<p>1:38<em> And he said to them: Let us go elsewhere, into the next towns, so that I may preach there also; for this is why I came</em>-This could imply the Lord was unimpressed by the crowds searching for Him; see on 37 <em>All are seeking you</em>. The Lord's focus is presented as being upon preaching, teaching His ways, rather than upon meeting human need through miracles. This strongly impacts our thinking as to whether a purely social gospel is Biblical or even any kind of 'gospel'. The reason for His 'coming' was to preach- not to heal. Otherwise He would have remained where He was, seeing He had attracted droves of sick folks and likely more were now on the way to Him, to be bitterly disappointed that He had abruptly left first thing that morning. His 'coming forth' was not from heaven to earth; the same word is used of how He 'came forth' from Bethlehem (Mt. 2:6). It refers to His coming to Israel in His ministry. However, we can note that &quot;I came&quot; is the same Greek used in :35: &quot;He went out&quot;. He may simply be saying: 'This is why I went out of the house early in the morning; because I must be on My way to take the Gospel further to other towns'.</p>