Steve Ngai (危 志 荣)

John the Baptist Beheaded
14 King Herod heard about this, for Jesus’ name had become well known. Some were saying,[c] “John the Baptist has been raised from the dead, and that is why miraculous powers are at work in him.”

15 Others said, “He is Elijah.”

And still others claimed, “He is a prophet, like one of the prophets of long ago.”

16 But when Herod heard this, he said, “John, whom I beheaded, has been raised from the dead!”

17 For Herod himself had given orders to have John arrested, and he had him bound and put in prison. He did this because of Herodias, his brother Philip’s wife, whom he had married. 18 For John had been saying to Herod, “It is not lawful for you to have your brother’s wife.” 19 So Herodias nursed a grudge against John and wanted to kill him. But she was not able to, 20 because Herod feared John and protected him, knowing him to be a righteous and holy man. When Herod heard John, he was greatly puzzled[d]; yet he liked to listen to him.

21 Finally the opportune time came. On his birthday Herod gave a banquet for his high officials and military commanders and the leading men of Galilee. 22 When the daughter of[e] Herodias came in and danced, she pleased Herod and his dinner guests.

The king said to the girl, “Ask me for anything you want, and I’ll give it to you.” 23 And he promised her with an oath, “Whatever you ask I will give you, up to half my kingdom.”

24 She went out and said to her mother, “What shall I ask for?”

“The head of John the Baptist,” she answered.

25 At once the girl hurried in to the king with the request: “I want you to give me right now the head of John the Baptist on a platter.”

26 The king was greatly distressed, but because of his oaths and his dinner guests, he did not want to refuse her. 27 So he immediately sent an executioner with orders to bring John’s head. The man went, beheaded John in the prison, 28 and brought back his head on a platter. He presented it to the girl, and she gave it to her mother. 29 On hearing of this, John’s disciples came and took his body and laid it in a tomb.

Note:
Overall: I think the narration of this passage is like Herod thought Jesus is resurrected John the Baptist. Then, it went back to the past how Herod beheaded John the Baptist. Without realizing this, it can be confusing. Example, the title of this passage is “John the Baptist Beheaded”, Jesus was thought resurrected John the Baptist, there are details of what cause Herod to kill John the Baptist.

v14-16

a. King Herod: Actually, Emperor Augustus denied the title “king” to Herod. Goaded by the ambitious Herodias, Herod pressed for the title again and again until he so offended the emperor’s court that he was dismissed as a traitor. Mark uses the title King Herod either because it was the local custom to call him “king,” or more likely, he used it ironically. All his ancient readers would remember the character of this “Want-to-be King Herod.”

b. It is Elijah: Some people thought Jesus was Elijah, because it was prophesied Elijah would come before the Messiah (Malachi 4:5). Others thought He was the Prophet Moses said would come after him (Deuteronomy 18:15).

v17-19 – Palestine was divided into four territories, each with a different ruler. Herod Antipas, called Herod in the Gospels, was ruler over Galilee; his brother Philip ruled over Traconitis and Idumea. Philip’s wife was Herodias, but she left him to marry Herod Antipas. When John confronted the two for committing adultery, Herodias formulated a plot to kill him. Instead of trying to get rid of her sin, Herodias tried to get rid of the one who brought it to public attention. This is exactly what the religious leaders were trying to do to Jesus.

v22-23 – He shouldn’t make any foolish promise in the first place. Secondly, even if he had made that promise, he can still make it up by canceling that promise since he has the highest authority there. This is similar to what happened with Saul (1 Samuel 14: 24-44)

v22-23 – As a ruler under Roman authority, Herod has no kingdom to give. The offer of half his kingdom was Herod’s way to say that he would give Herodias’s daughter almost anything she wanted. It is like figure of speech.

v26 – In order to take his brother’s wife Herodias, Herod put away his first wife, a princess from a neighboring kingdom to the east. Her father was offended, and came against Herod with an army, and defeated him in battle. Then his brother Agrippa accused him of treason against Rome, and he was banished into the distant Roman province of Gaul, where Herod and Herodias committed suicide.

Jesus Sends Out the Twelve
Then Jesus went around teaching from village to village. 7 Calling the Twelve to him, he began to send them out two by two and gave them authority over evil[b] spirits.

