Dr. Doug Bookman

Note: Jesus’s ministry of public presentation, which He had pursued so carefully and so persistently in Galilee for some 18 months, is deliberately suspended for a strategic season; this is because the nation has demonstrated its commitment to disbelief, irrespective of evidence. There are two great “moments of disbelief” – the unpardonable sin (discussed earlier) and the feeding of the 5000. The latter and climactic event will be considered here.

A. Jesus Withdraws from Galilee after the Death of John the Baptist

Scripture: Matthew 14:1-13

Notes: The only record of the death of Jesus’s forerunner, John the Baptist, is told here in terms of a report brought to Jesus.

Questions/Observations: Notice that Matthew 14:13 is explicit that it was in response to this report that Jesus decided to depart from Galilee.

B. Great Crowds Pursue Jesus; He Miraculously Feeds 5000

Scripture: Matthew 14:13-21; Mark 6:30-44; Luke 9:10-17; and John 6:1-13

Notes: This is the only miracle (save the resurrection of Jesus) that is recorded in all four gospels.

Questions/Observations: Why is this miracle recorded in all four gospels? That is, what part does it play in the narrative of Jesus’s ministry that makes it so strategic to our understanding of that ministry?

C. The Response of the Multitudes to the Miracle

Scripture: John 6:14-15

Questions/Observations: What do you think it looked like when the masses tried to “take Him by force and make Him king”?

D. Jesus Prays Alone; the Disciples Caught in a Storm; Jesus Walks on Water

Scripture: Matthew 14:22-23; Mark 6:47-52; and John 6:16-21

Notes: This event happened the night of the Feeding of 5000.

Questions/Observations: Notice the amazement of the disciples, in spite of the fact that just a few hours earlier they had participated in the remarkable miracle of the feeding. Notice as well Mark’s (i.e., Peter’s) assessment as to why they were so amazed (John 6:52).

E. Jesus Arrives on the Eastern Shore of the Sea of Galilee

Scripture: Matthew 14:34-36 and Mark 6:53-56

Notes: This occurred on the day following the Feeding of the 5000.

Questions/Observations: Notice that this is very late in the Galilean ministry, and Jesus (alone) has discerned that the nation is determined to reject His claims. But that does not mean that Jesus is no longer the wildly popular folk hero of the masses. This remarkable scene is clear evidence that the common man was still fascinated with this wonder Worker, even though that fascination was self-serving and shallow, as demonstrated by the way this event was yet to unfold.

F. The Crowds Go Looking for Jesus

Scripture: John 6:22-25

Notes: Only John tells of the mad dashing about that ensued on this following day; the crowds that had eaten the lunch produced by Jesus, and who had wanted to take Jesus by force and make Him king, were anxious for the excitement to continue. Thus, the frenetic scurrying about of these verses.

G. Jesus Speaks “Hard Sayings” to Test the Crowd

Scripture: John 6:26-59

Notes: This very important teaching was spoken by Jesus in the synagogue at Capernaum (John 6:59). It was intended by Jesus to test the reality of this people to “make Jesus king,” and it was effective to that end.

Questions/Observations:

1. Notice the stern and telling rebuke with which Jesus introduces His conversation with these people who were ostensibly so anxious to have Him as king (John 6:26-27).
2. John 6:53-56 are widely regarded as difficult verses, and they have often been so misconstrued as to be put to ignoble purposes. However, those verses must be understood in the context of the illustration to which Jesus appealed earlier (John 6:32-40), as well as the specific and straightforward application of that illustration He had made in John 6:48-51. The point has been made explicitly that the only “work” demanded by the Father is that men “believe in [i.e., depend entirely upon] Him whom He sent” (John 6:29). The reference to “eating in His flesh/drinking His blood” calls to mind sacrificial death and must be understood in its context: just as the Israelites had no food or drink other than the bread which fell from heaven and the water flowing from a rock, so men have no hope of eternal life unless they utterly depend upon the sacrifice to be made by Jesus – as it were, eat His flesh (as the Israelites ate manna) and drink His blood (as the Israelites depended on the water provided by God).

