Markchapter 2
28 verses · Mark · AD 55 to 65 · The Gospels
But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins...” He said to the paralytic,
Introduction
Mark, The Gospels, Mark Overview.
Mark keeps the pace of his first chapter, but the crowd now includes teachers of the law who watch closely and object. He wrote for believers in Rome who knew little of Jewish custom, so the disputes here are told simply enough for an outsider to follow. The chapter is a run of short scenes, each ending in a saying of Jesus that settles the question. Listen for who is offended in each scene and why. Listen also for the titles Jesus gives Himself, because they claim more than the objectors can accept. Read it as the start of the conflict that runs to the cross.
Context
- Who
- Roman readers who needed Jewish disputes explained from the ground up
- What
- A series of disputes in and around Capernaum over forgiveness, the company Jesus keeps, fasting and the Sabbath.
- Where
- A house in Capernaum, a tax booth beside the lake, and the grainfields of Galilee.
- When
- Early in the Galilean ministry, about AD 28.
- Why
- To show that the authority Jesus used in healing reaches to forgiving sins and to ruling the Sabbath, and to show where the opposition to Him began.
Historical context
The roof they dug through was made to be dug through. A Galilean house had beams laid across the walls, brushwood and branches packed between them, and a thick layer of mud rolled flat on top. It shed rain, it grew weeds in spring, and a man with a will could open a hole in it and patch it afterwards. An outside staircase gave access.
Show the rest of the historical context, 3 more paragraphs
Levi's toll booth stood where goods crossed a boundary. Capernaum lay near the edge of Herod Antipas's territory, so freight moving through paid a duty there. Rome and its client rulers sold these collection rights, and the man who held one profited from whatever he could extract above his contract, which is why his neighbours regarded him as a thief with a licence.
The fasting question has a calendar behind it. Devout Pharisees fasted twice a week, on Mondays and Thursdays, over and above the one fast the Law required. Jesus answers with a wedding: nobody fasts at a wedding while the groom is there.
Picking grain by hand while walking through a field was permitted by the Law; the objection was that it fell on the Sabbath, where teachers counted reaping among the forbidden kinds of work. Jesus replies with David eating the consecrated bread. Mark's text names Abiathar as high priest at the time, while the account in 1 Samuel names his father Ahimelech, a difficulty commentators have long noted and explained in various ways.
Significance
Mark stacks five conflicts back to back, and they escalate from muttering to a plot to destroy him by the start of the next chapter. Roman readers, who had no stake in Sabbath law, were being shown how quickly the authorities moved from offence to conspiracy.
Show the rest of the significance, 1 more paragraph
The claim underneath the arguments is the one that mattered: this man forgives sins, eats with the disreputable, and calls himself Lord of the Sabbath. Believers facing hostility in Rome were reading about a Lord whose trouble started with the religious establishment, not with the empire.
The heads below are this chapter's scenes. The numbered points under each are its verses.
Four Friends Dig Through the Roof
Mark 2:1-2
A few days later Jesus went back to Capernaum: A few days later the crowd filled the house at Capernaum until there was no more room, not even outside the door. The packed house sets the problem the four men solve through the roof in verse 4.
Mark 2:1
“Into Capernaum - See the notes at Mat 4:13. After some days - The number of days is not known. Jesus probably remained long enough in the desert to heal the sick who were brought to him, and to give instructions to the multitudes who attended his preaching. Capernaum was not “the city” mentioned in Mar 1:45, and it is probable that there was no difficulty in his remaining there and preaching.”
3 more voices on this verseWhat preachers and commentators have said about this verse, in their own words.
Mark 2:1
“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 report was spread throughout the city that he was in the house of Simon and Andrew, where he was before, and where he used to be when in Capernaum.”
Mark 2:1
“This is not however the paralytic, whose cure is related by John, (John 5) for he had no man with him, this one had four; he is cured in the pool of the sheep market, but this one in a house. It is the same man, however, whose cure is related by Matthew (Matt. 9) and Mark. But mystically, Christ is still in Capernaum, in the house of consolation.”
