Mark 6:45-46

‘And immediately he constrained his disciples to board the boat and to go before him to the other side, towards Bethsaida, while he himself sends the crowds away. And after he had taken leave of them he departed to the mountain to pray.'

‘Immediately He constrained His disciples.' There was certainly pressure there and we may ask why. Possibly it was to prevent the disciples from saying anything further to the crowds about the miracle (they might well have thought it would produce what they thought was a good effect), or equally probably because He was also getting uneasy at the attitude among the crowds and was fearful that in their enthusiasm at being fed by Him they were about to press His Messianic status (see John 6:15 where this is made quite clear). And He did not want the disciples, who were still struggling to grasp the truth about Him, to become involved. He preferred to deal with the matter alone. (With their limited understanding the disciples might have become equally excited. They had been preaching that the Kingly Rule of God was coming, and they may have thought that here was its beginnings, but in totally the wrong way).

A further reason was that He wanted time alone to pray. So once He had seen the disciples off and had persuaded the crowds to return to their homes He went alone into a nearby mountain to pray. For Jesus praying see Mark 1:35 and Mark 14:32, each time during the night, but compare Matthew 14:23. See also Luke 6:12; Luke 9:18; Luke 11:1. Jesus went without sleep to pray at crucial times in His ministry, but also no doubt prayed regularly at other times. Pious Jews prayed at ‘the time of prayer' morning and evening. So in the midst of a despairing world He walked in total faith. These particular mentions of prayer come at the commencement of His ministry as He faces up to the huge burden involved in constant teaching, healing and exorcism (Mark 1:35), at the initiation of the new community following the Apostles' successful ministry (Mark 6:46) and as He faces His final agony prior to His death, three great stepping stones in His life.

‘Bethsaida' means the house of fishing, a very suitable name for a fishing town or village, and there may well have been two of them (otherwise why would John speak of a Bethsaida ‘of Galilee'? - Mark 12:21), one at the top of the lake to the East, Bethsaida Julias, and one lower down the lake on the west bank, Bethsaida-of-Galilee, a small fishing village. Or it may be that they both refer to the same town, and that having been with the crowds to the East of Bethsaida Julias He sent them away from the crowds ‘to the other side' across a portion of sea at the top of the lake, to the area West of Bethsaida Julias. The area would be known by the name of the town.