Throughout Jesus’ travels between Jewish, non-Jewish, and mixed territory we see a variety of miracles. Along with that, we see differing reactions to Jesus’ acts and  we get some allusions to current events of the time this gospel was written. Mark’s gospel is not the most impacting or narrative, but he did a good job interconnecting current events, Jewish figures, and the idea of this new kingdom of God.

Jesus’ miracles often were repeated where the second repetition “intensifies some aspect of the first, usually dealing with the theme of misunderstanding” (White 268). The miracles we see twice are sea miracles, exorcisms, healings, and feeding of many. Also, most of the miracles were done in either Jewish or mixed territory, or en route between the three. Another thing I noticed is that most miracles were done in non-Jewish or mixed territory, while questioning and disbelief came in Jesus’ hometown and around there. The reason for this, I believe, was to signify the spreading of the new kingdom that would be open and available to everyone, not just Israelites. Both healing miracles signify Jesus extending help to those around Israel just like the food miracles do as well. Before these events, however, the first exorcism of the demon “Legion” is a strong indicator of Jesus’ new ideals on rule. Here, he exorcises a demon name “Legion” (symbolic of Roman legion or division of Roman military that had conquered and still occupied the country) and put the demon into a herd of pigs which Jews were not allowed to eat. The pigs then were cast into the sea and thus destroyed. The footnotes in the bible state that this miracle is in reference to the “destruction of Pharaoh’s army in Israel’s Exodus deliverance” (1801).

Then with the feeding of first five thousand then four thousand, we see Jesus once again offering his aid and wisdom to the peoples around Israel. In his hometown, he was questioned because they could not believe like those who had never known Him before He was called into service as a prophet. Jesus’ response to this was to commission the twelve disciples to “build the renewal movement” (1802). Others we see questioning him are his disciples themselves (which Mark did on purpose) and we always saw that disbelief on sea. It seems Mark made them question him on purpose to let the reader or audience see what they could not, thus building a stronger sense of belief in Jesus.

Overall, I would say the reason for these ten miracles in the Markan gospel was to build a faith in a people that were dealing with destruction of both their home and faith itself. Mark worked to show the readers or audience that with Jesus, a new kingdom came and it would be open and available to any who simply believed. Mark’s similarities between Jesus and Moses were also purposeful and changed in order to fit his narrative, but the core of the stories that resembled Moses were there nonetheless.