CHAPTER 6

(A.D. 31)

UNBELIEF IN NAZARETH

¹And He went out from thence (from Capernaum), and came into His own country (Nazareth); and His Disciples follow Him.

²And when the Sabbath Day was come, He began to teach in the Synagogue: and many hearing Him were astonished, saying, From whence hath this Man these things? and what wisdom is this which is given unto Him, that even such mighty works are wrought by His Hands? (They did not question the wisdom or the works, but rather His right to do such things. In their thoughts, He wasnt worthy!)

³Is not this the carpenter (Chrysostom said, that He made ploughs and yokes for oxen; in the minds of His critics, this disqualified Him as a great teacher), the Son of Mary, the brother of James, and Joseph, and of Juda, and Simon? and are not His sisters here with us? (This disproves the claims by the Catholic Church that Jesus had no brothers or sisters.) And they were offended at Him (He did not meet their approval).

⁴But Jesus said unto them (represents His answer to their unbelief), A Prophet is not without honour (to show deference and reverence), but in his own country, and among his own kin, and in his own house (I dont think that Mary was a part of this unbelief, but it definitely included the balance of the family, with Joseph by now, probably having passed on).

⁵And He could there do no mighty work (actually means, not even one; it was not that He couldnt, but they wouldnt bring the sick and the diseased to Him; they would rather see their loved ones sick, than to see Christ heal them!), save that He laid His Hands upon a few sick folk (a few sickly ones), and healed them.

⁶And He marveled because of their unbelief (expresses the view of His Humanity; the Holy Spirit mentions Him marveling twice, once at the faith of a Gentile, and at the unbelief of His Own [Mat. 8:10]). And He went round about the villages, teaching.

THE TWELVE SENT OUT

⁷And He called unto Him the Twelve (speaks of their first Mission where they were sent without Him), and began to send them forth by two and two; and gave them power over unclean spirits;

⁸And commanded them that they should take nothing for their journey (is not a suggestion, but a Command), save a staff only (a wooden staff for walking); no scrip (a leather pouch for food), no bread, no money in their purse (means they were not to store up these things before they went, but were to rather trust the Lord);

⁹But be shod with sandals (spoke of association with the common people who wore such); and not put on two coats (the most simple of quality and quantity were sufficient).

¹⁰And He said unto them, In what place soever you enter into an house, (they accept you) there abide till you depart from that place (dont flit from place to place).

¹¹And whosoever shall not receive you, nor hear you (basically refers to the area, even the city, and not the house in which they were invited), when you depart thence (meant to express the significance of the visit), shake off the dust under your feet for a testimony against them (a symbolic gesture). Verily I say unto you, It shall be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrha in the day of judgment, than for that city (has reference to the fact that Sodom and Gomorrha had no Gospel witness, while these places did).

¹²And they went out, and preached that men should repent (the Message didnt change, and shouldnt change now).

¹³And they cast out many devils (demons), and anointed with oil many who were sick, and healed them(oil is symbolic of the Holy Spirit, it has nothing to do with medicine [Ex. 27:20; 30:25; Num. 6:15; I Sam. 16:1,13; Ps. 45:7]).

JOHN THE BAPTIST BEHEADED

¹⁴And king Herod (Antipas) heard of Him(Jesus); (for His name was spread abroad:) and he said, That John the Baptist was risen from the dead, and therefore mighty works do show forth themselves in him (proclaims a troubled and guilty conscience for putting John the Baptist to death).

¹⁵Others said (refers to the Court of Herod, as well as many in Israel), That it is Elijah. And others said, That it is a Prophet, or as one of the Prophets (it seems that Israel would admit to anything except the Truth that He was the Messiah, the Son of the Living God).

¹⁶But when Herod heard thereof, he said, It is John, whom I beheaded: he is risen from the dead (means he kept saying it over and over, in response to the prediction of others as to Who Christ was!).

¹⁷For Herod himself had sent forth and laid hold upon John, and bound him in prison (the Holy Spirit wanted to make certain that no one misunderstood that it was Herod who had done this dastardly thing) for Herodias sake, his brother Philips wife (John had been in prison because Herods wife Herodias, had demanded it): for he (Herod) had married her.

