“And from Jerusalem, and from Idumea, and from beyond Jordan; and they about Tyre and Sidon, a great multitude, when they had heard what great things he did, came unto him.”
When they heard about all he was doing, people came to him from Judea, Jerusalem, Idumea, and the regions across the Jordan and around Tyre and Sidon — the geographic list in verses 7–8 is among the most comprehensive in the Gospels, covering the entire territory associated with the Davidic kingdom and its surrounding regions. Idumea (Edom) and Tyre and Sidon are Gentile territories; the crowd from these regions anticipates the Gentile mission that will develop later. The reason for the crowd's coming is straightforward: they had heard about all he was doing. Reputation precedes Jesus; the miracles draw people before the teaching. The challenge will be whether the drawn crowds understand what they are coming to.
Church Fathers on Mark 3:8
The Pharisees, thinking it a crime that at the word of the Lord the hand which was diseased was restored to a sound state, agreed to make a pretext of the words spoken by our Saviour.
But the soldiers of Herod the king are called Herodians, because a certain new heresy had sprung up, which asserted that Herod was the Christ. For the prophecy of Jacob intimated that when the princes of Judah failed then Christ should come; because therefore in the time of Herod none of the Jewish princes remained, and he, an alien, was the sole ruler, some thought that he was the Christ, and set on foot this heresy. These, therefore, were with the Pharisees trying to kill…
Read all 8 entries in the readerCatena Aurea · St. Thomas Aquinas, tr. J. H. Newman · public domain
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