Jesus once told a prospective disciple that following him might mean he would have no place to lay is head or rest (Matthew 8:19-20). Many conclude that this meant Jesus was poor, and didn’t even own a place to live. Let me put this as kindly and as succinctly as possible: that is a gross misunderstanding of the word or God! It is difficult for me to understand how educated scholars, whether or not they are Christian, could defend their belief that a homeless person could have such a great following today, or that such a person could intimidate the rulers of his day, and even have the Empire of Rome give him a look to make certain he wasn’t a threat. When has a homeless person in all history ever been a mover and a shaker of his day?
In chapter 8 Mark has Jesus constantly moving. Coming from Tyre and Sidon, we find him in the Decapolis, and then across the lake to Delmanutha. Next, he’s in Bethsaida and afterward we find him Caesarea Philippi, but never finding the rest he sought (Mark 6:31), which is the meaning of not having a place to lay one’s head (Matthew 8:19-20). Between the multitudes who couldn’t care less about what Jesus said, seeking only a new miracle to titillate their hearts, and the Jewish authorities, who sought to entrap him in his words, so they could destroy him, Jesus had no place to lay his head.
In Mark 8:1 we find Jesus with his disciples in the midst of the Decapolis (Mark 7:31). The Decapolis was a region composed of ten self-governing cities,[1] mostly east of the Jordan River. Once part of the Hasmonean Kingdom, these largely gentile towns resented the Jewish customs and welcomed their reorganization into city states, when Pompey, the Roman general, took authority from the Hasmoneans in 63 BC. While Jesus was here (Mark 8:1), many folks, presumably of non-Semitic descent, heard about his arrival and came from afar to hear him.
Jesus was concerned about them, because he was about to leave, and they had been with him for about three days, but the food had run out (Mark 8:2-3). Some could faint on their return, before they were able to buy provisions, so Jesus didn’t want to send them away hungry. In Mark’s present context of the success of the Gospel (cp. Mark 6:6b-7, 30), we find God’s word, the Gospel, satisfies to the degree that the believer doesn’t hunger spiritually anymore (cp. John 6:26-27, 33-35). Therefore, in the context of Jesus being the Bread of Life, which satisfies the believer, Jesus wanted to feed the people before sending them away, but his disciples didn’t understand (Mark 8:4). In other words, simply because Jesus fed the 5000 in Bethsaida a week or two earlier, didn’t mean they automatically assumed he would do the same with every large crowd that gathered around him. Jesus’ disciples simply weren’t looking for a miracle every time a problem arose.
When Jesus found out from his disciples that they had a few fish and seven loaves of bread, he caused the people to sit down in preparation for a meal. Blessing the food, he had the disciples serve the multitude with what they had left from their journey (Mark 8:5-7). As a result, the people, numbering about 4000, ate and were satisfied. Excluding what the multitude had been eating but didn’t finish, the disciples gathered what was left of what they had given each group, and they filled seven baskets (Mark 8:8-9a).
After the meal, Jesus dismissed the people, telling them to return to their homes. Afterward, he boarded a boat and left the Decapolis for Dalmanutha (Mark 8:9-10), the other side of the Sea of Galilee. However, Mark doesn’t say how Jesus came by the vessel, only that he and his disciples boarded it. Did Jesus know he would make a wide circle around the Sea of Galilee, when he left Capernaum for Tyre and Sidon (Mark 7:24) and make arrangements to have a boat waiting for him at that very location (cp. Mark 3:9), or did he know there would be plenty of boats there, and he would be able to arrange for passage for both his disciples and himself with one of them? I believe the former would be more likely than the latter, since this particular location was an isolated area (Mark 8:4), and one wouldn’t expect to find commercial vessels in a place, where there weren’t many folks to buy their goods or use their services. So, Jesus probably planned on being there from the time he left Capernaum. He simply sought to avoid confrontation with the Jewish authorities as much as possible. Moreover, in light of the recent execution of John the Baptist (Mark 6:27), it was also a prudent matter to keep away from the suspicious Herod (cp. Luke 9:9).
It may not be apparent, because the multitude wanted to crown Jesus king, but the feeding of the 5000 ended in unbelief (cp. John 6:66). However, although the multitude in the Decapolis originally rejected Jesus out of fear (Mark 5:15-17), they received him after hearing the Gospel (Mark 5:19-20; cp. 6:53-56), and presently came from afar to listen to him, staying with him for three days (Mark 8:2-3). The first group were Jews and sought to fit Jesus into their preconceived interpretations of the scriptures, but the second group simply received him as he was, because they had no expectations through which they could interpret his words or deeds. Everything was new for them. In light of the warning of a coming judgment (Matthew 3:9-12; cp. Mark 8:34-38) the two events foreshadow the Gospel’s rejection by the Jewish nation, and its reception by the gentiles.
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[1] Damascus in the north, and Canatha, Hippus, Dion, Raphana, Gadara, Scythopolis (only city west of the Jordan), Pella, Gerasa and Philadelphia (the southernmost city).
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