Arriving by boat from Gergesa, Jesus had returned to Magdala (in the district of Dalmanutha) the town closest to where he had fed the 5000. He spent time here teaching (there were still many that were hungry for “The Word”). The “buzz” through the crowd was about Jesus’ latest journey among the Gentiles. The rumor was that the Gentiles could also enter the Kingdom of God.
Some religious leaders came to Jesus and asked for a sign, a stamp of approval from God, for his radical behavior with Gentiles. Jesus sighed, and shook his head from side to side, in disappointment. The religious leaders could predict the physical weather but were spiritually blind. They could not see God in action. And he would give them no proof! They must come by faith, not by sight.
Eventually he again got into the boat and sailed with his disciples across the sea toward Bethsaida. As they passed Gennesaret the disciples became concerned that they had only one loaf of bread left over. Jesus, the Bread of Life, warned them about the traditional teaching of the religious “establishment”, but they were still thinking on the physical level and it went “over their heads”. They would need to change the way they viewed things.
They landed at the fishing area south of Bethsaida.
DAB
