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 6:31

6:31 He said to them, “Come with me privately to an isolated place and rest a while” (for many were coming and going, and there was no time to eat).

Mark 7:4

7:4 And when they come from the marketplace, they do not eat unless they wash. They hold fast to many other traditions: the washing of cups, pots, kettles, and dining couches. ² ) ³ 

Mark 9:1

9:1 And he said to them, “I tell you the truth, ⁴  there are some standing here who will not ⁵  experience ⁶  death before they see the kingdom of God come with power.” ⁷ 

Mark 9:12

9:12 He said to them, “Elijah does indeed come first, and restores all things. And why is it written that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be despised?

Mark 9:25

9:25 Now when Jesus saw that a crowd was quickly gathering, he rebuked ⁸  the unclean spirit, ⁹  saying to it, “Mute and deaf spirit, I command you, come out of him and never enter him again.”

Mark 10:14

10:14 But when Jesus saw this, he was indignant and said to them, “Let the little children come to me and do not try to stop them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. ¹⁰ 

Mark 10:21

10:21 As Jesus looked at him, he felt love for him and said, “You lack one thing. Go, sell whatever you have and give the money ¹¹  to the poor, and you will have treasure ¹²  in heaven. Then come, follow me.”

Mark 10:30

10:30 who will not receive in this age ¹³  a hundred times as much – homes, brothers, sisters, mothers, children, fields, all with persecutions ¹⁴  – and in the age to come, eternal life. ¹⁵ 

Mark 14:41

14:41 He came a third time and said to them, “Are you still sleeping and resting? ¹⁶  Enough of that! ¹⁷  The hour has come. Look, the Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners.

Mark 15:32

15:32 Let the Christ, ¹⁸  the king of Israel, come down from the cross now, that we may see and believe!” Those who were crucified with him also spoke abusively to him. ¹⁹ 

Mark 15:36

15:36 Then someone ran, filled a sponge with sour wine, ²⁰  put it on a stick, ²¹  and gave it to him to drink, saying, “Leave him alone! Let’s see if Elijah will come to take him down!”

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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 Several important witnesses (Ì^45vid א B L Δ 28* pc) lack “and dining couches” (καὶ κλινῶν, kai klinwn), while the majority of mss (A D W Θ Ë^1,13 33 Ï latt) have the reading. Although normally the shorter reading is to be preferred, especially when it is backed by excellent witnesses as in this case, there are some good reasons to consider καὶ κλινῶν as authentic: (1) Although the addition of κλινῶν could be seen as motivated by a general assimilation to the purity regulations in Lev 15 (as some have argued), there are three problems with such a supposition: (a) the word κλίνη (klinh) does not occur in the LXX of Lev 15; (b) nowhere in Lev 15 is the furniture washed or sprinkled; and (c) the context of Lev 15 is about sexual impurity, while the most recent evidence suggests that κλίνη in Mark 7:4, in keeping with the other terms used here, refers to a dining couch (cf. BDAG 549 s.v. κλίνη 2). Thus, it is difficult to see καὶ κλινῶν as a motivated reading. (2) κλίνη, though a relatively rare term in the NT, is in keeping with Markan usage (cf. Mark 4:21; 7:30). (3) The phrase could have been dropped accidentally, at least in some cases, via homoioteleuton. (4) The phrase may have been deliberately expunged by some scribes who thought the imagery of washing a dining couch quite odd. The longer reading, in this case, can thus be argued as the harder reading. On balance, even though a decision is difficult (especially because of the weighty external evidence for the shorter reading), it is preferable to retain καὶ κλινῶν in the text.

³ sn Verses 3-4 represent parenthetical remarks by the author, giving background information.

⁴ tn Grk “Truly (ἀμήν, amhn), I say to you.”

⁵ tn The Greek negative here (οὐ μή, ou mh) is the strongest possible.

⁶ 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).

⁷ 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.

⁸ tn Or “commanded” (often with the implication of a threat, L&N 33.331).

⁹ sn Unclean spirit refers to an evil spirit.

¹⁰ sn The kingdom of God belongs to such as these. Children are a picture of those whose simple trust illustrates what faith is all about. The remark illustrates how everyone is important to God, even those whom others regard as insignificant.

¹¹ tn The words “the money” are not in the Greek text, but are implied. Direct objects were often omitted in Greek when clear from the context.

¹² sn The call for sacrifice comes with a promise of eternal reward: You will have treasure in heaven. Jesus’ call is a test to see how responsive the man is to God’s direction through him. Will he walk the path God’s agent calls him to walk? For a rich person who got it right, see Zacchaeus in Luke 19:1-10.

¹³ tn Grk “this time” (καιρός, kairos), but for stylistic reasons this has been translated “this age” here.

¹⁴ tn Grk “with persecutions.” The “all” has been supplied to clarify that the prepositional phrase belongs not just to the “fields.”

¹⁵ sn Note that Mark (see also Matt 19:29; Luke 10:25, 18:30) portrays eternal life as something one receives in the age to come, unlike John, who emphasizes the possibility of receiving eternal life in the present (John 5:24).

¹⁶ tn Or “Sleep on, and get your rest.” This sentence can be taken either as a question or a sarcastic command.

¹⁷ tc Codex D (with some support with minor variation from W Θ Ë¹³ 565 2542 pc it) reads, “Enough of that! It is the end and the hour has come.” Evidently, this addition highlights Jesus’ assertion that what he had predicted about his own death was now coming true (cf. Luke 22:37). Even though the addition highlights the accuracy of Jesus’ prediction, it should not be regarded as part of the text of Mark, since it receives little support from the rest of the witnesses and because D especially is prone to expand the wording of a text.

¹⁸ tn Or “the Messiah”; both “Christ” (Greek) and “Messiah” (Hebrew and Aramaic) mean “one who has been anointed.”

sn See the note on Christ in 8:29.

¹⁹ sn Mark’s wording suggests that both of the criminals spoke abusively to him. If so, one of them quickly changed his attitude toward Jesus (see Luke 23:40-43).

²⁰ sn Sour wine refers to cheap wine that was called in Latin posca, a cheap vinegar wine diluted heavily with water. It was the drink of slaves and soldiers, and was probably there for the soldiers who had performed the crucifixion.

²¹ tn Grk “a reed.”