Search for commentaries – Mark 1

John the Baptist Prepared The Way For Jesus
Mark opens this gospel by explaining how John the Baptist was divinely appointed by God to prepare the way for Jesus as a fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy (Mal. 3:1 & Isa. 40:3). John was a rugged prophet from the wilderness and a fearless preacher. Large crowds were com …

Jesus Begins to Pick His Staff
One day as John the Baptist was preaching and baptizing, Jesus appeared on the banks of the Jordan River and requested to be baptized. His baptism was not a testimony that He had been cleansed from sin (for He was sinless). He was merely identifying with sinners like you and me a …

Jesus Deals With an Unclean Spirit
The law stated that wherever there were 10 Jewish families there must be a synagogue. This meant that wherever there was a colony of Jews, there was a synagogue. If a man had a message to preach, the synagogue was the obvious place to preach it and that is why Jesus went there. On …

Jesus Rises Early to Spend Time With His Father
After an extremely busy day in Capernaum, we find Jesus rising early the next morning (probably between 3:00 and 4:00 a.m.) to spend time with His Father (vv. 35-39). According to an ancient tradition, a “solitary place” or “quiet place” was on a ridge of h …

Jesus Touched The Leper And Healed Him
Keep in mind that lepers were considered unclean by the Jews and were required to keep a safe distance so they would not contaminate them (Lev. 13 & 14). A person with leprosy becomes a walking mess of foul-smelling ulcerated growths whose face louses human appearance. …

Jesus Heals Peter’s Mother-in-Law
After leaving the synagogue in Capernaum, Jesus and the disciples went to Simon (Peter) and Andrew’s house in Bethsaida (John 1:44) some distance away. Simon’s mother-in-law lived with them and she was sick of a fever. Jesus touched her, she was healed and began immed …