Chapter Six
Mk. 6:1. He went out from there and came into His own country; and His disciples followed Him.
Mk. 6:2. When the Sabbath came, He began to teach in the synagogue; and many who heard Him were astonished, saying: Where did He get this? What wisdom is this that has been given to Him, and how are such miracles performed by His hands?
Mk. 6:3. Is He not the carpenter, the son of Mary, the brother of James, Joses, Judas, and Simon? Are not His sisters here with us? And they were offended by Him. The Lord comes to His homeland not because He did not know that they would disregard Him, but so that afterward they could not say: if He had come, we would have believed. He comes also to expose the envious character of His countrymen; for whereas they ought to have marveled at the Lord, Who so adorned their homeland with both teaching and miracles, they instead despised the Lord on account of His humble origin. What an evil thing envy is! It always strives to obscure what is good and does not allow the envious to see it. So even now many, out of ill will and extreme baseness, dishonor certain people because of their lowly birth, even though they are worthy of every honor.
Mk. 6:4. And Jesus said to them: A prophet is not without honor, except in his own country, and among his own kin, and in his own house.
Mk. 6:5. And He could not do any miracle there, only having laid His hands on a few sick people, He healed them;
Mk. 6:6. And He marveled at their unbelief. The Lord speaks generally about all prophets, that they receive no honor in their homelands, among their kinsmen and household members. Do they have distinguished kinsmen? In that case, those kinsmen envy them and therefore dishonor them. Are they of humble origin? Again, they are disgraced for their humble origin. The Lord could not perform miracles there not because He was powerless, but because those people were unbelieving. Sparing them, He does not perform miracles, lest they serve for the greater condemnation of those people as unbelievers even in the presence of miracles. On the other hand, miracle-working requires, first, the power of the one performing it, and second, the faith of those receiving the miracle. Since the second of these conditions was lacking here, that is, the faith of those in need of healing, it was not fitting for Jesus to perform miracles. And so we should understand that the evangelist's expression "and He could not" is used in place of — He did not see fit to.
Mk. 6:6. Then he went around the surrounding villages and taught.
Mk. 6:7. And, having called the twelve, He began to send them out two by two, and gave them authority over unclean spirits.
Mk. 6:8. And He commanded them to take nothing for their journey, except a staff only: no bag, no bread, no copper in their belt,
Mk. 6:9. but to wear simple sandals and not to wear two garments.
Mk. 6:10. And He said to them: wherever you enter a house, stay in it until you leave that place.
Mk. 6:11. And whosoever shall not receive you, nor hear you, when ye depart thence, shake off the dust under your feet for a testimony against them. Verily I say unto you, it shall be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgment, than for that city. The Lord taught not only in the cities, but also in the villages, so that we might know that we too ought neither to neglect the small towns nor constantly visit the large cities, but that we must sow the word even in insignificant places. Furthermore, not only did He Himself teach, but He also sends His disciples, and moreover in pairs of two, so that they might be bolder. For if He had sent them one by one, one alone could not have acted so boldly, and if He had sent more than two together, the number of apostles would not have sufficed for all the villages. So He sends them two by two: "Two are better than one," says Ecclesiastes (Eccl. 4:9). He commands them to take nothing — neither a bag, nor money in their belt, nor bread — so as to teach them detachment from possessions and so that others, looking at them, might be moved to compunction when they teach non-possessiveness by themselves having nothing. Indeed, who would not be moved to compunction and stirred toward non-possessiveness, seeing that an apostle takes neither a bag nor bread, which is the most necessary thing for us? He bids them remain in one house, lest people think they change places for the sake of gluttony, wandering from one house to another. From those who would not receive them, they were to shake off the dust from their feet, according to the Lord's words, as a sign that they had made a long journey for their sake and yet without benefit to them, or as a sign that they took nothing from them, not even the dust itself, but on the contrary shook even that off, so that it might serve as a testimony against them, that is, as a reproach. "Truly I say to you, it will be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrah on the day of judgment" than for those who do not receive you. For the Sodomites, having been punished here, will be punished more lightly there; moreover, the apostles were not sent to them. On the contrary, those who rejected the apostles will endure torments more severe than theirs.
Mk. 6:12. They went out and preached repentance;
Mk. 6:13. They cast out many demons and anointed many sick people with oil and healed them. Regarding the fact that the apostles anointed with oil, only Mark speaks of this, and also James, the brother of God, in his Catholic Epistle: "Is any sick among you? Let him call for the elders of the Church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil" (James 5:14). Oil is also beneficial against diseases; it serves for illumination, is used in a joyful state of spirit, and signifies the mercy of God and the grace of the Spirit, by which we are delivered from diseases and from which we receive both light, and joy, and spiritual gladness.
Mk. 6:14. King Herod, having heard about Jesus (for His name had become well known), said: this is John the Baptist risen from the dead, and therefore miracles are worked by him.
Mk. 6:15. Others said: it is Elijah, while others said: it is a prophet, or like one of the prophets.
Mk. 6:16. But Herod, having heard, said: this is John, whom I beheaded; he is risen from the dead. This Herod was the son of the Herod who slaughtered the infants. Though he was a tetrarch, Mark calls him king, using this title in a loose sense. Having heard of the Lord's miracles and being conscious that he had killed the righteous John without cause, Herod began to think that he had risen from the dead and upon his resurrection had received the power of working miracles. Previously John had not performed a single sign, but after the resurrection — so Herod thought — he received the power to work signs. But others said of Christ that He was Elijah, because He rebuked many, for example when He said: "O faithless generation!" And Herod was afraid. So wretched was this man that he was afraid of a dead man!
Mk. 6:17. For this Herod had sent and seized John and bound him in prison on account of Herodias, the wife of his brother Philip, because he had married her.
Mk. 6:18. For John said to Herod: it is not lawful for you to have your brother's wife.
Mk. 6:19. And Herodias, bearing a grudge against him, desired to kill him; but she could not.
Mk. 6:20. For Herod feared John, knowing that he was a righteous and holy man, and kept him safe; he did many things, listening to him, and heard him gladly. Taking advantage of the occasion, Mark inserts here an introductory discourse on the death of the Baptist. Some say that Herod took Herodias while Philip was still alive, and for this he was rebuked as a lawbreaker who had married the wife of his living brother. On the contrary, others maintain that Philip had already died, but left behind a daughter. And since Philip left a daughter, Herod should not have married his brother's wife even after his brother's death; for the Law commanded a brother to take his brother's wife only in the case when the latter had died childless. But in the present case a daughter remained; therefore, Herod's marriage was unlawful. See how powerful the passion of carnal love is! Here is Herod, who had so much respect and fear for John, yet disregarded this in order only to satisfy his passion.
Mk. 6:21. And when a convenient day had come, when Herod on his birthday made a feast for his nobles, the military commanders, and the chief men of Galilee, –
Mk. 6:22. The daughter of Herodias came in and danced and pleased Herod and those reclining with him; the king said to the girl: Ask of me whatever you wish, and I will give it to you;
Mk. 6:23. And he swore to her: "Whatever you ask of me, I will give you, even up to half of my kingdom."