Encounter Jesus – Mark Week 6

Jesus the New Exodus

Mark 6: 30-52

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Mark Week 6 – The New Exodus Handout

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Lesson Notes

We are still in the first half of Mark – “Who Is This Man?” Now we are looking at 2 astounding miracles, usually taught separately, but we must understand them as linked thematically, chronologically, and verbally. They are one revelation.

Feeding the 5,000 – Read Mark 6: 30-44

  • 1 of 2 miracles so critical to understanding Jesus – it is recorded in all 4 gospels
  • Verses 30-33 – Background
    • Jesus had sent out the 12 to preach, heal, and cast out demons
    • They returned to tell Jesus all about it
    • Crowds were crazy, so Jesus took them to a desolate (desert) place to rest
    • We see what a sensation Jesus was – they couldn’t even eat in peace!
    • People saw them as they tried to get away and ran ahead of them on foot.
    • A huge crowd waited for them when they arrived – so much for rest!
  • Verses 34-36 – The Problem
    • Compassion on the crowd – leaderless sheep
      • Same phrase used in Numbers 27:17 when Moses asked God who should succeed him as leader
      • John the  Baptist was just killed. Pharisees, etc. aren’t real leaders.
      • No authentic spiritual leadership.
      • Ezekiel 34 – God promised to be their shepherd and send the Davidic Shepherd. John 10 – “I AM the Good Shepherd.”
    • Taught them many things – seems to have taught for hours
  • Verses 37-41 – The Solution
    • Verse 37 – Emphatic – “You give them something to eat”
    • Disciples panic – were they supposed to buy a bunch of bread???
    • Verse 38 – Jesus has them inventory supplies – 5 loaves, 2 fish
    • Verse 39-40 – They sit in groups. Precision here – 50s and 100s
      • The Greek here uses several words to evoke images of dinner parties, festive events, and reclining at banquet tables
      • Groups make it easy to count. We have confidence in the 5,000 count.
    • Verse 42-44 – The Miracle
      • They ALL ate and were satisfied
      • Took up 12 baskets of leftovers – way more than they started with
      • Elijah and Elisha (particularly parallel) both did much smaller food miracles
      • Emphasizing that Jesus is like them but greater
      • 5,000 men – plus women and children, based on other accounts
  • The Significance
    • Jesus takes a group of Jews out into the desert, teaches them, and provides bread from nothing
      • A miniature replay of the Exodus
      • Leadership and teaching in the desert like Moses
      • Deuteronomy 18:15 – God will raise up a prophet like Moses – Israel was waiting for that moment. Here it is!
      • But Moses didn’t make the bread in the desert – God provided the food
      • Jesus made the bread here – not only is He like Moses, He is greater, because He is God the Provider, Jehovah Jireh
    • When Jesus provides, it’s not just a little. It’s enough for the hungry to be satisfied, with leftovers. He knows what we need and He provides in abundance.
    • 12 baskets – any reference to 12 should make us immediately think of Israel (12 tribes). Jesus is the abundant provision for all Israel. That’s why he later feeds 4,000 Gentiles, to make clear He is their abundant provision as well.

Walking on Water – Read Mark 6: 45-52

  • Verses 45-47 – Background
    • Jesus sends the disciples on ahead by boat. He dismisses the crowd.
    • He goes up on the mountain to pray. He takes time at key moments to take extreme measures to get away and pray in solitude (e.g. Mark 1:35).
    • Disciples are struggling against the wind. They have been rowing for hours. Miraculously Jesus can see them in the middle of the night from miles away.
  • Verse 48 – Jesus comes to them between 3 and 6 a.m.
    • “He came to them, walking on the sea. He meant to pass by them”
    • Psalm 77:19, “Your way was through the sea, your path through the great waters; yet your footprints were unseen.”
    • In the Old Testament, God parts water a few times for Israel, but only He walks on it!
    • Job 9: 8, 11 – God “tramples the waves” and “passes by me”
    • Jesus is acting out Scripture, to demonstrate He is God
  • Verses 49-50
    • They see Him, think He’s a ghost, and freak out
    • “Take heart, it is I; Do not be afraid”
    • “It is I” = ego eimi (I AM). I AM = Name of God, Exodus 3: 14
    • With God with us, we need not fear
    • Even when He appears unexpectedly, He doesn’t want us to be afraid
    • Take courage/Don’t be afraid is a common instruction from God
    • As His people, we should not fear, because He is with us at all times
  • Verse 51 – He got in the boat and the wind ceased. Similar to Mark 4 in calming the storm.
    • They were utterly astounded. This is progress from Mark 4 where they are terrified.
    • But they still don’t get it!
  • Verse 52 – Emphasizes the disciples’ failure to understand
    • Makes clear the 2 miracles are linked and reveal the same thing about Jesus
    • They should have understood the making food in the desert thing – Jesus is God
    • Hard-hearted = Stubborn
    • They don’t get it and they don’t get who He is. Mark 8: 18-21 drives it home – they should have gotten it from the bread.
  • The Significance
    • Taken together: 1) A miraculous water crossing, and 2) miraculous provision of food in the desert
    • We’re to recognize this as a New Exodus
    • The Exodus was the  most important event in Jewish history. Defined them as a nation. Was what God pointed them to most often. It occurred to reveal God to the world.
    • Now Jesus is the New Exodus, the new greatest work of God
    • Israel was waiting eagerly for a second Exodus at that time
      • Had returned from exile 5 centuries prior, but it wasn’t the same
      • They weren’t free, they were poor, no presence of God
      • This wasn’t what had been promised – Isaiah 11 describes the Messiah leading a new Exodus
      • So they thought they were still in exile and were waiting for a prophet like Moses to lead them out of bondage in a new Exodus
    • With these 2 miracles, Jesus says clearly, “I am the New Exodus” – through Jesus lies freedom, rest, inheritance, plenty, God’s presence.

Next Week: Mark 8: 27- 9: 13 (Peter’s Confession and the Transfiguration of Jesus)