Theophylact of Ohrid · written before 1107 · Catena Aurea by Aquinaspatristic
Mark 2:1
“This passage shows our Lord once more at Capernaum. Once more we find Him doing His accustomed work, preaching the word, and healing those that were sick. We see, in these verses, what great spiritual privileges some people enjoy, and yet make no use of them . This is a truth which is strikingly illustrated by the history of Capernaum. No city in Palestine appears to have enjoyed so much of our Lord's presence, during His earthly ministry, as did this city. It was the place where He dwelt, after He left Nazareth. (Matt. 4:13.)”
not even outside the door: Albert Barnes and Adam Clarke take the door to mean the yard or court in front of the house. Even that space was full. Barnes adds that Mark calls the message the word because God Himself revealed it, and compares Acts 6:2-7.
Mark 2:2
“So much as about the door - Meaning the yard or court before the house. Preached The Word - Τον λογον. The doctrine of the kingdom of God; for so ὁ λογος is repeatedly used.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
Mark 2:2
“So that the miracle that is now to be described was among the most glorious and worthy to be recorded of many then performed; and what made it so was doubtless the faith which was manifested in connection with it, and the proclamation of the forgiveness of the patient's sins that immediately preceded it.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
Mark 2:3-5
a paralytic was brought to Him, carried by four men: When the crowd blocks four men carrying a paralyzed friend, they uncovered the roof above Him and lowered the paralytic on his mat. The text credits the faith of the four men, When Jesus saw their faith.
Mark 2:3
“And they come unto him--that is, towards the house where He was. bringing one sick of the palsy--"lying on a bed" (Mt 9:2). which was borne of four--a graphic particular of Mark only.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
they uncovered the roof above Him: Adam Clarke explains that houses there had flat roofs with a trap door leading down inside. John Wesley suggests the friends opened that door and, finding it too narrow, widened the gap. The exact method cannot be known, warn Jamieson, Fausset and Brown.
Mark 2:4
“But how should I be borne to Christ, if the roof be not opened. For the roof is the intellect, which is set above all those things which are within us; here it has much earth about it in the tiles which are made of clay, I mean, earthly things: but if these be taken away, the virtue of the intellect within us is freed from its load. After this let it be let down, that is, humbled.”
Theophylact of Ohrid · written before 1107 · Catena Aurea by Aquinaspatristic
2 more voices on this verse
Mark 2:4
“They uncovered the roof - The houses in the east are generally made flat-roofed, that the inhabitants may have the benefit of taking the air on them; they are also furnished with battlements round about, Deu 22:8; Jdg 16:27; and 2Sa 11:2, to prevent persons from falling off; and have a trap door by which they descend into the house.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Mark 2:4
“Several explanations have been given of the way in which this was done; but unless we knew the precise plan of the house, and the part of it from which Jesus taught--which may have been a quadrangle or open court, within the buildings of which Peter's house was one, or a gallery covered by a veranda--it is impossible to determine precisely how the thing was done.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
When Jesus saw their faith: John Gill counts the sick man's faith along with his friends', since he let himself be carried and lowered in his weakness. John Chrysostom notes that Jesus healed the soul first. The visible cure that follows would prove the hidden one.
Mark 2:5
“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 so much weakness; and with so much trouble; and of the other in bringing him, and breaking through so many difficulties to get him to Christ. He said unto the sick of the palsy, son, thy sins be forgiven thee; pointing and striking at the root of his disorder, his sins.”
2 more voices on this verse
Mark 2:5
“This was the faith for which He was ever on the watch, and which He never saw without marking, and, in those who needed anything from Him, richly rewarding. he said unto the sick of the palsy, Son--"be of good cheer" (Mt 9:2). thy sins be forgiven thee--By the word "be," our translators perhaps meant "are," as in Luke (Lu 5:20).”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
Mark 2:5
"Thy faith," He would say, "hath saved thee; " and, "Thy sins shall be remitted thee," on thy believing, of course, albeit thou be not yet baptized.
Tertullian · written before 220 · On Baptismpatristic
Mark 2:6-7
some of the scribes were sitting there: The scribes' logic holds as far as it goes, Who can forgive sins but God alone, since the Hebrew Scriptures give that right to God. Their charge, He is blaspheming, is the charge that condemns Jesus at His trial in 14:64.
John Chrysostom notes that the scribes supplied the rule themselves. By their own words forgiveness belongs to God alone, so when Jesus forgives and then proves it, their rule points to who He is. John Gill calls their maxim a sound one.
