In any case, he was sidetracked. Instead of getting out of sight for the prescribed period of inspection, separation, and instruction, he became a flaming evangelist.
The Lord, however, always knows best. This man needed the wonderful teaching inherent in the ritual for the cleansing of the leper. Had he obeyed the Lord, he would have been a wiser man when it was over. As it was, however, the Lord's work was hindered. Such crowds resulted that the Lord Himself could not get into the city, and a "revival" without the Lord was not going to last very long. We would be pleased with such enthusiastic crowds today. We would congratulate ourselves on our success. But the Lord was hindered, and He was not in all of this superficial excitement.
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He was hindered but not halted! He retired to "desert places." The people now had to seek Him on His terms. And so they did. They came to Him from all over. And there in the calm stillness of the wilderness, He carried on His work.
In Mark's account, it did not take long for opposition to the Lord to begin to surface. His critics soon found fault with His method (2:1-12), His men (2:1328), and His ministry (3:1-6).
Mark 2 begins with the Lord back "in the house," presumably Peter's house. At once the house was mobbed by people, eager to hear the Lord's teaching and hoping, no doubt, to see some more miracles. Peter's house had never been so popular! The crowds filled his living room, jammed the doorway, spilled over into his yard, and thronged the street so that only with the greatest difficulty could anyone move.
And hemmed in by this heaving mass of people was Jesus. Not much can be done with a mob, even a friendly one, but Jesus took advantage of the presence of the crowd to preach. "He preached the word unto them" (2:2). Peter doesn't seem to remember what He preached — at least Mark doesn't tell us. Perhaps He told them a story from their Old Testament Scriptures. Perhaps He told about Moses and his multitudes, or about Elijah and his multitudes on Mt. Carmel. Or maybe He borrowed the language of the prophet and talked about those multiplied multitudes "in the valley of decision" (Joel 3:14). In any case, we can be sure that He looked with compassion on those multitudes and saw them "as sheep not having a shepherd" (Mark 6:34) and loved them and taught them the Word of God from a full heart.
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Adapted from Exploring the Gospel of Mark: An Expository Commentary by John Phillips. Used by permission of Kregel Publications. The John Phillips Commentary Series from Kregel is available at your local or online Christian bookseller, or contact Kregel at (800) 733-2607.
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John Phillips is a popular preacher and Bible study leader who now resides in Bowling Green, KY.