Mark 1:29-45 -- The Word Spreads in Bible Studies

In this last part of Mark's first chapter, Jesus performs a bunch of miracles and word about him spreads all over the region and people start coming to him to have miracles performed. In 1:29-31, Jesus heals Simon Peter's mother-in-law; in 1:34 he "healed many" and "drove out many demons"; in 1:39 he "travelled throughout Galilee, preaching in their synagogues and driving out demons"; and in 1:40-45, he healed a man with a skin disease.

Several points in this passage hint that this is Simon's eyewitness version of events as reported to Mark. First, they go to Simon's house, and Mark is careful to give a list of who is there--Simon and Andrew, James and John, Jesus and Simon's mother-in-law. He gives specific details, such as the crowd being "at the door," that they came after sunset and that Jesus got up and left before sunrise. The group that goes to look for Jesus is "Simon and his companions," another hint that this is Simon telling the story through Mark.

While I've read in commentaries how action-oriented the Gospel of Mark is, it's impressive to see Jesus' rise in the first chapter from one of the many people John baptized to a first-century rock star. Verse 45 says, "Jesus could no longer enter a town openly but stayed outside in lonely places. Yet the people still came to him from everywhere." His fame actually causes him problems when he can no longer enter towns but has to stay outside them because of the crowds.

This difficulty caused by his fame at least partly explains his reluctance to have people speak about him. Earlier, in verses 24 & 25, the demon called him "the Holy One of God," and Jesus told him to "be quiet!" Verse 34 says, "he would not let the demons speak, because they knew who he was." In verses 43 & 44, Jesus gave "a strong warning" to the man he had healed to not tell anyone (a warning that man immediately ignored).

In verse 38, Jesus says, "Let us go somewhere else—to the nearby villages—so I can preach there also. That is why I have come." Why did Jesus come to Earth? To spread his message, which verse 14 called "the good news of God." And if there's so many people crowding around him that he can't effectively deliver his message, then that's a problem.

One commentary notes that after speaking in the synagogue, driving out the demon and healing Peter's mother-in-law all on the Sabbath, the people of the town only brought their own sick to him to be healed after sundown. Since the Jewish calendar counts days sunset-to-sunset, the Sabbath was over at this point, and the people were not breaking the Sabbath, although Jesus apparently had by driving out the demon. (I know this comes up later in other gospels, but I don't remember if it does in Mark.)

Two commentaries note that by reaching out his hand and touching the man with the skin disease, Jesus was seemingly breaking the law, which forbade touching lepers. To me, that fits quite well with Jesus driving out the demon on the Sabbath earlier in this chapter, and with the later episode where he heals a man on the Sabbath. But the commentaries both say that when Jesus touched the man, it "really wasn't unlawful, because the moment He touched him, he was cleansed;" "Jesus did not break that law, because as soon as He touched the man, he was no longer a leper!" This seems like wishful thinking, because as I read verses 41 and 42, Jesus touched the man, then he said, "I am willing," then he said, "Be clean," and then "immediately the leprosy left him." The healing action was Jesus' command, "Be clean," which came after Jesus touched him. Jesus understood the purpose of the law, which was to prevent infection. He knew that in this case it was unnecessary, so he did not need to follow it. Jesus understood the reason behind the law, so he knew when it could and should be broken.