Mark 6

Steve Schwetz: What would it have been like to walk with Jesus during his earthly ministry? I'm Steve Schwetz, welcoming you as we travel through the Bible for a glimpse of what we would have seen, heard, and experienced. Now our study through the Gospel of Mark continues in chapter 6. So come along with Jesus as he ministers in the Galilee region. Just picture yourself sitting in the crowd as he taught on grassy hillsides or imagine the look on people's faces when Jesus touched them and they were healed. And in this section of Mark, we'll also get to be there with them on the lake when Jesus stepped out of the boat and walked on water. That's all ahead of us for this time on the Bible bus. And if you're new to Through the Bible, we wish you a warm welcome as you hop aboard with us. You're in for a wonderful and unique way to study the Bible going through the entire Word of God in 5 years. We do go back and forth between the Old and New Testaments. And we do that so that you can see the big picture of the Bible and the precious and deep truths of what it means to walk with God. And if you want to get more out of these studies, Dr. McGee compiled notes and outlines and they're available anytime in our app or download them for free at ttb.org. Just visit the resources section and click on Briefing the Bible. Or to request an abbreviated paperback version by mail, call 1-800-65-BIBLE or write to Box 7100 Pasadena, California 91109. In Canada, Box 25325 London, Ontario N6C 6B1. Now another great resource to guide your personal study is our Mark Bible Companion. With a summary of Dr. McGee's teaching and some great discussion questions, you can read it with your Bible open and your heart ready to go deeper as the Lord leads you through his word. Look for it and Briefing the Bible in our app or at ttb.org. Let's commit this time to the Lord in prayer. Father, thank you for this look into the life of Jesus as he walked the earth. Thank you for the joy that we have in knowing and following him. Give us eyes to see him at work in our lives. We ask this in the name of your son, Jesus Christ. Amen. We're off to Mark chapter 6 on Through the Bible with Dr. J. Vernon McGee.
Dr. J. Vernon McGee: Now as we come today to the sixth chapter of Mark, we find that the Lord Jesus makes a return visit to Nazareth. And he sends out the 12 to preach and they report back to him. Then he feeds the 5,000. He walks on the water. He heals in the land of Gennesaret. And then we have the incident that had taken place previously to the incidents recorded in this chapter of John the Baptist who had been murdered by Herod to please Herodias. Now we read beginning with verse 1. And he went out from thence and came into his own country and his disciples follow him. And when the Sabbath day was come, he began to teach in the synagogue. And many hearing him were astonished saying, From whence hath this man these things? And what wisdom is this which is given unto him that even such mighty works are wrought by his hands? And then their reaction there in Nazareth is this. Verse 3. Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary, the brother of James and Joses and Judah and Simon and are not his sisters here with us? And they were offended of him. Now this incident that is here has been put down by the side of the fourth chapter of Luke. And the critic likes to say that you have here a contradiction in the Bible that you have two accounts that conflict one with the other. Well, the fact of the matter is you have the record of two visits that our Lord made to his hometown of Nazareth. And I would like to say that I think he probably made other visits to Nazareth, but these are the two that are recorded. Now in Luke 4, you have the first visit. And when he returned back there, he was alone. But here you find in verse 11 that his disciples were with him. And he gives them that commission there. And on his first visit, there was no miracle performed. And here we're told he healed a few sick folk. And at his first visit, he left suddenly when they tried to kill him. And here Matthew tells us that he remained in this area. On both occasions, however, he entered the synagogue and taught. And on both occasions, he was rejected by his fellow townsfolk. And we find here therefore that you do not have a conflict, but two records of two visits that he made to his hometown. The first time he left, went down to Capernaum, made that his headquarters. And again, he wanted to reach his hometown. In verse 1, when it says here his own country, it's literally his fatherland. That it literally means. And it was the custom of our Lord to go to the synagogue on the Sabbath day wherever he was. I think he felt the need to worship God in this way. And also it was the place to reach the people of that day. Now his teaching amazed those who had known him, his words, his works, and wonders. Likewise, occasioned a consternation on the part of his fellow citizens here. You see, they raised the question. They actually did not believe that Nazareth could produce anyone like Jesus. And as they looked at themselves and they were judging, of course, Nazareth by themselves and Nazareth hadn't done too well by them. They just figured that they couldn't be one like the Lord Jesus. And they had no faith in one of their own and likewise, they had no faith in themselves. And this passage also reveals that Mary had other children. They were half brothers and sisters of Jesus. And I think the Jew that's mentioned here is evidently the author of the Epistle of Jude. And they were scandalized because of him. They thought they knew him. And of course, this was their stumbling stone. I think there's a danger today of getting familiar with Jesus. He is one that you don't get familiar with at all. And that was their problem. They thought they knew him and they did not. They had been familiar with him. They'd seen him as a boy grow up in the town. Now you'll notice here in verse 4, but Jesus said under them, A prophet is not without honor, but in his own country and among his own kin and in his own house. And I think the common colloquialism of the day is apropos right here. An expert is an ordinary fellow from another town. We always think that if whoever it is comes from afar, they know more than our crowd knows. And that's I guess maybe the reason some of us go up and down and through the country ministering elsewhere. I think sometimes many of us are more effective away from home than we are at home. Now