Tim Maas Retired Quality Assurance Specialist with the U.S. Army

The hardening of the apostles' hearts referred to in Mark 6:52 related to the fact that, in spite of the great miracle that they had personally just seen Jesus perform in the feeding of the multitudes, they still somehow did not fully appreciate or realize who He was.

The reading from Mark does not necessarily imply that the apostles did not worship Jesus when he got into the boat, as Matthew says they did. In fact, Mark indicates that they were "amazed" at what Jesus had done in walking on the water, so that it might finally have made them realize that Jesus was the Son of God, which would have resulted in the "unhardening" of their hearts, and caused them to worship him, as noted in Matthew.

Mark (as you say) did not include the portion about Peter walking on the water. I personally have always speculated that this may have been attributable to Mark (who did not witness the event in person) being a companion of Peter in his travels during the early dissemination of Christianity, and having received his knowledge of Jesus' life largely from Peter's recollections. He therefore may have omitted the portion about Peter walking on the water because Peter did not tell him about it (perhaps out of embarrassment at Jesus having to save him from drowning because of his lack of faith).

(Mark, however, did include Peter's denials of Jesus because Mark would have had personal knowledge of Jesus' foretelling of them, since the Upper Room where the Last Supper took place was in the home of Mark's father, and also because Mark himself had been a personal (although unnamed) witness to the events connected with Jesus' arrest, as indicated by Mark 14:51-52.)

As with many other aspects of the Gospels, by blending the perspectives and information in all four Gospel accounts, we are able to get the complete picture and understanding of the events that took place that God intended for Christians to have.

January 11 2016 • 2 responses • Vote Up • Share • Report