Mark 6:56 Study Bible: Wherever he entered, into villages, or into cities, or into the country, they placed the sick in the marketplaces, and begged him that they might touch just the fringe of his garment; and as many as touched him were made well.

◄ Mark 6:56 ►

And wherever He went--villages and towns and countrysides--they laid the sick in the marketplaces and begged Him just to let them touch the fringe of His cloak. And all who touched Him were healed.

Study Bible

And wherever He went—villages and towns and countrysides—

Jesus carried His ministry throughout every kind of settlement in Galilee and the surrounding region. His mercy reached rural villages, growing towns, and isolated farming areas alike, showing that no person or place lay beyond His concern. The Messiah proclaimed good news to the poor and bound up the brokenhearted, as Isaiah had foretold (Isaiah 61:1).

Mat 9:35 Jesus went through all the towns and villages,…
Luk 8:1 Soon afterward, Jesus traveled from one town and village…
Luk 13:22 Then Jesus traveled throughout the towns and villages,…

they laid the sick in the marketplaces

Marketplaces were the public centers of ancient communities, where people gathered for trade, news, and civic life. Families brought their afflicted relatives where Jesus would pass, openly confessing their need and trusting His power to heal. The healings displayed before entire communities spread the report of His authority and testified that the kingdom of God had drawn near.

Act 5:15 As a result, people brought the sick into the streets…
Mat 14:35 And when the men of that place recognized Jesus,…
Luk 4:40 At sunset, all who were ill with various diseases…

and begged Him just to let them touch the fringe of His cloak.

The fringe referred to the tassels worn on the corners of an Israelite’s garment in obedience to Numbers 15:38–39. Those who sought even this small contact approached Jesus with the confidence that His power was sufficient for their need. Their actions recall the woman healed after touching His garment, when Jesus commended her faith and sent her away in peace (Mark 5:25–34).

Mat 14:36 and begged Him just to let them touch the fringe…
Mat 9:20-22 Suddenly a woman who had suffered from bleeding…
Luk 8:43-44 including a woman who had suffered from bleeding…

And all who touched Him were healed.

Jesus healed completely and without failure all who came to Him in faith. His works revealed Him as the promised Servant who bore human griefs and carried sorrows, anticipating the deeper restoration secured through His sacrificial death (Isaiah 53:4–5). Physical healing pointed beyond itself to His authority to forgive sin, overcome corruption, and give life to those who trust Him.

Luk 6:19 The entire crowd was trying to touch Him,…
Mat 8:16 When evening came, many who were demon-possessed…
Mat 12:15 Aware of this, Jesus withdrew from that place.…

Persons / Places / Events

1. Jesus
Central figure in the passage, known for His healing power and compassion.

2. Villages, Towns, and Cities
Represents the widespread reach of Jesus' ministry, indicating His accessibility to all people regardless of their location.

3. The Sick
Individuals suffering from various ailments, seeking healing through faith in Jesus.

4. Marketplaces
Public spaces where people gathered, symbolizing the openness and public nature of Jesus' ministry.

5. The Fringe of His Cloak
Refers to the tassels on Jesus' garment, which hold significance in Jewish tradition as a reminder of God's commandments (Numbers 15:38-39).

Teaching Points

Faith and Healing
The passage highlights the importance of faith in receiving healing. The act of touching Jesus' cloak was a demonstration of belief in His power.

Accessibility of Jesus
Jesus' presence in various locations shows His willingness to meet people where they are, emphasizing His accessibility to all who seek Him.

Public Witness
The healings in marketplaces serve as a public testimony to Jesus' divine authority and compassion, encouraging believers to live out their faith openly.

Symbolism of the Cloak
The fringe of Jesus' cloak symbolizes a connection to God's commandments and promises, reminding believers of the importance of living in accordance with God's Word.

Bible Study Questions

1. How does the act of touching the fringe of Jesus' cloak demonstrate the faith of those seeking healing?

2. In what ways can we make Jesus accessible to others in our communities today?

3. How can public acts of faith serve as a testimony to others about the power and love of Jesus?

4. What significance do the tassels on Jesus' cloak hold, and how can this symbolism be applied to our daily walk with God?

