‘Now when Jesus saw great crowds about him, he gave commandment to depart to the other side.'
Jesus' ministry had begun with ‘great crowds' (Matthew 4:25) from which He had entered the mountain in order to teach His disciples. But when He had descended from the mountain it was again to be met by ‘great crowds' (Matthew 8:1). Now He determines once more to avoid them (as He had in Matthew 5:1). He considers that they have seen and heard enough to be going on with, and is probably exhausted. But having already learned that the refuge of a mountain had proved not to be sufficient to totally avoid the crowds, He determined this time that He would cross the sea of Galilee in order to avoid them. It is quite probable that Jesus was physically exhausted. His healings were physically draining as ‘power went out of Him' (Mark 5:30), and the continual preaching and attention of the crowds would have added to the strain. That is presumably why He would shortly fall into a deep sleep in a boat in circumstances which were far from congenial. There was a limit to what even His body would take. And this period apart from the great crowds would also give some of the inner group of His disciples time to speak with Him, and would lead to further revelations which were meant for them, before He once more took up His ministry in Galilee. For consideration had to be given to all.
‘He gave commandment to depart to the other side.' This introduces a new subsection, and this indication of His imminent departure is depicted as sparking off moments of decision for two particular men who were possible additions to His growing band. It may well be that neither Jesus nor they knew at this stage how long it would be before they returned to Galilee. Thus this had become a crisis point for all as to whether they would return home, or follow Him.
These two men are probably intended to be seen as two out of a number who would have to make rapid decisions as a result of His departure, for the response to this situation would separate the ‘followers' from the less committed. There would in fact be quite a number of such followers for other boats went with Him (Mark 4:36), but neither Mark nor Matthew tell us what happened to them, for theirs is a selective history. The concentration is on Jesus and His acts, not on the detail.