Mark 1:38 — Community Reflections

MARK 1:38 — KING JAMES VERSION 0

“And he said unto them, Let us go into the next towns, that I may preach there also: for therefore came I forth.”

Jesus replied, let us go somewhere else — to the nearby villages — so I can preach there also. That is why I have come — the refusal to return to Capernaum on the crowd's terms is the first major statement of Jesus' own mission understanding. The reason for moving on is not the Capernaum crowd's failure but the proclamation's inherent expansiveness: the other villages also need to hear. That is why I have come is the mission statement: Jesus has come to proclaim throughout Galilee, not to establish a single successful location. The pre-dawn prayer of verse 35 provides the context: the direction for the next phase came from the Father in the solitude, not from the crowd's enthusiasm.

Church Fathers on Mark 1:38

After that the Lord had cured the sick, He retired apart.
Theophylact · 11th century

But by this preaching, which, he says, 'He continued in all Galilee,' is also meant the sermon of the Lord delivered on the mount, which Matthew mentions, and Mark has entirely passed over, without giving any thing like it, save that he has repeated some sentences not in continuous order, but in scattered places, spoken by the Lord at other times.
Augustine · 4th century · de Con. Evan., ii, 19

Again, mystically if by the setting of the sun, the death of the Saviour is intended, why should not His resurrection be intended by the returning dawn? For by its clear light, He went far into the wilderness of the Gentiles, and there continued praying in the person of His faithful disciples, for He aroused their hearts by the grace of the Holy Spirit to the virtue of prayer.
Bede · 8th century

Read all 6 entries in the readerCatena Aurea · St. Thomas Aquinas, tr. J. H. Newman · public domain

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