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1–8. Writing a book. John the Baptist. – 9–11. Baptism of the Lord Jesus Christ. – 12–13. Temptation of Jesus Christ. – 14–15. Speech by Jesus Christ as a Preacher. – 16–20. The calling of the first four disciples. – 21–28. Christ in the synagogue of Capernaum. Healing the demoniac. – 29–31. Healing of Simon Peter's mother-in-law. – 32–34. Late evening miracles. – 35–38. Christ at prayer early in the morning and the disciples coming to Him. – 39. The activity of Christ throughout Galilee. – 40–45. Healing a leper. Mark 1:1. The beginning of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, According to the Russian translation, the first verse stands in direct connection with the next three verses, and the idea of ​​all the first four verses, according to the generally accepted interpretation (see “Explanatory Gospel” by Bishop Michael), is as follows: “the beginning of the Gospel of Christ about the advent of the gracious Kingdom of the Messiah was the appearance of John the Baptist, who preached the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins.” But we cannot agree with this understanding of the first verse. If the sentence of the first verse is considered the subject, and the continuation of the fourth verse is considered the predicate (the second and third verses will then be an insertion sentence), then the period is too long. Meanwhile, the Evangelist Mark expresses his thoughts everywhere in the Gospel in concise sentences. Then, if the evangelist wanted especially to show to his readers that the speech of John the Baptist was the beginning of the Gospel, then he would be expected to note exactly what was the continuation of this beginning. However, we do not find such a precise designation further. In view of what has been said, it is better to accept as more natural such an understanding of the first verse, which sees in it the writing of a book. “The beginning of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God” (Jesus Christ – genitive case), i.e. joyful news, as announced by Jesus Christ, the Son of God, in the form or form in which it was offered to Christians who were at the initial stage of Christian enlightenment, who had just entered the Church of Christ (for more details, see “The purpose of writing the Gospel of Mark” “Jesus Christ” (see Matthew 1:1). "Son of God". If the Evangelist Matthew, who wrote his Gospel for Jewish Christians, had to show them that Christ comes from the forefathers of the Jewish people - David and Abraham (Matthew 1:1), then the Evangelist Mark, who wrote his Gospel for Gentile Christians, did not need such an indication. He directly calls Christ the Son of God - of course, in the exclusive sense, as the Only Begotten of the Father (see Matt. 16:16). But if the Gospel, which Mark further offers to his readers, comes from the Son of God, then it, as he says, must have indisputable authority for everyone 3. Mark 1:2. as it is written in the prophets: Behold, I send My angel before Thy face, who will prepare Thy way before Thee. Mark 1:3. The voice of one crying in the wilderness: Prepare the way of the Lord, make His paths straight. Mark 1:4. John appeared, baptizing in the wilderness and preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. These three verses represent one period. “In accordance (the conjunction “how” in the best Greek codes corresponds to the particle καθώς, and not ὡς, as in our codex Receptus) with the predictions of the prophets Malachi (Mal.3:1) and Isaiah (Is.40:3), who predicted the coming of the Forerunner of the Messiah 4, who will prepare the Jewish people to receive the Messiah, John appeared, baptizing in the wilderness and preaching a baptism of repentance for the remission of sins.” Thus, the appearance of John was not something completely unexpected, it had long been predicted. The evangelist cites the prophecy of Malachi about John the Baptist (see comments on the book of the prophet Malachi) earlier than the prophecy of Isaiah, an older prophet, of course, because the first prophecy speaks more definitely about the coming of the Forerunner - the Messiah than the second. It is remarkable that the Evangelist Mark quotes the prophecy of Malachi not according to the original and not according to the translation of the Seventy, which in this case quite accurately repeats the thought and expression of the original, but follows in this place the Evangelist Matthew. Instead of expressing the original text “before my face,” the evangelist Matthew, and after him Mark, reads: “before your face.” Consequently, according to the translation of both evangelists, God in Malachi turns to the Messiah Himself with a prediction about the message before His coming of a special Angel or harbinger - the Forerunner. The prophet contains an appeal from Jehovah to the Jewish people. The prophecy of Isaiah about the voice of one crying in the wilderness (see comments on Is. 40:3) is given here as an explanation of the above prophecy of Malachi and together as the fundamental principle of the first prophecy. The messenger of Jehovah that Malachi spoke about is exactly the same one that the prophet Isaiah predicted even earlier - this is the meaning