Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Mark 1:35

And in the morning, rising up a great while before day, he went out, and departed into a solitary place, and there prayed.

35 39. Solitary Prayer. Tour in Galilee

35. in the morning , a great while before day ] Another graphic touch of the Evangelist. He brings the scene before our eyes. The previous day had been a long day of conflict with and victory over the kingdom of sin and death. He now retires to refresh Himself in the heaven of prayer, in communion with His Father. He prepares Himself in the desert for a second great mission of Love, this time accompanied by His first four disciples.

a solitary place ] “A remarkable feature of the Lake of Gennesaret was that it was closely surrounded with desert solitudes. These ‘desert places’ thus close at hand on the table-lands or in the ravines of the eastern and western ranges, gave opportunities of retirement for rest or prayer. ‘Rising up early in the morning while it was yet dark’ or ‘passing over to the other side in a boat,’ He sought these solitudes, sometimes alone, sometimes with His disciples. The Lake in this double aspect is thus a reflex of that union of energy and rest, of active labour and deep devotion, which is the essence of Christianity, as it was of the Life of Him, in whom that union was first taught and shewn.” Stanley’s Sinai and Palestine, pp. 378, 379.

Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

And in the morning, rising up a great while before day – Luke says Luk 4:42, when it was day. The passage in Mark means, in the original, not literally a great while before day, but very early, or while there was yet much appearance of night. The place in Luke means at daybreak, at the beginning of day. Then, also, there is much appearance of night; and Luke and Mark therefore refer to the same time before it was fully light, or just at daybreak.

And departed into a solitary place, and there prayed – Observe here:

1.That the Saviour, though perfectly holy, regarded the duty of secret prayer as of great importance.

2.That he, sought a solitary place for it – far away from the world and even from his disciples.

3.That it was early in the morning – always the best time, and a time when it should not be omitted.

4.If Jesus prayed, how much more important is it for us!

If Jesus did it in the morning, how much more important is it for us, before the world gets possession of our thoughts; before Satan fills us with unholy feelings; when we rise fresh from beds of repose, and while the world around us is still! David also thus prayed, Psa 5:3; Psa 119:147. He that wishes to enjoy religion will seek a place of secret prayer in the morning. If that is omitted, all will go wrong, our piety will wither. The world will fill our thoughts. Temptations will be strong. Through the day, we shall find it impossible to raise our feelings to a state of proper devotion. It will be found to be true universally, that the religious enjoyment through the day will be according to the state of the heart in the morning, and can therefore be measured by our faithfulness in early secret prayer. How different, too, was the conduct of the Saviour from those who spend the precious hours of the morning in sleep! He knew the value of the morning hours; he rose while the world was still; he saw the light as it spread abroad in the east with fresh tokens of his Fathers presence, and joined with the universal creation in offering praise to the everywhere present God.

Mar 1:36

And Simon – Simon Peter.

They that were with him – The other apostles.

Mar 1:37

All men seek for thee – That is, many men, or multitudes. The inquiry after him was general. They told him this, evidently, with a view to induce him to leave his place of retirement, and to prevail upon him to appear publicly to instruct the multitudes.

Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible

Mar 1:35

And in the morning, rising up a great while before day.

If we would pray well, we must pray early

Christians have often to choose between the indulgence of a little more sleep and the time of prayer cut short, and scant and hurried devotion, or between a little self-denial in sleep and the freshest and best hours of the day given to God, and God blessing the self-denial by answering the prayer. (M. F. Sadler.)

Convenience made for private prayer

Christ had no conveniences for securing quiet, but He made them. The hilltop was His chamber, and darkness His bolted door. He had no time for prayer, but He made time, rising a great while before day. Say not you have no time or secret place for prayer. Where there is a will there is a way to get both these things. (R. Glover.)

Jesus in secret prayer

I. The bearing of this fact on Himself.

1. It proves the reality of His human nature.

2. It proves that as man He was subject to the same limitations and moral conditions as we are.

3. It proves that even sinless beings, when tried, need Divine help.

II. The bearing of this fact on us.

1. If Jesus prayed, it is neither unscientific nor unbecoming in us to pray.

2. If Jesus prayed, no disciple can become so strong or holy as to be beyond the need of praying.

3. Prayer has positive power with God, and is more than a subjective influence.

4. If Jesus prayed, all ought and need to pray.

5. Having the name of Jesus to plead, everyone may be assured of being heard and answered. (D. C. Hughes, M. A.)

Christ praying

What an example of swift, unselfish activity. The Saviour cannot forego prayer, it is too important and necessary; but He will not let it interfere with His activity in behalf of others. Keep this in mind when tempted to neglect prayer because time so much taken up with work.

I. Only by combining prayer and work will work be prevented from injuring us.

1. Even spiritual work may not always be beneficial; for it may draw us away from the cultivation of our own personal religious life; or foster within us the spirit of self-elation; or beget within us a feeling of despondency.

2. Secular work, it is easy to see, is likely to affect us injuriously. The wear and tear of the spirit, in the midst of the rush and roar of the worlds business for six days in the week, will seriously unfit a man for spiritual exercises on the seventh. Transition from one order of occupation to the other will require an effort he will be too languid to put forth. No remedy but frequent intercourse with God in the midst of toil.

II. Only thus will work bring true blessing. Prayer brings the Divine blessing down. Even Christ sought it thus. Do all work for God, and seek to have God with you in it all.

III. Only thus will work become a delight to us. This is an important consideration, since with most of us life is filled with work. Would we not have it a refreshment rather than a burden? The most cheerful, patient and heroic toilers are those who are most constant in prayer. Only so can we do our work as it ought to be done, and get from it all the good it is intended to yield. (B. Wilkinson.)

True prayer difficult

Christ was careful to use the best outward helps and furtherances to prayer, such as the opportunity of the morning and the privacy of the place. Whence we may gather, that to pray aright is a difficult work, and not easy to perform. If it were an easy matter, what need for such helps? Christ, indeed, had no need of such helps for Himself: set He used them for our instruction, to show us what need we have of them, and how hard a thing it is to pray well.

1. We have no ability of ourselves by nature to perform this duty (Rom 8:26).

2. There are many things to hinder us in the duty; especially Satan labouring continually to stir up hindrances and disturbances; also our own corrupt hearts, which are apt to be taken up at times of prayer with swarms of idle and wandering thoughts.

3. It is a duty of great excellence and profit, much and often commended in Scripture: no wonder, therefore, if it be difficult, for so are all excellent and precious duties.

4. Prayer is a holy conference with God; and it is hard to speak to God as we ought. Learn from all this the ignorance of those who think it so easy a matter to pray. Because they think it easy they go about it without preparation, without watchfulness over their hearts, and without using any helps to further them in the duty; and the consequence is that they pray in a very slight, perfunctory manner. If they repeat the bare words of the Lords Prayer, or some other prayer (though without all understanding and feeling), they think this is enough. Indeed, this is an easy kind of praying, or rather saying of a prayer; for it is not rightly called praying, when only the words of a prayer are rehearsed. Such as know what it is to pray aright acknowledge it to be a difficult work. Let us be more diligent and frequent in the exercise of it, that it may become more easy to us. (G. Petter.)

Early morning communion with God

Colonel Gardiner used constantly to rise at four in the morning, and to spend his time till six in the secret exercises of the closet, reading, meditation, and prayer; in which last he acquired such a fervency of spirit as, says his biographer, I believe few men living ever attained. This certainly very much contributed to strengthen that firm faith in God, and reverent, animating sense of His presence, for which He was so eminently remarkable, and which carried him through the trials and services of life with such steadiness and with such activity; for he indeed endured and acted as if always seeing Him who is invisible. If at any time he was obliged to go out before six in the morning, he rose proportionally sooner; so that, when a journey or a march has required him to be on horseback by four, he would be at his devotions by two.

The prayers of Christ

Eighteen times our Lords own prayers are alluded to or quoted; but those passages give us only four aspects of His prayers.

I. His habit of prayer. In five passages (Mar 1:35; Luk 6:12; Luk 5:16; Mat 14:23; Mar 6:46) we have our Lord withdrawing for prolonged private prayer; at a time when involved in the whirl of public work; before appointing His apostles and establishing His kingdom. In a sixth passage (Luk 11:1) this habit so impressed the disciples that they asked Him to teach them how to pray.

II. His thankfulness in prayer. In five more passages, three (Mat 11:25; Joh 11:41; Luk 10:21) quote an ejaculation of gratitude. The others (Luk 3:21; Luk 9:28) are on the occasions of His baptism and transfiguration; the one initiating Him into His mission of teaching, the other into His mission of suffering.

III. His intercession in prayer.

1. For His friends (Luk 22:32).

2. For His enemies (Luk 23:34).

3. For Himself and His disciples as one with Him (Joh 17:1-26)

IV. His obedience in prayer (Mat 26:39; Mar 15:34; Luk 22:42; Joh 12:27). We may draw from these prayers-

1. An argument in favour of our Lords divinity. There is no confession of sin. He prays for, never with, His disciples.

2. We may see an example for ourselves in

(1) His belief in the habit of prayer;

(2) the reverent limit He assigned to prayer-Not My will, etc.;

(3) His practice of private super-added to public prayer;

(4) His joyful continuance in prayer. (Prof. A. S. Farrar.)

Prayer

I. Lonely.

II. Preparatory.

III. Self-denying.

IV. Leisurely.

V. Lingering.

VI. Blissful. (W. H. Jellie.)

Secret prayer

I. That the Saviour, though perfectly holy, regarded the duty of secret prayer as of great importance.

II. That He sought a solitary place for it-far away from the world, and even His disciples.

III. That it was early in the morning-the first thing after rising-always the best time, and a time when it should not be omitted.

IV. If Jesus prayed, how much more important is it for us. If He did it in the morning, how much more important is it for us, before the world gets possession of our thoughts; before Satan fills us with unholy feelings; when we rise fresh from beds of repose, and while the world around us is still! David thus prayed (Psa 5:3). He that wishes to enjoy religion will seek a place of secret prayer in the morning. If that is omitted all will go wrong-our piety will wither, the world will fill our thoughts, temptations will be strong, and through the day we shall find it impossible to raise our feelings to a state of proper devotion. The religious enjoyment through the day will be according to the state of the heart in the morning; and can, therefore, be measured by our faithfulness in early, secret prayer. How different the conduct of the Saviour from those who spend the precious hours of the morning in sleep! He knew the value of the morning hours, etc. (A. Barnes, D. D.)

The devotions of Christ

I. The fact of His praying. It is a wonderful fact that one like Him should pray at all. But it may be explained.

1. He prayed as a Man.

2. He prayed as Mediator.

3. He prayed as an Example.

II. The circumstances of His praying.

1. Early. His morning smiles bless all the day.

2. Frequent.

3. Long. Much of the heart may be thrown into a short prayer. (Various.)

The prayers of Jesus

I. The mystery of the prayers of Jesus. If Jesus is God, how could He pray to God? How were there any needs in His nature on behalf of which He could pray? A partial answer is found in the truth that all prayers do not spring from a sense of need. The highest form of prayer is conversation with God-the familiar talk of a child with his Father. Augustines Confessions is an example of this. But the only adequate explanation is Christs humanity; He was wholly man. Human nature in Him was a tender thing, and had to fail back on the strength of prayer.

II. His habits of prayer. He went into the solitudes of nature. There is a solitude of time as well as of space. It might be an enriching discovery to find out the solitudes in our neighbourhood: silent, soothing influence of nature. Christ prayed in company as well as in secret.

III. The occasions on which He prayed.

1. He prayed before taking an important step in life, as when He chose which men to be with Him.

2. He prayed when His life was specially busy; when He could not find time to eat He found time to pray. We make that an excuse for not praying. Christ made it a reason for praying.

3. He prayed before entering temptation.

4. He died praying.

IV. The answer to His prayers.

1. The Transfiguration was an answer to prayer-As He prayed, etc.

2. His baptism was an answer to prayer. Are you a man of prayer? (J. Stalker, M. A.)

Jesus rising early for secret prayer

I. How diligent the Saviour was in the improvement of His time.

II. That no crowd of company or calls of business could divert Jesus from His daily, stated devotions.

III. What care our Lord took to find a place of solitude for His prayers, that He might neither meet with disturbance, nor seem ostentatious.

1. One reason why we should retire to a secret place for solitary prayer is, that we may avoid the appearance of ostentation.

2. That we may be undisturbed.

3. That our minds may enjoy greater freedom in communion with God. (J. Lathrop, D. D.)

Jesus in prayer

I. As simple intercourse with God.

II. View it in relation to His work. So do we need constant prayer in the midst of our work.

1. For calm and holy review.

2. For direction-asking wisdom of God, just as a mariner consults his compass.

3. For qualifications-mental, moral, and even physical.

4. For success. God giveth the increase.

5. For freedom from perverting influences. Our motives are apt to get entangled and our aims confused. In prosperity we are in danger of waxing egotistic, vain, and proud. See it in many a successful business man, and in many a popular minister. In adversity we are tempted to despond. (The Congregational Pulpit.)

Secret devotion

I. To explain as exercise of secret devotion. It is little we know of the private life of Christ. In silence there is much instruction. He was often in private retirement (Luk 6:12; Luk 21:37; Luk 22:39; Joh 6:15).

1. The occasion on which our Lord betakes Himself to this exercise of secret devotion. You observe the connection-after a day of laborious occupation in the public exercises of religion, He sought an opportunity for secret devotion: the one no excuse for the neglect of the other. In the public exercises of religion we most need the private exercises of devotion. There are reasons for this. It is in private that the impressions of the public ordinances must be maintained on the mind. It prevents relapse. Besides, this is a time of peculiar temptation. If a Christian in his public exercises had attained to high enjoyment, every stratagem will be used by Satan to rob him of his treasure. Besides, it is necessary to follow our public services with secret exercises, that we may bring the former to the test. In public we are apt to be excited, but feelings that are excited may be deceitful; and every wise man will test these feelings in the presence of God alone.

2. The next circumstance in this exercise that attracts our attention is the time that our Lord was pleased to choose for it-In the morning. His self-denial. The morning is favourable to devotion, our minds are not yet disturbed by the cares of the day. What anxiety to give God the best of His services.

3. The place He sought for it. The works of the Divine hand are aids to devotion.

4. The exercise itself-He prayed. Christ as man needed to pray. We can conceive of Adam in innocence praying; but our Lord needed prayer, as being the subject of sinless infirmity; but above all as Mediator. Suggest a few aids to secret devotion-

(1) Self-examination;

(2) meditation;

(3) a determination of future obedience.

Christ came out of His solitude with purposes to do the will of His heavenly Father.

II. I am to enforce the duty of secret devotion by a consideration of its benefits.

1. It has a tendency to produce godliness. Because it brings us into contact with God. It produces simplicity, and godly sincerity, and gentleness.

2. Secret devotion is most favourable to the comfort of the mind. Devotion soothes the mind; it elevates the mind. It imparts joy in religion.

3. Secret devotion is most favourable to usefulness. The secret of usefulness among men is a spirit of piety toward God. (J. Morgan.)

Secret prayer aids social usefulness

In the very manner in which he speaks to everyone he meets, in the very way he discharges every duty to which he is called, his spirit is as it ought to be, and therefore the man is walking up and down in society, scattering blessings on the right hand and on the left. On the other hand, suppose him to have neglected the exercises of secret devotion, he comes out into society with a ruffled temper, with a dissatisfied spirit, finding fault with everybody, with everything, dissatisfied with all, because dissatisfied with himself, neglecting opportunities, doing nothing as it ought to be done, losing the opportunity that God in His providence gives him. Again, look at the spirit in which such a man conducts himself towards others. The spirit of the man of God is a spirit of humility Think of the language of the 126th Psalm, He that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing precious seed, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing bringing his sheaves with him-the man that goes forth in genuine humility and true modesty, and attempts his work, not in the spirit of intrusion or interference, but simply in the strength of God, is the man who in the end will be successful. It is not only the spirit which he cherishes towards man, but that which he cherishes towards God, that insures success. Towards man, his spirit is modest and humble, towards God it is the spirit of dependence. And then you observe in him great steadfastness. He has been with God in the morning in the exercise of secret devotion, and therefore though he may meet with difficulty during the day, he is not to be stumbled by it; it may retard him, it may distress him, but he knows too well what he was to expect, to be overcome; he acts on that principle assured of its justice, therefore be ye steadfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as you know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord. (J. Morgan.)