you'll notice though what happens and he could there, this is verse 5, he could there do no mighty work save that he laid his hands upon a few sick folk and healed them. And he marveled because of their unbelief. And he went round about the villages teaching. So you see that he did not leave this area at this time, but stayed in the area. Now the first time, he was practically run out of town, went down to Capernaum, made that his headquarters. Now this is a remarkable passage. However, that he couldn't perform there any mighty work because of their unbelief. You know the only limitation to omnipotence is unbelief. Faith is the one requirement to release the power of God in salvation. And that great chapter, Isaiah 53 that reveals God's so great salvation, the prophet in verse 1 opens with this. Who hath believed our report? And to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed? Who will believe it? Well, if they don't, my friend, you've shut off the power of God, of omnipotence. You see unbelief insulated and isolated the power of God. And it does that today. Now verse 6 here, he marveled because of their unbelief. And you'll notice that we've called attention to this before that on two occasions he marveled. Once he marveled at the unbelief that we see here. And then in the incident in Matthew 8 verse 10 of the faith of the centurion, he marveled at his faith. When Jesus heard it, he marveled and said to them that followed, Verily I say unto you, I have not found so great faith no, not in Israel. And the thing that should interest us here and this expression we're apt to pass it by, it seems so inconsequential. And he went round about the villages teaching. And here is a wonderful lesson today for some Christian workers. We have discovered that there's certain men in God's work that do not want to go to a small place to minister. They want the big places. They want to go to the big places. I've actually been criticized by ministers and by Christian workers of why do you go to certain small churches? Why don't you go to this church and that church? Well, very candidly, I've made a rule of trying to accept invitations as they come in. And any minister that I have held a meeting for across this country will tell you, I never asked him when I came how big his church was. I never asked him even whether he was going to even give me an offering or not or even pay expenses. I never have an understanding along that line because I feel that that's something that I should not do. Now that doesn't mean other men shouldn't do it. That's their business, but this happens to be my business. And my feeling is that our Lord set us a tremendous example here when it says that he went about their villages. Imagine, friends, the Lord of glory, the son of God here on this earth. He could send a telegram over to Rome and say, Get the Colosseum for him. Coming over to have a big meeting. I'm afraid today that we have some men that are suffering from megalomania. They feel like they have to have a big crowd. May I say to you that we need to learn and all of us need to learn that. I remember years ago hearing the story about Dr. Scofield of the Scofield Bible. He was invited to speak in a church over in North Carolina. And the young preacher that night was apologizing to him because he only had just a handful out. It had rained that night and he had about 20 25 people. And he leaned over and said to Dr. Scofield, I apologize for this small crowd out to hear you preach and teach. And Dr. Scofield said to this young man, You know, he said, my Lord only had 12 men in his school and in his congregation most of the time. And if he had 12, who is C.I. Scofield to talk about a big crowd? Well, my friend, that's a tremendous thing. And I call attention to that here and probably ought not to and are through the Bible program because there's so many tremendous things in this chapter, but some of them we've been over before. And I'll just hit some high points now. When you come here to verses 7 through 13, the 12 he sends out now. And their message is repentance. They're to go out and give the message as he has been giving it out. And he tells them here. He called unto him the 12. He began to send them forth by two and two. And Matthew didn't tell us that by the way and neither does Luke when they record this incident that they went out two by two. And he gave them power over unclean spirits. And that seemed to be the very highest power they could exercise. And commanded them that they should take nothing for their journey save a staff only, no script, no bread, no money in their purse, but be shod with sandals and not put on two coats. And why that? Well, they were to travel light. This is to indicate the urgency and the lightness of the hour and the importance of their mission and that they were totally dependent on God. Now later on, they were told to take these things because they were going on a longer journey than they made at this time. Matthew makes it clear they only went to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. And they weren't though to accept the hospitality that was offered to them. He said unto them and whatsoever place you enter into a house, there abide till you depart from that place. And whosoever shall not receive you nor hear you when you depart thence, shake off the dust under your feet against them. Verily I say unto you, it shall be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorra in the day of judgment than for that city. So that this is to be a serious and solemn trip thereon. And light creates responsibility and to reject the grace of God invited his judgment. It does the same thing today. And they went out and preached that men should repent. And they cast out many demons and anointed with oil many that were sick and healed them. Now they preached a message of repentance. And the miracles authenticated their message. And this commission was limited to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. It's not the pattern for today. Repentance is part of the gospel message. However, it's contained in the command to believe. And now we find here in verse 14 we have that incident of Herod who had put to death John the Baptist. And I went into that in a little detail back in Matthew, you'll recall. And actually it's a longer record there. The fame of Jesus, you see, had spread throughout that area not only among the common people, but even Herod on the throne had heard. And this was a strange reaction of King