A.T. Robertson Commentary Mark 5:37

"And he suffered no man to follow with him, save Peter, and James, and John the brother of James." — Mark 5:37 (ASV)

Save Peter, and James, and John (ε μη Πετρον κα λακωβον κα Ιωανην). Probably the house was too small for the other disciples to come in with the family. The first instance of this inner circle of three seen again on the Mount of Transfiguration and in the Garden of Gethsemane. The one article in the Greek treats the group as a unit.