Mark 3:8, commentary and pictures

The gathering Mark describes took place by the sea, by the Sea of Galilee, early in the morning after He had spent the night in prayer and ordained and set apart the twelve apostles, just before He went back up the mountainside to give the Sermon on the Mount. Besides the usual crowds from the Galilean towns and cities and villages, the multitude included people from Judea and from Jerusalem itself, from Perea which is beyond Jordan, from Decapolis with its half-heathen population, from Idumea far to the south of Judea, from Tyre and Sidon, the Phoenician cities on the shore of the Mediterranean, and from the adjoining provinces, showing distant and diverse regions. His going to Galilee was not seeking seclusion or isolation, for Galilee had a crowded population with a much larger admixture of other nations than Judea, and though despised by the rabbis at Jerusalem as rude and unlearned, its people were more earnest and sincere, less under the control of bigotry, and more open in mind to receive truth, making it a more favorable field for His work.

The enthusiasm as He traveled through Galilee teaching and healing ran so high that He was often obliged to hide Himself lest the Roman authorities be aroused to fear an insurrection, and it was a period such as the world had never seen, when heaven was brought down to men and hungering and thirsting souls that had long waited for the redemption of Israel feasted upon the grace of a merciful Saviour. They came because when they had heard what great things He did, including news of His Sabbath healing spreading through the region, reports of His mighty works drew them from far beyond Galilee to hear Him and to be healed of diseases, with many bringing the sick and demon-possessed and seeking relief from sickness. He taught and healed the crowds, and virtue or power went out of Him and healed them all, with the touch of faith bringing healing and joy to those who came near in faith, comforting the sorrowing, and with demons acknowledging Him as the Son of God, even preaching from a boat when the crowds grew so large.

Because the narrow beach did not afford even standing-room within reach of His voice for all who desired to hear, Jesus led the way to a level space on the mountainside where He seated Himself on the grass with the disciples and the multitude around Him to teach. Though the Sermon on the Mount was given especially to the disciples, it was spoken in the hearing of this multitude, showing that He seldom gathered His disciples alone and did not choose for His audience only those who knew the way of life, but made it His work to reach the multitudes in ignorance and error and gave His lessons of truth where they could reach the darkened understanding.