5TH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME (B)

Jesus approached, grasped her hand, and helped her up. Then the fever left her and she waited on them. 

Mk 1:29-39 

 

v. 31. He approached, grasped her hand, and helped her up. Then the fever left her and she waited on them.

Once again the story gives the general impression of a cure performed effortlessly without the need for any magic or special technique. But just as in the last incident the words used were current terms in con- temporary exorcism, so here the action is that recorded in the case of various healings by rabbis in the Talmudic literature. The phrase' lift up' (egeirein) seems indeed to have been the conventional Talmudic expression meaning to 'cure' or 'heal'. The phrase ‘the fever left her’ is likewise known from contemporary narratives of healings. 

She served them: 

i.e. presumably at table. The words show both the completeness of the cure and also its miraculous speed.  St Jerome comments: “The human constitution is such that after fever our bodies are rather tired, but when the Lord bestows health, restoration is immediate and complete.”

v. 32. When it was evening, after sunset, they brought to him all who were ill or possessed by demons.

The sabbath ended in the evening, at sundown, and the note of time is duplicated (contrast the parallels in Matthew and Luke) to emphasize that Jesus did not exercise his power until the sabbath was quite over and it was lawful to ‘bring' (lit. 'carry') the sufferers through the street.

vv.32- 34.

Here as in v. 5 we have hyperbole ('all', 'the whole city') and once again the intention is symbolic—to convey the universal scope and efficacy of the Messiah's activity. St Mark will have intended no distinction between ‘all' in v. 32 and ‘many' in v. 34, especially as the word for ‘many' in Hebrew and Aramaic did not have the exclusive sense ('a large number but not all') it bears in English.

v. 34. He cured many who were sick with various diseases, and he drove out many demons, not permitting them to speak because they knew him.

And he would not permit the demons to speak: 

By refusing to let the demons say who he was, Jesus deliberately makes it harder for people to deduce his identity from his works. Some MSS read ‘because they knew that he was the Messiah'. Though not the original reading, that is certainly a correct interpretation of St Mark's meaning. Once again the reader has his own belief confirmed by the supernatural insight of the evil powers.

v. 35. Rising very early before dawn, he left and went off to a deserted place, where he prayed.

Rising very early before dawn: 

Prayer in the early morning was a pious habit among the Jews (Pss 5:3, 88:13, 119:147). It is just possible however that the reference to prayer here is a later addition. Luke 4:42 omits it, and since it is specially characteristic of him to include references to Jesus at prayer, some commentators take his silence to mean that the statement was not included in the version of Mark known to him.

v. 37. And on finding him said, “Everyone is looking for you.”

They presumably expect Jesus to return to Capernaum. The Greek word for “is searching” (zetousin) is used in nine other places in Mark and always in a derogatory sense. It refers either to actual persecution or to seeking Jesus in a wrong and unacceptable way (cf. especially 3:32 and 16:6).

v. 38. He told them, “Let us go on to the nearby villages that I may preach there also. For this purpose have I come.”

Villages/towns: 

Greek “komopoeos” - strictly small towns with only the status of villages, but here generally of the small market towns in the neighborhood. 

For this purpose have I come: 

Possibly just referring back to v. 35 but more probably as Luke thought (Luke 4:43) meaning 'I came forth from heaven to earth', 'I was sent into the world'.

Further commentary on vv. 35-39.

Early on the morning after his experience with the crowds, Jesus seeks a quiet place to be alone and perhaps to pray. The reference to his prayer may be meant simply to remind us that he and the power he wields are entirely dependent on, and subordinate to, the will of God. But both the other occasions in the Gospel when Jesus prays are times of great stress, and it may be that this too is seen as a point of crisis and stress, for the only results of the ministry so far have been excitement and amazement on the part of the crowds and the thronging of invalids in the evening at the door of Peter's house. Neither of them results in accordance with Our Lord's purpose. 

Peter and his companions do not help, for instead of leaving Jesus in peace, they track him down (the Greek word katadiokein usually implies 'hostile following', 'persecuting') to give him what they regard as the good news that everyone is looking for him. But to be 'searched for' (Greek 'sought') in this way as a wonder-worker is not the 'following' Jesus has been sent into the world to attract. So he decides to go elsewhere in order to proclaim the inbreaking of the kingdom both by word and deed. 

The true significance of all the words and mighty works of Jesus is that they ‘proclaim' (literal meaning of the Greek in v. 38) and usher in the kingdom. Any response to them, however favorable, which does not recognize that as the essential truth about them is unacceptable, even if it comes from professed followers such as Simon and those who were with him - a noteworthy phrase by which they are pointedly denied the title' disciples'. Theirs is not the attitude of true disciples. They come simply as representatives of the crowd, wholly identified with its worldly attitude and interests.