The Gospel of Mark (Catholic Commentary on Sacred Scripture)

Healy, Mary, Williamson, Peter S., Healy, Mary

• Publisher: Baker Academic
• Year: 2008
• ISBN:
  9781441201980
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Biblical Commentary

There is an increasing hunger among Catholics to study the Bible in depth and in a way that integrates Scripture with Catholic doctrine, worship, and daily life. In October 2008, a meeting of the world Synod of Bishops scheduled by Pope Benedict XVI will focus on "The Word of God in the Life and Mission of the Church." Coinciding with that meeting is the launch of the Catholic Commentary on Sacred Scripture (CCSS), a series that responds to the desire of Catholics to access the living Word of God. The Gospel of Mark is the first of seventeen volumes, which will cover the entire New Testament. Written by trusted Catholic biblical scholars, these commentaries interpret Scripture in the light of Catholic tradition. Accessibly written yet substantive, the CCSS fills a gap in the available literature by offering commentaries that cover more than brief study guides but are less daunting than scholarly commentaries.

Understanding the Bread I

Mark 6:33–7:37

The return of the Twelve is followed by a part of the Gospel known as the “Bread Section” (6:33–8:26), in which bread, artos, appears no less than seventeen times.[1] Mark has carefully arranged this section to show a deepening revelation of the mystery of Jesus, centering on the theme of bread. Twice Jesus miraculously feeds a multitude with a few loaves and fish, each time followed by a crossing of the lake, a conflict with Pharisees, a healing, and finally a confession of faith. It is as if Jesus had to repeat the sequence for its full significance to dawn on his disciples. At the middle and end of the section he heals a deaf man and a blind man, symbolizing his opening of the spiritually deaf ears and blind eyes of his disciples.

Throughout the section, bread serves as a keyword for an understanding of Jesus and his mission, which the disciples often lack (6:52; 8:14–21). Through the events recounted here Mark prepares the reader to grasp the significance of the climactic bread event in the Gospel, the eucharistic banquet. Ultimately the bread signifies the passion and glory of the Son of Man, who will give his life for us as spiritual food (14:22).

The Compassion of Jesus (6:33–34)

---

33People saw them leaving and many came to know about it. They hastened there on foot from all the towns and arrived at the place before them.

34When he disembarked and saw the vast crowd, his heart was moved with pity for them, for they were like sheep without a shepherd; and he began to teach them many things.

---

OT: Sir 15:3; Isa 40:11; Jer 31:10; Ezek 34:11–16

NT: 1 Pet 2:25. // Matt 14:13–14; Luke 9:11

Catechism: the Good Shepherd, 754

Lectionary: 6:34–44: Mass in Time of Famine

6:33 The previous scene ended with Jesus and his disciples going off to a “deserted place” for some much-needed rest. The moment word gets out that Jesus is taking off by boat the people anticipate where he will go and run there on foot, arriving before them. By the time the boat lands the shore is no longer deserted but lined with a “vast crowd.”

6:34 The hoped-for retreat has been sabotaged. But instead of reacting with exasperation Jesus is moved with pity at the sight of the needy crowds. This is one of the few occasions where Mark gives us a glimpse into the emotions of Jesus, here using a verb that connotes a deeply felt, gut reaction (see 1:41; 8:2). Pity, or compassion, is one of the most distinctive attributes of God (Ps 86:15; Isa 54:7–8; Hosea 11:8). Jesus recognizes that the people are like sheep without a shepherd, a phrase often used to describe the condition of God’s people in the absence of sound leadership.[2] As shepherdless sheep are likely to scatter, get lost, and quickly become vulnerable to predatory beasts, so when leadership fails, God’s people are likely to stray away from fidelity to him and become prey to their enemies. After Israel had experienced centuries of incompetent, self-seeking, and corrupt leadership (as exemplified by Herod Antipas), there was a growing recognition that ultimately only God himself can adequately guide his people and provide for their needs. The prophets had announced a great promise: “Thus says the Lord GOD: I myself will look after and tend my sheep.… I myself will pasture my sheep; I myself will give them rest” (Ezek 34:11, 15; see Isa 40:11; Jer 31:10). Mark hints that Jesus himself is the divine Shepherd (see John 10:1–18), the fulfillment of God’s promise to care for his people directly and no longer through an intermediary.