5. How can we cultivate a faith that actively seeks Jesus' presence and power in our lives, similar to those who sought healing in this passage?

Connections to Other Scriptures

Matthew 9:20-22
The account of the woman with the issue of blood who was healed by touching Jesus' cloak, illustrating the power of faith.

Luke 8:43-48
Another account of the woman healed by touching Jesus' garment, emphasizing the personal nature of faith and healing.

Acts 19:11-12
Describes how God performed extraordinary miracles through Paul, where even handkerchiefs and aprons that touched him were used to heal the sick, showing the continuation of miraculous healings in the early church.

Numbers 15:38-39
Provides background on the significance of the tassels on garments, which were meant to remind the Israelites of God's commandments.

Sermons

Miraculous Protection	J.J. Given	Mark 6:45-56
A Crowd of Eager Applicants	Dean Stanley.	Mark 6:53-56
Commotion in Gennesaret	E. Johnson	Mark 6:53-56
Jesus and His Fulness	H. Bonar, D. D.	Mark 6:53-56
Secondary Benefits of the Gospel	A.F. Muir	Mark 6:53-56
Spiritual Healing	J. Jowett, M. A.	Mark 6:53-56
The Multitude in Affliction	F. Wagstaff.	Mark 6:53-56
Touch Jesus and be Healed	J. Smith.	Mark 6:53-56

People

Elias, Elijah, Herod, Herodias, James, Jesus, John, Joseph, Joses, Judas, Jude, Mary, Philip, Simon

Places

Bethsaida, Galilee, Genneseret, Jerusalem, Nazareth, Sea of Galilee

Topics

Begged, Cities, Cloak, Countryside, Edge, Entered, Fringe, Garment, Healed, Laid, Marketplaces, Placed, Sick, Touch, Touched, Towns, Villages, Wherever

Dictionary of Bible Themes

Mark 6:56

     2033   Christ, humanity
     5144   cloak
     5230   beggars
     5402   market
     7462   tassel
     8026   faith, growth in

Mark 6:1-56

5357 journey

Mark 6:53-56

5333 healing

Library

January 6 Evening
The apostles gathered themselves together unto Jesus, and told him all things they had done.--MARK 6:30. There is a friend that sticketh closer than a brother.--The Lord spake unto Moses face to face, as a man speaketh unto his friend.--Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you. Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth: but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you. When ye shall have done …
Anonymous—Daily Light on the Daily Path

September 4. "Come Ye Yourselves Apart" (Mark vi. 31).
"Come ye yourselves apart" (Mark vi. 31). One of the greatest hindrances to spirituality is the lack of waiting upon God. You cannot go through twenty-four hours with two or three breaths of air, in the morning, as you sip your coffee. But you must live in the atmosphere, and you must breathe it all day long. Christians do not wait upon God enough. It needs hours and hours daily of spiritual communion with the Holy Spirit to keep your vitality healthful and full. Every moment should find you breathing …
Rev. A. B. Simpson—Days of Heaven Upon Earth

January 8. "It is I, be not Afraid" (Mark vi. 50).
"It is I, be not afraid" (Mark vi. 50). Someone tells of a little child with some big story of sorrow upon its little heart, flying to its mother's arms for comfort, and intending to tell her the story of its trouble; but as that mother presses it to her bosom and pours out her love, it soon becomes so occupied with her and the sweetness of her affection that it forgets to tell its story, and in a little while even the memory of the trouble is forgotten. It has just been loved away, and she has taken …
Rev. A. B. Simpson—Days of Heaven Upon Earth

Herod --A Startled Conscience
'But when Herod heard thereof, he said, It is John, whom I beheaded: he is risen from the dead.'--Mark vi. 16. The character of this Herod, surnamed Antipas, is a sufficiently common and a sufficiently despicable one. He was the very type of an Eastern despot, exactly like some of those half-independent Rajahs, whose dominions march with ours in India; capricious, crafty, as the epithet which Christ applied to him, 'That fox!' shows; cruel, as the story of the murder of John the Baptist proves; sensuous …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

