Mark 6 explained: Rejection, Death, Bread and Storm

Rejected at home (vv. 1-6a)

In Nazareth, where he grew up, people could not accept that a local craftsman from a family they knew could speak and act with such power. Mark links their refusal to trust him with how little he did there, and says even Jesus was surprised by it.

The Twelve sent out (vv. 6b-13)

Traveling light meant depending on the hospitality of strangers, and going in pairs gave support and two witnesses to what was said. Shaking off a town's dust was a public sign that the messengers had done their part and the responsibility now lay with that town.

Herod and John's death (vv. 14-29)

Herod Antipas, ruler of Galilee, had married Herodias, the wife of his half brother, which John condemned as against Jewish law. Bound by a rash oath and unwilling to refuse in front of his guests, Herod had John beheaded, and Mark tells it plainly as a brutal act of power.

Feeding five thousand (vv. 30-44)

Jesus saw the crowd as sheep with no shepherd, an old biblical picture of a people left without care, and he answers by teaching them and then feeding them from almost nothing. Christians later heard an echo of the Last Supper in his taking, blessing, breaking and giving the bread, and some see the twelve baskets as a nod to Israel's twelve tribes.

Walking on the lake (vv. 45-52)

His words 'It is I' can also be read as 'I am', and his intention to pass by recalls moments in older scripture when God passed by Moses and Elijah, so many interpreters see a hint of who Jesus is. Mark says the disciples still had not grasped what the bread showed them.

Healings at Gennesaret (vv. 53-56)

Word spread so fast that people carried the sick to wherever he went. The fringe of his clothing that they reached for may mean the tassels Jewish men wore as a reminder of God's commands.

Key verse: Mark 6:34

Where Christians differ

Most Christians read the feeding and the walk on the lake as literal miracles, while some read them mainly as symbolic stories about who Jesus is.

Something to think about

When have you found it hard to take someone seriously because you already knew where they came from?