Mark 6:3
“Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary, and brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon? Are not His sisters here with us?” And they took offense at Him.
(a) James. There are five men named James in the New Testament and two of them had brothers called Joses (or Joseph) and mothers called Mary. Jesus had brothers called James and Joses, and he also had cousins called James and Joses (see entry for Mark 15:40).
(b) Joses or Joseph. There were at least two men called Joses in the New Testament. This one was a brother of Jesus, the other one was a cousin of Jesus (Mark 15:40).
Mark 6:12
They went out and preached that men should repent.
Repent. To repent means to change your mind. In context, it means changing your mind about Christ and the goodness of God (Rom. 2:4). “Change your unbelieving mind and believe the glad tidings of God’s grace and forgiveness” (Mark 1:15).
See entry for Repentance.
Mark 6:14
And King Herod heard of it, for His name had become well known; and people were saying, “John the Baptist has risen from the dead, and that is why these miraculous powers are at work in Him.”
(a) King Herod. This is Herod Antipas, or Herod the tetrarch (4BC–39AD). When Herod the Great died, his kingdom was divided among four sons. Herod Antipas was given control of Galilee. Since a tetrarch was a ruler of a quarter of a province, he was known as Herod the tetrarch (Matt. 14:1). This Herod was responsible for the murder of John the Baptist (Mark 6:16) and he tried to kill Jesus (Luke 13:31).
(b) John the Baptist; see entry for Mark 1:4.
Mark 6:20
for Herod was afraid of John, knowing that he was a righteous and holy man, and he kept him safe. And when he heard him, he was very perplexed; but he used to enjoy listening to him.
(a) Herod; see entry for Mark 6:14.
(b) A righteous and holy man. Before the cross, no one could be made righteous. The gift of righteousness had not been given and the “one act of righteousness” had not be done (Rom. 5:18). This is why Old Testament saints such as Abraham were credited with righteousness on account of their faith in God (see entry for Rom. 4:3).
Herod considered John a righteous man because he was a prophet. But in God’s eyes, John was righteous because he believed in Jesus the Righteous One.
Mark 6:56
Wherever He entered villages, or cities, or countryside, they were laying the sick in the market places, and imploring Him that they might just touch the fringe of His cloak; and as many as touched it were being cured.
Cured can be translated made whole. The original word (sozo) is usually translated as save (e.g., Matt. 1:21), but also implies healing. When Jesus healed the sick, he sozo ed them; he healed them (Mark 5:23), delivered them (Luke 8:36) and made them whole (Matt. 9:21). See entry for Salvation.
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