‘And at evening, when the sun set, they brought to him all who were sick, and those who were possessed with devils, and all the town was gathered together at the door. And he healed many who were sick with all kinds of diseases, and cast out many devils, and he did not allow the devils to speak because they knew him.'
This was now the reaction to what was done in the Synagogue. As soon as the Sabbath was over at sunset (the Jewish day began in the evening) the whole town came to the house bringing both sick and demon-possessed people. We should note that the latter are distinguished from each the former. Sickness and demon possession are not directly connected. Note how the incident emphasises the Jewish background. Many wanted to be healed, but until the Sabbath had passed they could not come for healing, for they knew that that would have been looked on by the Pharisees as ‘work'. Thus the people wait for the Sabbath to end before they sprang into action.
We should picture the small fisherman's house with the large crowds gathered around, bringing with them the sick and needy. Jesus' reputation was growing. And Jesus healed ‘many' of them, (that is many of the crowd not many of the sick. He healed all the sick - compare Matthew 4:24; Luke 4:40; Luke 6:19) and cast out many evil spirits. In this way was His power revealed in this small town, and this helps to explain why later He is so scathing of their unbelief (Matthew 11:23). And that was the tragedy. They came to Him only as a physician of the body and not to receive the greater truth. But Jesus considered that it was the acceptance of that truth that was His prime mission (compare chapter 4).
What then was His purpose in so healing when He had really come to proclaim the Kingly Rule of God? The question need hardly be asked. How could One Who was so compassionate fail to respond to the need and faith of the people (compare Mark 8:2)? Indeed He never refused anyone who came to Him in faith. Any shortage of miracles was because unbelieving people did not bring their sick (Mark 6:5). And not only were the sick healed, evil spirits were also cast out. The power of Jesus was seen to be greater than that of the unseen world.
We must not think of His miracles as something done to convince people of Who He was. He had in fact no confidence in those who believed because He performed miracles (John 2:23-25). He rather performed them in response to faith. Yet what they did do was reveal the truth about Him. They not only revealed His compassion, for healing was exhausting work as power went out of Him (Mark 5:30), but they also revealed that He was from God, for no one could do such things unless God be with Him (John 3:2; Matthew 11:4-5). For as Jesus Himself pointed out later, His ability to cast out evil spirits with a word demonstrated that the Spirit of God was at work through Him, and that the Kingly Rule of God was come (Matthew 12:28; Luke 11:20). Meanwhile the miracles revealed Him to be a Spirit anointed prophet (Luke 4:18-21), and he cited them as a witness to John the Baptiser languishing in prison in order to restore his faith (Matthew 11:2-6).
It should also be noted that while Jesus did not relate disease to evil spirits, He did sometimes relate it to the activity of Satan (Luke 13:16), although there He may only be referring to Satan's activity indirectly, that is, He might have been saying that sickness is in the world because of sin, and that sin was caused by the activity of Satan. Or that may have been a special case in that possession can result in apparent sickness. Either way Satan was being defeated. So His casting out of evil spirits was a light to faith.
But He can later point out that others also heal and cast out evil spirits, (although, it should be noted, not as comprehensively as He did). For the fact is that some do have strange and unaccountable healing powers which they can exercise to a certain extent, and the efforts of some exorcists were certainly well known (Matthew 7:22; Matthew 12:27; Luke 11:19). But their methods were very different from His as the crowds recognised. He alone could heal by a word. And even though He said that false Messiahs would also arise who would seemingly perform signs and wonders (Mark 13:22), they would not, and could not, heal all who came to them. So while what He does should certainly be seen as revealing God at work through Him (‘My Father works up to now, and I work' - John 5:17), He does not point to it as conclusive proof of Who He is, and even specifically silences the evil spirits who would have testified to it. He does not want men to follow Him as a wonder-worker. He wants them to heed His message.
‘And He did not allow the devils to speak because they knew Him.' At no stage would He allow devils to testify to Him. He did not want to be associated with them in any way. He wanted awareness of Who He was to sink home in men's hearts from the overall picture He presented, and especially through His teachings, not because of some spectacular statements made by devils which could cause a sensation and easily later be forgotten, and might even be seen as aligning Him with them. Indeed He knew that these could by their acknowledgement of Him prevent the deeper work from taking place. He did not want admiration through the spectacular, but obedience to the Kingly Rule of God based on a true response to His words. So He told the evil spirits to be quiet, and they obeyed Him. A further revelation of His authority.
‘Because they knew Him.' Mark leaves this unexplained until Mark 3:11, unless we refer it back to Mark 1:24. He wants his readers to be asking the right questions.