Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Mark 3:7
But Jesus withdrew himself with his disciples to the sea: and a great multitude from Galilee followed him, and from Judea,
7 12. Withdrawal of Jesus to the Lake of Gennesaret
7. a great multitude ] Observe the wide area from which the multitude were now gathered together; the region (1) of Tyre and Sidon and Galilee in the North of Palestine; (2) of Juda and Jerusalem in the centre, (3) of Pera “beyond the Jordan” on the East, (4) of Iduma in the extreme South. This is the only place where Iduma, the country occupied by the descendants of Esau, is mentioned in the N. T. In the O. T. the name is found in Isa 34:5-6; Eze 35:15; Eze 36:5.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
To the sea – The Sea of Galilee, or to the lonely regions which surrounded the sea, where he might be in obscurity, and avoid their designs against his life. His time had not yet come, and he prudently took care of his life, thus showing that we are not needlessly to throw ourselves into danger.
Galilee – See the notes at Mat 2:22.
Judea – The southern division of the land of Palestine.
Jerusalem – Jerusalem was in Judea. It is mentioned particularly to show that not only the people of the surrounding country came, but also many from the capital, the place of wealth, and honor, and power.
Idumea – The country formerly inhabited by the Edomites. In the time of the Saviour it was embraced in the country belonging to the Jews. It was south of Judea proper. The word Idumea is a Greek word made from the Hebrew Edom. It signifies the land of Edom, a name given to Esau, one of the sons of Isaac, Gen 25:30. The word signifies red, and the name was given to him because he sought of Jacob red pottage as the price of his birthright. He settled in Mount Seir Deu 2:5, on the south of the land of Canaan, and the country of Idumea was bounded by Palestine on the north. During the Babylonian captivity the Edomites spread themselves into the country of Judea, and occupied a considerable part of the south of Palestine. They had, however, submitted to the rite of circumcision, and were incorporated with the Jews. From them sprang Herod the Great.
From beyond Jordan – From the region lying east of the river Jordan. The sacred writers lived on the west side of Jordan, and by the country beyond Jordan they meant that on the east side.
Tyre and Sidon – See the notes at Mat 11:21.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Mar 3:7-8
Came unto Him.
A powerful reason for coming to Christ
I. The attraction. They had heard with somewhat of a believing ear. They drew from what they heard an argument of hope. No doubt they were partly urged to come to Him by their own sad condition. They also perceived that Jesus was able to meet their case.
II. The gathering. Hearing did not content them. They did not wait until Jesus came to them. These people did not stop at His disciples. These people who came to Jesus in such crowds must have left their business. Many of them came from a great distance. They came with all their ailments about them.
III. The result. Not one was ever repulsed. All were cured. The attraction, therefore, grew. Therefore, sinners should come because-
(a) Jesus name invites them;
(b) His power encourages them;
(c) His character should allure them;
(d) His preparations should compel them. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Christ accepted by some if hated by others: Christian effort not all in vain
All the world is not bound up in a Pharisees phylactery, nor held in chains by a philosophers new fancy. If some will not have the Saviour, others will; Gods eternal purpose will stand, and the kingdom of His anointed will come. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Flowers after showers
I would have you count upon opposition, and regard it as a token of coming blessing. Dread not the black cloud, it does but prognosticate a shower. March may howl and bluster; April may damp all things with its rains, but the May flowers and the autumns harvest of varied fruits will come, and come by this very means. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 7. Galilee] See Mt 4:13; Mt 4:15.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
But Jesus withdrew himself with his disciples to the sea,…. Knowing their evil designs against him, he departed out of the synagogue, and city of Capernaum; and taking his disciples with him, he went to the shore of the sea of Galilee; not out of fear, but because his time was not yet come, and he had more work to do:
and a great multitude from Galilee: from the several parts of it, in which country he now was:
and from Judea: that part of the land of Israel, which was particularly so called, and belonged to the tribe of Judah.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Withdrew to the sea ( ). Evidently Jesus knew of the plot to kill him, “perceiving it” (Mt 12:15). “He and His would be safer by the open beach” (Swete). He has the disciples with him. Vincent notes that on eleven occasions Mark mentions the withdrawals of Jesus to escape his enemies, for prayer, for rest, for private conference with his disciples (Mark 1:12; Mark 3:7; Mark 6:31; Mark 6:46; Mark 7:24; Mark 7:31; Mark 9:2; Mark 10:1; Mark 14:34). But, as often, a great multitude ( ) from Galilee followed him.
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
Withdrew. Mark alone notes no less than eleven occasions on which Jesus retired from his work, in order to escape his enemies or to pray in solitude, for rest, or for private conference with his disciples. See Mr 1:12; Mr 3:7; Mr 6:31, 46; Mr 7:24, 31; Mr 9:2; Mr 10:1; Mr 14:34.
A great multitude [ ] . Compare verse 8, where the order of the Greek words is reversed. In the former case the greatness of the mass of people is emphasized; in the latter, the mass of people itself.
Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament
1) “But Jesus withdrew Himself with His disciples to the sea (kai ho leosous meta ton matheton autou anechoresen pros ten thassan) “And Jesus departed with His disciples to the sea,” the sea of Galilee, to which He often withdrew from the press of the crowds.
2) “And a great multitude from Galilee followed Him,” (kai polu poethos apo tes Galilaias ekoulouthesen) “And a huge multitude followed from the Galilean area,” Mat 12:15. In spite of the opposition of the Herodians and the Pharisees, the masses kept coming to Jesus, Luk 19:10.
3) “And from Judea.” (kai apo tes loudaias) “And from Judea,” to the South of Galilee.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
CRITICAL AND EXEGETICAL NOTES
Mar. 3:7. Mark several times notes the Saviours seasons of retirement from public notice, either (as in this instance) to escape the pursuit of enemies, or for rest, or to pray, or for conference with His disciples. See Mar. 6:31; Mar. 6:46, Mar. 7:24, Mar. 9:2, Mar. 14:32-35.
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.Mar. 3:7-12
(PARALLEL: Mat. 12:15-21.)
Christ and His disciples.While Pharisees and Herodians are hatching their plots against Him in Capernaum or the neighbouring Sepphoris, Jesus withdraws with His disciples to the purer atmosphere on the borders of the Galilean Lake. It is His first retreat before opposition; and careful readers of the Gospels must observe that whenever the pressure of His enemies became extreme, He turned for safety to the simple fishermen, among whom they had no party, since they had preached no gospel to the poor, and that He was frequently conveyed by water from point to point, easily reached by followers, who sometimes indeed outran Him upon foot, but where treason had to begin its wiles afresh.
I. The popularity of Jesus.
1. Though rejected by the leaders both in Church and State, people flock to Him from all quarters: from North (Tyre and Sidon), South (Judea, Jerusalem, Idumea), East (beyond Jordan), and West (Galilee). Even the Gentiles were beginning to rejoice in Him. In this following multitude we see a prophecy of the great truth that He should draw all men unto Him. There is that about Jesus which compels attention, and causes men to seek after Him. He is the real magnet of men.
2. The motives of those who followed Him were doubtless very mixed. Many came out of sheer curiosity to witness His miracles; others were attracted by self-interest, hoping that they or their friends would participate in the blessings flowing from Him; but some few, we may hope, were drawn by higher considerationsbecause His teaching had found an echo in their hearts, and they thirsted for deeper draughts of the water of life.
II. The adaptability of Jesus.He is equally at home everywhere, and never at a loss for expedients to meet exceptional circumstances. It is all one to Him whether He preaches from a ship or in the synagogue, so long as the great work of His ministry is not retarded. It would have been better for the Church in days not long gone by if she had shown more elasticity and adaptability to the needs of the times, if she had striven rather for unity of faith than for uniformity of practice.
III. Demoniac testimony refused by Jesus.
1. He would not have men believe on Him on the testimony of evil spirits, but on that of God in Scripture, by His own words and works, and by the Spirit revealing this knowledge from the Father (Mat. 16:17; Joh. 14:11).
2. The time had not yet come for a full revelation of Himself, even to His most intimate friends. Nothing is more noticeable in our Lords teaching than that Divine reserve by which the truth is kept in abeyance until men are ready to receive it. This action of His may teach His followers to be discreet. Falsehood indeed is always evil, but at times reticence is a duty, because certain truths are a medicine too powerful for some stages of spiritual disease. The strong sun which ripens the grain in autumn would burn up the tender germs of spring.
Lessons.
1. Christian effort, if rejected by some, will find acceptance from others.
2. No service, however trivial, is disdained by Christ, if the heart be pure.
3. How sad that, while unclean spirits acknowledge the supremacy of Christ, men deny and blaspheme His name.
OUTLINES AND COMMENTS ON THE VERSES
Mar. 3:7. Jesus did not court martyrdom.He had one great purpose in view, and He faced His enemies or withdrew from them, according as He could best accomplish His work. He was not afraid to go away, nor afraid to remain if need be. In many cases it is better quietly to withdraw from a hostile crowd, and do ones work elsewhere.F. N. Peloubet, D. D.
Mar. 3:8. Crowds are not proofs but means of success.The fame of the teaching and the miracles of Jesus brought great multitudes within reach of His influence. He could not go to them all, but they could come to Him. There is a legitimate popularity from earnest words and noble deeds.Ibid.
How did Christ exercise His influence over great throngs?
1. He never lowered the moral tone of His teaching.
2. He was never unequal to the increasing demands made upon His power.
3. He never requested the multitude to help Him in any selfish endeavours.J. Parker, D. D.
Power of the gospel.
1. No subject can draw such great multitudes as the gospel.
2. No subject can so deeply affect great multitudes as the gospel.
3. No subject can so profoundly and lastingly bless great multitudes as the gospel.Ibid.
Mar. 3:9. Christ nearer by removal.This putting off from the shore and separating Himself from the crowd suggests to us a larger fact in the life of Jesus. He has gone away from the earth now to heaven, but He did so that He might the better save us. We know that in a vast throng only a few could even see Him, much less get at Him to touch Him. So we cannot help thinking how disadvantageous it would be for us had Jesus remained on the earth. How many of the poor, plague-stricken men of earth could have gone to Him, or rather how few could have gone to Him! But now that He is removed from the earth to heaven, He is where we may all see Him by faith, even from the ends of the earth, and His word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth and in thy heart, and all who hear His words and believe on Him are saved. In fact, just as Jesus was practically nearer to the multitude, both for sight and hearing, in that little boat than on land, so He is nearer to us now than if He had remained on earthas near to the man in China, in India, or Africa as to us; and all who call upon Him are heard and saved.G. F. Pentecost, D. D.
Mar. 3:10. These miracles
1. Illustrate and express in visible, tangible forms the lovingkindness of God, His goodwill toward men, His desire for their happiness, and His care to make them free from every evil.
2. The blessed effects of Christs mission proved it to be Divine. And to-day, as in those days, the convincing proof of Christianity is found in its beneficent effects. It makes everybody better who accepts it. The drunkard becomes sober, the selfish becomes generous, the vile becomes pure. Schools, colleges, education, hospitals, missions, all forms of benevolence, spring up wherever Christ is believed. Wherever there is the most Christianity, there is the most of all the things that raise and bless men. The map of the world is the proof of the Christian religion.
3. They manifest the power and presence of God in nature, and in His daily providence. Wherever any one act shews Gods presence, He is wholly present with all His power and all His love.F. N. Peloubet, D. D.
Mar. 3:11-12. The testimony of the demons.The publication of Jesus real character and office by demons lips was only an act of spite. Their intention was to force on the antagonism between truth and error, between holiness and sin, and prematurely to bring this Divine history to a tragic close. Therefore Jesus declined this testimony. By the force of His mighty will He silenced these evil spirits; and hereby He demonstrates that it is possible to crush all hostilityhuman or Satanicby the exercise of superior power. But His wisdom has discovered a more excellent way. The will which Divine power has created, Divine power can destroy. Better that Christ should not be made known than that He should be made known by unclean spirits. To be a true servant or preacher of Christ I must be clean.J. D. Davies.