¹⁸For John had said unto Herod, It is not lawful for you to have your brothers wife (means that he said it more than once, to both Herod and the people).

¹⁹Therefore Herodias had a quarrel against him (she never let up on her fury toward the Baptist for daring to denounce her private relations with Herod, and waited her time for revenge), and would have killed him; but she could not (means that she did not lack the will, only the way; she would find the way):

²⁰For Herod feared John, knowing that he was a just man and an holy (means that he was in a continual state of fear respecting the Prophet), and observed him (means he watched over John to keep him safe from the evil plots of Herodias); and when he heard him, he did many things, and heard him gladly (he kept going back to the dank prison cell over, and over again to speak with the Prophet; in other words, the Holy Spirit was dealing with Herods soul).

²¹And when a convenient day was come (refers to a convenient time for Herodias to kill John the Baptist), that Herod on his birthday made a supper to his lords, high captains, and chief estates of Galilee (Herodias would find her time for revenge at this gathering);

²²And when the daughter of the said Herodias came in, and danced, and pleased Herod and them who sat with him (she degraded herself in a licentious dance), the king said unto the damsel, Ask of me whatsoever you will, and I will give it to you (they were probably drunk, or nearly so. Herodias would now spring her trap).

²³And he sware unto her (puts himself under oath), Whatsoever you shall ask of me, I will give it to you, unto the half of my kingdom (he doesnt want to lose face in front of his guests).

²⁴And she went forth, and said unto her mother (implies her knowledge of at least a part of the plan of revenge), What shall I ask? And she said, The head of John the Baptist.

²⁵And she (the daughter of Herodias) came in straightway (immediately) with haste unto the king (presents her immediately making her demand, so the king will have no opportunity to renege on his promise), and asked, saying, I will that you give me by and by (immediately) in a charger (on a platter) the head of John the Baptist.

²⁶And the king was exceeding sorry; yet for his oaths sake, and for their sakes which sat with him (he would save face), he would not reject her (the life of the greatest Prophet who ever lived, had boiled down to the worth of a lewd dance, at least to these men).

²⁷And immediately the king sent an executioner, and commanded his head to be brought: and he went and beheaded him in the prison (the prison was actually connected to the palace where the celebration was being held),

²⁸And brought his head in a charger, and gave it to the damsel: and the damsel gave it to her mother (proclaims Herodias, according to Jerome thrusting the tongue through with a long pen; because she could not bear to hear the truth, therefore, she would puncture the tongue that had spoken the truth; both Herodias and Herod, a short time later, were banished by a decree of the Roman Senate to Lyons where they both perished miserably; Salome, the daughter who danced, died shortly thereafter, by having her head nearly cut off by the sharp edges of broken ice; Vengeance is Mine; I will repay saith the Lord [Rom. 12:19]).

²⁹And when his disciples heard of it(the disciples of John the Baptist), they came and took up his corpse (Josephus says that after the beheading, the mutilated remains were cast out of the prison and left neglected), and laid it in a tomb (and so concludes the life and Ministry of the greatest Prophet who ever lived).

JESUS FEEDS FIVE THOUSAND

³⁰And the Apostles gathered themselves together unto Jesus (relates back to Verse 7 where the Twelve had been sent forth two and two; they now come back to report to Christ), and told Him all things, both what they had done, and what they had taught.

³¹And He said unto them, Come ye yourselves apart into a desert place, and rest a while: for there were many coming and going, and they had no leisure so much as to eat.

³²And they departed into a desert place by ship privately (probably one of the vessels belonging to Zebedee).

³³And the people saw them departing, and many knew Him, and ran afoot thither out of all cities, and outwent them (presents them waiting for Him whenever the boat docked in this desert place), and came together unto Him.

³⁴And Jesus, when He came out, saw much people, and was moved with compassion toward them, because they were as sheep not having a shepherd (the nation was more religious than ever before, but with few true shepherds): and He began to teach them many things (presents the only true Gospel that many of them had ever heard).

³⁵And when the day was now far spent, His Disciples came unto Him, and said, This is a desert place, and now the time is far passed (growing late in the day):

³⁶Send them away, that they may go into the country round about, and into the villages, and buy themselves bread: for they have nothing to eat.

