What does Mark 6:34 mean?
Jesus has taken the Twelve away to rest, but a crowd of five thousand men plus women and children (Matthew 14:21) quickly follow. As much as Jesus needs to spend time with His shepherds-in-training, He can't neglect the thousands of lost sheep who so urgently need Him now. "Compassion" is from the Greek root word splagchnizomai, which means "to be moved with love in the deepest part of a person." So Jesus postpones the time of rest to heal (Matthew 14:14) and teach the people.The Jews in Jesus' time have no lack of religious leaders. The scribes were established after the Babylonian captivity (Ezra 7:6) and made sure the Mosaic Law was copied and interpreted correctly. The Pharisees cajole the people to obey not only the Mosaic Law but also their oral laws, placing a burden God did not intend (Matthew 23:2–4). The priests walk a delicate line, keeping the people beholden to the Law while strategizing how much they can rebel against the Roman occupiers without risking destruction. And local synagogue leaders choose readers from among the men to speculate on the meanings of Old Testament passages. In addition, the people must deal with Herod Antipas, the self-styled king, and Pontius Pilate, the Roman prefect of Judea.
Very few of these leaders are also shepherds. They control, and they manipulate, but they don't provide protective, loving leadership. Jesus sees them as "fat sheep" who take from the weak to feed themselves (Ezekiel 34:17–24). Jesus is the fulfillment of Ezekiel 34:23: "And I will set up over them one shepherd, my servant David, and he shall feed them: he shall feed them and be their shepherd." As the shepherd of Israel, Jesus cannot refuse the sheep who come to Him.
Mark 6:33–44 provides another depiction of Jesus' miraculous feeding of thousands of people. The Twelve have worked so hard on their first missions trip they haven't had time to eat (Mark 6:31), and an attempt to rest is foiled by a demanding crowd. Instead of avoiding the interlopers, Jesus heals (Matthew 14:14) and teaches them. Instead of dismissing them, He feeds them. The Twelve again witness Jesus' great power and authority but don't catch the lesson: Jesus is God and can provide whatever anyone needs. This story is also found in Matthew 14:13–21 and Luke 9:11–17, and it is one of the few miracles mentioned in John (John 6:2–14). This makes it the only miracle referenced in all four Gospels.
Jesus returns to His hometown of Nazareth, but the people there are faithless and skeptical. As a result, Jesus performs no more than a few minor miracles. He then assigns His twelve apostles to travel in pairs, preaching repentance and healing various conditions. Mark then takes a brief detour to explain the death of John the Baptist, beheaded after Herod Antipas is tricked by his wife. The focus then returns to Jesus, explaining His miraculous feeding of thousands of people, walking on water, and healing people in Gennesaret.