Mark 2:7
“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 arrogance, and to be filled with indignation and resentment at him; saying, who can forgive sins but God only? this was a generally received maxim with them, and a very just one.”
2 more voices on this verse
Mark 2:7
“Why doth this man thus speak blasphemies? who can forgive sins but God only?--In this second question they expressed a great truth. Nor was their first question altogether unnatural, though in our Lord's sole case it was unfounded.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
Mark 2:7
“Now the commandment was given to man by the Word. For Adam, it is said, "heard the voice of the Lord God." Rightly then does His Word say to man, "Thy sins are forgiven thee;" He, the same against whom we had sinned in the beginning, grants forgiveness of sins in the end. But if indeed we had disobeyed the command of any other, while it was a different being who said, "Thy sins are forgiven thee;" such an one is neither good, nor true, nor just.”
Irenaeus · written before 202 · Against Heresies 5.17.1-3patristic
Mark 2:8-10
At once Jesus knew in His spirit: Jesus asks which is easier to say, since forgiveness cannot be checked and a healing can be seen by all. The healing comes so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins.
Mark 2:8
“But if repentance is a thing human, its baptism must necessarily be of the same nature: else, if it had been celestial, it would have given both the Holy Spirit and remission of sins. But none either pardons sins or freely grants the Spirit save God only. Even the Lord Himself said that the Spirit would not descend on any other condition, but that He should first ascend to the Father.”
Tertullian · written before 220 · On Baptismpatristic
1 more voice on this verse
Mark 2:8
“The scribes asserted that only God could forgive sins, yet Jesus not only forgave sins, but showed that he had also another power that belongs to God alone: the power to disclose the secrets of the heart.”
John Chrysostom · written before 407 · The Gospel of St. Matthew, Homily 29.1patristic
Matthew Henry reads the question through cause and effect. The One who removes a disease must have power over the sin that lies behind it. Henry adds that each healing pictures pardon, since sin is the disease of the soul.
Mark 2:9
For thus it was that the Lord Jesus Christ showed His power: "Why think ye evil in your hearts? For which is easier, to say to the paralytic, Thy sins are remitted thee; or, Rise and walk? Therefore, that ye may know the Son of man to have the power upon earth of remitting sins, I say to thee, paralytic, Rise, and walk."
Tertullian · written before 220 · On Modestypatristic
2 more voices on this verse
Mark 2:9
“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 a word speaking, had power to forgive him his sins: and therefore proposes it to them, which was easiest to say, thy sins be forgiven thee, or to say arise, and take up thy bed, and walk?”
Mark 2:9
“This was a suitable argument in itself. He could not have cured the disease, which was the effect, if he could not have taken away the sin, which was the cause. And besides, his curing diseases was a figure of his pardoning sin, for sin is the disease of the soul; when it is pardoned, it is healed.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
John Chrysostom observes that when Jesus forgave sins He did not first pray to the Father for help. He acted on His own authority. Jamieson, Fausset and Brown stress the words on earth, for this power dwelt in the Man standing among them.
Mark 2:10
“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 form; and mean appearance, he might be thought by them to be but a mere man, and had no right, nor authority, to say what he had; in order to convince them; he affirms, that he hath power on earth to forgive sins.”
1 more voice on this verse
Mark 2:10
“But by means of that light, which is of one substance with Thee, Thou hast given light to those that sat in darkness and in the shadow of death, in order that in Thy light they might see the light of knowledge; and it has seemed good to Thee, by means of our Lord and Creator, to fashion us again unto immortality; and Thou hast graciously given unto us a return to Paradise by means of Him who separated us from the joys of Paradise; and by means of Him who hath power to forgive sins Thou hast blotted out…”
Methodius of Olympus · written before 311 · Methodius Oration Concerning Simeon and Annapatristic
Mark 2:11-12
Jesus answers a private accusation with a public healing, and the man picked up his mat and walked out in front of them all. The forgiveness is shown where the scribes could watch.
Mark 2:11
“I say unto thee, Arise, and take up thy bed, and go thy way into thine house--This taking up the portable couch, and walking home with it, was designed to prove the completeness of the cure.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
1 more voice on this verse
Mark 2:11
“He charged the man to perform an action of which health was the necessary condition, even while the patient was still praying for a remedy for his disease.… It was our Lord's custom to require of those whom he healed some response or duty to be done.”
