The Pulpit Commentary — Mark — Volume 1 — Section 80

well as of J:i.uman _sym~athy, on ~he p~rt or our L~rd.: There are several ~raphio touches of a very mterestmg kmd, especially m the dcscnpt10n of the cure, by St. Mark. Our Lord approached 1.be sufferer ( ,rpoa-•X6.5v); St. Luke interjects the additional detail that he stood over her ( 1..-ur..-as 1..-dv"') ; he raised her up ( 1/')'"P•") ; he took hold of her by the hand (rtpa.n,a-,u rijs X"P~s CLb..-i)s). We cannot fail to be struck with the tenderness and compassion and sympathy of our blessed Lord with the poor sufferer. A word from him would have been quite as effectual. He did indeed rebuke the disease (l,r•.,-1µ:qn) but he did not stop there. Had he done so, there would have been apparently less of human interest, less of tender sensibility, and altogether less of that affectionate fellow- feeling that so touches the heart of suffering humanity, III. THE EFFECTAL NATURE OF THE CURE. It was immediate. He had no sooner taken her by the hand than the fever left her. 'l'he cure was miraculous; not that the disease was incurable, or past the power of ordinary physicians, but from the manner of the cure-a touch of the hand, and its immediacy: "Immediately the fever left her.... Still more, she was relieved of, or rather saved from, the prostration, often extreme in consequence of fever. Her convalescence was instantaneous. No weary week; of waiting for returning strength, no administering of restoratives to the exhausted frame, no slow or gradually perceptible increase of physical energy; at once, immediately she arose and engaged in her usual routine of household duties. ' IV. THE DUTY OF DEVOTING OUB RENEWED HEALTH AND RESTORED STRENGTH T9 GoD's SERVICE. She ministered unto them ; that is, to Christ and his disciples. This is the great end and the sanctified use of affliction. When the visitation is removed, we are to employ ourselves with renewed zeal in the Divine service. We are to make some suitable return for the mercy experienced, and show our gratitude for the benefit; bestowed. "Bless the Lord, 0 my soul, and forget not all his benefits: who forgiveth all thine iniquities; who healeth all thy diseases; who redeemeth thy life from destruc- tion; who crowneth thee with loving-kindness and tender mercies."-J. J. G. Vers. 32-39. Parallel passages : Matt. viii. 16, 17 ; iv. 23-25; Luke iv. 40-44.- ..A Physician for both body and soul. I. CURES OF DISEASED PERSONS AND DEMONIACS. 1. The time specified. It was now evening, and the sun had just set; and so the sabbath -for it was the sabbath day, as we know from ver. 21-was considered past. The people now felt at liberty, without encroaching on the sacred rest of that holy day, to bring their sick for healing. Another reason is assigned by some for delaying till evening, to the effect that the noontide heat was then over and the cool of evening come, and so the infirm could be brought with less risk and more convenience, .A motley group of invalids. There was a general turn-out of the townspeople, so that the whole city seemed gathered together to the door of the dwelling, while they had brought with them all that were diseased and demoniac. What a motley multi• tude must have been there! The consumptive were there, with pale face or hectic :flush; victims of incurable cancer were there; persons with the burning heat and the parched lips, or in the very delirium, of fever, were there; the palsied, the dropsical, the epileptic were there; patients having diseases of the heart, of the lungs, of th& head, of the spine were there; the lame, the dumb, the blind, were there. Some were able to walk, some were on crutches, some were mounted on asses, and some carried on pallets by friends or nllighbours. Demoniacs, too, were there, whether those whose sonls were subject to demoniacal influence, like the "damsel possessed with a spirit of divination," of whom we read in Acts xvi. 16; or those whose bodies were inhabited by evil spirits; or those, as was generally the case, whose souls and bodies were both under the fearful control of the evil one. 2. The number cured. "He healed many that were sick," says St. Mark. Why not all? Theophylact answers the question by supposing that "he healed 'many' instead of 'all,' for the all were many;" but this would seem to require an article before 1r0Molis, and also on~ before 1ea1ci•s rxo,,.,.m, viz. the many that were diseased. Perhaps we may understand it of the limitation of time that is to say, he healed all that there was time for, as it was already eventide when the' process began; or perhap~ y,e may supp~se the restriction occasion~d by the absence in some cases of the cond1t1ons or cure, Just as we read of a certam pi.ace (eh. vi. 6) that" be could there do no mighty work.'' T~e para~lel passages of &.he other two synoptic Gospels seem to favour the .first explanat1on 1 as 1n St. Mattl11.1w c:u. 1.1-45.] THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ST. MARK. 77