Mark 2-3 Chapter Study
Last week in our introduction
to the Gospel of Mark we saw that Mark’s intended audience was Roman, if not in
actual ethnic background, then at least in culture.
The
Romans were such a powerful force throughout the Mediterranean world many of
the people they conquered took on aspects of Roman culture.
Mark’s Gospel was aimed at
those who were a part of this dominant social philosophy.
Last week we saw how Mark
presents Jesus as the humble yet efficient & effective servant.
We
see this in two main ways: 1) in Mark’s sense of immediacy and urgency with
which he writes, & 2) how he
constantly shows Jesus telling those He touched miraculously to be quiet and
not make a big to-do about their healing.
The
humble use of power in the service of others was one of the chief virtues of
the Roman mindset.
In
fact, there was a Roman coin in circulation at that time that showed an ox
pulling a plow on one side, and on the other, an ox being offered on an altar.
Around
the edge of the coin were the words; “Service or Sacrifice: Ready for Either.”
This perfectly captures the
Romans sense of duty and the right use of power.
It also well sums up Mark’s
Gospel – for he presents Jesus as the Servant who came to offer Himself as a
sacrifice.
Our Outline for Mark is . . .
But really, we could just as
easily outline it this way . . .
Here’s where we are . . .
1And again He entered Capernaum after some days,
and it was heard that He was in the house.
Remember
that he’d already been in
Now he’s back.
The house that’s mentioned here would be the same one He’d been to
before – Peter’s house.
In
The ruins give evidence that a very early Christian
church met there, so many archaeologists believe it’s the home of Peter.
Not wanting to destroy the ruins, they’ve built a
church several feet above it.
Now
that Jesus was back in
2Immediately
many gathered together, so that there was no longer room to receive them,
not even near the door. And He preached the word to them.
The
house filled up, then people jammed the door and hung outside, pressing forward
to try to hear what Jesus was saying.
3Then they
came to Him, bringing a paralytic who was carried by four men. 4And
when they could not come near Him because of the crowd, they uncovered the roof
where He was. So when they had broken through, they let down the bed on which
the paralytic was lying.
Get the scene; the news Jesus
is a healer Who bats a thousand has spread far and wide.
These
4 men had a friend who was a quadriplegic.
They
ached for him to be healed so when they heard Jesus was back in town, they
decided to take their paralyzed friend to see him.
But
as they approached Peter’s house, they saw there was no way they were going to
get in the front door.
All houses in
The
roof was accessed either by a ladder or a set of stairs on the outside of the
house.
These
guys hauled their friend onto the roof, figured out about where Jesus would be
inside, and began digging.
The
roof was made of dirt, laid on top of thatch and a cross-weaving of sticks and
branches.
It
was a good 6 to 8 inches thick but it would have been a fairly easy thing for
these guys to dig through and then later to repair.
But imagine what it would
have been like in the room below.
At
first there’s some noise from the roof, then the sound of scrapping and
scrabbling.
In
just a short time everyone realizes someone is digging through the roof.
Little
pieces of dirt and broken twigs begin to fall into the room. Light begins to
show through little holes in the thatch.
An
opening several inches across is made & 4 pairs of hands can be seen
tearing at it, making it larger.
Finally,
when the hole is a couple feet wide, they stop and disappear.
Then
as everyone in the room looks up, they see the short end of a stretcher being
lowered into the room.
Several
men stand up to catch it – at the upper end are the 4 men who are lowering it
through the hole.
On
the stretcher is a man obviously paralyzed.
The
stretcher is lowered to the floor in front of Jesus.
He
looks up and sees the faces of the 4 friends peering through the hole.
5When Jesus saw their faith, He said to the
paralytic, “Son, your sins are
forgiven you.”
There are a couple things
here we need to look at –
1) Marks says that Jesus “saw”
their faith.
These
men believed Jesus could heal their friend, the only need was to get him to
Jesus.
The
faith of these men had gone beyond simple wishing or hoping.
It
had become a settled belief that moved them to action.
Could
Jesus have healed this man at a distance?
Could
one of them have gone to Jesus and said, “We have a friend across town who’s
paralyzed and with this crowd he can’t get near you. Would you heal him?”
Yes
– He healed the centurion’s servant at a distance. [Matt 8:8-13]
But
these men had only seen those who’d actually been in Jesus’ presence who were
healed.
They
didn’t have a whole, well-thought out theology on healing or who Jesus was.
They
just knew that those who came to Jesus sick, went away whole.
This
simple belief moved them to specific and determined action.