Ambrose of Milan · written before 397 · Exposition of the Christian Faith 4.5.54-55patristic
Jamieson, Fausset and Brown point to Matthew 9:8, where the crowd praises God for giving such power to men. Their wonder was that a man like themselves held it. Adam Clarke quotes Prosper, who saw sin as a palsy of the soul that grace can mend in a moment.
Mark 2:12
“In Matthew (Mt 9:8) it is, "They marvelled, and glorified God, which had given such power unto men." At forgiving power they wondered not, but that a man, to all appearance like one of themselves, should possess it!”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
1 more voice on this verse
Mark 2:12
He - took up the bed - The words of Prosper, on this place, are worthy of notice: - “What is sin but a deplorable fall, a grovelling on the earth, a repose in the creature, often followed by a universal palsy of the soul; namely, an utter inability to help itself, to break off its evil habits, to walk in the ways of God, to rise or to take one good step towards him? Grace can repair all in a moment: because it is nothing but the almighty will of God, who commands and does whatever he commands.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Levi Called From the Tax Booth
Mark 2:13-14
Once again Jesus went out beside the sea: Levi collects customs for Rome, a trade his people counted as collaboration and dishonesty. Yet Jesus calls him with the same two words He gave the fishermen, and Levi got up and followed Him.
Mark 2:13
“Or else, after the miracle, He goes to the sea, as if wishing to be alone, but the crowd runs to Him again, that thou mightest learn, that the more thou fliest from glory, the more she herself pursues thee; but if thou followest her, she will fly from thee.”
Theophylact of Ohrid · written before 1107 · Catena Aurea by Aquinaspatristic
Levi son of Alphaeus: Levi is the Matthew of the first Gospel, as Albert Barnes and Ryle both note. John Chrysostom compares the two names with those of Moses' father-in-law, called both Jethro and Raguel. The tax collector became an apostle and an evangelist.
Mark 2:14
“Levi - The same as Matthew; he appears to have been a Jew, though employed in the odious office of a tax-gatherer. For an account of his call, see his Gospel, Mat 9:9, etc.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
2 more voices on this verse
Mark 2:14
“Do you hesitate about arts, and trades, and about professions likewise, for the sake of children and parents? Even there was it demonstrated to us, that both "dear pledges," and handicrafts, and trades, are to be quite left behind for the Lord's sake; while James and John, called by the Lord, do leave quite behind both father and ship; while Matthew is roused up from the toll-booth; while even burying a father was too tardy a business for faith.”
Tertullian · written before 220 · On Idolatrypatristic
Mark 2:14
“The call to follow at once produces a new situation. To stay in the old situation makes discipleship impossible.”
Dietrich Bonhoeffer · The Cost of Discipleship (1937)Confessing Church
Mark 2:15-17
While Jesus was dining at Levi’s house: The scribes who were Pharisees ask why He eats with tax collectors and sinners, since sharing a table in that culture meant approval. Jesus answers, I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.
Mark 2:15
“Fitly did he make the day of his espousals to Christ a festival day. This was also to testify his respect to Christ, and the grateful sense he had of his kindness, in snatching him from the receipt of custom as a brand out of the burning. That many publicans and sinners sat with Christ in Levi's house (for there were many belonging to that custom-house); and they followed him.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
3 more voices on this verse
Mark 2:15
“Sat at meat in the house - The words “at meat” are not in the original. The phrase means “as he reclined at his meal,” or “as he was eating.” This feast was made by Matthew in honor of the Saviour. See Luk 5:29. Publicans - See the notes at Mat 5:47. Sinners - Sinners of abandoned character - of the same character that publicans commonly sustained - fit companions of publicans - great sinners.”
Mark 2:15
“Nor would the name of publicans have been so execrable in the eyes of the Lord, unless as being a "strange" name,-a (name) of such as put up the pathways of the very sky, and earth, and sea, for sale. Moreover, when (the writer) adjoins "sinners" to "publicans," it does not follow that he shows them to have been Jews, albeit some may possibly have been so; but by placing on a par the one genus of heathens-some sinners by office, that is, publicans; some by nature, that is, not publicans-he has drawn a distinction between them.”
