Mark 1:35 And in the morning,; And in the early morning--NASB; Early in the morning--Wms; rising up a great while before day,; And rising very early, by night--ABUV; while it was still dark, He arose--NASB; long before daylight, he got up--Gspd; he went out, and departed into a solitary place,; and left the house, and went off to a lonely spot--Gspd; left the house and went off to a deserted place--Phi; and leaving the house, made his way into the open country--Rieu; and there prayed.; and remained there in prayer--NEB; there began to pray--TCNT; and there he gave himself up to prayer--Bas; And /very early by night arising\ he went out [and departed] into a desert' place, and /there\ was praying; And very early, it being yet night, having risen, he went forth, and went away to a desert place and was there praying; TRNTyeager587,8 - kai prwi ennucha lian anastas exAlthen kai apAlthen eis erAmon topon kakei prosAucheto. kai (explanatory conjunction). prwi (adverbial). ennucha (adverbial). before day - here. Meaning: From ennucheuw - "to sleep in or on." Cf. ennuchos - "nightly, nocturnal." The neuter ennucha is used adverbially - "by night" - here. lian (adverbial). anastas (aor.act.part.nom.sing.masc.of anistAmi, adverbial, temporal). exAlthen (3d.per.sing.aor.ind.of exerchomai, constative). kai (adjunctive conjunction, joining verbs). apAlthen (3d.per.sing.aor.ind.of aperchomai, constative). eis (preposition with the accusative of extent). erAmon (acc.sing.masc.of erAmos, in agreement with topon). topon (acc.sing.masc.of topos, extent). kakei (adverbial, crasis). prosAucheto (3d.per.sing.imp.act.ind.of proseuchomai, conative). Translation: "Now very early in the morning, before dawn, having arisen, He went out and went away into a solitary place and there He began to pray." COMMENT: kai is explanatory. Mark uses three adverbs prwi, ennucha and lian to emphasize the fact that Jesus got up at an early hour. It was "very early, before the dawn." exAlthen speaks of His departure from Simon's household, where Jesus had finally gotten to bed for a little sleep, after the long healing session previously described. apAlthen describes His departure from the city of Capernaum into the deserted and lonely spot where He could escape His public. He went there to pray. Note the conative imperfect in prosAucheto - "He began to pray." Luke does not tell us how long Jesus spent talking with the Father, but He was soon interrupted by Simon and the other disciples as we learn in vs.36. The evening before Jesus had spent in a long struggle with the demons. He had healed many people. This was a sacrifice to Him. Cf.Mt.8:17; Isa.53:4. His struggle with the demons was persistent. Cf. comment on Lk.4:41. The principle of substitution is clear here. Every blessing which Jesus provides for us involves a cost to Him. It is true universally that there is "no such thing as a free lunch." If we are to be healed, Jesus Christ must suffer. If we are to be free from the demon world, it is because He accepted combat with the powers of darkness. The incarnate Son of God was also the very human Son of Man, with a body that could feel pain and exhaustion. Jesus felt the need for communion with His Father. While not a hermit who tried to avoid the people who needed Him, Jesus nevertheless sought a solitary place where the imperious demands of sinners upon Him would not interrupt His fellowship with the Father. Cf. #544 for other passages on the prayer life of our Lord. Cf. Lk.4:42. The closer the child of God approaches to the divine standard for his life the more clearly he will understand Jesus' problem on this occasion and the more completely he will be able to identify with Him. We are here to serve God by helping others by allowing the HS to use the gifts with which He has endowed every christian, to edify those to whom He, in His sovereign wisdom, leads us. To ignore the human contact or to seek to avoid it, is to frustrate the divine purpose for our lives. But such contacts are costly to one whose eyes are trained upon Him, in whom "...are hid all of the treasures ofwisdom and knowledge" (Col.2:3). If we are to know Him better we must spend a great deal of time with Him alone. But this principle works the other way too. The time spent with Jesus alone, in study and prayer, could have been spent in helping others. The problem is to strike the proper balance between the social gospel with its evangelical approach and the prayer time in the desert with God alone. Jesus knew the problem and sympathizes with those of us who also know it, to a much lesser extent, of course. The life that is truly Spirit-filled will find the problem solved automatically by Him Whose function it is to direct us every moment of the day and night (Phil.1:6). M72 - A general distinction in Mark (although not consistently observed, cf.5:34), may be that a man will go out of a house (ek), but from a country (apo); thus in this verse, "he left the house and went away to an uninhabited place." MinGNTwuest38,9 - "In the morning," prwi, the last watch of the night from three to six A.M. "A great while before day," ennucha lian, in the early part of the watch while it was still a bit dark. "He went out," out of Simon's house and departed out of the city. "Prayed," proseuchomai; the simple verb euchomai means "to pray to God," the prefixed preposition pros, meaning "towards," adds the idea of definiteness, a conscious direction of one's prayer to God, and a consciousness on the part of the one praying, of God's presence and attention. The verb is imperfect, and pictures Jesus as praying through the early morning hours. As for the reason for our Lord's sudden departure, Expositors has the following: "The real reason of the flight was doubtless a desire to preach in as many synagogues as possible before the hostility of the scribes, instinctively dreaded, had time to act obstructively. Jesus had a plan of a preaching tour in Galilee, and He felt He could not begin too soon. He left in the night, fearing the opposition of the people.'" Translation: "And in the last watch of the night between three and six, in the early part of the watch while it was still somewhat dark, He arose and went out, and went off into a deserted place, and was there praying. MARKj&d52,3 - ANALYSIS I. The Lonely Prayer. vs. 35-37. 1. Prayer in the Secret Place. Mk.1:35; Lk.4:42. 2. Sought by the Disciples. Mk.1:36,37; Lk.4:42. II. Seeking To Save The Lost. vs. 38,39 1. The First Missionary Tour. Mk.1:38; Mt.4:23; Lk.4:43. 2. Preaching in the Synagogues. Mk.1:39; Mt.4:23; Lk.4:44. III. Healing The Leper. vs. 40-45. 1. The Leper's Appeal. Mk.1:40; Mt.8:2; Lk.5:12 2. The Lord Hears and Heals. Mk.1:41,42; Mt.8:3; Lk.5:13. 3. Leper spreads Abroad the Story. Mk.1:45; Lk.4:15. INTRODUCTION The Sabbath service in the synagogue had been interrupted by the outcry of the demoniac while Jesus was preaching. After his cure, and the close of the public services, Jesus with his four disciples retires to the modest home of Peter and Andrew, where he works a miracle, the beginning of a series which leads to the height of his fame and popularity and success through Galilee. The leper was healed on the first missionary circuit of Galilee, not long after the preaching of the Sermon on the Mount. EXPLANATORY NOTES I. The Lonely Prayer.