And
that’s the lesson for us – you don’t have to have a whole theology of God
worked out and be a scholar in the Greek & Hebrew before you can have a
faith that will loose the power of God in your life and the life of others.
You
just need to act on the little faith you do have – and God will move.
When
teaching on faith, Bible teachers will often say something like, “We say to
God, ‘Show me and I’ll believe.’ But God says, ‘Believe and I’ll show you.’”
In
light of what we see here, maybe we should change that to, we say to God, “Show
me and I’ll believe.” And God says, “Show me you believe, then I’ll show
you My power.”
The
test of real faith is that it moves us to action. If it doesn’t affect our choices and alter
our decisions, then it isn’t real faith.
2) Once these 4 men had
lowered their friend into Jesus’ presence, what were they expecting, what had
their faith anticipated?
That
their friend would be healed.
What
do you think they expected Jesus to say?
“Be
healed! Take up your bed and walk.”
Jesus’
words to the paralyzed man seem out of context and not appropriate to the
situation. Were they?
The
Jews of that day connected sin and suffering.
They
said that if a man was suffering he must have sinned.
That’s
the whole argument Job’s friends used on him.
They
kept trying to get Job to ‘fess yup to what horrible thing he’d done that could
have led to such drastic suffering on his part.
When
Job claimed innocence, Eliphaz scoffed, “Who that was innocent ever
perished?” [Job 4:7]
The
Rabbis had a saying, “There is no sick man healed of his sickness until
all his sins have been forgiven him.”
To
the Jews a sick man was a man with whom God was angry.
Jesus
moved to clear up this misconception.
Yes,
it’s true, some sickness is the result of sin, either the
foolish choices of the one who’s sick or the evil choices of others that
inflict suffering on the innocent.
But
the necessary
connection between personal sin and suffering was
wrong, and Jesus wanted to correct it.
He
knew that as the people in that room sat there, rather than seeing a poor man
who suffered terribly, they saw a wretched sinner who deserved what he’d
received.
So
Jesus uses the tenderest words and says, “Child, son, your sins are
forgiven.”
He
was letting the man know that God was not angry with him.[1]
But
there’s another reason why Jesus said this to this man – He wanted to challenge
the scribes who were there with their skepticism about who He was.
6And some of the scribes were sitting there and reasoning
in their hearts, 7“Why does this Man speak
blasphemies like this? Who can forgive sins but God alone?”
As soon as Jesus told the
paralytic his sins were forgiven, the scribes, the legal experts of that time,
reacted strongly against Him.
They
knew that to forgive sins was a divine prerogative; no one can forgive sins but
God.
By
telling the man his sins were forgiven, Jesus was claiming a right and power
that belonged to God alone.
They
considered this blasphemy of the highest order.
Note that none of them said
anything – they all just reasoned this way in their hearts.
8But immediately, when Jesus perceived in His spirit
that they reasoned thus within themselves, He said to them, “Why do you reason about these things in
your hearts?
That
has to be a bit unnerving – when someone who has just done something you
consider blasphemous, looks you in the eye and begins to speak forth what
you’ve only been thinking!
9Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, ‘Your sins are
forgiven you,’ or to say, ‘Arise, take up your bed and walk’?
V.
2 tells us that up to this point, Jesus had been teaching.
The scribes had come because as Jesus’ fame began to
spread across Galilee, it was up to them to determine whether or not He was
truly from God.
They were a tribunal, there to judge Jesus, they
thought.
They didn’t realize that their judgment was of
themselves, not Him.
Jesus
turns the tables on their inquiry by asking a question – “Which is easier to
say to one who’s paralyzed: ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or ‘Be healed.’”
If Jesus were just a man, it would be easier to
say, “Your sins are forgiven,” because no external proof or follow through
would be necessary.
But if He were just a man and said, “Be healed” and
nothing happened then He’d be judged a crackpot.
While
it may be easier for a mere man to SAY “Be forgiven” than
“Be healed,” the fact is, it is no harder for God to do one than the other,
which is what Jesus proceeds to do.
To
the scribes Jesus said -
10But that you may know that the Son of Man has power on earth to
forgive sins”—He said to the paralytic, 11“I say to you, arise, take up your bed, and
go to your house.” 12Immediately
he arose, took up the bed, and went out in the presence of them all, so that
all were amazed and glorified God, saying, “We never saw anything like
this!”
The scribes were confronted
with the fact of Jesus’ power.
The
miracle of the man’s healing stood as clear evidence of Jesus’ authority to
forgive sins.