H. The Masses Are Offended

Scripture: John 6:60-71

Notes: Notice especially John 6:66.

Questions/Observations: Although there are brief events to follow before Jesus actually abandons Galilee and sets out on His mission of private preparation, it is this event that functionally brings to an end the Galilean ministry and thus causes the effort at public presentation to be suspended for a strategic season.

I. Jesus Confronted Once Again by Pharisees from Jerusalem

Scripture: Matthew 15:1-20 and Mark 7:1-23

Notes: In both Matthew and Mark, this incident is narrated as the last in Jesus’s ministry of public presentation in Galilee.

Questions/Observations:

1. Note that the Pharisees who confronted Jesus had come from Jerusalem. This is strong indication that Jesus’s enemies were growing more committed to silence Him.
2. Why do you think the parable spoken by Jesus in response to those Pharisees (Matthew 15:10-11) was so offensive to them (Matthew 15:12)?

Adapted from the Life of Christ study notes of Dr. Doug Bookman, professor of New Testament Exposition at Shepherds Theological Seminary (used by permission).

Dr. Doug Bookman

Note: At this point in His ministry Jesus’s death is about one year away. (That is, 2 1/2 years of the 3 1/2 years of His ministry have been accomplished.) It is here that Jesus’s purpose – and consequently His tactics – change dramatically. Jesus has discerned that the hardness of this generation is full, that they have determined to disbelieve no matter the evidence set before them that Jesus is who He claims to be. Thus, Jesus sets out to find the solitude necessary to share with His apostles instruction which is unspeakably important and just as difficult – a task which will prove logistically difficult because Jesus the miracle Worker is still so wildly popular with the common man, even beyond the borders of Judea. The specific instruction He is seeking opportunity to give is that He is going to die at the hands of His enemies. In that connection, remember that to this point Jesus has never openly spoken of dying. Notice in the passages to follow the sudden and radical change in tactics employed by the Lord Jesus.

A. Jesus Encounters Syro-Phoenecian Woman with Demon-Possessed Daughter

Scripture: Mark 7:24-30 and Matthew 15:21-28

Notes: Here, Jesus takes the 12 to Phoenecia, a difficult journey to a place where there were few Jews among the populace. Notice that Jesus is reluctant to do a miracle of healing in this place.

Questions/Observations:

1. As you read these passages, how many particular ways can you find in which Jesus’s tactics change from that which has characterized His ministry for the years past.
2. Why do you think Jesus was reluctant to do the miracle of healing requested by the Syro-Phoenecian woman for her daughter?
3. Notice the response of this woman to Jesus’s remarkably harsh reply to her request. In what ways might her response be regarded as a model?

B. Jesus Heals Many and Feeds 4000 at Decapolis

Scripture: Mark 7:31 and Matthew 15:29-38

Notes: Jesus leads the 12 on a long journey around the Sea of Galilee into the very Gentile region of Decapolis.

1. Notice the special steps Jesus employs in healing this man brought to Him. Why do you think He healed the man in this manner?
2. Notice Jesus commanded the man and his companions to tell no one of the healing. Why did Jesus make this demand? How did the man who had been healed respond? What was the result of his response?

C. Back Across the Sea to Galilee; Jesus confronted by Pharisees; Sets out Again

Scripture: Matthew 15:39 and Mark 8:10-21

Notes: This seems to be an attempt by Jesus to return to Galilee – His home and that of 11 of His apostles – unobtrusively. But the attempt is aborted when a Pharisee confronts Jesus as soon as He alights from the boat.

Questions/Observations:

1. Where is Dalmanutha (Mark)/Magdala (Matthew)?
2. How do you understand Jesus’s reference to the “leaven of the Pharisees” (Matthew: “and the Sadducees”)?
3. A very important element of this episode – the (almost comical) dullness of Jesus’s apostles.