Early risers

Dr. Doddridge tells us that to his habit of early rising the world is indebted for nearly the whole of his valuable works. The well-known Bishop Burnett was an habitual early riser, for when at college his father aroused him to his studies every morning at four oclock; and he continued the practice during the remainder of his life. Sir Thomas More also made it his invariable practice to rise always at four, and if we turn our attention to royalty, we have, among others, the example of Peter the Great, who, whether at work in the docks at London as a ship carpenter, or at the anvil as a blacksmith, or on the throne of Russia, always rose before daylight.

Finding a place to pray

Dr. Milne, afterwards the famous missionary in China, when a youth, after leaving home, was situated in an ungodly family. So he used to retire to a sheepcote, where the sheep were kept in winter, and there, surrounded by the sheep, he knelt on a piece of turf which he kept and carried with him for the purpose, spending many an hour there, even in the cold of winter, in sweet communion with his God. (Anon.)

Rising early

It is a little difficult, especially when the mornings are dark and cold, to get up sufficiently early to have profitable communion with God. Ask God for getting up grace. A friend told us a few days since that she traced much failure in her religious life to late rising, but God had given her victory over the old habit of lying in bed until the last minute. If Jesus Christ found it necessary to rise a great while before day, and depart into a solitary place to pray, we have need to be with God before the work of the day begins. Ward Beecher says: Let the day have a blessed baptism by giving your first waking thoughts to God. The first hour of the morning is the rudder of the day.

Private devotion

I. That private prayer should be enjoyed in the early morning.

1. Because it insures time for the performance of prayer.

2. Because it is the time when the soul is most free from care and anxiety.

3. Because the world is silent-favourable to the voice of prayer.

4. Because it is favourable to unostentation.

5. Because it is a good husbanding of time.

II. That private prayer should be performed by the busiest life.

1. The neglect of private devotion by a busy life is injudicious.

2. The neglect of private devotion by a busy life is inexcusable.

III. Private prayer should not be interrupted by popularity.

IV. Private prayer will aid and inspire in the continued ministry of life. And He said unto them, Let us go unto the next towns, that I may preach there also (Mar 1:38).

1. Thus private prayer stimulates to continued activity in life.

2. Private prayer enables a man to awaken the moral activity of others.

V. Private prayer leads to a high appreciation of the true mission of life. Lessons:

1. That early morning is a good time for prayer.

2. That solitude is favourable to devotion.

3. That the best men need private prayer.

4. That the most busy men have no excuse for the neglect of private devotion.

5. That secret prayer is the strength of all moral life and activity. (J. S. Exell, M. A.)

Early morning prayer

The most orient pearls are generated of the morning dew. Abraham and Job both rose early to offer sacrifice. The Persian magi sang hymns to their gods at break of day, and worshipped the rising sun. (Trapp.)

The early mornings a friend to the graces

It has been said, The morning is a friend to the muses, and it is no less so to the graces. (M. Henry.)

Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell

Verse 35. In the morning a great while before day] By , the morning, is to be understood the whole space of three hours, which finished the fourth watch of the night.

And there prayed.] Not that he needed any thing, for in him dwelt all the fulness of the Godhead bodily; but that he might be a pattern to us. Every thing that our blessed Lord did he performed either as our pattern, or as our sacrifice.

Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible

Secret prayer stands commended to us, as by the precept of Christ, Mat 6:6, so by his frequent example, to teach us that our duty in prayer is not discharged without it: we are to pray with all prayer and supplication. There is in public and private prayer a more united strength and interest, but in secret prayer an advantage for more free and full communication of our souls unto God. Christ for this chooseth the morning, as the time freest from distractions and company; and a solitary place, as fittest for a secret duty.

Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole

35. And in the morningthatis, of the day after this remarkable sabbath; or, on the first dayof the week. His choosing this day to inaugurate a new andglorious stage of His public work, should be noted by the reader.

rising up a great whilebefore day“while it was yet night,” or long beforedaybreak.

he went outallunperceived from Peter’s house, where He slept.

and departed into a solitaryplace, and there prayedor, “continued in prayer.” Hewas about to begin His first preaching and healing circuit; and as onsimilar solemn occasions (Luk 5:16;Luk 6:12; Luk 9:18;Luk 9:28; Luk 9:29;Mar 6:46), He spent some time inspecial prayer, doubtless with a view to it. What would one not giveto have been, during the stillness of those grey morning hours,within hearingnot of His “strong crying and tears,” forHe had scarce arrived at the stage for thatbut of His calm,exalted anticipations of the work which lay immediately before Him,and the outpourings of His soul about it into the bosom of Him thatsent Him! He had doubtless enjoyed some uninterrupted hours of suchcommunings with His heavenly Father ere His friends from Capernaumarrived in search of Him. As for them, they doubtless expected, aftersuch a day of miracles, that the next day would witness similarmanifestations. When morning came, Peter, loath to break in upon therepose of his glorious Guest, would await His appearance beyond theusual hour; but at length, wondering at the stillness, and gentlycoming to see where the Lord lay, he finds itlike the sepulchreafterwardsempty! Speedily a party is made up to go in search ofHim, Peter naturally leading the way.

Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

And in the morning, rising up a great white before day,…. On the morrow after the sabbath, on the first day in the morning, notwithstanding the fatigue of the former day, through preaching and working miracles; yet he rose up very early while it was very much within the night, as the light and day were coming on, and before the day broke; though it might be broad day before he departed out of the house, as Luke suggests, Lu 4:42,

he went out; out of the house of Simon and Andrew, and out of the city of Capernaum, leaving his disciples and friends behind him:

and departed into a solitary place, and there he prayed; as man, to his God and Father; it may be for his disciples he had lately chosen; for himself, as man, that he might be strengthened as such for service; and for success in his ministry, and that his Gospel might run and be glorified; he chose a desert, and solitary place, for the sake of retirement, from the crowd of people that attended at Peter’s door; where he could not be alone, and in private, and as most suitable for the exercise of prayer. His early and private devotion may be an example to us.

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

In the morning, a great while before day ( ). Luke has only “when it was day” ( ). The word in Mark means the last watch of the night from three to six A.M. means in the early part of the watch while it was still a bit dark (cf. Mr 16:2 ).

Rose up and went out ( ). Out of the house and out of the city, off (, even if not genuine, possibly a conflate reading from Mark 6:32; Mark 6:46). “Flight from the unexpected reality into which His ideal conception of His calling had brought Him” (H.J. Holtzmann). Gould notes that Jesus seems to retreat before his sudden popularity, to prayer with the Father “that he might not be ensnared by this popularity, or in any way induced to accept the ways of ease instead of duty.” But Jesus also had a plan for a preaching tour of Galilee and “He felt He could not begin too soon. He left in the night, fearing opposition from the people” (Bruce). Surely many a popular preacher can understand this mood of Jesus when in the night he slips away to a solitary place for prayer. Jesus knew what it was to spend a whole night in prayer. He knew the blessing of prayer and the power of prayer.

And there prayed (‘ ). Imperfect tense picturing Jesus as praying through the early morning hours.

Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament

A great while before day ()

Lit., while it was in the night. The word is peculiar to Mark.

Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament

FIRST PREACHING TOUR IN GALILEE PRECEDED BY PRAYER, V. 35-39

1) “And in the morning, rising up a great while before day,” (kai proi ennucha lian anastas) “And rising up very early, in the night,” while it was yet night, before the dawn, Luk 4:42-44; Luk 5:16. He went away in the night to avoid the clamor of the multitudes.

2) “He went out, and departed into a solitary place,” (ekselthen kai apelthen eis eremon topon) “He went out, by His own choice, and went away to a desert (uninhabited) place,” a place of quietness or solitude, except the Father was with Him, Joh 8:16; Joh 16:32.

3) “And there prayed.” (kakei proseucheto) “And out there He prayed,” and through His prayers made the solitary place His temporary temple, Mat 14:23; Luk 6:12; Luk 9:28; Joh 11:41.

Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary

CRITICAL AND EXEGETICAL NOTES

Mar. 1:35. A great while before day.How Mark loves to emphasise the ceaseless activity and devotion of our Blessed Lord!

MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.Mar. 1:35-39

(PARALLELS: Mat. 8:16-17; Mat. 4:23-25; Luk. 4:40-44.)

The mutual relations of prayer and work.Hitherto St. Mark has depicted in glowing colours the untiring activity of Him who went about doing good among men, instructing their ignorance, removing their woes, and infusing new hope into their burdened hearts. Now he fills up the picture with a view of Jesus in solitary communion with His Father, lifting up His eyes unto the heavenly hills from whence came His daily inspiration and motive-power.

I. Christs prayers in general.Eighteen times our Lords own prayers are spoken of in the Gospels, bringing out the following facts respecting them.

1. His habit of prayer (Mat. 14:23; Mar. 1:35; Mar. 6:46; Luk. 3:21; Luk. 5:16; Luk. 6:12; Luk. 9:28; Luk. 11:1).

2. His blending of thanksgiving with prayer (Mat. 11:25; Luk. 10:21; Joh. 11:41).

3. His use of intercession in prayer.

(1) For friends (Luk. 22:32).

(2) For enemies (Luk. 23:34).

(3) For Himself and His disciples as one with Him (John 17).

(4) His complete submission to the Fathers will (Mat. 26:39; Mar. 15:34; Luk. 22:42; Joh. 12:27).

II. Christs prayer on this occasion.

1. The time selectedthe morning, a great while before day. No time could be more favourable for private communion with Godthe body refreshed by its recent repose, the mind in its vigour, the passions at rest, the whole surroundings so calm and tranquil. The saints in every age have loved to give their freshest thoughts to God, and to seek His aid before the duties of the day begin.
2. The scenea solitary place. Besides taking delight in the common prayers of the Church, and lifting up the heart secretly even in the most public thoroughfares, the man of God has his private oratory, into which he enters and shuts the door, and pours forth his soul in the presence of his Heavenly Father, laying bare his most secret feelings, confessing his inmost faults, making known his every trouble and desire.
3. Our Lord sets us here a notable example of prayer in spite of hindrances. After so laborious a day as that just closed, and with the prospect of another equally trying, the Saviour must have sorely needed rest. But aching limbs and weary mind are to Him as nothing in comparison with the longing of His pure and holy spirit for the refreshing streams of heavenly grace. And so, giving but few hours to sleep, He rises long before daybreak to pray.

III. Prayer and work.With Christ these two things were always closely associated. Prayer was to Him the sequel of one days work, and the prelude of another. He will not on any account forego His daily devotions; but, on the other hand, He will not let them interfere with His work for God. There are some who think they may be excused from prayer because they are so busy; and others who think that God will be pleased with prayer in lieu of work, as the sole business of their lives; but the example of Christ rebukes all such trifling. It is only in combination that either prayer or work will gain the Divine approval, and draw down a blessing on ourselves and others. It is related of Colonel Gardiner that he used constantly to rise at four in the morning, and spend his time till six in private meditation and prayer, in which he acquired such fervency of spirit as, says his biographer, I believe few men living ever attained. This certainly very much contributed to strengthen that firm faith in God, and reverent, animating sense of His presence, for which he was so eminently remarkable, and which carried him through the trials and services of life with such readiness and with such activity; for he indeed endured and acted as if always seeing Him who is invisible. If at any time he was obliged to go out before six in the morning, he rose proportionally sooner; so that, when a journey or a march has required him to be on horseback by four, he would be at his devotions by two. There is a sentimentalism abroad which says, Work is prayer. So it is. And yet if we work without secret and constant prayer our work will be powerless. Work is only prayer in so far as it is done in a prayerful spirit. There must be distinct work and distinct prayer. We must pray in order to work, and work because we pray.

Mar. 1:36-38. Jesus in request.

I. Though Jesus had withdrawn, the interest and excitement created by His miracles continued in Capernaum (Mar. 1:37).

1. His miracles had taken the form of temporal benefits. They might look for more of these.
2. His miracles might prompt them to take Him by force, and make Him a king.
3. Erroneous notions of Christ still lead many to follow Him.
(1) Some, like the Jews, seek temporal advantages.
(2) Some come for the pardon of retained sins.
(3) Some come to purchase salvation by the performance of ceremonies.
(4) Some come to accompany others.

II. Such interest seems to have gratified the apostles (Mar. 1:36).

1. They loved their Master, and rejoiced in His praise.
2. They shared in the reputation of their Master.
3. They went to Christ, thinking to gratify Him.
4. They went to Christ, perhaps supposing that He would take advantage of His popularity to set up His kingdom.
5. They seem to have gone to induce Him to return to Capernaum.
6. Gratification with the worlds favour indicates a low standard in a believer or a Church.

III. Christ refused to return to Capernaum, on the ground that He had to preach elsewhere (Mar. 1:38).

1. In so far as the people of Capernaum were concerned;
(1) He had preached to them the gospel.
(2) He had confirmed His doctrine by miracles.
(3) He would not gratify a vain curiosity.
(4) He would not work miracles merely to confer a temporal good.
(5) Let us examine our motives for asking Christs presence.
2. He had to preach the gospel to others.
(1) He was the King of the Jews, not the ruler of a city.
(2) He was the Shepherd and Bishop of souls, not the pastor of a congregation.
(3) The Jews were to be dealt with nationally in judgment, and therefore nationally in mercy.
(4) Let Christ still preach everywhere.
(5) Let us not limit Christs presence.Jas. Stewart.

OUTLINES AND COMMENTS ON THE VERSES

Mar. 1:35. Christs habit of prayer.Some have stumbled at the Saviours habit of prayer, as though it derogated from His Divine character that He should make petitions to God: they have explained it by saying that He prayed not from want, but for examples sake. But away with such explanations: let us embrace the mystery; let us not care to explain it; and let us say, as we may say without passing the bounds of truth and without detracting an iota from our Saviours glory, that being perfect man He did that which perfect man ever ought to donamely, find His chief joy and His chief source of support in communion with His Father in heaven.Bishop H. Goodwin.

Prayer before work.Our Lord in all His great works commenced with prayer. The same religious habit was common with the heathen. In all undertakings of moment they began with consulting or propitiating the gods: not only if they were about to engage in any expedition, or to encounter an enemy, or to form a treaty; but scarcely is there to be found a poem of any length in which the aid or inspiration of some reputed divinity is not invoked. It was reserved for the Christianthe disciple of Jesus, the decrier and improver of Gentile fashionsto discard prayer from his breast and home. It is the Christian by name that enters on matters of the first importance to his country, his neighbour, or himself, that ventures upon the thousand perils and hazards which threaten his health, fortune, and comfort by day, and the secret evils which walk by night, and all without prayer; often, without a single aspiration to Him whose providence noteth even a sparrows fall, and in whose hands are the issues of our weal and woe. What wonder if God forsake those who never acknowledge their dependence on Him, but on the contrary habitually demean themselves as if they were the sole or chief contrivers and builders of their fortunes!A. Williams, M. A.

