for they understood not through the loaves for their heart was hardened.
Mark ends the story of Jesus walking on the water with a hard word about His own disciples. Their fear on the lake goes back to the meal they had just helped Him serve. How could men who had watched thousands fed be shaken by wind and water the same night?
One commentator sets the disciples' confession beside Mark's closing note:
As they entered the boat, they recognised Him as the Son of God. Mark records their amazement, but he also reminds us that our Lord's work was not yet done. They did not consider the miracle of the loaves, for their heart was hardened.
The verb for "understanding" means more than knowing what happened:
The apostles failed for two reasons: (1) they did not understand the loaves, and (2) their heart was hardened. Translators have rendered the verb for "understanding" in different ways. On the whole it seems to mean putting things together in the mind and heart, so as to work out by spiritual reflection what they truly mean.
The feeding showed more than power. It had a purpose for the disciples themselves, and that was the part they missed:
They saw in the miracle the work of His almighty hand. But they failed to see in it the intense love of His heart for needy men. They had watched the feeding of the five thousand and had shared in the work. That act of mercy was meant to satisfy hungry mouths and to wake up lazy hearts as well. It was one more proof that Jehovah Himself was present in Israel, giving His people bread. But the hearts of the disciples were so dull that they missed the meaning of His presence. So they lacked that source of comfort in the hour of their trial.
Hardness of heart was not only found in the Lord's enemies:
The Lord came over the waves looking for faithfulness and confidence in the hearts of the disciples. Instead He found deadly dullness and a heart that could not feel. There was hardness or blindness of heart in them, as well as in the Pharisees (Mark 3:5), in Israel (Rom. 11:7, 25; 2 Cor. 3:14), and in the Gentiles (Eph. 4:18). So Jesus found no answer in the apostles to the work of His love. When He rescued them from the fury of the storm they had been fighting in vain, they were completely astonished. If they expected rescue at all, they did not expect it like that. Yet their hard hearts were melted, and "those in the boat worshiped him, saying, 'Truly you are the Son of God'" (Matt. 14:33).
Taken up with their own trouble, they lost the good of what they had already seen:
Sadly, like ourselves too often, the disciples had not "considered" the greatness of His power and grace shown on an earlier occasion. Occupied with themselves and their difficulties, their hearts were hardened and little able to make use of their resources in Christ.
The dullness was not a one-off, and it did not stop the Lord's work:
As to themselves, despite all His miracles, their hearts at that time were still hard, and they forgot the miracles, one after the other. The Lord goes on with His work of blessing. People had only to touch Him and be healed.
These were the men the Lord told to feed the crowd:
It was to such disciples, in such a poor condition, that the Lord said, "You give them something to eat." It is very important that we understand this, because the Lord is asking us to serve Him. Does He ask us to work for Him because we are skilled workers? Because we have great gift? Because we are clever, sophisticated people? Not at all!
- Consider. The word behind "did not understand" means putting things together in mind and heart until their real meaning comes out. The disciples had the facts. They skipped the thinking.
- Miss the love. They saw almighty power in the loaves, but not the heart behind it. The miracle was meant to feed hungry mouths and wake lazy hearts at once.
- Hardness spreads. The same hard heart found in the Pharisees showed up in the twelve disciples. Being close to Christ is no protection.
- Self-occupation hardens. Absorbed in their own storm, they could not draw on resources that were already theirs in Christ.
- Grace persists. Their hearts were still hard, yet He kept blessing and healing. He still handed them the work. Service rests on what He is, not on their record.
And having passed over, they came to the land of Gennesaret and made the shore.
The night crossing is over. The boat reaches the western shore and ties up at Gennesaret. Mark gives the landing only a line. Yet commentators read in it the turn from a night of toil to a morning of healing, and a sketch of the world when Christ returns.
Gennesaret was not a town but a stretch of shoreline, and its setting explains why crowds could gather so fast.
This is a plain bordering the lake of the same name on the north-west. It is about a mile and a quarter wide and three miles long. It has some springs, and three streams cross it as well. Being so well watered, it is a place of great fertility. Since it lay close to Capernaum, the Lord doubtless crossed it often, and many of His miracles took place there.
Commentators differ over what the name means. One takes it as "king's garden" and reads the fertile plain as a hint of a promised day:
The name Gennesaret is said to mean the "king's garden." If that is right, the name fits this moment exactly. It paints a picture of the glad time when the Lord will come, and the whole land will be like the garden of the Lord (Isaiah 51:3).
Another takes it as "harp," and reads the landing as a picture of a coming day:
They came into the land of Gennesaret, a name meaning "a harp." His presence there brought great blessing, healing large numbers. It is a picture of millennial blessing following the tribulation.
One thing shapes the whole stretch — feeding, storm, shore: whether Christ is present or absent.
The Lord was present in Bethsaida, and their bread was multiplied. He was present in Gennesaret, and their infirmities were banished. He was absent from the ship, and the opposing wind and waves held back their progress. He entered the boat, the storm stopped at once, and they were at the "king's garden."
Readers can be so caught up in the miracle on the water that they skip what follows the mooring:
Out on the water, our Lord displayed His power over the physical world. That display grips our interest and attention so strongly that we overlook what came next. When He reached the shore, kind and healing effects followed in abundance. They proved just as clearly that He is the Lord from heaven.
Mark records no sermon here and no call to gather. People carry the sick to wherever He is, and touching the edge of His clothing is enough.
They brought the sick to the place where they heard He was. It was enough that the suffering ones should touch Him or the hem of His garment, and they were healed. We are not told that the Lord touched them or even spoke to them. But power went out from Him, drawn out to relieve the circumstances of a faith in need.
Long before, Isaiah had called this same shoreline a region under a shadow:
The shadows of death lay across this fertile Galilean country — shadows that sinless Eden never knew. In one of his prophecies, Isaiah called this district by the sea, near Capernaum, the land of the shadow of death (Isaiah 9:2).
Writers read the arrival at land as a small model of something still ahead.
This is a little picture of what the Lord's return to the earth will bring. The Lord and His disciples come back to the shore He had left. When He comes back again, every human sorrow, misery, weakness and sickness in this world will flee before the presence and touch of the Son of God.
One writer sets the close of the whole chapter in that same future day:
The chapter closes with a foretaste of the blessing of a future day when Christ will come again, and through a godly remnant of the Jews bring blessing to the earth. Then the toil of the godly will be over. Opposition will end and the storms will cease. The very place that once rejected Christ will welcome Him.
That picture is meant to steady us in the meantime.
It is good for our souls to realize that while our Lord is away, we are not to be discouraged by difficulties. We are not to be cast down if the wind is against us and we are toiling in vain — yet not in vain. He is the One who has sent us across that troubled sea.
- Storm. While He stayed away, the disciples fought wind and waves. He entered the boat, and the storm stopped.
- Shore. They landed on a fertile plain beside Capernaum. Isaiah had called it the land of the shadow of death.
- Recognition. People knew Him the moment He left the boat, and carried the sick to wherever He was.
- Touch. The record shows no word from Him and no gesture. Power went out from Him, drawn out by faith that reached for the edge of His clothing.
- Morning. The scene sketches His return: toil over, storms ended, Christ welcomed on ground that once refused Him.