-- "And in the morning." On Sunday morning, immediately after the busy Sabbath day, Mark graphically brings the scene before our eyes. The previous day had been a long day of conflict with and victory over the kingdom of sin and death. He now retires to refresh himself in the haven of prayer, in communion with his Father. He prepares himself in the desert for a second great mission of love, this time accompanied by his first four disciples. "A great while before day." Our Lord always prepared himself for special work or for trial by solitary prayer. See Mt. 14:23; Mk.6:46; Luke 5:16; 6:12; 22:41. it is possible that his night was sleepless because of his anxiety for others; and he arose from his sleepless couch to pray for strength. We may learn from his example (1) that when we are restless and anxious the best relief is found in prayer; (2) the prayer most efficacious, when we have a special burden, is solitary prayer, the prayer of the closet. Christ was wont to seek solitude for special occassions of prayer. "Solitary place." Not merely solitary, for a garden might be solitary, but desert, desolate, as the word in all other places is rendered. "A remarkable feature of the lake of Gennesaret was that is was closely surrounded with desert solitudes. These "desert places" thus close at hand on the table lands or in the ravines of the eastern and western ranges, gave opportunities of retirement for rest or prayer. 'Rising up early in the morning while it was yet dark,' or 'passing over to the other side in a boat,' he sought these solitudes, sometimes alone, sometimes with his disciples. The lake in this double aspect is thus a reflex of that union of energy and rest, of active labor and the deep emotion which is the essence of Christianity, as it was of the life of Him in whom that union was first taught and shown."--Stanley's Sinai and Palestine. "And there prayed." The original word does not simply denote asking. Prayer, says Petler, is a holy conference with God. Prayer gave him power. The gate to heaven is prayer. No man is strong enough or spiritual enough to be able to neglect it. By daily food the body lives and is able to perform its functions. By daily prayer the soul lives, and only by prayer performs its work of grace. Christ communed in the wilderness with his own soul and with the Father for forty days before he began his ministry, and here he waits before the Lord before beginning his special work in Galilee. MARKmcgarvey271 - "a great while before day." This is Mark's allusion to the prayerfulness of Jesus. There are two circumstances connected with this prayer that are worthy of note: first, the very early hour--"a great while before day"--at which he arose and went out to the solitary place where he prayed; and second, his abrupt departure when he learned (vs.37,38) that the people were seeking for him. The unbounded admiration with which the people were regarding him might have swelled him with vanity, had not some means been employed to guard against this weakness. The means employed were prayer and flight. Jesus lived a spotless life, not merely because he was the Son of God, but because he used, with unfailing success, the means of resisting and of avoiding temptation. What an example for us who by nature are so weak! When temptation draws near, let us pray, and rise up, if need be, "a great while before day," that we may pray in solitude while all the world is wrapt in slumber. And if the temptation still draws near, let us flee from its presence. This prayer and flight occurred on Sunday morning. MARKbarclay33 - Simply to read the record of the things that happened at Capernaum is to see that Jesus was left with not time alone at all. Now Jesus knew well that He could not live without God; that if He was going to be forever giving out, He must be at least sometimes taking in; that if He was going to spend Himself for others, He must ever and again summon spiritual reinforcements to His aid. That is to say, Jesus knew that He could not live without prayer. In a little book entitled The Practice of Prayer, Dr. A.D.Belden has some great definitions of prayer. "Prayer may be defined as the appeal of the soul to God." Not to pray is to be guilty of the incredible folly of ignoring "the possibility of adding God to our resources." "In prayer we give the perfect mind of God an opportunity to feed our mental powers."Jesus knew this; He knew that if He was to meet men He must first meet God. If prayer was necessary for Jesus, how much more must it be necessary for us? TNICotNTlane80,1,2 - This narrative, which like the preceding two is told from Peter's perspective (note vs.36 "Simon and those that were with him"), is intended by Mark to be associated with the report of the crowds that came to Jesus for healing the previous evening. This is indicated both by the time sequence in vs.35 and the reference to the fresh gathering of a multitude seeking Jesus' benefactions in vs.37. The vivid phrase "a very great while before day" may reflect the perspective of Simon, who discovered that Jesus was gone, and initiated the search for him. The fact that Jesus left the village while it was yet dark and sought a solitary place where he prayed is interesting from two points of view. (1) To describe the site of prayer Mark uses a double term meaning literally "wilderness place." The discription is inappropriate geographically, for the land about Capernaum was cultivated during this period. Its reference is to a place of solitude which in some sense recalls the wilderness. This is confirmed from the other two passages where this terminology occurs (1:45; 6:31-33). These passages share certain formal characteristics with Ch. 1:35: in each instance reference to the wilderness-place is preceded by an account of Jesus' preaching and power; he then withdraws from the multitude which seeks his gifts, with the result that the people (in 1:35-37 their representatives) pursue him to the solitary place to which he has gone. These texts suggest that Jesus deliberately withdraws from the people to return to an area which has the character of the wilderness where he encountered Satan and sustained temptation. The nature of the temptation in each instance may be related to the clamor of the crowds, who are willing to find in Jesus a divine-man who meets their needs and so wins their following. The people, however, have no conception of what it means to go out to the wilderness to bear the burden of judgment, as Jesus has done. He turns from their acclaim, returning to a place which recalls his determination to fulfill the mission for which he has come into the world. The passages which speak of "a wilderness place" thus refer back to the prologue to the Gospel, with its distinctive wilderness- theology. (2) The second point of interest is the reference to Jesus' praying. In Mark's Gospel Jesus is seen in prayer only three times: at the beginning of the account, when his ministry is being defined (1:35), in the middle after the feeding of the five thousand (6:46), and near the conclusion when Jesus is in Gethsemane (14:32-34). These three occasions have the character of a critical moment. The setting for Jesus' prayer in each instance is night and solitude, for even in Gethsemane Jesus is quite alone in spite of the three disciples who are separated a short distance from him. The situation again recalls the wilderness when Jesus confronts the temptation of Satan, and is sustained by help from God. His strength is in prayer through which he affirms his intention to fulfill the will of God, which means his submission to the judgment of God on behalf of the many who return to the wilderness without understanding. NTChendriksen71,2 - After a long and strenuous day Jesus, who was and is not only divine but also human, felt the need of prayer. ... Had he spent the night in Peter's home, and did that disciple, upon arising discover that the Master had already left? This is possible but we do not know. What we do know is that "very early while it was still