“Also, when I broke the seven for the four thousand, how many large baskets full of fragments did you take up?” “Why do you reason because you have no bread? Do you not yet perceive nor understand? Is your heart hardened? Having eyes, do you not see? And having ears, do you not hear? And do you not remember? When I broke the five loaves for the five thousand, how many baskets full of fragments did you take up?” After the second multiplication comes the Lord’s frustrated interrogation of the apostles: This thesis explains why, in Mark 8 and Matthew 15, the multiplication of the loaves is repeated: The apostles are given one more opportunity to understand.Įven then, however, the apostles will fail to grasp its significance. This evangelist ascribes the wonderment of the apostles-“greatly amazed in themselves beyond measure”-to their failure to understand “about the loaves.” That is to say, they would not have marveled so much about the theophany on the lake if they had understood what had transpired, before their very eyes, in the multiplication of the loaves.įor Mark, this miraculous feeding of the multitude was supremely theophanic: It was the clear manifestation of the identity of Jesus. Mark’s reference to the apostles’ hardness of heart, in this place, has no parallel in the other gospels it represents a concern peculiar to Mark. For they had not understood about the loaves, because their heart was hardened.” At the end of this story, the evangelist observes: “And they were greatly amazed in themselves beyond measure, and marveled. Mark 6:45-52: The story of the Lord’s walking on the water is closely tied to the account of the multiplication on the loaves, not only sequentially (in Matthew, Mark, and John), but also (in Mark, at least) thematically.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |