The Pulpit Commentary — Mark — Volume 1 — Section 27

Vers. 32-34.-The Healer of multitudes. It was the hallowed evening of a memorable day The Lord Jesus had taught in the synagogue, consecrating the sabbath by worship and by spiritual instruction, and creat.icg in,the popular mind an impression of his unique authority. He had cast out the demon from a wretched sufferer; he bad healerl Simon's wife's mother of a raging fever ;-all these instances of his power were related through the dwellings of Capernaum, and the popular excitement was great. No wonder that at sunset, when the sabbath was over, and it was lawful to do so, the multitude sought out the sick and maimed among their kindred and companions, and the miserable demoniacs; brought them to the house of Simon, where Jesus was staying; and entreated the compassion and the succour of the Prophet of Nazareth. I. In the sufferers brought to Jesus we have A REPRESENTATION OF THE WIDESPREAD A.ND VARIOUS ILLS THAT AFFLICT MANKIND. If all the diseased and mentally afflicted of any town were brought together to one spot, what a distressing scene would be exhibited I When the sick and the demoniacs of Capernaum were gathered together on that sabbath evening, they may be said to have exemplified the state of our sin- stricken humanity. To him who looks below the surface, this human race, apart from Christ, offers a spectacle with which no hospital, no pest-house, could compare. Moral disorders, Satanic influences, display themselves in a thousand forms, each having its own loathsomeness, its own anruish, its own curse. " 'l'he whole head is sick, and the whole heart faict," etc. !<'?ever, leprosy, palsy, possession,-each may indicate some special aspect of sin. II. In the conduct of those who brought the sufferers to Christ we have A REPRESEN- TATION OF THE BENEVOLENT MINISTBATIONS OF THE CHURCH. There were those who .had neither strength, knowledge, nor courage to come of themselves to Christ; their pitying and thoughtful f~end..i led or carried them into his sacred_ presence. ~o the Church, which cannot of itself save the world, may nevertheless brmg the multitudes unto Christ may, in a sense, bring Christ to the multitude. An honourable vocation thi&-to 1~ the morally disordered and distressed into the presence of the Divine Healer of him who sai<l, "The whole need not a physician, but those who are sick. I am ~me not to call the righteo118, but sinners to repentance." Some b}'.' preaching, 10me by private ministrations, some by example, and some by precept,-all m the same spirit of compassion for perishing souls, may lead sinners to the Redeemer. III. Jn the multitude we diswm • i'OBECAST AllD BABNEST OF THE APPBOACII 01' CB. I. 1-46,] 'l'HE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ST. MARK. 23