night," that is, still dark, and was just starting to get light (Lk.4:42), Jesus got up, left the house (whether his own or Peter's), and went off to a lonely or deserted spot, a quiet retreat. There he poured out his heart in prayer to his heavenly Father. It may well have been a thanksgiving for blessings already received and a petition for strength needed for the Galilean circuit that was about to begin. Jesus attached great importance to prayer. He himself prayed when he was baptized (Lk.3:21); just before choosing the twelve disciples (Lk.6:12); in connection with, and after, the miraculous feeding of the five thousand (Mk.6:41, 46; cf.Mt.14:19,23); when he was about to ask his disciples an important question (Lk.9:18); on the mountain where he was transfigured (Lk.9:28); just before extending the tender invitation, "Come to me all who are weary..." (Mt.11:25-30; Lk.10:21); just before he taught the disciples the Lord's Prayer (Lk.11:1); at Lazarus' tomb (Jn.11:41,42); for Peter, before the denial (Lk.22:32); during the night of the institution of the Lord's Supper (Jn.17; cf.14:16); in Gethsemane (Mk.14:32,35,36,39; cf.Mt.26:39,42,44; Lk.22:42); on the cross (Lk.23:34; Mk.15:34; Mt.27:46; Lk.23:46); and after his resurrection (Lk.24:30). These references must be considered as being merely examples of a much more extensive life of prayer and thanksgiving. A few quotations culled from the prayers of our Lord, as recorded in the Gospels, show how genuine, intimate, trustful, unselfish, and God-glorifying they were: "I praise thee, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that thou didst hide these things from wise and learned (people) and didst reveal them to babes..." (Mt.25:26). "Father, I thank thee that thou hast heard me. I know that thou dost always hear me, but on account of the multitude that is standing around I said (this), in order that they may believe that thou has sent me" (Jn.11:41,42). "Father, the hour has arrived; glorify thy Son, in order that the Son may glorify thee"..."Holy Father, keep them in thy name"..."I make request that they all may constantly be one..." (Jn.17: Christ's highpriestly prayer, for himself, his immediate disciples, and the Church Universal). "My Father, if it be possible, let this cup be spared me; nevertheless, not as I will but as thou wilt....My Father, if it is not possible that this (cup) be spared me except I drink it, thy will be done" (Mt.26:39,42 and parallels in Mark and Luke). "Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing"..."Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit" (Lk.23:34,46). Jesus also urged prayer on his followers (Mk.9:29; 13:18,33; 14:38; cf.Mt.7:7-11; Lk.18:1-8), and showed them how to pray and how not to pray (Mt.6:6-8). In this connection he also taught them what is known as "the Lord's Prayer" (Mt.6:9-15). Viewed in this context vs.35 becomes meaningful. TCGTCcranfield88,9 - The odd but vivid prwi ennucha lian perhaps reflects Peter's recalling of the reactions of those who discovered that Jesus had gone. Contrast Luke's staid expression, ennucha is an accusative plural neuter of an adjective used adverbially. The double phrase exAlthen kai apAlthen is very much in Mark's manner and should be retained, though some authorities omit exAlthen kai and others kai apAlthen. erAmon. Here used adjectivally. It need not mean 'desert': as the country round Capernaum was cultivated at this time, it is better to translate 'lonely' or 'quiet'. prosAucheto. Cf.6:46; 14:32ff. 'Only here at the beginning, in the middle (6:46) and again at the end, in Gethsemane, is Jesus' praying mentioned; and each time it is at dead of night' (Lohmeyer). Luke mentions it more often, but strangely omits this reference. TL&ToJtMedersheim489,90 - A day and an evening such as of that Sabbath of healing in Capernaum must, with reverence be it written, have been followed by what opens the next section. To the thoughtful observer there is such unbroken harmony in the Life of Jesus, such accord of the inward and outward, as to carry instinctive conviction of the truth of its record. It was, so to speak, an inward necessity that the God-Man, when brought into contact with disease and misery, whether from physical or supernatural causes, should remove it by His Presence, by His touch, by His Word. An outward necessity also, because no other mode of teaching equally convincing would have reached those accustomed to Rabbinic disputations, and who must have looked for such a manifestation from One Who claimed such authority. And yet, so far from being a mere worker of miracles, as we should have expected if the history of His miracles had been of legendary origin, there is nothing more marked than the pain, we had almost said the humiliation, which their necessity seems to have carried to His heart. `Except ye see signs and wonders, ye will not believe;' `an evil and adulterous generation seeketh a sing;' `blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed'--such are the utterances of Him Who sighed when He opened the ears of the deaf, and bade His Apostles look for higher and better things than power over all diseases or even over evil spirits. So would not the Messiah of Jewish legend have spoken or done; nor would they who invented such miracles have so referred to them. In truth, when, through the rift in His outward history, we catch a glimpse of Christ's inner Being, these miracles, so far as not the outcome of the mystic union of the Divine and the Human in His Person, but as part of His Mission, form part of His Humiliation. They also belong to that way which He had chosen in his initial conquest of the Tempter in the Wilderness, when He chose, not the sudden display of absolute power for the subdual of His people, but the painful, slow method of meeting the wants, and addressing Himself to the understanding and capacity of those over Whom He would reign. In this view, it seems as if we could gain a fresh understanding, not only of the expediency of His final departure, so far as concerned the future teaching of the disciples by the HS, but of His own longing for the Advent of the Comforter. In truth, the two teachers and the two modes of teaching could not be together, and the Ascension of the Christ, as the end of His Humiliation, marked the Advent of the Holy Ghost, as bestowing another mode of teaching than that of the days of His Humiliation. And so, thinking of the scene on the evening before, we can understand how,`very early, while it was still very dar,' Jesus rose up, and went into a solitary place to pray. The use of the same expression in St. Mark 8:35 enables us to fix the time as that of the fourth night-watch, or between three and six o'clock of the morning. It was not till some time afterwards, that even those, who had so lately been called to His closest fellowship, rose, and, missing Him, followed. Jesus had prayed in that solitude, and consecrated it. After such a day, and in prospect of entering on His second journey through Galilee--this time in so far different circumstances--He must prevent the dawn of the morning in prayer. And by this also would they learn, that He was not merely a worker of miracles, but that He, Whose Word demons obeyed, lived a Life, not of outward but of inward power, in fellowship with His Father, and baptized his work with prayer. But as yet, and, indeed, in measure all through His Life on earth, it seemed difficult for them in any measure to realise this. `All men seek for Thee,' and therefore they would have had Him return to Capernaum. But this was the very reason why He had withdrawn ere dawn of day. He had come forth, and that, not to attract the