ILLUSTRATIONS TO CHAPTER 3
Mar. 3:9. Waiting is a harder duty than doing.In a certain battle a detachment of cavalry was kept inactive. It was hard for the men to do nothing but wait, while the fight was going on before them. At last, in the crisis of the battle, the command was given them to charge, and that body of fresh men, sweeping down like a torrent, turned the tide of battle. So, in the battle of life, waiting is often the surest means to victory. And it is comforting to know that where we see only the unsightly bud, God sees the perfect flower; where we see the rough pebble He sees the flashing diamond. Patient waiting and patient doing have at last their reward. The traveller who has patiently toiled up the weary passes of the Alps looks down at last with triumph on glorious Italy. Those who have sat by the bedside of a sick friend by night will know how gladly they welcomed the morning. The laurel crown which the victor at Olympia received was in itself of little value; it was prized as a sign of the victory that had come through hard strife. There is a great battle going on in the worldthe strife between good and evil. In that strife we are engaged; and the harder the battle is, the sweeter will be the victory. During the battle of Waterloo, Wellington, it is said, took out his watch, and said, I can hold out for so long. Blucher will be here within an hour, so victory is sure. The Christian can in like manner dismiss all fear as to the result of the conflict in which he is engaged. Though the conflict be sore, though the sword pierce the soul, he knows that the Captain of salvation will not fail him.
Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell
9. THE FAME OF JESUS 3:7-12
TEXT 3:7-12
And Jesus with his disciples withdrew to the sea: and a great multitude from Galilee followed: and from Judea, and from Jerusalem, and from Idumaea, and beyond Jordan, and about Tyre and Sidon, a great multitude, hearing what great things he did, came unto him. And he spake to his disciples, that a little boat should wait on him because of the crowd, lest they should throng him: for he had healed many; insomuch that as many as had plagues pressed upon him that they might touch him. And the unclean spirits, whensoever they beheld him, fell down before him, and cried, saying, Thou art the Son of God. And he charged them much that they should not make him known.
THOUGHT QUESTIONS 3:7-12
114.
Did the opposition of the Pharisees prompt the move to the beach of Galilee?
115.
Where was Idumaea? What is meant by beyond the Jordan?
116.
What number is estimated in the expression a great multitude?
117.
Why were the crowds so interested?
118.
What was Jesus going to do with the little boat?
119.
What was physically wrong with the persons with plagues?
120.
Did Jesus have any failures in healing? Specify.
121.
Why the testimony of the demons?
122.
Why so urgently caution the demons?
COMMENT 3:7-12
TIMEMidsummerA.D. 28.
PLACEThe beach of the sea of Galilee, not far from Capernaum.
PARALLEL ACCOUNTSMat. 12:15-21.
OUTLINE1. Jesus withdraws to the Sea, Mar. 3:7. 2. A multitude follows, Mar. 3:8. 3. The little boat requested, Mar. 3:9. 4. Healing and casting out demons, Mar. 3:10-11.
ANALYSIS
I.
JESUS WITHDRAWS TO THE SEA. Mar. 3:7.
1.
His disciples are with Him.
2.
He is accompanied by a great multitude.
II.
A MULTITUDE FOLLOWS. Mar. 3:8.
1.
From Jerusalem and Judea.
2.
From Idumaea and beyond Jordan.
3.
From round about Tyre and Sidon.
III.
A LITTLE BOAT REQUESTED. Mar. 3:9.
1.
Asked disciples for the boat.
2.
Feared lest He be thronged.
IV.
HEALING AND CASTING OUT DEMONS. Mar. 3:10-12.
1.
So many were healed others pressed toward Him for just a touch.
2.
Unclean spirits cast out and caused to acknowledge His divinity.
3.
Jesus wanted no testimony from an evil sourceand most especially when it was given before He wanted it known.
EXPLANATORY NOTES
I.
JESUS WITHDRAWS TO THE SEA. Mar. 3:7.
But Jesus withdrew himself with his disciples to the sea. His hour was not yet come; so He went with His disciples to the borders of the lake of Galilee, where, if pursued, He could the more easily take ship, and escape to some other part, out of the reach of His persecutors.
II.
A MULTITUDE FOLLOWS, Mar. 3:8.
And a great multitude from Galilee followed him, We should put a full stop after followed him, and read the two verses thus: And a great multitude from Galilee followed him, And a great multitude from Judea, and from Jerusalem, and from Idumaea, and from beyond Jordan, and about Tyre and Sidon, hearing what great things He did, came unto Him. The multitude from the neighboring Galilee, in which He had been preaching and healing, followed Him; the multitude from Judea, and Jerusalem, and from all the regions bordering on the Holy Land, attracted by the fame of His miracles, came to Him. Notice how, though He is rejected by the leaders both in Church and State, the people from all parts seem to accept Him. I say seem, for the Evangelist is careful to inform us that they were attracted, not by His preaching, but by His miracles.
Let the reader notice how here, as before, this Evangelist loves to dwell upon the widespread popularity of the Lord.
III.
A LITTLE BOAT REQUESTED. Mar. 3:9.
And he spake to the disciples, that a small ship should wait on him, The word wait does not give the full meaning of the original, which is the same word as that used in the Apostolic precept, continue instant in prayer, of Rom. 12:12. It means that the ship should be always at His beck and call, so that, by escaping the pressure of the multitude, He should not be unduly hindered in the exercise of His ministry.
IV.
HEALING AND CASTING OUT DEMONS. Mar. 3:10-12.
For he had healed many: insomuch that they pressed upon him, Pressed upon him should rather be rendered fell upon him, as if there was a rush towards Him of all who had plaguesplagues (literally scourges) describing the painfulness and distress of disease, as if it were a scourging inflicted on man as a punishment for his sin.
To touch him. It was the Lords will most frequently to heal men by contact with His body. He makes communication with His body the means by which virtue flows from Himself to those whom He wills to benefit. The reader will understand.
And unclean spirits, when they saw him, fell down before him. The uniformity of action on the part of all evil spirits in the presence of the Lord, in that they should fall down and confess Him, is exceedingly remarkable (Mat. 8:29; Mar. 1:23-24). These fallen beings seem to be under a law that they should thus acknowledge the Son of God. I cannot think that this is to be explained, as so many attempt to do, on the ground of diabolical cunning. It seems as if they were compelled to fall down, and confess their Maker, even though they had made it the one object of their existence to oppose and thwart Him.
And he Straitly charged them that they should not make him known. On this Bede remarks, A sinner is forbidden to preach the Lord, lest any one listening to his preaching should follow him in his error, for the devil is an evil master, who always mingles false things with true, that the semblance of truth may cover the witness of fraud. But not only devils, but persons healed by Christ and even Apostles (Mar. 8:9) are ordered to be silent concerning Him before the Passion, lest by the preaching of the majesty of His Divinity, the economy of His Passion should be retarded. (M. F. Sadler)
FACT QUESTIONS 3:7-12
146.
Why did Jesus withdraw to the borders of the lake of Galilee?
147.
Who followed Jesus and who came to Him?
148.
What is meant by the word wait in reference to the boat?
149.
What would be a better translation of pressed upon him?
150.
Why did the sick want to touch him?
151
.Why did the demons seem compelled to fall down before Jesus?
152.
If demons told the truth why not accept it?
Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series
(7, 8) And from Juda. . . . and from Jerusalem.The fact thus recorded is interesting as in some degree implying the ministry in Jerusalem and its neighbourhood, which the first three Gospels, for some reason or other, pass over.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
34. JESUS AND THE MULTITUDES AT THE SEA OF TIBERIAS, Mar 3:7-12 .
(See notes on Mat 12:15-21.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Further Success (3:7-12).
‘And Jesus with his disciples withdrew to the sea, and a huge crowd from Galilee followed. And from Judaea and from Jerusalem and from Idumaea and beyond Jordan and about Tyre and Sidon, a huge crowd, hearing what things he did, came to him.’
Jesus’ popularity and fame as a prophet was now such as to bring together people from far and wide, from all Galilee and beyond Galilee, from Judaea and Jerusalem, from further North, South and East (West was the Sea), extending from Tyre and Sidon in the North to Idumaea (the ancient Edomites who had been made forcibly to become Jews by the Maccabees) beyond Judaea in the far South, and including Across the Jordan (Transjordan). A whole nation was being stirred, and more. But we note the absence of Samaria. As ‘heretics’ they would not initially be interested in a Jewish prophet, and they would not expect Him to be interested in them. And also the absence of Decapolis. They were not at this point interested in Him.
Idumaea had been conquered by the Jews under John Hyrcanus (about 128 BC) and its inhabitants compelled to submit to circumcision. They were now considered Jewish (second class). Tyre and Sidon had close ties with Galilee and had a large Jewish population.
‘Jesus with His disciples withdrew to the sea.’ This was mainly made necessary by the huge crowds flocking to see Him, but preaching in the open was not unusual at this time and was a well recognised practise. The Rabbis did it as well. And his ceasing to major on the synagogues may also have been politic (see Mat 12:15), for to incite further antagonism (compare Mar 3:1-6) was not a good idea when it was not necessary.
‘A huge crowd from Galilee followed.’ There is possibly a contrast between those who ‘followed’ and those who ‘came to Him’, the former being more permanent, and remaining more permanently with Him.
‘Hearing what things He did.’ Many were seeking the spectacular as people will. But there would also be many who had a deeper, more genuine, motive and genuinely saw in His works the evidence of Who He was.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Amazing Success Brings Fervent Opposition From His Family And Friends (3:7-21).
Jesus’ success expands as He continues to build up His forces for the proclamation of the truth and against the powers of evil, although it is at some personal cost and results in those who have known Him from the past deciding that He needs brining under control.
Analysis.
a
b And He spoke to His disciples, that a little boat should wait on Him because of the crowd, lest they should throng him, for he had healed many, insomuch that as many as had plagues pressed upon him that they might touch him (Mar 3:9-10).
c And the unclean spirits, whenever they beheld him, fell down before him, and cried, saying, “You are the Son of God.” And He strongly charged them that they should not make him known (Mar 3:11-12).
d And He goes up into the mountain, and calls to Him whom He Himself would, and they went to him (Mar 3:13).
c And He appointed twelve, that they might be with Him, and that He might send them forth to preach, and to have authority to cast out devils (who are then named) (Mar 3:14-19 a).
b And He comes into a house, and the crowd comes together again, so that they could not so much as eat bread (Mar 3:19-20).
a And when His family and friends heard it, they went out to lay hold on Him, for they said, “He is beside himself” (Mar 3:21).
Note that in ‘a’ great crowds heard the great things that He did and came to Him, and in the parallel His family and friends heard what He did and came to Him, but for a very different reason. In ‘b’ Jesus was thronged by the crowds and had to take to a boat, and in the parallel He was thronged by the crowd and could not eat. In ‘c’ the unclean spirits are forced to admit to Who Jesus is, much to His displeasure, and in the parallel He appoints His disciples and gives them authority to cast out such evil spirits. Centrally in ‘d’ He takes His disciples up into a mountain and calls those whom He has selected to come to Him.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
The Section Concludes With A Summary Of The Continuing Ministry (3:7-35).
The first major section of Mark’s Gospel (from Mar 1:1 to Mar 3:35) now concludes with:
A description of the continuing ministry of Jesus.
‘b7 The appointing of the twelve.
‘b7 The opposition of His family and acquaintances.
‘b7 The growing opposition of the leading Pharisees and the controversy with them over the casting out of evil spirits.
‘b7 Jesus’ rebuking of Mary and His brothers accompanied by the assertion that His real family are those who are truly under the Kingly Rule of God and do God’s will, who are His true brothers and mother.