And
as they were right in their belief that only God can forgive sins, they ought
to have realized that – Jesus was God!
That’s why Jesus first said
to the man – “Son, your sins are forgiven you.”
He
wanted to use that moment to heal a deeper and more common need that was in
that room that day than that one man’s paralysis.
It
was the unbelief and skepticism that was in the hearts of the people as to who
Jesus was.
Some people read this story
and conclude that the man was paralyzed because of some sin he’d committed.
That
isn’t the case. If it was then as soon
as Jesus pronounced his forgiveness, he would have stood and walked.
Jesus even corrected the
faulty theology of that day that attributed suffering to sin by telling the
paralytic in tender and compassionate words that God was NOT angry with him.
And even though his paralysis
was not the direct result of some sin he’d committed, God still used his
infirmity as the means to manifest His glory and power and to teach many about
Who He is.
Friends, as difficult as
sickness, suffering, disease, illness, and adversity are to bear, as we look to
the Lord in the midst of them, He can turn them from mere suffering into something
redemptive, something valuable, something that will bring glory and
honor to His name and teach us even more about how good and loving He is.
Don’t let sorrow sour you to
the Lord as it did these scribes.
Ask
the Lord to turn sorrow to the sweetness of His revelation as the Son of God &
the Son of Man.
13Then He
went out again by the sea; and all the multitude came to Him, and He taught
them.
The
crowds seeking to be near Him were too vast to be accommodated in town so He
had to go outside of town.
Notice
that Jesus placed the emphasis on teaching.
While the people loved to signs and wonders, loved to
witness the miracles of healing and deliverance that were so abundant, Jesus
spent more time teaching than healing.
He
knew that all the healings He performed, as important as they were, were
ultimately doomed to be undone in the corruption & death of everyone of the
bodies He healed.
His words, on the other hand, would change hearts and
accomplish something in human souls that was eternal.
14As He
passed by, He saw Levi the son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax office.
Levi was Matthew’s Jewish
name.
And He said to him, “Follow Me.” So he arose and followed Him.
Since we covered vs. 13-14 on
Sunday, will forgo comment tonight.
If
you have ever been curious as to why the disciples dropped what they were doing
to immediately follow Jesus, get a copy of the study from last Sunday and find
out what it really means to be a disciple of Jesus.
15Now it happened, as He was dining in Levi’s
house, that many tax collectors and sinners also sat together with Jesus and
His disciples; for there were many, and they followed Him.
Matthew
invited Jesus to his house for the evening meal.
Assembled round were many of Matthew’s friends who
were culled form the fringe of Jewish society.
Up to this point, people like this would have felt
little attraction to a rabbi.
Rabbis were the elite religious figures of Galilee,
the most pious people of all.
If there was any group of people they scrupulously avoided
and consigned to the fires of hell it was tax-collectors, tanners, and
merchants who sold products considered un-Jewish & worldly.
With
Matthew’s invitation to follow Jesus, word spread quickly that the new rabbi
was different, and many of those who’d felt themselves judged and condemned
came near to check Him out.
16And when
the scribes and Pharisees saw Him eating with the tax collectors and sinners,
they said to His disciples, “How is it that He eats and drinks with tax
collectors and sinners?”
Sharing a meal with someone
was the most intimate form of social intercourse in that culture.
To
eat a meal with someone was to become one with them.
They
thought that since this same bread we’re eating is becoming a part of you and a
part of me, we are becoming a part of one another in a spiritual sense.
So
the Pharisees were ultra careful about who they ate with and about whose house
they entered.
They
didn’t want to be defiled by the moral pollution of people like Matthew and his
friends.
Such
contact might jeopardize their standing with God, they thought.
Seeing Jesus, a rabbi they
have heard speak with authority and heal with great power sitting at the table
with people they loathed really upset them.
He wasn’t going along with
their program and fitting into their expectations and it made them angry.
17When Jesus heard it, He said to them, “Those who are well have no need of a
physician, but those who are sick. I did not come to call the righteous,
but sinners, to repentance.”
If you had asked the
Pharisees, “Who needs to repent?” they would have said “Matthew’s crowd.”
Jesus
confronted the Pharisees with the error of their thinking.
If
God wants sinners to repent – then as God’s agents of righteousness, shouldn’t
the Pharisees have been doing the right thing and instead of ignoring and
shunning them, building bridges to them that would enable them to make an
effective call to repentance?
By not doing the right thing
– maybe the Pharisees weren’t as righteous as they fancied themselves!
But they thought they were –
they considered themselves to be ultra-pious, God’s best friends.
