Mark 6:32-34 - Homilies By A.f. Muir

Christ's sympathy for men.

I. How IT WAS CALLED FORTH .

1 . The physical exhaustion and hunger of the people.

2 . Their restlessness.

3 . Their inarticulate longing for some higher truth and life.

II. THE CHARACTER IT ASSUMED . Shepherdly anxiety and care.

1 . An intense compassion and solicitude.

2 . A deep religious sense of the Divine ideal from which they had departed. The spirit, the very words of prophecy, occur to him in the connection ( Numbers 27:17 ; Zechariah 10:2 ).

3 . A practical undertaking of their care.

III. HOW IT EXPRESSED ITSELF . He taught them many things. By word and act he strove to lift their hearts to God, and to suggest the ineffable mysteries of his kingdom. The miracle that followed.—M.