Mk 6:53-56
53After making the crossing, [Jesus and his disciples] came to land at Gennesaret and tied up there. 54As they were leaving the boat, people immediately recognized him. 55They scurried about the surrounding country and began to bring in the sick on mats to wherever they heard he was. 56Whatever villages or towns or countryside he entered, they laid the sick in the marketplaces and begged him that they might touch only the tassel on his cloak; and as many as touched it were healed.
SOUGHT-AFTER HEALER: While Jesus operates from his base in the town of Capernaum by the Sea of Tiberias, reports of his healing power have easily penetrated the neighboring towns and villages, including Gennesaret. When Jesus and his disciples disembark there, they are immediately recognized, and people from towns and villages they enter wait for them with their sick, determined to seize an unexpected opportunity for healing. The statement that as many as touch even just the tassel on his cloak are healed shows a mutual relationship between Jesus and the afflicted: what is involved here is not simply material contact with Jesus’ clothing, but the touch of faith. Jesus appears to the people as a miracle worker or divine man whose power is released through touch. This is not “perfect” faith in Jesus, but the people here are better than those in Nazareth whose “lack of faith” prevented Jesus from performing any mighty deed there, apart from curing a few sick people (Mk 6:5-6).
Mark does not mention in this episode Jesus’ preaching or teaching activity. People are in such a feverish mood of excitement, bordering on hysteria, that they are not prepared for Jesus’ ministry of the word. Jesus patiently bears with their limited insight and heals those who reach out for him.