They
had no need to repent because they were okay, they assumed.
Jesus
makes it clear – He came to and for those who acknowledge their need.
One of the marks of true
spiritual maturity is an increasing sense of need for Jesus.
At
the same time that God works genuine holiness in us, He awakens an awareness of
our deeper brokenness.
Spiritual
maturity is directly proportional to one’s dependence on God.
The Pharisees were
self-righteous. They thought they were
okay because they had redefined God’s law in such a way that they could keep it
externally
while inwardly they were filled with deceit and immorality.
In
Ch. 2, Mark shows how very early in Jesus’ mission, He ran contrary to His
critics, the Pharisees and religious authorities of the day.
They had set up a whole system of piety that Jesus
steadfastly refused to fit into.
But not by defying or violating it so much as living
out a righteousness that was so genuine, so honest and simple it revealed the
sham religiosity of the Pharisees for what it was.
18The
disciples of John and of the Pharisees were fasting. Then they came and said to
Him, “Why do the disciples of John and of the Pharisees fast, but Your
disciples do not fast?”
Fasting was a regular part of
the pious lifestyle in that day.
The
idea was that one learned to exert dominion over the flesh by denying its
demand for food.
In the Scriptures, only one
day a year was a compulsory fast – the Day of Atonement.
But
the Pharisees had added 2 days of fasting every week; Monday & Thursday
from sunrise to sunset.
They
didn’t say it was something that was required, but because they were the
religious people of that day, whatever they did ended up becoming accepted as
the way to live to be accepted by God.
Jesus & His disciples
didn’t fast, and this caused the followers of John the Baptist and the
Pharisees to wonder what was going on.
19And Jesus said to them, “Can the friends of the bridegroom fast while the bridegroom
is with them? As long as they have the bridegroom with them they cannot fast. 20But the days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from
them, and then they will fast in those days.
According
to the Jewish Talmud, which is a collection of commentaries on the Law, there
was one event that overrode the normal rules of religious life – a wedding.
A wedding was such a joyous affair that the
requirements of fasting and even prayer were suspended.
The wedding feast was something so important guests
were expected
to sate themselves on food and drink.
All other duties were suspended and only one
requirement was made – to rejoice!
Jesus
likened His coming to a wedding; He was the groom, the disciples were His
attendants & guests.
While He was with them it was a time of feasting, not
fasting. When He left, then
they would fast.
Jesus
was speaking of the time just after His death, before His resurrection when He
was taken from them and their world collapsed.
But after the resurrection and later the Day of
Pentecost, when they were filled with the Holy Spirit, Jesus took up permanent
residence
in them.
So even now, this ought to be a time of joyous
celebration for the people of God.
This is not to say that we don’t experience seasons of
hardship and difficulty, but through it all, Jesus is with us!
No matter what comes into our lives, we have the
confidence of knowing in the end, we win!
Where
it ever came about in the history of the Church that Christians ought to be
grumpy, cheerless, sour-pusses beats me.
It was certainly not the way Jesus said we were to be.
When we come to church, it should be more like a
wedding, not a funeral.
We’re called to a relationship or gladness, not a
religion of sadness.
Everyone who has a bumper sticker on their car identifying
them as a follower of Jesus ought to also have a smile on their face!
I’ve
had an easy life compared to many people.
And as easy as my life has been, the last couple years
have been pretty tough.
There have been plenty of times when I was tempted to
despair and to crawl into a pit of depression – but through it all, Jesus
lifted me and reminded me that this is not the end of the story.
I know how it all ends – It’s Glory and I will stand
in victory with Him in the beauty of heaven.
You don’t stay down long when you’re reminded that
this moment’s trails are brief, but glory is forever.
Does
coming
to church make you happy? Does the
prospect of going to Church excite you?
It should! Because church is a
gathering of the followers of Jesus who are rejoicing in His salvation.
21No one sews a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment; or else the
new piece pulls away from the old, and the tear is made worse. 22And no one puts new wine into old wineskins; or else the new wine
bursts the wineskins, the wine is spilled, and the wineskins are ruined. But
new wine must be put into new wineskins.”
If you put new wine in an old
wineskin that has already stretched, when the new wine ferments and let’s off
gas, the old skin will split open. Both
the wine and skin will be ruined.
If you use a new piece of
cloth to patch a hole, when the garment is washed and dried, the new cloth will
shrink and rip the garment even worse.
Jesus was making it clear
that He’d come to start a new thing.
This
new thing could not be poured into the mold of the old thing.
