Mark 2:17

2:17 When Jesus heard this he said to them, “Those who are healthy don’t need a physician, but those who are sick do. ¹  I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”

Mark 4:15

4:15 These are the ones on the path where the word is sown: Whenever they hear, immediately Satan ²  comes and snatches the word ³  that was sown in them.

Mark 4:20

4:20 But ⁴  these are the ones sown on good soil: They hear the word and receive it and bear fruit, one thirty times as much, one sixty, and one a hundred.”

Mark 6:11

6:11 If a place will not welcome you or listen to you, as you go out from there, shake the dust off ⁵  your feet as a testimony against them.”

Mark 6:14

The Death of John the Baptist

6:14 Now ⁶  King Herod ⁷  heard this, for Jesus’ ⁸  name had become known. Some ⁹  were saying, “John the baptizer ¹⁰  has been raised from the dead, and because of this, miraculous powers are at work in him.”

Mark 11:18

11:18 The chief priests and the experts in the law ¹¹  heard it and they considered how they could assassinate ¹²  him, for they feared him, because the whole crowd was amazed by his teaching.

¹ sn Jesus’ point is that he associates with those who are sick because they have the need and will respond to the offer of help. A person who is healthy (or who thinks mistakenly that he is) will not seek treatment.

² sn Interestingly, the synoptic parallels each use a different word for Satan here: Matt 13:19 has “the evil one,” while Luke 8:12 has “the devil.” This illustrates the fluidity of the gospel tradition in often using synonyms at the same point of the parallel tradition.

³ sn The word of Jesus has the potential to save if it germinates in a person’s heart, something the devil is very much against.

³ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “but” to indicate the contrast present in this context.

⁴ sn To shake the dust off represented shaking off the uncleanness from one’s feet; see Luke 10:11; Acts 13:51; 18:6. It was a sign of rejection.

⁵ tn Grk “And.” Here καί (kai) has been translated as “now” to indicate the transition to a new topic.

⁶ sn Herod was technically not a king, but a tetrarch, a ruler with rank and authority lower than a king. A tetrarch ruled only with the approval of the Roman authorities. This was roughly equivalent to being governor of a region. In the NT, Herod, who ruled over Galilee, is called a king (Matt 14:9, Mark 6:14-29), reflecting popular usage rather than an official title.

⁷ tn Grk “his”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

⁸ tn Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started here in the translation.

⁹ tn While Matthew and Luke consistently use the noun βαπτίστης (baptisths, “the Baptist”) to refer to John, as a kind of a title, Mark prefers the substantival participle ὁ βαπτίζων (Jo baptizwn, “the one who baptizes, the baptizer”) to describe him (only twice does he use the noun [Mark 6:25; 8:28]).

⁶ tn Or “The chief priests and the scribes.” See the note on the phrase “experts in the law” in 1:22.

⁷ tn Grk “how they could destroy him.”