Jesus, The Rebel With A Cause Series

More than anything the Pharisees wanted to be holy and they called the people of Israel to lead holy lives. But somewhere along the way, Jesus thought they had gone astray. They had so emphasized the law that they failed to follow the Spirit or purpose of the Law and thus God’s will. It is around over the oral and written law where conflict arises between Jesus and the Pharisees. Beginning in Mark Chapter 2 there are a series of events showing an escalating conflict between Jesus and the Pharisees. All of these take place in and around Capernaum. The historical context of this region is very important to understanding the growing conflict with Jesus. This area had an influx of settlers some 200 years before Jesus. They were Jews who had decided to stay in Babylon after the exile but when they heard there was a revolt in 200 BC and the government was under a Jewish control, they decided to return and begin preparations for the coming of the Messiah. These settlers were Orthodox Jews whose main concern was holiness by following the laws to the letter. So the region in which Jesus decides to do the majority of his ministry is very conservative and strict in its adherence to the Law.

The town of Capernaum is the home base of Jesus’ ministry. He spends the vast majority of his public ministry in and around this town and the Sea of Galilee. In our Scripture today is the first scene of the clash between the Pharisees and Jesus. Some people bring their paralytic friend to Jesus and ask him to be healed. Jesus seeing the Pharisees there turns to this man and says, “Your sins are forgiven.” The Pharisees are unnerved by this and ask, “Who has the right to forgive sins except God?” That actually was a very good question because it gets to the very heart of Jesus identity. Christians believe that Jesus is God who walked in the flesh here on earth. But Jesus says, “That you may know the son in God in heaven has the ability to forgiven sins, young man take up your mat and walk.” This man who was paralyzed gets up and walks. But the Pharisees are unnerved by this. That’s scene one.

Scene two. Jesus is calling disciples to himself and he calls a tax collector named Levi. Now tax collectors are considered sinners and thieves and some rabbis believed they could never be forgiven because there was no way for them to make amends for all the people they hurt by overcharging them for taxes which was how tax collectors collected their wages. Levi who for the first time feels hope for forgiveness in his life and the chance to get right with God then invites all of his tax collector buddies to dinner to meet Jesus. And the Scripture tells us that Jesus ate with “sinners and tax collectors.” Now Pharisees believed that if you ate with a sinner, you are unclean so the Pharisees go to Jesus’ disciples and ask, “Why is Jesus eating with people like that?” The Pharisees thought Jesus might be one of them because he was teaching among the common people, just like the Pharisees, and was teaching in their synagogues and you had to be a Pharisaic rabbi to teach in the synagogue. But the problem was Jesus was breaking the oral and written law.