8 These were his instructions: “Take nothing for the journey except a staff—no bread, no bag, no money in your belts. 9 Wear sandals but not an extra shirt. 10 Whenever you enter a house, stay there until you leave that town. 11 And if any place will not welcome you or listen to you, shake the dust off your feet when you leave, as a testimony against them.”

12 They went out and preached that people should repent. 13 They drove out many demons and anointed many sick people with oil and healed them.

Note:
v8-9 – Mark records that the disciples were instructed to take nothing with them except staffs, while in the Matthew and Luke accounts Jesus told them not to take staffs. One explanation is that Matthew and Luke were referring to a club used for protection, whereas Mark was talking about a shepherd’s crook. In any case, the point in all three accounts is the same – the disciples were to leave at once, without extensive preparation, trusting in God’s care rather than in their own resources. (Source: LASB)

v11 – Pious Jews shook the dust from their feet after passing through Gentiles cities or territory and practices. When the disciples shook the dusk from their feet after leaving a Jewish town, it was a vivid sign that they wished to remain separate from people who had rejected Jesus and his message. Jesus made it clear that the listeners were responsible for what they did with the gospel. The disciples were not to blame if the message was rejected, as long as they had faithfully and carefully presented it. We are not responsible when others reject Christ’s message of salvation, but we do have the responsibility to share the gospel clearly and faithfully. (Source: LASB)

v12 – What does it mean to preach? It simply means to proclaim, to tell others in the sense of announcing news to them

v13 – The other reference to anointing with oil for healing is in James 5:14-15. We know that anointing with oil was a picture of an outpouring of the Holy Spirit, but it may also have had a medicinal purpose in that day.

i. “It is possible that the use of oil (olive oil) as a medicine is the basis of the practice . . . It was the best medicine of the ancients and was used internally and externally . . . The very word aleipho can be translated rub or anoint without any ceremony.” (Robertson)

ii. “Galen, the great Greek doctor, said, ‘Oil is the best of all instruments for healing diseased bodies.’” (Barclay)
(Souce: http://enduringword.com/commentaries/4106.htm)

A Prophet Without Honor
1 Jesus left there and went to his hometown, accompanied by his disciples. 2 When the Sabbath came, he began to teach in the synagogue, and many who heard him were amazed.

“Where did this man get these things?” they asked. “What’s this wisdom that has been given him? What are these remarkable miracles he is performing? 3 Isn’t this the carpenter? Isn’t this Mary’s son and the brother of James, Joseph,[a] Judas and Simon? Aren’t his sisters here with us?” And they took offense at him.

4 Jesus said to them, “Only in their own towns, among their relatives and in their own homes are prophets without honor.” 5 He could not do any miracles there, except lay his hands on a few sick people and heal them. 6 He was amazed at their lack of faith.

Note:
v3 – It was a way of pointing out that Jesus had no formal theological training. He was never a formal disciple of a rabbi, much less a prominent rabbi.

v3 – The word carpenter is actually much broader than just one who works with wood. It has the idea of “a builder.” Jesus may have worked with stone as much as with wood, because stone was a much more common building material in that time and place.

v3 – It was contrary to Jewish usage to describe a man as the son of his mother, even when she was a widow, except in insulting terms

v5 – Even though Jesus was rejected, dishonored and not respected by the people in his hometown, Jesus still heal them. This shows how big Jesus heart for the people in his hometown.

v6 – Here the people is not totally without faith. But their faith is not enough, maybe so less that the faith is lesser than the size of the mustard seed. Jesus said, “If you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it will obey you.” But, here has to be much lesser or smaller than the mustard seed.

Why they lack of faith? What faith they lack of? Faith can have a few definitions. I think over here, the faith they lack of is they lack of faith of what Jesus can do. And I believe that has to do with their lack of faith in who Jesus is. If they have the faith that Jesus is the son of God, they must also have more faith that what Jesus can do in their lives.

I need to have strong faith in what Jesus or God can do in my lives.

Jesus Raises a Dead Girl and Heals a Sick Woman
21 When Jesus had again crossed over by boat to the other side of the lake, a large crowd gathered around him while he was by the lake. 22 Then one of the synagogue leaders, named Jairus, came, and when he saw Jesus, he fell at his feet. 23 He pleaded earnestly with him, “My little daughter is dying. Please come and put your hands on her so that she will be healed and live.” 24 So Jesus went with him.