In this last part of the section Jesus continued attack on the forces of evil is also highlighted (compare Mar 1:23-27; Mar 1:32-34). The unclean spirits fall before Him and declare Him to be the Son of God (Mar 3:11), the Apostles are appointed to have power over evil spirits (Mar 3:15), and He declares to the leading Doctors of the Law His power to cast out and bind Satan (Mar 3:24-27). Meanwhile His own family are also made to take second place to believers because they think that ‘He is beside Himself’ in consequence of His devotion to the crowds (Mar 3:21 with Mar 3:34-35), and have failed to recognise Who He is.
Note also in the analysis that follows the different groups who are involved: the huge crowds who come to hear Him and be healed, the evil spirits who recognise Him as ‘the Son of God’, the twelve who are the foundation of His new community, His near family and friends who think Him deranged, the Scribes from Jerusalem who see Him as demon-possessed, and the ‘crowd’ of believers whom He sees as His true family.
Analysis.
a
b The evil spirits declare Him to be the Son of God. They are the ‘fearful but discerning’ (Mar 3:11-12).
c He appoints twelve Apostles whom He sees as chosen to ‘rule’ over all Israel, that is over ‘the twelve tribes of Israel’ (Mat 19:28), in the Kingly Rule of God. They are the ‘chosen’ (Mar 3:13-19).
c His family and friends, hearing about the great crowds who are exhausting Him with their demands, declare that He is ‘beside Himself’. They are the ‘unbelieving’ (Mar 3:20-21).
b He is attacked by the Scribes from Jerusalem as being demon-possessed, and declares that His casting out of evil spirits is rather evidence that He is stronger than Satan and is acting through the Spirit of God, with the result that Satan’s kingdom is being defeated. They are the ‘opposition’ and ‘blasphemers’ (Mar 3:22-30).
a He demonstrates the proper place of Mary and her sons in the scheme of things by declaring that His true family are ‘the crowd’ of believers who are gathered with Him and are under the Kingly Rule of God, and do the will of His Father. These are ‘the believers’ (Mar 3:31-35).
Note that in ‘a’ the huge crowds are gathered around Him to hear Him and to be healed, and in the parallel we find the smaller crowd of true believers who are gathered around Him and are His true brothers and sisters and mother. In ‘b’ the evil spirits testify that He is the Son of God, and in the parallel the Scribes of Jerusalem testify that He is of Satan. In ‘c’ He appoints twelve Apostles as His chosen ones who will establish His Kingly Rule and help to cast out Satan, and in the parallel are those who should have known Him but have not understood, and will therefore seek unknowingly to undermine His work.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Jesus’ Ministry Grows Jesus has preached in Capernaum, then throughout Galilee, and faced questions and opposition regarding His preaching and healing. His ministry begins to grow as He now ministers to multitudes in the midst of increasing persecution.
Outline Here is a proposed outline:
1. Jesus Heals the Multitudes Mar 3:7-12
2. Jesus Calls the Twelve Mar 3:13-19
3. Jesus Faces More Persecutions Mar 3:20-30
4. Jesus’ Family Comes for Him Mar 3:31-35
Mar 3:7-12 Jesus Heals the Multitudes Mar 3:7-12 gives us the account of Jesus healing the multitudes. We see Him speaking from a ship in this story (Mar 3:9) as He did in Luk 5:1-11. We see Him healing the multitudes in a similar way to the account of Luk 6:17-19.
Mar 3:7 But Jesus withdrew himself with his disciples to the sea: and a great multitude from Galilee followed him, and from Judaea,
Mar 3:8 Mar 3:8
Mar 3:9 And he spake to his disciples, that a small ship should wait on him because of the multitude, lest they should throng him.
Mar 3:10 Mar 3:11 Mar 3:11
Mar 3:12 And he straitly charged them that they should not make him known.
Mar 3:12
Thus, we see the great mystery. We see man’s free will joining with God’s foreordained purposes and plans in order to accomplish the will of God. We see this also illustrated when we realize that a person must choose his eternal destiny by accepting or rejecting Christ. Yet, we know that God has already foreordained our salvation before the foundation of the world. Thus, we see man devising his own ways, while God directs his steps.
Pro 16:9, “A man’s heart deviseth his way: but the LORD directeth his steps.”
Mar 3:13-19 Jesus Calls His Twelve Disciples to be Apostles ( Mat 10:1-4 , Luk 6:12-16 ) Mar 3:13-19 gives us the account of Jesus choosing twelve disciples to become His apostles. When comparing this passage to the parallel passages in Matthew and Luke, it becomes clear that each Gospel account mentions a different aspect of this event in order to reflect the underlying theme of each Gospel For example, Mark’s account places emphasis upon the proclamation of the Gospel with miracles accompanying their preaching. Luke’s account makes no reference to the twelve apostles preaching of the Gospel or miracles, but rather to Jesus’ time in prayer in order to choose the twelve and their appointment, for prayer is the prerequisite of the prophetic utterance. Matthew’s account states that Jesus gave them authority to cast out devils and to heal the sick. This statement emphasizes the theme of this division of Matthew’s Gospel, which is the sending out of the twelve to do the work of the ministry. However, Mark’s account says, “And he ordained twelve, that they should be with him, and that he might send them forth to preach, And to have power to heal sicknesses, and to cast out devils:” (Mar 3:14-15) These verses sound similar to the commission of Jesus Christ that closes Mark’s Gospel. Thus, Mark places emphasis upon the preaching of the Gospel with signs following, which is the underlying theme of his Gospel.
Jesus Gives the Disciples Surnames – It was a common practice during this time in history for those Jews who began to have much exposure to the Romans or Greeks to receive a Roman surname. We see this happen on Saul’s first missionary journey, when he took the Roman name of Paul
Act 13:9, “Then Saul, (who also is called Paul,) filled with the Holy Ghost, set his eyes on him,”
The fact that Jesus gave the three men, Peter, James and John, Roman surnames was a clear indication to them that He was going to send them out among the nations. James became the first Christian martyr. Peter ministered as far as Rome. John oversaw the churches of Asia Minor after the death of Paul the apostle.
The Names of the Twelve – We are given the list of the twelve apostles in Mat 10:2-4, Mar 3:16-19 and Luk 6:14-16. We note that these names are listed in the order of their important in Church history.
Mat 10:2-4, “Now the names of the twelve apostles are these; The first, Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother; James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother; Philip, and Bartholomew; Thomas, and Matthew the publican; James the son of Alphaeus, and Lebbaeus, whose surname was Thaddaeus ; Simon the Canaanite, and Judas Iscariot, who also betrayed him.”
Mar 3:16-19, “And Simon he surnamed Peter; And James the son of Zebedee, and John the brother of James; and he surnamed them Boanerges, which is, The sons of thunder: And Andrew, and Philip, and Bartholomew, and Matthew, and Thomas, and James the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus , and Simon the Canaanite, And Judas Iscariot, which also betrayed him: and they went into an house.”
Luk 6:14-16, “Simon, (whom he also named Peter,) and Andrew his brother, James and John, Philip and Bartholomew, Matthew and Thomas, James the son of Alphaeus, and Simon called Zelotes, And Judas the brother of James , and Judas Iscariot, which also was the traitor.”
When we compare the three parallel passages in the Synoptics listing the names of the twelve apostles, there appears to be a discrepancy at first glance between the name of Judas the brother of James in Luke’s account and Lebbaeus, surnamed Thaddaeus in Matthew and Mark’s account. Jerome says Judas of James is the same person as Lebbaeus and Thaddaeus ( Commentary on Mat 10:4). [87] Many conservative scholars also believe that this is the same person as well.
[87] See PL 26 col. 62C-D.
1. Simon surnamed Peter
2. Andrew Peter’s brother
3. James son of Zebedee surnamed Boanerges
4. John son of Zebedee surnamed Boanerges
5. Philip
6. Bartholomew Perhaps the same as Nathanel
7. Matthew Levi (the publican in Mat 10:3)
8. Thomas
9. James son of Alphaeus
10. Simon Zelotes (the Canaanite in Mat 10:4 and Mar 3:18)
11. Judas brother of James (Lebbaeus, surnamed Thaddaeus in Mat 10:3 and Mar 3:18)
12. Judas Iscariot
In addition, Matthew’s list is unique in that he groups the Twelve into six pairs.
Mar 3:15 Comments – The two fundamental causes of sickness are abusing the human body and demonic spirits of infirmity. Jesus dealt with both aspects of healing the sick during His earthly ministry.
Mar 3:16 And Simon he surnamed Peter;
Mar 3:17
[88] Philip Schaff, History of the Christian Church, vol. 1 (Grand Rapids, Michigan, c1910, 1955), 416-417.
Luk 9:51-56, “And it came to pass, when the time was come that he should be received up, he stedfastly set his face to go to Jerusalem, And sent messengers before his face: and they went, and entered into a village of the Samaritans, to make ready for him. And they did not receive him, because his face was as though he would go to Jerusalem. And when his disciples James and John saw this, they said, Lord, wilt thou that we command fire to come down from heaven, and consume them, even as Elias did? But he turned, and rebuked them, and said, Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of. For the Son of man is not come to destroy men’s lives, but to save them. And they went to another village.”
Act 8:14-17, “Now when the apostles which were at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent unto them Peter and John: Who, when they were come down, prayed for them, that they might receive the Holy Ghost: (For as yet he was fallen upon none of them: only they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.) Then laid they their hands on them, and they received the Holy Ghost.”
The greater love we walk in, the greater the zeal we will have to deal with sin, because we can more clearly see sin and disobedience. This is the zeal that the Sons of Thunder had in serving the Lord.
We can see this contained zeal and thunder in the writings of John We see this zeal in John’s Gospel as he draws a clear distinction between light and darkness. In 2Jn 1:10-11, he forbids the believers to receive anyone into their homes if he does not adhere to sound doctrine.
2Jn 1:10-11, “If there come any unto you, and bring not this doctrine, receive him not into your house, neither bid him God speed: For he that biddeth him God speed is partaker of his evil deeds.”
In Revelation 2-3, we see the message for the churches is to repent and serve the Lord in pureness of heart.
Mar 3:20-30 The Ministry of Jesus Is Challenged ( Mat 12:22-32 , Luk 11:14-23 ; Luk 12:10 ) In Mar 3:20-30 we have the account of Jesus’ ministry being challenged by the scribes and His own friends. They claimed that He was preaching under the power of Satan.
Blasphemy Against the Holy Spirit – Why is blasphemy against the Holy Spirit the only unforgivable sin? Jack Emerson said the Lord once told him that the Father and the Son have one or both of the Trinity to witness to the truth of their works. [89] However, the Holy Spirit presently does not have any member of the Trinity to testify in His behalf as to His works.
[89] Jack Emerson, “Sermon,” Alethia Fellowship Church, Panama City, Florida, 1983-87.
Mar 3:21 Comments Perhaps Jesus’ family and friends heard that He had chosen the Twelve as in indication that He was organizing a major uprising against Rome. The large crowd that followed Jesus and the apostles seemed to confirm this intent.
Mar 3:30 Comments – They said that the spirit that Jesus had was an unclean spirit, when actually it was the Holy Spirit of the Living God, God’s presence on earth, living in Jesus. Blaspheming the Holy Spirit means to call the works and manifestations of the Holy Spirit as not being from God.
Mar 3:29-30 Comments Blaspheme – Within the context of this passage of Scripture in Mark’s Gospel, blaspheme is calling the Holy Spirit an unclean spirit.
Mar 3:31-35 The Family of Jesus Sends for Him ( Mat 12:46-50 , Luk 8:19-21 ) Mar 3:31-35 gives us the account of the mother and brothers of Jesus sending for Him as their response to His preaching and healing ministry.
Fuente: Everett’s Study Notes on the Holy Scriptures
Miracles by the Seaside.
