Helpfinder Sampler - Flipbook - Page 24
MAR K 7
Jesus Feeds Five Thousand
30 The apostles returned to Jesus from their ministry tour and told him all they had done and
taught. 31 Then Jesus said, “Let’s go off by ourselves to a quiet place and rest awhile.” He said
this because there were so many people coming and going that Jesus and his apostles didn’t
even have time to eat.
32 So they left by boat for a quiet place, where
they could be alone. 33 But many people recognized them and saw them leaving, and people
from many towns ran ahead along the shore
and got there ahead of them. 34 Jesus saw the
huge crowd as he stepped from the boat, and
he had compassion on them because they were
like sheep without a shepherd. So he began
teaching them many things.
35 Late in the afternoon his disciples came to
him and said, “This is a remote place, and it’s
already getting late. 36 Send the crowds away so
they can go to the nearby farms and villages and
buy something to eat.”
37 But Jesus said, “You feed them.”
“With what?” they asked. “We’d have to work
for months to earn enough money* to buy food
for all these people!”
38 “How much bread do you have?” he asked.
“Go and find out.”
They came back and reported, “We have five
loaves of bread and two fish.”
39 Then Jesus told the disciples to have the
people sit down in groups on the green grass.
40 So they sat down in groups of fifty or a hundred.
41 Jesus took the five loaves and two fish,
looked up toward heaven, and blessed them.
Then, breaking the loaves into pieces, he kept
• Comfort
MARK 6 :4 5 - 5 2
We have a tendency to focus on the
miracle in this story more than on the miracle’s meaning. The miracle is spectacular:
Jesus walked on water! Believers marvel
and cynics doubt. But the drama of this
event draws our attention away from the
twelve men floundering in a stormy sea.
The winds were blowing at gale force.
Their boat was taking on water. They
were exhausted and scared. Have you
ever felt like that? And then Jesus came
to them. “Don’t be afraid,” he said. The
real meaning of this story is that Jesus
will go to extraordinary lengths in order
to comfort us in troubled seas. What
is your “storm”? Have you listened for
Jesus’ “Don’t be afraid”? Do you expect
him to come to you?
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giving the bread to the disciples so they could
distribute it to the people. He also divided the
fish for everyone to share. 42 They all ate as much
as they wanted, 43 and afterward, the disciples
picked up twelve baskets of leftover bread and
fish. 44 A total of 5,000 men and their families
were fed.*
Jesus Walks on Water
45 Immediately after this, Jesus insisted that his
disciples get back into the boat and head across
the lake to Bethsaida, while he sent the people
home. 46 After telling everyone good-bye, he
went up into the hills by himself to pray.
47 Late that night, the disciples were in their
boat in the middle of the lake, and Jesus was
alone on land. 48 He saw that they were in serious trouble, rowing hard and struggling against
the wind and waves. About three o’clock in the
morning* Jesus came toward them, walking on
the water. He intended to go past them, 49 but
when they saw him walking on the water, they
cried out in terror, thinking he was a ghost.
50 They were all terrified when they saw him.
But Jesus spoke to them at once. “Don’t be
afraid,” he said. “Take courage! I am here!*”
51 Then he climbed into the boat, and the wind
stopped. They were totally amazed, 52 for they
still didn’t understand the significance of the
miracle of the loaves. Their hearts were too hard
to take it in.
53 After they had crossed the lake, they
landed at Gennesaret. They brought the boat
to shore 54 and climbed out. The people recognized Jesus at once, 55 and they ran throughout
the whole area, carrying sick people on mats
to wherever they heard he was. 56 Wherever he
went—in villages, cities, or the countryside—
they brought the sick out to the marketplaces.
They begged him to let the sick touch at least
the fringe of his robe, and all who touched him
were healed.
Jesus Teaches about Inner Purity
One day some Pharisees and teachers of
religious law arrived from Jerusalem to see
Jesus. 2 They noticed that some of his disciples
failed to follow the Jewish ritual of hand washing
before eating. 3 (The Jews, especially the Pharisees, do not eat until they have poured water
over their cupped hands,* as required by their
ancient traditions. 4 Similarly, they don’t eat anything from the market until they immerse their
hands* in water. This is but one of many traditions they have clung to—such as their ceremonial washing of cups, pitchers, and kettles.*)
7
6:37 Greek It would take 200 denarii. A denarius was equivalent
to a laborer’s full day’s wage. 6:44 Some manuscripts read fed
from the loaves. 6:48 Greek About the fourth watch of the night.
6:50 Or The ‘I Am’ is here; Greek reads I am. See Exod 3:14.
7:3 Greek have washed with the fist. 7:4a Some manuscripts
read sprinkle themselves. 7:4b Some manuscripts add and
dining couches.
MARK 8
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5 So the Pharisees and teachers of religious
law asked him, “Why don’t your disciples follow our age-old tradition? They eat without first
performing the hand-washing ceremony.”