The Master Rejected: the Servants Sent Forth
'And He went out from thence, and came into His own country; and His disciples follow Him. 2. And when the Sabbath day was come, He began to teach in the synagogue: and many hearing Him were astonished, saying, From whence hath this man these things? and what wisdom is this which is given unto Him, that even such mighty works are wrought by His hands? 3. Is not this the carpenter, the Son of Mary, the Brother of James, and Joses, and of Juda, and Simon! and are not His sisters here with us? And they …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

The Martyrdom of John
'For Herod himself had sent forth and laid hold upon John, and bound him in prison for Herodias' sake, his brother Philip's wife: for he had married her. 18. For John had said unto Herod, It is not lawful for thee to have thy brother's wife. 19. Therefore Herodias had a quarrel against him, and would have killed him; but she could not: 20. For Herod feared John, knowing that he was a just man and an holy, and observed him; and when he heard him, he did many things, and heard him gladly. 21. And when …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

The World's Bread
'And the apostles gathered themselves together unto Jesus, and told Him all things, both what they had done, and what they had taught. 31. And He said unto them, Come ye yourselves apart into a desert place, and rest a while: for there were many coming and going, and they had no leisure so much as to eat. 32. And they departed into a desert place by ship privately. 33. And the people saw them departing, and many knew Him, and ran afoot thither out of all cities, and outwent them, and came together …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

Christ Thwarted
'And He could there do no mighty work, save that He laid His hands upon a few sick folk, and healed them. And He marvelled because of their unbelief.'--Mark vi. 5,6. It is possible to live too near a man to see him. Familiarity with the small details blinds most people to the essential greatness of any life. So these fellow-villagers of Jesus in Nazareth knew Him too well to know Him rightly as they talked Him over; they recognised His wisdom and His mighty works; but all the impression that these …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

On Attending the Church Service
"The sin of the young men was very great." 1 Sam. 2:17. 1. The corruption, not only of the heathen world, but likewise of them that were called Christians, has been matter of sorrow and lamentation to pious men, almost from the time of the apostles. And hence, as early as the second century, within a hundred years of St. John's removal from the earth, men who were afraid of being partakers of other men's sins, thought it their duty to separate from them. Hence, in every age many have retired from …
John Wesley—Sermons on Several Occasions

The Epistle of Saint Jude.
V. 1, 2. Jude, a servant of Jesus Christ, but a brother of James, to those that are called to be holy in God the Father, and preserved in Jesus Christ, mercy unto you and peace and love be multiplied. This Epistle is ascribed to the holy Apostle, St. Jude, brother of the two Apostles, James the Less and Simon, by the sister of the mother of Christ, who is called Mary (wife) of James or Cleopas, as we read in Mark vi. But this Epistle cannot be looked upon as being that of one who was truly an Apostle, …
Martin Luther—The Epistles of St. Peter and St. Jude Preached and Explained

The First Sayings of Jesus --His Ideas of a Divine Father and of a Pure Religion --First Disciples.
Joseph died before his son had taken any public part. Mary remained, in a manner, the head of the family, and this explains why her son, when it was wished to distinguish him from others of the same name, was most frequently called the "son of Mary."[1] It seems that having, by the death of her husband, been left friendless at Nazareth, she withdrew to Cana,[2] from which she may have come originally. Cana[3] was a little town at from two to two and a half hours' journey from Nazareth, at the foot …
Ernest Renan—The Life of Jesus

The Chronology
45. The length of the public ministry of Jesus was one of the earliest questions which arose in the study of the four gospels. In the second and third centuries it was not uncommon to find the answer in the passage from Isaiah (lxi. 1, 2), which Jesus declared was fulfilled in himself. "The acceptable year of the Lord" was taken to indicate that the ministry covered little more than a year. The fact that the first three gospels mention but one Passover (that at the end), and but one journey to Jerusalem, …
Rush Rhees—The Life of Jesus of Nazareth

