But evening being come, when the sun had gone down, they brought to him all that were suffering, and those possessed by demons;
At Capernaum the sun went down, and a whole town carried its sick and demon-troubled to one door. Why did they wait for sunset? And what does the scene show about the One inside the house?
Sunset ended the Sabbath. Commentators tie the crowd's timing to that moment:
The day was fading. The Sabbath was drawing to a close. The evening shadows were lengthening. Then that house became a centre. You could have seen people carrying the sick and those held by demons to it. The city was astir, alive, for the Sabbath was over. But why did everyone head for the fisherman's home? The Lord Jesus Christ was under that roof.
The fading light did more than free those held back by scruples. It gave cover to the fearful and relief to the weak:
At evening there was a great gathering of the afflicted of Capernaum at the house of Simon Peter. People who had held back from being healed on the Sabbath now came without hesitation. Others feared the harsh power of a priesthood that had turned from God, so they came under cover of the lengthening shadows. And people carried the helpless, who dreaded the fierce noonday sun, to Jesus in "the cool of the day." In the garden of Eden He had looked for the guilty pair in the evening, while they shrank back from His presence in shame (Gen. 3:8). Now He had come from heaven to seek and save their suffering and groaning sons.
Mark names two groups: the sick, and those oppressed by demons. One root lies behind both, and the day's work shows what the law could not touch:
A captive of Satan was in the synagogue, and the Son of God appeared to destroy the works of the devil. Weakness and pain were in the house of Simon Peter. They are the effects of sin's presence in the world. And the Anointed One had come "to set at liberty those who are oppressed." ... The need for such service proved one thing beyond doubt: the law could not relieve or bless the sinful and suffering Jew.
The striking thing is not only that He could heal. Anyone could reach Him:
Though this blessed One has all authority and power He is accessible to all. He enters the humble home of a fisherman. Someone there needs His healing power, and we read, "immediately they told Him about her." Again, when the sun had set, "they brought to Him all who were sick." With the great men of this world it is very different. The greater their authority and power the less accessible they are to the poor and needy. The Lord is no different today. He is high in heavenly glory, yet we can still "tell Him" and bring "to Him" all our sorrows and needs.
He had already taught in the synagogue, freed a man held by a demon, and healed Peter's mother-in-law. Then the evening crowd arrived:
Let us turn to Jesus. His day of work and service for others had not worn Him out. At evening it was still the same. He always carries on His work of love.
The town's eagerness was real, but it was eagerness for healed bodies. There was a gap between what they asked for and what He most wanted to give:
However many people came, and however great their desires, nothing could exhaust the Saviour's power and love. As the untiring servant of God and of men, He met every form of human need. But what joy it would have given Him if men had been as keen for spiritual blessing as for physical benefit! Can bodily healing be compared for one moment with the priceless gift of sins forgiven?
Commentators also read this evening as a preview. The Sabbath ends, and something wider begins:
But after the Sabbath a new era dawned, a forecast of the kingdom come in power. Now it was not just a few individuals who were blessed. All the sick and suffering of Capernaum flocked to the great Physician, and He healed them all — every one. ... It was also a happy sign of that coming day for Israel. Then the glorious Sun of righteousness, already present with healing in His wings, will rise and drive away all darkness, disease and death.
- Sundown opens the door. Sunset ended the Sabbath, and the crowd came at once: the hesitant, the fearful, and those too weak for the midday sun.
- Two miseries come out. Disease and demon power both spring from sin's presence in the world. The law could touch neither.
- The door stays open. The great of this world grow harder to reach as their power grows. He does not — and He is still within reach now in glory.
- Love outlasts the day. A full day of service did not wear Him out. At evening He was still the same, and no crowd could exhaust His love.
- A whole city, one Physician. In one evening every sufferer in Capernaum found healing. It pictures the coming day when disease, darkness and death are driven away. Yet the town wanted healed bodies more than forgiven sins.
and the whole city was gathered together at the door.