What
He’d come to inaugurate would not fit into Phariseism.
It
wouldn’t even fit into what Judaism had become.
Jesus
didn’t come to reform Judaism – He came to revive it, to bring back
something that had died – and that was the original intent of the law.
God never intended the law to
be used as a means to being righteous, as the Pharisees
were using it.
God
intended the Law to reveal man’s sinfulness and need of forgiveness,
which God would provide through His Son.
As
Paul says in Galatians 3:24, the law is a tutor meant to bring us to Christ.
The Judaism of Jesus day had
become hopelessly tangled up in the belief that the Law was the means
of establishing righteousness.
So Jesus is making it clear
here that He did not come to reform the religious scene of His
day.
He
came to start something new – the very thing the Law originally
intended.
As you look at church history
you find this principle of new wineskins seems to have been applied again and
again.
The Spirit
of God will move powerfully in a place and on a people. We call these revivals.
There’s
a profound sense of conviction that leads to repentance, which ushers in a deep
sense of joy in the awareness of forgiveness.
People’s
lives are dramatically changed as they take on the evidences of holiness and
selfless service.
Many
social ills are addressed, new songs of worship and praise are written and sung
throughout the churches, and a new wave of missionary activity is spawned.
The revival becomes
a movement when people start associating it with certain
names and refer to them as the “leaders” of the revival.
The
leaders begin to feel a need to organize the movement because, well,
it just seems like the right thing to do.
After all, if it isn’t organized, it’s dis-organized.
To
organize the movement, leaders have to establish guidelines, make rules, define
boundaries. They begin marking off an
“us/them” kind of thing – and of course, now that there’s an us & them we
need a
name.
So
the movement adopts a name – or is given one by the “Thems.”
So we’ve seen the development
of the denominations; the Baptists, Presbyterians, Methodists, Lutherans, and Episcopalians.
More
recently we’ve seen the Pentecostals and Charismatics.
The
Baptists, once a monolithic portion of the Church, has now split into many
smaller groups; the Southern Baptists, American Baptists, Conservative
Baptists, Progressive Baptists, Reformed Baptists, Bible Fellowship Baptists,
Free Will Baptists, Primitive Baptists, & Seventh Day Baptists, to name
just a few!
Many
of these began as renewal & revival movements in which the Spirit of God
was bringing conviction, repentance & joy.
The parent movement had
become an organization that lost its sense of purpose and direction.
The
revival that had sparked it was long gone and all that was left was a religious
form.
Calvary Chapel came out of
the Jesus People revival of the late 60’s in Southern CA.
It’s
become a movement which is rapidly becoming an organization.
And
I can’t say it’s a good thing.
Pastor
Chuck Smith has long reminded us that we need to stay open and yielded to the
work and moving of the Spirit of God, or Calvary Chapel will end up becoming
just another old wineskin.
As I was driving the 101 FWY
and crossed the bridge over the river, I spotted a man standing on the railing.
He was disheveled and appeared ready to jump. I got off the FWY and ran back to
him and began telling him that he shouldn't jump.
He responded with, "Why shouldn't I?"
I said, "Well, there's
so much to live for!"
"Like
what?"
"Well . . . are you
religious or an atheist?"
"Religious."
"Me too! Are you
Christian or Jewish?"
"Christian."
"Me too! Are you
Catholic or Protestant?"
"Protestant."
"Me too! Are you
Charismatic or Non-Charismatic?"
"Charismatic."
"Wow! Me too! King James
only or Modern versions?"
"KJ
only."
"Excellent! Are you
Calvary Chapel, or Assembly of God?"
"Calvary
Chapel."
"Praise God! Are you
Calvary Chapel Oxnard, or Calvary Chapel Camarillo?"
"Calvary
Chapel Oxnard!"
“Me too! Do you go to the
first, second or third service?”
"Second service,
of course"
“Me too! Do you attended the second
service in the sanctuary or watch it on video in the Fellowship Hall?”
"I watch
the service in the FH."
To
which I said, "Die, heretic scum!" and pushed him off.
Now
Mark gives us several stories about how Jesus seemed to aim at defying the
expectations the scribes & Pharisees were putting on him.
23Now it
happened that He went through the grainfields on the Sabbath; and as they went
His disciples began to pluck the heads of grain. 24And
the Pharisees said to Him, “Look, why do they do what is not lawful on the
Sabbath?”
The Talmud was a vast series
of commentaries on the Law of God and it’s largest section was devoted to
defining what constituted work and so was forbidden on the Sabbath day.
