who saw them leaving recognized them and ran on foot from all the towns and got there ahead of them. 34When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. So he began teaching them many things.
 35By this time it was late in the day, so his disciples came to him. "This is a remote place," they said, "and it's already very late. 36Send the people away so they can go to the surrounding countryside and villages and buy themselves something to eat."
 37But he answered, "You give them something to eat."
      They said to him, "That would take eight months of a man's wages[a]! Are we to go and spend that much on bread and give it to them to eat?"
 38"How many loaves do you have?" he asked. "Go and see."
      When they found out, they said, "Five—and two fish."
 39Then Jesus directed them to have all the people sit down in groups on the green grass. 40So they sat down in groups of hundreds and fifties. 41Taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, he gave thanks and broke the loaves. Then he gave them to his disciples to set before the people. He also divided the two fish among them all. 42They all ate and were satisfied, 43and the disciples picked up twelve basketfuls of broken pieces of bread and fish. 44The number of the men who had eaten was five thousand.
Jesus Walks on the Water  45Immediately Jesus made his disciples get into the boat and go on ahead of him to Bethsaida, while he dismissed the crowd. 46After leaving them, he went up on a mountainside to pray.  47When evening came, the boat was in the middle of the lake, and he was alone on land. 48He saw the disciples straining at the oars, because the wind was against them. About the fourth watch of the night he went out to them, walking on the lake. He was about to pass by them, 49but when they saw him walking on the lake, they thought he was a ghost. They cried out, 50because they all saw him and were terrified.
   Immediately he spoke to them and said, "Take courage! It is I. Don't be afraid." 51Then he climbed into the boat with them, and the wind died down. They were completely amazed, 52for they had not understood about the loaves; their hearts were hardened.
 53When they had crossed over, they landed at Gennesaret and anchored there. 54As soon as they got out of the boat, people recognized Jesus. 55They ran throughout that whole region and carried the sick on mats to wherever they heard he was. 56And wherever he went—into villages, towns or countryside—they placed the sick in the marketplaces. They begged him to let them touch even the edge of his cloak, and all who touched him were healed.
This is my favourite tantalising bit in that story:

He was about to pass by them...

Did the disciples only spot him by accident?
Andy

Good point... Here's a thought (not mine of course) what did God do do Moses when Moses wanted to see him? He passed him by him. In the OT God could not be seen, his glory prevents us from seeing him, his passing by was evidence enough of saving presence.

Perhaps MArk's readers would read this and go, o my word who does this guy think he is? God? Answer - yes.
Those theologians, they take the fun out of everything

How about this then...on that VERY stormy lake, do you think Jesus was gliding across it in a smooth 'floaty' fashion unaffected by the waves and not even getting wet, like some bizarre scene from a Father Ted episode, or actually striding along through the waves in an 'uphill' then 'downhill' slightly undignified sort of manner with water splashing in his face?
Andy

Now you have me. You know none of the books I have read pick up on that? What do you imagine? Job reckons God tramples the waves, so perhaps Jesus flattens them a bit like the Monty Python foot from The Flying Circus. I do imagine he gets wet, being fully man, he must get wet, that is what it is to be incarnate, fully one of us, so not getting wet is not an option...

I wonder how many people in the congregation will struggle with your issue?
what do your books say about this bit Wayne?

"Jesus made his disciples get into the boat..."
Andy - why do you think he made them get into the boat? have a read back over the passage etc, look at what is going on what was the original polan and how the disciples reacted to a change... Who do the crowd want? etc.

Let me know what you think?

W
Just my 'cinematic' brain going again, would have loved to have watched that bit...do you think they argued with him about it or were they just so freaked out by what had just happened that they simply got in the boat without even asking why and rowed off in a daze?

And it must have taken ages to have dismissed a crowd that size especially after the miracle that had just taken place

Can you imagine the conversation and debate going on in the boat as they watched the chaos back on the sure

PS ...and what happened to the leftovers?



The Leftovers, I never thought of them. Someone like my brother would pick thyem up and sell them onto the crowd for the journey home! Perhaps they were just left there, that's how abundant God's provision is, they were just left there. Judas probably thought what a waste.

I do love the idea of the scene in the boat. Who told the crowd where we were off to, now look what's going on...

The sending off though is a loving action. The crowd want Jesus not the disciples, and clearly the disciples are not moved with compassion for the crowd, but Jesus is moved with compassion for both parties and so does the right thing.

W
My bit of useless input: Maybe Mark was sayiing: "Become a Christian and save on surfboards!" (Ha-ha!)

My 3-year-old daughter is as yet unimpressed with the story of Jesus feeding the 5000. We have these pop-up childrens books and she's much more into Moses and the plagues and the burning bush (she likes imagining burning her fingers on the flames. Ouch!).

I must say I've been thinking about the bit about Peter asking Jesus to tell him to come to him and then proceeding to walk on the water. When he ascended, Jesus said we would do the same things He did and greater. What possible practical purpose or compassionate gesture could walking on the water have? Couldn't he just have calmed the waters from the shore? And also, the fact that Jesus knew that these were going to be His apostles must have assured Him that none of them were going to die in that storm. So why calm the storm in the first place? In doing so, wasn't He also watering down what He said about those who have not seen and yet believed being blessed? He was practically flaunting His miraculous powers here!
I'm playing the devil's advocate a bit here, I'm not theologically trained. But then neither were the fishermen...
Actually, I'm thinking more that as Christians, we should be wielding that power. Where is it in the modern church? Why are we content with less?