“Do You Still Not Understand?” Mark 8:21 and the Mission to the Gentiles

Abstract

Recounting the numbers of baskets remaining after each of the multiplications of loaves in the Gospel of Mark, Jesus demands of his disciplies: “Do you not yet understand?” (Mark 8:21). The message which the Markan Jesus presents through this sequence of the two feedings is both clear and important to the Gospel's author. A comparison of the Greek words used for “basket” in the first and the second feedings, and of the number of each type of basket filled with bread fragments left over from the multiplications, suggests that the Gospel's author employs the sequence of feedings to symbolize the extension of Jesus' ministry to the gentiles. This conclusion is strengthened by the placement of the multiplications in the larger structure of Mark's narrative.

Keywords

multiplication loaves basket gentiles mission Mark 8:21

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