Mar. 1:37. All men seek for Christ.All ages and all lives have sought for Christ. The prophecy that bespeaks Him is no mere feature of the Jewish Scriptures. It is part of the equipment of the human heart. Messianic prophecy is the deepest department of psychology. The search for Christ is the profoundest fact of human life. Every life that has any moral value seeks for something by the aid of which it can rise above itself, of something which shall redeem it from its littleness, heal its sicknesses, answer its prophecies, and take its unrest away. In every human heart there is beneath all the carelessness and indifference the Christ-wanta want which men seek to satisfy in a thousand ways, or to forget in the whirl of life and the dissipation of trifles. Deep down in our mystic lifeno matter how careless, or shallow, or slight we bethere is an unfulfilled prophecy for Jesus Christ. No man is so shallow, superficial, or bad as never to have felt in his heart of hearts, in those solemn hours that come to every man, the impulse of this prophecy. What else is the meaning of the hero-worship of bygone days but the declaration that man seeks a strength without, that each life is not self-sufficient, that it seeks for something perfectly holy, yet perfectly human, to which it can give itself up? The shrines of heroes and martyrs at which men and women have prayedwhat are these but witnesses to the fact that human nature seeks its Christ, seeks by its worship of goodness or power to get back the goodness or the power it lacks? The whole travail of human life is its search for Christ; the pathos of life is the pursuit of the false Christs; the equation of life is solved, the prophecies of life fulfilled, when the soul finds its Christwhen the soul of man returns to its rest in God.

The true disciple always knows where to find the Master.The disciples knew the habits of their Lord: they knew that in some hidden place He could be found in the early hours of the day; at all events, they knew that Jesus Christ would be found in the path of usefulness or preparation for usefulness. Do men know where they can find us? Are our Christian habits so distinct and unchangeable that our friends can with certainty explain our position?J. Parker, D. D.

Mar. 1:38. Christs eagerness to reach as many souls as possible.He will not wait for people to come to Him, but hastens to carry the gospel to them. Thus He teaches us to make the most of our lives and opportunities, to scatter the seed of grace as widely as we can, to press forward with the tidings of Gods love with unflagging zeal.

The preaching of the kingdom of God was Christs vocation.

1. Concerning Himself, as He who was come to save men.
2. Concerning the true righteousness which avails before God.
3. Concerning the worship of God in spirit and truth. Within these limits it was His vocation to spread that kingdom as far as He could.F. Schleiermacher.

Therefore came I forth.Christ does not mean that for this end He had come into the world, but that for this end He had come during the night from His house to the spot where He had been composed and tranquillised; and not that such was the intention with which He had come hither, but that such was the Divine purpose in His comingthat He had been brought hither to be composed and tranquillised, not for Himself, not for His personal benediction, but to be prepared and equipped for further ministry; that He had found comfort in the solitude, only to enable Him to be a Comforter. This is the true Christ-spirit, the feeling that nothing is given to us for ourselves, but for our helpful effluence thereof; that the raison dtre for all we have and are is service, sacrifice.S. A. Tipple.

ILLUSTRATIONS TO CHAPTER 1

Mar. 1:35. The early morning.If you would see a likeness of heaven on earth, you must look for it in the early morning. The day then seems new-born; there are all sorts of beauteous sights and sounds; the air is balmy, the dew glistening on the open flowers like diamonds. Birds are singing their matin praises; cattle lowing, etc. Men, too, are scarce astir, and no evil passions exciting your peaceful contemplations. It is, indeed, a time for communing with God. The spiritual analogy or correspondence of the morning is also striking. It denotes a new state in the regenerate life, and this is a direct gift from the Lord, who is called in Gods Word the Morning Star, and a morning without clouds. All great workers have been early risers. Dr. Doddridge ascribed the preparation of most of his works to the circumstance of his rising at five oclock every morning, saying that this course pursued for forty years would add ten years to mans life. Dr. Homer observes that there is a certain loveliness and a salutary or even curative influence in the morning atmosphere beyond that of any other portion of the day. Those who habitually lie late in bed are generally the drones and dawdlers of society. This kind of self-indulgence is enervating to both body and mind, and we ought to watch and pray against it, as against a deadly sin.O. P. Hiller.

Morning praises.When St. Francis of Assisi used to hear the birds sing in the morning, he would say to his brethren, Our little winged brothers are already praising their Creator, and are singing Him a song of gratitude for the new day that is shining above them. Shall we allow ourselves to be put to shame by the birds?

Morning is the golden hour for prayer and praise.The mind is fresh; the mercies of the night and the new resurrection of the dawn both prompt a devout soul to thankfulness. The buoyant heart takes its earliest flight, like the lark, toward the gates of heaven. One of the finest touches in Bunyans immortal allegory is his description of Christian in the chamber of Peace, who awoke and sang, while his window looked out to the sun rising. If even the stony statue of heathen Memnon made music when the first rays of the dawn kindled on its flinty brow, surely no Christian heart should be dumb when God causes the outgoings of the morning to rejoice.

Prayer should be the key of the day and the lock of the night.At night it is our covering; in the morning it is our armour: so at all times it defends us from the malice of Satan, our own subordinations and betrayings, the unequal weather the world assaults us with, and preserves us in the favour and esteem of Heaven (Psa. 132:1-5; Psa. 119:148; Psa. 143:8-12; 1Sa. 13:12).O. Feltham.

Retirement with God is the only preparation for success, and the only medicine for failure. The secret of all strong souls lies in those times of loneliness when they were bound hand and foot as captives to the Everlasting Will. We deride such nowadays; call them mystic, contemplationist, fanatic. But if it were anything but religion, people would not laugh. Tell them of Demosthenes living in a cellar, with head half shaved to prevent his appearing in public, and there will be admiration: was it any wonder that he became an orator? But let a man be as bent on becoming a saint, let him give up one hours frivolous talk in order to commune with his Father in secret, then we suspect that such an one is becoming righteous overmuch. Mind, no one complains of a man being anxious to be wise overmuch, rich overmuch, healthy overmuch; he may burn the midnight oil and study, watch the markets and scheme, frequent the gymnasium and develop his muscle, and no one will find fault; but to spend time on what is at least as important as wisdom, wealth, and health, and in a sense involves them allthis is fanatical, and not to be encouraged or approved. We miss much through our want of separation from the world, and through our deficiency in insulation, or, which is the same word, in isolation. If we go into a science laboratory and examine the great brass machines for holding electrical charges, we find that they are all mounted on glass feet. These are the insulators; and if it were not for them, no electricity would remain on the surface; as it is, electricity is hard enough to keep in charge, even with the best insulators. And we know sometimes what it is to have life and power pass into us from above, but we do not know how to retain it, because we have never learnt true retirement of heart and insulation of life. Some one spoke to John Nelson, making unfavourable comparison of John Wesley with a prominent religious teacher of the day; and Nelson replied, He has not stayed in the upper room like John Wesley.J. Rendel Harris.

Mar. 1:38. Opportunities.Cromwell said that it was his aim not only to strike while the iron was hot, but to make the iron hot by striking! Some men wait for opportunities, and others make opportunities and circumstances wait upon them.

Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell

4. HEALING OF THE LEPER1:35-45

TEXT 1:35-45

And in the morning, a great while before day, he rose up and went out, and departed into a desert place, and there prayed. And Simon and they that were with him followed after him; and they found him; and say unto him, All are seeking thee. And he saith unto them, Let us go elsewhere into the next towns, that I may preach there also; for to this end came I forth. And he went into their synagogues throughout all Galilee, preaching and casting out devils. And there cometh to him a leper, beseeching him, and kneeling down to him, and saying unto him, If thou wilt, thou canst make me clean. And being moved with compassion, he stretched forth his hand, and touched him, and saith unto him, I will; be thou made clean. And straightway the leprosy departed from him, and he was made clean. And he strictly charged him, and straightway sent him out, and saith unto him, See thou say nothing to any man: but go thy way, shew thyself to the priest, and offer for thy cleansing the things that Moses commanded, for a testimony unto them. But he went out, and began to publish abroad the matter, insomuch that Jesus could no more openly enter into a city, but was without in desert places: and they came to him from every quarter.

THOUGHT QUESTIONS: 1:35-45

55.

Are we to understand that this incident occurred after the busy sabbath of Mar. 1:21-34?

56.

Did Jesus have a particular reason for prayers? If so, what was it?

57.

Why get up so early?

58.

Why not pray in his room?

59.

What needs did Jesus have that could be satisfied in prayer?

60.

Why did Simon follow Jesus? Who was seeking Jesus? For what reason?

61.

Did Jesus come to heal or to preach? Does Jesus say in Mar. 1:38 that He was sent from heaven to preach?

62.

How did Jesus have such ready access to the synagogues?

63.

Was there a crowd about Jesus when the leper came to Him? Cf. Matt. and Luke.

64.

Give three characteristics of the leper.

65.

Do our physical and emotional infirmities move with compassion our Savior? Cf. Heb. 4:14-15.

66.

Why touch the leper?

67.

Why didnt Jesus inquire of the Fathers will in the healing?

68.

How long did it take to effect a complete cure of the leprosy?

69.

Why be so stern when He has just been so tender?

70.

Why go to the priest? To whom was the testimony (Mar. 1:44) to be given?

71.

Why did the leper disobey Jesus?

COMMENT 1:35-45

TIMEApril-June, A.D. 28. The healing of Peters wifes mother occurred immediately after the same sabbath on which Jesus teaching in the synagogue was interrupted by the demoniac. After this he began his first missionary tour of Galilee. The healing of the leper was toward the latter part of the tour, in May or June. This was in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, Emperor of Rome; Pontius Pilate was now Governor of Judea and Herod Antipas Tetrarch of Galilee.
PLACESCapernaum, and the towns and cities of Galilee. This was Jesus first missionary circuit of Galilee. The sea, or lake of Galilee, was 13 miles long, from 4 to 6 miles wide, was 165 feet deep in the deepest part, and lay 700 feet below the level of the Mediterranean Sea. Its western and northern shores were at this date densely inhabited, and five populous cities, Bethsaida, Chorazin, Capernaum, Magdala and Tiberias, stood upon or near its bank. It was on the direct route between the great city of Damascus and the Mediterranean, and was hence an appropriate center for the Lords missionary labors. Its shores are now desolate, and the boats that once covered its surface have almost entirely disappeared. The rule of the Turks, the lawlessness, and the raids of the Bedouin, have desolated one of the fairest spots on the earth.

PARALLEL ACCOUNTSThe healing of Peters wifes mother and others (Mar. 1:29-34) is recorded also in Mat. 8:14-17, and Luk. 4:38-41. The first circuit of Galilee (Mar. 1:35-39), also in Luk. 4:42; Luk. 4:44 followed by Mat. 4:23-25. The healing of the leper (Mar. 1:40-45), also in Mat. 8:2-4, and Luk. 5:12-16.

OUTLINE1. The Lonely Prayer. 2. Seeking to Save the Lost. 3. Healing the Leper.

ANALYSIS

I.

THE LONELY PRAYER. Mar. 1:35-37.

1.

Prayer in the Secret Place. Mar. 1:35; Luk. 4:42.

2.

Sought by the Disciples. Mar. 1:36-37; Luk. 4:42.

II.

SEEKING TO SAVE THE LOST. Mar. 1:38-39.

1.

The First Missionary Tour. Mar. 1:38; Mat. 4:23; Luk. 4:43.

2.

Preaching in the Synagogues. Mar. 1:39; Mat. 4:23; Luk. 4:44.

III.

HEALING THE LEPER. Mar. 1:40-45.

1.

The Lepers Appeal. Mar. 1:40; Mat. 8:2; Luk. 5:12.

2.

The Lord Hears and Heals. Mar. 1:41-42; Mat. 8:3; Luk. 5:13.

3.

Leper spreads Abroad the Story. Mar. 1:45; Luk. 4:15.

INTRODUCTION

The Sabbath service in the synagogue had been interrupted by the outcry of the demoniac while Jesus was preaching. After his cure, and the close of the public services, Jesus with his four disciples retires to the modest home of Peter and Andrew, where he works a miracle, the beginning of a series which leads to the height of his fame and popularity and success through Galilee. The leper was healed on the first missionary circuit of Galilee, not long after the preaching of the Sermon on the Mount.

EXPLANATORY NOTES

I. THE LONELY PRAYER.Mar. 1:35. And in the morning. On Sunday morning, immediately after the busy Sabbath day, Mark graphically brings the scene before our eyes. The previous day had been a long day of conflict with and victory over the kingdom of sin and death. He now retires to refresh himself in the haven of prayer, in communion with his Father. He prepares himself in the desert for a second great mission of love, this time accompanied by his first four disciples. A great while before day. Our Lord always prepared himself for special work or for trial by solitary prayer. See Mat. 14:23; Mar. 6:46; Luk. 5:16; Luk. 6:12; Luk. 22:41, It is possible that his night was sleepless because of his anxiety for others; and he arose from his sleepless couch to pray for strength. We may learn from his example (1) that when we are restless and anxious the best relief is found in prayer; (2) the prayer most efficacious, when we have a special burden, is solitary prayer, the prayer of the closet. Christ was wont to seek solitude for special occasions of prayer. Solitary place. Not merely solitary, for a garden might be solitary, but desert, desolate, as the word in all other places is rendered. A remarkable feature of the lake of Gennesaret was that is was closely surrounded with desert solitudes. These desert places thus close at hand on the table lands or in the ravines of the eastern and western ranges, gave opportunities of retirement for rest or prayer. Rising up early in the morning while it was yet dark, or passing over to the other side in a boat, he sought these solitudes, sometimes alone, sometimes with his disciples. The lake in this double aspect is thus a reflex of that union of energy and rest, of active labor and deep emotion which is the essence of Christianity, as it was of the life of Him in whom that union was first taught and shown.Stanleys Sinai and Palestine. And there prayed. The original word does not simply denote asking. Prayer, says Petler, is a holy conference with God. Prayer gave him power. The gate to heaven is prayer. No man is strong enough or spiritual enough to be able to neglect it. By daily food the body lives and is able to perform its functions, By daily prayer the soul lives, and only by prayer performs its work of grace. Christ communed in the wilderness with his own soul and with the Father for forty days before he began his ministry, and here he waits before the Lord before beginning his special work in Galilee.

Mar. 1:36. Simon, and they were with him. The Simon here named is Simon Peter, the apostle, to whose house the Lord had gone after the discourse at the synagogue on the day before. The others with him were probably Andrew his brother, and James and John, who had now left their secular business to attend the Savior. Peter, impetuous, abrupt, impulsive, did not hesitate to intrude himself on the Lords retirement. He is always the same, wherever he appears in the four gospels; self-confident, generous, bold, often making mistakes from his impulsiveness, and always ready to correct them. On this occasion he, no doubt, acted as the leader in the search after the praying Savior. Morison says: When they awoke in the morning, and found him gone, they seemed to have got alarmed lest he should have left them, betaking himself to some other sphere of labor. So, too, the inhabitants of the little city in general seem to have felt. Hence the haste and eagerness of Simon and his companions (Andrew, James and John, see Mar. 1:29), as indicated by the strong verb employed: they pursued him, as if he were fleeing from them. Peter was the leader of the pursuing party, thus giving early indication of the impulsive ardor of his nature.

Mar. 1:37. And they found him. Search and uncertainty is implied, since he had retired to an unfrequented spot. They said unto him. Peter said this to induce him to return and the crowd besought him to stay. The will of the multitude did not govern him, as they supposed, hence the reply in the next verse. All seek thee. That is, though indefinitely, all the people (in Capernaum.) The people in general had no sooner risen in the morning than they thought of the wonderful preacher and healer and demon-expeller. (Luk. 4:42). They wanted still to hear more, and to see more; and hence they came, one after another to the house where he had been lodging in quest of him. The emphasis is on the word seek.