Tertullian · written before 220 · On Modestypatristic
Mark 2:15
“Many publicans and notorious sinners sat with Jesus - Some of them doubtless invited by Matthew, moved with compassion for his old companions in sin.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament (1755)evangelical
The Pharisees take their complaint to the disciples. Matthew Henry sees in this habit an attempt to sow discord between the Master and His followers. Gregory of Nazianzus asks what Jesus gained at such a table, and answers that He gained only the salvation of sinners.
Mark 2:16
“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 infamous characters, and bad lives, with whom the Pharisees disdained to keep company: they said unto his disciples, how is it that he eateth and drinketh with publicans and sinners? The Vulgate Latin, Arabic, Persic, and Ethiopic versions read, "your master"; see Gill on Mat 9:11; so some Greek copies here.”
2 more voices on this verse
Mark 2:16
“When Jesus is attacked for mixing with sinners, and taking as his disciple a despised tax collector, one might ask: What could he possibly gain by doing so? Only the salvation of sinners. To blame Jesus for mingling with sinners would be like blaming a physician for stooping down over suffering and putting up with vile smells in order to heal the sick.”
Gregory of Nazianzus · written before 390 · Oration 45, on Holy Easter 26patristic
Mark 2:16
“Sinners - By ἁμαρτωλοι, the Gentiles or heathens are generally to be understood in the Gospels, for this was a term the Jews never applied to any of themselves, See the note on Mat 9:10. How is it that he eateth - Some very good MSS., several versions, with Chrysostom and Augustin, read, Why doth Your Master eat?”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Augustine compares those who think themselves well to fevered patients who refuse the doctor and even strike him. Jerome adds a second reading. Since no one is perfectly righteous, Christ came to call the sinners who fill the world.
Mark 2:17
“To repentance - This is omitted by ABDKL, twenty-seven others; both the Syriac, Persic, Coptic, Ethiopic, Armenian, Gothic, Vulgate; six copies of the Itala; Euthymius and Augustin. Griesbach has left it out of the text; Grotius, Mill, and Bengel approve of the omission. See on Mat 9:13 (note). I leave it as in the parallel place above quoted. Properly speaking, the righteous cannot be called to repentance. They have already forsaken sin, mourned for it, and turned to God. In the other parallel place, Luk 5:32, all the MSS. and versions retain μετανοιαν, repentance.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
2 more voices on this verse
Mark 2:17
“I came not to call the righteous - Therefore if these were righteous I should not call them. But now, they are the very persons I came to save.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament (1755)evangelical
Mark 2:17
“For no persons of any kind would act properly, if they should advise blind men, just about to fall over a precipice, to continue their most dangerous path, as if it were the right one, and as if they might go on in safety. Or what medical man, anxious to heal a sick person, would prescribe in accordance with the patient's whims, and not according to the requisite medicine?”
Irenaeus · written before 202 · Against Heresies Book IIIpatristic
A Question About Fasting; New Wine, New Skins
Mark 2:18-20
John’s disciples and the Pharisees were often fasting: Jesus answers the question on fasting by naming Himself the bridegroom, the marriage language Isaiah and Hosea use for God and Israel. He foretells that the bridegroom will be taken from them, and then they will fast.
Mark 2:18
“Why do the disciples of John and of the Pharisees fast - See this largely explained on Mat 9:14 (note), etc. The following vices are very common to Pharisees. 1. They are more busied in censuring the conduct of others than in rectifying their own. 2. They desire that every one should regulate his piety by theirs; and embrace their particular customs and forms of devotion. 3. They speak of and compare themselves with other people, only that they may have an opportunity of distinguishing and exalting themselves.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
Mark 2:18
“Take heed that you do not make fasting to consist only in abstinence from meats. True fasting is to refrain from vice. Shred to pieces all your unjust contracts. Pardon your neighbors. Forgive them their trespasses.”
Basil of Caesarea · written before 379 · Homily 1, on Fastingpatristic
the guests of the bridegroom: Matthew Henry notes that John's disciples had been trained to hardship from the start. Jesus had not yet laid such duties on His followers. Gregory of Nazianzus calls His stay among them a season of gladness.
