Category: Mark Chapter 6

The event first recorded in these verses, is a beautiful emblem of the position of all believers, between the first and second advents of Jesus Christ. Like the disciples, we are now tossed to and fro by storms, and do not enjoy the visible presence of our Lord. Like the disciples, we shall see our Lord face to face again, though it may be a time of great extremity, when He returns. Like the disciples, we shall see all things changed for the better, when our Master comes to us. We shall no longer be buffeted by storms. There will be a great calm.
There is nothing fanciful in such an application of the passage. We need not doubt that there is a deep meaning in every step of His life, who was “God manifest in the flesh.” For the present, however, let us confine ourselves to the plain, practical lessons which these verses contain.

Of all our Lord Jesus Christ’s miracles, none is so frequently described in the Gospels, as that which we have now read. Each of the four Evangelists was inspired to record it. It is evident that it demands a more than ordinary attention from every reader of God’s word.

Let us mark in this passage, the conduct of the apostles when they returned from their first mission as preachers. We read that they “gathered themselves together unto Jesus, and told Him all things, both what they had done, and what they had taught.”

These verses describe the death of one of the most eminent saints of God. They relate the murder of John the Baptist. Of all the evangelists none tells this melancholy story so fully as Mark. Let us see what practical lessons the passage contains for our own souls.
We see, in the first place, the amazing power of truth over the conscience. Herod “fears” John the Baptist while he lives, and is troubled about him after he dies. A friendless, solitary preacher, with no other weapon than God’s truth, disturbs and terrifies a king.

These verses describe the first sending forth of the apostles to preach. The great Head of the church made proof of His ministers, before He left them alone in the world. He taught them to try their own powers of teaching, and to find out their own weaknesses, while He was yet with them. Thus, on the one hand, He was enabled to correct their mistakes. Thus, on the other, they were trained for the work they were one day to do, and were not novices, when finally left to themselves.–Well would it be for the church, if all ministers of the Gospel were prepared for their duty in like manner, and did not so often take up their office untried, unproved, and inexperienced.

This passage shows us our Lord Jesus Christ in “his own country,” at Nazareth. It is a melancholy illustration of the wickedness of man’s heart, and deserves special attention.