No Respect
So after Jesus had raised Jarius' daughter from the dead, He went back home with His disciples (Mark 6:1-6). When the Sabbath came, He began to teach the people and many who heard Him questioned the source of His wisdom that led to both forceful and Spirit filled teaching and marvelous works at His hand and by His words. He's just a carpenter, the son of humble stock, and his near kin have been here all along... He shouldn't think so highly of Himself as to dare to teach in the place of our religious leaders. We're offended... tsk, tsk, tsk.
And that, right there, is one of the main causes that nothing gets done in the name of Christ today. Whether we want to admit it or not, we have the same problem today that Christ had when He walked the earth as a man. Christ declared that a prophet had no honor if he was among his own kin and in his own house. Everywhere else, he may be honored by his relationship with God. But when it comes to the people who should know him best, a prophet will be disregarded.
How many times do we not bother to go hear a Sunday service because it's just the local pastor, after all, and we've heard him many times before? How many times do we not go up for prayer because the hopefully Spirit filled person waiting for us is someone we've known a long time and we don't think God should be able to work through a person who was like that to me x years ago? How many times do we treat a local missionary who returns to ask for support with less respect than someone from another place that we don't know? All to often, the answer to these questions is "most of the time".
And Jesus says right there that He couldn't do much of anything in His old stomping ground because of the unbelief of the people. Most simply refused to accept that what they were hearing about Him could possibly be true because they knew Him. He wasn't anyone important. He couldn't possibly be the messiah (although that isn't mentioned here I'm sure many thought it). The few who came to Him for healing were healed. But so many more could have been helped if the people had gotten their noses back in joint and opened up their eyes, ears, and hearts to what the rest of the countryside was saying.
These words I'm writing may mean very little to most. If you're a mature Christian, then they really should mean little to you. Some of my writings might shock you or enlighten you in sections like Genesis 1 or Revelation or Daniel because everybody has trouble with those sections of scripture at one point or another. But you really should have a handle on most of what is said here as a mature Christian. Yet how many church services do you miss or are only present at physically but with your mind elsewhere because you don't even remotely consider that you might not know everything? This is a problem for all Christians, but the mature Christians are the most susceptible to it. Young Christians frequently still want to learn everything. Old Christians figure they know it all or at least enough to make it to heaven. Lukewarm? You be the judge of your own lives.
All I can say for sure is that Jesus could do only a fraction of the things God wanted Him to do in His old stomping grounds due to the unbelief of those who knew Him. How much unbelief do you have in those you know well? Jesus followed the will of God during His ministry. What He did was done by God via the Holy Spirit - He didn't do it Himself. That same operation was true for the disciples. As they followed God's will, God worked through their ministry by the Holy Spirit by teaching, leading, and the gifts of the Spirit.
That same operation continues to be true today for the Spirit filled believer. If you're Spirit filled, was it done in the spirit of discipleship or was it something you checked off your list of things Christians should do? The baptism in the Holy Spirit was provided to equip to evangelize the world. That hasn't changed. Seek what He wants you to do and then do it. Christ said that because He was going to the Father, those Spirit filled believers left behind would do greater things than Christ did while on earth (John 14:12). That's a pair of big shoes He wants each of us to step in.
Commissioning the Twelve
That last paragraph was a good lead in to the next section of Mark 6:7-13. Here, Jesus brings the twelve disciples to Him and sends them out two at a time to continue His ministry in a more distributed fashion. He gave them power over unclean spirits as a protection for them and a means of freeing the people whose lives were taken over by the unclean spirits a means of relief. They went minimally equipped - a staff, sandals, but dressed casually with no money or food.
When they came to a place to minister, they were to enter into a house, presumably at the direction of the Holy Spirit and give that individual or family the choice to welcome them or turn them away. If the people of the city didn't receive their teaching, they were to shake even the dust from the city from their feet to take nothing of it with them when they departed. Jesus warned it would be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrha at judgment day than for that city. Consider whether or not God's attitude toward rejecting the gospel has changed. I know that some missionaries who come door to door to witness will still do this, even if the person at the door is a Christian and just doesn't agree with their denominations flavor of Christianity.
The disciples went out and preached the message of repentance, just like John the Baptist had preached, but with a clear figure of Christ as the Messiah. They cast out unclean spirits, anointed the sick with oil, and God healed them. It isn't reported here that any of the teams were unsuccessful. Nor does God want His Spirit filled believers to be any less successful today. Listen to His plans for your life and get on God's bandwagon!
Was it tough when Jesus was the only one doing the work? Yes, He was mobbed, repeatedly. Did it help when more were doing the work? You bet, but also each person affected by the disciples teaching passed word to others so the multitudes were probably even bigger the longer time went on. Each additional person being used of God in a mighty way helped to validate Christ's ministry and work.