of Isaiah’s prophecy. From here, anyone can see that the evangelist identifies Jehovah, Who in the Old Testament through the prophets foretold His coming, with the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. Evangelist Mark cites a passage from Isaiah according to the text of the translation of the Seventy (cf. Matt. 3:3). "In the wilderness" (Mark 1:4). Evangelist Mark does not define what kind of desert he means (Matthew directly calls it the Jewish: Matt. 3:1). This can be explained by the fact that Mark, as a resident of Jerusalem, considered it unnecessary to immediately define what he understood by “desert”: the Jerusalemites by “desert” were accustomed to understand precisely the Judean desert, i.e. the country between the mountains of Judea and the Jordan, northwest of the Dead Sea (cf. Judges 1:16; Ps. 63:1). "Preaching". Evangelist Mark conveys John’s sermon in his own words, while Matthew brings out John himself as the speaker (cf. Matthew 3:1–2). “Baptism of repentance” (see Matt. 3:11). "For the forgiveness of sins". Forgiveness of sins was a necessary condition for humanity to enter into the new life that was to be opened with the appearance of the Promised Messiah among the people of Israel. But, in any case, this forgiveness seemed to be something in the future, yet to come. And in fact, the sins of mankind could be considered forgiven only when a completely satisfactory sacrifice was offered to the truth of God for them. But such a sacrifice had not yet been made at that time 5 . Mark 1:5. And the whole country of Judea and the people of Jerusalem came out to him, and they were all baptized by him in the Jordan River, confessing their sins. Evangelist Mark repeats here what is said in the Gospel of Matthew (Matthew 3:5–6). Only he first mentions the “country of Judea”, and then about the “Jerusalemites”. Perhaps this reflects the intention of Mark, who wrote his Gospel for pagan Christians who could not sympathize with the city in which Christ was killed, to place Jerusalem not in such a prominent place as Matthew, who wrote his Gospel for Jewish Christians, places it (Prof. Theological “Public Ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ,” issue 1, p. 36). Mark 1:6. John wore clothes made of camel's hair and a leather belt around his waist, and ate locusts and wild honey. Evangelist Mark speaks about John’s attire in accordance with Matthew (Matthew 3:4), but describes this attire after he mentioned the crowds of people who came to John to be baptized. Wasn't Mark himself one of those who made the journey to the desert to John? At the very least, it is hardly possible that he, being a young man and, undoubtedly, interested in religious issues, could calmly sit at home in Jerusalem at a time when nearby, in the Judean desert, John was performing a symbolic action of great importance - baptism. Mark 1:7. And he preached, saying: He who is mightier than I is coming after me, whose sandal strap I am not worthy to stoop down to untie; Mark 1:8. I baptized you with water, and He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit. Now the evangelist more accurately and more fully conveys the content of the Baptist’s sermon. This is a sermon about the Messiah (see Matthew 3:11). John considers himself unworthy to correct even the work of a slave from the Messiah: to bend down and untie the strap of his shoes. Here the evangelist Mark is closer to Luke (Luke 3:16) than to Matthew. Mark 1:9. And it came to pass in those days that Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. Evangelist Mark accurately indicates that Christ came from Nazareth (about Nazareth, see comments on Matthew 2:23). Mark 1:10. And when he came out of the water, John immediately saw the heavens opening and the Spirit like a dove descending on Him. Mark 1:11. And a voice came from heaven: You are my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. In the Evangelist Mark, like in Luke, the voice of God is addressed directly to Christ, while in Matthew it is addressed to a third person, probably to the Forerunner 6. Mark 1:12. Immediately after this, the Spirit leads Him into the wilderness. Evangelist Mark says that the Holy Spirit with power draws (ἐκβάλλει) Christ into the desert. Christ feels, as it were, an uncontrollable attraction to go into the desert and there to enter into a struggle with Satan. Mark 1:13. And He was there in the wilderness for forty days, tempted by Satan, and was with the beasts; and Angels served Him. Evangelist Mark briefly conveys the temptations of Christ by the devil, obviously having before him a detailed account of the history of temptation by the Evangelist Matthew (Matthew 4:2-10). But he adds that Christ was in the desert “with the beasts.” By this the evangelist wants to say that Christ, through His victory over Satan, restored those relations of subordination of animals to man, in which all animals were in relation to the still sinless Adam. The desert was thus transformed by Christ into paradise (cf. Job 5:23; Isa. 11:6 et seq.). “And the Angels...” (see Matthew 4:11). Mark 1:14. After John was betrayed, Jesus came to Galilee preaching the Gospel of the Kingdom of God Mark 1:15. and saying that the time is fulfilled