Herod. The record of the murder of John the Baptist had taken place sometimes before other things that are recorded here took place. And I think this explains Herod's strange and superstitious reaction here. Now will you notice it and King Herod heard of him for his name was spread abroad. And he said that John the Baptist was risen from the dead and therefore mighty works do show forth themselves in him. And this man is very superstitious as you can see. And others said that it's a Elias, another said that it's a prophet or is one of the prophets. There was a great deal of mingle reaction toward the Lord Jesus and who he was. And there's that same reaction today by the way. We find that different people have different viewpoints of them. And these other people, they had a different explanation for the person and the presence and the power of the Lord Jesus. And there was this confusion as you can see. Now Herod definitely was afraid. Notice. But when Herod heard therefore, he said it's John whom I beheaded and he's risen from the dead. Now that incident is given. We went over it in Matthew of how Herodias had her daughter to dance before him. And she knew what a lecherous, a lustful old man he was. And on that basis why he gave her a blank check, she could ask anything she wanted and so the mother was prepared and asked for the head of John the Baptist. And actually this record here Mark makes it very clear that Herod liked John the Baptist and had heard him. And of course, John the Baptist had condemned him for taking Herodias who was not his wife at all, but his brother's wife. And that they were living in sin and so on. And as a result why she naturally hated him, wanted to get rid of him. And this was her diabolical plot in order to accomplish that. Now we come down to verse 30. The apostles have been out now and they come back and report verse 30. And the apostles gathered themselves together under Jesus and told him all things both what they had done and what they had taught. And he said unto them, Come ye yourselves apart into a desert place and rest a while. For there were many coming and going and they had no leisure so much as to eat. It's impossible for us to really understand how busy and how great the demands were upon him. He had to withdraw in order to rest and take his apostles there. And now we have the record here of the feeding of the 5,000. All four gospel writers record this. And I have dealt with it very casually and Matthew, I'm going to pass over it here in Mark. And when we get to John's gospel, I'll go into detail and bring up many things that are here. Now you have also the incident we had in Matthew of him walking on the water to come to them. And this is a very wonderful thing. We saw it in detail in Matthew. And we find here no record about Simon Peter coming to him. After all, Mark got his information on the human plane from Simon Peter. And Simon Peter just left out this part of it. But Matthew gives us that. But the one thing that I left out here is in verse 48. He saw them toiling in rowing. There those men were down there that night mingling their sweat with the waves, the salty waves that were breaking over that little boat as they were straining at the oars. And they actually thought they were going down. But it says he saw them toiling and rowing. And I love that. I don't know where you are today and I do not know what position you're in. You may be in a hard spot right now. You may be sitting in the corner in the darkness. You may be facing temptations and problems that are too great to bear. You may find yourself out on a stormy sea and you feel like the little bark your end's going down. I have some news for you, Christian friend. He saw them toiling in rowing. He sees you. He knows your problem. You don't have to send up a flare to let him know. He knows. Oh, today that you might commit your way to him in a very definite way. And that is something that many of us need to do in times of darkness is to just commit our way unto him. He saw them toiling and rowing. And only Mark by the way records that. And then we find that he then came to them and he entered into the ship with him. And they were amazed. Mark says beyond measure. Now we have in the conclusion of this chapter that when he went over to the land of Gennesaret, I'm reading verse 53. And when they had passed over, they came into the land of Gennesaret and drew to the shore. When they were come out of the ship straight way, they knew him. Now I want you to listen to this very carefully in conclusion. And ran through the whole region round about, began to carry about in beds those that were sick where they heard he was. And wheresoever he entered into villages or cities or country, they laid the sick in the streets, besought him that he might touch if it were but the border of his garment. And as many as touched him were made whole. You and I that they can't even envisage the number of sick people that he had healed. I happen to know that there's one denomination that is offered, I think $1,000 if anybody will come forward that had been healed by faith healing. And I understand that $1,000 has never been taken yet. That's amazing, isn't it? When you hear all this propaganda today that's going around. In Jesus' day you could have brought together thousands of people that he'd heal. My friend, he was genuine. It was real. And that's the reason the enemy never denied what he did. We'll have to leave off there today, but we begin at chapter 7 next time. May God richly bless you, my beloved.
Steve Schwetz: If you'd like to make sure things are right between you and the Lord, we've got some helpful resources waiting for you. Just click on How Can I Know God in our app or visit ttb.org. And if you'd prefer, we can also mail a couple of these resources to you. Just call us at 1-800-65-BIBLE. That's 1-800-652-4253. Or better yet, email us at [email protected]. And when you're in touch, would you tell us how you listen to Through the Bible? Is it online or by podcast? Maybe through one of our apps or on your favorite Christian radio station. You know we'd love to know that information. It does help us as we make wise decisions about where and how to invest the resources that God has so graciously provided through faithful friends like you. So thanks in advance for your help. As we go, I'm Steve Schwetz praying for you to be strong and courageous, full of faith in God as you walk with him.
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