Mark's narrative takes not rise so early as those of Matthew and Luke do, from the birth of our Saviour, but from John's baptism, from which he presently passed to Christ's public ministry. Accordingly in this chapter we have, 1. The office of John Baptist illustrated by the prophets of him, ver. 1—3, and the history of him, ver. 4—8. 2. Christ's baptism, and his being owned from heaven, ver. 9—11. 3. His temptation, ver. 12, 13. 4. His preaching, ver. 14, 15, 21, 22, 38, 39. 5. His calling disciples, ver. 16—20. 6. His praying, ver. 35. 7. His working miracles. (1.) His rebuking an unclean spirit, ver. 23—28. (2.) His curing Peter's mother-in-law that was ill of a fever, ver. 29—31. (3.) His healing all that came to him, ver. 32, 34, 35. (4.) His cleansing a leper, ver. 40—45. 1. THE beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ the Son of God, 2. As it is written in the prophets, Behold, I send my messenger before thy face, which shall prepare thy way before thee. 3. The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight. 4. John did baptize in the wilderness, and preach the baptism of repentance, for the remission of sins. 5. And there went out unto him all the land of Judea, and they of Jerusalem, and were all baptized of him in the river of Jordan, confessing their sins. 6. And John was clothed with camel's hair, and with a girdle of a skin about his loins: and he did eat locusts and wild honey: 7. And preached, saying, There cometh one mightier than I after me, the latchet of whose shoes I am not worthy to stoop down and unloose. 8. I indeed have baptized you with water: but he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost. St. Mark commences his history with the account of John's baptism, the messenger sent before the Messiah, according to the ancient prophecies, to prepare his way. Isaiah and Malachi had both spoken of him, Isa. xl. 3. Mal. iii. 1. and agreeable thereunto John commenced his ministry in the wilderness, calling the people to repentance, and saith in the promised Messiah, in order that they might obtain remission of their sins. 1. John's preaching was the beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ the Son of God. Not that the gospel then first began to be published; for it had been the subject of the ministry of all the prophets, and in the promise of the Seed of the woman had been preached to the first man immediately after his fall: but the gospel dispensation, in opposition to the law, began more immediately from the baptism of John, whose office it was particularly to point the people to the Lamb of God, now made manifest in the flesh to take away the sin of the world. This was the glad news John declared, the gospel of Jesus Christ, who is both the Author and Subject of it; and, as the Son of God, endured with all-sufficiency for the great work of man's salvation, which he came to accomplish. To him the Baptist bore witness, acknowledging his surpassing dignity, and confessed his own unworthiness to be employed in the means of offices by his Lord; and whilst, in consequence of his preaching, and the people's profession of repentance, he admitted them to baptism in token of the forgiveness of their sins, he had them expect a more efficacious baptism than this of water, even of the Holy Ghost, which the Messiah, to whom he directed them, should shed on them abundantly, to cleanse them from all their iniquities. 2. His appearance was singular, as that of the ancient prophets, and his dress and diet bespoke his mortised spirit and deadness to the world. A rough camel's hair garment, tied with a leathern girdle, defended him from the cold; and locusts and wild honey, such as the wilderness afforded, satisfied his hunger. Note, They who preach the gospel must learn to endure hardness, and be ready, whenever duty calls, to forego any of the delights of sense for the sake of the service in which they are engaged. 3. Mul- In this chapter we have, 1. Christ's healing a man that uses sick of a palsy, ver. 1-12. 2. His calling Matthew from the receipt of custom, and his eating upon that occasion with publicism and sinners, and justifying himself to so doing, ver. 13-17. 3. His justifying his disciples in not failing so much as those of the Pharisees did, ver. 18-21. 4. His justifying them in inhaling the ears of corn on the Sabbath-day, ver. 23-28. All which passages we had before, Mat. ix. and xii. 1. AND again he entered into Capernaum, after some days, and it was noised that he was in the house. 2. And straightway many were gathered together, insomniest that there was no room to receive them, no not so much as about the door: and he preached the word unto them. 3. And they come unto him, bringing one sick of the palsy, which was born of four, 4. And when they could not come nigh unto him for the priest, they uncovered the roof where he was: and when they had broken it up, they let down the bed wherein the sick of the palsy lay. 5. When Jesus saw their faith, he said unto the sick of the palsy, Son, 'thy sins be forgiven thee. 6. But there were certain of the scribes sitting there, and reasoning in their hearts, 7. Why do this man than speak blasphemies?' 