Feeding Four Thousand
1 In y those days there was again a large crowd, and they had nothing to eat. He called z the disciples a and said to them, 2 “I have compassion b on the crowd, because they’ve already stayed with me three days and have nothing to eat. 3 If I send them home hungry, they will collapse on the way, c and some of them have come a long distance.”
4 His disciples answered him, “Where can anyone get enough bread here in this desolate place to feed d these people? ”
5 “How many loaves do you have? ” he asked them.
“Seven,” they said. 6 He commanded the crowd to sit down on the ground. Taking the seven loaves, he gave thanks, broke e them, and gave them to his disciples to set before the people. So they served them to the crowd. 7 They also had a few small fish, and after he had blessed them, he said these were to be served as well. 8 They ate and were satisfied. Then they collected seven large baskets of leftover pieces. 9 About four thousand were there. He dismissed them. 10 And he immediately got into the boat with his disciples and went to the district of Dalmanutha.
The Leaven of the Pharisees and Herod
11 The f Pharisees g came and began to argue with him, demanding of him a sign h from heaven i to test j him. 12 Sighing deeply in his spirit, k he said, “Why does this generation l demand a sign? Truly I tell you, m no sign will be given to this generation.” 13 Then he left them, got back into the boat, and went to the other side.
14 The disciples had forgotten to take bread and had only one loaf with them in the boat. 15 Then n he gave them strict orders: “Watch out! Beware of the leaven ,o of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod.” p 16 They were discussing among themselves that they did not have any bread. 17 Aware of this, he said to them, “Why are you discussing the fact you have no bread? Don’t you understand or comprehend? Do you have hardened hearts? q 18 Do you have eyes and not see; do you have ears and not hear? ,r And do you not remember? s 19 When I broke the five loaves for the five thousand, how many baskets full of leftovers did you collect? ”
“Twelve,” they told him.
20 “When I broke the seven loaves for the four thousand, how many baskets full of pieces did you collect? ”
“Seven,” they said.
21 And he said to them, “Don’t you understand yet? ” t
Healing a Blind Man
22 They came to Bethsaida. u They brought a blind v man to him and begged him to touch him. 23 He took the blind man by the hand and brought him out of the village. Spitting w on his eyes and laying his hands on x him, he asked him, “Do you see anything? ”
24 He looked up and said, “I see people—they look like trees walking.” y
25 Again Jesus placed his hands on the man’s eyes. The man looked intently and his sight was restored and he saw everything clearly. 26 Then he sent z him home, saying, “Don’t even go into the village.” ,a
Peter’s Confession of the Messiah
27 Jesus b went out with his disciples to the villages of Caesarea Philippi. And on the road he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that I am? ”
28 They answered him, “John the Baptist; c others, Elijah; still others, one of the prophets.” d
29 “But you,” he asked them, “who do you say that I am? ”
Peter e answered him, “You are the Messiah.” f 30 And he strictly warned g them to tell no one about him.
His Death and Resurrection Predicted
31 Then h he began to teach them that it was necessary for the Son of Man i to suffer many things and be rejected j by the elders, k chief priests, and scribes, l be killed, and rise m after three days. n 32 He spoke openly about this. Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. 33 But turning around and looking at his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, “Get behind me, Satan! o You are not thinking about God’s concerns but human concerns.”
Take Up Your Cross
34 Calling the crowd along with his disciples, he said to them, “If anyone wants to follow after me, let him deny himself, p take up his cross, q and follow me. r 35 For whoever wants to save s his life will lose it, t but whoever loses u his life v because of me w and the gospel x will save it. y 36 For what does it benefit z someone to gain a the whole world b and yet lose c his life? d 37 What can anyone give in exchange for his life? e 38 For whoever is ashamed f of me and my words g in this adulterous and sinful h generation, i the Son of Man will also be ashamed of him when he comes in the glory j of his Father k with the holy l angels.” m
8:1–9. This section closes with a third story about Jesus’s ministry to the Gentiles, the feeding of the four thousand. On the Gentile, east side of the Sea of Galilee—perhaps in the vicinity of the healing of the demoniac (5:1–20)—Jesus attracts a large crowd that remains with him for three days (8:1–2). The type of “compassion” (8:2) Jesus feels for the persevering crowd is deep and powerful. Jesus does not want to dismiss the vulnerable multitude in the desolate region, and the disciples, sensing an impending crisis, ask where bread could be found for such a crowd in such a place (8:3–4). It may seem odd that the disciples, having witnessed the earlier feeding of the five thousand, would ask such a question. However, it is not unusual for even mature believers (and the disciples are not yet mature) to doubt the power of God after having experienced it.
