Join us as we journey through the complexities of Mark 6, a chapter teeming with the richness of Jesus’ miracles and teachings. Alan J. Huth guides us into a deeper understanding of the chapter’s narrative, from Jesus sending out the apostles, instructing them to carry the Gospel with nothing but faith and authority, to His own moments of solitary prayer. With reflections on miracles that left audiences in awe and believers with hardened hearts, we encourage you to ponder the transformative power of faith and what it means for you today.
Welcome to Add Bible, an audio daily devotion from the Ezra Project. We join Allen J. Huth as he shares Bible passages and comments from over 30 years of his personal Bible reading journals.
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Today we are in Mark chapter 6. It’s a long chapter, 56 verses, and we’ll listen to Faith Comes By Hearing’s reading of Mark 6.
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Mark 6 He went away from there and came to his hometown, and his disciples followed him. And on the Sabbath he began to teach in the synagogue, and many who heard him were astonished, saying, Where did this man get these things?
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What is the wisdom given to him? How are such mighty works done by his hands? Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary, and brother of James, and Joses, and Judas, and Simon?
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And are not his sisters here with us?
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And they took offense at him.
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And Jesus said to them, A prophet is not without honor, except in his hometown and among his relatives and in his own household.
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And he could do no mighty work there, except that he laid his hands on a few sick people and healed them. And he marveled because of their unbelief. And he went about among the villages teaching. And he called the twelve and began to send them out two by two and gave them authority over the unclean spirits. He charged them to take nothing for their journey except a staff, no bread, no bag, no money and their belts, but to wear sandals and not put on two tunics. And he said to them,
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Whenever you enter a house, stay there until you depart from there. And if any place will not receive you and they will not listen to you, when you leave, shake off the dust that is on your feet as a testimony against them.
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So they went out and proclaimed that people should repent. And they cast out many demons and anointed with oil many who were sick and healed them. King Herod heard of it, for Jesus’ name had become known.
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Some said, John the Baptist has been raised from the dead. That is why these miraculous powers are at work in him. But others said, He is Elijah. And others said, He is a prophet, like one of the prophets of old.
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But when Herod heard of it, he said, John, whom I beheaded, has been raised.
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For it was Herod who had sent and seized John and bound him in prison for the sake of Herodias, his brother Philip’s wife, because he had married her.
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For John had been saying to Herod, It is not lawful for you to have your brother’s wife.
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And Herodias had a grudge against him and wanted to put him to death, but she could not. For Herod feared John, knowing that he was a righteous and holy man and he kept him safe. When he heard him, he was greatly perplexed, and yet he heard him gladly. But an opportunity came when Herod, on his birthday, gave a banquet for his nobles and military commanders and the leading men of Galilee. For when Herodias’ daughter came in and danced, she pleased Herod and his guests, and the king said to the girl, Ask me for whatever you wish, and I will give it to you.
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And he vowed to her, Whatever you ask me, I will give you up to half of my kingdom.
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And she went out and said to her mother, For what should I ask?
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And she said, The head of John the Baptist.
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And she came in immediately with haste to the king and asked, saying,
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I want you to give me at once the head of John the Baptist on a platter.
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And the king was exceedingly sorry. But because of his oaths and his guests, he did not want to break his word to her. And immediately the king sent an executioner with orders to bring John’s head. He went and beheaded him in the prison and brought his head on a platter and gave it to the girl. And the girl gave it to her mother. When his disciples heard of it, they came and took his body and laid it in the tomb. The apostles returned to Jesus and told him all that they had done and taught. And he said to them, Come away by yourselves to a desolate place and rest a while. For many were coming and going, and they had no leisure even to eat. And they went away in the boat to a desolate place by themselves. Now many saw them going and recognized them, and they ran there on foot from all the towns and got there ahead of them. When he went ashore, he saw a great crowd, and he had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. And he began to teach them many things. And when it grew late, his disciples came to him and said,
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This is a desolate place, and the hour is now late. Send them away to go into the surrounding countryside and villages, and buy themselves something to eat.
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But he answered them, You give them something to eat.
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And they said to him, Shall we go and buy two hundred denarii worth of bread and give it to them to eat?
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And he said to them, How many loaves do you have? Go and see. And when they had found out, they said, five and two fish. Then he commanded them all to sit down in groups on the green grass. So they sat down in groups by hundreds and by fifties. And taking the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to heaven and said a blessing, and broke the loaves and gave them to the disciples to set before the people. And he divided the two fish among them all, and they all ate and were satisfied.” And they took up twelve baskets full of broken pieces and of the fish. And those who ate the loaves were five thousand men. Immediately he made his disciples get into the boat and go before him to the other side, to Bethsaida, while he dismissed the crowd. And after he had taken leave of them, he went up on the mountain to pray. And when evening came, the boat was out on the sea, and he was alone on the land. And he saw that they were making headway painfully, for the wind was against them. And about the fourth watch of the night, he came to them, walking on the sea. He meant to pass by them, but when they saw him walking on the sea, they thought it was a ghost and cried out, for they all saw him and were terrified. But immediately he spoke to them and said,
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Take heart, it is I. Do not be afraid.
