John Gill

As it is written in Isaiah the prophet: “Behold, I will send My messenger ahead of You, who will prepare Your way.”

“As it is written in the prophets,.... Malachi and Isaiah; for passages out of both follow; though the Vulgate Latin, Syriac, and Persic versions read, "as it is written in the prophet Isaias"; and so it is in some Greek copies: but the former seems…”

I baptize you with water, but He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”

“I indeed have baptized you with water,.... This was spoken to the baptized persons, partly to take off their dependence upon him and his baptism; and partly to direct their views to Christ, from whom the gifts and graces of the Spirit are alone to…”

“Come, follow Me,” Jesus said, “and I will make you fishers of men.”

“And Jesus said unto them, come ye after me,.... Leave your worldly employments, and become my disciples, and I will make you to become fishers of men: which will be a much more excellent and honourable employment, as men, and the souls of men, are…”

“What do You want with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have You come to destroy us? I know who You are—the Holy One of God!”

“Saying, let us alone, &c. Meaning with himself, the rest of the unclean spirits, that had possessed the bodies of men in Galilee, and in all Judea; knowing that Christ had power to dislodge them, and fearing he would, entreats him he would let them…”

But Jesus answered, “Let us go on to the neighboring towns so I can preach there as well, for that is why I have come.”

“And he said unto them, let us go into the next towns,.... Instead of returning with his disciples to Capernaum, as they expected he would, and especially since there was such a concourse of people got together, he proposes to go to "the next towns"…”

Jesus promptly sent him away with a stern warning:

“And he straitly charged him;.... Either with the sin which had been the cause of this leprosy, and to take care that he sinned that sin no more, lest a worse evil should befall him; for sin was usually the cause of leprosy, as the…”

“See that you don’t tell anyone. But go, show yourself to the priest and present the offering Moses prescribed for your cleansing, as a testimony to them.”

“And saith unto him, see thou say nothing to any man,.... By the way, till he came to the priest; but go thy way, show thyself to the priest: the Syriac and Persic versions read, "to the priests"; and the Vulgate Latin renders it, "to…”

A few days later Jesus went back to Capernaum. And when the people heard that He was home,

“And again he entered into Capernaum after some days,.... After he had been preaching in the synagogues throughout Galilee, and after he had spent some days in prayer, and private retirement in desert places: and it was noised that he was in, the house; a…”

Since they were unable to get to Jesus through the crowd, they uncovered the roof above Him, made an opening, and lowered the paralytic on his mat.

“And when they could not come nigh unto him for the press,.... To the room where Jesus was, nor into the house, nor even to the door, the crowd about it was so great, they uncovered the roof where he was.”

When Jesus saw their faith, He said to the paralytic, “Son, your sins are forgiven.”

“When Jesus saw their faith,.... The faith of the sick man, and his friends, who seemed confident, that could they get at Christ, a cure would be wrought: the faith of the one appears in suffering himself to be brought in such a manner, under…”

“Why does this man speak like this? He is blaspheming! Who can forgive sins but God alone?”

“Why doth this man thus speak blasphemies?.... They took Christ to be a mere man, and reasoned with themselves, that he must be a blasphemer, in assuming that to himself, which was peculiar to God: they seem astonished at his words, and wonder at his…”

“Which is easier: to say to a paralytic, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up, pick up your mat, and walk’?

“Whether is it easier to say to the sick of the palsy,.... This question was put to them by Christ, in order to prove his deity, and clear himself from the charge of blasphemy; for he that could cure the sick of the palsy, by…”

But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins...” He said to the paralytic,

“But that ye may know that the son of man,.... Meaning himself, who was really man, and the true Messiah, in which sense this phrase had been used in the writings of the Old Testament; see Psa 80:17, and though by reason of his outward…”

When the scribes who were Pharisees saw Jesus eating with these people, they asked His disciples, “Why does He eat with tax collectors and sinners?”

“And when the Scribes and Pharisees saw him eat,.... They were offended at his eating and drinking, though it was in moderation; because he did not fast as they, and their disciples did; and especially, that he eat with publicans and sinners; men of very…”

But the time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them; then they will fast.

“But the days will come,.... As they were in some sense now come to the disciples of John, their master being taken up by Herod, and confined in prison, and so it was a mourning time with them: when the bridegroom shall be taken away…”

No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment. If he does, the new piece will pull away from the old, and a worse tear will result.

“No man also seweth a piece of new cloth, The traditions of the elders are meant, particularly concerning eating and drinking, and fasting, things before spoken of; and which occasioned this parable, and which were new things in comparison of the commands of God: some…”

One Sabbath Jesus was passing through the grainfields, and His disciples began to pick the heads of grain as they walked along.

“And it came to pass,.... The Vulgate Latin adds, "again"; and so Beza says it was read in one of his copies: that he went through the corn fields on the sabbath day, and his disciples began, as they went, to pluck the ears of…”

So the Pharisees said to Him, “Look, why are they doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath?”

“And the Pharisees said unto him,.... To Christ, the same they said to his disciples, Luk 6:2. Behold, why do they on the sabbath day, that which is not lawful?”

During the high priesthood of Abiathar, he entered the house of God and ate the consecrated bread, which was lawful only for the priests.

“How he went into the house of God,.... The tabernacle; for the temple was not yet built: thither David went to get bread for himself and his men, being hungry: so in a spiritual sense, where should such go, who are hungering and thirsting after…”

Therefore, the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath.”

“Therefore the son of man is Lord also of the sabbath. Meaning himself, who had a power not only to dispense with it, but to abrogate it as he did, with the rest of the rituals of the ceremonial law; See Gill on Mat 12:8.”

Once again Jesus entered the synagogue, and a man with a withered hand was there.

“And he entered again into the synagogue,.... Perhaps in Capernaum, where he had before cast out the unclean spirit; but not on the same day, nor on that day he had had the debate with the Pharisees, about his disciples plucking the ears of corn…”

Then Jesus said to the man with the withered hand, “Stand up among us.”

“And he saith unto the man which had the withered hand,.... After he had reasoned with them from the lesser to the greater, upon their own principles and practices, in relieving and taking out a sheep fallen into a ditch, on a sabbath day, Mat…”

And He asked them, “Which is lawful on the Sabbath: to do good or to do evil, to save life or to destroy it?” But they were silent.

“And he saith unto them,.... Either to the whole multitude, to all the assembly in the synagogue; and so the Persic version renders it, "again he said to the multitude"; or rather, to the Scribes and Pharisees, who were watching him, and had put a…”

Jerusalem, Idumea, the region beyond the Jordan, and the vicinity of Tyre and Sidon. The large crowd came to Him when they heard what great things He was doing.

“And from Jerusalem,.... The metropolis of the country of Judea; and from Idumea, or Edom, as the Syriac version reads it; a country that lay on the south of Judea, formerly inhabited by the sons of Edom, but now by Jews; or at least the…”

But He warned them sternly not to make Him known.

“And he straitly charged them,.... Or vehemently rebuked them, as the Syriac and Arabic versions render it; or threatened them much and vehemently, as the Vulgate Latin and Ethiopic.”