Jesus is back in his hometown Nazareth, twenty miles from Capernaum,  with his disciples; once again, he is in the synagogues teaching. The people's reaction is again astonishment, and they ask concerning his wisdom, recognizing Jesus as the son of Mary and brother of James, Jose, Simon, and Judas, and having sisters. For whatever reasons, these people take offense, and Jesus remarks that a prophet is without honor only in his own country, their own kin, and their own house. He is prevented from healing except for a few sick; Jesus himself is now the one who is amazed at the people's unbelief.

Jesus goes through the villages teaching, calls the twelve and sends them out two by two; they are instructed to take nothing for their journey except for staff, sandals, and two tunics--no money, no bag, and no bread. They are granted authority over unclean spirits and told to shake off the dust of their feet as a testimony against them at any place they are unwelcomed. They are to stay at the house they enter until they leave. The message proclaimed by the disciples is repentance; their work is that of healing by anointing with oil. They also cast out demons. The disciples have taken up the same mission as that of Jesus: proclaiming the kingdom.

We learn that Herod has learned of Jesus with some saying he is Elijah or a prophet.  Herod is afraid he is John the Baptist whom he has beheaded returned from the dead.  Herod, of course, is the one had John beheaded as a result of reprimand for Herod's having married Herodias, his brother Philip's wife. Herod recognized that John was a righteous man but relented to his wife's manipulations through his daughter who had pleased him by dancing and made the request inspired by her mother. John's head is presented to Herod's daughter on a platter who, in turn, presented it to her mother.   John's disciples, upon hearing of the execution, claim the body and place it in a tomb.

The disciples returned to Jesus from their mission with stories of what they have done; like Jesus, they are beset by people's comings and goings, and Jesus recognizes they need to find a deserted place and rest. They are observed leaving by boat, and the people beat them to their destination. Coming ashore, Jesus sees the crowd and feels compassion for the bewildered and helpless people and begins to teach. At a late hour, the disciples wonder if they should send the people away; instead, they are instructed to take the five loaves and two fish they have and feed the people. They do so, and the people sitting in hundreds and fifties, eat and are full. Even after five thousand have eaten, twelve baskets of food remain.

The disciples leave before Jesus, going by boat to the other side of the lake Bethsaida. In the evening, the disciples are in a boat with a storm approaching; Jesus from the land sees them and is about to pass them, walking on the water, but gets into the boat and the winds abate.  The disciples are terrified, thinking Jesus is a ghost, and are even more unsettled by the winds dying down; Jesus tells them to take heart and not be afraid.

The cross over to Gennasaret, south of Capernaum,  where they are immediately recognized by the crowds. They continue rushing into the region and bringing the sick for healing. As Jesus travels in villages, cities and marketplaces, and farms, the crowds struggle to get close enough to touch his clothes, for in doing so, many are healed.

Jesus is still continuing his ministry amidst controversy in the Galilean area. The people are more attracted by the physical healing than they are for spiritual, the work Jesus really wants to do. Still, even for physical healing, faith is first required. What must be remembered is that Jesus sees his work as bringing about the Kingdom of God; he is concerned that miracles will create misunderstanding about this mission and hinder his work. Despite the healings, Jesus begins to be rejected in his home town and even by his own family. His disciples, likewise, when he comes walking on the sea in the early morning, between three and six, lack the necessary faith to understand Jesus' actions. Among the people are those who believe in his power to heal, and they compete to touch the fringes of his coat.  The Oxford Annotated Bible reminds us that the fringes indicate "the blue twisted threads at the four corners of male garments, as a reminder to obey God’s commandments (Numbers 15.38–40)." The appropriate scriptures are found in Numbers 15 and Deuteronomy 22:

37 The Lord said to Moses: 38 Speak to the Israelites, and tell them to make fringes on the corners of their garments throughout their generations and to put a blue cord on the fringe at each corner. 39 You have the fringe so that, when you see it, you will remember all the commandments of the Lord and do them, and not follow the lust of your own heart and your own eyes. 40 So you shall remember and do all my commandments, and you shall be holy to your God. 41 I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, to be your God: I am the Lord your God.

12 You shall make tassels on the four corners of the cloak with which you cover yourself.

This detail indicates Jesus knows and observes the Jewish law.

Jesus is found in his characteristic roles in this chapter--as teacher, healer, and a man who retreats to pray. He is also a man of compassion who cannot ignore the physical suffering of people; he walks through the crowds touching, healing, and feeding.  His compassion is active.

Herod's promise to his daughter is rash: "Ask me for whatever you wish, and I will give it." The reader will recall a similarly rash promise in the Old Testament in Judges 11 by Jepthah: 30 And Jephthah made a vow to the Lord, and said, "If you will give the Ammonites into my hand, 31 then whoever comes out of the doors of my house to meet me, when I return victorious from the Ammonites, shall be the Lord’s, to be offered up by me as a burnt offering."  It would seem that rash promises, whether to God or to our own family, have similar tragic outcomes.  Herod ends up having John the Baptist, whom he fears, protects, is perplexed by and knows to be a righteous and holy man, beheaded; Jepthah, who has made his vow to sacrifice to God whatever comes first out of his house after battle, ends up sacrificing his virgin daughter:

34 Then Jephthah came to his home at Mizpah; and there was his daughter coming out to meet him with timbrels and with dancing. She was his only child; he had no son or daughter except her. 35 When he saw her, he tore his clothes, and said, "Alas, my daughter! You have brought me very low; you have become the cause of great trouble to me. For I have opened my mouth to the Lord, and I cannot take back my vow." 36 She said to him, "My father, if you have opened your mouth to the Lord, do to me according to what has gone out of your mouth, now that the Lord has given you vengeance against your enemies, the Ammonites." 37 And she said to her father, "Let this thing be done for me: Grant me two months, so that I may go and wander † on the mountains, and bewail my virginity, my companions and I." 38 "Go," he said and sent her away for two months. So she departed, she and her companions, and bewailed her virginity on the mountains. 39 At the end of two months, she returned to her father, who did with her according to the vow he had made. She had never slept with a man. So there arose an Israelite custom that 40 for four days every year the daughters of Israel would go out to lament the daughter of Jephthah the Gileadite.

One can hardly miss the parallel in Judges: this is a human sacrifice.  John's life is also being sacrificed as will be the life of Christ by the end of Mark. Christ is, however, to be the sacrifice atoning for all human shortcomings.