II. SEEKING TO SAVE THE LOST.Mar. 1:38. Let us go into the next towns. The disciples had pressed the Lord to return to Capernaum, because all men there were seeking for him, but he replies by a request for them to attend him to other cities. In Luke (Luk. 4:43) he says. I must preach the kingdom of God in other cities also. Towns. The word so translated means village cities, country towns, imperfectly enclosed towns, and unenclosed villages. Josephus says, concerning the two Galilees, Upper and Lower, The cities lie thick; and the multitude of villages are everywhere full of people, in consequence of the richness of the soil, so that the very least of them contains about 15,000 inhabitants (War, Mar. 3:3; Mar. 3:2). Christ had no ambition to be a metropolitan preacher. Having awakened spiritual desires in the people of Capernaum, he went elsewhere that he might awaken them in others also.Abbott. For therefore came I forth. To preach. He wrought miracles, but these were mainly to arrest attention and to induce people to give a ready ear to his preaching. Preached. The form of Jesus preaching was essentially Jewish. It was concise, epigrammatic, oracular, so pointed as to stick in the mind like an arrow. It swarmed with figures of speech. He thought in images, pictures. The qualities of the preacher were (1) authority; (2) boldness; (3) power; (4) graciousness.Stalkers Life of Our Lord. The places of preaching were the synagogues in each city, and the times, the Sabbath days. Besides, he was constantly teaching and healing during the week. Throughout all Galilee. Throughout the whole region, as well as the nearest towns (Mat. 4:23). Josephus says that in his day there were 240 towns and villages in Galilee (Life, 45). Galilee, the northernmost province of Judea, was the scene of Christs most abundant labors; all the apostles except Judas Iscariot were Galileans; its inhabitants were simple-minded and comparatively free from the control of the priestly class, which ruled in Judea, and from the bigotry and intolerance of the Jews who dwelt about Jerusalem. The greater part of Marks Gospel is confined to our Lords ministry in Galilee, Cast out devils, Referred to again and again as the most remarkable exhibition of his power, being utterly incurable and unmanageable by men; and as the best type of his whole work on earth, casting out all evil, all that mars this world, and fitting the world for the kingdom of heaven. For a discussion of devils or demons and demoniacs, see the preceding section. The Lord not only cast out demons and thus delivered men from their power, but he came to destroy the power of the devil.

III. HEALING THE LEPERMar. 1:40. There came a leper to him. This account is also given in Mat. 8:2-4, and in Luk. 5:12-13. Matthew places it after the Sermon on the Mount, but he does not aim to follow the chronological order closely, and we are only to infer that it came soon after the descent from the mountain, after he entered a certain city and before his return to Capernaum. Luke says that the leper was healed at a certain city but does not say what one, Luke says, A man full of leprosy (Luk. 5:12). This disease is nothing short of a foul decay, arising from the total corruption of the blood. It was a living death, as indicated by bare head, rent clothes, and covered lip. In the middle ages, a man seized with leprosy was clothed in a shroud, and the masses of the dead sung over him. In its horrible repulsiveness it is the gospel type of sin,Farrar. Leprosy began with little specks on the eyelids and on the palms of the hands, and gradually spread over different parts of the body, bleaching the hair white wherever it showed itself, crusting the affected parts with shining scales, and causing swellings and sores. From the skin it slowly ate its way through the tissues, to the bones and joints, and even to the marrow, rotting the whole body piecemeal. The lungs, the organs of speech and hearing, and the eyes, were attacked in turn, till at last consumption or dropsy brought welcome death. The dread of infection kept men aloof from the sufferer; and the law proscribed him as above all men unclean. The disease was hereditary to the fourth generation.Geikie. The leprosy, We find that nearly everywhere the disease is most common on the seashore, and that, when it spreads inland, it generally occurs on the shores of lakes or along the course of large rivers.Medical Press. Is the leprosy contagious? A review of the evidence led the speaker to the conclusion that this disease was not contagious by ordinary contact; but it may be transmitted by the blood and secretions. It is a well-established fact that when leprosy has once gained for itself a foothold in any locality, it is apt to remain there and spread. Being the worst form of disease, leprosy was fixed upon by God to be the especial type of sin; and the injunctions regarding it had reference to its typical character. It was accompanied by the emblems of death. (Lev. 13:45, comp. with Num. 6:9. Eze. 24:17). It involved ceremonial uncleanness (see Num. 19:13. Eze. 45:25); and the exclusion of the leper from the congregation (Lev. 13:44-46. Num. 5:1-3; Numbers 12-14, 15. 2Ch. 24:19-21) strikingly typified the separation of the sinner from Gods presence. Kneeling down. Not an act of worship, but a gesture of entreaty. There is no contrivance of our body but some good man in Scripture hath hallowed it with prayer. The publican standing, Job sitting, (Job. 2:8,) Hezekiah lying on his bed, (2Ki. 20:2,) Elijah with his face between his legs, (1Ki. 18:42.) But of all postures give me St. Pauls: For this cause I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Eph. 3:12; Act. 7:60.Thomas Fuller. If thou wilt, thou canst. If thou art willing, thou art able. The leper had faith in the miraculous power of Jesus, but had a doubt about his willingness to exercise it on such an object as him, on one so unclean. Here was (1) a thorough consciousness of his own misery and helplessness; (2) he knew it was not too bad for Christs power. It has been well said that the language of faith always is, not if thou canst, but if thou. wilt. He is willing to leave the whole matter in Christs hands. (3) Let us pause on this little word IF. If embodies doubt; and faith, in its earlier stages, almost always involves doubt, but, when the soul can use if, it has made great progress in faith. Cleanse me. He felt the impurity of his disease, not merely ceremonial, but actual,as we should feel the impurity of sin, and pray not merely, forgive, but cleanse.

Mar. 1:41. Moved with compassion. Jesus felt for the leper what he and his Father feel for all sinners, an unutterable compassion and love. Touched himTo have touched him was, in the eyes of a Jew, to have made himself unclean, but he had come to break through the deadly externalism that had taken the place of true religion, and could have shown no more strikingly how he looked on mere rabbinical precepts than by making a touch, which, till then, had entailed the worst uncleanness, the means of cleansing. Slight though it seemed, the touch of the leper was the proclamation that Judaism was abrogated henceforth.Geikie. His hand became not unclean from the leprosy, but the leprous body was made clean by his holy hand.Chrysostom.

Mar. 1:42. The leprosy departed. At the touch and command, the leprosy immediately departed and the man was well.

Mar. 1:43. Straitly charged him. Strictly and positively charged him.

Mar. 1:44. Say nothing to any man. Our Lord almost uniformly repressed the fame of his miracles, for the reason given in Mat. 12:15-21, that, in accordance with prophetic truth, he might be known as the Messiah, not by wonder-working power, but by the great result of his work upon earth. See chap. Mar. 12:16-19. Thus the apostles always refer primarily to the resurrection, and only incidentally, if at all, to the wonders and signs. Another reason, perhaps, was that the Lord wished him to obtain the legal certificate of cleanness from the priest before too much was said, It might be refused through prejudice. Show thyself to the priest. At Jerusalem. Those things which Moses commanded. Viz., (1) two birds, alive and clean (Lev. 14:4); (2) cedar wood, (3) scarlet, (4) hyssop; this was for the preliminary ceremony (Lev. 14:4-7). On the eighth day further offerings were to be made(1) two he-lambs without blemish, (2) one ewe-lamb, (3) three tenth deals of fine flour, (4) one log of oil. If the leper was poor, he was permitted to offer one lamb and two doves or pigeons, with one-tenth deal of fine flour. The law was still in force and the Lord strictly enjoins that it be observed.

Mar. 1:45. Began to publish. Where men ought to publish Christ, alas! how silent are they. Here, when the great Savior commanded silence, this man will publish the cure. Thus our Lords work was hindered. How many from ill-timed zeal prevent much good! Could no more openly enter into the city. Not the city of Capernaum, but any city or town. He was compelled to go into the desert places. He was unable, because, the moment that his presence was recognized in a town, he was liable to be surrounded and hemmed in by a surging crowd of ignorant, and ignorantly expectant, gazers, wonderers and volunteer followers. One sees now how wise it was to tell the leper to hold his tongue. And they came to him from every quarter. The people kept coming to him, notwithstanding the difficulty of reaching him, and the inconvenience connected with a sojourn, even for a very limited period, in an unpopulated district.

FACT QUESTIONS 1:35-45

66.

Give the time for this sectioni.e. date, the name of the emperor, governor and tetrarch.

67.

State three places involved in these versesi.e. Mar. 1:35-45.

68.

What is the condition of Capernaum today?

69.

Please read Mat. 8:14-17; Luk. 4:38-41 for a parallel account of part of the record in Mark. Read Luk. 4:42-44; Mat. 4:23-25; also Mat. 8:2-4 and Luk. 5:12-16 for the rest of the account.

70.

Mention again the purpose of prayer in the life of Jesus. Read Mat. 14:23; Luk. 5:16; Luk. 6:12.

71.

What one lesson can we learn from the praying of Jesus?

72.

What is meant by the word solitary in reference to the place of prayer?

73.

What more than mere petition was involved in the praying of Jesus?

74.

Why did Peter so urgently, eagerly seek for Jesus?

75.

Why did the multitude of Capernaum seek Jesus? Why didnt He return?

76.

What was the possibility for preaching in Galileei.e. how many towns, how many people?

77.

Mention two qualities of the preaching of Jesus.

78.

Why especially mention casting out demons?

79.

Where and when in the ministry of our Lord was the leper healed?

80.

How serious was the leprosy of the one healed?

81.

Why did the leper kneel to Jesus?

82.

Why the question of If thou wilt?

83.

Did the leper doubt the power of Christ?

84.

How deeply was Jesus moved with the need of the leper? Why touch him?

85.

Why go to the priest if he was already healed?

SUMMARY 1:14-45

In this section Mark has furnished a striking exhibition of both the divine authority and the divine power of Jesus. Such was the authority which he could exercise over men, that when he commanded the four fishermen to follow him, they left all they had on earth, without a question or a moments delay, and followed him. And such was the authority with which he commanded demons, that although these wicked spirits were not willingly obedient, they instantly departed from their victims at his bidding. Such, too, was his power, that at his touch the malignant fever, the incurable leprosy, and all the maladies which afflict the body, were instantly healed. Such, finally, was his unexampled meekness, that amid these displays of divine authority and power, when popular applause ran high, he retired by night to pray, or wandered away into desert places. His meekness was as high above the capacity of a merely human being, as were his miracles. McGarvey.

DIFFERENCE FROM MATTHEW

One of the characteristic differences between Mark and Matthew, their difference in regard to arrangement, is conspicuous in their modes of treating the subject-matter of the preceding section. Mark uses almost the same material with Matthew, but how differently he arranges it! They both begin with the removal of Jesus to Galilee, after the imprisonment of John, and follow this with the call of the four fishermen; but Matthew next introduces the general statement of the preaching throughout Galilee (Mat. 4:23-25), which Mark reserves until after the cures at Simons house (Mar. 1:39); he next devotes considerable space to the sermon on the mount, which Mark omits; then he introduces as his first mentioned miracle the cure of the leper (Mar. 8:1-4), which is the third miracle mentioned by Mark ( Mar. 1:40-45); his second miracle is the cure of the centurions servant (Mat. 8:5-13), of which Mark says nothing; his third is that of Simons mother-in-law, which is the second with Mark; and finally, they unite in following this last miracle with the cures at Simons door. This difference alone is sufficient proof that Marks narrative is not an abridgement of Matthews.McGarvey

SIDE-LIGHTS

1. The Leprosy.Wandering a little way outside the walls of the city we came upon the dwellings of the lepers. The place is separated from all other human habitations, and consists of a rude court or enclosure, containing about twenty huts or kennels. At the sound of our voices and footsteps the lepers came out into the sunlight, clamoring with most unearthly sounds for charity. Death was visibly eating them away. Some were of a liver color, others white as snowall deformed. Handless arms were held out to us; half-consumed limbs obtruded; countenances woefully defaced and eyeless were turned up to us, and cries came out from palateless mouths that were wildly imploring and inhuman. The old law which prohibited the leper from touching or drawing near to a clean person, was scrupulously regarded by them, so that, even when they begged, they stretched out to us little iron cups into which we might drop our alms.Thompson.

2. Leprosy as a Type.Thus sin affects the soul, rendering it unclean, separating it from God, producing spiritual death; unfitting it forever for heaven and the company of the holy, and insuring its eternal banishment, as polluted and abominable. Some, as they look on infancy, reject with horror the thought that sin exists within. But so might any one say who looked upon the beautiful babe in the arms of a leprous mother. But time brings forth the fearful malady. New-born babes of leprous parents are often as pretty and as healthy in appearance as any; but by and by its presence and workings become visible in some of the signs described in the 13th chapter of Leviticus.Land and Book, 11:519.

3. How to be Healed.(1) We must see Jesus, inquire after him, acquaint ourselves with him. (2) We must humble ourselves before him, as this leper, seeing Christ, fell on his face; we must be ashamed of our pollution, and, in the sense of it, blush to lift up our faces before the holy Jesus. (3) We must earnestly desire to be cleansed from the defilement and cured of the disease of sin, which renders us unfit for communion with God. (4) We must firmly believe in Christs ability and sufficiency to cleanse us. Lord, thou canst make me clean, though I be full of leprosy. No doubt is to be made of the merit and grace of Christ. (5) We must be importunate for pardon and grace: He fell on his face and besought him. They that would be cleansed must reckon it a favor worth wrestling for. (6) We must refer ourselves to the good will of Christ: Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst.M. Henry.

LESSONS

1. We cannot save sinners, but we can bring them to Christ, the Savior.
2. Every one, like Christ, needs seasons of retirement and prayer. Spiritual growth comes from activity in Christian work, and seasons of restful communion with God.
3. The hardest work in the world is casting out the devils of sin. Building cities and ruling empires are nothing in comparison.
4. Sin is like leprosyincurable, loathsome, contagious, hereditary, painful, all-pervasive, from small beginnings; shameful, separating from others.
5. Learn from the leper how the sinner should come to Jesus and be saved. He felt his disease; despaired of human help; believed in the power of Jesus; he came with his leprosy and submitted to the will of Jesus.Clark.

6. In the services we are called to render one another, we fail far oftener from want of will than want of power. We fail to use many opportunities, not because we cannot, but because we will not, use them.Howson.

7. The healed by Christ are his living witnesses that he can save men. Even enemies must acknowledge the change. Every transformed sinner is a living witness of Christs power to save.

POINTS FOR TEACHERS

1. Review the Sabbath days work, the wonderful discourse, the admiring multitude, the demoniac healed, all Capernaum stirred, the woman healed, the throngs that gather at the house of Peter, the multitude of miracles. 2. Observe the Savior at rest in the darkness of night, rising to pray before the dawn, possibly praying to be saved from popularity, in lonely prayer in the morning twilight. 3. Note the eager search led by Peter, their triumphant assurance of his popularity, all men seeking for him, his rejection of the popular breeze, and determination to go elsewhere. 4. Observe his missionary circuit and his work: (1) Preaching in the synagogues, (2) teaching daily, (3) healing the distressed and diseased or sin-laden. 5. Note the healing of the leper, his awful disease, a type of sin, unclean, banished from men. 6. Observe how he is healed: (1) He wants to be healed, (2) believes that Christ can heal him, (3) comes to Christ, (4) falls before him and implores mercy, (5) the Lord has compassion, (6) touches and heals. Thus every sinner by faith and coming to Christ can be healed of his sins. The lesson sets forth Christ as the great Healer. (1) He prepared for his great labors by solitary prayer (Mar. 1:35), as we need the more to commune with God, and get strength from heaven, the more we have to do. (2) He made his first missionary tour through Galilee (Mar. 1:36-39); and on this tour (3) he healed a leperthe type of sin and its cure (Mar. 1:40-45,) a most helpful illustration of the evil of sin, and of the way of salvation by going to Christ to be saved.

Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series

(35) A great while before day.Literally, very early, while it was yet night. The note of time is peculiar to St. Mark. Prayer seems to have been sought now, as at other times, after a day of extraordinary and exhausting labour.

Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)

35. And in the morning The day after the Sabbath he retired from the crowds to find a place of prayer. It was as if to recruit his spiritual strength, that had been expended upon such a number of miracles, preachings, and debates, by communion with God.

Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

‘And in the morning, a great while before day, he rose up and went out, and departed into a desert place, and there prayed.’

‘In the morning.’ Not necessarily the next morning, although it may be. On that first night He may well have been kept awake all night. We can imagine the excitement, and the time taken with each sick person and their families, and the reluctance of the crowd to leave, and the words which would be spoken. Dispersal would not have been easy and the night would soon go. So by morning the crowds would be exhausted.

‘A great while before day.’ While the house was silent, and the disciples slept on, Jesus aroused Himself, for He knew how necessary it was to maintain His relationship with His Father, and to bring His work before Him. There is a lesson in this for us all.

‘He rose up and went out and departed into a desert place, and there He prayed.’ He sought out a lonely place where He could be away from people. And there He spent time with His Father in prayer. As He constantly emphasises in John’s Gospel (e.g. Mar 5:17), He and His Father work together. While He is ‘the Spirit anointed One’ He also works in dependence on the Father, for He and His Father are one in all that they do.

Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett

Jesus Stresses the Wide Scope of What He Has Come To Do (1:35-39).

The work in which He was engaged would be exhausting as He ministered to the crowds, especially spiritually, and so He was aware of the need to go aside and pray. So He rose very early and went to a lonely place, a desert place, away from the town. And there He prayed. He was well aware that His success was dependent on His relationship with His Father, and the confidence that was maintained by it. But the crowds came back to the house in the morning looking for Him and, the disciples therefore, almost certainly because they were pressed by the crowds, clearly felt that they must bring Jesus to them. They probably thought that He would be glad to hear of their enthusiasm, and felt that the opportunity must not be missed.

But He felt differently. He knew the hearts of such crowds. Thus His reply probably startled them. He had not, He explained, come as a healer, He had come to proclaim the Kingship of God. He must therefore move on, for this is why He was sent. In other words He had come to call men under the Kingly Rule of God, calling them to personal response to God and to live lives of positive obedience to Him in accordance with His new teaching, that is, to live lives of love, compassion and mercy as a light in a dark world (Mat 5:16).

Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett

Jesus Preaches and Works Miracles in Galilee ( Luk 4:42-44 ) Mar 1:35-39 gives us the account of Jesus preaching the Gospel in the regions of Galilee with signs and miracles accompanying His ministry.

Fuente: Everett’s Study Notes on the Holy Scriptures

Jesus Preaches Throughout Galilee – After calling His disciples (Mar 1:16-20), Jesus began His public ministry in Capernaum (Mar 1:21-34). He now expands His preaching ministry to other cities in Galilee.

Outline Here is a proposed outline:

a) Jesus Preaches in Galilee Mar 1:35-39

b) Jesus Heals a Leper Mar 1:40-45

c) Jesus Heals a Paralytic Mar 2:1-12

Fuente: Everett’s Study Notes on the Holy Scriptures

Jesus retires for rest and strength:

v. 35. And in the morning, rising up a great while before day, He went out, and departed into a solitary place, and there prayed.

v. 36. And Simon and they that were with Him followed after Him.

v. 37. And when they had found Him, they said unto Him, All men seek for Thee.

v. 38. And He said unto them, Let us go into the next towns, that I may preach there also; for therefore came I forth.

It had been long after sundown, probably as long as twilight lasted, that Jesus had been busy with the sick people. And yet, before the dawn brightened the hills on the eastern shore of Lake Gennesaret, while it was yet night, He arose, left the house, and went out into a desert place. He had doubtless been tired the evening before. And He knew that the future would bring many such days, with excitement and labor from morning till night. He was ready for this work; that was His office for which He had come. But His purpose in seeking a lonely place so early in the morning was to enter into communion with His heavenly Father by prayer, Heb 5:7-8. He needed new strength for further labors and trials, and this He sought and received through prayer. There is no better way of maintaining the spiritual strength and serenity needed in difficult work for the Lord than by constant intercourse with the Lord in His Word and by prayer. Jesus was soon missed at home, and Peter and several others followed the way which they thought Jesus must have taken. The text implies an earnest, anxious seeking, for this is necessary at all times when Jesus is the object of the search. Having found the Master, they inform Him that all the people were even then searching for Him. To men and women anxious to hear words out of the mouth of Jesus and to see works of glory performed by Him, the early hours of the morning are not too early. But at this time Jesus was not influenced by the message of Peter. He denies the implied petition to return to Capernaum at this time. He wanted to go to other places, and asked them to go along, to village-towns, little, unfortified hamlets. For there He wanted to preach, to proclaim the Word of the Gospel. The healing was a secondary consideration; it was intended merely to confirm the Word. The people of Capernaum should now, for a season, have time and leisure to meditate upon the preaching He had done before them, in order to have the full benefit of its influence.

Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann

Mar 1:35. A great while before day ‘ , when the night was very far advanced, and consequently just before the dawn of day.

Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke

Mar 1:35-39 . Luk 4:42-44 is less characteristic and more generalized.

] when it was still very dark . is the accusative neuter of the definition of time, as , , , etc. The word itself is often found also in classical writers, but not this adverbial use of the accusative neuter ( 3Ma 5:5 ; see, however, Grimm in loc. ). Comp. , Aesop, Fab. 79. The plural form (in Lachmann and Tischendorf, following B C D L , min.) is, however, decisively attested, although likewise without sanction from Greek usage; [59] in Soph. Aj. 930, is adjective.

] out of his house, Mar 1:29 . Comp. Mar 2:1 .

] only occurring here in the N. T., more significant than the simple form, expressive of the following up till they reached Him; Thuc. ii. 84. 3; Polyb. vi. 42. 1; Sir 27:17 ; Psa 22:18 .

] Andrew, John, and James, Mar 1:29 . Under this expression is already implied the conception of the historical prominent position of Peter. But such an expression does not betray any special Petrine tendency of the Gospel.

] puts Jesus in mind of the multitude of yesterday, Mar 1:32 ; Mar 1:34 .

] with a verb of direction, comp. Mar 1:28 and on Mat 2:22 . The following . . , into the nearest (Herod. i. 134; Xen. Anab. i. 8, iv. 9; Joseph. Antt. xi. 8. 6, and frequently; comp. Act 13:44 ; Act 21:26 ) villages , is a more precise definition of . See Bornemann, Schol. in Luc. iv. 23, v. 35, and in the Stud. u. Krit. 1843, p. 127; Fritzsche, ad Marc. p. 22.

] villages , only used here in the N. T., but see the passages in Wetstein.

] for that (namely, to preach abroad also) is the object for which I have left the house , Mar 1:35 . Schenkel invents here quite a different connection. In opposition to the context, others understand of having come forth from the Father . So Euthymius Zigabenus, Maldonatus, Grotius, Bengel, Lange, and others; comp. Baumgarten-Crusius. A harmonizing with Luk 4:43 .

[59] Hesychius has the adverb , equivalent to .

Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary

35 And in the morning, rising up a great while before day, he went out, and departed into a solitary place, and there prayed.

Ver. 35. And in the morning, &c. ] The fittest time for prayer, or any serious business. Therefore not only David, Psa 5:3 , and other saints, but also heathens chose the morning chiefly for sacrifice; as Nestor in Homer, the Argonauts in Apollonius. The Persian magi sang hymns to their gods at break of day, and worshipped the rising sun. The Pinarii and Potitii sacrificed every morning and evening to Hercules, upon the great altar at Rome, &c. Men should rise early, on the Sabbath day especially, both the better to prepare for the public, as also to consecrate as much time as they can, Psa 92:2 ; Exo 19:14-16 Shall Philistines be up early to go to see Dagon, Papists to matins, Israel to dance before their golden calf,Exo 32:5-6Exo 32:5-6 ; young men may go Maying, ringing, &c.; worldlings to their markets, fairs, by peep of day; and shall Christians lie bathing in their beds on their Lord’s day?

Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

35 38. ] JESUS, BEING SOUGHT OUT IN HIS RETIREMENT, PREACHES AND HEALS THROUGHOUT GALILEE. Luk 4:42-43 , where see note. Our Lord’s present purpose was, not to remain in any one place, but to make the circuit of Galilee; not to work miracles, but to preach.

Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament

35. ] , acc. plur. neut. of , as in the sing. , , , &c., a form not so used in the classics. We have however , Soph. Ajax, 911.

. from the house of Peter and Andrew, Mar 1:29 .

Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament

Mar 1:35-39 . Flight from Capernaum (Luk 4:42-44 ).

Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson

Mar 1:35 . , early, an elastic word, the last watch from three to six, defined more exactly by = much in the night, at the beginning of the watch, or at the dark hour before dawn. is the neuter plural of , nocturnal, used as an adverb (here only). , etc.: He rose up, went out of Capernaum, went away to a desert, solitary place, and there engaged in prayer. It was a kind of flight from Capernaum, the scene of those remarkable occurrences; “flight from the unexpected reality into which His ideal conception of His calling had brought Him,” Holtz., H. C. The real reason of the flight was doubtless a desire to preach in as many synagogues as possible before the hostility of the scribes, instinctively dreaded, had time to act obstructively. Jesus had a plan of a preaching tour in Galilee ( vide Mar 1:38 ), and He felt He could not begin too soon. He left in the night, fearing opposition from the people.

Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson

NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Mar 1:35-39

35In the early morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house, and went away to a secluded place, and was praying there. 36Simon and his companions searched for Him; 37they found Him, and said to Him, “Everyone is looking for You.” 38He said to them, “Let us go somewhere else to the towns nearby, so that I may preach there also; for that is what I came for.” 39And He went into their synagogues throughout all Galilee, preaching and casting out the demons.

Mar 1:35 “In the early morning, while it was still dark” This refers to last watch of the night, sometime between 3:00 and 6:00 a.m.

“was praying there” This is imperfect tense which shows Jesus’ regular prayer life. In Luke’s Gospel this emphasis is often repeated. In Mark there are only three examples of Jesus praying: here, the feeding of the five thousand (cf. Mar 8:6), and in Gethsemane (cf. Mar 14:32-42).

Mar 1:37-39 The people were looking for Jesus because He healed them, not because of His teaching (cf. Luk 4:43). Jesus was continually on the move because (1) He wanted all to hear His message and (2) His mission was misunderstood.

Mar 1:38

NASB”for that is what I came for”

NKJV”because for this purpose I have come forth”

NRSV”for that is what I came out to do”

TEV, NJB”because that is why I came”

Jesus felt deeply that He had been sent (cf. Luk 4:43) to proclaim the gospel of God (cf. Mar 1:14-15). He sensed that He was not sent as a miracle worker or healer, but as the establisher of a new day, a new relationship with the Father, the inauguration of the kingdom of God! The centrality of His person, the content of His message, His redemptive acts, and His glorious resurrection and ascension were the focus of His message. Mark’s Messianic Secret is a literary way of asserting that these things would not be fully understood or revealed until years in the future.

Mar 1:39 There is a textual variant in Mar 1:39. Some ancient Greek manuscripts have “he went” (cf. , B, L, the Palestinian Syriac, and the Coptic translations, also NASB, NRSV, TEV, NJB), while the Greek uncial manuscripts A, C, D, W, the Vulgate, and Peshitta translations as well as the Greek text used by Augustine have “he was” (cf. NKJV). The Textual Commentary on the Greek New Testament by Bruce Metzger, pp. 75-76, asserts that a copyist changed “he went” to match Luk 4:44. This is a good example of the fact that most Greek manuscript variations make no significant theological or historical difference as to the overall meaning of the account.

Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley

a great . . . day = while yet night. Greek. ennuchon. A Divine supplement, here.

a solitary plane = a desert place.

prayed = was praying.

Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics

35-38.] JESUS, BEING SOUGHT OUT IN HIS RETIREMENT, PREACHES AND HEALS THROUGHOUT GALILEE. Luk 4:42-43, where see note. Our Lords present purpose was, not to remain in any one place, but to make the circuit of Galilee; not to work miracles, but to preach.

Fuente: The Greek Testament

Mar 1:35. , in the depth of night [a great while before day]) Day and night He was on the watch for our salvation. Hence also is evinced the eagerness of the apostles and the people: see the following verses.-, He was in prayer) specially for the apostles: see following verse.

Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament

Mark 1:35-39

6. RETIREMENT AND PRAYER OF JESUS

Mar 1:35-39

(Luk 4:42-44)

35 And in the morning, a great while before day, he rose up and went out, and departed into a desert place, and there prayed.–Luke (Luk 4:42) says: “When it was day.” The writers do not contradict each other, since both are proper expressions for a point of time not certainly defined, to wit, the dawn or break of day, when light and darkness are in conflict, and although the day is breaking, it is really still night. One of the notable things in the life of Jesus is the record of his habits of prayer. Divine as he was, there was a constant appeal to and communion with his Father. The vision at his baptism was given while he prayed. (Luk 3:21.) The night before he selected the twelve, he continued the whole night in prayer on a mountain. (Luk 6:12.) The conversation about his Messiahship in Cesarea was preceded by prayer. It was during prayer in a mountain that the transfiguration took place. (Luk 9:28-29.) It was at the close of a season of prayer that he taught his disciples how to pray. (Luk 11:1.) Also we may recall the prayer of John 17, and the agonizing prayer of Gethsemane.

36 And Simon and they that were with him followed after him;–On rising, they missed him, and, perhaps in some alarm, went to seek him.

37 and they found him, and say unto him, All are seeking thee.–The town was already astir to see and hear the wonderful stranger, and finding him not at Peter’s house, were seeking him in all directions.

38 And he saith unto them, Let us go elsewhere into the next towns,–There was much ground to cover, and a short time in which to do it. Capernaum had received a great benefit. It must not engross too much of his time.

that I may preach there also; for to this end came I forth.–He came, not from the house of Peter, as some claim, but from his Father, as explained by Luke (Luk 4:43). Christianity is for all the world. As soon as one town receives the gospel, the motto should be, “Let us go elsewhere into the next towns.”

39 And he went into their synagogues throughout all Galilee,–The plan of going into the “next towns” so he could preach to the people there was carried into execution. Not only did he preach in “the next towns” as first proposed but throughout all Galilee.

preaching and casting out demons.–He doubtless wrought other healings, but this is put for the whole, as the most striking, up to his time, of his wonderful works. Jesus confirmed and attested his teaching by the miracles he performed wherever he went, the chief among which was casting out demons. This showed his great opposition to the kingdom of Satan.

He did not become a “pastor” devoting his time and talent at one place. He made Capernaum his headquarters and from there he carried the gospel of the kingdom into all Galilee. It was his purpose to preach this gospel everywhere, and for this reason he never located and confined his ministry to any particular place, but went to the smallest towns and villages. The place never got too small and the people too poor for Jesus to visit and break unto them the bread of life. He was no salaried preacher, seeking the largest towns and the greatest pay. Herein is an example of wisdom that ought to be followed by preachers now.

Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary

CHAPTER 5

A Sunday with the Savior

And in the morning, rising up a great while before day, he went out, and departed into a solitary place, and there prayed. And Simon and they that were with him followed after him. And when they had found him, they said unto him, All men seek for thee. And he said unto them, Let us go into the next towns, that I may preach there also: for therefore came I forth. And he preached in their synagogues throughout all Galilee, and cast out devils.

Mar 1:35-39

Every event in our Lords earthly life, every word he spoke, every act he performed ought to be regarded by us as matters of immense importance and deep interest. In all that he said, in all that he did, in all that he refused to do our Savior is both our Example and our Teacher, showing us both what we are to believe and how we are to live in this world for the glory of God.

On Saturday, the sabbath day, the Lord Jesus crammed as much into the day as possible for the glory of God and the good of men. He taught in the synagogue at Capernaum, cast out devils, and healed Peters mother-in-law and many in the city who were sick. In this passage, after an exhausting sabbath day, we see our Savior rising early for prayer on Sunday morning. Mark records the events of that day for our learning. May God the Holy Spirit be our Teacher as we seek to learn from the things which transpired on that Sunday that Mark describes in these five verses.