³⁷He answered and said unto them, Give ye them to eat (He was speaking in both the physical and the spiritual sense). And they say unto Him, Shall we go and buy two hundred pennyworth of bread, and give them to eat? (Probably equal to seven or eight thousand dollars presently).

³⁸He said unto them, How many loaves have you? (They were thinking of thousands of loaves.) go and see. And when they knew, they say, Five, and two fishes (according to Andrew, this small collection belonged to a boy [Jn. 6:8-9]; little is much if God be in it).

³⁹And He Commanded them to make all sit down by companies upon the green grass (considering that the grass was green, it was probably about April).

⁴⁰And they sat down in ranks, by hundreds, and by fifties.

⁴¹And when He had taken the five loaves and the two fishes (signifies the beginning of the Miracle, and because it was in His Hands), He looked up to Heaven (it is from God from whence all Blessings come), and blessed (His Blessing guarantees everything), and broke the loaves, and gave them to His Disciples to set before them; and the two fishes divided He among them all (the Miracle took place between the breaking and the giving; each Disciple soon exhausted his supply and so had to return to Jesus for more, and was never disappointed).

⁴²And they did all eat, and were filled (Jehovah of Psalm 132 revealed Himself here).

⁴³And they took up twelve baskets full of the fragments, and of the fish.

⁴⁴And they who did eat of the loaves were about five thousand men (possibly as many as 10,000 to 15,000 total, including women and children).

JESUS WALKS ON THE SEA

⁴⁵And straightway (immediately) He constrained His Disciples to get into the ship (they were reluctant to do so), and to go to the other side before unto Bethsaida, while He sent away the people (but He sent them away healed, fed, and filled).

⁴⁶And when He had sent them away, He departed into a mountain to pray (prayer establishes relationship).

⁴⁷And when evening was come, the ship was in the midst of the sea, and He alone on the land.

⁴⁸And He saw them toiling in rowing; for the wind was contrary unto them (inasmuch as it was night, He could not have seen them physically, so the Holy Spirit must have revealed this to Him): and about the fourth watch of the night He cometh unto them (between 3 a.m. and 6 a.m.), walking upon the sea (the inference is that the sandals of our Lord actually had contact with the water; He walked on the surface of the sea as we walk on a hard pavement), and would have passed by them (should have been translated, and came near to them).

⁴⁹But when they saw Him walking upon the sea (couldnt believe their eyes), they supposed it had been a spirit, and cried out (they thought it was an apparition):

⁵⁰For they all saw Him, and were troubled (all Twelve saw Him). And immediately He talked with them, and said unto them, Be of good cheer: it is I; be not afraid (He evidently was very near when He said this to them).

⁵¹And He went up unto them into the ship (Mark omits Peter walking on the water, as recorded by Matthew); and the wind ceased (emphasizes the fact that such was done solely because He was now in the ship): and they were sore amazed in themselves beyond measure, and wondered (they had witnessed something beyond the power of their comprehension).

⁵²For they considered not the miracle of the loaves: for their heart was hardened (the desire to make Jesus King as John mentioned, was paramount, in the minds of His Disciples; consequently, the true mission of Christ was lost on them, at least at this time; and deviation from the true Will of God always hardens the heart; nothing dulls spiritually like the religious enthusiasm of the carnal nature acting in fellowship with the religious world).

JESUS HEALS MANY SICK PEOPLE

⁵³And when they had passed over (the ship had begun without Jesus, but concludes with Him; what a Miracle!), they came into the land of Gennesaret, and drew to the shore (was a fertile plain on the north shore of Galilee and west of the Jordan River).

⁵⁴And when they were come out of the ship (insinuates a ship of some size; probably one of the larger fishing vessels of Zebedee), straightway (immediately) they knew Him,

⁵⁵And ran through that whole region round about (proclaims runners going from village to village announcing that Jesus was in the vicinity), and began to carry about in beds those who were sick, where they heard He was (this was a pathetic, yet understandable sight!).

⁵⁶And whithersoever He entered, into villages, or cities, or country, they laid the sick in the streets, and besought Him that they might touch if it were but the border of His garment: and as many as touched Him were made whole (this had to have been a situation astounding to behold!; what a sight it must have been!; it will be this way when He comes back the second time, and even greater).