crowds, and be proclaimed a King, but to preach the Kingdom of God. Once more we say it: so speaks not, nor acts the hero of Jewish legend! Mark 1:36 And Simon and they that were with him; And Simon and his com- panions--Gspd; followed after him.; hunted for Him--NASB; searched him out--NEB; searched everywhere for Him--Wey; and Simon, and they who were with him, went in quest of him, and Simon and those with him went in quest of him, TRNTyeager589 - kai katediwxen auton Simwn kai hoi met' autou, kai (adversative conjunction). katediwxen (3d.per.sing.aor.act.ind.of katadiwkw, constative). follow after - here Meaning: A combination of kata and diwkw. Hence, to track down; to pursue; to follow after. With reference to Simon Peter and the disciples who were following Jesus - here. auton (acc.sing.masc.of autos, direct object of katediwxen). Simwn (nom.sing.masc.of Simwn, subject of katediwxen). kai (adjunctive conjunction, joining a noun with a substantival prepositional phrase). hoi (nom.pl.masc.of the article, subject of katediwxen). met' (preposition with the genitive of accompaniment). autou (gen.sing.masc.of autos, accompaniment). Translation: "But Simon sought Him out and those who were with him." COMMENT: katediwxen is emphasized. The word denotes a determined effort. Simon Peter tracked Him down, like a bloodhound, except that in this situation the motive was more pure, albeit thoughtless. We should not censure the disciples too much in this case. They awoke to find Jesus gone and could not rest until they had found Him. R606 - In the compound verb katadiwxen, the preposition has a perfective force, "hunt down" (cf. MT116;Cham141). Ear113 - Followed. The verb katadiwkw (only here in NT) is an intensive compound of diwkw, which means "run after, pursue." It carries the idea of "search for eagerly, hunt for" (AG). Probably the best translation here is "hunted for Him" (NASB). They had to search for some time before they found Jesus. MitGNTwuest39 - "Followed after Him." The verb is katadiwkw; diwkw is used of the hunt or chase. It means "to pursue." The prefixed preposition kata has the local meaning of "down," and the perfective force of "down to the finish." "They hunted Him out," or "They tracked Him down." Robertson quotes Swete as saying, "Simon's intentions at least were good; the Master seemed to be losing precious opportunities and must be brought back." The object of the disciples was to bring Jesus back to Capernaum. Translation: "And Simon and those with him hunted Him out." MARKj&d36,7 - "Simon, and they were with him." The Simon here named is Simon Peter, the apostle, to whose house the Lord had gone after the discourse at the synagogue on the day before. The others with him were probably Andrew his brother, and James and John, who had now left their secular business to attend the Savior. Peter, impetuous, abrupt, impulsive, id not hesitate to intrude himself on the Lord's retirement. He is always the same, wherever he appears in the four gosples; self-confident, generous, bold, often making mistakes from his impulsiveness, and always ready to correct them. On this occasion he, no doubt, acted as the leader in the search after the praying Savior. Morison says: "When they awoke in the morning, and found him gone, they seemed to have got alarmed lest he should have left them, betaking himself to some other sphere of labor. So, too, the inhabitants of the little city in general seem to have felt. Hence the haste and eagerness of Simon and his companions (Andrew, James and John), as indicated by the strong verb employed: they pursued him, as if he were fleeing from them. Peter was the leader of the pursuing party, thus giving early indication of the impulsive ardor of his nature." MARKbarclay33,4 - But even there they sought Him out. There was no way in which Jesus could shut the door. Once Rose Macaulay, the novelist, said that all she demanded from this life was "a room of her own." That is precisely what Jesus never had. A great doctor has siad that the duty of medicine is "sometimes to hear, often to afford relief, and always to bring consolation." That duty was always upon Jesus. It has been said that a doctor's duty is "to help men to live and to die"--and men are always living and dying. It is human nature to try to put up the barriers and to have time and peace to oneself; that is what Jesus never did. Conscious as He was of His own weariness and exhaustion. He was still more conscious of the insistent cry of human need. So when they came for Him He rose from His knees to meet the challenge of His task. Prayer will never do our work for us; what it will do is to strengthen us for tasks which must be done. NTChendriksen72,3 - If Jesus had spent the night at Simon's house, this might explain why Simon is mentioned so prominently: "Simon and those with him." But it is probable that almost from the beginning this man Simon--that is, Peter--was, on account of his very character or personality, considered a leader. "Those who were with him"; shall we say Andrew, James, and John? On the basis of vs.16-20 this would seem natural, but there may also have been others (see Jn. 1:43-45). These men, then, diligently, eagerly searched for Jesus. They were determined to find him. [The prefix kata is perfective. The verb katadiwkw is often used in a hostile sense: to pursue, hunt or track down, but here: to search, with eager determination to find Jesus by all means.] Note the synonymous expression in II Tim.1:17: "He [Onesiphorus] diligently searched for me and found me!" So also in the case of Simon and his fellow-disciples the search was successful. They found Jesus. Their intention was to bring him right back to Capernaum, where "everybody," that is, a large crowd of people--perhaps gathered again in front of Peter's house--was looking for Jesus. Excitedly the disciples inform Jesus about this. The result, however, was surprising. Jesus is not going to allow the people in general, or even his disciples, to tell him where he should go. Besides, in his great love he wishes to distribute his favors among the many. Capernaum will see him again. It remains for a while his center of operations, his headquarters. But he does not wish to confine himself to that one city. TCGTCcranfield89 - katediwxen. The v.l. katediwxan is probably a grammatical improvement. The verb probably is no stronger than 'sought after' or 'searched for'. There is a natural tendency for the sense of a word to be weakened: cf. skulleis in v.35 and the way ballw is often used in the NT. So it is unwise to build on the use of this verb here, as Lightfoot does, though the word may well reflect the memory of their anxiety to find Jesus. Mark 1:37 And when they had found him, they said unto him, All men seek for thee.; they say to him, All are seeking thee--ABUV; they told him, Everybody is looking for you--Mof; and found him, and say unto him-- /All\ are seeking thee; and having found him kthey say to him,--'All do seek thee;' TRNTyeager590 - kai heuron auton kai legousin autw hoti Pantes zAtousin se. kai (continuative conjunction). heuron (3d.per.pl.aor.act.ind.of heuriskw, culminative). auton (acc.sing.masc.of autos, direct object of heuron). kai (continuative conjunction). legousin (3d.per.pl.pres.act.ind.of legw, historical). autw (dat.sing.masc.of autos, indirect object of legousin). hoti (recitative). Pantes (nom.pl.masc.of pas, subject of zAtousin). zAtousin (3d.per.pl.pres.act.ind.of zAtew, progressive). se (acc.sing.masc.of su, direct object of zAtousin). Translation: "And they found Him and said to Him, 'Everyone is looking for you'". COMMENT: Mark puts the culminative aorist and the historical present