Mark Chapter 2
Authority? Yes, And Power Too!
Pastor Eric J. Hanson
April 26th, 2009
Review
In two sermons about chapter one of Mark, the earliest of the Gospels, we looked into several things concerning the beginnings of Jesus’ public ministry.
• John the Baptist as Jesus’ forerunner and the one announcing Jesus’ coming
• Jesus’ baptism in water, with its supernatural aspects of the Father’s voice from the sky, and the Holy Spirit manifested as a dove.
• Jesus 40 days of temptation and preparation for public ministry
• Jesus ministering in Galilee, and calling of four disciples
• Jesus teaching with authority, delivering people from demons, and healing all who came to him diseased or sick.
• A “Messianic” miracle as He healed a man from leprosy and instructed him to go and show himself to his priest for confirmation of the healing
The paralyzed man (verses 1-12)
(Read 1-2) Note that the huge crowds continued to seek out the Lord, no matter what town he went to. Being in Capernaum, his own village of residence, made no difference. It would be as if a famous evangelist came home after touring various cities, and the crowds from away followed him to his own town. Jesus spoke the Word of God to them, even as they crowded into the house.
(Read 3-4) These men pulled the tiles off from the roof of this home in order to get to Jesus. This tells me two things: 1. They believed that Jesus could and would heal their friend or loved one. Probably they had seen him healing the sick and had witnessed many amazing things. 2. They really cared about the paralyzed man, and were willing to do whatever it took to get him to Jesus; even tearing the roof off from a house.
(Read 5-7) Note that Jesus dealt with that which was most important in anyone’s life first. He forgave the man’s sins. One of the things the Jewish leaders, the Sanhedrin believed and taught, was that the Messiah (Anointed one) came, He would have authority to forgive sins. However, even though the spying scribes, from the Sanhedrin, were aware of the tremendous healings Jesus had been doing, they immediately thought evil of Him in their hearts, for doing this messianic act of forgiving sins.
(Read 8) Jesus did not “read their minds” as one famous paraphrase of the Bible states. He became “aware in his spirit” of their reasoning. This is a perfect example of the Holy Spirit speaking inwardly. This is a manifestational gift of the Holy Spirit in action. In I Corinthians 12, this is called the “word of knowledge”.
(Read 9-11) Jesus now backed up his words with action. He knew all along that the felt need of the man on the mat was healing from paralysis. It was certainly the Lord’s intention to heal this man as he had all the others. The delay here was for the purpose of exposing the heart attitude of those scribes. Now that the hardness of their hearts was clear, the time was right to heal the forgiven man.
(Read 12) As the man got up, took up his mat, and walked out, the truth that Jesus is the Messiah was starkly clear. The fact that the scribes had judged wrongly due to hard hearts and wrong motives was also made starkly clear in that moment. All were now amazed and glorifying God however.
Levi (Matthew) and Friends (13-20)
(Read 13-14) As Jesus now took a walk, with a few thousand friends, He picked out one man, a despised tax collector, a Jewish collaborator with the hated Romans, and he called that man to come and be his disciple. Levi was none other than Matthew. Like Peter, Andrew, James, and John before him. Matthew followed Jesus immediately.
(Read 15-17) It seems that Levi called over all his friends and business associates to a meal given in honor of Jesus. He was excited about Jesus and he wanted to share this great blessing with his circle of friends, even though they were not the most popular people in the region. One more time, the scribes showed hard hearts. Rather than seeing the tax collectors as likely candidates for the forgiveness of sin Jesus had recently given quite a lesson in, they saw them as scum to be avoided. They also judged Jesus for participating in a dinner with them.
Jesus’ reply was straight to the point. It is indeed sinners who need to respond to the call of the Lord. If a man knows that he is sinful, he is much more likely to respond to the Lord’s call, than someone who does not see himself as sinful, such as these scribes. The Lord was with exactly the right people. He was not joining in their sin, but he was caring about the needy condition of their souls.
(Read 18-20) These scribes also were aware of the fasting of others, which formed a great contrast with the feasting of Jesus. Of course, they were not there when He had fasted for 40 days in the desert.
Jesus answer was prophetic, if anyone could have picked up on it at the time, the shadow of the Cross was there. Jesus would be “taken away”, first in death, then in ascending to Heaven. For 2000 years now, believers have fasted, as Jesus said would happen, as a way to get closer to the Him, while he is away from us.
The Old and the New (21-22)
(Read 21-22) Cloth shrinks for a while. Wineskins expand for a while. Then, both lose their ability to do this. They become more fragile as well. Jesus was talking about the days to come when he would be back in Heaven. A New Covenant was coming, because the Old would not be able to hold the new wine of the Holy Spirit whom Jesus would send to live inside of all people who know HIm. The Old Covenant had to do with rule keeping, continual sacrifices, and a separate priesthood. The New Covenant has to do with the Lord’s own goodness coming into us and pouring out through us. He lives in us by the Holy Spirit. It has to do with one sacrifice already finished. It has to do with all of us being made priests of God, with Jesus himself our great High Priest. This is far more powerful and the Old Covenant ever could be.
More Sabbath Conflict (23-28)
(Read 23-24) The Pharisees themselves were now watching Him, rather than their scribes doing this. Note: they were hoping to catch Jesus do something against the Law of Moses.
(Read 25-28) At home, be sure to read that passage about David and his men. It is found in I Samuel 21. It is interesting and instructional. Jesus knew the intent of it and the Pharisees didn’t get it. The very word Sabbath means rest. The laws added to the Old Testament’s Sabbath Laws added up to some 5000 man made taboos. By the time of Jesus’ Earthly ministry, these man made Sabbath laws, collected together in the book called the Mishnah, were considered by the Pharisees to be inviolable, even though they harmed people, rather than really giving them rest.
To the Pharisees, walking through a field of grain on the Sabbath Day, and breaking off heads of grain to eat was harvesting, just as though a man had gone out with a sickle and labored in the hot sun. Rolling the grain in your hands, to crack to husks and expose the seed was threshing to them, just as though a man had gone to his threshing floor and walked on the day’s harvest for hours. Jesus was not impressed with all of this adding Man’s religious law onto God’s law. The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. Jesus the Messiah, that is to say, the Son of Man, (well known Messianic title) is Lord even of the Sabbath!
