Mark 1:38

All men. That is, the people of Capernaum (see on v. 33).

Let us go. Jesus proposed to retreat before the sudden wave of popularity that was about to submerge the true objectives of His ministry. More harm than good would result from acceding to the unenlightened clamor of the people, and He refused to be ensnared. Jesus considered His miracles a means to the end of the leading men to an awareness of their need for the healing of the soul, but the multitudes saw no further than the miracles themselves. Short of sight, they mistook the means for the end, but the means without the end would tend only to carry them further than ever from the kingdom Christ had come to proclaim. Unless these false conceptions of His work could be dispelled, all Christ’s endeavors would be in vain. See on v. 36.

Therefore came I forth. Or, “that is why I came out” (RSV). Here, it would seem that Jesus refers to His coming forth from the city of Capernaum “into a solitary place” (v. 35), rather than to His coming down from heaven to earth. However, the parallel passage in Luke (ch. 4:43) implies that Jesus here spoke of His mission to earth. On other occasions He referred specifically to His coming from the Father, in relation to His mission as a whole (see John 10:10; John 18:37; Luke 19:10).