7 Jesus withdrew to the sea with His disciples; and a large multitude from Galilee followed, and also from Judea, 8 and from Jerusalem, and from Idumea, and beyond the Jordan, and the vicinity of Tyre and Sidon, a great number of people heard about everything that He was doing and came to Him.
In Mark 3, verses 7-12, Mark gives a summary of the impact of Jesus’ early ministry in Galilee. After the encounter with the Pharisees, Jesus withdraws to the seashore area in Galilee, presumably a little away from the small cities, where the Pharisees could be expected to be. But, instead of getting away from the crowds, a large multitude of people from Galilee, and even from the South in Judea from the East, beyond the Jordan, and from the North from Tyre and Sidon were following Him around, wherever He went. It shows that Jesus was popular with the people at this point, because He was healing their sick, and casting out demons from their friends and relatives. They were excited because of the miracles that Jesus was doing, but most of them didn’t understand, or have much interest in the Kingdom of God. The crowds were enthusiastic for the miracles, all that Jesus was doing, but not as interested in Jesus’ message of “Repent, for the Kingdom of God is at Hand”. They were there for what Jesus could do for them, not for changing their hearts to become who God was asking them to be. People were coming from far and wide to see Jesus, but then they would not listen to His message; just wanting to see, or experience miracles
9 And He told His disciples to see that a boat would be ready for Him because of the masses, so that they would not crowd Him;
Crowd pressure, and the danger that it represented, both to the crowd, and Jesus and His disciples has been mentioned already (Mark 1:45; 2:2–4). Mark specifically points out that the boat used was a little boat, and likely refers to the small fishing boats owned by the disciples, and other fishermen around the Sea of Galilee. This is not only a great way to teach a lot of people gathered by the sea-shore, since there were several hillsides facing the sea whose coves formed natural amphitheaters, but also gave him a little bit of a break from the multitudes crowding Him everywhere that He went. Although up to this point the disciples have been mentioned as following Jesus, this is one of the first examples in the Gospels of them doing real ministry to serve Jesus—one of their first assignments, as it were.
10 for He had healed many, with the result that all those who had diseases pushed in around Him in order to touch Him.
Since Jesus had healed many people, many people with diseases, and those who were brought with diseases by their friends to Jesus, as the paralytic was, were now pushing in to even touch Jesus in the hopes that they would be healed. There was a popular hope that by merely touching Jesus they will be cured. We’re going to see a concrete example of this in Mark 5:25-34 25 A woman who had had a hemorrhage for twelve years, 26 and had endured much at the hands of many physicians, and had spent all that she had and was not helped at all, but instead had become worse— 27 after hearing about Jesus, she came up in the crowd behind Him and touched His cloak. 28 For she had been saying to herself, “If I just touch His garments, I will get well.” And the result of her faith in Jesus was instant healing. 29 And immediately the flow of her blood was dried up; and she felt in her body that she was healed of her disease. 30 And immediately Jesus, perceiving in Himself that power from Him had gone out, turned around in the crowd and said, “Who touched My garments?” Jesus felt the power go out of Him, and He wanted to make sure to help the woman understand that God had provided for her, because of her faith in Jesus. Of course, the disciples are completely confused by this, saying in verse 31-32 31 And His disciples said to Him, “You see the crowd pressing in on You, and You say, ‘Who touched Me?’” 32 And He looked around to see the woman who had done this. Of course, the woman knew what had happened, and instead of trying to steal a miracle from God, came to Jesus and confessed the whole story: 33 But the woman, fearing and trembling, aware of what had happened to her, came and fell down before Him and told Him the whole truth. 34 And He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace and be cured of your disease.” Apparently God knew that this woman needed not only the healing, but the personal encounter, one on one with Jesus, and so He arranged for the healing to take place in this surprising way. In our verses today, we see that people were ‘falling over’ Jesus to touch him, and pressing in on Him, and How everyone could see that God was using Jesus to do amazing things!
11 And whenever the unclean spirits saw Him, they would fall down before Him and shout, “You are the Son of God!”
We see here again that demon possession is again treated separately from illness, and the encounter is between Jesus and the unclean spirits, and that those that were possessed are not in control of their bodies, as the demons are the ones that are responding to Jesus. The focus here, is that the demons immediately recognized Jesus as the Son of God, and that they were terrified of Him. Remember, Greater is He who is in us, then He who is in the World. Most people at this point didn’t recognize who Jesus was, but the demons sure did. This ultimate truth about Jesus, the highest Christological confession of Mark’s gospel, has already been declared by God himself in 1:11 at Jesus’ baptism, when He said 11 and a voice came from the heavens: “You are My beloved Son; in You I am well pleased.” , and will be repeated to three chosen disciples in Mark 9:7 at the Mount of Transfiguration 7 Then a cloud formed, overshadowing them, and a voice came out of the cloud: “This is My beloved Son; listen to Him!” , but this fact remained hidden from most people in general, just as it is really hidden from most people today. After all, if they really believed that Jesus is the Son of God, more people would be earnestly seeking to follow Him. But while most humans remain in the dark regarding Jesus’ identity, the demons are only too well aware of Jesus’ awesome power over them, and the danger that they are in, even being in His company. Mark pictures demons as Jesus’ arch opponents and the first party to recognize and confess him as Son of God
12 And He strongly warned them not to reveal who He was.
And, again, we see Jesus command them to keep silent, and not reveal that Jesus is the Messiah, the Holy One, the Son of David, the Son of God, before God is ready for this to become public knowledge. Not only is the timing wrong, but these are not the type of witnesses that God wants declaring His Truth!