Inductive Bible study (SOAP) is an approach to God’s Word focusing on three basic steps that move from a focus on specific details to a more general, universal principle. Through these three steps, we apply inductive reasoning, which is defined as the attempt to use information about a specific situation to draw a conclusion. The steps are observation (what does it say?), interpretation (what does it mean?), and application (what does it mean for my life?). Inductive Bible study is a valuable tool in understanding and applying the principles of God’s Word. In an inductive study everyone participates. We will be working through as much of a chapter of Marks Gospel each week, taking turns to do the following:
SOAP Meathod
S: SCRIPTURE: Read a section of scripture, then summarise in your own words (What does it say? What verse stuck out to you most?).
O: Observation: Read the related Companion material below, then summarise one point/observation in your own words (Is their an issue being addressed?)
A: Application: How do you apply this truth to your life? What does it mean for us today?
P: Prayer: Following the study we will spend time in small groups praying. How do you implement this verse into your life? finish with the quiz below.
There are seven incidents in this chapter of Mark: Jesus in Nazareth, the apostles’ training trip, Herodias gets her revenge, 5000 are fed, Jesus walks on water and Jesus in Gennesaret.
Read Mark 6: 1 – 6 Jesus in Nazareth
Jesus travelled to his home town. Although the name of the town was not mentioned, it was assumed it was the town of Nazareth where Jesus grew up and learnt the trade of carpentry from his earthly father, Joseph.
Again he was accompanied by his disciples. This should not surprise us as by this time in the earthly ministry of Jesus, he was recognised by many as a rabbi. Rabbis were highly trained and competent teachers of the Jewish faith. Their teaching quality was so recognised, they attracted students. The students lived with the rabbi and learnt from him while participating with others in providing for his needs. It was not a formal structure. The students would stay with the rabbi as long as they personally wanted. The students could come and go. Afterwards, the students could claim kudos by saying they had studied under a particular rabbi. The students of rabbis were called disciples. So wherever Jesus went, those disciples of his who wanted to would travel with him. The exception of course were the chosen 12 whom Jesus was specifically training to be his apostles.
Again, it was the Sabbath and Jesus was teaching in the synagogue. This time he was in the synagogue in Nazareth: a place Jesus must have spent many, many Sabbaths listening to teaching and worshipping. On this occasion, because he was now recognised as a rabbi, he was asked to speak.
The quality of his teaching was so impressive, all who knew him were confused. They knew his family. They knew Jesus only as a carpenter. So how could he be a rabbi of such excellence? Their past knowledge of Jesus was a barrier to their acceptance of his teaching. They heard his excellent and challenging teaching but could not receive or submit to it because they had him in a “different box”. This made it impossible for them to exercise the faith needed to experience the personal life-changing miracles offered in the Kingdom of God.
This passage of Scripture was important for the way it showed that Jesus was from an ordinary family. Remember, Mark began his gospel without recording the birth narrative of Jesus. Jesus simply appeared with John the Baptist to be baptised. So, this information given by Mark was necessary to show that Jesus came from a normal family. His mother’s name is given for the first time, and his four brothers are mentioned by name. And we are even told he had a number of sisters. The only omission was any mention of his earthly father, Joseph. So scholars assume this meant that, by this time, Joseph was deceased. Jesus was, of course, Mary’s eldest son; and he was about 30 years of age.
Mark concluds this incident with Jesus making the observation that people involved in God’s ministry are often not able to do that ministry among their own family and those who know them well. It is hard for close family (and friends from youth) to submit to the spiritual authority of a fellow family member. This is an important truth that many have recognised throughout the centuries, and it prepared the disciples for what they could expect to encounter in their later ministry.
Finally, from this incident we learn something important about the ministry of laying on of hands. Healing is more dependent upon the compassionate faith of the person who is laying their hands on the sick than on the faith of the sick person being ministered to.
Read Mark 6: 6 – 13 Apostles’ Training Trip
This incident emphasises the importance Jesus placed on the training of his apostles. It is not known how far Jesus was into his ministry when this apostolic training occurred. But Jesus had for some time been modelling by his life how to do Kingdom ministry. We’ve been told Jesus went from town to town, taught in their villages, cast out unclean spirits and healed the sick. He now divided his 12 apostles into six teams of two and sent them out to travel from village to village: preaching that people should repent and driving out unclean spirits. They also laid their hands on the sick and the sick were healed. This fulfilled the words of Jesus in Chapter 3: 14 – 15 when he first selected his apostles.
