The People Observe (Mark 5-6)

Reading through Mark reminds me of when I saw Mark told dramatically at an IVCF event, MarkProject. It was really cool to see it that way, and reminds me to read these accounts as though real people were in them; because they WERE real people, not just fictional ones.

Continuing on my thoughts from the beginning of Mark, people’s perceptions of Jesus are beginning to grow and change. People have faith that he can heal their calamities and that he can cast out demons (with good reason too because he’d done it). 5000 people even come out to hear him talk (and in their excitement forget sustenance  Now that is real excitement.). In contrast, the people from his hometown reject him and cannot reconcile this Jesus with the Jesus they thought they knew. Then there are the disciples, who are seeing first hand all these miraculous signs – and they don’t understand because their hearts are hardened. Though it’s weird to think they didn’t understand, but it actually makes sense. They couldn’t have known how it was going to play out, because that would have changed everything. Plus, it is much more interesting to watch them in their discovery of who Jesus is over time than having them know everything.