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And he got into the boat with them, and the wind ceased. And they were utterly astounded, for they did not understand about the loaves, but their hearts were hardened. When they had crossed over, they came to land at Gennesaret and moored to the shore. And when they got out of the boat, the people immediately recognized him and ran about the whole region and began to bring the sick people on their beds to wherever they heard he was. And wherever he came, in villages, cities, or countryside, they laid the sick in the marketplaces and implored him that they might touch even the fringe of his garment. And as many as touched it were made well.
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In 1986, at 31 years old, I wrote about Mark 6. Discipleship. He sent apostles out to minister in pairs. Then I wrote, Jesus believed in rest from ministry. I continued, Jesus prayed privately. Those were my journal entries in 1986. In 1996, at 41 years old, I was reading the whole Bible that year, and I was reading Deuteronomy 6 and the first half of Mark 6 on the same day. I wrote a lot about Deuteronomy 6 and wrote nothing about Mark 6, the first 32 verses. The next day, again reading both Old Testament and New Testament, I did write about the last few verses of Mark 6. I wrote, Jesus… And then I wrote, the budget won’t allow us to provide ministry. And I was referring to verse 37, which says, But he answered them, you give them something to eat. And they said to him, shall we go and buy 200 denarii worth of bread and give it to them to eat? And that’s why I said, the budget won’t allow us to provide ministry. My journal continues, Jesus fed 5,000 people. The largest banquet we ever served in Colorado didn’t even reach 5,000. Jesus, it takes faith in a great God. He also went away alone to pray. In 2006, at 51 years old, I was reading numbers. And Mark on that day, again reading through the whole Bible, Old Testament and New. So I split the chapter of Mark 6 into two days. On this day I wrote, And he wondered at their unbelief. As in the Old Testament, Jesus found unbelief. He still wonders today. The next day when I finished off Mark 6, I wrote, Come away by yourselves to a secluded place and rest a while. Rest is a scriptural principle. So was ministering to the needs of others as Jesus felt compassion for them because they were like sheep without a shepherd. I’ll focus on just two aspects of Mark 6. The first is this concept of rest. Let’s begin with verse 30. The apostles returned to Jesus and told him all that they had done and taught. And he said to them, Come away by yourselves to a desolate place and rest a while. For many were coming and going, and they had no leisure even to eat. And they went away in the boat to a desolate place by themselves. Life is very busy. It was busy for the disciples and it’s busy for us today. Ministry is very busy. So often those of us in ministry are caught up in ministry so much that we’re wearing ourselves out. Rest is a scriptural principle. It’s in Genesis when God rested on the seventh day from creation. And here it is in the New Testament with Jesus saying to his disciples, go away and rest a while. That may be your application from this chapter today. Slow down. Rest a while. Life, work, ministry is all around you. It never stops. But God knew that. That’s why he created the Sabbath, a time of rest. Incorporate Sabbath rest in your day, in your week, in your life. Come away by yourselves to a desolate place and rest a while. The other point in this chapter I’d like to refer to is in verses 51 and 52. And he got into the boat with them, and the wind ceased. And they were utterly astounded, for they did not understand about the loaves, but their hearts were hardened. These disciples have just seen some great miracles. They’ve just seen Jesus feed 5,000 people. And two, walk on water. And you wonder why this verse says, and their hearts were hardened. I will refer to my English Standard Version Study Bible footnote on verses 51 and 52. It says, “…the wind ceased, their hearts were hardened. When Jesus calmed the storm earlier, the disciples had struggled with faith versus fear. Now they struggle with faith versus fear plus hard-heartedness.” Mark explains that multiplying the loaves should have demonstrated Jesus’ true identity to them, but neither that miracle nor the appearance of Jesus on the water could open their hearts to the reality of his divine nature. Have you seen God’s miracle working power in your own life? Did it draw you closer to him or did it harden your heart? I’ve heard many times of people who have been in a mess and they say, if God, you just get me out of this, I’ll follow you the rest of my life. God gets them out of the mess and they don’t follow him. It’s amazing that we can see the miracle working power of God in our lives or in the lives of others and still not run to him, but rather it ends up hardening our hearts. One of my own teenage sons once said, Dad, I was tired of seeing all the miracles in our life. How can seeing miracles harden our hearts toward God? Lord, forgive us. We are hard-hearted people. Maybe we haven’t seen you feed 5,000 people or walk on water, but we’ve seen your miracle working power in our lives. Forgive us when it hardens our hearts toward you. Draw me closer, Lord. Draw me closer to you. In Jesus’ name we ask it. Amen. AdBible is sponsored by the Ezra Project, connecting God’s people to God’s Word. 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