MARK 6:14-44

MARK 6:14-44

MARK 6:14-20 - Herod was interested in John’s message at first, and sent for him in order that he might hear for himself the desert preacher. As long as John dealt with the gospel of the kingdom, his royal but corrupt auditor listened with some measure of attention, but when the Baptist dared to rebuke the crafty and licentious monarch for his incestuous relations with his brother Philip’s wife the king’s ire was stirred, and he endeavored to silence his reprover by shutting him up in a gloomy prison, probably Machaerus, on the cliffs overlooking the Dead Sea. There John was left to languish and even to question whether Jesus could indeed be the promised Messiah, unless we are to understand that his concern was for the establishing of the faith of his disciples.  

MARK 6:21-29 - The celebration of Herod’s birth was turned into a vile, oriental orgy of drunkenness and debauchery. To add to the carnal enjoyment of the military and civilian chiefs and other dignitaries who were present, the daughter of Herodias was called in to participate in what was undoubtedly a voluptuous dance, which so delighted the auditors and spectators that Herod impulsively bade the girl ask for any boon up to half his kingdom as a reward for her performance. 

Moved by her wicked mother she asked for the head of John the Baptist on a charger, or a large platter. One can imagine how Herodias gloated over the gruesome object as she realized those cold lips would never again charge her with adultery or other sins. But she has not seen the last of John the Baptist. In the day of judgment he will rise up to condemn her because of her callous indifference to the call to repentance. 

MARK 6:35-44 - Of the promised Messiah it was written long centuries before He came into the world, “I will satisfy her poor with bread” (Ps. 132:15), and again, “He shall feed His flock like a shepherd” (Isa. 40:11). The feeding of the multitudes on two separate occasions must have recalled these prophecies to the minds of the people and caused them to wonder whether Jesus Christ might not be the One whose coming had been so long foretold.

When God brought Israel out of Egypt He spread for them a table in the wilderness (Ps. 78:19). The Lord Jesus gave the hungry crowds, who had followed and listened to Him all day long, an example of the same omnipotent power.

 We shall find, as we seek to serve our blessed Lord, that the more we pass on to others the more we have left for ourselves.

“It never was loving that emptied a heart,

Nor giving that emptied a purse.”