Blog - Jesus Rejected, Offers Nourishment: Mark 6

How’s the Small Group Study Going? 

 So many graces abound in Mark 6 that we could spend several blog posts on important points in this one chapter. I hope these posts will not be exhaustive but helpful in stirring conversation and thought about each chapter. After praying to the Holy Spirit to inspire your reading of Scripture, pay attention to what “moves” you or “strikes” you or “consoles” or “challenges” you. Those are the places to put a checkmark next to in your Bible or underline the verse(s). Sometimes I’ll underline a verse and then write a short sentence near that verse in the border so that I can remember to go back to the verse for reflection. Interacting with the Bible in this way has helped me to remember more of the Bible, because it becomes personalized and a part of my ongoing faith journey. I think the same can happen for you, too. Those places you underline, checkmark, or comment upon can become the areas of conversation with your friend or with your small group. Bible study isn’t only about getting at the “right” answer, it’s also about the interaction you have with the living word of God. Commentaries help, and commentators can give helpful insights to form our interpretation of Scripture. Incorrect interpretations of Scripture passages are possible, so we want to be wise. We also want the breath of the Holy Spirit to inspire our reading and give our hearts root room for the seed of the word to sprout forth and bear rich fruit for the kingdom. The commentaries and online supports are meant to foster, not shackle such inspiration. All that being said, here’s the reflection questions for Mark 6: 

 Reflection Questions: 

 1. Jesus’ hometown rejects him. Think about that...it doesn’t matter how sweet, caring, or healing you are, if people rejected Jesus, then why be surprised if they reject you even for your good works? What resulted from their rejection in verse 5? What was Jesus’ response in verse 6 and what did Jesus tell his apostles to do when a town rejected them (and give the verse)? 
2. In verse 44, Mark notes that 5,000 men ate from 5 loaves and 2 fish, but the number might be more than 5,000 if Mark isn’t included women and children. Even if it’s “only” 5,000, think about five loaves of wheat bread and two fish from an inland lake? You can fit that on one small table, right? St. Edward’s church (Parkman) can sit about 500 people. 5 loaves...2 fish...and Ed’s filled 10x over...An amazing miracle! How does Jesus’ prayer in verse 41 relate to the Eucharistic prayer at Mass? Without overly spiritualizing or allegorizing this miracle, how might this influence our ideas about the generosity of God the Father? How do you think the miracle of the multiplication of loaves ties in with Jesus’ expectation that the disciples would not be afraid during a storm? 
3. Contrast the rejection at Nazareth at the beginning of Mark 6 with his reception at Gennesaret, Mark 6:53-56. If this is something of a “Marken Sandwich” with the middle of this section being the multiplication of loaves and fishes, what might this entire chapter be broadcasting to us as the readers? How does this chapter build up your faith in the goodness of Jesus? How might this influence your reception of Holy Communion during which we receive the real presence of the same Jesus who does all these mighty deeds in Mark 6? 

 Food for Thought: 

 John the Baptist spoke the truth in a way that caused many conversions, but it also literally cost him his head. Herodias was Herod’s wife and John the Baptist told Herod that it was an unlawful marriage (Herodias was Herod’s brother’s former wife). Although John’s prophetic preaching incensed Herod and Herodias, Herod still liked listening to John (v. 20). It can be easy to place Herod within the Henry VIII category of our minds and keep him and his actions in a category apart from ourselves. Are we so different from Herod when we dismiss longstanding and authentic Church teaching?  

Jesus’ teaching about marriage and divorce and the subsequent Church teaching about marriage as between one biological and self-identified man and one biological and self-identified woman, open to life (meaning: no using contraception, condoms, birth control pills, or surgical means for sterilization), and for life remain controversial today. The Church continues to proclaim that the conjugal act remains intrinsically linked to the bonds of marriage; due to the dignity of the gift of our embodied sexuality, its meaning in light of the Gospel, and its purpose in co-creating with God within a covenant of matrimony. The Church continues to proclaim the dignity of the unborn that ought to be protected under law. And the Church speaks to how all of this ties to whether or not we receive Holy Communion, due to the fact that marriage is not a private event, but a public one that impacts broader society, and, therefore, becomes a way that we either remain a sign of the Gospel in the world or, sadly enough, become a counter sign when not lived according to the Scriptures and the authentic, longstanding teaching of the Catholic Church.  

Many within and outside the Church see these moral laws as restrictive, as denying the flourishing of individuals or their charitable partnership. Sometimes people would like to pull a Herod and Herodias and lob off the head of any priest, deacon or family member that brings up these consistent moral teachings of the Bible and the Church. The Scripture tells us to proclaim “the truth in love,” but that doesn’t mean we water down the truth or love without concern for what is right and just. It can be a delicate balance between keeping the conversation going unto conversion and/or seeming to permit and implicitly condone something immoral. There’s no clearcut formula when dealing with this in one’s family or friend group, because prudence means taking wise counsel and applying it to one’s unique situation.  

Jesus reminds us to remove the beam from our own eye before pointing out the speck in another’s. We want to make sure that we are, to the best of our ability, with a humble appreciation of our own need of God’s grace, striving to grow in charity, compassion, and virtue BEFORE we become the arbiters of truth. That Jesus and John were both rejected and killed does not automatically mean that if people “reject” or oppose our “fraternal correction” that we’ve done a good job of it. Maybe the rejection and opposition took place not because they didn’t want correction (although correction is often very difficult to take), but because we were arrogant or more concerned about being “right” than their good. Are we correcting people in person or online because we relish being “right” or do we genuinely hope to be in heaven with them one day and ache for their good? When charity shapes our approach, and we recognize that patience and mercy both uphold the truth while recognizing our frailty, loving concern often goes a lot further than sternness, and we can often see more opportunities for growth in those we love and in our own lives. Just because a large portion of people within the Church use “mercy” as a catchword for “do whatever you want, just know you’re loved,” doesn’t mean mercy itself is political or licentious. Mercy is neither a conservative nor liberal/Left sentiment, it is at the heart of the Gospel; don’t take the bait and politicize it! After being nailed on the Cross, Jesus’ first words were “Father, forgive them, they know not what they do” (Lk. 23:34). He didn’t pretend they weren’t sinning, but he also gave their frailty a place where forgiveness could bring new life...And what was the result of that patient, merciful prayer by Jesus at the time of his death? Read Luke 23:46-47. 

How does all of this mercy talk mesh with Jesus flipping tables over in the Temple, John calling out Herod, and Jesus’ shouts that dole out “woe to you” at Pharisees and scribes? Well, if the Gospel can shake us out of the often overly fabricated us vs them, left vs right, conservative vs liberal, “only one silver bullet way of thinking,” then it’s accomplished one very serious goal: it’s begun to shape our thinking more than news and even Catholic blog posts like this one. And, really, that should be one of the very real and needed goals of reading and praying with the Bible: getting us to put on the mind of Christ, not the mind of FOX or MSNBC or the mind of our favorite Catholic blogger or speaker. Jesus Christ is the Word of God...is God’s word shaping our attitudes, words and behaviors?