By Becky Bramlett Austin
When we studied these same events in Matthew, I focused most of my comments on the feeding of the 5000. Today, however, as I studied Mark 6, other facets of this chapter caused me to reflect on what my eyes truly see and in whom my heart truly trusts.
In vs 1-6, Jesus returns to his own country and although he amazed the people there with his wisdom and knowledge, they quickly dismissed any notion that he could be the Messiah because they focused on his human labels: “Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary, the brother of James, and Joses, and of Judah, and Simon? and are not his sisters here with us? And they were offended at him.” (v 3). They could not comprehend how the common boy/young man they had watched grow up among them could possibly be the incarnate God, the Messiah. How hard it is sometimes to look past the familiarity of what we know about a person and see the handiwork of God. When we put limitations on others because of our stereotypes and prejudices, we limit our ability to see in those people what God wants us to see and we limit how he may want to teach us or bless us through them. Especially if we have a history with someone, we may not find it easy to give them the grace to be anything more than what we think they can be.
In vs 12 – 13, Jesus sends the disciples out in pairs and gives them specific instructions to limit their provisions and rely on the hospitality of those they find to stay with during their journey. I’m a think ahead and prepare for any possible scenario kind of person. For example, I keep a “just in case” bag in my car with all kinds of things I might need for everyday life situations. These instructions from Jesus would probably be hard for me to comfortably follow. But sometimes, I think God asks us to go into situations without our usual provisions and creature comforts. Sometimes he asks us to just trust Him to provide what we need and through whom he chooses to provide it. Sometimes he may need others to see that we are willing to do just that so that it builds their faith too.
The final encouraging take away from this chapter for me was the compassion of Jesus to notice our human need for rest and comfort. When the disciples returned from their journeys, Jesus wanted to hear all about it. Just like prayer today. I think God wants us to share with him our day. And Jesus was concerned about their need for rest after the hustle and bustle of being busy.
“And he said unto them, Come ye yourselves apart into a desert place, and rest a while” (v 31).
When the disciples were out in the boat and Jesus remained alone to pray, he noticed the effort of their rowing against the storms and wind. “And he saw them toiling in rowing; for the wind was contrary unto them: and about the fourth watch of the night he cometh unto them, walking upon the sea..” (v48). I find comfort in knowing that Jesus notices when I am struggling with the efforts of rowing against my own winds of life. Notice that when Jesus came to them, the winds were still rough. Jesus comes to us in the midst of our storm. We may not have the peace of the winds being settled yet, but we can take comfort that the one who controls those winds is near. We just have to have eyes to see him and hearts that trust him. What wonderful things did you observe from Mark 6?