The Galilee Ministry part 3
Written by Rev'd John Poole | Mar 19th, 2021
Walking with Jesus through the Gospel of Mark.
Week 5: The Galilee Ministry part 3 - feeding the multitudes; the purity of faith
We have reached now our fifth study but are only just arriving at the halfway point of the Gospel of Mark! So having established Mark’s major Gospel themes, what follows over the next two to three weeks will be a careful selection of events, with summaries and inevitably some omissions as we journey to the climax of the Jesus story. We will pass over the execution of John the Baptizer which occupies a significant part of chapter 6, other than to identify it as a portent for the fate of Jesus who saw himself in some sense as continuing what John had begun. According to Mark, Jesus began his ministry only after John had been arrested. How threatening was the message of the kingdom of God to the rulers of the time! Jesus would have been aware that if they could do away with John, they could do the same to him.
Prior to this account, we read of Jesus returning to his home village of Nazareth. His initial reception among the population is positive. ‘Many who heard him were astounded,’ and wondered how he had attained such wisdom as they heard him preach in the synagogue. But the mood changes. It appears that they cannot accept that he is anything other than a simple craftsman. He is a ‘tekton,’ a word usually translated as ‘carpenter’ but could also apply to other trades. He is only the son of Mary whom they know, and the unusual mention of his mother rather than his father may well indicate that she had been a widow for some considerable time. We read that Jesus could do no ‘work of power’ there. Mark’s stress is that Jesus heals only when there is faith in him. Jesus’ response to the widespread lack of faith in him at Nazareth is to identify himself with Israel’s prophets of old. Like them, he is rejected among his own people.
We move on to the second great ‘nature miracle’ of the Gospel. There are two multiplication of loaves or feeding of the multitude stories in Mark (chapter 6: 30 – 44 and chapter 8: 1 – 10) where Jesus feeds a large crowd of thousands of people with just a few loaves and fish. At the beginning of the first story, the disciples, here called apostles, of whom there are now twelve, have just returned from a mission. Jesus had sent them to proclaim conversion, to heal the sick and to cast out evil spirits as he himself had been doing. Jesus calls them to go away with him to a place of peace and quiet where they can rest for a while. Some hope, for it is not long before the needy crowds catch up with them. Jesus does not send them away but uses the opportunity to teach them. It gets late and the people would need to eat, but all that can be found among them are five loaves and two fish. However, after settling the people in groups Jesus takes the loaves and fish, blesses them, breaks the bread, and gives it to the disciples to distribute to the people. On the surface this is another spectacular story, so once again we should consider its parabolic or metaphorical power. As it is written for later readers including us, there must be layers of meaning beyond its apparent literal sense. What is Mark trying to tell us?
Firstly, the story would have reminded the first readers, if not us immediately, of how God fed Israel’s ancestors in the wilderness with manna, the bread which appeared like dew on the ground each morning (see Exodus chapter 16). The Gospel implication is that Jesus is the new Moses who feeds the people of God in their own wilderness experience.
Secondly, we cannot underestimate the importance in the story of the people being fed. This was an impoverished people, and bread, real food, is the material basis of life. The kingdom of God will include everyone in the world being able to get their fair share of food, the ‘daily bread’ that we pray for in the Lord’s Prayer after the petition asking for the coming of God’s kingdom. When food passes through the hands of Jesus there is enough for everybody, and more than enough. This is a story about God’s desire for the whole world to have an equal share of food.
Thirdly, the story has obvious Eucharistic overtones. The actions of Jesus at the Last Supper are clearly stated here: ‘He took, he blessed, he broke, he gave.’ Here we find a sort of prototype of what we do and receive regularly as Christians. Of course, it fits much better with the early Christian Eucharists which would have involved a full meal rather than just a token wafer bread and a sip of wine. But we can still recognise this story as reflecting our own worship experience and the meaning of Jesus for our lives. He is the spiritual food that satisfies all our hungers.
