Here's something which I've learned recently about Jesus as shown to us in Mark.
I noticed a while ago that Jesus never calls himself God in Mark. Our doctrine of the trinity clearly tells us that Jesus IS God, but where is the evidence for that in Mark? You would think that if he was God, he would have told us in each gospel somehow….
I was going through Mark chapter 6, and I came to this verse which comes just after the disciples were struggling in the boat, when there is a storm, and Jesus walks on water towards them. When he gets into the boat with them the storm immediately stops, and Mark notes that "their hearts were hard, because they didn't understand the significance of the loaves". What? Is that a mistake, surely Mark meant that they didn't understand about Jesus having power over the storm… Assuming, as we must, that what is written is what Mark intended us to read, then I started thinking. "Well, what is the significance of the loaves?"
So I read over that whole section, and I saw some parallels to Old Testament passages which gave clues to the meaning, and what the significance of the loaves (and the whole section) may be.
Here's my paraphrase of chapter 6 verses 31-52, with Old Testament allusions in bold.
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Jesus said to his disciples, come to a desert place and rest a while, because there were so many people coming and going that they hadn't had anything to eat. And they went by themselves, to a desert place. Many people followed them there, and Jesus had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd, and he taught them many things.
After a while it became late and they were all hungry. His disciples tell Jesus to send them away, but instead, after commanding them to sit in orderly groups, Jesus miraculously provides bread for the people in the desert. And everyone had enough to eat.
Jesus then told his disciples to go ahead of him into the boat as he went up a mountain to pray. Then a storm came, and Jesus saw that the disciples were struggling in the boat. He goes out to them, and does he go straight to them? Not quite. He intends to pass by them. But when he sees that they are afraid of him, he says to them "Have courage. I am. Don't be afraid." And he goes to them, into the boat and immediately the storm ceases.
They were amazed because they didn't understand the significance of the bread miracles, because their hearts were hard.
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Who is the one who feeds hungry people in the desert? Who meets with a human on a mountain, and passes by him? Who is called "I am"…
The significance of the loaves is the identity of Jesus. Jesus is the one who fed
