Big Idea: Jesus’s ministry of power and authority is universal. He helps every person who comes, and his popularity with the crowds grows in phenomenal ways. However, his desire is not for the plaudits of the people but to proclaim the kingdom truths to everyone.

Understanding the Text

Mark 1:21–38 describes one twenty-four-hour period (from Sabbath morn to Sunday morn). All of this material (including through 1:45) traces Jesus’s ministry to the crowds, who are filled with wonder at each new illustration of his healing power over demons and all kinds of illnesses (1:23–28, 32–34), leprosy in particular (1:41–45). In addition, with each new powerful act, Jesus’s popularity soars. The news spreads after the first miracle (1:28), with “the whole town gathered at the door” (1:33). Jesus tries to get away for a time of prayer and learns that “everyone is looking for” him (1:37). Then, after his final healing miracle, he can no longer enter the towns because people are streaming to him “from everywhere” (1:45). This extreme popularity with the crowds will be contrasted with its polar opposite in 2:1–3:6, his growing rejection by and opposition from the leaders.

Interpretive Insights

1:29 they went . . . to the home of Simon and Andrew. Immediately after the synagogue service in 1:21–28, Jesus proceeds to the “home” where he likely stayed in Capernaum, that of Simon and Andrew (Matt. 8:20 says that Jesus had “no place to lay his head”). As successful fishermen, they had moved from Bethsaida (a short distance away on the other side of the Jordan) to Capernaum, the center of the fishing industry on the northern part of the lake. Their home, obviously large enough for two extended families and Jesus, may well be the one discovered in 1968 by archaeologists in Capernaum. Some see a deliberate contrast between the synagogue in 1:21–28 and the future “house” churches of the Christian movement, but that cannot be proven here.

1:30 Simon’s mother-in-law was in bed with a fever. Simon’s wife is not mentioned here, but 1 Corinthians 9:5 indicates that she often traveled with him (“Cephas”) on his missionary journeys. The fever probably is serious, for his mother-in-law is bedridden (cf. Luke 4:38: “high fever”). It was commonly believed that fever was a divine curse for disobedience (Deut. 28:22: “The Lord will strike you . . . with fever and inflammation”). So this could have been perceived as a spiritual as well as physical problem.

1:31 took her hand and helped her up. In exorcisms Jesus normally uses vocal commands, but in healings he uses touch.1The strength of the healer is transferred to the sick person. Jesus’s power has instantaneous results, proven by the fact that she immediately gets up and begins “to wait on them.” “Wait on” represents the same Greek verb (diakone?) used of the angels “attending” to Jesus in 1:13, and it will become a characteristic term for discipleship and ministry.2

1:32–33 brought . . . all the sick and demon-possessed. The news had spread throughout Capernaum and the surrounding regions, so that by Saturday evening (Sabbath ended at dusk) the crowds engulfed Simon’s home, and the sick were everywhere. The verb “brought” in the Greek text is in the imperfect tense, picturing the people “bringing” the ill much of the afternoon and evening in an ongoing pilgrimage to Jesus the healer.

1:34 he would not let the demons speak. Jesus’s power over the demons was absolute. He cast them out with a modicum of verbiage (every word was filled with power), and he closed the mouths of the demons. This has two purposes: to bind Satan in his house (3:27) by shutting the mouths of demons and casting them out of people, and to keep his messianic nature from the people because they could not understand that in his first coming he is to be a suffering servant rather than a conquering king.

1:35 went off to a solitary place, where he prayed. This may be the same “wilderness” or “desert” (er?mos) where Jesus was tested by Satan (1:12–13), yet it is also a place of solitude where Jesus can gain divine solace in prayer with his Father. There is a contrast between Jesus, who wants to be alone with God, and his disciples, who in 1:36 are attracted to Jesus. This concludes Mark’s portrait of twenty-four hours at the beginning of Jesus’s ministry, and it is appropriate that it ends with prayer.