One Sabbath in Capernaum ends with a whole town crowded against a fisherman's door. Why did that house become the centre of a city, and what does the crowd show about the One inside it?
One writer sets the scene at dusk and answers the obvious question about the address:
The day was fading. The Sabbath was drawing to a close, and the evening shadows were lengthening. Then that house became a centre. You could see people carrying the sick and the demon-possessed toward it. The city was astir, alive, for the Sabbath was over. But why was the fisherman's home the point to which everyone directed their steps? The Lord Jesus Christ was under that roof. Matthew and Luke tell of the same scene too. Only Mark tells us that "the whole city was gathered together at the door."
The word translated "gathered together" points somewhere. One writer traces it through its other uses:
We have all heard the mother hen give that special little cluck that calls the little chicks — calls them where? Calls them to herself. That is exactly the thought in this lovely word. You may look up the other places where we find this verb. All of them, you will notice, are in the Gospels, telling of our Lord down here on earth: Matthew 24:31; Mark 1:33; 13:27; Luke 12:1; 13:34. If you examine these Scriptures, I think you will find that all refer to gathering together to our beloved Lord and Saviour. Christ, and Christ alone, is the Object and Centre of our gathering.
Evening suited more than one kind of person in that crowd:
At evening a great crowd of suffering people from Capernaum gathered at the house of Simon Peter. Those who had scruples about coming to be healed on the Sabbath now came freely. Others feared the bullying power of priests who had turned away from God, so they came under cover of the lengthening shadows. And those lying helpless, afraid of the fierce rays of a noonday sun, were brought to Jesus in "the cool of the day." And He who in the garden of Eden came looking for the guilty pair in the evening, as they shrank back in shame from His presence (Genesis 3:8), had come from heaven to seek and to save their suffering and groaning sons.
A whole city at one door is the sort of gathering kings dream of. The same writer measures this crowd against the courts of the powerful:
The Lord of glory held a great reception that night, but the throng was not like the one found in the courts of the world's great men. He was indeed greater than Solomon, but no Queen of Sheba was there with her gifts. Truly the day is coming when all nations shall fall down before Him, but those who honoured Him then were only a company of invalids. Nor did they seek His face in vain.
At the door the scale of His help changes, and that change carries a promise:
But after the Sabbath a new era dawned, a forecast of the kingdom come in power. Now it was not just a few cases that were blessed. All the sick and suffering of Capernaum flocked to the great Physician, and He healed them all — every one. Some of them had passed many a sleepless night in weariness and pain. Now they were freed from their illnesses, to enjoy a rest that the rules of Jewish law could never give.
Great power usually builds distance. Here it does the opposite, and the writer carries the point into our own day:
Another beautiful trait of the perfect Servant comes before us in these scenes. Though this blessed One has all authority and power, He is accessible to all. He enters the humble home of a fisherman. Someone there needs His healing power, and we read, "Immediately they told Him about her." Again, when the sun had set, "they brought to Him all who were sick." With the great men of this world it is far otherwise. The greater their authority and power, the less accessible they are to the poor and needy. Nor is the Lord any different today. He is high in heavenly glory, yet we can still "tell Him" and bring "to Him" all our sorrows and our needs.
What the town wanted and what it might have asked for are two different things:
However many people came, or however great their desires, nothing could exhaust the Saviour's power and love. As the untiring servant of God and of men He ministered to every form of human need. But what joy it would have given Him if men had been as eager for spiritual blessing as for physical benefit! Can bodily healing be compared for one moment with the priceless gift of sins forgiven?
- Centre — The house drew a city only because Christ was inside it; the gathering had a Person, not a place, at its heart.
- Called — The word Mark uses means gathering to someone, the way a hen calls her chicks to herself.
- Come — Sabbath worries, fear of the priests, and the midday heat all fell away at sunset, and the whole town came freely.
