Gospel: Mark 6:30-34

 

The Gospel today is in great contrast with that of yesterday. On one side, the banquet of death, wanted by Herod with the great of his kingdom in the Palace of the Capital, during which John the Baptist was murdered; on the other side, the banquet of life promoted by Jesus with the hungry people of Galilee in the desert.

 

The Gospel today presents only the introduction to the multiplication of the loaves and describes the teaching of Jesus.

 

These verses show how Jesus formed His disciples. He was not concerned only with the content of the preaching, but also with rest for the disciples. He invited them to go to a lonely place so as to be able to rest and review what they had done.

 

The people noticed that Jesus had gone to the other side of the lake, and they followed Him trying to go to Him by foot, to the other shore.  Seeing that crowd, Jesus forgets about His own rest and begins to teach them. In becoming aware that the people have no shepherd, Jesus began to be their shepherd. 

 

For another fifteen times Mark says that Jesus taught. The content which Jesus gave did not only appear in His words, but also in His gestures and in His way of relating with people. The content is never separated from the person who communicates it. 

 

The teaching of Jesus was a communication that came from the abundance of His heart It was always a witness of what He Himself lived, an expression of His love!