Mark 2:19
“Can the children of the bridechamber fast while the bridegroom is present? Why should they keep a bodily fast who are effectively cleansed by the Word, who came in bodily form as visible Word? The time of his sojourning among us was not one of mourning, but gladness.”
Gregory of Nazianzus · written before 390 · Oration 30, on the Son 10patristic
2 more voices on this verse
Mark 2:19
“Can the children of the bride-chamber fast while the bridegroom is with them? - Among the Hindoos, large parties of friends, belonging both to the bride and bridegroom, attend on both during the wedding day; on the following day, when the bridegroom leaves the house of his father-in-law, the attendants are filled with sorrow, especially the near relations. - Ward’s Customs.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Mark 2:19
“His disciples from the first inured themselves to hardships, and thus found it easier to bear strict and frequent fasting, but it was not so with Christ's disciples; their Master came eating and drinking, and had not bred them up to the difficult services of religion as yet, for it was all in good time.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
the bridegroom will be taken from them: John Gill notes that John's disciples already knew this sorrow, since their teacher sat in Herod's prison. For the followers of Jesus it came with His death. Adam Clarke reports that many of the best manuscripts point to that one day.
Mark 2:20
“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 from them, and then shall they fast in those days: referring to the time of the sufferings and death of Christ, which would be, and was a sorrowful season to his disciples.”
2 more voices on this verse
Mark 2:20
Do ye who are able fast the day of the preparation and the Sabbath-day entirely, tasting nothing till the cock-crowing of the night; but if any one is not able to join them both together, at least let him observe the Sabbath-day; for the Lord says somewhere, speaking of Himself: "When the bridegroom shall be taken away from them, in those days shall they fast." In these days, therefore, He was taken from us by the Jews, falsely so named, and fastened to the cross, and "was numbered among the transgressors."
Apostolic Constitutions · written before 380 · Constitutions of the Holy Apostles Book 5patristic
Mark 2:20
“In those days - But instead of εν εκειναις ταις ἡμεραις, many of the best MSS. and versions read, εν εκεινῃ τῃ ἡμερᾳ, in that day; viz. the day in which Jesus Christ should be delivered up to the Jews and Gentiles. Mill and Bengel approve of this reading, and Griesbach adopts it. The former part of the verse seems to vindicate the common reading.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Mark 2:21-22
No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment: A patch of unshrunk cloth tears an old garment, and new wine bursts old wineskins, one point from two sides. What Jesus brings cannot be stitched onto the old order, and new wine is poured into new wineskins.
Mark 2:21
“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 of them were of very short standing, devised in, that age; and most, if not all of them, were since the times of Ezra.”
1 more voice on this verse
Mark 2:21
“The Spirit of God, and the Word of God, and the Reason of God-Word of Reason, and Reason and Spirit of Word-Jesus Christ our Lord, namely, who is both the one and the other, -has determined for us, the disciples of the New Testament, a new form of prayer; for in this particular also it was needful that new wine should be laid up in new skins, and a new breadth be sewn to a new garment.”
Tertullian · written before 220 · On Prayerpatristic
Matthew Henry applies the picture to the disciples themselves. New believers should not be loaded with strict duties before they can bear them. Tertullian sees the same principle in the new form of prayer Jesus gave His new disciples.
Mark 2:22
“He has prescribed for his new disciples of the New Testament a new form of prayer. For this it was fitting that new wine be stored in new wine skins and that a new patch be sewed upon a new garment. What had prevailed in days gone by was either abolished, like circumcision, or completed, like the rest of the law, or fulfilled, like the prophecies, or brought to its perfection, like faith itself.”
Tertullian · written before 220 · On Prayer 1patristic
The Sabbath Was Made for Man
Mark 2:23-24
One Sabbath Jesus was passing through the grainfields: Deuteronomy 23:25 allows a traveler to pick grain by hand, so the disciples who began to pick the heads of grain break no command. The rabbinic rulings fenced around the Sabbath counted such picking as reaping.
Mark 2:23
“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 corn, and to rub them, and get the grain out of them, and eat them; See Gill on Mat 12:1.”
Augustine notes that the charge was sabbath breaking, since the law already let a hungry passer-by eat from a field. John Chrysostom adds that the disciples ate plain food out of need. Their hunger sets up the answer about David.
