Sermon Tone Analysis

feeding paper

34 The description of the crowd as ὡς πρόβατα μὴ ἔχοντα ποιμένα is an obvious metaphor for lack of care and leadership, and one used in the OT for Israel in the wilderness after Moses (Nu.

27:17, where the problem is solved by the appointment of Joshua), for Ahab’s army after his death in battle (1 Ki. 22:17), for the people of God when their appointed leaders have failed in their trust (Ezk.

34:5–6), and for their helplessness when their (messianic) leader is taken away (Zc.

13:7).

While the metaphor in itself would suit a military context (see above), it clearly has also a wider application (cf.

its use in a different context in Mt. 9:36, where it forms the basis for the disciples’ mission of teaching and healing).

Here it denotes the ‘untended’ state of the ordinary people of Galilee (perhaps a reflection on the inadequacy of their current leadership; cf.

7:1–23; 12:38–40), which arouses Jesus’ compassion and to which he responds as in 4:1–2 by an extended period of teaching.

The only subject of whom the verb σπλαγχνίζομαι is used in the NT is Jesus (apart from parable characters who represent Jesus or God).

It is not a common verb in Mark (especially if we are right in not reading it in 1:41), but it occurs in the accounts of both feeding miracles (8:2); combined with the simile of sheep without a shepherd it presents Jesus above all as ‘the one who cares’.