The withdrawal of Jesus:
v. 7. But Jesus withdrew Himself with His disciples to the sea; and a great multitude from Galilee followed” Him, and from Judea,
v. 8. and from Jerusalem, and from Idumea, and from beyond Jordan; and they about Tyre and Sidon, a great multitude, when they heard what great things He did, came unto Him. Jesus made use of discretion and prudence. He knew the plans of the Pharisees, and therefore He withdrew from their wiles and persecutions and attacks. With His disciples He went down to the sea; these men are now mentioned as important adherents of Christ, which they were destined to become more and more as time passed. The shore of the lake was Christ’s place of retreat; from there He could any time easily remove still farther. And the opposition of the Pharisees had resulted in increasing the prestige of Christ in a manner which they had not anticipated, for now a great multitude, an immense crowd, as the evangelist notes twice, gathered from all sides. There were people from Galilee, the northern part of Palestine, where Jesus was then carrying on the work of His ministry. There were people from exclusive Judea that followed Him. Even haughty Jerusalem was represented, as well as Idumea, the country of the Edomites south and west of the Dead Sea, and Perea, the country on the east side of the Jordan, and the country about Tyre and Sidon, in Phoenicia. It was a revival movement which affected the entire country. There was hardly a person of average intelligence in all Palestine and in the surrounding countries that had not heard about the great Prophet and His preaching and healing in Galilee. The fame of His great deeds was still spreading, and the people, in consequence, were flocking to Him.
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann
Mar 3:7-8. Jesus withdrew himself The immense multitude which followed our Lord, did not all come together purely out of curiosity; it was principle, no doubt, which moved many; but others came merely to be healed of their diseases and infirmities; and as our Lord’s fame had spread, not only through the whole land of Israel, but into the neighbouring heathen countries, Idumea, Tyre, Sidon, Syria, and the rest, we may be sure that the diseased who came at this time to be cured by him were not a few; and that they with their attendants made a considerable part of the crowd; which was now so great, that, to avoid being trodden down by those who came to touch him, in order to be healed, Jesus was obliged to go into one of his disciples’ boats; out of which, as on other occasions of a like nature, he no doubt taught them the doctrines of salvation; for it was his constant custom to join preaching with the working of miracles, the latter giving efficacy to the former. Idumea, Mar 3:8 comprehended not only the ancient possession of the Edomites, but the southern parts of Judea. After our Lord’s time, the whole of Judea was sometimes called Idumea by the Greeks and Romans, who named even the Jews themselves Idumaeans, from the country which they possessed. See Grotius.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Mar 3:7-12 . Comp. Mat 12:15 f., Luk 6:17-19 , who with their difference of historical arrangement make but brief use of the description in Mark, which is more accurate and more fresh and does not blend heterogeneous elements (Hilgenfeld).
] direction whither.
Mar 3:8 . ] on the southeastern border of Palestine.
A point is not to be placed, as by Beza, Er. Schmid, and Fritzsche, after , but as is required by the two distinct predicates based on the local relations, and before . . It is first of all stated, who followed Jesus from Galilee, where He Himself was, to the sea, and then, from . . onward, who came to Him from other regions. Namely: and from Judaea, and from Jerusalem, and from Idumaea and Peraea ( .; observe that here is not repeated), and those (the Jews) about Tyre and Sidon, in great multitudes ( belongs to the whole as a more precise definition of the subject), they came to Him ,
Observe, moreover, the different position of in Mar 3:7-8 ; in the one case the greatness of the mass of people preponderates in the conception, in the other it is the idea of the mass of people itself .
] imperfect , used of the continuous doing.
Mar 3:9 . ] What He said to them is conceived of as the design of the speaking (comp. on Mat 4:3 ): in order that a vessel should be continually at His service .
. . .] therefore not for the purpose of crossing over; , Euthymius Zigabenus. Comp. Mar 4:1 ; Mat 13:2 . It is not said, however, that He wished to teach out of the vessel (Kuinoel and others).
Mar 3:10 f. Information regarding this pressing towards Him.
] not sanaverat (Castalio, Kuinoel, Fritzsche), but He healed just at that time. The , so that they fell upon Him , depicts the impetuous thronging unto Him of those seeking aid. “Admirabilis patientia et benignitas Domini,” Bengel. . in Mar 3:11 is different: they fell down before Him (Mar 5:33 , Mar 7:25 ).
] plagues , Mar 5:29 ; Mar 5:34 ; Luk 7:21 ; Psa 35:15 ; Sir 40:9 ; 2Ma 7:37 . In accordance with the context: plagues of sickness .
. . .] a statement in conformity with the appearance; the sick people identified themselves with the demons.
] with the praeterite indicative: whenever they saw Him, i.e. as soon as ever they got sight of Him. See Winer, p. 276 [E. T. 388]. This rare and late linguistic phenomenon is to be explained to the effect, that the conception of the uncertain ( ) has become completely blended with , and the whole emphasis rests upon this whenever. See Klotz, ad Devar. p. 690. It does not mean: if they ever saw Him.
Mar 3:12 . ] design of the (the demons). How colourless is Mat 7:16 ! According to Hilgenfeld, Mark has exaggerated . As to the prohibition itself of their making Him known as Messiah, comp. Mar 1:43 , and on Mat 8:4 ; Mar 5:43 .
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
(7) But Jesus withdrew himself with his disciples to the sea: and a great multitude from Galilee followed him, and from Judea, (8) And from Jerusalem, and from Idumea, and from beyond Jordan: and they about Tyre and Sidon; a great multitude, when they had heard what great things he did, came unto him. (9) And he spake to his disciples, that a small ship should wait on him, because of the multitude, lest they should throng him. (10) For he had healed many; insomuch that they pressed upon him for to touch him, as many as had plagues. (11) And unclean spirits, when they saw him, fell down before him, and cried, saying, Thou art the Son of God. (12) And he straightly charged them that they should not make him known.
I pray the Reader to remark with me, of the LORD’s over-ruling the mind, even of devils, to give their testimony, however unwillingly, to the GODHEAD of CHRIST. Let the Reader notice this, and observe their behavior upon the occasion, and the words they uttered. When they saw him they fell down before him, and cried, saying, Thou art the SON of GOD. Did ever devils acknowledge any authority less than GOD? Had they considered CHRIST (as many who affect to call themselves Christians do) as man only; would they have fallen down before him, and acknowledged him GOD? Reader do not forget this. Devils confess CHRIST to be GOD; while many, who would wish to be thought Christians, but can be so only in name, and because born in a Christian country, deny his GODHEAD, and are therefore more ignorant than devils. Oh! the blindness of the human mind! Reader! look to that blessed Scripture, and if so be, the LORD in mercy hath given you to know CHRIST, there read and, discover the cause. Mat 16:13-17 . See also Joh 17:25-26 .
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Christ’s Relation to Great Multitudes
Mar 3:7-9
Why were these multitudes so urgent? Why was there any multitude at all? The man is simple, gracious, tender, sympathetic: why should there have been such a display of public interest in his ministry and action? He called his discourses “sayings,” and he said they were his own “these sayings of mine.” Sometimes he spoke sharply, critically, with no mistake as to his moral purposes; the denunciation was explicit and tremendous; the beatitudes were tender, profound healing: why all this multitudinousness? We might have expected a few kindred hearts to follow such a ministry; but all the world went after him. There must be some explanation of this: what is that explanation? There are class preachers. We know the epithets which belong to them as of right; a superficial, transient, partly illegitimate right or claim; they are profound, polished, finished; exquisite, tasteful, brilliant, magnificent: but the world cares nothing about them, as a world a grand, complete humanity. Those who do care for them care very much. The Gospel can fascinate classes; the Gospel can talk all languages, live in all climates, adapt itself to all circumstances; it can have an academy, it can go where people can neither read nor write; but the Gospel can do more than fascinate classes and sections of human nature. This is the explanation of Christ’s ministry, in all its graciousness, in all its power of healing: he touched the universal heart. There was strength in Christ’s teaching for everybody, for that everybody which is manhood. He did not speak to representatives, or recognise merely and exclusively aspects and phases of life; he poured his wisdom and his love into the heart of the world, and that heart knew him; if sometimes the testimony was reluctant, yet in the issue it was emphatic, fervent, overwhelming. There is a music which is for classes. We know the epithets which belong to that partial music; we know the illegitimate claims which are put in to understand it; we know the simulated intelligence with which the most consummate ignorance listens to it; it is classic music. Poor music! that it should ever be so debased as to accept an epithet. Music needs no qualifying terms. There is a music that belongs to the world; the moment it is uttered the world’s heart answers it; it belongs to the child, the mother, the nurse, the shepherd on the mountains, the merchant in the city; the moment the right notes are uttered the whole world takes up those notes, and everywhere they are heard expressing emotions of the moment, or hinting at emotions deep as life, lasting as duration. So it is with the gospel of Jesus Christ. You can minimise it; you can found an academy with it; you can so speak it that nobody will either understand it or feel it; you can crucify the gospel as you crucified its Author. There is a witchery and influence that cannot be explained. You think you can unravel the mystery, and tell some brother man exactly how it is, and when you have completed your analysis you find you have simply mistaken the origin, and the drift, and the issue of your purpose.
What is, then, the influence that touches great multitudes? It is an influence which often disregards, we need not say despises, classes. Luther said, “I take no notice of the doctors who are present, of whom there may be twelve; I preach to the young men and maidens, and the poor, of whom there are two thousand.” That was Christlike. When Jesus did turn to the classes it was with a look of denunciation; if any pity mingled with that denunciation it made but a painful irony. Scribes, Pharisees, rich, proud, selfish people; on all these he turned a face full of displeasure. He would not accept their patronage, he paid no attention either to their commendation or their flattery or their displeasure and repudiation; he was the Son of man, in that title, in all its music, you have the explanation of these multitudes that followed him, and thronged him, and drew out of him all that he came to give the world. As a preacher you can have that is to say, it lies within your power the very selectest congregation that ever gathered. It lies within your power, sanctified by the Holy Ghost, to have the poor, and the young, and all kinds of men round about your pulpit, as thirsty men go where the fountain is, as hungry men flee with what strength is left to the house of bread. These multitudes are arguments. If they were mere mobs no heed need be paid to them. They are not mobs, they are illustrations, expositions; they tell on the human and needy side what Christ is telling on the divine and all-supplying side of this marvellous history. Men are not aware of all they are doing. To see men hastening to the house of prayer is, when properly understood and weighed, to see a new and exquisite aspect of Providence, to see a high and noble view of the human soul. Every man who so flies to the altar, hastes with the eagerness of hunger to God’s house, condemns the world, in very deed tramples it under foot, and says by that very act of going into the sanctuary with a right purpose, The world cannot satisfy me: I pant for heaven as the hart panteth after the waterbrooks.
The great multitudes that thronged Christ were not to be regarded only in a statistical way. They are rather to be interpreted as expressing a universal interest because a universal need. No subject can draw and permanently hold such great multitudes as the Gospel. Why? Curiosity has its momentary crowd, but the reason is assignable, and intelligible, and sometimes despicable. Novelty of this kind or that has its transient success, but the Gospel has not only a momentary fascination, but an enduring influence and a growing power over all who come within the mystery of its touch. Look at a congregation gathered to see Christ, as revealed in his Word, and what a spectacle it is! All men are there, in type, in characteristic, in symbolic need, in representative energy; the old man is sure that there will be some word for grey hairs, and leaning on the top of his staff he waits for his portion of meat; and the little child is sure that there will be some bright sentence, some parabolical outline; maybe some pathetic story, briefly told, with the urgency of earnestness, not with the elaborateness of mere artistic gift and passion; the humblest soul says to itself, My word will come presently; this preacher never neglects the humble, untaught, but necessitous soul. Let him talk in his grandest sentences for a while, he will not forget the poor: I wait. Broken hearts come to Christ’s congregation, or altar, or Cross, for healing. The sanctuary that ignores broken hearts ignores the Cross whose name it desecrates. The sanctuary was built for the broken heart; not for the strong, mighty, gay, rich, flourishing, domineering, but for the shattered and the contrite, the lonely and the sad, the self-convicted sinner who cries in the very silence of agony, “What must I do to be saved?” So long as men are conscious of sin, and conscious of the need of salvation, the multitude following Christ will be very large, yet it will increase in number, and in expectancy and urgency; its very attitude shall be a prayer, its earnestness shall be a prevailing plea. A marvellous spectacle is any Christian congregation. The difficulty of the preacher is that so few people recognise the diversity of the congregation, and make allowance for a ministry that would follow the scale of Christ’s own method of meeting human need. The selfishness of the congregation is seen in that every individual himself wants all the service. He cannot have it. The Christlike preacher must follow the lines of Christ: how high he is now, and anon how low down, walking amidst our very feet, and looking at our footprints as if haply he might interpret them into some attitude or direction that would betoken the state of our spirit; how profound in simplicity, how generous in concession, how condescending in taking up a little child and hugging the dear creature, and how tremendous in rebuking the men who have the patronage of the dead ex cathedr .