1:36–37 Everyone is looking for you. The four disciples from 1:16–20 are still with Jesus, and they, as the NRSV puts it, “hunt him down” (katadi?k?), obviously because they are caught up in his popularity. In effect, this becomes the source of a new temptation for Jesus, the path of opportunism and desire for fame. As David Garland points out, “looking for” in Mark always has a negative connotation, describing a search for Jesus with a false purpose.3Here they want spectacular miracles rather than the kingdom truths and the call for repentance. Jesus, however, intends to move in a different direction. The problem with the crowds here in Mark 1 is that they are filled with wonder and follow Jesus everywhere but fail to commit to him. Their desire is for the spectacular miracles but not for the gospel truths. This problem will continue throughout Jesus’s ministry, and at the end the crowds will join the leaders in seeking his death (15:11–15).

1:38–39 Let us go somewhere else . . . so I can preach there also. Jesus’s mission is to “preach” the gospel and call people to repentance (1:15), not to bask in the adulation of the multitudes. He has already proclaimed the kingdom message in Capernaum, and now he wants to take these truths to the villages in the rest of Galilee. This, not Mark 6:7–13, is the first mission tour, and Jesus undoubtedly made several tours (Luke has two [9:1–6; 10:1–17]) in his two-to-three-year messianic ministry. It was a small province (it took only a couple of days to cross it), but visiting the many villages and towns probably would take at least two to three weeks. Mark mentions “driving out demons” for the third time in this chapter (1:25–26, 34, 39), emphasizing Jesus’s ministry of power over the evil forces as proof that the kingdom has arrived.

1:40 A man with leprosy came. Leprosy in the Bible comprises several skin diseases (see Lev. 13–14 [leprosy as we know it, called “Hansen’s disease,” was only one type]) that rendered persons unclean and forced them to be excluded from home and society. They were to stay away from others and call out “Unclean, unclean” when anyone came near (Lev. 13:45–46).

1:41 Jesus was indignant. The majority of the Greek manuscripts as well as quite a few versions (NRSV, NIV [1984], ESV, NLT, NET) have something like “moved with pity/compassion.” However, it is easier to see later scribes copying Mark to replace “indignant” with “compassion,” a much more amenable idea for this context. Therefore, it is slightly better to follow the reading here (so also REB).4Why would Jesus be angry? It is very unlikely that Jesus was unhappy with the man breaking with tradition by approaching him, for he never worried about such issues in his ministry.5In 3:5 Jesus is angry about the “stubborn hearts” of the leaders, and in 10:14 he is indignant because of the disciples’ rejection of children. The case here is unlike either of those and is probably similar to John 11:33, 38, where Jesus is angry at the power of sin and death in this world, specifically the physical, emotional, and social anguish that the person has experienced.

1:43 a strong warning. The “strong warning” is expressed by the Greek verb embrimaomai, indicating a strong emotion, often anger (used in John 11:33, 38), and that is possible in light of the indignation of 1:41. But in the context of the compassionate healing touch, it likely refers to a stern charge, as in the NIV. Jesus demanded obedience, with a hint of strong emotion (“See to it that you obey!”).

1:44 See that you don’t tell this to anyone. Jesus’s “strong warning” to keep the miracle quiet is part of the “messianic secret” described in 1:34 (see the sidebar). He does not want the people to degenerate into a frenzied mob stirred up by the spectacular healing. At the same time, the man cannot keep quiet. He is not ultimately disobedient. He has experienced the hand of God and been healed. One simply cannot remain silent. This is Mark’s point. When Christ has changed your life, you must go public with the incredible joy that you feel.

show yourself to the priest. When Jesus commands the leper, “Be clean!” there is a double meaning, encompassing both the physical healing and the social/religious cleansing that allowed the man to reenter society. Leprosy was the one disease that demanded a ritual ceremony witnessed by the community before the healing could be finalized. It was a complex ritual, an eight-day ceremony that involved offerings presented in the temple (Lev. 14:1–32) and thus a trip to Jerusalem, and as a result it was done “as a testimony” to the people that the formerly leprous person indeed was allowed to resume a normal life. In Mark 6:11 (shaking the dust off one’s feet) and 13:9 (answering charges from hostile officials) there was a negative cast to this “witness,” but here it is not confrontational but rather positive, obeying the regulations of Torah.

