Honest Sermons on the Gospel of Mark: Chapter 8

This is a mediocre blend of magic folklore and cult promotion

It would seem that the author of Mark’s gospel was obsessed with Jesus’ magical powers to make food appear out of nowhere. In chapter 6 we saw that Mark’s holy hero fed five thousand people, somehow making five loaves of bread and two fish turn into enough food to satisfy them all. And now, at the opening of chapter 8, he produces enough food to feed four thousand. It would also seem that Mark had no trouble disclosing just how stupid the disciples were. Jesus proposes feeding this second huge crowd, “…they have been with me now for three days and have nothing to eat. If I send them away hungry to their homes, they will faint on the way…” (vv. 2-3)
 
 
To which the disciples reply, “How can one feed these people with bread here in the desert?” (v. 4) Did they have a collective brain freeze? 
 
After he has done his magic a second time, he gives the disciples a sound scolding. They had gotten into a boat “to cross to the other side,” once the four thousand had headed for home, but they had forgotten to bring bread with them. Jesus overhears their conversation: “Why are you talking about having no bread? Do you still not perceive or understand? Are your hearts hardened? Do you have eyes and fail to see? Do you have ears and fail to hear? And do you not remember?”  (vv. 17-18) 
 
This episode betrays Mark’s agenda, as Richard Carrier has pointed out:
 
“Another clue that Mark is writing historical fiction is the way he structures his narrative to suit literary aims rather than historical ones. The ceaseless incomprehension of the disciples, for example, is wholly unrealistic. No real human beings would ever be that dense or take so long to understand what Jesus was saying and doing…”  (On the Historicity of Jesus: Why We Might Have Reason for Doubt, p. 411)       
 
Jesus heals a blind man
 
In verses 8:22-26 we read that Jesus cured a man’s blindness by rubbing his saliva on the fellow’s eyes and touching him. That worked to a degree: the guy could see people, but “they look like trees walking around.” So Jesus touched him again, then suddenly he “saw everything clearly.” This story can only have derived from magic folklore that fueled the author’s imagination. He wanted to convince his readers that Jesus could use magic potions as well as any other god or hero. If devout readers today fall for this story they have given up on critical thinking. How can saliva cure blindness? “Well, it’s god’s saliva, after all!” Such foolishness derives from indoctrination that began when they were toddlers. Truly, such magical thinking belongs in fairy tales—and the Bible belongs in this category whenever it includes such silly episodes. 
 
Peter declares that their holy hero is the messiah
 
In 8:27-30 we find Peter’s affirmation that Jesus is the messiah. Jesus was curious about his reputation: “Who do people say I am?” Several answers are offered: you’re John the Baptist, or Elijah, or one of the prophets. Peter declares that Jesus is the long-predicted messiah, but Jesus urges that the disciples don’t disclose this information to anyone. This is another example of insider cult-information: only those on the inside know. But it makes no sense whatever from the standpoint of primary agenda of this author, which from the outset has been to proclaim that the kingdom of god was about to take over the earth. In Mark 14:62, Jesus tells those at his trial that they will see him “coming with the clouds of heaven.” Which, of course, never happened. Mark failed at writing history. John Loftus was right on target when he titled one of his essays, At Best Jesus Was a Failed Apocalyptic Prophet (pp. 316-343) in his 2010 anthology, The Christian Delusion: Why Faith Fails. 

 
Jesus rebuked Peter, calling him Satan
 
In this gospel—the first to be written—Jesus predicts his death and resurrection three times: here in chapter 8, and again in chapters 9 and 10. It seems that Peter was annoyed hearing Jesus say this to the disciples, so took him aside to scold him. But Jesus had a stern response: “Get behind me, Satan! For you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things.” (v. 33) After Jesus’ arrest, Peter famously got caught denying three times that he knew Jesus. Yet another example of the ceaseless incomprehension of the disciples. How can anyone believe that this Galilean peasant ended up in Rome as the first pope?  
 
The demands on the cult 
 
Chapter 8 closes with a classic example of cult propaganda/indoctrination. That is, if you’re in our cult, absolute subservience is required, hence the author of Mark created this Jesus-script:
 
“If any wish to come after me, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it. For what will it profit them to gain the whole world and forfeit their life?  Indeed, what can they give in return for their life? Those who are ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of them the Son of Man will also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.” (vv. 34-38)
 
The author got a little ahead of himself here, mentioning the cross well before the crucifixion—but everyone reading the gospel knew how Jesus died. But still, this is a clue that the author was careless in his creation of Jesus-script. 
 
It is worth repeating this blunt reality: we have no way whatever of verifying any deed or saying of Jesus mentioned in the gospels.
 
Their authors never disclose their exact, trustworthy sources, so that scholars could agree that something could be verified. The gospels were written decades after the supposed events described. How would eyewitness accounts or “reliable” oral tradition have been preserved? There is no evidence whatever that they were, especially in the wake of the disastrous Jewish-Roman War that destroyed Jerusalem and the Temple in 70 CE. The most conservative apologists may argue that the gospels—indeed the whole Bible—was “divinely inspired” and thus can be trusted. Such a claim makes it hard to understand why there are so many mistakes, flaws, contradictions, forgeries, and so much bad morality preserved in scripture. 
 

So much of Mark’s gospel was copied by both Matthew and Luke—and ignored by the author of John’s gospel, who had a very different take on Jesus. Mark began the adventure of telling the Jesus story, but sadly, failed as historian. For a very detailed explanation as to why this is the case, I again recommend careful study of Richard Carrier’s July 2024 essay, All the Fantastical Things in the Gospel According to Mark.
 
I have always urged devout Christians to read the gospels, especially Mark. Study each chapter carefully, deal with the many theological problems these chapters present. If they can’t spot the problems, their Sunday School days were an adventure in indoctrination, not learning. Critically analyzing Mark is a big first step in realizing that the story of Jesus—supposedly the greatest story ever told—is anything but.  
 
 
 
David Madison was a pastor in the Methodist Church for nine years, and has a PhD in Biblical Studies from Boston University. He is the author of Ten Tough Problems in Christian Thought and Belief: a Minister-Turned-Atheist Shows Why You Should Ditch the Faith, now being reissued in several volumes:
·      Guessing About God (2023),
·   Ten Things Christians Wish Jesus Hadn’t Taught: And Other Reasons to Question His Words (2021). The Spanish translation of this book is also available. 
·    Everything You Need to Know About Prayer But May Not Want to Admit (2025)
 
His YouTube channel is here. At the invitation of John Loftus, he has written for the Debunking Christianity Blog since 2016.
 
The Cure-for-Christianity Library©, now with more than 500 titles, is here. A brief video explanation of the Library is here.