and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent and believe in the Gospel. Evangelist Mark, like Matthew (Matthew 4:12), skips the history of the activity of the Lord Jesus Christ in Judea and upon His arrival in Galilee, which John the Theologian speaks about in detail (John 1:29–4:54) and which spans at least about a year and a half. The imprisonment of the Baptist, according to the Evangelist Mark, prompted Christ to go out into open activity in Galilee. "The Kingdom of God". Evangelist Mark uses this expression about 14 times. He takes it, of course, in the same sense in which Matthew mostly uses the expression “Kingdom of Heaven.” But the Evangelist Mark, as he wrote his Gospel for Gentile Christians, found it better to use a direct, strict and precise designation of the Kingdom, which Christ came to found, than, like the Evangelist Matthew, writing for Jewish Christians already familiar with theological terminology, to use a metaphorical, descriptive expression - the Kingdom of Heaven - an expression that still requires explanation. For the interpretation of the term “Kingdom of God” itself, see the comments to Matthew 6:33; Wed Matthew 3:2. “The time is fulfilled” - more precisely: the term or period has come to an end, i.e. a period appointed by God to prepare humanity to receive the Savior (ὁ καιρός, not χρόνος). The present time, which the listeners of Christ are still experiencing, is the time of transition to a new order of life - to the Kingdom of God. "Believe the Gospel". In the Greek text here stands ἐν τῷ εὐαγγελίῳ - “in the Gospel.” This expression is unusual in the New Testament - the verb πιστεύειν is used everywhere with the preposition of the accusative case. Therefore, it is better with some ancient codes (for example, with Origen) to read the expression τῷ εὐαγγελίῳ without any pretext and translate “believe the Gospel,” i.e. God, who speaks to people in the Gospel. For other details, see comments on Matthew 4:12, 17. Mark 1:16. As he passed near the Sea of ​​Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting nets into the sea, for they were fishermen. Mark 1:17. And Jesus said to them, Follow me, and I will make you become fishers of men. Mark 1:18. And they immediately left their nets and followed Him. Mark 1:19. And having gone a little way from there, He saw James Zebedee and John his brother also in a boat mending nets; Mark 1:20. and immediately called them. And they, leaving their father Zebedee in the boat with the workers, followed Him. For the calling of the first 4 disciples, see comments on Matthew 4:18–22. The Evangelist Mark mentions the workers that Zebedee had (verse 20); Matthew does not speak about these workers. This, of course, was not the first calling. As can be seen from the Gospel of John, the four disciples mentioned here were called to follow Christ a long time ago - after the baptism of Christ in the Jordan (John 1:35 et seq.). Mark 1:21. And they come to Capernaum; and soon on the Sabbath He entered the synagogue and taught. The contents of Mark 1:21–28 are not found in the Evangelist Matthew, but are found in Luke (Luke 4:31–37). “They come” – of course, the Lord and His four disciples. “To Capernaum” (see Matthew 4:13). "On Saturday" . In the Greek text there is a plural number (τοῖς σάββασιν), but the Evangelist Mark uses it in the singular sense (cf. Mark 2:23, 27). “To the synagogue” (see Matthew 4:23). "Learned" . The content of Christ's teaching here was probably the same as stated above in verse 15. Mark 1:22. And they marveled at His teaching, for He taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes. Mark 1:23. In their synagogue there was a man possessed by an unclean spirit, and he cried out: “And they marveled” (see Matthew 7:28–29). “Possessed by an unclean spirit” is the same as possessed by a demon (see Matt. 4:24). Mark 1:24. leave it! What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? You have come to destroy us! I know You, who You are, the Holy One of God. “Leave” – in Greek ἔα 7. It is rather an exclamation equal to our “ah” (cf. Ezek. 30:2). “What do you want” (see Matthew 8:29). "Nazarene". This is how the demon calls Christ, probably with the goal of arousing distrust in the listeners as a resident of the despised city of Nazareth (cf. John 1:46). "Holy of God". In the Old Testament, the high priest Aaron (Ps. 106:16) and the prophet Elisha (2 Kings 6:9) are named this way. But here, obviously, this expression is taken in a special, exclusive sense, as denoting the divine origin and divine nature of the Messiah (cf. Matt. 8:29: “Son of God”). Mark 1:25. But Jesus rebuked him, saying: Be silent and come out of him. The Lord does not want to hear recognition of His Messianic dignity from the lips of a demoniac: later they could say that only crazy people recognized Christ 8 . Along with the command to “be silent,” the Lord gives the command to the evil spirit to “come out” of the possessed person. By this the Lord shows that He really defeated Satan. Mark 1:26. Then the unclean spirit, shaking him and crying out with a loud voice, came out of him. Mark 1:27. And everyone was horrified, so they asked each other: what is this? What is this new teaching that He commands