Mark 6 is the sixth chapter of the Gospel of Mark in the New Testament of the Christian Bible. In this chapter, Jesus goes to Nazareth and experiences rejection by his own family. He then sends his Apostles in pairs to various cities in the region, where they might also face rejection. Finally, Jesus goes back to the Sea of Galilee and performs some of his most famous miracles, including the feeding of the 5000 and walking on water. This chapter also gives an account of the murder of John the Baptist.
Text
The original text was written in Koine Greek. This chapter is divided into 56 verses.
Textual witnesses
Some early manuscripts containing the text of this chapter are: Codex Vaticanus (325-350; complete) Codex Sinaiticus (330-360; complete) Codex Bezae (~400; complete) Codex Alexandrinus (400-440; complete) Codex Ephraemi Rescriptus (~450; extant verses 1-31)
In 1972, Spanish papyrologist Jose O'Callaghan proposed in his work ¿Papiros neotestamentarios en la cueva 7 de Qumrân? ("New Testament Papyri in Cave 7 at Qumran?") that among the Dead Sea scrolls, 7Q5, a small Greek papyrus fragment discovered in Qumran Cave 7 (dated between 50 B.C. and 50 A.D), actually contains the text from Mark 6:52-53, and this was later reasserted and expanded by German scholar Carsten Peter Thiede in his work The Earliest Gospel Manuscript? in 1982. However, the majority of scholars have not been convinced by O'Callaghan's and Thiede's identification.
Verse 1
Jesus leaves "from there" (i.e. Capernaum), and goes to his "home town" (, tēn patrida autou). Heinrich Meyer argues that "there" refers to Jairus' house, the last location mentioned in chapter 5.
Rejection of Jesus at Nazareth
Mark relates the story of Jesus' initial acclaim and later rejection at Nazareth, "his own country". The account is also found in Matthew 13:53-58 and it is related at an earlier point in Jesus' ministry in Luke 4:14-30. Verse 2 notes that "many who heard him" were impressed by the wisdom which had been given to him (or, "to such a man": manuscripts differ in the wording of this verse), and the "mighty works" performed by his hands. Since in verse 5, Mark goes on to note that Jesus performed a minimal amount of healing in Nazareth, it is generally supposed that they had heard of the miracles which Jesus had performed in Capernaum and elsewhere. His neighbours question his authority and do not seem to think much of the Jesus they remember or his family. "Isn't this the carpenter (τέκτων, tektōn)? Isn't this Mary's son and the brother of James, Joseph, Judas and Simon? Aren't his sisters here with us?"
Jesus replies with a proverb, Only in his hometown, among his relatives and in his own house is a prophet without honor. records the same sentiment: Jesus Himself testified that a prophet has no honor in his own country, but in John's account the Galileans received Him, having seen all the things He did in Jerusalem at the feast.
Jesus' brothers are here and in Matthew and probably Acts 12:17 mentioned by name, though not his sisters. This chapter, coupled with Mark 3:21,31-35 paint a negative view of Jesus' family relations, though other sources, such as Galatians 1:19 show that James was at least active in the early Church after Jesus' crucifixion. The negative view of Jesus' family may be related to the conflict between Paul and Jewish Christians.
Mission of the Twelve
In verses 7–13, Jesus sends the twelve out to the various towns, in pairs, to heal the sick and drive out demons:
And he called the twelve and began to send them out two by two, and gave them authority over the unclean spirits. He charged them to take nothing for their journey except a staff — no bread, no bag, no money in their belts — but to wear sandals and not put on two tunics. (Verses 7–9).
Irish Bishop George Chadwick argues that in the face of rejection, Jesus' response is to accelerate his mission, varying as well as multiplying the means for the evangelisation of the country. The twelve who he sends out are to take only their staffs, and if any town rejects them, they are to "... shake the dust off your feet when you leave, as a testimony against them" (11), which Robert Miller describes as "... a gesture both of contempt and of warning".
"Tunics" (, duo chitonas, verse 9) were the long garments worn under the cloak, next to the skin.