Day 34 – October 10, 2026 – Mark 6

It is difficult to skip the feeding of the five thousand, but I will just say a few words. This feeding takes place within the context of Jesus trying to get himself and his disciples away from people so that they can rest and refresh. He has just been rejected in his home town of Nazareth, probably a pretty strong emotional blow, he has just sent them out two by two and they have come back successful in all that they had prepared to do. His cousing, John the Baptist has just been beheaded, another very strong emotional blow to Jesus. We find in vs.31 that Jesus commands them to come away to a deserted place, which is what they were trying to do when the five thousand found them.

Once he feeds them then it states in vs.45 that immediately he made them get in the boat and go to the other side, while he went up a mountain to pray. The requirement to get away, to go by yourself up a mountain to pray, to be refreshed in the presence of the Lord and in the absence of people requiring things from you was necessary for Jesus and necessary for all of us as well. Jesus is able to fulfill that requirement, even though he had to save his disciples from a storm as soon as he gets back.