even the unclean spirits with authority, and they obey Him? Mark 1:28. And soon rumors about Him spread throughout the entire region in Galilee. The words of the eyewitnesses of the incident, according to the best reading (Wolenberg), should be conveyed as follows: “What is this? New teaching - with power! And He commands the unclean spirits, and they obey Him.” (In the Russian translation, the “command” of unclean spirits is made dependent on the “teaching” of Christ, and such an explanation has no support) The Jews, therefore, were perplexed, on the one hand, about the nature of the new teaching that Christ offered them, and on the other, about the very fact of casting out a demon, since Christ accomplished this task without any preparation, while the Jewish exorcists carried out experiments in casting out demons through various rather lengthy spells and manipulations. “And soon the report of Him spread throughout all the surrounding region in Galilee.” More precisely: “according to the countries surrounding Galilee,” i.e. not only in Syria, but also in Perea, Samaria and Phenicia. The basis for this “rumor” was not only the miracle of the healing of a demoniac, but in general the entire activity of Jesus Christ (see verses 14–15). Mark 1:29. Soon leaving the synagogue, they came to the house of Simon and Andrew, with James and John. Mark 1:30. Simonov's mother-in-law was in a fever; and immediately they tell Him about her. Mark 1:31. Approaching, He lifted her up, taking her hand; and the fever immediately left her, and she began to serve them. For the healing of Simon's mother-in-law, see Matthew 8:14–15. Mark 1:32. When evening came, when the sun set, they brought to Him all the sick and demon-possessed. Mark 1:33. And the whole city gathered at the door. Mark 1:34. And He healed many who were suffering from various diseases; He cast out many demons, and did not allow the demons to say that they knew that He was the Christ. The Lord healed “many” of “all” the sick brought to Him, obviously those who were in His sight or who deserved healing (see Matthew 8:16). Evangelist Mark adds to the words of Matthew that the Lord did not allow demons to say that they know Him. It seems better to see here an indication that the Lord did not allow the demons to speak at all. We find a hint of this in the very expression that here denotes the word “to speak” (λαλεῖν, not λέγειν). The Lord did not allow the demons to speak because they knew about Him, who He was, and Christ did not want to allow such recognition of His dignity from the lips of the demon-possessed for the reasons indicated above (verse 24). The healings were performed, as Mark accurately indicates, on Saturday evening, when the sun had already set. Only now the Sabbath rest had ended and it was possible to carry out the transfer of the sick, which was not permitted on the Sabbath. Mark 1:35. And in the morning, getting up very early, he went out and retired to a deserted place, and there he prayed. Early in the morning, almost at night (ἔννυχον λίαν; in Russian translation inaccurately - “very early”), the Lord left Simon’s house, where He found shelter for Himself, and retired to a secluded place for prayer. On the prayer of Jesus Christ, see comments on Matthew 14:23. Spurgeon says about this in one of his conversations: “Christ prays. Does He find peace in this after a hard day's work? Are you preparing for the work of the next day? Both. This early morning, spent in prayer, explains His strength, which He discovered in the evening... And now, when the work of the day is done and the wonderful evening has passed, it is not all over for Him - He still has the work of His life before Him, and therefore He must pray... The worker again approaches the source of strength, so that, going out to the battle set before Him, he can again gird His loins with this strength...” (“Christ on Prayer”). Mark 1:36. Simon and those with him followed him Mark 1:37. and having found Him, they say to Him: everyone is looking for You. Mark 1:38. He says to them: let us go to the neighboring villages and cities so that I can preach there too, for this is why I came. Simon and three disciples in the morning did not find Jesus in the room assigned to Him and quickly ran (κατεδίωξαν) to look for Him. Having found Christ, they informed Him that everyone, the whole city, was already looking for Him, obviously to listen to His preaching and receive healing from Him for the sick. But the Lord does not want to return to Capernaum. He calls his disciples to neighboring towns (it’s better to translate the word here κωμοπόλεις, in the Russian translation for some reason divided into two words “villages” and “cities”), i.e. to small cities, which are similar in their structure to simple villages (this expression is no longer found in the New Testament and even in the translation of the Seventy). The Lord wants to preach there too, because that is precisely why He came, or, more precisely, “went out” (ἐξελήλυθα). The last expression undoubtedly indicates that Christ was sent into the world by His Father (cf. Luke 4:43). According to ancient church interpretations, Christ here points to the truth of His Divine dignity and the voluntariness of