The Friend of Men 223 in Nothing Does the Contrast Between Jesus and John the Baptist Appear More Clearly than in their Attitude Towards Common Social
I The Friend of Men 223. In nothing does the contrast between Jesus and John the Baptist appear more clearly than in their attitude towards common social life. John had his training and did his work apart from the homes of men. The wilderness was his chosen and fit scene of labor. From this solitude he sent forth his summons and warning to his people. They who sought him for fuller teaching went after him and found him where he was. They then returned to their homes and their work, leaving the prophet …
Rush Rhees—The Life of Jesus of Nazareth

Twelve Baskets Full of Fragments Gathered from the Miracle of Christ Feeding the Multitude.
1.--MAN NEEDS HELP. "They have nothing to eat." (Mark vi. 36.) 2.--GOD IS BETTER THAN GOOD MEN. "Send them away," said the disciples. (Mark vi. 36.) "They need not depart," the Lord replied. (Matt. xiv. 16.) 3.--MINISTERS SHOULD ALWAYS BE ON THE LOOK-OUT FOR THE CHILDREN, THEY GIVE HELP AS WELL AS TROUBLE. Andrew said, "There is a lad here." (John vi. 9.) 4.--YOUTH CAN GIVE TO JESUS WHAT NO ONE ELSE POSSESSES. "There is a lad here which hath five barley loaves." (John vi. 9.) 5.--UNBELIEF …
Thomas Champness—Broken Bread

The Historical Books. 1 the New Testament...
CHAPTER XXIX. THE HISTORICAL BOOKS. 1. The New Testament, like the Old, is not an abstract system of doctrines and duties, but a record of facts involving doctrines and duties of the highest import. This record does not constitute an independent history, complete in itself, and to be explained in its own light. It is rather the necessary sequel to the record of the Old Testament. It interprets the Old Testament, and is itself interpreted by it. The two constitute together an organic whole, and can …
E. P. Barrows—Companion to the Bible

The Right to Privacy
"There were many coming and going, and they had no leisure so much as to eat."--Mark 6:31 "But when he saw the multitudes, he was moved with compassion for them."--Matthew 9:36 I had just come back from a strenuous month in the country. Mr. and Mrs. Sprightly, the young married couple who were in charge of the mission station, and I were relaxing around the tea table. I told about the work I had been doing, and answered interested questions. Finally the talk drifted into lighter channels, and …
Mabel Williamson—Have We No Rights?

Set at Liberty.
(MARK VI. 27.) "Hush my soul, and vain regrets be stilled; Now rest in Him who is the complement Of whatsoe'er transcends our mortal doom, Of baffled hope and unfulfilled intent; In the clear vision and aspect of whom All longings and all hopes shall be fulfilled." ARCHBISHOP TRENCH. The Genesis of a Great Crime--The Strength of Evil Influences--An Accomplice of Satan--The Triumph of Hate--The Baptist Beheaded--A Place of Repentance The evangelist Mark tells us, in the twenty-first verse of this …
F. B. Meyer—John the Baptist

The King's Courts
(MARK VI.) "The number of thine own complete, Sum up and make an end; Sift clean the chaff, and house the wheat; And then, O Lord, descend. "Descend, and solve by that descent This mystery of life; Where good and ill, together blent, Wage an undying strife." J. H. N. Under Royal Surveillance--"It is not Lawful."--The Revenge of Herodias--The Upbraidings of Conscience--Devotion to Truth--"A Sin unto Death." Our story brings us next to speak of the Baptist's relations with Herod Antipas, son of the …
F. B. Meyer—John the Baptist

Rejected in his Own Country
"And He went out from thence; and He cometh into His own country; and His disciples follow Him." MARK 6:1-6 (R.V.) WE have seen how St. Mark, to bring out more vividly the connection between four mighty signs, their ideal completeness as a whole, and that mastery over nature and the spiritual world which they reveal, grouped them resolutely together, excluding even significant incidents which would break in upon their sequence. Bearing this in mind, how profoundly instructive it is that our Evangelist …
G. A. Chadwick—The Gospel of St. Mark

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