←Mark 8→BSB

The stories about feeding the 4,000 and the 5,000 are similar. All four Gospels report the earlier feeding of the 5,000 (6:35–44; Matt 14:13–21; Luke 9:10–17; John 6:1–15), but only Mark and Matthew (Matt 15:32–39) also record the feeding of the 4,000 as a separate miracle (Mark 8:19–21; Matt 16:9–10). The details of the events are different.

The last reference to a large crowd was at the feeding of the 5,000 (6:34). Jesus showed compassion in 6:34 because the people “were like sheep without a shepherd.” These stories reflect Jesus’ concern for the total person—this time especially for the people’s hunger. They were in the wilderness (8:4) and had no food (8:1). They had been with Jesus for three days and had nothing to eat (8:2), and they had come a long way and needed to eat before returning home (8:3).

took, thanked God, distributed: These terms foreshadow the Last Supper (cp. 14:22–25).

• Like the earlier miracle where Jesus fed 5,000 people (6:30–44), after feeding 4,000 people, Jesus traveled across the Sea of Galilee by boat (compare 6:45). When he arrived, the Pharisees came to argue with him. They demanded that Jesus show them a miracle as proof (compare 7:1–23).

• We do not know where Dalmanutha was located. Matthew 15:39 uses the name Magadan instead of Dalmanutha when describing this place.

This account of the journey across the Sea of Galilee reflects on Jesus’ greatness, as manifested in the two feeding miracles, and emphasizes the dullness of the disciples, who do not see, hear, or understand because of their hardened hearts (see 4:9–20; 6:52).

Jesus asked eight questions that rebuked the disciples. They, of all people, should have been aware of the miraculous power of the Son of God. Although the disciples still remembered the feeding miracles, they never considered the implications for their immediate situation.

Jesus’ questions precisely recalled the feeding miracles (6:30–44; 8:1–10).

• Earlier, Jesus and the disciples set out unsuccessfully for Bethsaida (6:45); here, they arrive, and Jesus heals a blind man. Only Mark has this two-part healing; it might connect with the opening of the disciples’ spiritual eyes in the next account (8:27–38).
• John 1:44 identifies Bethsaida as the home of Peter, Andrew, James, and John (see also John 12:21). This small fishing village, although technically part of Gaulanitis, was generally considered part of Galilee (John 12:21). It was relocated and given status as a city by Philip the Tetrarch (Josephus, Antiquities 18.2.1).

The healing was not instantaneous—the man saw imperfectly at first. Jesus’ second laying on of hands brought complete healing. Who is this man who stills the sea and heals the blind? Peter reveals this in the next account—he is the Messiah (8:29).

• Philip the Tetrarch, son of Herod the Great, built Caesarea Philippi on the slopes of Mount Hermon about twenty-five miles (forty kilometers) north of the Sea of Galilee. The more famous Caesarea on the coast had been built by Philip’s father.
• Who do people say I am? As a good teacher, Jesus asked a question to elicit his disciples’ understanding. The response is similar to 6:14–16.
• John the Baptist: See study note on 6:14.
• one of the other prophets: Jesus was clearly considered a prophet (6:4; 14:65; Luke 7:16, 39; 13:33; 24:19).

Peter’s declaration of Jesus as Messiah and Jesus’ first prediction of his death mark a turning point in Mark’s Gospel and a new stage in Jesus’ life. The question, “Who is this man?” raised by the disciples in 4:41, is now answered by Peter.

This section is the first cycle containing a prediction by Jesus of his suffering (8:31), an error by the disciples (8:32–33), and a collection of Jesus’ sayings about discipleship (8:34–9:1). Cp. 9:30–10:31.

But who do you say I am? In the Greek text, you is emphatic. Peter responded for the group, You are the Messiah. Peter’s confession was correct, as the command not to tell anyone about him indicates (see 3:11–12; see also 1:1; 14:61–62; Matt 16:17).

Then Jesus began to teach the disciples that he would suffer and be killed in Jerusalem and three days later . . . rise from the dead. Jesus now explicitly predicted what he had revealed in veiled form (2:19–20). In response, Peter objected, so Jesus taught him and the other disciples the nature of his mission and what it really means to follow him.

• Jesus’ invitation to his disciples and the crowd lays out the cost of being his follower.
• To give up your own way involves letting Jesus determine your goals and purposes in life. To take up your cross is metaphorical (cp. Luke 9:23); it indicates that faithfulness to Jesus must extend, if required, even to the point of death. To follow Jesus’ teaching and example is a continual commitment.

The implied answer to Jesus’ rhetorical question is that possessing the entire world has no value if you give up eternal life. “He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose” (Jim Elliot). You need your soul to enjoy the benefits of the world to come. When you forfeit your life or soul, there is nothing you can give to purchase it back.