Jesus gave specific instructions as to how the apostles were to do this. Surprisingly for us, they were told not to take anything with them: no food, no bag and no money. They could wear sandals but no extra clothing. Further, they were told that if they were invited into a house for their accommodation, they were to stay in that place until they left. Finally, Jesus told them that if they were not welcomed in a village or the village would not listen to their preaching, they were to leave that town.
Jesus used an idiom to explain the apostles’ freedom to leave. He told them they should, “shake the dust off your feet when you leave as a testimony against them.” This is a meaningless expression for us, but to the apostles it was significant. It was customary for self-righteous Jews when they were leaving a Gentile area to pause and rid themselves of the dirt and dust of that area. It was an action done in full view of the people they were leaving, as a mark of their disdain for the fact they were Gentiles and not Jews. So Jesus was using this familiar idiom to allow the apostles to show their disdain for people who failed to respond to their teaching. This meant Jews, who did not respond to the teaching of the Kingdom, were considered to be in the same category as Gentiles! Confession and repentance were absolutely necessary for all people!
Now, why did Jesus not want his apostles to take anything with them? A moment’s thought and you realise this was how Jesus himself travelled. Jesus didn’t expect his apostles to function any differently from himself. If he lived trusting his heavenly Father to provide everything he needed, so too were his apostles to trust their heavenly Father. The life of faith that Jesus lived was exactly the same life of faith he expected his apostles to live.
This expectation of God is unchanged today. Christians today are expected to fully trust their heavenly Father just as Jesus and his apostles did. But the distinctive details for each ministry will vary with culture, time, and circumstances. But the overarching truth is that all disciples must live fully trusting that their heavenly Father will provide for them as they fulfil the ministries he has given them.
Read Mark 6: 14 – 29 Herodias Gets Her Revenge
This sad reality check that Mark gave his readers revolved around the unjust arrest of John the Baptist. He was arrested because he preached the Kingdom’s principles of sin and its consequences and applied them to the king of Galilee.
In the opening verses of Mark’s Gospel, John was introduced as one who preached to crowds, telling them to repent in order to receive God’s forgiveness for their sins. Of necessity, he would’ve explained what sin was and its eternal consequences. In doing so, he gave pointed examples of people who were deliberately flouting God’s laws.
One of his examples was Herod (King) Antipas, Tetrarch of Galilee.
Now, we need to take a moment to unpack the confusion that is caused to us by the mention of the word Herod. A few years prior to the birth of Jesus, Herod was appointed by the Roman Senate as King over Palestine. Herod was from a wealthy Jewish family. Having secured this title, he was able to exact taxes from his own people; and he embarked on a massive building program which culminated in the rebuilding of the temple in Jerusalem. He is known in history as King Herod the Great and was the Herod the Magi (wise men) saw when they arrived in Jerusalem looking for the new king that had been born. This threat to his position as King caused Herod to kill all the baby boys in Bethlehem.
Herod the Great died and his kingdom was divided between his sons who retained the family name, Herod. One of his sons, Herod Antipas was tetrarch (ruler) over Galilee during the ministry of John the Baptist and Jesus. This was the Herod that arrested John and put him in prison.
(As an aside, another Herod—Herod Archelaus— was ethnarch of Judea and Samaria, but by the time Jesus’ earthly ministry came to an end, he’d been replaced by the Roman governor Pontius Pilate. Also, in the Acts of the Apostles we read of King Herod Agrippa I who executed James Zebedee, one of the inner three apostles. He also had Peter put in prison. At the end of Acts of the Apostles we read of King Herod Agrippa II who listened to the Apostle Paul’s defence at his trial. So, when you read in the New Testament of Herod, just be aware of the many family members who exercised power in Palestine.)
Now, let’s return to Herod Antipas and his particular sin problem. He married his brother’s wife. His brother Philip did not rule but had a wife named Herodias. Antipas married Herodias and this public affair became common knowledge in the community. John the Baptist called it out as sin. This behaviour may have been acceptable among the Greek culture, but it was unacceptable among the Jewish culture. Herodias was furious at this public censure and wanted to kill John. Antipas was reluctant to kill John because he believed John to be a holy and righteous man, so he imprisoned John instead.