together. They searched until they found Jesus (culminative aorist in heuron) and then they said to Him (historical present in legousin). Note also the present progressive (durative action) in zAtousin. That this was a rude intrusion into the sacred privacy of our Lord Who was enjoying some much needed fellowship with the Father, did not occur to the enthusiastic disciples and their friends. They were thrilled with the supernatural demonstration of Jesus' power which they had witnessed the night before and, in the case of the disciples, Phillip, Nathanael, Simon, Andrew, James and John, proud of the fact that He had chosen them to follow and be identified with Him. They had witnessed what they perhaps interpreted as evidence that Jesus was about to become the most popular political and religious leader in Israel - perhaps the Messiah Himself. The surging crowds of people, searching frantically for Jesus, to Whom they were bringing their sick and deranged friends, seemed to presage Jesus' ride on the crest of public opinion to Messianic power. That these people would turn against Jesus (Jn.6:66;15:18) and clamor for His blood (Jn.19:15) was a trend of events which the disciples could not at that time have foreseen. MitGNTwuest39 - "All men seek for Thee." "All" is pantes, not merely all the inhabitants of Capernaum, but all the world. "Seek" is present tense, durative action. All men are seeking Thee. Translation: "And they found Him, and say to Him, All are seeking for you." MARKj&d54 - "And they found him." Search and uncertainty is implied, since he had retired to an unfrequented spot. "They said unto him." Peter said this to induce him to return and the crowd besought him to stay. The will of the multitude did not govern him, as they supposed, hence the reply in the next verse. "All seek thee." That is, though indefinitely, all the people (in Capernaum.) The people in general had no sooner risen in the morning than they thought of the wonderful preacher and healer and demon-expeller. (Lk.4:42). They wanted still to hear more, and to see more; and hence they came, one after another to the house where he had been lodging in quest of him. Th emphasis is on the word seek. MARKmcgarvey271 - "All men seek for thee." Simon and the other disciples were elated by the sudden popularity of their Master, and they thought they were bringing most welcome tidings, when, after a diligent search to find Jesus, they said to him, "All men seek for thee." What was their surprise when their announcement met with only this response: "Let us go into the next towns, that I may preach there also: for therefore came I forth.'" TNIConNTlane82 - When the crowds returned to the house in the expectation of find Jesus, Simon and those with him, presumably Andrew, James and John, sought for him. There is a note of reproach in the statement, "All are seeking for you," which means, What are you doing here when you should be in the midst of the multitude who are clamoring for you? A very considerable impression had been made in Capernaum, and in the mistaken thinking of the fishermen it was this response which Jesus had sought to elicit. TCGTCcranfield89 - hoti is recitativum, as in v.15. pantes zAtousin se testifies to the considerable impression Jesus had made in Capernaum. Mark 1:38 And he said unto them, Let us go into the next towns,; And he says to them, Let us go elsewhere, into the neighboring towns--ABUV; And he said to them, Let us go on to the next towns--RSV; He answered, Let us move on to the country towns in the neighbourhood--NEB; that I may preach there also:; so that I may tell my message there too--Phi; I have to proclaim my message there also--NEB; for therefore came I forth.; for to this end...--ASV; for that is why I came out--RSV; and he saith unto them-- Let us be going elsewhere, into the neighbouring' country- towns, in order that /there also\ I may be making proclamation,--for /to this end\ came I forth; and he saith to them, 'We may go to the next towns, that there also I may preach, for for this I came forth.' TRNTyeager590,1,2 - kai legei autois, agwmen allachou eis tas echomenas kwmopoleis, hina kai ekei kApuxw, eis touto gar exAlthon. kai (adversative conjunction). legei (3d.per.sing.pres.act.ind.of legw, historical). autois (dat.pl.masc.of autos, indirect object of legei). agwmen (1st.per.pl.pres.act.subj.of agw, hortatory). allachou (adverbial). (not translated) - here. Meaning: And adverb - "elsewhere." - here. eis (preposition with the accusative of extent). tas (acc.pl.fem.of the article in agreement with kwmopoleis). echomenas (pres.pass.part.acc.pl.fem.of echw, adjectival, ascriptive). kwmopoleis (acc.pl.fem.of kwmopolis, extent). town - here. Meaning: A village, approximating a city in size. A village-city. Cf. kwmA and polis. hina (conjunction introducing a purpose clause). kai (adjunctive conjunction, joining verbs). ekei (adverbial). kAruxw, (1st.per.sing.aor.act.subj.of kArussw, purpose). eis (preposition with the accusative, purpose). touto (acc.sing.neut.of outos, purpose). gar (causal conjunction). exAlton (1st.per.sing.aor.ind.of exerchomai, culminative). Translation: "And He said to them, 'Let us go somewhere else, into the neighboring country towns in order that I may preach there also, because this is why I came out here." COMMENT: Cf.#876 for other hortatory subjunctives with agw. Cf. Acts 21:26 for a similar use of the present passive participle of echw as an adjective meaning "next." It is next because it is the one that is immediately available. In Mk.1:38 Jesus meant that He intended to preach in each village in the geographical order in which He came to them - "the town that was available." The town made available to Him by reason of the fact that it was next in line with His geographical pattern of travel. The hina clause of purpose introduces kAruxw, the aorist subjunctive. Jesus rejected the implied suggestion of the disciples that He return to Capernaum since everyone in town was looking for Him. Rather He announced His intention to procede through the countryside and justified His action with the causal clause introduced by gar. It was because (gar) that He came out into the desert in order that (hina...kAruxw) He might preach. Thus we learn that the primary purpose for His rising early and departure from Simon's house was that He might preach in all the towns round about. But before He preached He had to pray, at a time when the people in the towns were still sleeping. Preachers who lie in bed until midmorning, when the people to whom God has called them to preach are working in the kitchen or the shops or the factories or hurrying through the streets, had better take a lesson from Jesus. If we are to preach we must first pray. And the time to pray is before the audience awakes to hear our message. Even Jesus did not try to preach without first of all praying to the Father for grace and strength. Note that Jesus did not regard Capernaum, a thriving commercial center, with a large population as more important than the little towns in the country. Capernaum had had her chance. She had ample evidence of His deity and the purpose of His visit. What would she do with this knowledge? The evidence suggests that the people were more interested in the physical benefits of His healing ministry than they were in His Messianic mission with its spiritual and ethical commitments. R595 - The prepositional phrase eis touto has the idea of purpose. B103 - allachou means "in another direction" (cf. 5:28). H276 - The compound noun kwmopoleis means "village-town" (i.e., a polis that is little more than a kwmA). Ear113 - Towns. kwmopoleis is compounded of kwmA, "village," and