Mark 4:35-32

SECTION 3. Jesus' Ministry Throughout Galilee and In The Surrounding Regions (4:35-9:32).

After the initial opening up of the story of Jesus with its continual emphasis on His unique authority, Who He was and what He had come to do (Mark 4:1), and the series of parables which have indicated how the Kingly Rule of God was to expand (Mark 4:1), Mark now indicates how this expansion continued to occur through the ministry of Jesus in Galilee and the surrounding regions. At the same time he continues to expand on the glory and authority of Jesus Christ Himself as revealed in His activities. This last which lead up to the disciples' recognition that He is the Messiah (Mark 8:29), in His subsequently being revealed in glory on a mountain in the presence of Peter, James and John (Mark 9:2), and in Jesus reinterpretation of His Messiahship in terms of the suffering Son of Man (Mark 8:31; Mark 9:9; Mark 9:12; Mark 9:30).

The emphasis on the suffering Son of Man will be the final emphasis of this section (Mark 9:30), and must therefore be seen as one of its primary aims. In view of the power and authority that He constantly revealed, it must have seemed totally contradictory. But Mark makes quite clear that it was so. In the midst of His powerful activity Jesus constantly made clear that He had come to die.

Meanwhile Mark totally ignores any ministry of Jesus in Judaea, together with His regular visits to Jerusalem for the feasts (as described by John). These would undoubtedly have taken place. No pious Galilean Jew would have failed over a period of time to make regular pilgrimages to Jerusalem for the different feasts. But Mark rather wants the concentration on His ministry to be seen as taking place in Galilee, with Jerusalem seen as the place which will reject and crucify Him. He is thus concerned to present a full picture of the glory of Christ, while facing his readers and hearers up to the fact that it will finally result in suffering and death, although always as leading on to His resurrection.

Analysis of 4:35-9:32.

Jesus leaves the regions around Capernaum (Mark 4:35).

a Sailing across the sea of Galilee alone with His disciples Jesus stills a mighty storm with His powerful word, while His disciples reveal their unbelief and ask, ‘Who is this?' (Mark 4:35).

b He reveals His power over unclean spirits by healing a demoniac and commands the healed man to ‘go and tell' (Mark 5:1).

c He reveals His power over uncleanness by healing a woman who is constantly losing life sustaining blood, thus making her ritually ‘unclean', but above all over death by raising Jairus' daughter. It is a manifestation of His glory to the three who have come apart with him to witness His glory and there are also two other witnesses to His glory (the child's father and mother) (Mark 5:21).

d His own townsfolk do not know Who He is. He reveals His powerful words and mighty works so that His own townsfolk reveal their unbelief and ask ‘Where did this man get all this?' (Mark 6:1 a).

e He sends out His disciples to teach and with authority over unclean spirits, and they reveal their faith and are successful (Mark 6:6).

f Herod executes John the Baptist, and offers his head on a dish, revealing the ways and the type of ‘food' of the kingly rule of man on earth, while fearing his resurrection (Mark 6:14).

g The disciples return from their mission telling Him of the signs that they have accomplished and are called aside to be alone with Jesus. They are fulfilling the ministry that should have been the Pharisees had they but believed (Mark 6:30).

h Jesus feeds five thousand with five loaves and two fish, revealing the provision of heavenly food in the Kingly Rule of God on earth (Mark 6:33).

i Jesus walks to His disciples on the water, and they cry out in their unbelief and reveal their failure to hear and speak clearly because their hearts are hardened and they do not understand. They are spiritually deaf (Mark 6:45).

j The people gather to Him and He heals all who come to Him (Mark 6:53).

k Jesus challenges the Pharisees and Scribes with the fact that they pay more heed to tradition than to the word of God, and points out to the crowds that it is not outward things that defile a man but what is within the inner man (Mark 7:1).

j The Syro-phoenician woman comes to Him and He heals her stricken son (Mark 7:24).

i He heals the deaf and speech impaired man, a picture of the need of the disciples, and of Israel (Mark 7:31).

