Mark 6:53-56

Mark 6:53-56

After making the crossing to the other side of the sea,

Jesus and his disciples came to land at Gennesaret

and tied up there.

As they were leaving the boat, people immediately recognized him.

They scurried about the surrounding country    

and began to bring in the sick on mats

to wherever they heard he was.

Whatever villages or towns or countryside he entered,

they laid the sick in the marketplaces

and begged him that they might touch only the tassel on his cloak;

and as many as touched it were healed.

Opening Prayer: Lord God, Creator of all things, send forth your Spirit and renew the face of the earth. Help me to recognize my need so that I may reach out to you and your Son to be healed. I want to center my life and work totally on you and serve my brothers and sisters as best as I can.

Encountering the Word of God

1. Criscrossing the Sea of Galilee: Much of the Gospel of Mark takes place in the villages and towns around the Sea of Galilee. At least four of Jesus’ disciples were fishermen, and they were able crisscross the sea and travel by boat to get from village to village. Jesus has just demonstrated his divine power to his disciples by feeding the five thousand (Mark 6:34-44) and by walking on the water. Both displays of power answer the confusion and question about Jesus’ identity (Mark 6:14-16). Jesus is not just another prophet like Elijah or a resurrected John the Baptist; Jesus is greater than all the prophets and invites his disciples to recognize his divine nature. Even after the multiplication of the loaves for the 5,000 and walking on water, his disciples still struggled to believe: “They had not understood the incident of the loaves. On the contrary, their hearts were hardened” (Mark 6:52). In today’s Gospel, Mark tells us that Jesus made his disciples get in the boat without him and head either toward Bethsaida or opposite Bethsaida (Mark 6:45). From John’s Gospel, we know that the disciples were specifically going to Capernaum (John 6:16), which was about six miles west of Bethsaida. This means that the disciples were heading to Capernaum either by way of Bethsaida or by crossing opposite Bethsaida. In either case, it is curious that, in Mark’s Gospel, Jesus doesn’t bring his disciples to Capernaum, but rather lands them safely at Gennesaret (Mark 6:53), a village three miles south of Capernaum. By initially avoiding Capernaum, Jesus was likely avoiding the crowds who wanted to take him by force and make him king (John 6:15).

2. Two Healings: In Gennesaret, the people immediately recognized Jesus and, instead of trying to make him king, brought the sick among them to be healed by him. These healings take place in Galilee, in the land of Israel. These healings will be paralleled with a healing that takes place outside of Israel, in the district of Tyre, with the healing of the Syrophoenician’s daughter. Just as the Bread of Life that Jesus brings is not just for Israel but is also for the Gentiles, so also Jesus’ healing and saving power is not just for Israel, but for the entire world. In these healings, Jesus heals those who touch the tassels on his cloak. In the healing of the Syrophoenician’s daughter, he will exorcise the demon from afar.

3. The Tassel on His Cloak: Earlier, the woman with a hemorrhage was healed by touching Jesus’ garment (Mark 5:27-34). It was her faith in Jesus that made her well. Here, Mark speaks about people touching not just his cloak, but the blue tassels or fringes that Jesus wore on the four corners of his cloak. These tassels were commanded in the Law of Moses and were a reminder to keep God’s commandments and be holy (Numbers 15:37-40; Deuteronomy 22:12). By wearing the tassels, “Jesus is the model of faithfulness to the covenant, who perfectly fulfills the Father’s commands. All who touched [the tassel on Jesus’ garments] were healed – not because of any magical power in the tassel itself, but because of their faith in him who wore it. Here, as often in Mark’s healing narratives (Mark 5:23, 34; 10:52), physical healing is an anticipatory sign of salvation in the full sense, since the same verb, sozo, can be translated ‘heal’ or ‘save’” (Healy, The Gospel of Mark, 133). By wearing the tassels, Jesus demonstrated his total fidelity to the Old Covenant and its laws without clinging to the human traditions (Mark 7:8), which would hinder bringing the New Covenant and its law to the entire world. The Old Covenant wearing of tassels – a physical reminder to keep God’s commandments and remain holy – is fulfilled in the New Covenant, not by wearing a physical, outward garment, but by being clothed with the righteousness of Christ (Galatians 3:27; Romans 13:14), by weaving a garment of righteous deeds, and by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.

Conversing with Christ: Lord Jesus, you are all holy, faithful, and merciful. You are the eternal Word through whom God the Father created the world. You have recreated the world through your passion, death, and resurrection. Pour out your Spirit within me to sanctify and bring to perfection what you have recreated.

Living the Word of God: Can I contemplate today how I have “put on the Lord Jesus Christ” through grace? What does my garment of “righteous deeds” (Revelation 19:8) look like? What righteous deeds am I called to do today?