1:45 stayed outside in lonely places. This does not mean that Jesus had a “lonely” life. This once more was the “wilderness” area (cf. 1:3–4, 12–13, 35), the place not just of testing but also of divine solace and here of a wilderness ministry like that of Moses or Elijah. The crowds throng to Jesus so greatly that he cannot visit the towns, since there will not be enough room for “the people coming from everywhere” to see him. He has to minister out in the open spaces, so great is his popularity. Thus ends the first cycle of his ministry to the crowds, and the stage is set for the opposite reaction from the leaders.

Theological Insights

Here Mark traces Jesus’s growing popularity with the crowds. Although the world is characterized by rebellion and rejection, the gospel is not powerless, and a significant number of people will respond and be drawn to the power of God in Jesus. Jesus makes himself available to the crowds and prioritizes his time to be with them. The compassion of God for the lost is quite evident here. Finally, those touched by Jesus join him in proclaiming the grace and mercy of God; they cannot keep quiet once they have felt the hand of God in Jesus.

Teaching the Text

1. Jesus needed time alone with his Father. Jesus was the God-man, fully God as well as fully human. If God-of-very-God needed time for prayer and fellowship with his Father, how much more do we finite believers desperately need time in prayer. Prayer is more than intercession, more than an activity whereby we ask God to do things for us and for others. Too many Christians are like their children, only going to Mom or Dad when they want something. Their prayers mainly involve giving God a grocery list of things that they want him to give them. For Jesus (and it should be the same for us), prayer was communion, a time to be alone with his Father and to bask in his presence and love.

2. Jesus centered on his kingdom mission and did not seek popularity with the crowds. He never sought fawning crowds of people who would make him the latest entertainment. He was totally unlike all too many well-known preachers of our day who seek the limelight. His desire was not for fame but for the proclamation of the gospel. He wanted conversion more than crowds. At the same time, he used his popularity to heal all who came to him, to meet their every need, physical as well as spiritual. His compassion was universal. The hurts and ailments of people had absolute priority, even over the rituals and traditions of his Jewish roots. That is the message for the church today: reach out to people in their spiritual and physical deficiencies with the compassion of Christ, care more for people than for “success,” and tell people what they need rather than what they want to hear.

3. When our life has been touched by Jesus, we must tell others about it. As part of his desire to keep his messianic nature secret, Jesus commanded the leper to tell no one. But that was not possible. Mark does not describe the man’s failure to comply as an act of disobedience; rather, it is the natural result of the joy he felt when Jesus healed him and he could return home. When we are excited, we cannot keep quiet. This is the best basis for evangelistic outreach. Far better than putting guilt on people for failing to witness to Christ, we need to get them excited about what Christ (and our church) is doing in their lives. Then witnessing will be natural rather than forced.

Illustrating the Text

To follow Jesus means to be committed to him.

Theological Book: Mere Christianity, by C. S. Lewis. As we see in the Gospels, many people became curious about Jesus because of his miracles and authoritative teaching. But sadly, many refused to follow him. In his book Mere Christianity, C. S. Lewis argues that given the claims that Jesus made about himself, he was either a liar (“the Devil himself”; his claims were intended to deceive and lead astray), a lunatic (his claims were false, but he believed them), or Lord (“this man was, and is, the Son of God”).6If the claims of Jesus and the Bible are true, then he is Lord and demands our full commitment. Do your life choices reflect your belief that Jesus is Lord?

Jesus had a deep prayer life.

Quote: Martin Luther. A common excuse offered by people who do not pray consistently is that they are too busy. Martin Luther is credited with saying, “I have so much to do that if I didn’t spend at least three hours a day in prayer, I would never get it all done.” It appears from Mark that Jesus embodies similar priorities. After what must have been an exhausting day of ministry, Jesus arises early the next morning to pray. If prayer was a priority for Jesus, it should be for us as well. Through prayer we center on God’s will and purpose for our lives, enabling us to make clear life choices.