At a party, Herodias managed to manipulate Antipas so she could demand the execution of John, which she achieved.
So, why was this account of John the Baptist placed here in Mark’s gospel? It came directly after the apostles had been sent out on their first ministry tour: a tour where Jesus had warned them they would not always be well received. The preaching of the Kingdom of God will, of necessity, always contain the need to speak and warn the listeners about sin and its consequences. Now this preaching is not always well received, and it will so enrage some that the preacher will be placed in the way of physical harm. That was what eventually happened to John the Baptist and later to Jesus. It was also what happened to the apostles after Pentecost on their ministry tours. This is why this account of the execution of John the Baptist is so important; it is a warning to all would-be disciples that following Jesus will of necessity put them in harm’s way.
Read Mark 6: 30 – 44 5000 Are Fed
In the final verse of this incident, Mark estimates the crowd that was fed to be 5000 men. Given that earlier in the account there was a very large crowd, it is sensible to assume that women and even children were present. So Jesus fed a very large crowd.
This section begins with the apostles returning from their field trip and reporting to Jesus their experiences. I can imagine an excited babble of sharing and comparing, and Jesus rewarding them with well done, hi-fives and encouraging questions. As always, a crowd soon developed, so Jesus and his apostles needed a place to rest.
I love the way Mark recounted the words of Jesus, “Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest.” We can observe a few truths from this. Ministry will tire us. And it is okay to seek rest. But when the time for rest comes it is with Jesus, not apart from him! A quiet place will recharge our spiritual energy. Ministry drains us both physically and spiritually, so Jesus provides for our recovery.
Jesus, with his apostles, took a boat to travel to another location along the shore. But the crowd saw the direction they were headed and hustled along passing through other towns and villages, spreading the news, and arrived at the location ahead of the boats. Jesus arrived and had compassion upon the crowd for he saw them as spiritually without direction. He taught them many things of which we can only now guess, but he must have been explaining to them the spiritual realm of the Kingdom of God among other things.
The disciples noted the lateness of the day, the remoteness of the place and suggested to Jesus he send the crowd away so the people could find provisions for their hunger. To their surprise Jesus uttered the impossible command, “You give them something to eat.” The disciples did the logical thing: they assessed the size of the crowd, the amount of food required and estimated the cost. They concluded it would take about eight months of a man’s wage to buy all that food. I’m sure they also thought, “Where are the markets that have that much food available?” Even if they had been carrying that amount of cash. Impossible!
Jesus told them to look around and discover what food resources they had. They found five loaves and two fish. Jesus instructed the disciples to have the crowd seated in groups of 50s and 100s. A personal recollection of Peter or Mark was the colourful spectacle of green grass upon which were groups of colourfully dressed people. Many of the remote places where Jesus and his disciples spent their time were barren.
The miracle is well known. Jesus prayed and distributed the food to his disciples, who distributed the food to the crowd. Everyone had sufficient to eat and the disciples collected 12 baskets of scraps afterwards.
Jesus invited his disciples to participate with him in this miracle. The disciples had the unimaginable privilege of seeing that as they distributed the food, it constantly miraculously refilled. The miracle continued until all the people had eaten. The last to be served had the same amount to eat as the first! What lessons the disciples learnt from this. Our heavenly Father is never limited in his resources. There is always enough. The apostles had witnessed God’s provision in a small way before when they were on their ministry training, but never in such abundance as on this occasion.
But behind this great miracle, the devout Jew would have been reminded of God’s provision of manna during the forty years of wilderness living, during the formative years of their nation. The miracle here was an enacted parable to show Jesus was God’s Messiah and that he was the Bread of Life. John, in his gospel, developed this theme very well.
Mark 6: 45 – 52 Jesus Walks on Water
This incident followed immediately after the feeding of the 5000. It was now evening, so Jesus sent his disciples off by boat to Bethsaida, while he himself sent the crowd home. Then he went up a mountain to pray. This simple narrative in the life of Jesus should always inspire us to seek solitude with God in prayer.