A large crowd followed and pressed around him. 25 And a woman was there who had been subject to @#!*% for twelve years. 26 She had suffered a great deal under the care of many doctors and had spent all she had, yet instead of getting better she grew worse. 27 When she heard about Jesus, she came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak, 28 because she thought, “If I just touch his clothes, I will be healed.” 29 Immediately her @#!*% stopped and she felt in her body that she was freed from her suffering.

30 At once Jesus realized that power had gone out from him. He turned around in the crowd and asked, “Who touched my clothes?”

31 “You see the people crowding against you,” his disciples answered, “and yet you can ask, ‘Who touched me?’ ”

32 But Jesus kept looking around to see who had done it. 33 Then the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came and fell at his feet and, trembling with fear, told him the whole truth. 34 He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be freed from your suffering.”

35 While Jesus was still speaking, some people came from the house of Jairus, the synagogue leader. “Your daughter is dead,” they said. “Why bother the teacher anymore?”

36 Overhearing[d] what they said, Jesus told him, “Don’t be afraid; just believe.”

37 He did not let anyone follow him except Peter, James and John the brother of James. 38 When they came to the home of the synagogue leader, Jesus saw a commotion, with people crying and wailing loudly. 39 He went in and said to them, “Why all this commotion and wailing? The child is not dead but asleep.” 40 But they laughed at him.

After he put them all out, he took the child’s father and mother and the disciples who were with him, and went in where the child was. 41 He took her by the hand and said to her, “Talitha koum!” (which means “Little girl, I say to you, get up!”). 42 Immediately the girl stood up and began to walk around (she was twelve years old). At this they were completely astonished. 43 He gave strict orders not to let anyone know about this, and told them to give her something to eat.

Note:
v22 – Jesus recrossed the Sea of Galilee, probably landing at Capernaum. Jairus was the elected ruler of the local synagogue. He was responsible for supervising worship, running the weekly school, and caring for the building. Many synagogue ruler had close ties to the Pharisees. It is likely, therefore, that some synagogue rulers had been pressure not to support Jesus. For Jairus to bow before Jesus was a significant and perhaps daring act of respect. (Source: Tyndale LASB)

v23 He pleaded earnestly with him, “My little daughter is dying. Please come and put your hands on her so that she will be healed and live.”
(Source: enduringword.com)
i. It may be that the man held a firm superstition in his mind, believing that the healer had to be present. It may be that he was just accustomed to thinking that way, and never really thought about a person being healed in a different way. Whatever the reason, by the way he thought, this man put Jesus in a box. “To heal my daughter You have to come and lay Your hands on her.”

ii. When a Roman Centurion came to Jesus in a similar situation (Luke 7:1-10), Jesus didn’t even go to the centurion’s house to heal the servant. He simply pronounced him healed from a distance. But here, Jesus did not demand that Jarius show the same faith the centurion had. Jesus responded to the faith Jarius had, and He asks us to give to Him the faith that we have.

iii. “This was weakness of faith, far short of that of the centurion, who yet was a Roman soldier; whereas Jarius was a learned Jew. Knowledge is therefore one thing, faith another; and the greatest scholars are not always the holiest men.” (Trapp)

v32-34 – Although the woman was healed when she touched him, Jesus said her faith healed her. Real faith involves action. Faith that isn’t put into action is not faith at all (James 2:17)

v38 – Loud weeping and wailing was customary at a person’s death. Lack of it was the ultimate disgrace and disrespect. There we some people, usually women, who made mourning a profession and were paid by the dead person’s family to weep over the body. On the day of death, the body was carried through the streets, followed by mourners, family members and friends. (Source: Tyndale LASB)

v39-40 – Today, most of the world laughs at Christ’s claims, which seem ridiculous to them. When you are belittled for expressing faith in Jesus and hope for eternal life, remember that unbelievers don’t see from God’s perspective.

v26 “She had suffered a great deal under the care of many doctors and had spent all she had, yet instead of getting better she grew worse.”

ii. When a soul is sick today, they often go to different “doctors” and spend a great deal of time and money, only to suffer many things from many physicians. A sick soul may go to “Doctor Entertainment,” but finds no cure. They may pay a visit to “Doctor Success” but he is no help in the long run. “Doctor Pleasure,” “Doctor Self-Help,” or “Doctor Religion” can’t bring a real cure. Only “Doctor Jesus” can. (Source: enduringword.com)