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Matthew Henry's Commentary on Mark 1:12-20
M A R K. CHAP. I.
Mark's narrative does not take rise so early as those of Matthew and Luke do,
from the birth of our Saviour, but from John's baptism, from which he soon
passes to Christ's public ministry.
Accordingly, in this chapter, we have,
I. The office of John Baptist illustrated by the prophecy of him (ver. 1-3), and
by the history of him, ver. 4-8.
The Opening of Christ's Ministry.
14 Now after that John was put in prison, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the
gospel of the kingdom of God, 15 And saying, The time is fulfilled, and the
kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel. 16 Now as he
walked by the sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and Andrew his brother casting a net
into the sea: for they were fishers. 17 And Jesus said unto them, Come ye after
me, and I will make you to become fishers of men. 18 And straightway they
forsook their nets, and followed him. 19 And when he had gone a little further
thence, he saw James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, who also were in
the ship mending their nets. 20 And straightway he called them: and they left
their father Zebedee in the ship with the hired servants, and went after him. 21
And they went into Capernaum; and straightway on the sabbath day he entered into
the synagogue, and taught. 22 And they were astonished at his doctrine: for he
taught them as one that had authority, and not as the scribes.
Here is,
I. A general account of Christ's preaching in Galilee. John gives an account of
his preaching in Judea, before this (ch. ii. and iii.), which the other
evangelists had omitted, who chiefly relate what occurred in Galilee, because
that was least known at Jerusalem. Observe,
1. When Jesus began to preach in Galilee; After that John was put in prison.
When he had finished his testimony, then Jesus began his. Note, The silencing of
Christ's ministers shall not be the suppressing of Christ's gospel; if some be
laid aside, others shall be raised up, perhaps mightier than they, to carry on
the same work.
2. What he preached; The gospel of the kingdom of God. Christ came to set up the
kingdom of God among men, that they might be brought into subjection to it, and
might obtain salvation in it; and he set it up by the preaching of his gospel,
and a power going along with it.
Observe,
(1.) The great truths Christ preached; The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of
God is at hand. This refers to the Old Testament, in which the kingdom of the
Messiah was promised, and the time fixed for the introducing of it. They were
not so well versed in those prophecies, nor did they so well observe the signs
of the times, as to understand it themselves, and therefore Christ gives them
notice of it; "The time prefixed is now at hand; glorious discoveries of divine
light, life, and love, are now to be made; a new dispensation far more spiritual
and heavenly than that which you have hitherto been under, is now to commence."
Note, God keeps time; when the time is fulfilled, the kingdom of God is at hand,
for the vision is for an appointed time, which will be punctually observed,
though it tarry past our time.
(2.) The great duties inferred from thence. Christ gave them to understand the
times, that they might know what Israel ought to do; they fondly expected the
Messiah to appear in external pomp and power, not only to free the Jewish nation
from the Roman yoke, but to make it have dominion over all its neighbours, and
therefore thought, when that kingdom of God was at hand, they must prepare for
war, and for victory and preferment, and great things in the world; but Christ
tells them, in the prospect of that kingdom approaching, they must repent, and
believe the gospel.
They had broken the moral law, and could not be saved by a covenant of innocency,
for both Jew and Gentile are concluded under guilt. They must therefore take the
benefit of a covenant of grace, must submit to a remedial law, and this is it -
repentance towards God, and faith towards our Lord Jesus Christ. They had not
made use of the prescribed preservatives, and therefore must have recourse to
the prescribed restoratives.
By repentance we must lament and forsake our sins, and by faith we must receive
the forgiveness of them. By repentance we must give glory to our Creator whom we
have offended; by faith we must give glory to our Redeemer who came to save us
from our sins. Both these must go together; we must not think either that
reforming our lives will save us without trusting in the righteousness and grace
of Christ, or that trusting in Christ will save us without the reformation of
our hearts and lives. Christ hath joined these two together, and let no man
think to put them asunder. They will mutually assist and befriend each other.
Repentance will quicken faith, and faith will make repentance evangelical; and
the sincerity of both together must be evidenced by a diligent conscientious
obedience to all God's commandments. Thus the preaching of the gospel began, and
thus it continues; still the call is, Repent, and believe, and live a life of
repentance and a life of faith.
II. Christ appearing as a teacher, here is next his calling of disciples, v.
16-20.
Observe,
1. Christ will have followers. If he set up a school, he will have scholars; if
he set up his standard, he will have soldiers; if he preach, he will have
hearers. He has taken an effectual course to secure this; for all that the
Father has given him, shall, without fail, come to him.