polis, "city." So it literally means "village-cities." Swete calls them "country towns" and added: "There were many such in Galilee" (p. 26). MitGNTwuest39,40 - "Let us go," agwmen, present hortatory subjunctive, "Let us be going, and keep on going," emphasizing the length and arduousness of the contemplated preaching mission. The Nestle Greek test includes the word allachou "elsewhere," which is not handled by the A.V. "Into the next towns." "Next" is echomenas, a classic use meaning "clinging to, next to a thing," pointing to the towns close to Capernaum. "Towns" is the translation of kwmopoleis, "country towns or village cities without walls." "I came forth," exAlthon, "I came out," is not handled by the A.V. Translation: "And He says to them, Let us be going elsewhere into the nearby country towns in order that also there I may preach. For, for this purpose I came out." MARKj&d54 - II. SEeking to Save The Lost. "Let us go into the next towns." The disciples had pressed the Lord to return to Capernaum, because all men there were seeking for him, but he replies by a request for them to attend him to other cities. In Lk.4:43 he says, "I must preach the kingdom of God in other cities also." "Towns." The word so translated means village cities, country towns, imperfectly enclose towns, and un-enclosed villages. Josephus says, concerning the two Galilees, Upper and Lower, "The cities lie thick; and the multitude of villages are everywhere full of people, in consequence of the richness of the soil, so that the very least of them contains about 15,000 inhabitants" (War, 3:3,2). "Christ had no ambition to be a metropolitan preacher. Having awakened spiritual desires in the people of Capernaum, he went elsewhere that he might awaken them in others also." -- Abbott. "For therefore came I forth." To preach. He wrought miracles, but these were mainly to arrest attention and to induce people to give a ready ear to his preaching. MARKbarclay34,5 - So Jesus set out on a preaching tour of the Synagogues of Galilee. In Mark this tour is dismissed in one verse, but it must have taken weeks and even months to do it. As He went He preached and He healed. There were three parts of things which Jesus never separated. (i) He never separated words and actions. He never thought that a work was done when that work was stated; He never believed that His duty was completed when He had exhorted men to God and to goodness. Always the statement and the exhortation were put into action. Fosdick somewhere tells of a student who bought the best possible books and the best possible equipment, who got a special study chair with a special book-rest to make study easy, and who then sat down in the chair--and went to sleep. The man who deals in words with no actions to follow is very like that. (ii) He never separated soul and body. There have been types of Christianity which spoke as if the body did not matter. But man is both soul and body. And the task of Christianity is to redeem the whole man and not just part of him. It is indeed blessedly true that a man may be starving, living in a hovel, in distress and pain and may yet have sweet times with God; but that is no reason at all for leaving him in such a case. Missions to primitive races do not only take the Bible; they take education and medicine; they take the school and the hospital. It is quite wrong to talk about the social gospel as if it were an extra, or an addition, or an option, or even a separate part of the Christian message. The Christian message is one message which preaches and works for the good of a man's body and the good of his soul. (iii) Jesus never separated earth and heaven. There are those who are so concerned with heaven that they forget all about earth and so become impractical visionaries and idealists. There are those who are so concerned with earth that they forget about heaven and who limit good to material good. The dream of Jesus was a time when God's will would be done in earth as it is in heaven (Mt.6:10). Jesus' dream was a time when earth and heaven would be one. TNICotNTlane82,3 - Jesus' answer indicates their failure to understand him or his mission. Acts of healing and expulsion of demons, as much as proclamation, entailed a disclosure of the nature of the kingdom of God and constituted a demand for decision. By his decision a person was qualified for participation in the kingdom or marked for judgment. The crowds that gathered in Capernaum had made their decision, but it could not be the appropriate one because it involved not repentance but attraction to Jesus as performer of miracles. That is why Jesus interrupts the miracles to go elsewhere to proclaim "the gospel of God." His purpose is not to heal as many people as possible as a manifestation of the kingdom of God drawn near in his person, but to confront men with the demand for decision in the perspective of God's absolute claim upon their person. The word of explanation, "for this reason I came forth" may be deliberately ambiguous. It can suggest that Jesus left Capernaum in order to extend his preaching mission elsewhere in Galilee, or that he "came forth" from God to proclaim the word over an extended area. In pursuance of his mission Jesus went throughout all Galilee, using the synagogue as a point of contact with the people. Preaching and the expulsion of demons are related facets of this ministry, the means by which the power of Satan is overcome. In this connection it may be significant that there is no reference to acts of healing in the summary statement. Healing is an aspect of the redemption but it demonstrates Jesus' confrontation with Satan less graphically than the restoration to wholeness of those who had been possessed by demons. NTChendriksen73,4 - "Let us go" shows that Jesus wishes to have his disciples remain with him as he goes on this tour through the Galilean towns and villages. Are they not being trained for apostleship? Jesus says nothing about performing miracles in these places. That he actually performed them is clear from vs.39b; cf.Mt.4:23,24. But he places all the emphasis on "preaching the good tidings" (Lk.4:43). The miracles served an ancillary purpose. They confirmed his message and showed who he was. But he stresses the open proclamation of the love of God revealed in the salvation of sinners and reflected in their lives. He underscores the preaching that men are saved apart from any burdensome obligation to obey all the rabbinical regulations; that they enter the kingdom solely on the basis of the blood that was to be shed (cf. Mt.11:28-30; Mk.10:45). By means of such preaching Jesus was fulfilling the very purpose of the Savior's departure from heaven and coming to earth. Therefore, with respect to it he continues: "because for this purpose I came forth." "Came forth" not just from Nazareth, or from Capernaum, but definitely from heaven. See Jn.1:11,12; 6:38; 8:42; 13:3; 18:37. TCGTCcranfield89,90 - allachou (only here in Greek Bible) means 'elsewhere', 'elsewhither'. echomenas: present participle middle of echw used in the sense of 'next', 'neighbouring', as often in LXX and also in classical Greek. The word kwmopolis is used by Strabo and often by Byzantine writers to denote a small town having only the status of a village. kAruxw. The disciples apparently wanted Jesus to make the most of the opportunity to become a popular miracle- worker; but Jesus rejected it, regarding preaching more highly than miracles. Miracles were 'appendages' to the Word (Calvin); the relation was not to be reversed. eis touto gar exAlthon. Does this mean (i) that Jesus had left Capernaum in order to exercise a wider preaching ministry in