Scripture Reading: Mark 4:35-5:20
There were marked days in the life of Jesus — days in which He did special things or said special words, days that were made bright and memorable by unusual manifestations of grace and love. “That day” — the day at the ending of which our passage belongs, was one of the great days of our Lord’s ministry. It was a day of teaching by parables, a form of His teaching now introduced for the first time. Nothing in nature or in common daily life was left unused by the great Teacher. The light, the darkness, the plays of children, leather bottles, foxes and birds, patched and new garments and even the homely barnyard hen furnished illustrations for His teachings. Thus He brought the great heavenly lessons down into the everyday lives of the plain, common people.
At the close of this busy day Jesus said to His disciples, “Let us Passover unto the other side.” Probably His object was to get quickly and quietly away from the crowd, that He might obtain rest. The people gave Him no opportunity for rest while He was within their reach. They pressed upon Him ever in rude and unmannerly ways, so that He could not get leisure even to eat, and scarcely was permitted to sleep. That he was very weary that evening is evident from what follows in the narrative. It is said that the disciples took Him with them even “as He was in the boat”; that is, they left at once in the same boat in which He had been teaching, not waiting for any preparations. The object, probably, was to get away unobserved, that none of the throng might see Him departing and follow Him.
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