Jesus' Divine Power and Glory Is Revealed While His Own Townsfolk Are Blinded To The Truth About Him (4:35-6:6a).
In the first part of this new section Jesus power and glory will now be revealed in four ways:
· As the One Who can tame the sea with a word - power over nature (Mark 4:35-41).
· As the One with supreme power over even a multitude of evil spirits - power over the other world (Mark 5:1-20).
· As the One from Whom power could flow out to cleanse the unclean - power over all uncleanness (Mark 5:24-35).
· And as the One with power to raise of the dead - power over death itself (Mark 5:21-41).
Each incident revealed something of Who He was, and revealed His power over nature, over the spirit world, over uncleanness and over life itself. And the three main examples of His power are seen as brought about by His word. He is such that His word controls nature, is authoritative over the spirit world and defeats death itself (note the growth in concept, moving from nature, through the ‘other world', to life and death itself). He ‘upholds all things by His powerful word' (Hebrews 1:3). He is seen as the Lord of Creation, both of Heaven and earth. And all this is then followed by an indication that, even so, many would not believe in Him because of their prejudice.
Analysis of 4:35-6:6a.
In this subsection Jesus passes over the Sea of Galilee to the other side, and then finally returns and comes back to ‘His own region'. It can be analysed as follows:
a Sailing across the sea of Galilee Jesus stills a mighty storm with His powerful word, while His disciples reveal their unbelief and ask, ‘Who is this?' (Mark 4:35-41).
b He reveals His power over unclean spirits by healing a demoniac and commands the healed man to ‘go and tell' (Mark 5:1-20).
c He reveals His power over uncleanness by healing a woman who is constantly losing life sustaining blood, thus making her ritually ‘unclean' (Mark 5:25-34).
b He reveals His power over death by raising Jairus' daughter (Mark 5:21-43).
a He reveals His powerful words and mighty works, while His own townsfolk reveal their unbelief and ask ‘Where did this man get all this?' (Mark 6:1-6 a).
Note that in ‘a' Jesus reveals His mighty word of power, and the disciples reveal their unbelief and ask ‘Who is He?', while in the parallel His own townsfolk wonder at His mighty words and, revealing their unbelief, ask ‘from whence has He these things?' In ‘b' Jesus reveals His power over supernatural spirits, and in the parallel He reveals His power over death. Centrally in ‘c' He heals an unclean woman who represents the uncleanness of Israel.