Day 115: Mark 1:36–39

Simon and his companions went searching for Him. They found Him and said,“Everyone’s looking for You!” (vv. 36–37).

Ah, here we have an insight into the present state of mind of Jesus’ first followers. Forget what Jesus did in private! They wanted to be seen in public with the popular Jesus! We’re not going to be too hard on them, now, because they were demonstrating a normal part of adolescent Christianity. We’re the same way in our spiritual immaturity. At first we are far more excited about corporate worship than we are private worship.

The terminology of the original language tells us they were tracking Jesus down, almost like a manhunt. The Greek word translated “to look,” is often used in a hostile sense.29 I’m not suggesting they were hostile toward Jesus but that they were quite anxious and maybe even a little put out with Him that He wasn’t where all the people were. We see no indication from the text that they hesitated for a moment of respect or awe when they found Jesus praying. They barreled on the scene with, “Everyone is looking for you!”

I would like to offer a little conjecture that the companions tracking down Jesus may have been Peter, James, and John. Later in His ministry, these three men were chosen by Christ to watch Him on several different occasions in the inner places. Something caused Jesus to single them out, and it wasn’t their spiritual maturity. I think two primary motivations compelled Christ to draw the three into several intimate places:

• The fact that they just didn’t “get it” at times.

• The fact that Jesus knew once they did “get it,” they’d really get it!

In other words, I wonder if Christ might have thought, “So you’re not the boundaries types, are you? Okay, I’ll take you behind some ordinary boundaries, but I’ll hold you responsible for what you learn while you’re there.” Just food for thought.

I have a friend whose little boy thought he was the teacher’s pet because she seated him in class right in front of her desk. He didn’t realize for years that she was motivated by his discipline problems. Why didn’t she just send him to the principal instead of expending so much energy on him? Because she knew the child had a student in him, and she was determined to find it. And she did. We’re going to see Peter, James, and John get their desks moved to the front of the class. Just like children, they might be tempted at times to think the Rabbi moved them there because they were the Teacher’s pets.