Following Jesus in the Real World

Studies in the Gospel of Mark

 

Study Guide for Sunday Sermon on April 13, 2008

Mark 6: 45-56

 

For Personal Study and Reflection

 

Introduction

There are two comments I want to make about the passage before us this week. First, as you proceed through this study you will be directed to a number of Old Testament texts to help you better understand the significance of the actions Jesus takes in this passage. Without reflecting on these Old Testament texts you will miss what is going on here in Mark 6: 45-56. David Garland argues: “Jesus did not walk across the water as an amusing gimmick to amuse his friends. His action conveys to the disciples and to the reader schooled in Scripture who he is.” (David E. Garland, The NIV Application Commentary: Mark, Zondervan, p. 266) By “schooled in Scripture” Garland means schooled in the Old Testament. There are some key Old Testament passages that shed light on what Jesus is doing and why he is doing it. Ultimately, these Old Testament texts help us to answer the question: Who is Jesus?

 

Second, this passage is inextricably linked with what has preceded it in Mark 6. It has to be read in the context in which Mark places it (instead of reading it in isolation or in comparison with the parallel accounts in the other gospels). What is Mark 6 about? It is about who Jesus is and about Jesus modeling ministry for his disciples, helping them to understand the risks and rewards of ministry and sending them out to fulfill their calling as ministers of the gospel. For them to fulfill that calling they must understand who Jesus is and they must embrace a new identity for themselves; they must see themselves as shepherds providing care for the sheep.

 

May God guide and bless your study and may you see Jesus with fresh eyes.

 

Day 1: Read Mark 6: 45-56 but focus on 45-46

After feeding the crowd Mark tells us that Jesus made his disciples get into the boat and go on ahead of him to Bethsaida, while he dismissed the crowd. Why do you think Jesus did that? Why didn’t he keep the disciples with him while he dismissed the crowd?

And why does Mark say that Jesus made his disciples get into the boat? Do you think Mark is suggesting that the disciples didn’t want to get in the boat and leave? If so, why does Jesus send them off? What do you think Jesus wants for his disciples in this situation?

 

 

What might have happened during and after the feeding miracle that would cause Jesus to send his disciples away? Do you think the disciples understood what was going on?

 

 

After leaving the crowd Jesus went up on a mountainside to pray. Why do you think Jesus needed to pray at this time? What might he have prayed about?

 

 

What connection do you make between all of what happened concerning the feeding of the 5000 men and Jesus’ subsequent desire to pray? Who might Jesus have been praying for?

 

 

Mark gives us several snapshots of Jesus at prayer. Look at Mark 1: 35-39 and Mark 14: 32-42. Why is Jesus praying in each of these two situations? Based on what Jesus does after he prays what might Jesus have been praying about?

 

 

As we read of Jesus' personal prayer habits, what does it say to us about the place of prayer in our lives?

Why do you decide to pray? What do you pray about? What have you been praying about over the last couple weeks? What do your prayers tell you about yourself and your view of God?

 

 

Day 2: Read Mark 6: 45-56 but focus on 47-50a.

Mark tells us that Jesus saw the disciples straining at the oars and went out to them about the fourth watch of the might which puts it sometime between 3:00-6:00am. This means that the disciples had been rowing for hours and hours. What do you think they were thinking and feeling as they were straining at the oars? What might they have been thinking and feeling about Jesus?

 

 

When Jesus looked up from his prayer and saw the disciples struggling against the wind why didn’t he just command the wind and waves to be still? Why did he decide to come out to them instead?

 

 

What is the significance of Jesus walking on water? According to Job 9: 8 and Psalm 77: 19 who alone can walk on water? See also Psalm 77: 19-20, Isaiah 43: 16, 51: 9-10 and Habakkuk 3: 15. What do these passages tell you about God’s power to control the chaos of the seas, His power to save His people, and about who Jesus was revealing himself to be?

 

 

Now read Isaiah 43: 1-3 and Isaiah 44: 6-8. What insight do these two passages give you? What is Jesus doing when he walks on the water to his disciples? What is he trying to do for his disciples? What should the disciples have recognized?

What do you think it means that “he was about to pass by them”? What do you think Jesus was doing?