Christ had the multitudes because he spoke to the multitudes. No subject can so deeply affect great multitudes as the Gospel. It develops our humanity; it reaches and strengthens the point of fellowship. This Gospel handles the matter of individuality very delicately, but very fully. For a time the man, individual, singular, is everything; he is talked to as if there were nobody else in the universe but himself and God; yet immediately he is put down, and made of the multitudes that constitute humanity; and then he feels himself in totally other and new and enlarging relations; his vanity is reproved, his self-sufficiency is rebuked, he feels that he needs a friend on the right hand, and the left, behind, before, and round about him: he realises God’s conception of humanity. Out of that we have the Church, we have fellowship, the commonwealth, the interchange of relations, sympathies, and interests that marvellous interaction which makes up society in its highest aspects. Hence we have had occasion to say in rebuke to some, that men cannot pray altogether and exclusively alone. Solitary prayer we must have. Secret communion is essential to the full development of the spiritual life; but there is a larger prayer, call it the common prayer, in which I may hear what my brother needs, and my brother may catch from my tones some hint of my sorrow and my necessity; and thus by commingling of supplication, and the common expression of desire, we realise the larger conception of prayer, and create an atmosphere favourable to the cultivation and the progress of our noblest life; “forsake not the assembling of yourselves together.” Hence, too, we have had occasion to say that no man can read the Bible alone. The Bible is a public book. Whatever was meant for the world must be read by the world in one grand multitudinous voice, if all its music is to be elicited, if all its emphasis is to be delivered with the thunder that is worthy of such eloquence. Here is a verse for one soul, and there is an appeal addressed to the solitary heart, and if some other man were present to hear it part of the message would be lost. The Bible has its corners and sanctuaries and places into which individual souls can repair for special perusal of heaven’s will; but taking the book as a whole it realises God’s idea when it seizes the whole world, and makes every man hear in the tongue in which he was born the wonderful works of God. Every man has a tongue of his own to speak of the English tongue is to speak vulgarly. The English tongue has to accommodate itself to every lip over which it falls; has to catch its accent from every tongue that uses it, and has to have suggestions which can only be imported into it by the unutterable meaning of the heart.
The Gospel thus affects great multitudes by dealing with fundamental questions. If we looked to the Gospel for aught else we should be mistaken and disappointed. The Gospel is not a riddle book; the Gospel is not a series of conundrums which nobody can answer but priests and preachers, ministers and officebearers: the Bible is the people’s book, it belongs to the common humanity; men who can barely spell can draw out of it living water. If this Gospel were a mere exercise in grammar, then only grammarians could be saved. When we rebuke grammarians they do not understand us; but what did a grammarian ever understand? He says, We must have grammar. Certainly; we must have vessels to hold the water; but it is the water that quenches the thirst. The meaning is beyond the letter, not in any sense of despising the letter, but in the sense of having a meaning to convey which the most significant symbols fail adequately to typify. Hence Christ’s need of the hereafter. The present time was too small for him; it caged and barred him; so he must needs often say: Hereafter ye shall see: hereafter ye shall know: what thou knowest not now thou shalt know hereafter. Time would be a very small cage to live in if it had not a door somewhere in it that opened on eternity: thus we get content and rest and assurance of hope; we say, This time-day is not long enough for us, but it opens upon a day that never darkens into night. So the Gospel affects great multitudes variously and profoundly; teaching patience to some, giving hope to all, and blessing the soul with an assurance that by-and-by we shall know as we are known; see as we are seen, and have access into the wider spaces, yea, into the infinite liberties of God’s eternal revelation, as a man might reveal himself face to face with a friend he loved.
No subject can so lastingly bless the multitude as the Gospel. It is not a sensation, an impression, it is in no sense a merely momentary feeling; it is a conviction, a persuasion, a regeneration, a new life. There are theories that are cheerful, vivacious almost to impertinence and insolence, when everything is quiet and bright and prosperous; but they have an ungrateful way of dropping off from the pilgrims’ side when the road is very steep and the valley is very dark, or the wind is very cold. There are a thousand such theories lying dead at the mouth of the valley yonder; go and pick them up if you have peculiar taste for gathering things that are dead and never can be revived. They were lovely for a time, quite blooming little impertinences, with a smart way of talking, and a glib way of criticising the universe, and a haughty way of pronouncing upon all things, from trinities down to insects. They are lying yonder, dead, a thousand thick; go and make what you can of them. This Christ of God never leaves, never forsakes, the souls that put their trust in him; he is most when we need him most, tenderest when we are sick; and if a lamb is shorn he goes out to feel the wind before he lets the shorn lamb go out to full exposure. Gentle Jesus, gentle Shepherd, loving Lord, where we cannot understand the deity we can feel thy motherliness, and such motherliness means deity.
How did Christ exercise his influence? He never lowered his moral tone. He never made the Ten Commandments into nine, or took away three of them to accommodate some rich young ruler that was willing to bestow a very dignified patronage upon the kingdom of God. He never said, You must not strive after academic justice; it is well enough to hear ideal theorists talk about ideal righteousness, but you must do what you can, and above all things never make righteousness a discipline or a burden. No such speech did Christ ever teach to men; he said, Unless a man take up his cross he cannot come; except a man deny not a habit or a custom, but himself, he cannot be my disciple. Suicide begins regeneration. We have now an adaptable morality. We are tempted to say to the erring public, Dear friends, what do you want? Jesus Christ never talked so to the multitude. He spake the Commandment, he delivered himself as a king; he commanded, he uttered the decree; yet when he came to deal with men how gracious he was, and meek and gentle, but always making his gentleness the conductor of his righteousness. His pity never conducted men past the law in any evasive sense; rather did that pity mysteriously fulfil the law, and show that where there is no mercy there can be no justice. Never did Jesus Christ use his influence with the multitudes to promote selfish objects. He came to bless men, to save men, to do men good on every hand; he did “great things” according to this chapter, “A great multitude, when they had heard what great things he did, came unto him.” Whatever he did was great. The great man makes great occasions. Even the simplest sayings of Christ root themselves in his deity. There are sentences we think we can understand, but when we come into close quarters with them we find they go back syllable by syllable, up, up to the eternal throne. There is no simplicity in Christ that can be interpreted as meaning mere shallowness. Never did Jesus Christ do anything that was not in the heart of it great; when he did it, it might look easy enough, but it was the King that did it. The heavens look well shaped, but it was not man’s clumsy hand that rounded the sky; the stars are all peaceable as if they were filled with a spirit of content. How serene they are in their brightness! It looks quite easy to make these stars; yet it was God that made them, and Omnipotence makes all things easy; but who, God only excepted, has omnipotence? When his popularity rolled through the land, and when the people came to be healed, and pressed upon him to be touched; when men afflicted with plagues and unclean spirits came before him, and cried out, “Thou art the Son of God,” he said, I do not want you to preach my doctrine. For reasons we cannot understand, Christ might forbid even the saintliest men to anticipate some of his revelations; but by an accommodation that could well vindicate itself we may learn from such prohibitions as are given in this chapter that Christ will not be revealed by unclean spirits. He says in effect, Do not talk about my divine sonship, do not reveal my deity; it is not for your lips to use holy words. The bad man cannot reveal the Son of God; the hollow-hearted, self-seeking preacher cannot preach Christ’s Gospel; he may preach about it, but he cannot deliver the message that whosoever will may come and be saved, and the chief of sinners is the chief guest at Christ’s love-table, at Christ’s redeeming Cross.
A message of this kind should be uttered with the tears of the heart, with the very agony of love, with a self-prostration which men cannot understand, but which adds ineffable value to every message that is delivered. If we would reveal the deity of Christ we must ourselves be divine men, in the sense of being pure of heart, lofty and incorruptible in purpose, unselfish in spirit, marked through and through, all over, not with the image, but with the meaning of the Cross. Do I speak to some man who has no multitude to talk to? I would not discourage him. Sometimes one man is a multitude. Do not be victimised by merely statistical lines and numbers. If Christ will come where there are two or three gathered together in his name we ought not to be ashamed to make such a convocation a great occasion. What Christ accepts surely it does not lie within our right to despise or reject. On the other hand, let us be careful lest we make the Gospel a message to a class, lest we be damned by respectability. Our message is to the whole world, and wherever there is a multitude that multitude belongs to the humblest minister amongst us. The preacher does not rule, so to say, morally and influentially over his own numerable congregation; the humblest preacher that preaches Christ is in a sense the preacher to the greatest multitude that ever assembled. Let us hold not only the unity of the faith, but consequently the unity of the Church.
Fuente: The People’s Bible by Joseph Parker
7 But Jesus withdrew himself with his disciples to the sea: and a great multitude from Galilee followed him, and from Judaea,
Ver. 7. But Jesus withdrew himself ] Tertullian condemneth flight in any case: a but Patres legendi cum venia. His scholar Cyprian was of another and better judgment. Magister non tenetur in omnibus.
a
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
7 12. ] A GENERAL SUMMARY OF OUR LORD’S HEALING AND CASTING OUT DEVILS BY THE SEA OF GALILEE. Peculiar in this shape to Mark ; but probably answering to Mat 12:15-21 .Luk 6:17-19Luk 6:17-19 . The description of the multitudes, and places whence they came, sets before us, more graphically than any where else in the Gospels, the composition of the audiences to which the Lord spoke, and whom He healed. The repetition of ( Mar 3:8 ) is the report of one who saw the numbers from Tyre and Sidon coming and going.
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
Mar 3:7-12 . The fame of Jesus spreads notwithstanding ( vide Mat 4:25 ; Mat 12:15 f.; Luk 6:17-19 ).
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
Mar 3:7 . , with the disciples : note they now come to the front. We are to hear something about them to which the notice of the great crowd is but the prelude. Hence the emphatic position before the verb. : as if to a place of retreat ( vide Mar 3:9 ). : , emphatic, a vast, exceptionally great crowd, in spite, possibly in consequence, of Pharisaic antagonism. Of course this crowd did not gather in an hour. The history is very fragmentary, and blanks must be filled up by the imagination. Two crowds meet (1) from Galilee; (2) from more remote parts: Judaea, Jerusalem, Idumaea, Peraea, and the district of Tyre and Sidon (Mar 3:8 ): a considerable crowd, but not so great. . : Idumaea, mentioned here only, “then practically the southern Shephelah, with the Negeb.” G. A. Smith, Historical Geography of the Holy Land , p. 239. Mentioned by Josephus (B. J., iii. 3 5) as a division of Judaea.
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Mar 3:7-12
7Jesus withdrew to the sea with His disciples; and a great multitude from Galilee followed; and also from Judea, 8and from Jerusalem, and from Idumea, and beyond the Jordan, and the vicinity of Tyre and Sidon, a great number of people heard of all that He was doing and came to Him. 9And He told His disciples that a boat should stand ready for Him because of the crowd, so that they would not crowd Him; 10for He had healed many, with the result that all those who had afflictions pressed around Him in order to touch Him. 11Whenever the unclean spirits saw Him, they would fall down before Him and shout, “You are the Son of God!” 12And He earnestly warned them not to tell who He was.
Mar 3:7-8 Jesus’ growing popularity was another reason for the opposition from the religious leaders (cf. Mat 12:15-16; Luk 6:17-19).
Mar 3:8 “Idumea” This refers to the national lands of ancient Edom which was the home area of Herod.