Adapted from the Life of Christ study notes of Dr. Doug Bookman, professor of New Testament Exposition at Shepherds Theological Seminary (used by permission).

Dr. Doug Bookman

Note: By harmonizing the Synoptic accounts, it is possible to trace the events of one remarkable day late on the second tour through Galilee – remarkable primarily for the spirit of rejection which manifested itself on this day. This day is clearly a turning point in Jesus’s ministry; indeed, it marks the beginning of the end of that ministry – and thus of an extended period during which Jesus’s focus has been public presentation of Himself to the nation.

A. The “Unpardonable Sin” and Jesus’s Response

Scripture: Matthew 12:22-37 and Mark 3:20-30

Notes: Most basic to this day was the wickedness remembered as the “unpardonable sin.” It is widely acknowledged that this event functions as a basic turning point in Jesus’s ministry, and it is essential to understand why that is so.

Questions/Observations:

1. This event is precipitated by a miracle done by Jesus, a miracle specifically foretold of Messiah (cf. Isaiah 42:7, Isaiah 35:6).
2. Notice very carefully the question asked by the people who witnessed the miracle in Matthew 12:23.
3. There is much discussion as to the specific character of the sin of “blaspheming the Holy Spirit”; it is an important discussion, but don’t miss the undeniable emphasis of this passage – in committing that sin, the masses have chosen to believe the lying excuse of the Pharisees and thus to reject Jesus’s claims concerning Himself, in spite of the unimpeachable evidence He has just given them in this remarkable miracle.

B. The Reaction of the Pharisees

Scripture: Matthew 12:38-45

Notes: The Pharisees again demand a sign, but Jesus refuses and speaks even greater condemnation upon them.

Questions/Observations: This is the first of at least three times that Jesus refuses any sign but that of Jonah (cf. Matthew 16:4; Luke 11:30).

C. The Reaction of Jesus’s Family

Scripture: Mark 3:31-35 and Matthew 12:46-50

Notes: This is a remarkably difficult time for Jesus, as His own family – including His mother – come to take Him home, thinking Him to be out of His mind (cf. Mark 3:21)

Questions/Observations:

1. Contemplate the travail of soul Jesus must have felt as word came that His own family thought Him crazy.
2. Understand that in Mark 3:34-35, Jesus is living up to a very difficult but very clear Old Testament ethic.
3. An interesting question: could the perception that Jesus was “out of his mind” have anything to do with the strategy He was employing at this time? (See below.)

D. Jesus Begins Teaching in Parables

Scripture: Matthew 13:1-52 and Mark 4:1-34

Notes: As you read these passages, note carefully the movements of Jesus and His apostles – and the consequent audience of the various portions of the text.

E. Jesus Selects 12 from among His Disciples to be His Apostles

Scripture: Mark 3:13-19 and Luke 6:12-16

Notes: This is rather late in His Galilean ministry, and Jesus does this because His enemies are growing sufficiently enraged and emboldened that Jesus knows the time He will have to move about freely in Galilee is short.

Questions/Observations:

1. Notice the astonishment of the apostles when Jesus began teaching in this fashion and the words of Jesus in response to that astonishment. Give special attention to what Jesus said was the purpose of His speaking in this way.
2. As you ponder the significance of these parables, measure that against the backdrop of the situation in which they were spoken. (The great key to understanding Matthew 13: it comes right after Matthew 12!) Clearly, something previously understood regarding the Kingdom (i.e., a mystery) is made (cryptically) known here; the issue is, what is that mysterious insight never before understood, but now made known?
3. Notice carefully the concluding parable (Matthew 13:51-52) intended to give instruction as to how the truth of the former parables is to be received.

Adapted from the Life of Christ study notes of Dr. Doug Bookman, professor of New Testament Exposition at Shepherds Theological Seminary (used by permission).