'who can forgive sins but God only? 8. And immediately, when Jesus perceived in his spirit that they so reasoned within themselves, he said unto them, Why reason ye these things in your hearts? 9. Whether is it easier to say to the sick of the palsy, Thy sins be forgiven thee: or to say, Arise, and take up thy bed and walk? 10. But that ye may know that the Son of man hath power on earth to forgive sins, (he saith to the sick of the palsy) 11. I say unto thee, Arise, and take up thy bed, and go thy way into thine house. 12. And immediately he arose, took up the bed, and went forth before them all, insomniest that they were all amazed, and glorified God, saying, We never saw it on this fashion. No sooner had our Lord returned to Capernaum, from his journey through the villages of Galilee, than the rumour of it quickly spread through the place; and, eager to improve the precious opportunity of his presence, such multitudes assembled at the house, that there was no coming even to the door, so thick was the crowd. And a blessed fight it is to behold such numbers flocking to the Saviour. 1. He preached unto them. Some might have thought the time, the place, improper for a sermon. There were synagogues; what need of preaching in a house, or at the window? Perhaps to reach us, that no time or place is improper to speak a word for God and for immortal souls. 2. During Christ's preaching, or in some interval of his discourse, the friends of a poor paralytic man, solicitous to present his pissable case before him, would him have pressed through the crowd; but, finding the attempt impracticable, they carried him up to the top of the house where Jesus was, and, breaking up a part of the flat roof, let down the sick man on his bed before him. Note, They who truly seek the Lord, will be discouraged by no difficulties from coming to him. 3. Signals with such an influence of those faith, the comprehensive Jesus kindly accells the affected patient, and foals the pardon of his sins as the introduction to his cure. This being the cauld of every sickness and disease, the bitterness of them is past, when the sin that occasioned them is forgiven. 4. The Scrubes and Pharises who were present, regarded it as serene blasphemy in a mere man, as they regarded Jesus, to assume the incommunicable prerogative of God, in thus by his own authority preluminating to forgive sin. He knew their secret reasoning, and in his answer gave them a proof of his divinity, as the searcher of hearts. To these them, therefore, he possessed the power he assumed, he bids the man arise and walk, and appeals to themselves for the conclusion, whether he who could thus foreroughly, in an instant, remove the effects of sin, could not as easily remit the guilt of it. Note, The man Christ Jesus is also very God, able to forgive and to save to the uttermost every poor sinner that comes to him. 4. The paralytic man received his cure the moment Jesus commanded him to arise; and to the afterwriteness of all, he was so perfectly restored to health and strength, as to carry home the bed on which he had been brought. Such unprecedented cures extorted acknowledgments from every beholder, that the like was never seen before in Israel. 13. And he went forth again by the sea-side, and all the multitude resorted unto him, and he taught them. 14. And as he passed by, he saw Levi the sea of Alpheus sitting at the receipt of custom, and said unto him, Follow me. And he arose and followed him. 15. And it came to pass, that as Jesus sat at meat in his house, many publicans and sinners sat also together with Jesus and his disciples: for there were many, and they followed him. 16. And when the Scrubes and Pharises saw him eat with publicans and sinners, they said unto his disciples, How is it that he eateth and drinketh with publicans and sinners? 17. When Jesus heard it, he saith unto them, They that are whole, have no need of the physician, but they that are sick: I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. Having departed from the house to the sea-side, thither the multitude followed him, and he preached to them the gospel. After which, 1. He called Levi, or Matthew, a publican, who was sitting in his office receiving the customs, and such power accompanied his word, that instantly he left his gainful possession, and followed Jesus as his disciple. Note, (1.) Nothing is too difficult for Almighty grace; they who seem most deeply involved in the world, and sunk in guilt and corruption, are often searched in sovereign love, as brands from the burning. (2.) If Christ did not self seek us, we should never have fought him. 2. Levi, in tender regard for his brother publicans, longed to make them acquainted with Jesus, whose grace he himself had so richly raised, and therefore invited them to his house, where Jesus disdained not to sit among them: infamous in general as their characters were, he joined them not as an associate, but, as the great physician of souls, visited them as diseased patients. Note, They who have called the grace of the Reference themselves, cannot but be solicitous that their friends and neighbours should partake with them. 3. Christ vindicates his conduct from the censorious cavils of the Pharises. He despised not the poor sinner's souls; but as this was the very end of his coming to call such to repentance, he was unaffected with the reviling of those who contented themselves righteous, and yet were much farther from the kingdom of heaven, than the very sinners whom they despised. Note, (1.) The best deeds are often most basely misrepresented by the inventor of the house, and they have been made to do with Christ but sin-sick souls, who feel themselves left without him; the proud and self-righteous are left to perish in the delusions they have chosen. 