One
of the forms of work that was forbidden was harvesting grain.
One Sabbath day as Jesus and
the disciples were passing through a grainfield, the Pharisees saw them pluck a
few heads, husk them in their palms and pop them in their mouths.
This
was a common little snack people would do with ripe grain.
But
it infuriated the Pharisees because they considered this work.
That
Jesus, a rabbi! was let it go without rebuke really perturbed them.
How
could someone who was being hailed as the greatest rabbi of the day not come
down on His followers for such a terrible violation of the Sabbath law – they
wondered.
25But He said to them, “Have you never read what David did when he was in need and
hungry, he and those with him: 26how he went into the house of God in the
days of Abiathar the high priest, and ate the showbread, which is not
lawful to eat except for the priests, and also gave some to those who were with
him?” 27And He
said to them, “The Sabbath was
made for man, and not man for the Sabbath.
Firs of all, plucking heads
was not a violation of the Law of God and the command of the Sabbath.
It
may have violated the Pharisees interpretations and traditions, but it did not
in fact break the law.
In
Deut. 23:25 God said . . .
When you come into your
neighbor’s standing grain, you may pluck
the heads with your hand, but you shall not use a sickle on your
neighbor’s standing grain.[2]
In other words – in the Law,
God said, “If you are hungry and find yourself in a field that is not yours, it
is not theft if you satisfy your immediate need for food by taking by hand from
that which belongs to your neighbor.
The
point is, the sanctity of human life is higher a higher principle than the
sanctity of personal property.
Jesus uses an even more
poignant example from their history to illustrate this.
When
David and his loyal followers were on the run from Saul, they were out of
supplies and in danger of fainting from hunger.
When
they arrived at the tabernacle which was set up at Nob, he persuaded the high
priest to give him something to eat.
The
only thing available at that time was the ritual showbread, which Lev. 24:9
says only the priests may eat.
The
high priest realized that human need trumps ritual law, and gave the bread to
David. [1 Sam.21:1-16]
Jesus used this story to show
the Pharisees that they ought to have understood this as well.
The
Sabbath was meant by God to bless man, not to become a heavy
burden and obligation, which is exactly what the Pharisees had turned it into.
That’s something we would do
well to remember – that every one of the commands of God are meant, not
to be a burden, not to be some onerous weight that makes life hard, but
rather they are intended for us to enjoy the fullness God intends for us.
Temptation
loses it’s attraction when we remember that sin is actually a tossing away of
the best for hardship and pain.
Jesus ended with a statement
meant to challenge the Pharisees with their whole perception of who He was –
28Therefore the Son of Man is also Lord of the
Sabbath.”
The Pharisees had seen Jesus
and His followers as under and subject to THEIR
interpretations of the Sabbath law.
Jesus lets them know that He
isn’t UNDER theirs or anyone’s law.
He is the Lord, the Master OF
the Sabbath. As such, He has the
authority to say what is and isn’t permitted in observing the Sabbath.
This was a statement so
staggering it would have stunned the Pharisees and faced them with a challenge –
Just who is this Jesus of Nazareth?
1And He entered the synagogue again, and a man was there
who had a withered hand. 2So they
watched Him closely, whether He would heal him on the Sabbath, so that they
might accuse Him.
Don’t miss this – as Jesus
has now challenged them, they make their choice and decide to reject His claim
to being the Lord of the Sabbath.
Jesus enters the synagogue in
Capernaum on the Sabbath.
There’s
a man there with an illness that has crippled his hand.
The
Pharisees know that whenever Jesus is confronted with a need like this, because
of His compassion, He heals it.
But
in their minds, healing was a work and so forbidden on the Sabbath.
Work was forbidden on the
Sabbath because work implies effort and God intended the Sabbath
day to be a day of rest for man.
Really,
the Sabbath was to be effortless for man; that was it’s
whole goal.
Because
of the Fall, the curse had caused man suffer with fruitless effort.
The
Sabbath was intended to be a respite from the curse, God’s covenant people
enjoying the benefit op being redeemed from the curse.
Question: When Jesus healed
someone – was it work? Was there effort
involved? No! So there was no work.
3And
He said to the man who had the withered hand, “Step forward.” 4Then He said to them,
After making the man present
himself before them all -
“Is it lawful on
the Sabbath to do good or to do evil, to save life or to kill?” But they kept silent.
By having the man step forth,
Jesus hoped His critics would feel some sense of pity and compassion on the
poor guy.
But
they could only see the great opportunity there was in finding something with
which to trap Jesus.