Diligence in Prayer

First, I want us to take notice of and learn from our Saviors diligence in prayer. “And in the morning, rising up a great while before day, he went out, and departed into a solitary place, and there prayed” (Mar 1:35).

Remember, Mark is telling us about the incarnate God. This is not a weak, sinful, fallen, and needy man. This man is God. Yet, as a man, he placed great importance upon the matter of prayer, especially private prayer. Throughout the days of his humiliation, we find our Master engaged in prayer. We do not often see him engaging in public prayer. He seems to have avoided, as much as possible, any public show or display of devotion; but private prayer, private worship was another matter. Most do just the opposite. Most people make a great show of devotion publicly, but greatly neglect private prayer, private worship, and private communion with God.

Our Savior seems never to have begun anything; he seems never to have made a decision without prayer. When he was baptized, Luke tells us he was praying (Luk 3:21). When he was transfigured upon the mount, we read that, as he prayed, the fashion of his face was altered (Luk 9:29). Before choosing his apostles, our Savior continued all night in prayer (Luk 6:12). When all men spoke well of him, and wanted to make him a king, Matthew tells us, He went up into a mountain apart to pray (Mat 14:23). When he was assaulted by Satan in Gethsemane, our Lord Jesus said to his disciples, Sit ye here, while I shall pray (Mar 14:32).

Our Savior prayed always and did not faint. Though he was sinless, he prayed as sinner never prayed. He diligently sought to maintain communion with God his Father as a man, giving us an example. His eternal godhead did not cause him to live independent of Gods ordained means of ministering to men. Here is the God to whom we pray, as a man, showing us the necessity of prayer. The Son of God, as a man, never considered himself strong enough, wise enough, or spiritual enough to live in this world without private prayer and public worship.

“In the days of his flesh, when he had offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto him that was able to save him from death, and was heard in that he feared” (Heb 5:7). We ought to see in all this, wrote J.C. Ryle, the immense importance of private devotion. If the Son of God felt it important to pray, how much more important it is for us to pray. If he who is holy, sinless, and always pleasing to God spent much time in private prayer, how much more important it is for us to do so. Our Savior never neglected the worship of God, neither the public worship of God nor private worship. Let us follow his example.

What does this tell us about men and women who do not pray, who willfully neglect the worship of God? There are multitudes who, while professing to be believers, exercise no diligence at all in the matter of worship. Their profession is a delusion. Prayerless men and women are not the servants of this praying Savior. Prayerless souls are Christless souls. The Spirit of adoption always causes adopted children to call upon their Father in prayer.

“Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need (Heb 4:16). Let all who know, trust, and worship the Lord Jesus Christ always be watchful over their souls in this matter. Prayer is the pulse of spiritual life. With believers, this is not a duty. Yet, it must be dutifully maintained. Prayer is not an act of life, but a way of life. Those who do not pray are yet without life before God. Do we pray? The disciples knew Saul of Tarsus had experienced grace when they were told, Behold, he prayeth.

We are urged by God the Holy Spirit to diligently maintain the use of every means of grace. Our engagement in prayer and worship is not the cause of grace. Without doubt, many who carefully keep up the exercise of both private and public prayer are lost. Their religion is all form and formality. But anyone who altogether despises and neglects worship and prayer is altogether without life and grace before God (Heb 10:24-39.

Christs Sovereignty

Second, Mark sets before us an example of our Saviors sovereignty.

“And Simon and they that were with him followed after him. And when they had found him, they said unto him, All men seek for thee. And he said unto them, Let us go into the next towns, that I may preach there also: for therefore came I forth” (Mar 1:36-38).

We are all far too much inclined to judge the blessings of God by the outward response of men to what we are doing. This is nowhere more common and nowhere more foolish than in the matter of preaching. Our Lords disciples were very excited because he was so popularly received in their hometown. They thought this was a sure evidence that he would give a repeat performance; but they were mistaken. Instead, our Lord gave a clear, unmistakable display of his total sovereignty in the exercise of his mercy, grace, and saving power. Though there were many in Capernaum who sought him, he turned from them.

The fact is there are many who seek the Lord today who never find him, who never obtain mercy from him, many who seek him from whom he hides himself. Without question, all who seek the Lord spiritually, all who truly seek him in faith, all who seek him because they need him and want him shall find him (Jer 29:12-14). Yet, Mark here tells us of a great multitude who sought the Lord Jesus from whom he withdrew and hid himself. Why?

They sought him in the wrong way and for the wrong reason. These people of Capernaum sought him physically, not spiritually. They sought him with their words and deeds, but not with their hearts. And they sought him for the wrong reasons. They sought nothing from him but carnal things. They did not seek him. They sought what he could do for them! Many seek Christ, but not by faith. Like the Jews described by Paul, they seek him upon the merit and in the strength of the flesh (Rom 9:30-33; Rom 10:1-4).

Not only did those at Capernaum seek the Lord Jesus carnally, they sought him too late. The Savior passed through Capernaum the day before. He would not go back now. They did not seek him when he was to be found. It is written, “Seek ye the LORD while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near (Isa 55:6). Our Lord Jesus refused to go back to Capernaum, the larger, more populated city, and carried his grace to the smaller towns and villages surrounding it, because he has mercy on whom he will have mercy.

We need to learn this. No one dictates to God almighty. He does what he will. He is gracious to whom he will be gracious. The sooner we learn this, the better! God always displays his sovereignty in every aspect of grace. He chose to save fallen men, but not fallen angels. He chose some, and passed by others. He redeemed some, but not all. He sends the gospel to some, and hides it from others. He calls some who hear the gospel, and leaves others in darkness, death, and condemnation (Mat 11:20-30).

Christ the Preacher

Third, Mark directs our attention to our Masters chosen occupation. “And he said unto them, Let us go into the next towns, that I may preach there also: for therefore came I forth. And he preached in their synagogues throughout all Galilee, and cast out devils” (Mar 1:38-39).

When the Son of God came into this world, he chose to be a gospel preacher. He came here to be a preacher of the gospel. He came to fulfill the Scriptures by coming as a prophet, the prophet greater than Moses, who had been foretold by Moses himself (Deu 13:15).

What a high, high honor the Son of God put upon the office and work of the gospel preacher. He might have chosen to come as a ceremonial priest, like Aaron. He could have worn a crown like David. But he chose to be a preacher. The Son of God left the glory which he had with the Father before the worlds were made to do the work of an evangelist, to be a street preacher. He came down here not only to establish peace, but to preach it, not only to bring in righteousness, but to preach it, not only to obtain eternal redemption by the shedding of his blood, but to peach it! Jesus Christ came preaching the gospel, proclaiming deliverance to the captive, the recovering of sight to the blind, and peace to them that were far off (Isa 61:1-3).

I stress this fact with very good reason. In our day men and women everywhere have decided that preaching is out-of-date. It is no longer accepted in intellectual circles for a man to stand in a pulpit and preach the gospel to men. Many have given up preaching because it is not popular. They have become spiritual counselors. Rather than preaching to sinners, they engage in dialogue. Instead of preaching, we have cantatas, plays, ceremonies, celebrations, and candlelight services!

What utter nonsense! The Son of God came here as a preacher. The church of Christ was originally gathered by preaching. Throughout history her health, strength, and prosperity have been promoted and maintained by preaching. It is by the preaching of the gospel that sinners are saved, saints are edified, and the kingdom of God is built up.

Take care that you never despise or lightly esteem this great, God honored, God ordained service. Despise not prophesyings (1Th 5:20). The preacher may be very learned or very plain, very deep or very simple, very polished or very rough, but if he is the messenger of God to your soul, treat him as the angel of God, the messenger of God to your soul; and teach your children to do the same.

May God the Holy Spirit graciously enable us to remember the things set before us in this passage of Scripture and apply effectually them to our hearts. Nothing is more important than the worship of our God. We ought always to pray, and not to faint (Luk 18:1), praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints (Eph 6:18). Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy (Luk 21:36).

Our God is always sovereign in the operations of his grace. Let us ever seek his will and bow to his will. He has mercy on whom he will. And, as he is sovereign in all his works of grace, he is effectual. He will save his people from their sins.

And the means by which he has chosen to do so is the preaching of the gospel. Gospel preaching is the one thing that is called the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth…For therein is the righteousness of God revealed (Rom 1:16-17). It is Gods ordained instrument of spiritual blessing and benefit to the souls of men.

“How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace; that bringeth good tidings of good, that publisheth salvation; that saith unto Zion, Thy God reigneth” (Isa 52:7).

“And we beseech you, brethren, to know them which labour among you, and are over you in the Lord, and admonish you; (13) And to esteem them very highly in love for their work’s sake. And be at peace among yourselves” (1Th 5:12-13)

“Remember them which have the rule over you, who have spoken unto you the word of God: whose faith follow, considering the end of their conversationObey them that have the rule over you, and submit yourselves: for they watch for your souls, as they that must give account, that they may do it with joy, and not with grief: for that is unprofitable for you” (Heb 13:7; Heb 13:17).

Mark speaks of the beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God in direct connection with the preaching of John the Baptist (Mar 1:1-4), because God makes known the good news of redemption and grace, salvation and eternal life in Christ by sending preachers to proclaim it in the power of the Holy Spirit.

Yet, the means itself is of no benefit to our souls without the power and grace of God the Holy Spirit. It is only by the Spirit of God that the preached Word of God can make us wise unto salvation through the faith that is in Jesus Christ. To use the words of Robert Hawker, May the Holy Three, which bear record in heaven, grant to us such sweet testimonies in our hearts and consciences of the truth as it is in Jesus, that we may enjoy that life eternal, to know the Lord Jehovah, Father, Son, and Spirit, to be the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom he hath sent.

The gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, which began before the worlds were made, has its beginning in the hearts of chosen sinners as it is now made manifest by the appearing of our Saviour Jesus Christ, who hath abolished death, and hath brought life and immortality to light through the gospel (2Ti 1:10). For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of GodFor after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe (1Co 1:18; 1Co 1:21), to the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known by the church the manifold wisdom of God (Eph 3:10).

Fuente: Discovering Christ In Selected Books of the Bible

Mar 6:46-48, Psa 5:3, Psa 109:4, Luk 4:42, Luk 6:12, Luk 22:39-46, Joh 4:34, Joh 6:15, Eph 6:18, Phi 2:5, Heb 5:7

Reciprocal: Jos 3:1 – rose early 1Sa 1:19 – they rose Psa 55:17 – Evening Psa 88:13 – and in Psa 119:62 – midnight Psa 119:147 – I prevented Pro 18:1 – intermeddleth Pro 31:15 – riseth Son 5:2 – my head Isa 26:9 – my spirit Jer 25:3 – rising Lam 2:19 – cry out Mat 8:18 – saw Luk 5:16 – General Luk 9:28 – into Act 10:9 – Peter Act 20:13 – minding

Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

IN A SOLITARY PLACE

He went out, and departed into a solitary place, and there prayed.

Mar 1:35

We have only to turn over the pages of the Gospel and note, as we go, the similar allusions, and we feel that we have here what is in fact an incidental glimpse into the habitual practice of our Lords secret and separate life.

I. Private prayer part of the common life.In this passage we read that He departed into a solitary place, and there He prayed; in another, by and by, that He departed into a mountain to pray; and then again that He spent the whole night in prayer; and we see all this not in some crisis of His life, but as a part of that which corresponds to the common daily round in your life or mine. And the inference to be drawn, the lesson to be learnt from it is, I think, sufficiently obvious. This secret, separate devotional exercise of the soul was His habitual spiritual food. It was thus that He recruited His moral and spiritual forces, those forces of the spiritual life which constitute at once the beauty, the attraction, the power of His character, and His Divine and awe-inspiring separateness.

II. If Christ needed these exercises, these secret and silent hours, what shall we say of our own lives? And what do we expect to make of our moral and spiritual character unless we, too, are careful to cherish under all circumstances some such recurring moments in our round of life and occupation, at which we retire into the sanctuary of separate communion with God the Father? You may take it as a moral certainty, proved by all experience, that unless you hold to a fixed habit of thus bringing your life into the secret and separate presence of God, in private prayer and thought, you incur the risk of sinking to any levels that happen to be the ordinary levels, and of drifting with any currents that happen to prevail.

Bishop Percival.

Illustration

The spiritual is always near us. But in the solitude of nature, where all is peaceful, and pure, and lofty, our heart is often made more accessible, accessible as it had not been, to the impressions and inspirations of the spiritual. Having departed to a solitary place, there He prayed; there, at last, the distant visions passed down into His soul, put Him above all fretting, all fuming thought and care. There He was able to pray to His full clearing and calm, as He could not in His chamber in the town. There He felt anew the overreaching and encompassing of the Father, and poured Himself out in prayer, which was all that He wanted to set Him right. And how only another place or other surroundings now helps us sometimes, helps us to think more healthily, helps to bring us to a better mood, to raise us aloft above what we are!

Fuente: Church Pulpit Commentary

5

Jesus was human as well as divine, and therefore he preferred to be alone with his Father at certain times. There is a foolish theory that Jesus and God are one in person. If that were true, to whom did he pray in that solitary place? The theory breaks down under the weight of its own absurdity.

Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary

EVERY fact in our Lord’s life on earth, and every word which fell from His lips, ought to be deeply interesting to a true Christian. We see a fact and a saying in the passage we have just read, which deserve close attention.

We see, for one thing, an example of our Lord Jesus Christ’s habits about private prayer. We are told, that “in the morning, rising up a great while before day, He went out and departed into a solitary place, and there prayed.”

We shall find the same thing often recorded of our Lord in the Gospel history. When He was baptized, we are told that He was “praying.” (Luk 3:21.) When He was transfigured, we are told, that “as He prayed, the fashion of His face was altered.” (Luk 9:29.) Before He chose the twelve apostles, we are told that “He continued all night in prayer to God.” (Luk 6:12.) When all men spoke well of Him, and would fain have made Him a King, we are told that “He went up into a mountain apart to pray.” (Mat 14:23.) When tempted in the garden of Gethsemane, He said, “Sit ye here, while I shall pray.” (Mar 14:32.) In short, our Lord prayed always, and did not faint. Sinless as He was, He set us an example of diligent communion with His Father. His Godhead did not render Him independent of the use of all means as a man. His very perfection was a perfection kept up through the exercise of prayer.

We ought to see in all this the immense importance of private devotion. If He who was “holy, harmless, undefiled, and separate from sinners,” thus prayed continually, how much more ought we who are compassed with infirmity? If He found it needful to offer up supplications with strong crying and tears, how much more needful is it for us, who in many things offend daily?

What shall we say to those who never pray at all, in the face of such a passage as this? There are many such, it may be feared, in the list of baptized people-many who rise up in the morning without prayer, and without prayer lie down at night-many who never speak one word to God. Are they Christians? It is impossible to say so. A praying Master, like Jesus, can have no prayerless servants. The Spirit of adoption will always make a man call upon God. To be prayerless is to be Christless, Godless, and in the high road to destruction.

What shall we say to those who pray, yet give but little time to their prayers? We are obliged to say that they show at present very little of the mind of Christ. Asking little, they must expect to have little. Seeking little, they cannot be surprised if they possess little. It will always be found that when prayers are few, grace, strength, peace, and hope are small. [Footnote: “Ministers must pray much, if they would be successful. The apostles spent their time this way (Act 6:4). Yea, our Lord Jesus preached all day, and continued all night alone in prayer to God. Ministers should be much in prayer. They use to reckon how many hours they spend in reading and study. It were far better both for ourselves and the Church of God, if more time was spent in prayer. Luther’s spending three hours daily in secret prayer, and Bradford’s studying on his knees, and other instances of men in our time, are talked of rather than imitated.”-Traill. 1696]

We shall do well to watch our habits of prayer with a holy watchfulness. Here is the pulse of our Christianity. Here is the true test of our state before God. Here true religion begins in the soul, when it does begin. Here it decays and goes backward, when a man backslides from God. Let us walk in the steps of our blessed Master in this respect as well as in every other. Like Him, let us be diligent in our private devotion. Let us know what it is to “depart into solitary places and pray.”