David Garland says: “This account is not about a rescue of the disciples on the sea. They are frustrated but not in peril. Since walking on the sea is something no ordinary mortal can do, Jesus’ desire to pass by the disciples is not related to some mundane purpose. The verb parechomai (“to pass by”), when connected to a divinity, refers to an epiphany…

This verb occurs in two key passages in the Old Testament. In Exodus 33: 19-34: 7, Moses asks God to show him His glory, and God responds by passing before him and proclaiming His identity…

And in 1 Kings 19: 11-12, the Lord tells Elijah to stand on the mountain, “for the Lord is about to pass by”. One can conclude from these passages that when Jesus wants to pass by his disciples, he wills for them to see his transcendent majesty as a divine being and to give them reassurance.” (David E. Garland, The NIV Application Commentary: Mark, Zondervan, p. 263)

What was the disciples’ reaction to seeing Jesus walking on the lake? Why do you think they were so shocked and amazed?

 

 

Do you think the disciples understood what Jesus was doing? Should they have understood?

 

 

Why do you think the disciples did not recognize him?

 

 

Where are you “straining at the oars”? What is causing the strain? Have you experienced Jesus coming to you? Is it possible that Jesus has come to you in your struggle but you have not yet recognized him because he has come to you in a way you weren’t expecting?

 

 

Day 3: Read Mark 6: 50b-52

What did Jesus say to his disciples? What was significant about the language Jesus used?

Notice the words of Jesus, “Take courage and do not be afraid.” Jesus had previously shown compassion on the multitude when he saw that they were like sheep without a shepherd. Now Jesus sees his disciples afraid and greatly troubled. Jesus does not just keep on walking and wait for them to reach the other side. He tells them to not be afraid, take courage, and gets into the boat with them.

Second, Jesus says “It is I.” On the surface it seems that Jesus was simply saying, “Hey, it is just me, Jesus.” But Jesus was saying even more to his disciples. Literally, these words mean, “I AM.” (the Greek is “ego eimi”). In Exodus 3:14 this is the name that God told Moses to tell the people of Israel who had sent him. God says to tell them, “I AM who I AM.” The “I AM” sent Moses. So, Jesus uses the language of Exodus 3: 14 to tell the disciples that He is God, that He has come to them and that, therefore, they do not need to be afraid.

 

Jesus climbed into the boat wit his disciples and the wind died down. The disciples’ reaction to this was complete amazement. Why? What does this reveal about their knowledge of Jesus?

 

 

Mark tells us that the disciples were completely amazed because “they had not understood about the loaves”. What connection did Jesus’ feeding of the 5000 have with Jesus’ walking on water? What should they have learned from Jesus’ feeding of the 5000? What should they have understood about who Jesus is?

 

 

Mark also tells us that the reason they had not understood about the loaves was because the disciples’ “hearts were hardened”. This is the first time that Mark says something like this about the disciples. What does that mean? What is a hardened heart? How do hearts get hardened?

 

 

Day 4: Read Mark 6: 7-13, 30-52

Think back through what you have read in Mark’s gospel so far. Which characters had exhibited hardened hearts? How? See Mark 3: 5 and Mark 10:5.

 

 

How and when had the disciples’ hearts gotten hardened? Go back and read Mark 6: 7-13. How would you characterize the disciples’ hearts in this passage? Were the disciples’ hearts hardened when Jesus sent them out two by two (Mark 6: 7-13)?

 

 

Now go back to Mark 6: 30-44. How would you characterize the disciples’ hearts in this passage? What has happened to their hearts? When and how and why did they become hardened? How did the disciples respond to the crowd? How did they respond to Jesus when he said, “You give them something to eat”?

How should the disciples have responded? What is the answer to the Disciples’ question in Mark 4: 41: Who is this? Who is Jesus? What is Jesus trying to reveal about himself?

 

 

Why aren’t the disciples learning who Jesus is despite being first-hand observers of all he says and does? Why are they seeing what Jesus does but drawing the wrong conclusions?

 

 

How does Jesus show compassion to his disciples in this passage? In what ways are the disciples acting like “sheep without a shepherd”? How does he come alongside them as a shepherd to extend love and care to them?

 

 

Day 5: Read Mark 6: 53-56.