E. Opposition from Pharisees and disciples (8:10–26). 8:10–13. Following the feeding of the four thousand, Jesus and the disciples cross to the west side of the Sea of Galilee, landing at Dalmanutha (8:10), the location of which is uncertain. The implication of the story, however, is that it was either near to or identical with Magadan (Mt 15:39), about three miles north of Tiberias. At Dalmanutha the Pharisees ask Jesus for “a sign from heaven” (8:11)—that is, for outward and compelling proof of his authority. Several words in 8:11–12 indicate the antagonism of the Pharisees. For Mark, the demand for a sign is an undisguised indication of unbelief. Jesus solemnly declares that unbelief will not be honored by a sign; he will not grant by empirical means what can be granted only by faith and trust. Jesus resolutely “left them” (8:13).
8:14–21. The lack of understanding that Jesus encountered in Dalmanutha now accompanies him in the boat among his disciples, who have only one loaf of bread with them on the voyage (8:14). Leaven ferments in dough, causing it to rise. In Jesus’s warning (8:15), the “leaven” appears to signify the disbelief of the Pharisees and Herod fermenting among the disciples. The disciples, however, uncomprehending of Jesus’s metaphor, remain fixed on “bread” (8:16). In an attempt to overcome the disciples’ obtuseness, Jesus presses them with several rhetorical questions (8:17–18). Jesus inquires whether the lessons of both miraculous feedings have been lost on the disciples (8:19–21). The conversation about bread in the boat marks a low point in the disciples’ understanding of Jesus and his ministry.
8:22–26. Mark is fond of juxtaposing two stories to demonstrate a relationship between them (e.g., 4:35–41 // 5:1–20). The placement of the healing of a blind man in Bethsaida (8:22–26) immediately following the conversation about bread in the boat (8:14–21) is another such example. In Bethsaida, a blind man is brought to Jesus (8:22). As with the healing of the deaf-mute in the Decapolis (7:31–37), Jesus conducts the man outside the village (to separate him from its unbelief [6:45]?), applies spittle to his eyes, and places his hands on him (8:23). Both acts enhance the personal nature of the encounter.
8:27–30. From Bethsaida, Jesus sets out with the disciples to Caesarea Philippi, twenty-five miles to the north at the foot of Mount Hermon (8:27a). In this region, which at the time was rife with competing religious claims, Jesus for the first time solicits from his disciples a claim about his identity (8:27b). The disciples repeat the popular opinion earlier voiced by Antipas (6:14–15) that Jesus is John the Baptist, Elijah, or one of the prophets (8:28). Great as these figures were, they are inadequate analogies, for they imply that Jesus is merely a reappearance of something that happened before. Identifying Jesus with preexistent categories is like pouring “new wine into old wineskins” (2:22). Not content with the opinions of others, Jesus presses the disciples for a personal confession (8:29a). Peter insightfully and courageously declares, “You are the Messiah” (8:29b). In the OT, “messiah” is an epithet of one who could come as a future Davidic king (2 Sm 7; Ps 2) to establish God’s reign on earth. By the first century, however, the concept of messiah had increasingly assumed military expectations.
8:31–33. In declaring Jesus “Messiah,” Peter supplies the right answer, but he has the wrong understanding. Rejecting Peter’s militant messianic understanding, Jesus teaches them that the Son of Man will “suffer many things and be rejected . . . , be killed, and rise after three days” (8:31). Jesus’s teaching is so contrary to the disciples’ expectations that he will repeat it three times (see also 9:31; 10:33–34) “on the road” to Jerusalem (8:27).
8:34–38. The subject then shifts from Christology to discipleship. For Mark, these are two sides of the same coin. A proper confession of Jesus is inevitably also a confession of what believers must become. In 8:34, Jesus teaches that discipleship consists of following him, denying self, and taking up one’s cross. In Jesus’s day the cross was a hated instrument of cruelty, suffering, dehumanization, and shame. Reserved for the lowest social classes, the cross was the extreme terror apparatus of the Roman totalitarian state. The image of the cross signifies a total claim on the disciple’s allegiance and a total relinquishment of his or her resources to Jesus.