We see, for another thing, in this passage, a remarkable saying of our Lord as to the purpose for which He came into the world. We find Him saying, “let us go into the next towns, that I may preach there also: for therefore came I forth.”

The meaning of these words is plain and unmistakable. Our Lord declares that He came on earth to be a preacher and a teacher. He came to fulfill the prophetical office, to be the “prophet greater than Moses,” who had been so long foretold. (Deu 18:15.) He left the glory which He had from all eternity with the Father, to do the work of an evangelist. He came down to earth to show to man the way of peace, to proclaim deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind. One principal part of His work on earth, was to go up and down and publish glad tidings, to offer healing to the broken-hearted, light to them that sat in darkness, and pardon to the chief of sinners. “Therefore,” He says, “came I forth.”

We ought to observe here, what infinite honor the Lord Jesus puts on the office of the preacher. It is an office which the eternal Son of God Himself undertook. He might have spent his earthly ministry in instituting and keeping up ceremonies, like Aaron. He might have ruled and reigned as a king, like David. But He chose a different calling. Until the time when He died as a sacrifice for our sins, His daily, and almost hourly work was to preach. “Therefore,” He says, “came I forth.”

Let us never be moved by those who cry down the preacher’s office, and tell us that sacraments and other ordinances are of more importance than sermons. Let us give to every part of God’s public worship its proper place and honor, but let us beware of placing any part of it above preaching. By preaching, the Church of Christ was first gathered together and founded, and by preaching, it has ever been maintained in health and prosperity. By preaching, sinners are awakened. By preaching, inquirers are led on. By preaching, saints are built up. By preaching, Christianity is being carried to the heathen world.-There are many now who sneer at missionaries, and mock at those who go out into the high-ways of our own land, to preach to crowds in the open air. But such persons would do well to pause, and consider calmly what they are doing. The very work which they ridicule is the work which turned the world upside down, and cast heathenism to the ground. Above all, it is the very work which Christ Himself undertook. The King of kings and Lord of lords Himself was once a preacher. For three long years He went to and fro proclaiming the Gospel. Sometimes we see Him in a house, sometimes on the mountain side, sometimes in a Jewish synagogue, sometimes in a boat on the sea. But the great work He took up was always one and the same. He came always preaching and teaching. “Therefore,” He says, “came I forth.”

Let us leave the passage with a solemn resolution never to “despise prophesying.” (1Th 5:20.) The minister we hear may not be highly gifted. The sermons that we listen to may be weak and poor. But after all, preaching is God’s grand ordinance for converting and saving souls. The faithful preacher of the Gospel is handling the very weapon which the Son of God was not ashamed to employ. This is the work of which Christ has said, “Therefore came I forth.”

Fuente: Ryle’s Expository Thoughts on the Gospels

Mar 1:35. A great while before day, or, while it was still night Luke: when it was day, or literally, it becoming day. Both refer to the same point of time, the earliest dawn. Between this and the parallel passage in Luke there is a great difference in words, though none in matter. A proof of the independence of Mark, since Matthew does not give these details.

Into a desert place. Just as in Luke. Solitary place really expresses the uninhabited character of the region referred to, but the word is usually rendered desert Evidently near Capernaum.

And there prayed. Our Lords example enjoins secret prayer. His work and prayer are closely connected. The punctilious observance of the Sabbath in Capernaum gave the people their rest, and yet must have abridged our Lords repose. Prayer with Him seems to have been not only intimate communion with His Father, but a necessary preparation for His ministry. How much more needful for us!

Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament

Observe here, 1. The duty performed by our Saviour, Namely, prayer, solitary and private prayer. He went by himself alone, out of the hearing of his disciples. The company of our best friends is not always seasonable, nor acceptable; there are times and cases when a Christian would not be willing that his dearest relations upon earth should hear that conversation which passes betwixt him and his God.

Observe, 2. Christ chooses the opportunity of the morning for prayer, he rises a great while before day to set about this work. Teaching us, that the morning is a fit season, yea, the best season, for private duties: now our spirits are freshest and our minds freest, before the distractions of the day break in upon us. It is better to go from prayer to business, than from business to prayer.

Fuente: Expository Notes with Practical Observations on the New Testament

Mar 1:35-39. And in the morning, a great while before day , When the night was very far advanced, or, when it was yet deep night, he went out, &c. Thus diligently did the Son of God labour for us! After the preceding day had been spent in preaching, and the evening in working miracles, Jesus allowed himself but a very short repose. And departed into a solitary place Withdrawing not only from the multitude, but even from his disciples; for the company of the best friends is not always seasonable nor acceptable. There are times and cases when a true Christian would not be willing that his dearest friends should be witnesses of what passes between God and his soul. By retiring thus early in the morning for prayer, our Lord teaches that the morning is a fit season, yea, the best season, for private duties. Then our spirits are most fresh, and our minds most free, before the cares and distractions of the day have broken in upon us. It is better to go from prayer to business, than from business to prayer. But not only early in the morning, but at other convenient times, we find our Lord retiring to pour out his soul in prayer to his heavenly Father, hereby showing all his followers the great importance of cultivating communion with God in private: and those who are employed in his public service should especially attend to this, lest, while they keep the vineyard of others, their own should be neglected and empoverished. And Simon, &c., followed after him When the day was somewhat advanced, and crowds of people came to inquire after him, Peter, and they that were with him That is, those who have been already mentioned as his partners and companions, guessing where he was, went out and followed after him; and said, All men seek for thee They were glad that their Master was become so popular already, and wished him to appear in public yet more in that place, because it was their own city, and men are apt to be partial to the places with which they are particularly acquainted, and in which they feel themselves peculiarly interested. And he said, Let us go into the next towns The villages in the neighbourhood; that I may preach there also And work miracles there; for therefore came I forth Not to be constantly resident in one place, but to go about doing good. It being Christs design to propagate the gospel everywhere, he would not confine his ministry to any particular place, no, not to the great city of Capernaum; but resolves to preach the word in the smallest towns and villages. Herein he set ministers an instructive example, showing them that they must be as willing to preach the gospel in the smallest villages as in the largest cities, when God calls them thereunto. Let the place be never so obscure and mean, and the congregation never so small and poor, the greatest must not think it beneath them to go and instruct them, though but a handful of people. And he preached throughout all Galilee Not drawn from his purpose by the persuasions, however importunate, of his friends. And cast out devils Working also divers miracles to illustrate and confirm his doctrine. See on Mat 4:23.

Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

XXXIII.

JESUS MAKES A PREACHING TOUR

THROUGH GALILEE.

aMATT. IV. 23-25; bMARK I. 35-39; cLUKE IV. 42-44.

b35 And in the morning, a great while before day, he rose up went out [i. e., from the house of Simon Peter], and departed into a desert place, and there prayed. [Though Palestine was densely populated, its people were all gathered into towns, so that it was usually easy to find solitude outside the city limits. A ravine near Capernaum, called the Vale of Doves, would afford such solitude. Jesus taught ( Mat 6:6) and practiced solitary prayer. We can commune with God better when alone than when in the company of even our dearest friends. It is a mistaken notion that one can pray equally well at all times and in all places. Jesus being in all things like men, except that he was sinless ( Heb 2:17), must have found prayer a real necessity. He prayed as a human being. Several reasons for this season of prayer are suggested, from which we select two: 1. It was a safeguard against the temptation to vainglory induced by the unbounded admiration and praise of the multitude whom he had just healed. 2. It was a fitting preparation on the eve of his departure on his first missionary tour.] c42 And when it was day, he came out and went into a desert place. [Mark has in mind the season when Jesus sought the Father in prayer, and so he tells us it was “a great while before day.” Luke has in mind the hour when Jesus faced and spoke to the multitude, so he says, “When it was day.”] b36 And Simon. [As head of the house which Jesus had just left, Simon naturally acted as leader and guide to the party which sought Jesus] and they that were with him [they who were stopping in Simon’s house; viz.: Andrew, James, and John] followed after him [172] [literally, “pursued after him.” Xenophon uses this word to signify the close pursuit of an enemy in war. Simon had no hesitancy in obtruding on the retirement of the Master. This rushing after Jesus in hot haste accorded with his impulsive nature. The excited interest of the people seemed to the disciples of Jesus to offer golden opportunities, and they could not comprehend his apparent indifference to it]; 37 and they found him, and say unto him, All are seeking thee. [The disciples saw a multitude seeking Jesus for various causes: some to hear, some for excitement, some for curiosity. To satisfy the people seemed to them to be Christ’s first duty. Jesus understood his work better than they. He never encouraged those who sought through mere curiosity or admiration ( Joh 6:27). Capernaum accepted the benefit of his miracles, but rejected his call to repentance– Mat 11:23.] 38 And he saith unto them, Let us go elsewhere into the next towns [the other villages of Galilee], that I may preach there also; for to this end came I forth. [I. e., I came forth from the Father ( Joh 16:28) to make and preach a gospel. His disciples failed to understand his mission. Afterwards preaching was with the apostles the all-important duty– Act 6:2, 1Co 1:17.] cand the multitudes sought him after him, and came unto him, and would have stayed him, that he should not go from them. [They would have selfishly kept his blessed ministries for their own exclusive enjoyment.] 43 But he said unto them, I must preach the good tidings of the kingdom of God to the other cities also: for therefore was I sent. [Jesus sought to arouse the entire nation. That which the disciples regarded as a large work in Capernaum was consequently in his sight a very small one. Those who understand that it is God’s will and wish to save every man that lives upon the earth will not be overelated by a successful revival in some small corner of the great field of labor.] b39 And he aJesus went about in all Gailiee [The extreme length of Galilee was about sixty-three miles, and its extreme width about thirty-three miles. Its average [173] dimensions were about fifty by twenty-five miles. It contained, according to Josephus, two hundred and forty towns and villages. Its population at that time is estimated at about three millions. Lewin calculates that this circuit of Galilee must have occupied four or five months. The verses of this paragraph are, therefore, a summary of the work and influence of Jesus during the earlier part of his ministry. They are a general statement, the details of which are given in the subsequent chapters of the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke–the Gospel of John dealing more particularly with the work in Juda], binto their synagogues throughout all Galilee, ateaching in their synagogues [The word “synagogue” is compounded of the two Greek words “sun,” together, and “ago,” to collect. It is, therefore, equivalent to our English word “meeting-house.” Tradition and the Targums say that these Jewish houses of worship existed from the earliest times. In proof of this assertion Deu 31:11, Psa 74:8 are cited. But the citations are insufficient, that in Deuteronomy not being in point, and the seventy-fourth Psalm being probably written after the Babylonian captivity. It better accords with history to believe that the synagogue originated during the Babylonian captivity, and was brought into the motherland by the returning exiles. Certain it is that the synagogue only came into historic prominence after the books of the Old Testament were written. At the time of our Saviour’s ministry synagogues were scattered all over Palestine, and also over all quarters of the earth whither the Jews had been dispersed. Synagogues were found in very small villages, for wherever ten “men of leisure,” willing and able to devote themselves to the service of the synagogue, were found, a synagogue might be erected. In the synagogues the people met together on the Sabbaths to pray, and to listen to the reading of the portions of the Old Testament, and also to hear such instruction or exhortation as might be furnished. With the permission of the president of the synagogue any one who was fitted might deliver an address. Thus the synagogues furnished Jesus (and in later times his disciples also) with a congregation [174] and a suitable place for preaching. We find that on week days Jesus often preached in the open air. But the synagogues are thus particularly mentioned, probably, because in them were held the most important services, because they were necessary during the rainy and cold season, and because their use shows that as yet the Jewish rulers had not so prejudiced the public mind as to exclude Jesus from the houses of worship], and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, band casting out demons [Mark singles out this kind of miracle as most striking and wonderful], aand healing all manner of disease and all manner of sickness among the people. 24 And the report of him went forth into all Syria [caravans passing through Galilee back and forth between the Mediterranean seaports on the west and the Persian cities on the east, and between Damascus on the north and Egypt on the south, would carry the reports concerning Jesus far and wide]: and they brought unto him all that were sick, holden with divers diseases and torments, possessed with demons, and epileptic, and palsied; and he healed them. [Thus, by his actions, Jesus showed that the kingdom of God had come. The wonders of Moses were mostly miracles of judgment, those of Jesus were acts of compassion. The diseases here enumerated are still among the most difficult for physicians to handle. The term “palsy” included all forms of paralysis, catalepsy, and cramps.] 25 And there followed him great multitudes [these popular demonstration, no doubt, intensified the erroneous notion of his disciples that the kingdom of Jesus was to be one of worldly grandeur] from Galilee and Decapolis [Decapolis is formed from the two Greek words “deka,” ten, and “polis,” city. As a geographical term, Decapolis refers to that part of Syria lying east, southeast, and south of the Lake of Galilee. There is some doubt as to which were the ten cities named, for there seem at times to have been fourteen of them. Those commonly reckoned are 1. Damascus. 2. Philadelphia. 3. Raphana. 4. Sycthopolis. 5. Gadara. 6. Hyppos. 7. Dion. 8. Pella. 9. Galas. 10. Kanatha. The [175] other four are Abila and Kanata (distinct from Kanatha), Csarea Philippi, and Gergesa. None of these were in Galilee save Sycthopolis. According to Ritter, these cities were colonized principally by veterans from the army of Alexander the Great. A reminiscence of their Macedonian origin is found in the fact that there was a city named Pella in Macedonia. These cities are said to have been formed into a confederacy by Pompey the Great. In the time of Jesus they were chiefly inhabited by Greeks or heathens, and not by Jews. Josephus expressly calls Gadara and Hyppos Greek cities] and Jerusalem and Juda and from beyond the Jordan. [The land beyond Jordan was called Pera, which means “beyond.” According to Josephus, it included territory between the cities of Pella on the north and Machrus on the south. That is to say, its northern boundary began on the Jordan opposite the southern line of Galilee, and its southern boundary was at Moab, about the middle of the east shore of the Dead Sea.] c44 And he was preaching in the synagogues of Galilee.

[FFG 172-176]

Fuente: McGarvey and Pendleton Commentaries (New Testament)

EVANGELISM OF JESUS

Mar 1:35-39; Luk 4:42-44. From Capernaum, His headquarters, He now radiates out through the surrounding country, accompanied by His disciples, Peter, Andrew, James, and John, going everywhere preaching the Living Word. And He was preaching in their synagogues throughout all Galilee, and casting out demons. We find the constant work of Jesus, in all His ministry, consisted in demoniacal ejectment in the interest of the soul, and physical healing in the interest of the body, thus gloriously fulfilling His mission as the Redeemer of mankind. Lord, help us to be true to our calling, and walk in Thy footprints! In that case we will labor incessantly in the work of both soul and body. Man is a dependency, and consequently always actuated by spiritual influence, either demoniacal or Divine. As Satan is the great deceiver, it becomes his climacteric stratagem so to delude his votaries as not only to render them unconscious of demoniacal possession, but even plunge them so deeply into infidelity that they do not believe in diabolical existence. Humanity is uniform in all ages. We see, everywhere, bodily ailments prevalent, and readily admit the need of the Healer. With the needed spiritual illumination, we would equally obviously recognize demoniacal possession on all sides, and the imperative need of the Omnipotent Ejector. The idea generally prevails that these demoniacal possessions were only peculiar to the time and place of our Savior’s ministry. This is a mistake. They are everywhere, and will continue till Satan is cast out. Whereas the E.V. calls them devils, you will observe the R.V., in harmony with the original, calls them demons, devil being the appropriate cognomen of Satan, and a translation of the Greek diabolus; whereas, in all of these cases, where the E.V. speaks of casting out devils, diabolus does not occur in the original, but daimonion, demon. These demons are the innumerable host of evil spirits which now throng this world, all seeking a home in some human beast. Some have many of these demons, like the Gadarene; others, fewer. But all who are not dominated by the Holy Spirit, are more or less demonized.

