and having found him, they say to him, All seek thee.
At dawn the disciples went hunting for Jesus and found Him praying alone, outside the town. Their news sounds good, but He answers by moving on — which asks what a servant of God counts as success.
The search in this verse ends at a praying Man. One commentator links that prayer to the victory and the healings that came before it:
But positive strength is also needed in dependence on God. So we are told, "And rising very early in the morning, while it was still dark, he departed and went out to a desolate place, and there he prayed." There, just as He rejects the enemy's testimony, so He leans fully on God's power. No personal glory, and no title to power that belonged to Him, was the smallest reason for relaxing His entire subjection to His Father. Neither was it a reason to stop seeking His guidance day by day. So He waited on God after He had defeated the enemy in the wilderness. He had already proved the value of that victory by healing those the devil oppressed. It is while He is doing this that Simon and others follow and find Him.
The finding was not casual. The verb Mark uses for their pursuit is a strong one:
There is a stronger word than dioko, "I press after." It is kata-dioko, and it means "I earnestly press after." It appears only once in the New Testament, in Mark 1:36. The disciples woke to find that their Lord had risen long before daylight and had gone off to a solitary place to pray: "and Simon and those who were with him earnestly pressed after Him." As far as I know we are never told to "press after" Christ. But we do have this beautiful example of His disciples of old who earnestly pressed after Him. And if we truly love Him, will we not imitate them too?
Simon's message was a report on public opinion, and opinion was running in Jesus' favour. One writer weighs how thin that enthusiasm was:
The tide of popular favour ran high for Him that day in Capernaum. To anyone who courted it, this would have been the moment to return to the city. That is all the more true because Luke tells us, "the people sought him and came to him, and would have kept him from leaving them" (Luke 4:42). If they could, they would have compelled Him. But neither Simon, nor those with him, nor the people knew what the Lord was. What He could do they had seen. What He was had yet to be learned.
A rising reputation would keep most people in town. Here it was a reason to leave:
But this public attraction to the Lord Jesus was reason enough for not returning. He did not seek the applause of man, but the praise that comes from God. The moment it began to be talked about, so to speak, the Lord Jesus withdraws from the scene. If all men sought Him, He must go where it was a question of need, not of honour.
Jesus answers the report with more work, not with rest. One writer roots that habit in the nature of service itself:
Service is never perfect without that hiding of self. A servant is not to know himself. He is to know only his master, and to be quite willing that others should also not know him, but only his master. And so it is with the Lord. He goes on with His work. If that attracts notice, His way is still to go on and to hide Himself again under fresh service. We see this in chapter 1. Simon and other disciples follow Him into His privacy and say, "Everyone is looking for You." It is as though the crowd would make Him public, make Him the center of attention — but He only hides Himself under fresh labours.
Time alone with the Father shapes the reply that follows. One writer links the two, and notes what Jesus says He came out to do:
Simon and those with him followed Him and found Him. Now beginning to feel the importance of His ministry, Simon expresses it: "Everyone is looking for you." This (in such a case) was nothing to Jesus. He did not seek the place where He was important; He had His Father's will to do. He came ever fresh from His Father's heart... Surely this had a connection with that hidden fellowship with the Father: "for that is why I came out." And what was on His heart was this: "that I may preach there also." He does not say, "do miracles."
- Prayer first. No title to power excused Him from depending on His Father. The disciples found Him already leaning on God before the day began.
- Pursuit. The word behind their search means to press after earnestly. It is the one recorded example of disciples chasing hard after Christ.
- Popularity. The whole town wanted Him, but they knew only what He could do, not what He was.
- Purpose. Applause was His signal to move on. He went where there was need, not where there was honour.
- Pattern. A servant is content to be unknown as long as his Master is known. What came out of His time alone with the Father was preaching, not miracles.
And he says to them, Let us go elsewhere into the neighbouring country towns, that I may preach there also, for for this purpose am I come forth.
After a day of healing crowds in Capernaum, Jesus went out alone to pray. Peter found Him with news that everyone was looking for Him — and His answer set the shape of His whole mission.
Jesus did not make this decision in the crowd. It came out of the quiet hour before dawn.
He rose early the next day, not to begin the day with service, but with prayer in a solitary place. How vital a need this is for every servant of God! Indeed, one would say, if it was necessary for Him, how much more for us! Morning by morning He received guidance from God (Isa. 50:4). But Simon and others with him were a little too anxious about service. If they had followed His example and prayed, they might have discerned the mind of God more clearly, as He did.
Everyone looking for Him sounded like the best reason to stay. Jesus treated it as a reason to leave.
But this public attraction to the Lord Jesus was enough ground for not returning. He did not seek the applause of man, but the praise that comes from God. As soon as it came to be published abroad, so to speak, the Lord Jesus withdraws from the scene. If all men sought Him, He must go where it was a question of need, not of honour. So He says, "Let us go on to the next towns, that I may preach there also, for that is why I came out." He always remains the perfect, lowly, dependent servant of God here below.
Another writer reads the same moment as the mark of a Servant who would not trade obedience for applause:
Nature might argue that if everyone is seeking us, this is the time to stay. But that was the very moment when the Lord said, "Let us go into the next town." As the Servant of Jehovah He was not here to win popularity, but to do the will of God.
The miracles had drawn the crowds. The verse names something else as the reason He came.
The Lord's hour of triumph had not yet come, and He knew what was at work in the hearts of the people, while Peter did not. Jesus did not commit Himself to men in Galilee any more than in Jerusalem (John 2:23-25). Not seeking popularity or importance in the eyes of men, He expressed His will to go forward in the service of His Father… Preaching, not miracles, was the chief end of His mission. So we find Him continuing His blessed service throughout the synagogues of Galilee, preaching and casting out demons.
One writer explains how a crowd could get in the way of the souls He came for:
The crowd might instead get in the way of His access to souls. It might misrepresent the grace that was seeking men, to bring them with their personal needs before God. This could best be done in quietness, not in the crowd. The seed of the Word had to be spread far and wide, to find the good ground that would receive it… He passes over the wonders that have attracted the masses, to stress the preaching of the Word as His true object.
One writer quotes a fuller form of the same reply, from an older translation.
But He said to them, I must announce the good news of the kingdom of God to the other cities also. This is why I have been sent forth. The great object of the coming of Christ was to preach God's kingdom. It was bringing God and God's power before men — God's power visiting man in mercy. No healing of diseases or casting out of demons could satisfy the Lord. And when He had attracted attention in any place by His miracles, that was all the more reason for going to another. He did not seek His own fame… For our Lord Jesus, to attract a name was a reason for departure, not for staying.
Some treat gospel preaching as a small thing. One writer answers them.
We are well aware that in some quarters there is a strong tendency to pour cold water on the work of evangelism. There is a sad lack of sympathy with the preacher of the gospel. As a necessary result, there is little active co-operation with him in his work. Further, some speak about gospel preaching in a way that shows little sympathy with the heart of Him who wept over unrepentant sinners. At the very start of His blessed ministry He could say, "The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He has anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor."
- Prayer first. The day's direction came out of the solitary place before dawn. The disciples were anxious about service instead, and did not discern the mind of God as He did.
- Sent, not self-moved. "That is why I came out" points back to a sending. The sending settles where He goes next.
- Word over wonders. The miracles drew crowds, but preaching was the declared object of His mission.
- Wider, not louder. Popularity in one town became the reason to move to the next. The seed of the Word had to go wide, to find good ground.
- Fame refused. He went where there was need, not where there was honour. That is the pattern for every servant of God.