6 Jesus replied, “You hypocrites! Isaiah was
right when he prophesied about you, for he wrote,
7
‘These people honor me with their lips,
but their hearts are far from me.
Their worship is a farce,
for they teach man-made ideas as
commands from God.’*
8 For
you ignore God’s law and substitute your
own tradition.”
9 Then he said, “You skillfully sidestep God’s
law in order to hold on to your own tradition.
10 For instance, Moses gave you this law from
God: ‘Honor your father and mother,’* and
‘Anyone who speaks disrespectfully of father or
mother must be put to death.’* 11 But you say it is
all right for people to say to their parents, ‘Sorry,
I can’t help you. For I have vowed to give to God
what I would have given to you.’* 12 In this way,
you let them disregard their needy parents.
13 And so you cancel the word of God in order to
hand down your own tradition. And this is only
one example among many others.”
14 Then Jesus called to the crowd to come and
hear. “All of you listen,” he said, “and try to
understand. 15 It’s not what goes into your body
that defiles you; you are defiled by what comes
from your heart.*”
17 Then Jesus went into a house to get away
from the crowd, and his disciples asked him
what he meant by the parable he had just used.
18 “Don’t you understand either?” he asked.
“Can’t you see that the food you put into your
body cannot defile you? 19 Food doesn’t go into
your heart, but only passes through the stomach and then goes into the sewer.” (By saying
this, he declared that every kind of food is acceptable in God’s eyes.)
20 And then he added, “It is what comes from
inside that defiles you. 21 For from within, out of
a person’s heart, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, 22 adultery, greed, wickedness, deceit, lustful desires, envy, slander,
pride, and foolishness. 23 All these vile things
come from within; they are what defile you.”
The Faith of a Gentile Woman
24 Then Jesus left Galilee and went north to the
region of Tyre.* He didn’t want anyone to know
which house he was staying in, but he couldn’t
keep it a secret. 25 Right away a woman who had
heard about him came and fell at his feet. Her
7:7 Isa 29:13 (Greek version). 7:10a Exod 20:12; Deut 5:16.
7:10b Exod 21:17 (Greek version); Lev 20:9 (Greek version).
7:11 Greek ‘What I would have given to you is Corban’ (that is,
a gift). 7:15 Some manuscripts add verse 16, Anyone with
ears to hear should listen and understand. Compare 4:9, 23.
7:24 Some manuscripts add and Sidon. 7:25 Greek unclean.
7:27 Greek Let the children eat first. 7:31 Greek Decapolis.
little girl was possessed by an evil* spirit, 26 and
she begged him to cast out the demon from her
daughter.
Since she was a Gentile, born in Syrian Phoenicia, 27 Jesus told her, “First I should feed the
children—my own family, the Jews.* It isn’t right
to take food from the children and throw it to
the dogs.”
28 She replied, “That’s true, Lord, but even
the dogs under the table are allowed to eat the
scraps from the children’s plates.”
29 “Good answer!” he said. “Now go home, for
the demon has left your daughter.” 30 And when
she arrived home, she found her little girl lying
quietly in bed, and the demon was gone.
Jesus Heals a Deaf Man
31 Jesus left Tyre and went up to Sidon before
going back to the Sea of Galilee and the region
of the Ten Towns.* 32 A deaf man with a speech
impediment was brought to him, and the people
begged Jesus to lay his hands on the man to
heal him.
33 Jesus led him away from the crowd so they
could be alone. He put his fingers into the
man’s ears. Then, spitting on his own fingers,
he touched the man’s tongue. 34 Looking up
to heaven, he sighed and said, “Ephphatha,”
which means, “Be opened!” 35 Instantly the man
could hear perfectly, and his tongue was freed
so he could speak plainly!
36 Jesus told the crowd not to tell anyone,
but the more he told them not to, the more
they spread the news. 37 They were completely
amazed and said again and again, “Everything
he does is wonderful. He even makes the deaf
to hear and gives speech to those who cannot
speak.”
Jesus Feeds Four Thousand
About this time another large crowd had
gathered, and the people ran out of food
again. Jesus called his disciples and told them,
2 “I feel sorry for these people. They have been
here with me for three days, and they have nothing left to eat. 3 If I send them home hungry, they
will faint along the way. For some of them have
come a long distance.”
4 His disciples replied, “How are we supposed
to find enough food to feed them out here in the
wilderness?”
5 Jesus asked, “How much bread do you
have?”
“Seven loaves,” they replied.
6 So Jesus told all the people to sit down on
the ground. Then he took the seven loaves,
thanked God for them, and broke them into
pieces. He gave them to his disciples, who distributed the bread to the crowd. 7 A few small
fish were found, too, so Jesus also blessed these
and told the disciples to distribute them.
8
