Jesus the Prophet?: Studies in Mark, Pt. 17
In my previous post dealing with “Studies in Mark,” I argued that one of main points of the episode generally referred to as “The Feeding of the 5,000,” is often overlooked. That point is that, in the story Jesus not only miraculously feeds the people (zealots) but also teaches them; He teaches them about His identity and mission. The zealots wanted Jesus to be the leader of the religio-political faction, a faction that would overthrow the Roman Empire via force. In Mk. 6.34, Mark says that when Jesus’ boat reached shore, He “saw a large crowd and He had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. So He began teaching them many things.” As I showed in the last post (click the following link to read: Feeding and Teaching of the 5,000 ), that phrase “sheep without a shepherd” was a political idiom. Mark was drawing on Num. 27.17. In that verse, Moses has just handed over his leadership role to Joshua. He did this so that as the text says, “…the Lord’s people woul...