Week 8: Miracles and Mission

Opening Question

Think about a time when you witnessed something so extraordinary – in nature, in a relationship, in a moment of crisis – that it forced you to reconsider what you thought you knew about reality. What was it, and how did it change you?

Review

This week plunged us into the most miracle-dense section of Jesus’ Galilean ministry. In Mark 5, Jesus demonstrated authority over demons (the Gerasene demoniac), chronic disease (the hemorrhaging woman), and death itself (Jairus’ daughter). Mark 6:1-29 moved from Jesus’ rejection at Nazareth to the commissioning of the Twelve and the grim account of John the Baptist’s execution. Mark 6:30-56 presented the feeding of the five thousand and the walking on water – events that should have revealed Jesus’ divine identity but left even his disciples with hardened hearts. John 5 recorded the healing at the Pool of Bethesda and Jesus’ extraordinary claims to share the Father’s authority over life, death, and judgment. Finally, John 6:1-40 retold the feeding and sea-crossing from a theological perspective, culminating in the first “I AM” statement: “I am the bread of life.”

Study Questions

1. Power over every enemy (Mark 5): Jesus encounters a demoniac in Gentile territory, a woman with chronic bleeding, and a dead child. Each person represents a different kind of social exclusion – the demoniac lived among tombs, the woman was perpetually unclean, and the dead girl was beyond all help. What does the sequence of these healings teach us about the scope of Jesus’ mission and the kinds of “exclusion” he refuses to accept?

2. The cost of mission (Mark 6:1-29): The sending of the Twelve is bookended by Jesus’ rejection at Nazareth and John the Baptist’s execution. Why does Mark place the commissioning between these two stories of failure and violence? What does this structure suggest about the relationship between mission and suffering?

3. Hardened hearts on the water (Mark 6:45-52): Mark says the disciples “did not understand about the loaves, but their hearts were hardened.” The feeding should have told them who Jesus was – if they had grasped that, the walking on water would not have surprised them. What should the feeding have revealed, and why might familiarity with Jesus’ miracles actually hinder rather than help genuine understanding?

4. Equal with the Father (John 5:19-30): Jesus claims that the Son does everything the Father does, gives life to whom he wills, and will execute all judgment. These are not the claims of a prophet or a teacher; they are the claims of one who shares God’s identity. How do these claims challenge the popular view of Jesus as merely a wise moral teacher? What response do they demand?

5. Bread that endures (John 6:26-35): Jesus tells the crowd, “You are seeking me not because you saw signs but because you ate your fill of the loaves.” What is the difference between seeing a miracle and seeing a sign? How do we distinguish between following Jesus for his gifts and following him for himself?

Going Deeper

The feeding of the five thousand is the only miracle (aside from the resurrection) recorded in all four Gospels. Compare the three accounts we read this week – Mark 6:30-44, John 6:1-15, and the parallels referenced in Matthew 14. What does each Gospel writer emphasize? Mark stresses the shepherd motif and the disciples’ hardened hearts. John highlights the Passover context, the testing of Philip, and the crowd’s desire to make Jesus king by force. How do these different perspectives enrich your understanding of a single event? What does it mean that the same miracle can be witnessed and narrated from fundamentally different theological angles, each revealing truths the others do not?

Application

• This week’s readings present Jesus performing extraordinary acts of power – yet the response he seeks is not amazement but faith. Where in your life has God acted in ways you have acknowledged with your mind but not yet trusted with your heart? What would it look like to move from amazement to trust?
• The hemorrhaging woman, Jairus, and the invalid at Bethesda all had to take a step of vulnerability – a public touch, a desperate plea, an honest answer about desire for healing. What step of vulnerability is Christ asking of you?
• Jesus said, “Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life.” Identify one appetite or pursuit in your life that is consuming energy but cannot ultimately satisfy. What would it look like to redirect that hunger toward Christ?

Prayer Focus

Spend time this week praying for eyes that see signs, not just miracles – eyes that perceive the identity of the one behind the act. Ask God to soften the hardened places in your heart where familiarity with the gospel has dulled your wonder. Pray for the faith of the hemorrhaging woman, who risked everything on a single touch, and for the honesty of the invalid at Bethesda, who admitted he had no one to help him. Ask the Bread of Life to satisfy the hunger that no earthly bread can fill.