The same is true today. Would it be frightening to be the only person in the United States with a healing ministry like Christ's? Yes. But how wonderful it would be to be one of a host of Spirit filled believers who were doing the work. Then you wouldn't worry about being overwhelmed by requests. The thing is, someone has to start. If God wants it to be you, then step up! Just like the twelve did.
Just remember that He is doing the work and not you. Follow His direction. Jesus didn't heal everyone in Israel. He wasn't able to convert everyone in Israel to Christianity either. But He did declare that He didn't lose any that God had given Him. Give God the glory and proclaim Jesus, as it was His stripes by which we are healed. Keep humble, and give God the glory, testifying often and trying to lead people to God, and you'll probably keep being used of God. God will give you whatever strength you need as long as you are walking in His will. Pray for workers, because the fields are ripe unto harvest now as in Jesus day. There are lost people all around. Help them find Him.
John the Baptist's Death
Next, in Mark 6:14-29, there is a record of John the Baptist's death and some of the thoughts of Herod around it. First, it should be noted that Jesus fame had spread abroad to even reach Herod's court. This was pretty remarkable in such a short while, and reflects the power of Jesus' works. Herod was afraid that John the Baptist had risen from the dead. Others mentioned that it might be Elijah or some other great prophet (who was taken to heaven by God and, like Enoch, doesn't have a recorded death), or some other prophet. They didn't subscribe to it being John. But Herod was convinced.
History then unfolds that due to John's opposition of Herod involving himself with his brother's wife, Herod had him imprisoned. Herodias, the woman in question wanted him dead. On Herod's birthday, Herodias' daughter danced for Herod and pleased him, and he offered whatever she wanted in return for the dance. Herodias wanted John the Baptist dead, so asked for his head to be brought in on a platter, and Herod did so, although he regretted his pronouncement. It was done and John's disciples came and buried his body.
The primary thing we need to take away from this is not to stay silent when wrong is done. John probably knew of Herod's nature and that of Herodias. Yet what they were doing was wrong and he called for repentance from everyone. He made no exceptions for the rich and powerful. And it got him killed in the end. Another thing to take away is that we need to be careful of the things we say, and that is especially true for those in power. I'd like to think that the powerful people of today feel sorrow when what they say and promise turns out bad for them or they can't deliver. Unfortunately, the judgment for our words doesn't seem to happen very often in the political arenas today.
Politicians promise everything to all the voters, and then, when in office, favor those who gave them money or their friends to a large degree. Not all politicians are fickle like that, but those who aren't are the exception. The higher you go, the worse it seems. But people keep reelecting them because they have the money to sway people's opinions. Eventually, God will judge. He knows every thought in everyone's minds and every heart. For those who haven't accepted Jesus as their Savior and turned to Him, the white throne judgment seat is going to be a humbling experience.
I suspect, in fact, that heaven will be humbling for even those who are saved. But the Bible says we'll give an account for every idle word we speak (Matthew 12:36). That will be rough on some folks, but especially politicians and those lawyers who defend those who are guilty. "Let your communications be yea, yea Nay, nay" was part of Jesus sermon on the mount (Matthew 5:37). It's something to think about. It's especially worrisome for people who teach or try to write about scripture. Are we making things better or worse? I hope most of my communication won't be considered either idle or wrong.
At any rate, watch what you say. Words have the capability to lift up and tear down. Herod found that out. And I would be remiss to not point out that he was at a birthday party, where there was probably alcohol flowing pretty freely. That is complete supposition and only time will tell if it was an accurate guess or not. But I pointed that out to make an additional point. It is tough enough to say the right things and only the right things when your mind is clear. When it is clouded by alcohol or drugs, it is far easier to say the wrong thing. The same thing is true of anger. Most times it is better to just walk away than to argue and end up saying something in the heat of the moment that you wish you could take back. Finally, as in the Proverbs, it is good to listen to wise men and learn rather than be foolish (Proverbs 10:8, 12:15, 17:18, 18:6, 23:9, 29:11; Ecclesiastes 10:12)
Where's the Food Truck?
After this interlude, Mark 6:30-44 records a notable miracle of provision and creation by Jesus. The disciples had come together with Him to tell Him of their success in ministry. He wanted them all to enjoy a bit of time together away from the crush of the people and be strengthened for the next part of their ministry, so they used a ship to depart to a desert place where they could be alone.
But the people figured out where they must be headed. The account continues indicating that many went on foot from all of the surrounding cities and came to where Jesus and the disciples were planning to be. Jesus, being Jesus, wasn't put off by what the people had done. He had compassion on them and began to teach them at length. We need more preachers with that attitude today. Somehow, I can't imagine the pope, to name a particular high ranking church official of taking that approach instead of assigning some accompanying people to take over while he and the cardinals went off alone. But I may be wrong in that assessment. I'd suspect the current pope might be more likely to take Jesus' approach than some others from the past. But I digress.