In Matthew’s version of this incident, Jesus responds to the people’s need by healing the sick (Matt 14:14). But for Mark, Jesus exercises his saving power first and foremost by teaching. Indeed his teaching is healing, since it liberates people from their captivity to evil (see Mark 1:27). At the same time, his teaching is feeding, since by proclaiming the good news of the kingdom Jesus is satisfying their spiritual hunger. Often in Scripture receiving divine wisdom is symbolized by eating and drinking (Prov 9:1–5; Sir 15:3; 24:18–22; Amos 8:11). Even before Jesus multiplies the loaves, the people are already feasting on a banquet of wisdom—a point made explicitly in John, where the “bread” is Jesus’ teaching (John 6:35–50).

The Feeding of the Five Thousand (6:35–44)

---

35By now it was already late and his disciples approached him and said, “This is a deserted place and it is already very late. 36Dismiss them so that they can go to the surrounding farms and villages and buy themselves something to eat.” 37He said to them in reply, “Give them some food yourselves.” But they said to him, “Are we to buy two hundred days’ wages worth of food and give it to them to eat?” 38He asked them, “How many loaves do you have? Go and see.” And when they had found out they said, “Five loaves and two fish.” 39So he gave orders to have them sit down in groups on the green grass. 40The people took their places in rows by hundreds and by fifties. 41Then, taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, he said the blessing, broke the loaves, and 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 they picked up twelve wicker baskets full of fragments and what was left of the fish. 44Those who ate [of the loaves] were five thousand men.

---

OT: Num 11:13, 22; 2 Kings 4:42–44; Isa 55:1–2

NT: Mark 14:22. // Matt 14:15–21; Luke 9:12–17; John 6:5–13

Catechism: the miracles of the loaves, 1335

6:35 The feeding of the five thousand is one of the most memorable events in Jesus’ public ministry—in fact, the only miracle attested in all four Gospels (Matt 14:14–21; Luke 9:11–17; John 6:5–13). Mark recounts this dramatic event, like the earlier supper with sinners (Mark 2:15–17), as not only a meal but also a revelation of Jesus’ identity and messianic mission. Almost every line echoes the Old Testament, providing clues to the meaning of Jesus’ action. In contrast to the opulent Herodian banquet just recounted (6:14–30), which ended in a death, here Jesus feeds ordinary people with very simple fare, leading to life.

Verses 35–39 contain the most extended conversation in Mark, which begins with the disciples recommending that Jesus “dismiss” the people for supper. This seems like a reasonable suggestion, but in reality it shows that they fail to perceive the significance of what is happening, a failure that will recur several times in the bread section (see 6:52; 7:18; 8:17, 21). What have they missed? They remind Jesus that they are in a deserted place (erēmos topos), but in the Old Testament, the desert or wilderness (erēmos) is the very place where God himself provides superabundantly for his people. In the desert God had shown his goodness by feeding the people with manna (Exod 16), the “bread from heaven” (Ps 78:24–25) and “food of angels” (Wis 16:20–21). By letting the Israelites experience hunger and then providing for their physical needs, God had taught them that he would satisfy their spiritual hunger as well: “not by bread alone does man live, but by every word that comes forth from the mouth of the LORD” (Deut 8:3).

6:36 The disciples have overlooked the significance of these biblical events for their present situation. By asking Jesus to send the people away, they are suggesting that he let the sheep fend for themselves—as if by leaving Jesus, the people will get something they cannot get from him! Ironically the disciples advise that the people buy themselves something to eat, unaware that Jesus is already fulfilling God’s promise to provide a food that no money can buy: “You who have no money, come, receive grain and eat; Come, without paying and without cost, drink wine and milk! Why spend your money for what is not bread; your wages for what fails to satisfy? Heed me, and you shall eat well, you shall delight in rich fare” (Isa 55:1–2).

6:37 Jesus’ reply is startling—it seems deliberately to intensify the predicament: Give them some food yourselves. Knowing exactly what he is about to do, he is seeking first to awaken his disciples’ faith by calling them to handle a situation that is clearly beyond their own resources. Even more, he is calling for their active participation in his own divine work of providing for the needs of the people.

6:38 The disciples’ response has a tone of astonishment and even sarcasm. Their perplexity recalls Moses’ complaint to God in the desert: “Where can I get meat to give to all this people?… Can enough sheep and cattle be slaughtered for them? If all the fish of the sea were caught for them, would they have enough?” (Num 11:13, 22; see Ps 78:19). Jesus does not answer directly, but instructs them to bring to him the little they have, which turns out to be five loaves and two fish. It is significant that he insists on beginning with what they have to offer. Jesus does not want to create bread out of stones (see Matt 4:3; Luke 4:3), or out of thin air, but to take and miraculously multiply what his disciples are able to give out of what they have—a principle that will bear on all their future apostolic labor.