h He feeds the four thousand in Gentile territory and gives them bread from God's table (Mark 8:1).

g The Pharisees reveal what is within them by seeking a sign, upsetting Jesus deeply and He declares that no sign will be given, which reveals why their ministry is barren so that they can have no part in His work (Mark 8:11).

f Jesus tells His disciples to beware of the leavened bread (the teaching) of the Pharisees and of Herod (or of the Herodians), and to hear and understand (Mark 8:14).

e The blind man's eyes are gradually opened (Mark 8:22).

d The disciples do recognise Who Jesus is and learn that He must suffer. (They have learned from where He had ‘got all this') (Mark 8:27 to Mark 9:1).

c Jesus is transfigured in such a way that His glory is revealed before the chosen three. The three come apart with Jesus and two other witnesses (Moses and Elijah) bear witness to His glory (Mark 9:2).

b The demon possessed boy is remarkably healed (Mark 9:14).

a The disciples are alone with Jesus and learn that spiritual storms lay ahead for Him and for themselves, receiving the fuller revelation of Who He is (Mark 9:30).

Jesus returns to Capernaum (Mark 9:33 a).

Note firstly how this whole section is sandwiched within visits to Capernaum, which had become a kind of headquarters for Jesus and His disciples. All therefore that takes place in this section radiates out from Capernaum. The section begins in ‘a' with Jesus' power revealed over nature in the stilling of the storm, while in the parallel Jesus tells His disciples of the ‘storm' that yet awaits Him in the future to which He must submit. Nature He can control, but man must be allowed to perform his evil will to the utmost if mankind are to be saved. In ‘b' He heals the demoniac, and in the parallel He heals the demon possessed boy. Both are extreme cases of possession. In ‘c' He takes Peter, James and John apart and, in the presence of two witnesses (the girl's father and mother), raises a young girl from the dead, revealing that He is the Lord of life, and in the parallel He takes Peter, James and John apart and is transfigured before them in the presence of two witnesses, Moses and Elijah, revealing that He is the Lord of glory. In both cases what has been seen is not to be spread abroad. In ‘d' Jesus' own townsfolk fail to recognise Him and ask ‘Where did this man get all this?'. while in the parallel His disciples do recognise Him and recognise where His power does come from, it is of God. In ‘e' He sends out His disciples to teach and to have authority over unclean spirits, and they reveal their faith and their growing awareness, and are successful, and in the parallel we have the picture of the blind man whose eyes are gradually opened, a picture of what is happening to the disciples (it comes before the incident where the eyes of the disciples are known to have been opened when they confess His Messiahship). In ‘f' Herod executes John the Baptist, and offers his head on a dish, revealing the ways and the type of ‘food' offered under the kingly rule of man on earth, while in the parallel Jesus warns His disciples to beware of the leaven of Herod. In ‘g' the disciples return from their mission telling Jesus of the signs that they have accomplished and are called aside to be alone with Jesus, while in the parallel the Pharisees are vainly looking for signs and He leaves them. In ‘h' Jesus feeds five thousand Jewish believers with five loaves and two fish, revealing the provision of heavenly food in the Kingly Rule of God on earth, and in the parallel He feeds four thousand Jewish and Gentile believers with seven loaves and some fish, revealing the same. In ‘i' Jesus walks to His disciples on the water, and in their unbelief they cry out and reveal their failure to hear and speak clearly, a result of the fact that their hearts are hardened so that they do not understand. They are spiritually deaf. And in the parallel a man who is deaf and stammering in his speech is healed. In ‘j' the people gather to Him and He heals all who come to Him, and in the parallel the Syro-phoenician, typical of the Gentiles, comes to Him and He heals her daughter. Centrally in ‘k' Jesus challenges the Pharisees and Scribes with the fact that they pay more heed to tradition than to the word of God, and points out to the crowds that it is not outward things that defile a man. It is what is within the inner man.

This larger section is divided up into smaller subsections of which the first is Mark 4:35 to Mark 6:6 a.