Chapter # 1 Paragraph # 9 Study # 1
March 26, 2019
Moss Bluff, Louisiana
(060)
1901 ASV
32 And at even, when the sun did set, they brought unto him all that were sick, and them that were
possessed with demons.
33 And all the city was gathered together at the door.
34 And he healed many that were sick with divers diseases, and cast out many demons; and he suffered not the demons to speak, because they knew him.
35 And in the morning, a great while before day, he rose up and went out, and departed into a desert place, and there prayed.
36 And Simon and they that were with him followed after him;
37 and they found him, and say unto him, All are seeking thee.
38 And he saith unto them, Let us go elsewhere into the next towns, that I may preach there also; for to this end came I forth.
39 And he went into their synagogues throughout all Galilee, preaching and casting out demons.
- I. Mark's Record According to His Purpose.
- A. This paragraph goes back over "old" ground: Jesus "heals" the sick (as He did with Peter's mother-in-law) and "casts out" many demons, not allowing them to speak (as He did with the man in the synagogue).
- B. The end-summary ("synagogues...preaching...casting out demons") points us back to the major thesis: "authority" over "doctrine" and "demons".
- C. The "meat" in the sandwich (A and B are the two pieces of bread) is Peter's comment: "All are seeking You".
- 1. Jesus considers this "time to pray".
- 2. Having prayed, He sets His course according to the purpose for which He came ("...unto this I came...").
- II. The Actual Details.
- A. And evening having come...
- 1. This is more technically defined as "...when the sun 'set' (Strong's says, from an obsolete primary verb: "to sink").
- 2. The "setting of the sun" marked the end of the Sabbath. This is significant because Mark 3:2 reveals that there was a strong "tradition" in "law" (as stretched out by the "scholars") that made "healing" a "work" that was disallowed by God's prohibition against work on the Sabbath (Exodus 20:10; 31:14-15; 35:2) buttressed by its nature as a "capital crime" (Numbers 15:32-36).
- a. The people clearly felt some of the weight of this "tradition".
- b. Thus, they waited until the sun had set and the Sabbath was officially "over".
- c. But, Jesus had already "healed" on the Sabbath, ignoring the legalism of the "scholars", and the people, apparently, knew it because they had to have a reason for showing up at the house with their infirm. And this does not even address whether Jesus' exorcism in the synagogue itself was "work" in regard to the Sabbath; not likely because it was only "speech".
- 3. These "traditions" were inescapably endemic to "legalism" as a "theology of a method for salvation".
- a. If a person's "salvation" hinges upon "obedience to law", there are many, many specific situations that have to have "clarification" as to whether, in fact, a given "act" that is not specifically addressed in the "law", is actually included by the "law" by way of "type of meaning". The record of Numbers 15 indicates this tension because of the ambiguity in the minds of the people. Do we kill him or not?
- b. In the "new doctrine" of Jesus, "legalism" is not a valid methodology of salvation, nor is any "traditional understanding" of "extensions" of laws actually given, automatically valid. Jesus' "new doctrine" grasp of "law" is declared in Mark 2:27 to be that the purpose of Sabbatical "law" was not "to gain salvation from a Law-Giver" but to enhance a man's ability to experience the Life God had granted to him. "Rest" is critical to post-fall man, both on the physical level of allowing the body to recover from work that wears it down, and on the spiritual level of being able to trust God for the necessities that may become more acute from the lack of work. And, actually, it is the "trust" issue that is most important simply because physical rest without the ability to "trust" is not very effective because the body does not "rest" when the heart/mind/soul is in a "worry-driven" turmoil.
- B. "...they were bringing to Him...".
- 1. This "bringing" (Imperfect Indicative) had to have some sort of, at least seeming, legitimacy.
- a. Either the people were acting on the basis of other, earlier, "healings", or the healing of Peter's mother-in-law was broadcast quickly through the town.
- b. Mark does not indicate other, earlier, "healings", so the more likely cause of the "bringing" was the word-of-mouth spread of what Jesus did when He entered the house.
- 2. Those "brought" were variously afflicted by "having seriously detrimental physical 'evils' ". The word translated "diseases" literally means "evils that are having significantly harmful impacts upon the bodies/minds of people".
- 3. Those "brought" were also of another category: they were "demonized" (Mark's only other reference by this term in his record is the man who was possessed by Legion, in Mark 5). He did, however, refer to "demons" also in Mark 3:22 where the leaders of the theology of Jerusalem accuse Jesus of exorcisms on the basis of the power of the "prince of demons". Jesus, in that text, immediately jumps to "Satan" casting out "Satan" as an impossibility, and Mark uses Jesus' words to tie "demons", "Satan", and "unclean spirits" all into one group (3:30) whose "sin" of equating the Holy Spirit with "unclean" spirits is unforgivable (3:29).
- a. The origins of this term are unclear (Theological Dictionary of the New Testament), but the ancient use indicates a belief in beings that can completely dominate a person's body as in "shredding" the unity between body, soul, and spirit so that the "demon" takes over the function of the "spirit" to the uncaring detriment of both body and soul.
- b. Rather than categorizing these as "having an unclean spirit", Mark switches over to "being demonized". As noted, Mark makes "demons" and "unclean spirits" equivalent in 3:30, as does Matthew in 8:16.
- 1) This highlights a "distinction": "spirit" focuses upon "function" (source of ability); "demon" focuses upon "method" (first, false doctrine; then, shredding the "person's "unity" so that the "unclean spirit" can dominate).
- 2) The later text (3:30) ties all three to "Satan" as "opponent", rather than "Devil" as "deceiver", which is in line with Jesus' experience in the wilderness in 1:13.
- 3) Thus, Mark's focus is upon "opposition" rather than "deceit".
- c. The switch is deliberate in terms of focus: "spirits" indicate "roots of actions in both power and motivation"; "demons" indicate "spirits immersed in the Devil's doctrines and practices". The "Devil" is a deceiver, through the use of "lies", both blatant, and subtle half-truths, and a murderer (John 8:44).
- C. The whole city had been gathered (Perfect Passive Participle) to the door.
- 1. There is, in this, a huge threat to the "synagogue" as the bastion of "Law" and doctrine because the people simply do not care to go to the heart of synagogue theology: they will wait upon the setting of the sun, but they will go to a Man Who did not so wait. Jesus has demonstrated that He has the "authority" (and its undergirding power) to completely change synagogue doctrine.
- 2. But, there is another huge threat: the entire city is predisposed to fulfill the potent lust of men to have others "seeking them out" (the end game of the "pride of life").
