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 6:3

6:3 Isn’t this the carpenter, the son 2  of Mary 3  and brother of James, Joses, Judas, and Simon? And aren’t his sisters here with us?” And so they took offense at him.

Mark 13:19

13:19 For in those days there will be suffering 4  unlike anything that has happened 5  from the beginning of the creation that God created until now, or ever will happen.

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 tc Evidently because of the possible offensiveness of designating Jesus a carpenter, several mss ([Ì45vid] Ë13 33vid [565 579] 700 [2542] pc it vgmss) harmonize the words “carpenter, the son” to the parallel passage in Matt 13:55, “the son of the carpenter.” Almost all the rest of the mss read “the carpenter, the son.” Since the explicit designation of Jesus as a carpenter is the more difficult reading, and is much better attested, it is most likely correct.

3 sn The reference to Jesus as the carpenter is probably derogatory, indicating that they knew Jesus only as a common laborer like themselves. The reference to him as the son of Mary (even though Jesus’ father was probably dead by this point) appears to be somewhat derogatory, for a man was not regarded as his mother’s son in Jewish usage unless an insult was intended (cf. Judg 11:1-2; John 6:42; 8:41; 9:29).

3 tn Traditionally, “tribulation.”

4 sn Suffering unlike anything that has happened. Some refer this event to the destruction of Jerusalem in a.d. 70. While the events of a.d. 70 may reflect somewhat the comments Jesus makes here, the reference to the scope and severity of this judgment strongly suggest that much more is in view. Most likely Jesus is referring to the great end-time judgment on Jerusalem in the great tribulation.