To
that degree they delighted in this man’s infirmity and suffering!
It’s
a tragic thing when human misery becomes the platform upon which the selfish
promote their own agenda.
And
yet this is something many afternoon talk shows and reality shows are based
on. TV Producers make millions off
other’s misery!
Jesus challenged His critics
with a question – “Okay you Sabbath experts, tell Me; on the Sabbath day, which
is right – to do evil or good?”
You
see, they wanted Jesus to heal the guy BECAUSE THEY KNEW HE COULD and they wanted something to use
as an excuse to officially oppose Him and plot His destruction.
Jesus
says if you have the power to do good and don’t do it when the opportunity
presents itself, that is wrong!
Since
Jesus cannot do wrong, of course He was going to heal the guy!
5And
when He had looked around at them with anger, being grieved by the
hardness of their hearts, He said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.”
And he stretched it out, and his hand was restored as whole as the
other.
Jesus was ticked
at the Pharisees! They would rather a
man in need be left with that need be met that for their silly rules about the
Sabbath be broken.
What
was even more grievous, is that while they considered something like a healing
a terrible violation of the law, they could not see that their own plans
against Jesus were way worse than any supposed violation of the Sabbath.
They
thought it was better to not heal this man and destroy
Jesus than to let Jesus go and heal this man!
Clearly
their whole idea of righteousness was out of whack.
6Then
the Pharisees went out and immediately plotted with the Herodians against Him,
how they might destroy Him.
The Herodians were those Jews
who were working in Herod’s administration of Galilee.
They
were growing worried about the increasing acclaim the people were showing Jesus.
There
had been other pretenders to Messiah who’d brought trouble to the land,
stirring up the common people to attack the Romans and take th land back from
rulers like Herod.
So
they were watching Jesus closely.
To the Pharisees, the
Herodians were part of that “sinners” crowd they’d seen at Matthew’s house.
They’d
criticized Jesus for eating with them then, but now they cozy up with them
because the Herodians had actual authority in that region.
All
the Pharisees could do was unofficially oppose Jesus and tell the people He was
a dangerous crackpot.
The
Herodians could actually arrest and imprison Jesus if they found Him guilty of
a crime.
So, in their envy and hatred
of Jesus, the Pharisees buddied up with the Herodians – people they loathed –
because they hated Jesus more!
It’s
interesting to watch what allies in the world a hatred of Jesus makes.
7But
Jesus withdrew with His disciples to the sea. And a great multitude from
Galilee followed Him, and from Judea 8and
Jerusalem and Idumea and beyond the Jordan; and those from Tyre and Sidon, a
great multitude, when they heard how many things He was doing, came to Him. 9So He told His disciples that a small
boat should be kept ready for Him because of the multitude, lest they should
crush Him. 10For He healed many, so
that as many as had afflictions pressed about Him to touch Him. 11And the unclean spirits, whenever
they saw Him, fell down before Him and cried out, saying, “You are the Son of
God.” 12But He sternly warned them
that they should not make Him known.
Despite the growing official
opposition of the Pharisees, the common people begin to come from all over
Israel and Lebanon.
The
crowd became so great Jesus told His disciples to ready a boat incase they had
to use it because of the press of the crowd.
When Jesus would deliver the
demon possessed, the demons would often want to yell out who Jesus was – but He
silenced them.
Why would h do this? Didn’t Jesus now that any publicity is good
publicity?
Apparently
Jesus didn’t have anyone from Madison Avenue among His disciples, counseling
Him on how to craft His public image.
Jesus would not accept or
allow the remarks of the demons because He did not want anyone to give them any
heed.
Demons
are in the business of deceit – and they will even use an occasional truth as
the bait to pass along a larger lie.
If
Jesus had allowed these demons to be given attention to, they would have
quickly turned their true confessions about who Jesus was into lies about Him.
I’ve always found stories of
people who say they got information out of demon interesting.
What
makes them think the demon was telling the truth?
Friends – it’s best not to
talk to demons, other than to silence them and send them packing.
13And
He went up on the mountain and called to Him those He Himself wanted.
And they came to Him. 14Then He
appointed twelve, that they might be with Him and that He might send them out
to preach, 15and to have power to
heal sicknesses and to cast out demons: 16Simon,
to whom He gave the name Peter; 17James
the son of Zebedee and John the brother of James, to whom He gave the
name Boanerges, that is, “Sons of Thunder”; 18Andrew,
Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, James the son of Alphaeus,
Thaddaeus, Simon the Canaanite; 19and
Judas Iscariot, who also betrayed Him. And they went into a house.