6:39–40 In preparation for the miracle Jesus instructs the people to sit down in groups. The word for groups, symposia, suggests the image of guests reclining at a dinner party. Jesus is hosting a banquet in the desert! It is the messianic banquet foretold by Isaiah (Isa 25:6; 55:1–2). The green grass is not an accidental detail, but an allusion to the “green pastures” in which the Lord, the Good Shepherd, gives his people repose and sets a table before them, in the well-known psalm (Ps 23:2, 5). It also evokes the prophetic promise that God would transform the desert into a place of refreshment and life (Isa 35:1; Ezek 34:25–31). The people’s orderly seating in rows by hundreds and by fifties recalls the arrangement of the tribes of Israel as they camped in the desert (Exod 18:21–25). Once again (as in 1:2–8) Mark hints that what is occurring is a new exodus, in which God is feeding his people with a new “bread from heaven” (see Exod 16:4).

6:41 Mark describes Jesus’ actions with a string of verbs that his readers would immediately recognize as a foreshadowing of the Last Supper (14:22): he took … blessed … broke … and gave the loaves to his disciples to distribute to the people, along with the fish. The word for loaves is the plural of artos, bread. Looking up to heaven was a traditional gesture of prayer (see 7:34); for Jesus, it expresses the orientation of his whole being to the Father. The blessing was probably the customary Jewish thanksgiving before a meal: “Blessed are you, O LORD our God, King of the universe, who brings forth bread from the earth.” Unlike the other verbs, gave is in a form that signifies a continuing action: Jesus kept giving his disciples the bread to distribute to the people. The way for them to participate in his miraculous provision for the people is to continually receive from him. To set before is a verb often used to express hospitality at table (Gen 18:8; 1 Sam 28:22; Luke 11:6), and accents Jesus’ welcome of the people in contrast to the disciples’ request to send them away (Mark 6:36).

6:42 The miracle itself happens in a quiet, unobtrusive way, as if the extraordinary increase of the loaves and fishes escapes the notice of some of the people. Unlike most of Jesus’ miracles, this one is not followed by exclamations of amazement and wonder. What is most important is that all ate and were satisfied. Just as in the miracle of the manna in the desert, there is more than enough to satiate the hunger of all (Exod 16:18; Hosea 13:5–6). As the psalmist proclaims, “You open wide your hand and satisfy the desire of every living thing” (Ps 145:16). By providing superabundantly for his people, Jesus has taken on the role of God himself, fulfilling the prophecy of Isaiah: “The Lord will give you the bread you need and the water for which you thirst. No longer will your Teacher hide himself, but with your own eyes you shall see your Teacher” (Isa 30:20). The physical feeding on bread and fish is an outward sign of an interior feasting on the revelation of God that alone can fully satisfy the human heart.

6:43–44 The extraordinary abundance is highlighted by the leftovers far exceeding the original amount, verifying that no one went away hungry: twelve wicker baskets full. Jesus’ miracle overwhelmingly surpasses that of the prophet Elisha, who had fed a hundred men with twenty barley loaves (2 Kings 4:42–44). The enormous crowd includes five thousand men, which could amount to some twenty thousand people with the inclusion of women and children (see Matt 14:21). The disciples careful...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Series Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Endorsements
• Dedication
• Contents
• Illustrations
• Editors’ Preface
• Abbreviations
• Introduction
• Outline of Mark
• Prologue to the Gospel
• A New Teaching with Authority
• Physician, Bridegroom, and Lord of the Sabbath
• A New Israel and a New Family
• Parables of the Kingdom
• Authority over Nature, Demons, Disease, and Death
• Jesus Comes to His Own
• Understanding the Bread I
• Understanding the Bread II
• On the Way of Discipleship I
• On the Way of Discipleship II
• The Gospel in Daily Life
• On the Way of Discipleship III
• The Lord Comes to His Temple
• The Authority of the Son
• The Beginning of the End
• The Hour of Decision
• Betrayal and Condemnation
• The Crucifixion
• The Resurrection
• Suggested Resources
• Glossary
• Index of Pastoral Topics
• Index of Sidebars
• Geography of Palestine in the Time of Christ
• Notes
• Back Cover