- Cured — Not isolated cases now but all the sick of Capernaum, healed every one — a forecast of the kingdom in power.
- Craving — They craved healed bodies. He stayed within reach of every one of them, yet longed for them to crave forgiveness more.
And he healed many suffering from various diseases; and he cast out many demons, and did not suffer the demons to speak because they knew him.
Mark closes a busy day at Capernaum with the whole town at one door. Jesus met every kind of misery brought to Him. Two things stand out: how wide His healing reached, and how He silenced the voices that could have announced who He was.
The people who came that evening were not dignitaries.
The Lord of glory held a great reception that night, but the crowd was not the kind found in the courts of the world's great ones... Truly the day is coming when all nations shall fall down before Him, but those who honoured Him then were only a company of invalids. Nor did they seek His face in vain.
He was within reach of anyone who came.
With the great men of this world it is far otherwise. The greater their authority and power the less accessible they are to the poor and needy. Nor is the Lord any different today: though high in heavenly glory we can "tell Him," and bring "to Him," all our sorrows and our needs.
The verse names two groups and keeps them apart.
A crowd of these two kinds of people gathers around Him: the sick, and those held by demons. The account keeps the two apart with care, and names them twice over. They all find deliverance at His hands, without fail.
This power ran in two directions at once.
Divine power rests in man over the devil, as well as over disease. Such was the form of the ministry of Jesus.
The demons told the truth about Him. He still refused to let them speak.
He refused that mixed testimony. It must be Divine for Him to accept it.
He did welcome witness, but only from above. He also saw an accusation coming.
He did accept the fourfold witness of John the Baptist, the Father, His own works, and the Scriptures (John 5:32-47). But He, the Holy One of God, refused all testimony from beneath... He saw in advance the groundless charge that He cast out demons in league with Beelzebul... So He renounced in public every link with the works of darkness. Then all could know that He did these things in His Father's name alone.
Beaten in open opposition, Satan tried a different tactic — endorsement.
Satan could not oppose the power. He had to admit it was the power of the Son of God and of His Kingdom. So he would have a share in it — indeed, take the lead in recognising it. Then the work would carry his stamp, and he could keep his controlling influence over the minds of men as far as possible... The spirits knew it, and the chief spirit would have used this knowledge to hinder the Lord's kingdom in subtle ways... but the Lord "would not permit them to speak."
Another writer gives a simpler reason: He did not want the attention.
In Mark's Gospel we must not view these deliverances and healings so much as evidence of His power. They display the great love and goodness of the Servant... He loved to be unknown. He did not want the applause of men, nor the witness of the unclean spirits.
The word behind "knew" here carries weight. It is not a guess about His identity.
Demons had the inward conscious knowledge of who He was.
That knowledge did not change what they were.
He commanded demons to be silent, and when He cast them out they pleaded with Him not to send them into the abyss... Here we have the saddest truth of all. Satan may fool people into the foolish trick of unbelief, but he cannot do that with evil spirits. "Even the demons believe—and shudder!" (James 2:19)
He turned no one away that evening, and the scene pointed forward.
Not isolated cases now: all the sick and suffering of Capernaum came to the great Physician, and He healed them all — every one. It was truly the beginning of a new week for them. It was also a happy sign of a coming day for Israel. Then the glorious Sun of righteousness would rise and drive away all darkness, disease and death. Even then He was present with healing in His wings.
- Access. The whole city came to one door, and none went away unhelped. His place in glory has not made Him harder to reach.
- Reach. He met both kinds of misery — bodies broken by disease, lives held by demons. No part of human ruin lies outside His power.
- Refusal. He silenced words that were true but came from the wrong source. He took witness from the Father, the Scriptures, John and His own works — never from beneath.
- Motive. Commentators differ here. Some see Satan seeking credit by backing Him. Others see the Servant refusing applause.
- Warning. The demons knew Him with full inward certainty, and they stayed His enemies. Knowing who Jesus is did not change them.