Jesus and the four go to
Capernaum, which Mark presents as Jesus's center of activity, and Jesus teaches in the
synagogue on the
sabbath. Eventually, at
Mark 9:5, in recording the
Transfiguration of Jesus, Mark uses the technical term , '''', "
rabbi", meaning a Jewish teacher of
Mosaic Law (see also
Rabboni). Gathering disciples (students) and teaching are thus the first part of what Jesus does to proclaim the kingdom of God. Mark does not relate what Jesus taught, which could mean he left it out because he did not deem it important enough for his book or because he did not know what Jesus taught there. Some
archaeologists believe a synagogue in Capernaum that has been excavated lies on top of the synagogue that existed at this time that would have been the one Jesus would have gone to. Anyone who showed a sufficient knowledge of the scriptures could preach in the synagogue. Mark says the people thought Jesus taught with "
authority", which the
scribes did not. The scribes would answer questions in a traditional, official manner, see also
Pharisaic Principles and Values. Jesus in Mark operates on no authority but his own judgement. According to Jesus attended the
Marriage at Cana before going to Capernaum. He then
performs an exorcism on a
demon possessed man. Curing people, especially possessed people, will be another major method Jesus uses in his
mission in Mark. The demon recognizes Jesus as "the
Holy one of God", the first time Jesus' supernatural opponents are shown to know his true identity. Jesus simply says "Be quiet, and come out of him!", healing the man with words alone. The people are amazed. This follows a path Mark often uses, that of a description of the affliction, Jesus' cure of the affliction, and then a demonstration of the cure to others. The power of Jesus' word over the demon might be Mark's way of trying to show to his audience, perhaps under the threat of
persecution, that Jesus' message will overcome
evil. By showing Jesus' teaching first before his exorcism Mark might be placing emphasis on
Jesus' teachings as more important that any
miracle he could perform. There were several people who were claimed to have the ability to perform exorcisms in the ancient world and many ancient opponents of Christianity dismissed Jesus as just another
magician. Most descriptions of exorcisms at the time tended to involve the exorcist tricking the spirit or demon into leaving the victim by convincing them the exorcist had more power than the being, not a method Jesus employs. Parallels in
Hellenistic cultural stories of exorcisms differ in that they usually involve an associated
disease, which is not the case here.
John P. Meier sees a clear distinction between these incidents and descriptions of magicians at the time. , historical Judea They go to Peter and Andrew's house and
Jesus cures Peter's sick mother-in-law. The house was presumably near the synagogue. She then gets up and helps Jesus and his companions. Attending to her guests would have been her social duty in the Jewish culture. Mark uses the term '''', "to lift up", to describe Jesus' cure of her, followed by '''', "she served", which some have seen as a theological message about Jesus' power requiring service. Karris argues for this event's historicity, perhaps based on an eyewitness. A story about Peter's mother-in-law might have survived due to the popularity of Peter among early Christians. Peter is clearly listed here as having a wife, as Jesus healed his mother-in-law.
Paul says that other
Apostles, Cephas (Peter), and
Jesus' brothers have wives, but not him, in . See also
Clerical celibacy. It is now night. Mark says "That evening after
sunset …", one of his examples of redundancy as evening and after sunset are really the same thing repeated. Neither Luke and Matthew retain this redundancy. By this time word has spread and the people have brought the sick and possessed for Jesus to heal, which he does. Mark says the "whole city" came to see Jesus, which is probably an exaggeration. Both Luke and Matthew just state there were many people. The demons leaving the possessed people are not allowed to tell people who Jesus is, a common theme of Mark called the
Messianic Secret. Jesus is able to cure every affliction of the people who come to see him. He then leaves town very early in the morning for solitary
prayer. Mark says πρωι εννυχον λιαν (
prōi ennycha lian, "very early, it being yet night", a complicated description of time employing three
adverbs). His disciples find him and tell him that everyone is looking for him. He says "Let us go somewhere else", to the nearby villages and he will preach to them there also. He says "That is why I have come", using the word εξηλθον (''
), with its ex''- prefix focusing on the place from which he has come, which some see as meaning a statement about Jesus' divine mandate or possibly a rejection of Capernaum: there is no general agreement on these points. He then travels over all of Galilee, preaching and healing. He
cures a leper who comes to him asking for a cure and tells him to show the
priests and offer the cleaning sacrifices
Moses had commanded (), but not to tell people that Jesus had done it. Jesus here seems to stress the importance of the
Mosaic law, see also
Expounding of the Law. This episode is also recorded in the
Egerton Gospel 2:1–4. People have seen Jesus telling the man to be quiet about what had happened as related to the Messianic Secret, although it could be Jesus just telling the man to immediately go to the priests. Leprosy could mean many skin diseases, such as
favus or
psoriasis. Mark says Jesus had "compassion" for the man, although a few manuscripts (the
Codex Bezae and three others in
old Latin) say he was angry, and some have argued that angry was the original word intentionally changed to make Jesus look less angry, as he is described as giving a "stern", '''', warning to the man in verse 43. Mark however also shows Jesus' anger in many other places, such as and the
incident at the Temple, see also Expounding of the Law#Anger.
Bruce Metzger's
Textual Commentary on the Greek NT postulates a possible "confusion" between similar words in
Aramaic (compare
Syriac ethraham, "he had pity", with ethra'em, "he was enraged")". See also
Aramaic primacy. Perhaps more likely, H. A. G. Houghton from the
University of Birmingham speculated in "
The Latin New Testament: A Guide to its Early History, Texts, and Manuscripts" that the mistake stemmed from a copyist misreading of the Latin word "miseratus", which means "pity", as "iratus", which means "anger". The man then seems to disobey and spreads the news, increasing Jesus' popularity even more. Whether or not he ever made it to the priests Mark does not say. This is the first of many times in Mark that Jesus unsuccessfully tries to conceal his workings by telling people to keep what he has done a secret. Karris argues that one could also read it as Jesus "spreading the news", not the man. ==Verse 45==