What happened when Jesus landed?

 

 

How did the people respond to Jesus? What did they seem to know and understand about Jesus? In what ways did they express more faith in Jesus than the disciples did? How did they demonstrate faith?

       

 

How did Jesus respond to the needs of this crowd? What does this teach us about Jesus’ power and compassion? What does it teach us about the needs of the shepherdless people?

Contrast verse 54 with verse 33. What is different between these two verses? Who did the people recognize?

 

 

What role do the disciples have Jesus’ ministry now? Why do you think Mark makes no mention of them in this passage?

 

 

Where did the boat land? Go back to verse 45. What was their original destination? Did they just get blown off course? Or, is there something more going on here, some other reason that they are unable to get to Bethsaida?

It is important to note that the disciples do not get to Bethsaida until Mark 8: 22. What happened in Bethsaida (see Mark 8: 27-29)? In Bethsaida Jesus asks his disciples: Who do you say I am? What they could not answer in Mark 6: 52 because their hearts were hardened they could answer in Mark 8: 29 because Jesus did not give up on them. He continued loving them and shepherding them until their hearts became soft enough to begin to recognize who he is.

How do you feel about the fact that Jesus does not give up on his disciples? How does that affect the way you think about Jesus and your relationship to him?

 

 

For Small Group Reflection and Discussion

Read Mark 6: 7-13, 30-56 and Mark 4: 13-20

Mark tells us in Mark 6: 51-52 that the disciples were completely amazed for they had not understood about the loaves; their hearts were hardened. What did the disciples not understand? What were they supposed to glean  from Jesus’ feeding of the five thousand?

Further, Mark tells us that the reason the disciples did not understand was that their hearts were hardened? What does that mean? What is a hardened heart? How do hearts get hardened?

How did the disciples’ hearts get hardened? When Jesus sent them out on mission in 6: 7-13, were their hearts hardened then? No, right? It seems that their hearts got hardened somewhere between Mark 6: 30 and Mark 6: 44. So what happened? Why did their hearts get hardened?

When Jesus sent them out in 6: 7-13 why do you think he sent them out with only a staff? Who uses a staff? And when Jesus said to the disciples, “You feed them” what did Jesus want his disciples to understand about themselves? How did Jesus see himself in Mark 6:34? What was Jesus training his disciples to be? What should the disciples have said in response to Jesus’ command to feed the crowd?

Think about this is in the context of Jesus’ parable of the sower sowing seed in Mark 4: 13-20. What kind of soil were the disciples in Mark 6: 7-13? What kind of soil do they seem to be in Mark 6: 30-44?

What are the indications in Mark 6:30-44 that the disciples are rejecting Jesus’ word? Jesus had told them to come with him by themselves to a quiet place and get some rest. Did the disciples need rest? Yes, Jesus told them that they needed rest.

Reading between the lines a bit, what do you think the disciples were focused on in Mark 6:30-44 instead of Jesus’ word? Why wouldn’t they trust that Jesus would give them what they needed?

The disciples’ reaction to the presence of the crowd is certainly understandable, but what would a “good soil” response to the situation have looked like? Instead of stewing over the presence of the crowd, wanting to send them off like sheep without a shepherd and responding to Jesus with sarcasm, how might they have responded to the crowd and to Jesus?

Given the state of the disciples’ hearts why do you think Jesus sent them off into the boat and then went off to pray? What do you think he was praying about?

Why do you think he chose to walk on the water? What did he want his disciples to understand? What should the disciples have understood?

Again, look at Mark 4: 11-12. What is Jesus saying here? How do the disciples here in Mark 6: 52 illustrate the fact that they have placed themselves “on the outside”?

There is something extremely encouraging in this passage; Jesus does not give up on his disciples. He patiently continues to give them opportunities to respond in faith. How have you seen this to be true in your life and in the lives of others?

If Mark were commenting on the state of your heart, what might he say? Would he say that you had a hard heart or a soft heart? Why? If your heart is hard are you willing to go before Jesus and ask  him to help you? And, are you willing to ask your small group members for help, too?

What do you sense God saying to you through this passage? What response is God calling you to make? How can your small group encourage and support you as you make this response to God?

How do you want your small group to pray  for you this week?