Jesus withdrew toward the sea with his disciples. A large number of people [followed] from Galilee and from Judea. 8 Hearing what he was doing, a large number of people came to him also from Jerusalem, from Idumea, from beyond the Jordan, and from the neighborhood of Tyre and Sidon. 9 He told his disciples to have a boat ready for him because of the crowd, so that they would not crush him. 10 He had cured many and, as a result, those who had diseases were pressing upon him to touch him. 11 And whenever unclean spirits saw him they would fall down before him and shout, “You are the Son of God.” 12 He warned them sternly not to make him known.
People were drawn to Jesus by the power of his teaching and his miracles. Large crowds from Galilee, throughout Palestine and beyond, followed him with the hope of being healed. It was crowds such as these that Jesus addressed in the Sermon on the Mount (Mt. 5:1-2). To avoid being crushed as those with diseases tried to touch him to be miraculously cured, Jesus ministered from a boat moored near the shore. Some in the crowd had unclean spirits that recognized Jesus as the “Son of God” (Mk. 1:24), but he ordered them not to reveal his true identity (Mk. 1:34).
By casting out the unclean spirits Jesus showed that the Kingdom of God had come (Lk. 11:20) and that he was mightier than Satan (Mk. 3:27). Some self-righteous and hypocritical religious leaders, particularly the Pharisees and scribes, were too spiritually blind and their hearts too hardened to recognize the divinity of Jesus by his works even though the works could only have been performed by the power of God.
Almighty God, it is through your Son Jesus Christ that we can enter the door to salvation with the sure and certain hope of eternal life. We pray that your sanctifying grace will fill our hearts with the fire of your divine love and enlighten our minds with your truth. This we pray through Christ our Lord. Amen!
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References
Chiu, José Enrique Aguilar, et al. The Paulist Biblical Commentary. Paulist Press, 2018.
Brown, Raymond Edward, et al. The New Jerome Biblical Commentary. Upper Saddle River, NJ, United States, Prentice Hall, 1990.
Chiu, José Enrique Aguilar, et al. The Paulist Biblical Commentary. Paulist Press, 2018.
Brown, Raymond Edward, et al. The New Jerome Biblical Commentary. Upper Saddle River, NJ, United States, Prentice Hall, 1990.
Orchard, Bernard, et al. A Catholic Commentary on Holy Scripture. Feb. 1953.
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