Mark 2:24
“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? see how they pluck the ears of corn and rub them, and eat things, which by the law, especially by the traditions of the elders, were not lawful to be done on the sabbath day; See Gill on Mat 12:2.”
Mark 2:25-26
The phrase During the high priesthood of Abiathar is a known difficulty, since 1 Samuel 21 names Ahimelech, the father of Abiathar, in office. Some explain that Abiathar was present and became the better known high priest.
Mark 2:25
“This, it is said, David did in the days of Abiathar the High-Priest; or just before the days of Abiathar, who immediately succeeded Abimelech his father in the pontificate, and, it is probable, was at that time his father's deputy, or assistant, in the office; and he it was that escaped the massacre, and brought the ephod to David.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
During the high priesthood of Abiathar: John Gill notes that the house of God here is the tabernacle, since the temple was not yet built. Matthew Henry suggests Abiathar was already assisting his father. He escaped the massacre that followed and brought the ephod to David.
Mark 2:26
“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 righteousness, but into the house of God?”
1 more voice on this verse
Mark 2:26
“The days of Abiathar the high priest - It appears from 1Sa 21:1, which is the place referred to here, that Ahimelech was then high priest at Nob: and from 1Sa 22:20; 1Sa 23:6, and 1Ch 18:16, it appears that Abiathar was the son of Ahimelech. The Persic reads Abimelech instead of Abiathar. Theophylact supposes that Abiathar was the priest, and Ahimelech or Abimelech the high priest, and thus endeavors to reconcile both the sacred historians. Others reconcile the accounts thus: Ahimelech was called Ahimelech Abiathar, אב ab, father, understood; and Abiathar was called Abiathar Ahimelech, בן ben, son, understood.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Mark 2:27-28
The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath, so the day serves human need and rest. Therefore, the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath, a claim of authority over a day set apart at creation in Genesis 2:2-3.
Mark 2:27
“It goes on: And he said to them, The sabbath was made for man, and not man for the sabbath. For greater is the care to be taken of the health and life of a man, than the keeping of the sabbath. Therefore the sabbath was ordered to be observed in such a way, that, if there were a necessity, he should not be guilty, who broke the sabbath-day; therefore it was not forbidden to circumcise on the sabbath, because that was a necessary work. And the Maccabees, when necessity pressed on them, fought on the sabbath-day.”
Bede · written before 735 · Catena Aurea by Aquinaspatristic
2 more voices on this verse
Mark 2:27
“The Sabbath was made for man - That he might have the seventh part of his whole time to devote to the purposes of bodily rest and spiritual exercises. And in these respects it is of infinite use to mankind. Where no Sabbath is observed, there disease, poverty, and profligacy, generally prevail. Had we no Sabbath, we should soon have no religion. This whole verse is wanting in the Codex Bezae, and in five of the Itala.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Mark 2:27
“The sabbath is a sacred and divine institution; but we must receive and embrace it as a privilege and a benefit, not as a task and a drudgery. First, God never designed it to be an imposition upon us, and therefore we must not make it so to ourselves. Man was not made for the sabbath, for he was made a day before the sabbath was instituted.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
John Wesley reasons that the supreme Lawgiver may set aside His own laws. Adam Clarke reports that some readers took Son of Man here to mean any human being. John Gill takes it as Jesus speaking of Himself.
Mark 2:28
“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. So that it did not become them to find fault with what his disciples did, with his leave and approbation.”
1 more voice on this verse
Mark 2:28
“The Son of man is Lord - See on Mat 12:7, Mat 12:8 (note). Some have understood this as applying to men in general, and not to Christ. The Son of man, any man is Lord of the Sabbath; i.e. it was made for him, for his ease, comfort, and use, and to these purposes he is to apply it.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
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Sources for this chapter
The summary
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory; John Calvin, Commentaries; John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the New Testament and Matthew Henry, Complete Commentary.
The exposition
Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes; Augustine of Hippo; Gregory of Nazianzus; J. C. Ryle, Expository Thoughts on the Gospels, Mark; J.C. Ryle, Expository Thoughts on the Gospels: Mark (lightly modernized text, Grace Gems edition); Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jerome, Against the Pelagians 2.12; John Chrysostom; John Gill; John Lightfoot, Horae Hebraicae et Talmudicae; John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament; Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Tertullian, ON PRAYER 1.