Mark 2:17-19

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.”

The Superiority of the New

2:18 Now ²  John’s ³  disciples and the Pharisees ⁴  were fasting. ⁵  So ⁶  they came to Jesus ⁷  and said, “Why do the disciples of John and the disciples of the Pharisees fast, but your disciples don’t fast?” 2:19 Jesus ⁸  said to them, “The wedding guests ⁹  cannot fast while the bridegroom ¹⁰  is with them, can they? ¹¹  As long as they have the bridegroom with them they do not fast.

Mark 3:27

3:27 But no one is able to enter a strong man’s ¹²  house and steal his property unless he first ties up the strong man. Then he can thoroughly plunder his house. ¹³ 

Mark 4:38

4:38 But ¹⁴  he was in the stern, sleeping on a cushion. They woke him up and said to him, “Teacher, don’t you care that we are about to die?”

Mark 7:5

7:5 The Pharisees and the experts in the law asked him, “Why do your disciples not live according to the tradition of the elders, but eat ¹⁵  with unwashed hands?”

Mark 8:33

8:33 But after turning and looking at his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, “Get behind me, Satan. You are not setting your mind on God’s interests, but on man’s.” ¹⁶ 

Mark 9:1

9:1 And he said to them, “I tell you the truth, ¹⁷  there are some standing here who will not ¹⁸  experience ¹⁹  death before they see the kingdom of God come with power.” ²⁰ 

Mark 11:17

11:17 Then he began to teach ²¹  them and said, “Is it not written: ‘My house will be called a house of prayer for all nations’? ²²  But you have turned it into a den ²³  of robbers!” ²⁴ 

Mark 12:34

12:34 When Jesus saw that he had answered thoughtfully, he said to him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.” Then no one dared any longer to question him.

Mark 13:11

13:11 When they arrest you and hand you over for trial, do not worry about what to speak. But say whatever is given you at that time, ²⁵  for it is not you speaking, but the Holy Spirit.

Mark 13:14

The Abomination of Desolation

13:14 “But when you see the abomination of desolation ²⁶  standing where it should not be (let the reader understand), then those in Judea must flee ²⁷  to the mountains.

Mark 14:21

14:21 For the Son of Man will go as it is written about him, but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed! It would be better for him if he had never been born.”

Mark 14:25

14:25 I tell you the truth, ²⁸  I will no longer drink of the fruit ²⁹  of the vine until that day when I drink it new in the kingdom of God.”

[2:17]  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.

[2:18]  ² tn Grk “And.” Here καί (kai) has been translated as “now” to indicate the transition to a new topic.

[2:18]  ³ sn John refers to John the Baptist.

[2:18]  ⁴ sn See the note on Pharisees in 2:16.

[2:18]  ⁵ sn John’s disciples and the Pharisees followed typical practices with regard to fasting and prayer. Many Jews fasted regularly (Lev 16:29-34; 23:26-32; Num 29:7-11). The zealous fasted twice a week on Monday and Thursday.

[2:18]  ⁶ tn Grk “And.” Here καί (kai) has been translated as “So” to indicate that in the narrative this question happened as a result of the fasting of John’s disciples and the Pharisees.

[2:18]  ⁷ tn Grk “him”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[2:19]  ³ tn Grk “And Jesus.”

[2:19]  ⁴ tn Grk “sons of the wedding hall,” an idiom referring to wedding guests, or more specifically, friends of the bridegroom present at the wedding celebration (L&N 11.7).

[2:19]  ⁵ sn The expression while the bridegroom is with them is an allusion to messianic times (John 3:29; Isa 54:5-6; 62:4-5; 4 Ezra 2:15, 38).

[2:19]  ⁶ tn Questions prefaced with μή (mh) in Greek anticipate a negative answer. This can sometimes be indicated by using a “tag” at the end in English (here the tag is “can they?”).

[3:27]  ⁴ sn The strong man here pictures Satan.

[3:27]  ⁵ sn Some see the imagery here as similar to Eph 4:7-10, although no opponents are explicitly named in that passage. Jesus has the victory over Satan. Jesus’ acts of healing mean that the war is being won and the kingdom is coming.

[4:38]  ⁵ tn Grk “And.” Here καί (kai) has been translated as “but” to indicate the contrast present in this context.

[7:5]  ⁶ tn Grk “eat bread.”

[8:33]  ⁷ tn Grk “people’s.”

[9:1]  ⁸ tn Grk “Truly (ἀμήν, amhn), I say to you.”

[9:1]  ⁹ tn The Greek negative here (οὐ μή, ou mh) is the strongest possible.

[9:1]  ¹⁰ tn Grk “will not taste.” Here the Greek verb does not mean “sample a small amount” (as a typical English reader might infer from the word “taste”), but “experience something cognitively or emotionally; come to know something” (cf. BDAG 195 s.v. γεύομαι 2).

[9:1]  ¹¹ sn Several suggestions have been made as to the referent for the phrase the kingdom of God come with power: (1) the transfiguration itself, which immediately follows in the narrative; (2) Jesus’ resurrection and ascension; (3) the coming of the Spirit; (4) Jesus’ second coming and the establishment of the kingdom. The reference to after six days in 9:2 seems to indicate that Mark had the transfiguration in mind insofar as it was a substantial prefiguring of the consummation of the kingdom (although this interpretation is not without its problems). As such, the transfiguration was a tremendous confirmation to the disciples that even though Jesus had just finished speaking of his death (8:31; 9:31; 10:33), he was nonetheless the promised Messiah and things were proceeding according to God’s plan.

[11:17]  ⁹ tn The imperfect ἐδίδασκεν (edidasken) is here taken ingressively.

[11:17]  ¹⁰ sn A quotation from Isa 56:7.

[11:17]  ¹¹ tn Or “a hideout” (see L&N 1.57).

[11:17]  ¹² sn A quotation from Jer 7:11. The meaning of Jesus’ statement about making the temple courts a den of robbers probably operates here at two levels. Not only were the religious leaders robbing the people financially, but because of this they had also robbed them spiritually by stealing from them the opportunity to come to know God genuinely. It is possible that these merchants had recently been moved to this location for convenience.

[13:11]  ¹⁰ tn Grk “in that hour.”

[13:14]  ¹¹ sn The reference to the abomination of desolation is an allusion to Dan 9:27. Though some have seen the fulfillment of Daniel’s prophecy in the actions of Antiochus IV (or a representative of his) in 167 b.c., the words of Jesus seem to indicate that Antiochus was not the final fulfillment, but that there was (from Jesus’ perspective) still another fulfillment yet to come. Some argue that this was realized in a.d. 70, while others claim that it refers specifically to Antichrist and will not be fully realized until the period of the great tribulation at the end of the age (cf. Mark 13:19, 24; Matt 24:21; Rev 3:10).

[13:14]  ¹² sn Fleeing to the mountains is a key OT image: Gen 19:17; Judg 6:2; Isa 15:5; Jer 16:16; Zech 14:5.

[14:25]  ¹² tn Grk “Truly (ἀμήν, amhn), I say to you.”

[14:25]  ¹³ tn Grk “the produce” (“the produce of the vine” is a figurative expression for wine).