Chapter 7 brings us to another conflict scene with some Pharisees and Scribes who have come from Jerusalem. This time, Jesus’ disciples are criticised for eating without washing their hands. This is not about hygiene but, once again, about purity rules which required a ritual form of hand washing before eating. But the issue as Jesus confronts it is much bigger. He calls these critics ‘hypocrites’ who pay homage to God with their lips but not with their hearts. Quoting from the prophet Isaiah he tells them that they have confused human traditions with divine commandments. The confrontation and its reasoning is well explained in the text so needs little further comment. But the dispute extends into the issue of food laws. Jesus declares that it is not what goes into a person that defiles but what comes out. It is from within, from the heart, that evil intentions are produced. Purity is about what is in the heart, not in the practice of rituals and customs.
There follows a scene set outside the traditional boundaries of the Jewish homeland. Jesus and his disciples go to Tyre, north of Galilee in what is modern day Lebanon. Even here Jesus is recognised, and a Gentile woman approaches him and begs him to heal her daughter of an unclean spirit. After initially rebuffing her because she is not one of the ‘children’ (meaning of Israel, a Jew) to whom Jesus’ ministry is principally directed, the woman retorts that even the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs, a reference perhaps to God-fearing Gentiles who admired the Jews and their religion and even attended the synagogues. Jesus is impressed by the woman’s remark and declares that her daughter is already healed. A story like this would have encouraged Mark’s first readers who were themselves predominantly Gentile as evidenced by the writer’s need to explain some Jewish customs. Here was confirmation of the mandate for the early Church’s mission to the Gentile world that had been launched by St Paul.
Jesus leaves this Gentile territory and travels to another, taking a circuitous route back to the east side of the river Jordan, to the Decapolis region where he had cured the Gerasene demoniac. On that occasion the fearful people had begged him to leave the area. Now they come to him in hope that he will cure one of them, a man suffering from deafness and a speech impediment. Jesus does so. The symbolism of this healing for Mark and his readers could be that Gentiles were once ‘deaf and dumb’ towards God but are now able to hear the gospel. They respond in faith to the words and works of Jesus.
Following the second ‘bread miracle’ which we have already covered, Jesus and his disciples journey by boat to the district of Dalmanutha, a place that has not been located on any known map but was presumably somewhere on the western shore of the Sea of Galilee. The Pharisees approach and ask Jesus for a sign from heaven. His refusal to comply suggests that if his message is not clear to them, neither will be a sign or miracle. Jesus’ works are motivated by compassion; they are done to help someone but not to prove something. In any case, if these critics do not believe in him, then performing a healing or some other work will not do any good, as they simply will not ‘get it.’ Even his own disciples don’t yet ‘get it,’ or ‘get him,’ as the next verses show: ‘Do you still not understand, still not realise? Are you hearts hardened? Have you eyes but do not see, ears and do not hear? These could also be questions for some people in Mark’s own community, and they could be questions for some of us. Where faith in Jesus is to come from, Mark has not yet made clear, but one thing is clear: faith does not come from the performance of signs and wonders.
Jesus’ ministry in Galilee and the surrounding districts is approaching its conclusion. He travels by boat with his disciples to Bethsaida, in the north-east corner of the Sea of Galilee. Here a group of people bring a blind man to Jesus in the hope of a cure. The healing he gives is different than usual in that the man’s cure is not immediate but gradual. There is a theological theme here that fits into Mark’s Gospel plan. It refers to the disciples’ own ‘blindness’ – their lack of faith and recognition of who Jesus really is. The healing of the blind man in two stages symbolises the disciples’ gradual growth to full sight. The full vision of who Jesus is will be revealed through his cross and resurrection
We are now almost ready for the journey with Jesus to Jerusalem. Spiritually speaking, it is the way that every Christian must travel in order to live in the kingdom of God.
Some questions to ponder and pray about (there may well be others!)
• How do you imagine Jesus was formed by his experiences of growing up in the small, rural village of Nazareth? How have your life and attitudes been influenced by the place where you grew up?
• What do the feeding of the multitude stories tell us about the kingdom of God, and the relationship between physical and spiritual needs?
• In the debate between Jesus and the Pharisees over purity issues, Jesus calls attention to knowing the difference between the commandment of God and human traditions. How does this distinction continue to be an issue in the Church and in our personal lives today?