2. The instruments Christ chose to employ in setting up his kingdom, were the
weak and foolish things of the world; not called from the great sanhedrim, or
the schools of the rabbin, but picked up from among the tarpaulins by the
sea-side, that the excellency of the power might appear to be wholly of God, and
not at all of them.
3. Though Christ needs not the help of man, yet he is pleased to make use of it
in setting up his kingdom, that he might deal with us not in a formidable but in
a familiar way, and that in his kingdom the nobles and governors may be of
ourselves, Jer. xxxi. 21.
4. Christ puts honour upon those who, though mean in the world, are diligent in
their business, and loving to one another; so those were, whom Christ called. He
found them employed, and employed together. Industry and unity are good and
pleasant, and there the Lord Jesus commands the blessing, even this blessing,
Follow me.
5. The business of ministers is to fish for souls, and win them to Christ. The
children of men, in their natural condition, are lost, wander endlessly in the
great ocean of this world, and are carried down the stream of its course and
way; they are unprofitable. Like leviathan in the waters, they play therein; and
often, like the fishes of the sea, they devour one another. Ministers, in
preaching the gospel, cast the net into the waters, Matt. xiii. 47. Some are
enclosed and brought to shore, but far the greater number escape. Fishermen take
great pains, and expose themselves to great perils, so do ministers; and they
have need of wisdom. If many a draught brings home nothing, yet they must go on.
6. Those whom Christ called, must leave all, to follow him; and by his grace he
inclines them to do so. Not that we must needs go out of the world immediately,
but we must sit loose to the world, and forsake every thing that is inconsistent
with our duty to Christ, and that cannot be kept without prejudice to our souls.
Mark takes notice of James and John, that they left not only their father (which
we had in Matthew), but the hired servants, whom perhaps they loved as their own
brethren, being their fellow-labourers and pleasant comrades; not only
relations, but companions, must be left for Christ, and old acquaintance.
Perhaps it is an intimation of their care for their father; they did not leave
him without assistance, they left the hired servants with him. Grotius thinks it
is mentioned as an evidence that their calling was gainful to them, for it was
worth while to keep servants in pay, to help them in it, and their hands would
be much missed, and yet they left it.
III. Here is a particular account of his preaching in Capernaum, one of the
cities of Galilee; for though John Baptist chose to preach in a wilderness, and
did well, and did good, yet it doth not therefore follow, that Jesus must do so
too; the inclinations and opportunities of ministers may very much differ, and
yet both be in the way of their duty, and both useful.
Observe,
1. When Christ came into Capernaum, he straightway applied himself to his work
there, and took the first opportunity of preaching the gospel. Those will think
themselves concerned not to lose time, who consider what a deal of work they
have to do, and what a little time to do it in.
2. Christ religiously observed the sabbath day, though not by tying himself up
to the tradition of the elders, in all the niceties of the sabbath-rest, yet
(which was far better) by applying himself to, and abounding in, the
sabbath-work, in order to which the sabbath-rest was instituted.
3. Sabbaths are to be sanctified in religious assemblies, if we have
opportunity; it is a holy day, and must be honoured with a holy convocation;
this was the good old way, Acts xiii. 27; xv. 21. On the sabbath-day, pois
sabbasin - on the sabbath-days; every sabbath-day, as duly as it returned, he
went into the synagogue.
4. In religious assemblies on sabbath-days, the gospel is to be preached, and
those to be taught, who are willing to learn the truth as it is in Jesus.
5. Christ was a non-such preacher; he did not preach as the scribes, who
expounded the law of Moses by rote, as a school-boy says his lesson, but were
neither acquainted with it (Paul himself, when a Pharisee, was ignorant of the
law), nor affected with it; it came not from the heart, and therefore came not
with authority. But Christ taught as one that had authority, as one that knew
the mind of God, and was commissioned to declare it.
6. There is much in the doctrine of Christ, that is astonishing; the more we
hear it, the more cause we shall see to admire it.
II. Christ's baptism, and his being owned from heaven, ver. 9-11.
III. His temptation, ver. 12, 13.
IV. His preaching, ver. 14, 15, 21, 22, 38, 39.
V. His calling disciples, ver. 16-20.
VI. His praying, ver. 35.
VII. His working miracles.
1. His rebuking an unclean spirit, ver. 23-28.
2. His curing Peter's mother-in-law, who was ill of a fever, ver. 29-31.
3. His healing all that came to him, ver. 32, 34.
4. His cleansing a leper, ver. 40-45.
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