Mark 8 Study Notes

8:1-10 The feeding of the four thousand fulfilled the request of the Syrophoenician woman in 7:28 for the Gentiles to eat the children’s crumbs.

8:1 In those days refers to the time Jesus spent in the Decapolis (7:31).

8:7 The phrase a few small fish can refer to sardines or fish scraps.

8:8 Seven large baskets corresponds to the number of loaves (v. 5). The Greek word for baskets differs from the Jewish term in 6:43. This term refers to a hamper large enough to hold a person (Ac 9:25).

8:9 The number four thousand is not gender specific as in 6:44. It implies men, women, and children (as Mt 15:38 makes clear).

8:10 The district of Dalmanutha is mentioned only here in the NT and in ancient literature. Matthew identifies the place as Magadan, which was on the western shore of the Sea of Galilee.

8:11 Back on the western side of the lake, Jesus was again accosted by the Pharisees. On Pharisees, see note at 2:15-17. A sign from heaven could refer to “a sign from God” or to “a cosmic phenomenon.” The Pharisees demanded further divine confirmation to test Jesus. They were trying to discredit him and his authority.

8:12 The word for sighing deeply points to despair rather than anger. In his spirit (cp. 2:8) refers to Jesus’s inner being and the depth of his dismay. On truly I tell you, see note at 3:28-30.

8:13 He left them marks Jesus’s break with the Pharisees. After v. 15 they are mentioned only in 10:2 and 12:13. The other side where Jesus went was Bethsaida on the northeastern shore of the Sea of Galilee (see note at v. 22).

8:14 One loaf of bread was not enough to feed those in the boat.

8:15 Jesus’s double warning indicates strong admonition. Leaven permeates, spreads, and grows. It is a symbol for evil or corruption (1Co 5:6-8; Gl 5:9). In Matthew the leaven is identified as the teaching of the Pharisees (Mt 16:12), while in Luke it is their hypocrisy (Lk 12:1). After this, nothing more is said about leaven or Pharisees.

8:16-20 Jesus used the disciples’ discussion about bread to rebuke them. His reference to deafness recalled his healing of a man who was deaf(7:32-37); his reference to blindness anticipated his next miracle (8:22-26). He was disappointed that his disciples lacked spiritual perception.

8:21 This repeats the question of v. 17. The disciples still did not get it. This is Jesus’s most severe rebuke of the disciples in the Gospel of Mark, but there was a bright spot. They didn’t understand yet what Jesus was about.

8:22-10:52 In this section, Jesus completed his ministry in Galilee and began his journey to Jerusalem. It was time to leave the crowds, limit his miracles, and teach the disciples about his impending death.

8:22 Bethsaida, on the northeastern shore of the Sea of Galilee, was the hometown of Philip, Andrew, and Peter (Jn 1:44; 12:21). Mark does not record Jesus’s previous visit to Bethsaida, but Luke associates it with the feeding of the five thousand (Lk 9:10). They brought presumably refers to the blind man’s friends (cp. 2:3-5; 7:32). This is Mark’s first account about the healing of a blind man (cp. 10:46-52).

8:23 Jesus’s taking the blind man out of the village and then spitting on him recalls 7:33 (cp. Jn 9:6-7). Laying his hands on him recalls 5:23; 6:2,5.

8:24-25 After Jesus’s first action, the man’s vision was only partially restored. This is the only miracle of Jesus in which healing did not occur immediately and completely.

8:26 No reason is given for Jesus’s command to avoid the village.

8:27-30 Peter’s confession near Caesarea Philippi is the watershed of Mark’s Gospel.

8:27-28 Caesarea Philippi was twenty-five miles north of Bethsaida in the foothills of Mount Hermon. Caesar Augustus gave the city to Herod the Great. Herod’s son Philip rebuilt,enlarged, and renamed it in honor of Caesar Augustus. The villages refers to surrounding settlements. Jesus’s question and the disciples’ response recall the opinions voiced to Antipas in 6:14-15.

8:29 The words but you are emphatic and call for a deeper answer. Jesus asked his disciples to state their own belief. Peter responded, you are the Messiah. This is the first time in Mark’s Gospel that a person made this identification. To this point, only God (1:11) and demons (1:24,34; 3:11; 5:7) had testified to Jesus’s true identity. The word “Messiah” (Christ) means “anointed one” and refers to God’s appointed deliverer and King.

8:30 Strictly warned is the same Greek verb Jesus used (1:25; 3:12) to silence unclean spirits. His command to tell no one was a response to the popular misunderstanding that the Messiah would be a military conqueror. Jesus had to teach his disciples that the Messiah would actually suffer and die.

8:31 This is the first of three times in Mark that Jesus predicted his death (see notes at 9:31; 10:33-34). On Son of Man, see note at 2:8-11. Jesus will now use this title often, including in his death predictions. It was necessary points to the fact that his suffering and death were essential to God’s purposes. The elders, the chief priests, and the scribes were the three power groups of the Sanhedrin, the ruling Jewish body. Jesus would be killed, not by a lawless mob but by Israel’s religious leaders. Each of his predictions also ends with his resurrection as the final part of the divine necessity.

8:32 Peter could not accept a suffering Messiah. He took Jesus aside in a bid to convince him to stop speaking of his death.

8:33 Get behind me, Satan are the same words Jesus spoke to the devil during the wilderness temptation (Mt 4:10).

8:34 The kind of Messiah Jesus was had implications for anyone who wanted to be his follower. An incorrect understanding of Jesus’s messiahship leads to an incorrect understanding of discipleship. Deny himself is found only here and in the parallels (Mt 16:24; Lk 9:23). It refers to a denial of self-centered interests. To take up a cross refers to the fact that crucifixion victims were made to carry the crossbeam to the site of their execution.

8:35-37 The words save and lose show that Jesus was speaking not merely of physical life but of the essence of humanity: the soul. The sure way to save the soul is to lose it (entrust it to Jesus). There is no exchange rate high enough for the soul; money cannot buy it. Jesus’s words echo Ps 49:7-9.

8:38 The phrase my words refers to the gospel. This adulterous and sinful generation is used only here in the NT (cp. Mt 12:39; 16:4) and is based on the language of OT prophets (Is 1:4; 57:3-13; Ezk 16:32-41; Hs 2:2-6). Jesus’s present rejection is contrasted with his future glory. His coming with the holy angels is spelled out in 13:26-27.