Summary
A large crowd had been with Jesus for three days with nothing to eat. Jesus felt compassion for them and did not want to send them home hungry. The disciples had seven loaves of bread and a few small fish. Jesus gave thanks, broke the bread, and kept handing it to the disciples to pass out. Everyone ate until they were full, and seven large baskets of leftovers were collected. About four thousand people had been fed.
After crossing the lake, the Pharisees came and demanded that Jesus show them a miraculous sign from heaven. Jesus sighed deeply and said no sign would be given to them. He got back in the boat. Later, he warned his disciples to watch out for the "leaven", meaning the bad influence, of the Pharisees and of Herod. The disciples thought he was talking about actual bread because they had forgotten to bring any. Jesus reminded them that they had just seen him feed thousands with just a little. He asked, "Do you still not understand?"
At Bethsaida, people brought a blind man to Jesus. Jesus took him by the hand and led him outside the village. He spit on the man's eyes and put his hands on him. "Can you see anything?" Jesus asked. The man said, "I can see people, but they look like walking trees." Jesus put his hands on the man's eyes again, and this time the man could see everything perfectly.
Jesus and his disciples traveled toward the villages near Caesarea Philippi. On the way, Jesus asked them, "Who do people say I am?" They said some people thought he was John the Baptist, others thought he was Elijah, and others thought he was one of the old prophets. Then Jesus asked, "But who do YOU say I am?" Peter answered, "You are the Christ." Jesus told them not to tell anyone yet. He then began to teach them something hard, that the Son of Man had to suffer, be rejected by the leaders, be killed, and rise again after three days. Peter pulled Jesus aside and argued with him. Jesus turned, looked at his disciples, and said sternly, "Get behind me, Satan! You are thinking about what people want, not what God wants." Then Jesus called the crowd together and said, "If anyone wants to follow me, they must say no to themselves, pick up their cross, and come with me. Whoever tries to keep their life will lose it. But whoever gives up their life for my sake and the gospel will find real life. What good is it to gain the whole world but lose your own soul?"
Historical Context
Caesarea Philippi was a city in the far north of Israel, built near a famous pagan shrine. It was a reminder of Roman and Greek culture all around Jesus and his disciples. This makes Peter's bold statement: "You are the Christ", even more powerful. In that setting, surrounded by foreign gods, Peter declared Jesus to be the true Messiah, God's chosen Savior.
The two-stage healing of the blind man, where the man first saw blurry shapes before seeing clearly, is found only in Mark. It may be a picture of the disciples themselves, who were slowly beginning to understand who Jesus was. When Jesus said to take up your cross, his listeners knew exactly what that meant. Condemned criminals carried their own crosses through the streets to their execution. It was one of the most frightening images possible.
