COME FOLLOW ME
Feasts and Fullness
Matthew 14 -15; Mark 6, Luke 13 John 5-6
Commentary by Lynne Hilton Wilson Ph.D.
Feasts and Fullness
This portion focuses on feasts. Starting with a pilgrimage feast that Jesus attended in Jerusalem (John 5), then moving to a birthday feast in Herod Antipas’s palace where John the Baptist's death was negotiated (Mt 14:3-12; Mk 6:17-29), followed by Jesus’ feast in the Galilean wilderness feeding 5,000 and then 4,000 men plus women and children (Mt 14:21), and ending with Jesus’ sermon on the “Bread of Life” (Jn 6).
In these last two feasts experiences, Jesus takes on the mantel of Moses by offering bread/manna from heaven.
Through this section on feasts, Mark includes motifs of fullness (Mark 6:43; 8:8), in contrast to the Jewish dietary restrictions (Mark 7:1-30).
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Particularly in the Bread of Life sermon, Jesus teaches what is lacking in the Jewish feasts, and how He fulfills
that.
Book of Mormon Commentary
The Book of Mormon gives a key to identify the Messiah. This also allows readers to find a deeper appreciation for Jesus’ mission. The Book of Mormon instructs the reader to look for types and shadows to point to the Messiah, Christ.
Two examples follow:
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“Behold, my soul delighteth in proving unto my people the truth of the coming of Christ; for, for this end hath the law of Moses been given, and all things which have been given of God from the beginning of the world, unto man, are the typifying of him” (2 Nephi 11:4).
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“Therefore, if ye teach the law of Moses, also teach that it is a shadow of those things which are to come” (also see Jarom 1:11; Hosea 12:10; 1 Corinthians 10:1-11).
God organized the history of the Children of Israel and the Law of Moses to have a reciprocal relationship with
the Promised Messiah / Christ.