the neighbourhood; or (ii) more generally, that he had undertaken his mission with a wider preaching ministry in view; or (iii) that it was for the sake of this preaching ministry that he had come forth from God? The fact that exerchesthai has just been used in v.35 of his leaving the house in Capernaum supports (i). On the other hand, Luke's substitution of apestalAn is support for (iii), and Jesus frequently uses 'come' of his mission (see on 2:17). Perhaps the ambiguity was intentional--a veiled reference to his coming from God? TL&ToJtMedersheim490,1 - As the three Synoptists accordantly state, Jesus now entered on His second Galilean journey. There can be little doubt, that the chronological succession of events is here accurately indicated by the more circumstantial narrative in St. Mark's Gospel. The arrangement of St. Luke appears that of historical grouping, while that of St. Matthew is determined by the Hebraic plan of his Gospel, which seems constructed on the model of the Pentateuch, as if the establishment of the Kingdom by the Messiah were presented as the fulfilment of its preparatory planting in Israel. But this second journey through Galilee, which the three Gospels connect with the stay at Capernaum, marks a turning-point in the working of the Christ. As already stated, the occurrences at the `Unknown Feast,' in Jerusalem, formed a new point of departure. Christ had fully presented His claims to the Sanhedrists, and they had been fully rejected by the Scribes and the people. Henceforth He separated Himself fron that `untoward generation;' henceforth, also, began His systematic persecution by the authorities, when His movements were tracked and watched. Jesus went alone to Jerusalem. This, also, was fitting. Equally so, that on His return He called His disciples to be His followers; and that from Capernaum He entered, in their company, on a new phase in His Work. Mark 1:39 And he preached in their synagogues throughout all Galilee,; And he remained preaching...--Alf; and he went throughout all Galilee, preaching in their synagogues--RSV; So He went all over Galilee...--Wms; and cast out devils.; and was casting the demons out--Rhm; and he came, making proclamation, into their synagogues, throughout the whole of Galilee,--and /was casting the demons out\. And he was preaching in their synagogues, in all Galilee, and is casting out the demons, BD205 - eis is used instead of en in a local sense (eis occurs here because of the verb Althen--R593). [Ed. The preposition does have a local sense ("they went preaching in their synagogues"), but the verb of motion Althen tends to prefer eis; notice the variant with the stative verb An, which construction Luke prefers.] TRNTyeager592,3 - kai Althen kArusswn eis tas sunagwgas autwn ei holAn tAn Galilaian kai ta daimonia ekballwn. kai (continuative conjunction). Althen (3d.per.sing.aor.ind.of erchomai, constative). kArusswn (pres.act.part.nom.sing.masc.of kArussw, adverbial, modal). eis (preposition with the accusative, static use). tas (acc.pl.fem.of the article in agreement with sunagwgas). sunagwgas (acc.pl.fem.of sunagwgA, static use, like a locative). autwn (gen.pl.masc.of autos, possession). eis (preposition with the accusative of extent). holAn (acc.sing.fem.of holos, in agreement with Galilaian). tAn (acc.sing.fem.of the article in agreement with Galilaian). Galilaian (acc.sing.fem.of Galilaias, extent). kai (continuative conjunction). ta (acc.pl.neut.of the article in agreement with daimonia). daimonia (acc.pl.neut.of daimonion, direct object of ekballwn). ekballwn (pres.act.part.nom.sing.masc.of ekballw, adverbial, circumstantial). Translation: "And He came, preaching in their synagogues, into all Galilee and He was casting out demons." COMMENT: The participles kArusswn and ekballwn are adverbial and may be taken either as modal or circumstantial. They describe Jesus' ministry as he went throughout all Galilee. It was the same pattern He had used in Capernaum. He preached, healed the sick and cast out demons. The static use of eis with the accusative is interesting. It is used like a locative. The other use of eis with the accusative is the more common accusative of extent. Cf.#140 for other examples. This was a very extensive ministry. Josephus says that Galilee had over 200 villages with several thousand inhabitants. Yet not a single word of His discourses has been recorded (Jn.21:25. The student should now carefully review Mt.4:23-25. MitGNTwuest40 - The word Althon, "He came," is not handled by the A.V. Translation: "He came, preaching, into their synagogues all over Galilee, also casting out demons." MARKd&j54,5 - "Preached." The form of Jesus' preaching was essentially Jewish. It was concise, epigrammatic, oracular, so pointed as to stick in the mind like an arrow. It swarmed with figures of speech. He thought in images, pictures. The qualities of the preacher were (1) authority; (2) boldness; (3) power; (4) graciousness.--Stalker's Life of Our Lord. The places of preaching were the synagogues in each city, and the times, the Sabbath days. Besides, he was constantly teaching and healing during the week. "Throughout all Galilee." Throughout the whole region, as well as the nearest towns (Mt.4:23). Josephus says that in his day "there were 240 towns and villages in Galilee" (Life,45). Galilee, the northernmost province of Judea, was the scene of Christ's most abundant labors; all the apostles except Judas Iscariot were Galileans; its inhabitants were simple- minded and comparatively free from the control of the priestly class, which ruled in Judea, and from the bigotry and intolerance of the Jews who dwelt about Jerusalem. The greater part of Mark's Gospel is confined to our Lord's ministry in Galilee. "Cast out devils." Referred to again and again as the most remarkable exhibition of his power, being utterly incurable and unmanageable by men; and as the best type of his whole work on earth, casting out all evil, all that mars this world, and fitting the world for the kingdom of heaven. ... The Lord not only cast out demons and thus delivered men from their power, but he came to destroy the power of the devil. MARKmcgarvey271 - "in their synagogues." Though Jesus preached much in the open air, especially during the secular days of the week, the synagogue was his constant resort on the Sabbath-day. "and cast out devils." Mark singles out this species of miracles in his general statement of the labors of Jesus, not because other kinds of miracles were not wrought in the time referred to (see Mt.4:23), but because this wasthe most surprising, and may stand as the representative of all. TNICotNTlane83 - The reference to "all Galilee" serves to recall Mark's statement that the report concerning Jesus circulated all about Galilee (1:28). Josephus described Galilee as a land of great villages: "The cities lie very thick and the very many villages that are here are everywhere so full of people, because of the richness of their soil, that the very least of them contained more than fifteen thousand inhabitants." In Mk.1:38 Mark has used a precise term to designate these large agricultural villages which had the size of a city but the structure of a village. His reference, apparently, is to the capital of a toparchy and its subordinate villages. The several tetrarchies were administered by the Herods under the Ptolemaic system of villages grouped into toparchies, with the largest of the villages serving as the capital of each district. Jesus, accordingly, went throughout Galilee concentrating his preaching mission in the synagogues located in toparchic capitals, confronting the several congregations with the absolute claim