The Pulpit Commentary — Mark — Volume 1 — Section 145

put to death," that is,immediately or instantaneously; but Moth tamuth, "Thou shalt die," nRmely, by a process now commenced, and, though slow, yet sure; for sin has planted the germ of death in the system. It ie as though, simultaneously with the breath of life, the process of decay and death bega.n, part after part wasting away in consequence of disease or in the so-called course of na.ture, till the vital spark at last become~ extinct, and" the dust returns to the earth as it was." A hea.then poet preserves the remnant of an old tradition, which, like many of the traditions of hea.thenism, is evidently a dispersed and distorted ray from the ligQt of revelation. He tells us that a crowd of wasting diseases invaded this earth's inhabitants in consequence of crime; while a Christian poet speaks of that lazar-house which sin has erected on our earth, "wherein are la.id numbers of all diseased, all maladies, ... and where dire are the toss- ings, deep the groans." But for transgression manhood would have remained in all its original health and vigour and perfection, like "Adam, the goodliest man of men since born his sons;" and womanhood would have retained all the primitive grace and love- liness and beauty that bloomed in "the fairest of her daughters, Eve." IV. TlllE AND PLACE OF THE CURE. The time was the sabbath day; and this was one of the seven miracles which our Lord performed on the sabbath. Of these St. Mark records three-the cure of the demoniac at Capernaum, the cure of fever in the case of Peter's mother-in-law, and the cure of the withered hand; the former two recorded in the first chapter of this Gospel, and the last in the passage under consideration. Two more of the sabbath-day miracles are recorded by St. Luke-the cure of the woman afflicted with the spirit of infirmity, and also of the man who had the disease of dropsy; the former in the thirteenth and the latter in the fourteenth chapter of St. Luke's Gospel. Besides these, two more are recorded by St. John-the recovery of the impotent man at the pool of Bethesda, and the restoration of sight to the man bom blind; the former in the fifth and the latter in the ninth chapter of St. John's Gospel. Our Lord had vindicated his disciples for plucking the cars of corn on the sabbath; he had now to vindicate himself for the miracle of healing, which he was about to perform also on the sabbath. The place where he was going to perform this miracle was the synagogue. V. PERSONS PRESENT AT THE PERFORMANCE OF THE CURE. This is a most important item in the narrative, and a most important element in the transaction. There was a multitude present, and that multitude consisted of foes as well as friends. It could not, therefore, be said that the thing was done in a corner, or that it was done only in the presence of friends, with whom collusion or connivance might possibly be suspected. The persons, then, in whose presence this cure was effected were the worshippers on that sabbath day in the synagogue-a goodly number, no doubt, comprehending not only those who assembled ordinarily for the sa,bbath service, but many more drawn together by the rumours about the great Miracle-worker and in expectation of some manifestation of his wonder-working power. But besides these ordinary worshippers and these curiosity-mongers, as perhaps we may designate them, there were others- the scribes and Pharisees, as we learn from St. Luke-whose motive was malignancy, and whose business on that occasion was espionage. They kept watching our Lord closely and intently (,ra.pETf!pow) to see if he should heal on the sabbath; not in admiration of his wondrous power, nor in gratitude for his marvellous goodness, but in order to find some ground of accusation against him. VI. 0BJEOTION TO THE PERFORMANCE OJ!' THB CURE ON THE BADBATH. In pursuance of their plan, they anticipated our Lord, as we learn from St. Matthew, with the question, "Is it lawful to heal on the sabbath day?" Our Lord, in reply, as we are informed in the same Gospel, appealed to their feelings of humanity and to the exercise of mercy which men usually extend even to a dumb animal-a sheep, which, if it fall into a pit on the sabbath, is laid hold of and lifted out, The superiority •f a mo.n to a sheep justifies a still greater exercise of mercy, even on the sabbat.h. B_ut to their captious and ensnaring question he made further answer, replying, as was his wont, by a counter-question, "Is it lawful to do good on the sabbath day, or to do evil? to save life, or to kill?" The alternative here is between doing good and doing evil, or, putting an extreme case, between saving a life and destroying it (o.,ro,\,o-w in St. Luke). We may observe, in passing, that the received text, which reads TI in this passage of St. Luke's Gospel, admits one or other of the two following renderings, according to the  140 THE GOSPEL ACCORDING 1'0 ST. MARK. [011. m. 1-35.