exhaustion (see Wohlenberg, p. 68 9). Mark 1:39. And He preached in their synagogues throughout all Galilee and cast out demons. So, Christ did not return to Capernaum, but preached the Gospel in the synagogues of other places and cast out demons. At the same time, He was apparently accompanied by the above-mentioned four disciples. Evangelist Mark mentions the exorcism of demons without reporting the healing of other sick people, of course, because this matter seemed to him the most difficult, since here it was necessary to enter into a direct struggle with the spirits of evil, while when healing ordinary sick people, the Lord did not defeat Satan directly, but only as the culprit of original sin, which entailed all sorts of illnesses in humanity. Mark 1:40. A leper comes to Him and, begging Him and falling on his knees before Him, says to Him: if you want, you can cleanse me. Mark 1:41. Jesus, having compassion on him, stretched out his hand, touched him and said to him: I want you to be clean. Mark 1:42. After this word, the leprosy immediately left him, and he became clean. Mark 1:43. And, looking at him sternly, he immediately sent him away Mark 1:44. and he said to him, See that you do not say anything to anyone, but go, show yourself to the priest, and offer for your cleansing what Moses commanded, as a testimony to them. Mark 1:45. And he, going out, began to proclaim and tell about what had happened, so that Jesus could no longer openly enter the city, but was outside, in deserted places. And they came to Him from everywhere. For the healing of a leper, see Matthew 8:1–4. However, here the Evangelist Mark makes some additions. Thus, he reports that, having healed the leper, the Lord became angry with him (ἐμβριμησάμενος; in the Russian translation inaccurately - “looking at him strictly”) and expelled him (ἐξέβαλεν; in the Russian translation - “sent away”). The wrath of Christ is explained by the fact that the leper, by approaching Christ, Who was surrounded by people, violated the law of Moses, which forbade lepers to enter “the camp” of Israel (Lev. 13:46). Then the Evangelist Mark adds that the healed man did not observe the prohibition of Christ and spread everywhere about the miracle that had happened to him, which is why an extremely large number of people began to follow Christ, who did not want from Him the teaching about the Kingdom of God, but only miracles, who expected Christ to declare Himself the Messiah that the Jews were then waiting for. Even in deserted places, Mark notes, Christ did not find peace for Himself, and whole crowds of people came to Him there. The expression of verse 45, “going out,” used about the leper, may indicate that after being healed, he went to his house, where he had not previously had the right to show himself, and, after spending some time here, went to talk about the miracle performed on him. In some ancient codes (for example, in Sinaiticus) and in some holy fathers and church writers, the words “Son of God” are not read. But most codes - the Vatican, Paris and Syriac and Latin translations - have this addition. Instead of the expression “in the prophets,” many ancient codes read: “in Isaiah the prophet.” But there are also ancient codices, including the Alexandrian (5th century), which have the reading accepted by us. It should be noted that when reading “in Isaiah the prophet,” a great difficulty arises as to how to explain the fact that the evangelist then directly cites the prophecy not of Isaiah, but of Malachi. Blessed Theophylact says: “The Forerunner preached the baptism of repentance so that people, having repented and accepted Christ, would receive remission of sins.” It is clear that this church interpreter also refers to the “forgiveness of sins” to the time when Christ will already be “accepted” with full faith as the Redeemer. G.A. Kholmovsky (“Christian Reading,” 1910, Jan., pp. 39–41) offers the following translation of God the Father’s address to the Son: “You are My beloved Son; Through you I have shown My goodness.” Indeed, it is better to see in these words not an indication of the favor of the Heavenly Father, concentrated in His Only Begotten Son, but an indication of the Godly favor manifested in the Son (or through the Son) towards people. This is supported by the meaning of the aorist εύδόκησα (a one-time act denoting the sending of the Son of God to earth for the redemption of people), and the fact that the verb εύδόκησα, strictly speaking, is already superfluous after the expression: “You are My beloved Son,” if again this verb is attributed to the person of Christ, and not to the human race. This word does not appear in this place in the Gospel. – Approx. ed. “The testimony of the demon was completely inconvenient and indecent - it represented a terrible dissonance with the testimony of the Baptist and the heavenly voice that announced Christ...” It would have given the Pharisees some reason to accuse Christ of using the power of the prince of demons (Edersheim. “The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah,” vol. 1, p. 610). Other interpreters see here only a hint of the desire to preach that He had when “coming out” of Capernaum (see Lagrange, 1911). You might be interested in: