Mark 6 v 53 - 56

The trip across the lake turns out to be relatively peaceful compared to the reception Jesus receives when He arrives at the shore! Pandemonium greets Him and we can understand as we read this passage the sheer desperation of those who are sick or disabled to receive healing. Things can get quite desperate nowadays in the West when there is so much more medical knowledge and treatments available, but then there was so little which could be done. The care given from doctors was haphazard, often causing more damage than good and was expensive as the woman with the issue of blood discovered. Jewish religious leaders may well decide that either you or your parents had sinned and this was judgement from God! I don't think we quite grasp how revolutionary it was for the average Jew to see Jesus at work and to hear His words of comfort rather than condemnation! Everyone had come to get something from Jesus and this was ultimately exhausting for Him and would cause Him to spend much of the second period of His ministry withdrawn, staying in areas where people wouldn't find Him. Even today, there are many who just take and never give. They make use of their friends, others' homes, the church and even God. Just as many who received healing from Jesus did not then decide to follow Him and give their life to Him- remember the healing of the ten lepers, where only one returned to thank Jesus?-so God is often seen as some kind of spiritual cash ATM.