Bethsaida was at the northern end of the Sea of Galilee, on the east side of the northern Jorden River as it drained into the Sea of Galilee. From John’s gospel it seems to have been the birthplace of Peter, Andrew and Phillip.
During the night a strong wind blew against the disciples, so they had to row. From the previous notes about the size and shape of the fishing boats, it was noted they were capable of being rowed. They may have had three tiers of oars and certainly the sail was furled. It was hard, wet and cold work to row into the waves. I’m sure the disciples took turns, but only a few were experienced rowers. They’d only managed to get to the centre of the lake by the fourth watch.
The Roman army had divided the night-time into four, three-hour time periods or watches. This timing had been adopted by the Jews. The fourth watch was the last watch of the night and approximated the hours of 3 to 6 AM.
So we can assume the disciples were really tired and bone weary. Don’t forget they had just completed a really tiring day where Jesus had tried to get space for them to have a rest, but this hadn’t happened.
Jesus came towards them walking on top of the water! They saw him and naturally deduced the figure must be a ghost. This apparition inspired terror and the men in the boat cried out in fear. Jesus called out, “It’s me, don’t be afraid,” and climbed into the boat; and the wind stopped blowing.
I wonder if the disciples in the boat, before they saw Jesus, had contemplated giving up straining against the wind. Had they thought about turning around and sailing back to the coast they’d come from? Without Jesus in their lives, they were defeated. So, this practical insertion of Jesus into their boat was a spiritual lesson the apostles needed to learn for future ministry.
Again we see the contrast between fear and faith.
Mark concluded this incident with noting the disciples’ amazement, “For they did not understand about the loaves; for their hearts were hardened.”
Spiritually hard hearts in people are the bane of Christian ministry. It is the same as having spiritually deaf ears. Thought processes are limited to natural experiences, so comprehending spiritual truths is almost impossible without the enlightenment of the Spirit of God. Such was the problem of the disciples. So what was the spiritual principle being referred to here? What was it about the loaves they did not understand?
The miracle of feeding 5000 had just occurred. Soon after it, the disciples had obeyed Jesus and started rowing to the opposite shore. It was very hard work. They had not spent time discussing among themselves or with Jesus what the feeding of the 5000 meant. They were still functioning in their own strength. Their own strength had been unable to provide bread and their own strength was failing them now. As well their natural mind knew, it was impossible to walk on water; so spiritual blindness and fear resulted.
One of the principles to learn here is that when disciples obey Jesus, he will provide all the necessary means to fulfil the task. Another principle is that the spiritual realm is very practical. The spiritual realm impacts the physical life on earth. The spiritual realm is greater than and more powerful than the physical realm.
Of course, this incident is recorded to again show the readers just who Jesus is. As the one who multiplies bread, walks on water and stills the storm he is, therefore, the Hoy One of God and the true Messiah of a new Kingdom.
Mark 6: 53 – 56 Jesus in Gennesaret
Jesus and his disciples have again crossed the lake and this time landed in Gennesaret. Gennesaret was a town, a richly fertile area south of Capernaum but still on the western shore of the Sea of Galilee. It is worth remembering, when the gospel writers speak of Jesus crossing the lake by boat, they don’t necessarily mean he was sailing directly across the lake as if he was bisecting it. Travelling by boat around the lake had its advantages and was not an uncommon form of transport. For Jesus it meant an occasion for rest and a time to escape the press of the crowds. It may also have provided him with an opportunity for one-on-one teaching with his apostles.
Being in Jewish territory, not far from Capernaum but not in his hometown, he was quickly recognised; and the population of the area flock to him with their sick friends and relatives.
Remember the first incident in this chapter. Jesus was unable to do mighty miracles in his own town of Nazareth because of the unbelief of the people of the town. Here, the folk beg Jesus to do mighty healing miracles for them; and they are so confident, so full of faith they believe all they needed to do was to touch Jesus. And all who did touch Jesus were healed. What a contrast from the population of Nazareth!
This contrast in behaviour stemming from faith would’ve certainly been noted and marvelled at by the apostles. It was a great lesson for them, one they would experience many times later in their apostolic ministry. It showed the ability of Jesus to meet the needs of people was more dependent upon a person’s proper expression of faith than was commonly understood.