Prelude to 5 loaves and 2 fish

If you were a story teller, how would you talk about the life of a supporting character (JB) within the context of the life of the title role (JC)?
I am not a screenwright, but I assume that for a reasonable plot, JB will appear on scene before JC. After introducing JC, JB will retire to the backstage. Perhaps JB will appear once or twice later but JB will never outshine JC.
By now, you probably will have guessed that JB means John the Baptist and JC Jesus Christ. Yes, this is basically how St. Mark handled the roles of JB and JC in his gospel.

Next, telling a story chronologically is a standard method. St. Mark did not deviate too much from it. However, as an author, St. Mark has the full control of the layout of his gospel. For example, he grouped 5 conflicts between Jesus and the Jewish authorities together in ascending order of severity in Mark 2-3. Here, we have no way to prove whether the conflicts really happened in such a sequence. Again, since 12, Jesus visited Jerusalem annually like any other adult Jews did. We have no reason to think that Jesus would deviate from such a custom. Yet, St. Mark compressed the annual visits to Jerusalem by Jesus into one at the end of his public ministry. Therefore, when we read the gospel, we should bear in mind that the Evangelist is not writing history as we understand it. He has something else to tell us.

Now, back to JB. In the gospel according to St. Mark, John the Baptist took up the role as a forerunner of Christ. He preached the message of repentance, baptized the people and announced the imminent coming of Christ. After baptizing Jesus, John the Baptist disappeared from the scene only to emerge later in Chapter 6 to be beheaded by Herod Antipas. Why did St. Mark put JB's martyrdom in Chapter 6? The story can stand alone and be inserted reasonably anywhere in the public ministry of Jesus. Well, St. Mark previously sandwiched the raising of Jairus' daughter with the healing of the bleeding woman in order to bring out the importance of faith. Here, the martyrdom of John the Baptist is sandwiched in the sending of the apostles to preach the gospel. I guess St. Mark wanted to say that we Christians should be prepared to embrace martyrdom in preaching the good news of reconciliation. But we will not be alone. We have John the Baptist, Jesus Christ, St. Stephen and a host of martyrs marching ahead of us. We will follow.

After preaching the good news for a while, the apostles returned to Jesus and told him all that they had done and taught (Mark 6:30). It was time to take a break and had a good rest with Jesus before the next mission. When we relax after hard work, remember to rest with Jesus. However, be prepared to forsake your rest because the task is overwhelming. A huge crowd was awaiting the company.
As he went ashore he saw a great throng, and he had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd; and he began to teach them many things (Mark 6:34).
Will you throw your hands at the air and stamp your feet on the ground? Well, that is life. However, the compassion of Jesus immediately drove him to teach the crowd, perhaps even to heal their diseases.
Do we have such a compassion for the needy? Do we turn our sight away from them because we are already exhausted and we cannot spare a moment? Don't forget, a miracle is awaiting to happen when we step out of our comfort zone.

Dear Lord, may our compassion for the needy grow day by day. May You be glorified in our charity. Amen.