“beyond the Jordan” This refers to the area called Perea in the trans-Jordan region. This was one of three regions identified as responsible to the Mosaic Law (i.e., Judah, Galilee, and the land on the other side of the Jordan [i.e., Perea, cf. Baba Bathra Mar 3:2]). It was officially defined as the land between the Jabbok and Arnon rivers (in the OT, Ammon and Moab).
“the vicinity of Tyre and Sidon” This refers to the ancient kingdom of Phoenicia.
“a great number of people” Apparently these were a mixture of Jews and Gentiles.
Mar 3:9 “a boat” This refers to a small row boat.
“ready for Him all the time” This boat was always available lest the crushing crowd push Him into the sea (cf. Mar 1:45).
Mar 3:10 “pressed around Him” Literally this is “falling against.” Every sick person wanted to touch Him (cf. Mar 5:25-34). This crowd looked like the waiting room of a county hospital’s emergency room.
Mar 3:11 There is a series of three imperfect verbs in this verse which shows Jesus’ ongoing confrontation with the demonic. See SPECIAL TOPIC: EXORCISM at Mar 1:25.
“Son of God” These demons were not witnesses for Jesus’ benefit, but to accentuate the crowd’s misconceived expectations. This led to the charge in Mar 3:22 that Jesus’ power came from Satan (cf. Mat 9:34; Mat 10:25; Mat 11:18). The Jewish leaders could not challenge Jesus’ power, so they impugned the source of His authority.
SPECIAL TOPIC: THE SON OF GOD
Mar 3:12 This is the continuing emphasis on “the Messianic Secret” in Mark. Jesus, by word and deed, is fully revealed as the Messiah early in Mark, but because of the misunderstanding of (1) the Jewish leadership (i.e., Messiah as national hero restoring Israel to world prominence) and (2) the crowd (i.e., Messiah as miracle worker), Jesus admonishes several different people not to broadcast their knowledge of Him. The gospel is only finished after His life, death, resurrection, and ascension.
Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley
Jesus. App-98.
withdrew. Note other withdrawals in Mark (Mar 3:7, Mar 6:31, Mar 6:36; Mar 7:24, Mar 7:31; Mar 9:2; Mar 10:1; Mar 14:32). Not the same verbs.
to = toward. Greek. pros. App-104. L T Tr. m. read “unto “. (Greek. eis. App-104. vi,)
great. Emph. on “great”. Compare Mar 3:8.
from = away from. Greek. apo. App-104.
Galilee. See App-169.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
7-12.] A GENERAL SUMMARY OF OUR LORDS HEALING AND CASTING OUT DEVILS BY THE SEA OF GALILEE. Peculiar in this shape to Mark; but probably answering to Mat 12:15-21. Luk 6:17-19. The description of the multitudes, and places whence they came, sets before us, more graphically than any where else in the Gospels, the composition of the audiences to which the Lord spoke, and whom He healed. The repetition of (Mar 3:8) is the report of one who saw the numbers from Tyre and Sidon coming and going.
Fuente: The Greek Testament
Mar 3:7. , He withdrew) He avoided plots against Him, and yet He did not flee to a distance, nor in a fearful spirit, for He went to the sea [The particulars which Mark in this passage, Mar 3:7-19, records, he sets forth in the regular order of the narrative, and they are to be combined with Mat 4:24, etc. But the events which go before and follow in Mark, are parallel to the 12th. ch. of Matthew. Mark takes occasion [a handle] from the plots laid by His enemies, to record the withdrawal of the Saviour, Mar 3:7; and by that very fact, he returns in the meantime into the regular path from his digression, etc.-Harm., p. 238. The sea is mentioned in this verse; the house in Mar 3:19; and again the sea in ch. Mar 4:1. In this fashion Mark combines the histories of different times.-V. g.].
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
Mar 3:7-12
6. JESUS HEALS MANY
Mar 3:7-12
(Mat 12:15-21)
7 And Jesus with his disciples withdrew to the sea:–From Capernaum, and from the plots which ripened most easily in cities, the hotbeds of intrigue. He had been victorious in the conflict with the Pharisees, he now retires from the scene and pursues his own course, and in other places continues his work. His retreat before his enemies was prompted, not by fear, but by that wise discretion which he constantly employed in the selection and the use of the necessary means for the promotion of the great end which he came to accomplish. The prudent means which Jesus uses to preserve himself from the rage of his enemies ought to teach us our duty in time of danger, to flee from our enemies, and endeavor to preserve our lives. We ought not to remain in, nor press into danger. God has endowed us with wisdom, if rightly used, to avoid such dangers. He had one great purpose in view, and he faced his enemies or withdrew from them, according as he could best accomplish his work. He was not afraid to go away, nor afraid to remain if need be. In many cases it is better quietly to withdraw from a hostile crowd, and do one’s work elsewhere.
and a great multitude from Galilee followed; and from Judaea,– [While the Pharisees and Herodians were consulting how they might destroy him, he quietly, with his disciples, withdrew from the city (they were yet in Capernaum) to the seaside. This was a favorite resort with them, and a great multitude of people from Galilee followed him (he was in Galilee) and from Judea. Judea was the territory and home of the Jews, the children of Judah, the son of Jacob, whose family remained faithful to the house of David and continued to meet at Jerusalem when the ten tribes of Israel withdrew and followed Jeroboam. But in the wars, captivities, and desolations of the people when they sinned, they were scattered, and these Jews seemed to have the ascendancy in Galilee.]
8 and from Jerusalem, and from Idumaea, and beyond the Jordan, and about Tyre and Sidon, a great multitude, hearing what great things he did, came unto him.–[The people from these different countries were Jews who had, in their dispersion, settled in these different countries. They, in common with the Jews in Judea, looked for a deliverer to come and gather the scattered tribes, the lost sheep of the house of Israel, back to their land and country. Hearing of the miracles and works of Jesus, they came from all these lands to Capernaum to see and hear him, and to judge of his claim. They followed him out to the seaside with his disciples on this occasion. The places named show how widely his influence had already reached. There must have been great power in him to attract the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the capital, to the province of Galilee, sixty or seventy miles away. Idumea, the Greek name for Edom, the territory that lay south of Palestine, stretched toward the southeast and included the mountainous region east of the Dead Sea. The Edomites were descendants of Esau, but had been conquered and made Jews by violence about 125 B.C. The Herod family came from Idumea. So from every quarter, and far out, many came seeking him. The Pharisees, the mighty, the noble, and the wise men after the flesh, despised his person, slighted his ministry, and sought his life. The ordinary sort of people have always been more zealous and forward in embracing the gospel than the rich, the great, and the honorable part of the world has been. It is a sad but a certain truth, heaven is a place where few, comparatively, of the great men of the world are likely to be.] Not because they cannot, but because they will not.
9 And he spake to his disciples, that a little boat should wait on him because of the crowd, lest they should throng him:– [When the multitudes pressed upon and crowded him on the shore, he sometimes got in the boat (the ships were but boats), and they pushed out a little from the shore. He sat in the boat and taught the people upon the shore. This was spoken for lest they should throng or crowd him uncomfortably.] He who loves the Savior will not be surprised to find how many things there are that he can consecrate, and that Christ can use. Some persons cannot preach unless they have a proper pulpit, their priestly robe, organ, choir, and other things but Christ is at home anywhere, and can preach afloat as well as in the synagogue.
10 for he had healed many; insomuch that as many as had plagues pressed upon him that they might touch him.–Those who merely touched him in faith were healed. (Mar 5:28-30.) Jesus required some sensible connection with himself in his cures, to show that the healing came from him, and to teach them the lessons of faith, that their spiritual healing came from spiritual union with Christ. [His healing many without fee or reward caused all who were afflicted, real and imaginary, to press upon him that they might touch him, as the touch caused virtue to go out of him to heal. With those who desired to be healed was the crowd that always is attracted by wonderful works or strange performances.]
11 And the unclean spirits, whensoever they beheld him, fell down before him, and cried, saying, Thou art the Son of God –They fell down at his feet, doing homage as it were. As spirits they knew the truth about Christ. In the presence of Christ, they dared speak only the truth. The persons possessed with unclean spirits fell before Jesus, and again acknowledged him as the Son of God. This proves the existence of evil spirits. If these were only diseased persons, then it is strange that they should be endowed with knowledge so much superior to those in health. How complete these spirits possessed the bodies of men is seen to the extent they used the powers and organs of those possessed in seeing, falling down before him as a sort of an act of homage, and proclaiming him to be the Son of God. They did not fall down before him to worship him in spirit and in truth.
12 And he charged them much that they should not make him known.–Who he was. The witness of devils would not be believed even when true; and, the more of such testimony willingly received, the more it would hinder men from believing the truth, for it would be charged that Jesus was in alliance with evil spirits, and that he cast out demons through Beelzebub, the prince of the demons. [He gave a strict charge to those who were healed that they should not make him known. He hushed the mouths of the demons when they were disposed to confess him, but often when he healed the afflicted he charged they should not tell it. The chief motive seems to have been to avoid the crowds of men, curiosity mongers, that were led to follow him by these reports. There was no prospect of that class of people being benefited, yet they followed and thronged him in his ministrations. Only the sincere, honest-hearted people would believe in him.] There was nothing in common between Jesus and demons; there was no friendly relationship between him and Satan. The effects of Christ’s mission proved it to be divine. And today, as in those days, the convincing proof of Christianity is found in its beneficent effects. It makes everybody better who accepts it. The drunkard becomes sober, the selfish becomes generous, the vile becomes pure. Schools, colleges, education, hospitals, missions, all forms of benevolence spring up where Christ is believed. Wherever there is the most Christianity, there is the most of all things that raise and bless men. The map of the world is a proof of the Christian religion.
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
Jesus: Mat 10:23, Mat 12:15, Luk 6:12, Joh 10:39-41, Joh 11:53, Joh 11:54, Act 14:5, Act 14:6, Act 17:10, Act 17:14
and a: Mat 4:25, Luk 6:17
Galilee: Mar 1:39, Jos 20:7, Jos 21:32, Luk 23:5, Joh 7:41, Joh 7:52
Reciprocal: Mat 8:1 – great Mat 21:17 – he left Mar 2:13 – and all Mar 6:31 – come Mar 6:55 – General Mar 7:24 – and would Luk 5:15 – great Joh 4:3 – left Act 10:38 – who
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
7
Jesus went to the Sea of Galilee and that drew the crowds after him again, both from the immediate vicinity and Judea.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Mar 3:7-8. Withdrew. Not to avoid the multitudes, but rather to fulfil His ministry among them, undisturbed by the opposition of the Pharisees.
To the sea. To the shores of the sea of Galilee; perhaps to a boat from which He might teach (Mar 3:9, chap. Mar 4:1; comp. Luk 5:3). This description of the crowds waiting upon His ministry is the fullest given in the Gospels. The verses are unfortunately divided in the E. V. Two classes are spoken of, first, a great multitude from Galilee, where He was teaching, who followed him, holding to Him in His conflict with the Pharisees, then: from Judea, etc.
A great multitude, who in consequence of the reports of His works came unto him. Others prefer to distinguish the second crowd as those who came from Tyre and Sidon, but the correct reading forbids this view. The original emphasizes the greatness of the crowd in the first instance, and in the second their coming from different and distant places.
Idumea. Edom, southeast of Palestine, a sort of border land between the Jews and Gentiles. The inhabitants were descendants of Esau, but had been conquered and made Jews by violence about one hundred and twenty-five years before Christ.
Beyond Jordan. Perea, east of Jordan.
About Tyre and Sidon. The leading cities of Phenicia, north of Palestine along the sea-coast. They stand here for the whole district. Probably Jews and heathen alike came from all these quarters. The route of traffic between the points here specified was by Capernaum, so that reports would quickly spread and crowds easily gather.
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
Section 1. (Mar 3:7-35; Mar 4:1-34.)
God only sufficient.
