Mark 6:40 - Printer Friendly

ESV: So they sat down in groups, by hundreds and by fifties.

NIV: So they sat down in groups of hundreds and fifties.

NASB: They reclined in groups of hundreds and fifties.

CSB: So they sat down in groups of hundreds and fifties.

NLT: So they sat down in groups of fifty or a hundred.

KJV: And they sat down in ranks, by hundreds, and by fifties.

NKJV: So they sat down in ranks, in hundreds and in fifties.

Much has been made about Jesus dividing the people into hundreds and fifties. It's not clear if the women and children were counted in the hundreds and fifties or just the men, meaning the groups could have been larger. The Israelites were similarly separated into more manageable groups (Exodus 18:21) and the Roman army also divided into smaller units. This may be indicative of a simpler truth, that God designed us for community, not individualism or mobs.

God called Moses to lead the Israelites out of Egypt. This included about 600,000 military-eligible men. Including women, children, and men too old for military service, the number may have been well over two million. In the beginning, Moses was the only judge available to hear complaints and tell the people what to do. His father-in-law pointed out that the task was impossible. Moses followed his advice and "chose able men out of all Israel and made them heads over the people, chiefs of thousands, of hundreds, of fifties, and of tens" (Exodus 18:25).

This organization continued, in a looser way, in the church. Elders—also called pastors or overseers—and deacons have two very different roles. Still, the New Testament doesn't say they should only have authority over specific groups within their churches. Instead, their labor is shared. It is easier for needs to be known and met, and for the leadership to keep track of what is going on within smaller groups. Jesus preached to and fed what amounts to a mega-church congregation, but even He broke the work of that ministry down into a manageable scale.

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.

Even as the Twelve are given opportunity to wield some of Jesus' power and authority, they still struggle to understand. They misinterpret who He is, what He has come to do, and how much He will ask of them. They fear Jesus' display of deity, but seem to dismiss the murderous rejection of His hometown and the death of John the Baptist. It's easy to have faith in a prophet who seems poised to rescue Israel from foreign rule. It is still beyond them to understand that He is actually God.

The Gospel of Mark emphasizes both Jesus' servanthood and His role as the promised Messiah: the Son of God. This is done through a concise, action-packed style. Mark provides relatively few details, instead focusing on actions and simple statements. This relates to the Gospel's authorship, which is believed to be based on the memories of the apostle Peter. These include many of Jesus' miracles, in contrast to other Gospels which include many more of Jesus' teachings and parables. Mark also makes frequent mention of Jesus' ministry being misunderstood by others.