When the day was almost over, the disciples wanted Jesus to send them away into the nearby villages to get food to eat as there wasn't anywhere close to get food. Jesus told them to give them something to eat and they didn't get what He was asking of them. They figured it would cost about 200 pennyworth to buy food for everyone who was assembled there. A denarius was a days' wage for an unskilled worker, so 200 denarius would be about seven months' wages. I don't know if they had that much money on them or not, but it is likely Judas, at least, might have been against spending the money they had that way.
Jesus asked what they had for provisions and they rounded up a count of five loaves and two fish among the collected group of people. Jesus then told them to sit down by family groups or ranks in groupings of hundreds and fifties. He looked up to heaven and blessed the little he had, brake the loaves, and divided the two fish and told the disciples to distribute it. Everyone ate till they were full and they took up twelve baskets of fragments of bread and fish when all was done. The Bible records that there were five thousand men who were fed, along with other members of the family. A notable miracle.
Don't doubt the miracles of God through the Holy Spirit. They are just as much for today as in Christ's time. One family testified in a church I attended a while ago that they were struggling and were out of both food and money to buy more. They were in tough times. But when they opened the door the next morning, someone had left them a bag of groceries on their front step. That wasn't the same kind of miracle that was recorded in the Bible, but God moved on someone's heart to let them know their need, and that person acted to fulfill what God wanted done. Sometimes, that's a bigger miracle than the breaking of the bread.
But be clear that miracles do happen. Our church runs a food pantry, and we had decided to distribute a ham to each family who came. I don't remember at this point if it was Thanksgiving or Christmas. We knew how many hams had been purchased and they were in the various freezers used for storage. As families came, they got a ham. When the tray was empty, someone would go back for another tray. Many more people showed up than expected, and more hams were given out than were purchased, and when the pantry closed that night, there were still hams in the freezers. God is still in the helping people business.
People can scoff all they want about dusty old scriptures. But when the same things are happening today as the Bible says happened, it's a good reason to believe all the Bible.
Who Needs a Boat?
Finally, the end of Mark 6:45-56 records what happened after the feeding of the 5,000+. Jesus sent the disciples by boat to Bethsaida and He stayed behind to send the people away. After doing so, He went up to a mountain to pray. When evening came, the boat was out in the middle of the sea and Jesus was back on shore. The wind was against them and they were trying to row across. Jesus traveled across the water by foot and almost passed them. When they saw Him, they thought they were seeing a ghost and were afraid, but Jesus tells them to be happy and not afraid because it really was Him.
He came up to the ship and climbed in and immediately the wind died down and they were amazed and wondered at all that was happening, because they forgot what had just happened with the fishes.
I often pray for more miracles and divine healing to occur, because I feel that we need to get people's attention again and it is my hope that this would do it. But every time I think that, I'm also reminded of both the story of Lazarus and the rich man, where Jesus concludes that even if a person were to rise from the grave to correct the ways of the rich man's relatives, it wouldn't make a difference. Also, in this case even His disciples had forgotten Jesus' abilities to change the world by multiplying the loaves and fish. And it brings me a bit of despair that even the absolutely supernatural things wouldn't be enough to touch the hearts of this generation.
If you're a Spirit filled believer, the Santa Ana winds are blasting California and fires spread uncontrollably, and God prompts you to pray, pray to God "Peace be still!" (Mark 4:39) Pray for the little cloud in the distance that will bring heavy rain (1 Kings 18:22) When hurricanes or tornadoes threaten, it is again appropriate to pray "Peace be still!" if God is nudging your heart. Nobody can know the will of God in most things but if you're prompted to do something, do it. It never hurts to pray, even if you don't feel a nudging. But be expecting results if you do feel a nudging. Just be sure to give Him the glory if things turn out okay. All you're doing is responding to His orders. Don't just say my prayer couldn't do anything and ignore God's prompting.
But the last verses give me hope that maybe, just maybe, the supernatural might make a difference, even in our jaded generation. For in these last two verses in this chapter the people in the surrounding areas brought in everyone who was sick, even carrying them in beds so that as Jesus passed by they might touch His clothes and be healed. And the Bible declares that as many as were able to touch Him were made whole. And knowing Jesus' character, He wasn't trying to make Himself scarce and make it through the crowds quickly because He had someplace to be. How much more would be done in churches today if missionaries and evangelists didn't have to keep to a schedule or be done at a certain time to make a flight? How much more could be done in church services if we weren't trying to keep the worship service to exactly n minutes and the service to exactly m minutes in order to get people out the door to Sunday lunch? Something to think about.