The whole subdivision is divided into seven parts; but the 4+3 into which the seven so often resolves itself, is so strongly marked that these become two sections. The first, as characterized by its 4, shows that external view of results which seems so much stamped with failure, but in which (man being fully proved) the sufficiency of God is seen as alone to be relied on. The second, stamped with its 3 of spiritual energy and resurrection, shows us the work of God itself in its salvation character, unhindered by the power of evil.
1. At the commencement we see once more divine power flowing forth in grace to meet all the effects of sin, in a world disorganized and ruined by it. A witness this which has a certain, present effect in attracting multitudes from all the country round.
(1) First, we have this as seen in the Lord Himself; where, notice, as to its significance in connection with what has been already said, that Jesus “withdraws with His disciples to the sea:” a hint, as we have seen reason to believe, of that going out to the nations which, however implied in the very character of the grace which is coming in; actually takes its form from Israel’s rejection of Him. At present it is Israel that is crowding after Him, but (notice again) in such a manner that He must take to the little ship because of the crowd.
The power of Satan, too, is everywhere manifest, though as manifestly subject of necessity to Him. After the manner we have seen, still they declare Him, – only to be rebuked and silenced by Him, as unfit to be His witnesses. Indeed we may see in it already an indication of how by and by the unclean birds would get lodgment in the branches of the overgrown “tree” of a parable which we find shortly given us in this very section.
(2) Next we are shown this ministry of the Lord extended by means of those called and empowered of Him to represent Him. For this they are ordained, first of all to be “with Him;” then that He might send them out to preach; the power to heal sicknesses and cast out demons being the accompaniment of this. The list of the twelve which follows is not in the same order as that in Matthew, except that Simon Peter’s is the first name, while that of the unhappy Judas is the last.
2. What follows here is still for the most part in Matthew, who however gives a much fuller account. Mark omits much that came after the choice of the twelve. Of the so-called “sermon on the mount” he has nothing, and little detail of the breach which is now becoming apparent between the nation led by its Pharisaic teachers and the Lord. All this has more its place in Matthew as the dispensational Gospel, while Mark comes almost at once to the conclusion when the scribes impute His miracles to demon power. This exhibits so clearly the heart hardened against all conviction that Christ warns them that blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, by whose power His mighty works were done, is the unpardonable sin. The expression in Mark, if the best accredited text is in fact the true one, is that it is “an eternal sin” – a sin which in its mark of a soul stiffened in determinate resistance to God speaks of an ultimate, eternal condition. Alas, it was demonic power in Israel that was asserting itself, and only One stronger than Satan could bind and deprive him of his prey. Satan would not cast out Satan; and the fact of his being cast out, that very slander admitted. They had thus, in fact, condemned themselves.
3. But all this was but the demonstration of man’s condition, which only the power of God is competent to meet. Even his kindred according to the flesh thought of the glorious Worker as “beside Himself;” and now they press upon Him in the midst of His labor with their supposed (at least) prior claim. With Him they could not plead it: the Son of God, this relationship to God governed all. It was on account of the state of man. Godward He had come, and His very presence among them argued, not their being right in this, but the reverse. For Him the spiritual condition was that upon which all else depended, and the spiritual link was all that He could acknowledge. In the most decisive way, therefore, He rejects the mere fleshly claim: “Who,” He asks, “is My mother, and My brethren? And looking round on those sitting round about Him, He saith, Behold My mother and My brethren: for whosoever shall do the will of God, the same is My brother and sister and mother.”*
{*One need hardly point out the rebuke of Romish Mariolatry in all this. It is, in fact, constant throughout the Gospels (comp. Luk 2:48-49; Luk 11:27-28; Joh 2:3-4).}
4. There follows, as in Matthew, the parable of the Sower and the seed, but only one other of what there is a series picturing the Kingdom of heaven as it would take shape in the absence of the King. The Lord’s last announcement of necessity brings in the Gentiles; if at least the work of the Spirit of God should be found among them: it contains, as is evident, a fundamental principle of Christianity; and Matthew traces the history of this till the coming of the Son of man in the clouds of heaven. Mark has one parable, indeed, which Matthew has not, and showing explicitly the absence of the King until the time of the harvest; but Matthew does not need this, as what he does give sufficiently declares it. Mark gives only so much of the history as to develop the principles; pressing all into a moral dealing with the individual conscience.
Here we are still upon the same track as before: the lesson is of the vanity of man; of the sufficiency of God alone. The parables here show this under the test of the word of God. The ground of the human heart yields nothing for God save as the Word is sown in it. Even then there are many causes of unfruitfulness, and foes of the new life that has sprung up. Nay, the general result as to the earth at large is mingled and dubious. What, in fact, has the history of the Church shown, if it be not this? How great the comfort of knowing, however, that this is no unforeseen, unaccountable happening. Before the Church began, the history of professing Christianity had already been outlined, and the causes of failure pointed out; and in the New Testament, parable, literal prophecy and vision have all been used to give us warning – a warning which is encouragement as well.
(1) The causes of barrenness are depicted for us in the parable of the Sower and the seed; and we have already gone through it in Matthew. From the word of God all fruit in man is to be found, yet from man himself opposition comes. The devil, the flesh, and the world are confederates against Christ; and the same hindrances, even where the word is received, prevail to hinder in different degrees the proper fruit of it.
Notice in the Lord’s rebuke to His disciples, how little the parabolic form should hinder intelligence for one of His own. “How then will ye know all parables?” shows what on the Lord’s part He designs for us. And everywhere, it need not be doubted, in Nature as well as in Scripture, such parables are to be found awaiting the interpretation of faith. Alas, we may, on the other hand, be ignorant of their very existence, and reason may deny what without such guidance it can never find; but agnosticism of whatever quality has no power of conviction for the man that sees; were the prayer oftener with us, “Open Thou mine eyes,” we might at least realize more the immeasurableness of our inheritance.
(2) After the causes of barrenness the Lord goes on to warn of hindrances to testimony. If the word of God is that from which all fruit is to come, how great the responsibility to minister it. If a lamp is brought, what do you do with it? It is for illumination doubtless. Do you put it, then, under a bushel measure, or under a bed? Clearly not, but upon its stand. Activity and slothfulness as typified in these two ways may both hinder testimony: the heart bent upon gain; and occupied with what is emphatically called “business,” like the thorny ground of the parable, may have little room for the Word, either to get hold of it or to scatter it. While Og’s great bed of ease and pleasure may keep men as securely from occupation with or ministry of the things unseen. Christ bids His disciples have before them the day of manifestation; in which all secret things shall be at last revealed.
Again, in order to minister one must receive; and if the fruit take its character from the seed, must receive only the truth. How important, then; to heed what one hears! and what one measures out to others will be more than recompensed again: a thing as true of ministry of the Word, as of practical conduct; for heaven’s law is scattering for increase, – you do not alienate from yourself what you give to others, but gain the more; and still this opens the way to fresh gain: to him that hath shall more be given. Every bit of truth acquired leads on to fresh truth; every sphere of usefulness found prepares for more.
(3) In a parable peculiar to Mark the Lord now goes on to speak of the day of manifestation at the reaping of earth’s harvest, and of what is implied in it for the present time. The seed put into the ground is left there by the sower as if he had no further thought about it. It springs up and grows, as it were, without his knowledge. So the Lord after sowing the seed of His word at the beginning, is gone up to heaven. How much, in fact, seems to be taking place without His knowledge. The crop goes on developing and ripening. When He sees that it is ripe, the sickle will be put in.
Of this harvest time of earth Matthew gives us the fuller detail. The parable here simply emphasizes the time of responsibility and uncertainty – the earth bringing forth of herself; then the intervention; when the crop is ready. Of the general result nothing is said at present. All that has been already before us would imply one not unmixed. Matthew shows us correspondingly tares among the wheat; not even the failure merely of much of the right seed (a lesson which Mark has repeated), but the effect of the enemy’s sowing. Mark passes over this to the third parable in Matthew; and here we find what has more sorrowful interest for us.
(4) We have already taken up in some detail the meaning of this third parable. It is that of the mustard-seed, and we have seen in it the picture, indeed, of success of a certain kind, a growth beyond expectation. The smallest of seeds develops into a tree; the Kingdom of heaven becomes (according to the constant use of the figure in Scripture) a world-power, – a thing of self-evident application; so long before our eyes that we have lost the sense of what it means. Christianity, we say, has a right of dominion over the earth: a claim which Rome has been most successful in making. Alas, if Christianity has ever ruled a nation upon earth, Christ Himself has never done so; and therefore nothing else than a debased Christianity. The success in this way has been dreadful failure: the well-rooted tree has given lodgment to the unclean birds of the air who in the first parable devour the good seed. Here in the degradation of the Kingdom of heaven to a world-power with the prince of this world undethroned, we find what even comes of the word of God among those professedly accepting, not rejecting. And here the view of man as tested by the Word comes naturally to an end.
Fuente: Grant’s Numerical Bible Notes and Commentary
WONDERFUL FAME OF JESUS
He has again reached the sea of Galilee, so exceedingly conspicuous in His ministry. I spent two bright autumnal days sailing over this sea, so delighted to traverse, drink, and bathe in those waters where my Lord moved hither and thither, drinking and washing in the same. We sail completely around that sea, stopping at many of the noted historic places.
Mar 3:7-12 : And Jesus departed, with His disciples, to the sea, and a great multitude followed Him from Galilee, from Judea, from Jerusalem, from Idumea, and from beyond Jordan; and those about Tyre and Sidon, a great multitude, hearing how many things He was doing, came unto Him. We see here that not only Galilee, Judea, and Jerusalem, all the Jewish countries, are pell-mell on His track, but the tawny sons of Esau are here from Idumea, away out toward sunrise; the Ammonites, the Moabites, and the tribes of Arabia are also on His track; while from the west, reaching out to the great sea, the multitudes of old Tyre and Sidon are thronging around Him. He made no appointments, they had no mail facilities, locomotives, or telegraphs; yet his fame has gone to the ends of the earth.
And He said to His disciples that a small ship may wait on Him, on account of the crowd, in order that they may not throng Him. For He healed many, so that they are falling on Him, that He may touch them, so many as had diseases. He avails Himself of this opportunity to preach the gospel to this vast multitude. The sea of Galilee is seven hundred feet below the level of the Mediterranean, and, as a natural consequence, surrounded by highlands. You see how a man in a boat near the shore, with the people on elevated ground in front, would enjoy a good opportunity to address them.
And unclean spirits, when they saw Him, fell down before Him, and cried out, saying, Thou art the Son of God. He rebuked them much, that they may not make Him known. These lecherous, impure, and brutal demons, rendering their poor victims debauchees and harlots, had once been spotless and bright, shining among the unfallen angels; as God never created an unclean spirit, they were victims of their own apostasy (Isa 14:12, and Jud 1:6); having in bygone ages gazed upon the ineffable glory of Jesus, now recognizing Him, they spontaneously confess Him before the multitude. Why did He forbid them? You must remember He did not openly avow His Christhood among the Jews until about one year subsequently to this date, as such an avowal would have precipitated His regal coronation, plunged the country into a bloody war, and expedited His own death prematurely. During the first two years of His ministry, He turns on the people a floodtide of truth appertaining to His Messiahship, gloriously corroborated by His incontestable miracles, preferring that the truth He preached and the mighty works He wrought should proclaim His Christhood; at the same time, in Gentile countries, such as Samaria and Gadara, He unequivocally proclaimed His Christhood, as there was no liability of their Crowning Him King.
Fuente: William Godbey’s Commentary on the New Testament
Mar 3:7-12. An editorial paragraph descriptive of the new development in the ministry. It is made up of popular generalizations, from which we gather that Jesus had to protect Himself against growing crowds by retiring from the cities to the sea-shore, and by securing a boat as a shelter. His work of healing and exorcism continues, the confessions of the demons becoming more explicit (see Swete on the phrases Son of God, Mar 3:11, and Holy One of God, Mar 1:24). The work of healing is itself a message of forgiveness (Mar 2:1-12*) for the diseases healed are described as plagues, a word used in OT of Divine chastisement (see HNT and Swete). The whole paragraph suggests that the definite hostility of the Pharisees was followed by considerable changes in the scope and method of the Galilean ministry, and the suggestion is probably well founded.