of God. NTChendriksen74,5,6 - The logic is clear: "Let us go elsewhere" is here followed by "So he traveled throughout all Galilee"; and, "that I may preach," by "preaching in their synagogues and casting out demons." ... Striking is the expression "throughout all Galilee," the Galilee with its mixture of Jew and Gentile. Though healings are not mentioned, they may well be suggested by demon-expulsions, for the two often go together. And with respect to such deeds of mercy, we may well assume that nationalistic distinctions did not triumph in the end. The spirit of the Master is clearly set forth in such passages as Mt.8:10-13; Mk.7:24-30; Lk.4:25-27. Truly he was, and is, "the Savior of the world" (Jn.4:42; I John 4:14). Nevertheless, when specific mention is made of "preaching in their synagogues" the reference is, of course, to a distinctly Jewish institution. "To the Jew first, and also to the Greek" (Rom.1:16) was the order of operation. The Synagogue During New Testament Times Exactly when it was that the synagogue had its origin is not known. It is clear, however, that during the days of the NT it was already considered an ancient and widely spread institution (Acts 15:21). Nevertheless not until the days of the Babylonian captivity did the synagogue attain a permanent place in the lives of the Jewish people. Some authorities believe that it did not come into being until after the captivity; hence, perhaps in the time of Ezra with his emphasis on the importance and sacredness of God's holy law. However that may be, both the destruction of the temple and for many people the great distance between their homes and the Jerusalem temple made the erection of synagogues a necessity. They appeared everywhere. Sometimes one city would have several synagogues. According to a statement in the Jerusalem Talmud, at the time of the destruction of Jerusalem (A.D. 70) there were 480 synagogues in Jerusalem--an exaggeration, of course. What made the synagogue so important was the many services it rendered. First and most of all it was supposed to be the place where God's holy law was read and explained to the people. When this was done properly great blessings followed. But when misuse was made of this privilege, so that the explanation of the law deteriorated into a superimposition of hairsplitting rabbinical ordinacnes on that which God demanded, the blessing never arrived. The existence of both temple and synagogue did not create any problem. Though both offered facilities for teaching (Jn.18:20), yet in the temple the emphasis was on offerings, in the synagogue on teaching. That temple and synagogue were not competitors or rivals appears from the fact that before the destruction of the temple there was a synagogue on temple hill; and Theodotus functioned in a double capacity, being priest in the temple and ruler of the synagogue. As to the form or shape of synagogues, this varied. Generally they were built of stone. Until recently it was thought that no synagogue dating from the first century A.D. had survived. It was well-known that what had remained of the one at Capernaum (Tel Hum) was of a later date, although the site may well have been the same as that of the synagogue in which Jesus taught. However, under the leadership of the archaeologist Y. Yadin a synagogue has now been uncovered on the rock of Masada, near the western shore of the narrow part of the Dead Sea. It is a rectangular structure, the roof resting upon two rows of columns. It dates from the time of the second temple. What made the synagogue so important was that in additon to being a place where the regular worship services were held it also served many other purposes. It was a place to which a person could go to pour out his heart in prayer or thanksgiving. It was also an elementary school, had rooms that could be used for imparting instruction to the youth, or had a school attached to it. Often it was used by the rabbi as his study. Sometimes the building even provided lodging facilities for the rabbi and/or for strangers who were looking for shelter. From the viewpoint of Christianity most important of all was what has been called "the freedom of the synagogue." What this means will become clear from a brief summary of the Order of Worship that prevailed. it was probably about as follows: 1. Thanksgivings or "blessings" spoken in connection with (before and after), the Shema': "Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is One, and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might" 2. Prayer, with response of "Amen" by the congregation 3. Reading of a passage from the Pentateuch (in Hebrew, followed by translation into Aramaic) 4. Reading of a passage from the Prophets (similarly translated) 5. Sermon or word of exhortation 6. The Benediction pronounced by a priest, to which the congregation responded with "Amen." When no priest was present a Closing Prayer was substituted for the Benediction. For corroboration of this Liturgy, as far as this is possible from Scripture, see the following: Num.6:22-27; Deut.6:4,5; I Chron.16:36; Neh.5:13; 8:6; Lk.4:16-27; Acts 13:15; and I Cor.14:16. Talmudic passages and other Jewish sources, having been written at a later date, are valuable also but cannot always be relied upon to show exactly how the services were conducted during the days of Jesus and the apostles. "The freedom of the synagogue" implied that any person present at the service, that is, anyone who was considered suitable by the ruler (or the rulers) of the synagogue, was privileged and even encouraged to deliver the sermon. See Lk.4:16,17; Acts 13:15. it is easy to understand that this provision made it possible for Jesus and also later on for Paul and other Christian leaders to bring the gospel to the assembled congregation. The sermon preached by Jesus in Nazareth's synagogue is summarized in Lk.4:21-27; that preached by Paul in the synagogue of Pisidian Antioch is recorded in Acts 13:16-41. That Jesus took full advantage of this privilege is clear also from Mt.4:23; 9:35; 13:54; Mk.1:21; 6:2; Lk.4:44; 13:10; Jn.6:59; 18:20. So did Paul. Besides Acts 13:15 see 9:20; 13:5; 14:1; 17:1, 10,17; 18:4, 19. And so did Apollos; see Acts 18:26. Since not only Jews but also God-fearers from the Gentile world--people who had exchanged the idolatry and immorality of paganism for Judaism--attended the synagogues in the regions where Paul, etc. performed their missionary labors, it is clear that the synagogue was used by God as one of the most important and powerful means for the spread of the gospel among both Jews and Gentiles! In order to understand more fully what it meant for Jesus to preach in the synagogues of Galilee (Mk.1:39) or anywhere else, a few more facts should be added. As the existing ruins clearly indicate, synagogues faced Jerusalem; that is to say, they were so built that the speaker, while addressing the audience, and also the man who at the close of the service was leaving the synagogue, would be looking toward the Holy City. Thus, the Galilean synagogues faced south; those east of the Jordan faced west; those south of Jerusalem, north; and those to the west of it faced east. What this meant for Jesus was that in whatever synagogue he preached he was always, while speaking, facing the place where he was going to be crucified. It was impossible for him not to be thinking of the cross! TCGTCcranfield90 - Althen. An (the reading A C D W and the great majority of MSS.) is probably to be preferred. It is supported by the Lk. parallel; the periphrastic imperfect is characteristic of Mk; and Althen looks like a grammatical improvement due to eis (which, if An is read, is equivalent to en).