Following the pattern of
rabbis and their disciples in Galilee at that time, there were many
who were tagging along, following Jesus where ever He went.
Up
to this point, He had not made His official number of disciples known.
Now
he does. This 12 were all the guys Jesus
had gone to and personally invited to follow Him.
Now as the crowds of
potential candidates has grown so massive, He wants to make it clear who He
will take as His disciples.
20Then
the multitude came together again, so that they could not so much as eat bread.
21But when His own people heard about
this, they went out to lay hold of Him, for they said, “He is out of His
mind.”
The phrase “His own people”
means His relatives.
In
vs. 31-35 we read that Jesus’ own mother and brothers came to try to rescue Him
from His own popularity and seeming unreasoned selflessness.
Here
we read that other, more distant relatives, made an attempt at rescuing Him.
These
may have been uncles and cousins who decided Jesus was causing the family name
to be brought into too much attention before the authorities.
They’d
heard that the Pharisees were conspiring with the Herodians and this scared
them, so they decided to go reason with Him.
Clearly
there must be something mentally unstable with the guy to be doing and saying
the things He was.
22And
the scribes who came down from Jerusalem said, “He has Beelzebub,” and, “By the
ruler of the demons He casts out demons.”
23So He called them to Himself
and said to them in parables: “How
can Satan cast out Satan?
They attributed His power to
the demonic – Beelzebub was the Lord of the flies, one of the demons who was
thought to be the devil’s chief officers.
What they accused Him of was
incredibly dangerous. In fact, it was downright blasphemous.
The
very thing they had accused Him of in 2:7 they are now guilty of.
But
rather than just blasting them, He tired to reason with them and help them see
the utter foolishness of what they were judging regarding Him.
His
means of argument were illustrations -
24If a kingdom is divided against itself, that
kingdom cannot stand. 25And if a house is divided against itself, that house cannot stand. 26And if Satan has risen up against himself,
and is divided, he cannot stand, but has an end. 27No one can enter a strong man’s house and
plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man. And then he will
plunder his house.
Everything that Jesus had
done was to undo the work of the devil.
He’d
delivered masses of the demon possessed, brought wholeness to thousands.
And
the thing is, His opponents had witnessed it with their own eyes!
There
was no doubt about His power or ability.
It’s
not like today where critics argue over the reality of healing itself – Jesus
critics never denied He healed and worked miracles.
They
just said He did it by demonic power.
But simply makes no sense –
why would demons fight against themselves.
No
– it was obvious – His power was divine not demonic.
But then Jesus moves to warn
these guys that their remarks have exposed their hearts and they stand in very
dangerous territory.
28“Assuredly, I say to you, all sins will be
forgiven the sons of men, and whatever blasphemies they may utter; 29but he who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness,
but is subject to eternal condemnation”—30because
they said, “He has an unclean spirit.”
This is going to be my text
for This Sunday so I’ll leave further comment till then.
This
message is going to carry a strong appeal to salvation so you ought to consider
who you can invite.
31Then His brothers and His mother came, and standing
outside they sent to Him, calling Him. 32And
a multitude was sitting around Him; and they said to Him, “Look, Your mother
and Your brothers are outside seeking You.”
When
Jesus’ uncles and cousins couldn’t dissuade Him from backing off, Mary and her
other sons went to Him and tried to reason with Him.
But the house He was in was again so crowded, the
people simply reported that they’d arrived.
His reply was interesting . . .
33But He
answered them, saying, “Who is
My mother, or My brothers?” 34And
He looked around in a circle at those who sat about Him, and said, “Here are My mother and My brothers! 35For whoever does the will of God is My brother and My sister and
mother.”
This statement, taken in
isolation, might appear a bit harsh.
What
Jesus said to John at the cross about taking care of Mary after He was gone
helps us see that Jesus is not dishonoring her or denying her place as His
mother.
Jesus used the call on Him
that was implied in his mother’s and brothers’ request to see Him as a way to
communicate to those around Him that while the claims of an earthly family are
real and binding, the claims of our spiritual family are even higher!
Yes, He had a duty to His
earthly family – but His duty to His spiritual family rose above that.
The spiritual family is
composed of any and all who do the will of God.
And
what is the will of the Father? To
believe on the Son!
What Jesus says here ought to
forever put the nail in the coffin of the idea that Mary has a special
in with Jesus and we can direct our prayers to her so that she can intercede
for us.
Jesus
denies any special place of access to Mary – she has simply become one of our
sisters in the faith.