Fuente: Peake’s Commentary on the Bible
Verse 7
The sea; of Galilee.
Fuente: Abbott’s Illustrated New Testament
Mar 3:7 But Jesus withdrew himself with his disciples to the sea: and a great multitude from Galilee followed him, and from Judaea, 8 And from Jerusalem, and from Idumaea, and from beyond Jordan; and they about Tyre and Sidon, a great multitude, when they had heard what great things he did, came unto him. 9 And he spake to his disciples, that a small ship should wait on him because of the multitude, lest they should throng him. 10 For he had healed many; insomuch that they pressed upon him for to touch him, as many as had plagues. 11 And uncleanspirits, when they saw him, fell down before him, and cried, saying, Thou art the Son of God.
This is no small group for a Bible study these folks were from all over the country. Idumaea is south of Jerusalem which itself is a fer piece from where the Lord was. His reputation had spread throughout the area of the Jews. One must wonder if part of this quick widespread knowledge was not in part due to the ministry of John the Baptist. After all he was to make the way for the one following him. It would seem that he had done his job well.
The Lord was not oblivious to the impending dangers of such a crowd, many of which were there in search of healing. He made arrangements for a boat to be made available in case he needed to set Himself apart from the crowd.
This seems to me to be a good proof text for the thought that we ought not take unnecessary chances in our ministries. No, do not pull into a shell so you cannot get hurt, but make provision so that you can protect yourself if you can. If danger comes to your door, then do not flinch, but there is nothing in the Word of God that we should throw caution to the wind.
There is also a practical aspect to the boat, as the crowd increased, He could get into the boat and go offshore a bit and preach to an even larger crowd.
Fuente: Mr. D’s Notes on Selected New Testament Books by Stanley Derickson
A. The broadening of Jesus’ ministry 3:7-19
This section is similar to Mar 1:14-20 in that it records a general description of Jesus’ ministry (Mar 3:7-12) and His calling of more disciples (Mar 3:13-19).
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
1. Jesus’ ministry to the multitudes 3:7-12 (cf. Matthew 12:15-21)
This pericope introduces Jesus’ continuing ministry in Galilee following the religious leaders’ decision to kill Him (cf. Mar 1:14-15; Mar 2:13). It provides much more detail than the parallel account in Matthew.
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
The sea to which Jesus withdrew was the Sea of Galilee. He went there rather than to the areas farther south where it would have been easier for His enemies to harass Him. Jesus withdrew because of the religious leaders’ plot to kill Him (Mat 12:15).
Mark put the disciples in the emphatic first position in the Greek text. They shared Jesus’ breach with the religious leaders. They would be the objects of His preparation for future ministry because of Jesus’ coming death.
Mark described many people coming to Jesus from all over Jewish Palestine. Jerusalem was in Judea to the south. Idumea, named only here in the New Testament, was the old Edomite territory southeast of Judea. People also came from the east side of the Jordan River (Perea and the Decapolis) and from the Mediterranean coast to the northwest. It is interesting that these locations form something of an outline of this Gospel. Jesus first ministered in Galilee (chs. 1-6), then in Tyre, Sidon, and the Decapolis (ch. 7), and finally in Jerusalem (chs. 10-16). [Note: Eduard Schweizer, The Good News According to Mark, p. 79.] Notably absent were people from Samaria, the land of Jewish iconoclasts who separated from the other Jews.
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
III. THE SERVANT’S LATER GALILEAN MINISTRY 3:7-6:6A
There are some structural similarities between Mar 1:14 to Mar 3:6 and Mar 3:7 to Mar 6:6 a in Mark’s story. The beginnings and endings of these two sections are similar. The first section describes Jesus’ ministry in Galilee before the religious leaders determined to kill Him, and the second shows His ministry after that decision. That decision is the basis for the division of Jesus’ Galilean ministry into an earlier and a later stage.
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
CHAPTER 3:7-19 (Mar 3:7-19)
THE CHOICE OF THE TWELVE
“And Jesus with His disciples withdrew to the sea: and a great multitude from Galilee followed: and from Judea, and from Jerusalem, and from Idumea, and beyond Jordan, and about Tyre and Sidon, a great multitude, hearing what great things He did, came unto Him. And He spake to His disciples, that a little boat should wait on Him because of the crowd, lest they should throng Him: for He had healed many; insomuch that as many as had plagues pressed upon Him the they might touch Him. And the unclean spirits, whensoever they beheld Him, fell down before Him, and cried, saying, Thou art the Son of God. And He charged them much that they should not make Him known. And He goeth up into the mountain, and calleth unto Him whom He himself would: and they went unto Him. And He appointed twelve, that they might be with Him, and that He might send them forth to preach, and to have authority to cast out devils: and Simon He surnamed Peter; and James the sons of Zebedee, and John the brother of James; and them He surnamed Boanerges, which is, Sons of thunder: and Andrew, and Philip, and Bartholomew, and Matthew, and Thomas, and James the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddeus, and Simon the Cananaen, and Judas Iscariot, which also betrayed Him.” Mar 3:7-19 (R.V.)
WE have reached a crisis in the labors of the Lord when hatred which has become deadly is preparing a blow. The Pharisees are aware, by a series of experiences, that His method is destructive to their system, that He is too fearless to make terms with them, that He will strip the mask off their faces. Their rage was presently intensified by an immense extension of His fame. And therefore He withdrew from the plots which ripen most easily in cities, the hotbeds of intrigue, to the open coast. It is His first retreat before opposition, and careful readers of the Gospels must observe that whenever the pressure of His enemies became extreme, He turned for safety to the simple fishermen, among whom they had no party, since they had preached no gospel to the poor, and that He was frequently conveyed by water from point to point, easily reached by followers, who sometimes indeed outran Him upon foot, but where treason had to begin its wiles afresh. Hither, perhaps camping along the beach, came a great multitude not only from Galilee but also from Judea, and even from the capital, of the headquarters of the priesthood, and by a journey of several days from Idumea, and from Tyre and Sidon, so that afterwards, even there, He could not be hid. Many came to see what great things He did, but others bore with them some afflicted friend, or were themselves sore stricken by disease. And Jesus gave like a God, opening His hand and satisfying their desires, “for power went out of Him, and healed them all.” Not yet had the unbelief of man restrained the compassion of His heart, and forced Him to exhibit another phase of the mind of God, by refusing to give that which is holy to the dogs. As yet, therefore, He healeth all their diseases. Then arose an unbecoming and irreverent rush of as many as had plagues to touch Him. A more subtle danger mingled itself with this peril from undue eagerness. For unclean spirits, who knew His mysterious personality, observed that this was still a secret, and was no part of His teaching, since His disciples could not bear it yet. Many months afterwards, flesh and blood had not revealed it even to Peter. And therefore the demons made malicious haste to proclaim Him the Son of God, and Jesus was obliged to charge them much that they should not make Him known. This action of His may teach His followers to be discreet. Falsehood indeed is always evil, but at times reticence is a duty, because certain truths are a medicine too powerful for some stages of spiritual disease. The strong sun which ripens the grain in autumn, would burn up the tender germs of spring.
But it was necessary to teach as well as to heal. And Jesus showed His ready practical ingenuity, by arranging that a little boat should wait on Him, and furnish at once a pulpit and a retreat.
And now Jesus took action distinctly Messianic. The harvest of souls was plenteous, but the appointed laborers were unfaithful, and a new organization was to take their place. The sacraments and the apostolate are indeed the only two institutions bestowed upon His Church by Christ Himself; but the latter is enough to show that, so early in His course, He saw His way to a revolution. He appointed twelve apostles, in clear allusion to the tribes of a new Israel, a spiritual circumcision, another peculiar people. A new Jerusalem should arise, with their name engraven upon its twelve foundation stones. But since all great changes arrive, not by manufacture but by growth, and in cooperation with existing circumstances, since nations and constitutions are not made but evolved, so was it also with the Church of Christ. The first distinct and formal announcement of a new sheepfold, entered by a new and living Way, only came when evoked by the action of His enemies in casting out the man who was born blind. By that time, the apostles were almost ready to take their place in it. They had learned much. They had watched the marvelous career to which their testimony should be rendered. By exercise they had learned the reality, and by failure the condition of the miraculous powers which they should transmit. But long before, at the period we have now reached, the apostles had been chosen under pressure of the necessity to meet the hostility of the Pharisees with a counter-agency, and to spread the knowledge of His power and doctrine farther than One Teacher, however endowed, could reach. They were to be workers together with Him.
St. Mark tells us that He went up into the mountain, the well known hill of the neighborhood, as St. Luke also implies, and there called unto Him whom He Himself would. The emphasis refutes a curious conjecture, that Judas may have been urged upon Him with such importunity by the rest that to reject became a worse evil than to receive him. (Lange, Life of Christ, ii. p. 179,) The choice was all His own, and in their early enthusiasm not one whom He summoned refused the call. Out of these He chose the Twelve, elect of the election.
We learn from St. Luke (Luk 6:12) that His choice, fraught with such momentous issues, was made after a whole night of prayer, and from St. Matthew that He also commanded the whole body of His disciples to pray the Lord of the Harvest, not that they themselves should be chosen, but that He would send forth laborers into His harvest.
Now who were these by whose agency the downward course of humanity was reversed, and the traditions of a Divine faith were poured into a new mold?
It must not be forgotten that their ranks were afterwards recruited from the purest Hebrew blood and ripest culture of the time. The addition of Saul of Tarsus proved that knowledge and position were no more proscribed than indispensable. Yet is it in the last degree suggestive, that Jesus drew His personal followers from classes, not indeed oppressed by want, but lowly, unwarped by the prejudices of the time, living in close contact with nature and with unsophisticated men, speaking and thinking the words and thoughts of the race and not of its coteries, and face to face with the great primitive wants and sorrows over which artificial refinement spreads a thin, but often a baffling veil.
With one exception the Nazarene called Galileans to His ministry; and the Carpenter was followed by a group of fishermen, by a despised publican, by a zealot whose love of Israel had betrayed him into wild and lawless theories at least, perhaps into evil deeds, and by several whose previous life and subsequent labors are unknown to earthly fame. Such are the Judges enthroned over the twelve tribes of Israel.
A mere comparison of the lists refutes the notion that any one Evangelist has worked up the materials of another, so diverse are they, and yet so easily reconciled. Matthew in one is Levi in another. Thaddaeus, Jude, and Lebbaeus, are interchangeable. The order of the Twelve differs in all the four lists, and yet there are such agreement, even in this respect, as to prove that all the Evangelists were writing about what they understood. Divide the Twelve into three ranks of four, and in none of the four catalogues will any name, or its equivalent, be found to have wandered out of its subdivision, out of the first, second, or third rank, in which doubtless that apostle habitually followed Jesus. Within each rank there is the utmost diversity of place, except that the foremost name in each is never varied; Peter, Philip, and the Lesser James, hold the first, fifth, and ninth place in every catalogue. And the traitor is always last. These are coincidences too slight for design and too striking for accident, they are the natural signs of truth. For they indicate, without obtruding or explaining, some arrangement of the ranks, and some leadership of an individual in each.
Moreover, the group of the apostles presents a wonderfully lifelike aspect. Fear, ambition, rivalry, perplexity, silence when speech is called for, and speech when silence is befitting, vows, failures, and yet real loyalty, alas! we know them all. The incidents which are recorded of the chosen of Christ no inventor of the second century would have dared to devise; and as we study them, we feel the touch of genuine life; not of colossal statues such as repose beneath the dome of St. Peter’s but of men, genuine, simple and even somewhat childlike, yet full of strong, fresh, unsophisticated feeling, fit therefore to become a great power, and especially so in the capacity of witnesses for an ennobling yet controverted fact.