18. And the disciples of John, and of the Pharises used to fast; and they come and say unto him, Why do the disciples of John, and of the Pharises fast, but thy disciples fast not? 19. And Jesus said unto them, Can the children of the bride-chamber fast while the bridegroom is with them? as long as they have the bridegroom with them, they cannot fast. 20. But the days will come when the bridegroom shall be taken away from them, and then shall they fast in those days. 21. No man also sews a piece of new cloth on an old garment: else the new piece that filled it up taketh away from the old, and the rest is made worse. 22. And no man putteth new wine into old bottles, else the new wine doth butt the bottles, and the wine is spilled, and the bottles will be marred: but new wine must be put into new bottles. 23. And it came to pass that he went through the corn-fields on the sabbath-day, and his disciples began as they went to church, pluck the ears of corn. 24. And the Pharises said unto him, Behold, why do they on the sabbath-day that which is not lawful? 25. And he said unto them, Have ye never read what David did, when he had need, and was an hungred, he and they that were with him? 26. How he went into the house of God in the days of Abhathar the high-priest, and did-eat the shewbread, which is not lawful to eat, but for the priests, and gave also to them which were with him? 27. And he said unto them, The sabbath was made for man, and not man for the sabbath: 28. Therefore the Son of man is Lord also of the sabbath. Christ having justified his own conduct from the censure of Pharisesal pride, justifies all his disciples for not observing unnecessary sufferings; and vindicates them for plucking the ears of corn on the sabbath-day to satisfy their hunger. 1. The disciples of John, who, after their master's example, failed often; and the Pharises, who placed great dependance on this bodily exercise, expects their wonder that Jesus rejoined no such rigid rules on his disciples as they published. So ready are those who fancy their own strictest meritorious, to censure all who come short of their standard of excellence. Christ answers their question, and vindicates his disciples; they were but beginners, and it was improper to put them on the more difficult exercises of self-denial, least they should be discouraged thereby, and contract a disgust to the service. Besides, during his presence with them, like a newly married bride, it became them to rejoice: it would be time enough when he should be taken from them, to mourn and fast. Thus should we learn not to exact too much from young converts, and the lambs of the flock; and especially in fasting we should consider the great end and use of it, and that of relief, it is no farther good, than these are obtained. 2. The Phariseses soon seized another occasion of offence, from the disciples plucking the ears of corn on the sabbath-day, as they passed through the fields. Rigidly scrupulous, as many others like them still are, about the form of godliness, and severe in judging all who do not coincide with them; yet blind to the deep-rooted evil and abominations of their hearts. Christ vindicates them by a precedent the Phariseses will not dispute, and reasons with them by arguments they cannot disprove. David had done what deemed a much more exceptional thing in eating the shew-bread; and Abhathar, who succeeded his father soon after as high-priest, had consented to it, because ceremonial observances must give way to the great law of charity and self-preservation. Besides, the very institution of the sabbath was designed for man's benefit, to give rest to his body, and time to spend in the immediate service of God, and caring for his soul; and therefore doth not require him to abstain from what is more immediately necessary for the support and preservation of his life: the provision for which was a law of nature, and subsisted previous to the institution of the Sabbath. The Messiah, therefore, who can best interpret his own laws, and is Lord of the Sabbath, has an undoubted right to permit this liberty to his disciples, as such refreshment of their bodies will enable them more effectually to discharge the duties of the holy day. Note, (1.) Our Sabbath should be our delight; and therefore must not, by unreasonable strictness, be made a burden. (2.) Though we are allowed to eat and drink, as shall best enable us for the service of the Sabbath, it is a gross violation of the day, by indulging our appetite to supply our faculties, and render body and soul utterly unfit for the exercises of devotion.