Mat 4:23-25. And Jesus was going round all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every disease and every malady among the people. The old prophets all vividly predicted the coming kingdom; John the Baptist, with stentorian voice, proclaimed its ingress; while Jesus, following him, preached the kingdom as a present reality, exhorting the people to fly thither, thus finding refuge from death and hell. During the gospel dispensation, the kingdom of God on earth is encompassed on all sides with Satanic antagonism, only becoming the asylum of the faithful few, who live in constant anticipation of the return of our glorious King, when He will cast out the enemy and conquer the world.

And His fame went abroad into all Syria. Whereas Galilee, which is bounded on the south by Samaria, west by the great sea, east by the Jordan, and north by Syria, was the center of our Savior’s evangelistic peregrinations, and the scene of most of His mighty works.

And they brought to Him all those who were afflicted, being possessed with various diseases and troubles; i.e., from all parts of the surrounding country, they are now bringing the people who are afflicted with every diversity of diseases and physical ailments, and He is healing them, to the infinite joy of the poor sufferers and their friends and the ineffable glory of His ministry. And the demonized; i.e., the people who needed spiritual help, because they were possessed with demons, which must be cast out or they will drag them into hell. And the lunatics. In that day they had no lunatic asylums for the benefit of the people thus unfortunately afflicted with mental derangement, but their friends had to take care of them the best they could, or let them run at large, the terror and annoyance of the community. Doubtless many of these lunatics were epileptical. And the paralyzed; and He healed them all. Nervous paralysis, which is very common at the present day, as a rule, is incurable by medical skill. Here we see the Great Healer finds no stubborn cases fevers retreat away, paralytics leap and run to tell the glorious news, lunatics and epileptics are healed in a moment by His word, while all demons, evacuating their victims, retreat before Him.

Many multitudes followed Him from Galilee. The whole country, from the Jordan to the sea, from Samaria to Syria, stirred as by a sweeping avalanche, rises up and follows this wonderful Nazarene. And Decapolis. This proper name is from deka, ten, and polis, city, and means the ten cities, with the country they represent, lying east of the Jordan and southeast of the sea of Galilee, and inhabited by Gentiles. And Jerusalem, and Judea, and beyond the Jordan. Almost one year of our Lord’s ministry has passed away. His fame has not only spread throughout all the land of Israel, but has swept over the surrounding Gentile countries like a tornado, bringing multitudes from the ends of the earth to satisfy their curiosity, and see whether the paradoxical reports they have heard are true.

Fuente: William Godbey’s Commentary on the New Testament

Mar 1:35-39. The Decision to Leave Capernaum.The concourse of sick embarrasses Jesus, either because the work of healing tended to obscure His message or because Capernaum threatened to monopolise His attention. Simon may have remembered how the Master left the house and went out of the city to pray. To Simons surprise, Jesus does not seize the favourable opportunity of Capernaum. Gods herald may not remain stationary. Everywhere the proclamation is accompanied by the expulsion of demons. Their overthrow is proof of the nearness of Gods kingdom.

Mar 1:35. and there prayed: No Christology is true which makes a Christ for whom prayer is either unnatural or impossible (H. R. Mackintosh, Doctrine of the Person of Christ, p. 399).

Mar 1:38. for to this end came I forth is interpreted theologically in Luk 4:43* and by many modern commentators, but the phrase may mean simply That is why I left Capernaum, or that was my purpose in setting out to evangelize. The ambiguity proves the priority of Mk.

Fuente: Peake’s Commentary on the Bible

Verse 35

He went out; that is, out of Simon’s house, where he had spent the night.

Fuente: Abbott’s Illustrated New Testament

35 And in the morning, rising up a great while before day, he went out, and departed into a solitary place, and there prayed. 36 And Simon and they that were with him followed after him. 37 And when they had found him, they said unto him, All [men] seek for thee. 38 And he saidunto them, Let us go into the next towns, that I may preach there also: for therefore came I forth. 39 And he preached in their synagogues throughout all Galilee, and cast out devils.

It would seem according to Luke that the crowd was close behind the disciples “…and the multitudes sought after him and came unto him and would have stayed him….”

Both Mark and Luke mention the thought that Christ came to minister to these particular people. Luke uses the term “sent” to describe Christ’s compulsion to minister to these.

Matthew adds 4.23 “…preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all manner of disease and all manner of sickness. 24 And his fame went throughout all Syria: and they brought unto him all sick people that were taken with divers diseases and torments, and those which were possessed with devils, and those which were lunatic, and those that had the palsy; and he healed them. 25 And there followed him great multitudes of people from Galilee, and from Decapolis and from Jerusalem, and from Judaea, and from beyond Jordan.”

Now before we go too much further let me assure you that I believe that God can perform miraculous things in our day if or when He has a mind to, however I do not believe that the kind of miracles Christ did can occur today. His ministry was to call attention to the fact that He was God and that He was the Messiah come to set up the kingdom. This is why Matthew gives such great emphasis to the miracles here.

There is indication in the book of Acts that Paul did many miraculous things in the early part of his ministry, but it is also clear that he could not do these things in his later ministry. In Act 19:12 we see that he did not even have to be present for the healing to take place. “So that from his body were brought unto the sick handkerchiefs or aprons, and the diseases departed from them, and the evil spirits went out of them.” Again in Act 28:8 we see, “And it came to pass that the father of Publius lay sick of a fever and of a bloody flux: to whom Paul entered in, and prayed, and laid his hands on him, and healed him. 9 So when this was done, others also, which had diseases in the island, came, and were healed:”

Yet in later life he could not heal his own thorn in the flesh, he could not heal Timothy, and he could not heal Epaphroditus in Php 2:25 ff “… Epaphroditus, my brother, and companion in labour, and fellowsoldier, but your messenger, and he that ministered to my wants. 26 For he longed after you all, and was full of heaviness, because that ye had heard that he had been sick. 27 For indeed he was sick nigh unto death: but God had mercy on him; and not on him only, but on me also, lest I should have sorrow upon sorrow.” Nor could he heal Trophimus, 2Ti 4:20 b “Trophimus have I left at Miletum sick.”

Based on this I have more than once requested charismatic healers to come to Salem and go with me to the Salem Hospital to heal everyone. With the power that Christ showed and the gift of healing that Paul had early in ministry we could shut down the wards, we could empty the surgical units, and empty the many other clinics and offices. There would be no need for further health insurance in our country if the Charismatic movement was right about the gift of healing. The medical profession would go extinct within days; however that is not going to happenbecause this sort of healing was for a specific purpose and a specific time – introduction and identification of the Messiah.

Some simple observations about Christ’s activities: He rose very early; he went out away from others, into a solitary place and prayed.

There seems to be a commitment to do what He needed to do, there seems to have been a plan as to how He was going to do what He was going to do, and finally He did it.

Oh how committed we are to praying, and oh how organized we are about how we are going to do it, but there often is a failure in the doing. I have found over the years that often are the times that I have committed to praying daily from a list. I specify “from a list” to denote that I often pray during the day, evening, and even at night when I wake up, but those are times of prayer that come to me as I walk through life. But to specify a time, a place and purpose to do so, has often eluded me. There have been times, even long times when this was a part of my life, but often also are the times when chaos ruled and I failed to complete this sort of commitment.

This may be true of many of us, but the point is that amid all the chaos of Christ’s life, He made it a point to pray. This should also be our goal in life. Just as a suggestion, if you have this lack of time, commitment or purpose, try different times of the day. Try different places, and you will probably find a situation that works for you. While teaching I found myself in total melt down time wise. There were times when sleep was optional, and others when eating was optional, but during that time I purposed to rise way before everyone else to spend time reading a devotional reading the word and praying. It was a terribly hard time to keep at it when I could barely stay awake, but during those times I found standing worked well.

Prayer is our communication with our Father and we need it. We need to focus in on a regular specific basis as well as all those other times when our mind is free and we can spend a moment or two with Him in prayer.

We might note that even though Christ was up very early, that He was still at times interrupted.

It was also interesting that all three Gospels mentioned that Christ was doing his ministry inside the synagogues. He was taking the message right to the ones that had need – the spiritual of the nation of Israel.

Pastor might you want to take note. Christ ministered to the spiritual in the meeting place of believers, ought you EVER do less? Churches are full of believers, with a mix of non-believers so why do so many pastors minister to the minority of those present. The church is for edification, not evangelism. We have sorely lost our purpose and direction today in the American church. We have left the building up of the saints for trying to get lost entertained people saved. If the Spirit of God cannot bring these people to God, how in the world can we ever bring them to Him with films, games, singing, and other tricks of the current trade?

Recently a friend that was trying to get an adult ministry started in his church had arranged foroff campus facilities and offered to do the teaching. The pastoral staff insisted that they did not have the facilities and that he should wait until the pastoral staff was able to get their new 1.5 million dollar facility built. The man asked how long that might be. He was told probably around two years. He replied, oh I understand you are putting off edification for the building of the edifice. They had substituted edificeication for edification.

Priorities are so terribly askew these days in so many churches.

Fuente: Mr. D’s Notes on Selected New Testament Books by Stanley Derickson

C. Jesus’ early ministry throughout Galilee 1:35-45

Jesus made several preaching tours throughout Galilee. Mark summarized the first of these (Mar 1:35-39) and then related one especially significant event during that tour (Mar 1:40-45). This section continues to present Jesus as the Servant of the Lord who went about doing the messianic work that His Father had assigned to Him.

Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)

1. The first preaching tour of Galilee 1:35-39 (cf. Luke 4:42-44)

While these verses record the itinerant ministry of Jesus, Mark’s emphasis was clearly on Jesus’ spiritual preparation for that ministry. It highlighted His dependence on His Father.

Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)

Mark implied that these events happened the next day. Many people would have slept late after such a busy day, but Jesus rose early, even before dawn, and went to a remote (Gr. eremon, Mar 1:4, wilderness, cf. Mar 1:12) place to pray (Gr. proseucho, the general word for prayer). This sacrificial act paints Jesus as consciously dependent on His Father for strength and direction for what lay ahead of Him (i.e., a servant; cf. Isa 50:4). It also implies further conflict with Satan since Satan had confronted Him in the wilderness previously. Prayerlessness typically manifests self-sufficiency, but prayerfulness reveals humility.

"Mark selectively portrayed Jesus at prayer on three crucial occasions, each in a setting of darkness and aloneness: near the beginning of his account (Mar 1:35), near the middle (Mar 6:46), and near the end (Mar 14:32-42). All three were occasions when He was faced with the possibility of achieving His messianic mission in a more attractive, less costly way. But in each case He gained strength through prayer." [Note: Grassmick, p. 110.]

In this case the crest of popular support that Jesus had ridden the day before threatened to carry Him into political leadership that might have washed out the Cross.

Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)

CHAPTER 1:35-39 (Mar 1:35-39)

JESUS IN SOLITUDE

“And in the morning, a great while before day, He rose up and went out, and departed into a desert place, and there prayed. And Simon and they that were with him followed after Him; and they found Him, and say unto Him, All are seeking Thee. And He saith unto them, Let us go elsewhere into the next towns, that I may preach there also; for to this end came I forth. And He went into their synagogues throughout all Galilee, preaching and casting out devils.” Mar 1:35-39 (R.V.)

ST. Mark is pre-eminently the historian of Christ’s activities. From him chiefly we learn to add to our thought of perfect love and gentleness that of One whom the zeal of God’s house ate up. But this evangelist does not omit to tell us by what secret fountains this river of life was fed; how the active labors of Jesus were inspired in secret prayers. Too often we allow to one side of religion a development which is not excessive, but disproportionate, and we are punished when contemplation becomes nerveless, or energy burns itself away.

After feeding the five thousand, St. Mark tells us that Jesus, while the storm gathered over His disciples on the lake, went up into a mountain to pray. And St. Luke tells of a whole night of prayer before choosing His disciples, and how it was to pray that He climbed the mountain of transfiguration.

And we read of Him going into a desert place with His disciples, and to Olivet, and oft-times resorting to the garden where Judas found Him, where, in the dead of night, the traitor naturally sought Him.

Prayer was the spring of all His energies, and His own saying indicated the habit of His mortal life as truly as the law of His mysterious generation: “I live by the Father.”

His prayers impress nothing on us more powerfully than the reality of His manhood. He, Who possesses all things, bends His knees to crave, and His prayers are definite, no empty form, no homage without sense of need, no firing of blank cartridge without an aim. He asks that His disciples may be with Him where He is, that Simon’s strength may fail not, that He may Himself be saved from a dreadful hour. “Such touches” said Godet “do not look like an artificial apotheosis of Jesus, and they constitute a striking difference between the gospel portrait and the legendary caricature.”

The entire evening had been passed in healing the diseases of the whole town; not the light and careless bestowal of a boon which cost nothing, but wrought with so much sympathy, such draining of His own vital forces, that St. Matthew found in it a fulfillment of the prophecy that He should Himself bear our sicknesses. And thus exhausted, the frame might have been forgiven for demanding some indulgence, some prolongation of repose.

But the course of our Lord’s ministry was now opening up before Him, and the hindrances becoming visible. How much was to be hoped from the great impression already made; how much to be feared from the weakness of His followers, the incipient envy of priest and Pharisee, and the volatile excitability of the crowd. At such a time, to relieve His burdened heart with Divine communion was more to Jesus than repose, as, at another time, to serve was to Him meat to eat. And therefore, in the still fresh morning, long before the dawn, while every earthly sight was dim but the abysses of heaven were vivid, declaring without voice, amid the silence of earth’s discord, the glory and the handiwork of His Father, Jesus went into a solitary place and prayed.

What is it that makes solitude and darkness dreadful to some, and oppressive to very many?

Partly the sense of physical danger, born of helplessness and uncertainty. This He never felt, who knew that He must walk today and tomorrow, and on the third day be perfected. And partly it is the weight of unwelcome reflection, the searching and rebukes of memory, fears that come of guilt, and inward distractions of a nature estranged from the true nature of the universe. Jesus was agitated by no inward discords, upbraided by no remorse. And He had probably no reveries; He is never recorded to soliloquize; solitude to Him was but another name for communion with God His Father; He was never alone, for God was with Him.

This retirement enabled Him to remain undisturbed until His disciples found Him, long after the crowds had besieged their dwelling. They had not yet learned how all true external life must rest upon the hidden life of devotion, and there is an accent of regret in the words, “Allare seeking Thee,” as if Jesus could neglect in self-culture any true opportunity for service.

The answer, noteworthy in itself, demands especial attention in these times of missions, demonstrations, Salvation Armies, and other wise and unwise attempts to gather excited crowds around the cross.

Mere sensation actually repelled Jesus. Again and again He charged men not to make Him known, in places where He would stay; while in Gadara, which He had to leave, His command to the demoniac was the reverse. Deep and real convictions are not of kin with sightseeing and the pursuit of wonders. Capernaum has now heard His message, has received its full share of physical blessing, is exalted unto heaven. Those who were looking for redemption knew the gospel, and Jesus must preach it in other towns also. Therefore, and not to be the center of admiring multitudes, came He forth from His quiet home.

Such is the sane and tranquil action of Jesus, in face of the excitement caused by His many miracles. Now the miracles themselves, and all that depends on them, are declared to be the creation of the wildest fanaticism, either during His lifetime or developing His legend afterwards. And if so, we have here, in the action of human mind, the marvel of modern physicists, ice from a red-hot retort, absolute moderation from a dream of frenzy. And this paradox is created in the act of “explaining” the miracles. The explanation, even were it sustained by any evidence, would be as difficult as any miracle to believe.

Fuente: Expositors Bible Commentary