“The time has come,” Jesus said, “The kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe the good news!” (1:15)
That was Jesus’ great announcement that is at the start of Mark’s gospel, at the beginning of Jesus’ ministry in Galilee. And with that great announcement, the battle-lines were drawn, not just by Jesus, but also by the self-appointed religious authorities. They had clearly demarcated who ‘the sinners’ were (who needed to repent), and who ‘the righteous ones’ were. They were pretty rigorous in seeking to honour God by doing the right stuff. The problem, as they saw it, was that the people were carrying on sinning, living far from God. If only people would return to God through personal holiness, then God would bring them back from spiritual exile and transform their standing in the world… no longer the tail, rather they would become the head again. So they studied the Scriptures and then drew a circle demarcating what it meant to be one seeking to be righteous… and on the outside, the sinners. To their constant frustration Jesus, who they thought should’ve been one of their closest allies, kept hanging out with sinners which surely only encouraged them in their sin when they needed to be ostracised like spiritual lepers. Why didn’t he join them in their circle and in their pointing?
To them, the Law, the Torah, was a like a circle to be drawn around the faithful remnant, the righteous ones. That was their view of what it meant to be a light to the nations. We follow YHWH, look at us! What it looked like to be Jewish can be summed up in three terms: ‘circumcision’, ‘food laws’, and ‘the observance of days’. These things summed up the circle that demarcated the righteous ones from the goyim/the gentiles/the sinners. If you started to blur these core distinctions how would anyone know who God’s chosen people were? And so you will see those terms crop up together in Paul’s writings when he talks about what it now looks like to be one of the people of God redefined around Jesus, rather than those three core signifiers. And here in Mark 2:18-3:6 we come against one of the three, the issue of the observance of days… fasting on certain days and observing proper Sabbath rest.
Now, here in the three short scenes in today’s reading, we have Jesus making some huge claims about himself.
- “I am the bridegroom” (which in light of Hosea 2:19,20 is a claim to be God).
- ‘I am a new king David’ (v.25) (when asked about his companions gleaning corn on the Sabbath). His story about David only holds if he saw himself as equal or greater than David, otherwise people would say, ‘Yeah, but THAT was KING David’.
- Then Jesus basically references himself as “Lord of the Sabbath” (2:28). You get the picture…
The question coming out of today’s reading is, ‘What do we do with the Old Testament, specifically the OT Law/Torah?’ Christians and non-Christians have asked me this question, not so much in regard to clothing fabric specifications, but in relation to kosher foods, in relation to tattoos, in regard to length of hair, in regard to OT characters having multiple wives, in regard to male circumcision, in regard to the Sabbath, and so on.
Some people say, ‘Now Jesus has arrived, why do we even bother with the Old Testament? Let’s not look at Passover or Exile.’ We could pretty much tear out more than two-thirds of our bible and content ourselves with reading the words of Jesus in red-letters (don’t get me started on red-letter bibles!) and we could include the implications of the good news regarding his death and resurrection mapped out in the epistles. And just bin the rest. But before we do that, just be warned that Marcion was labelled a heretic for suggesting that in the second century AD.
Specifically in regard to the Law - the Torah - many Christians view all that stuff as basically God’s first attempt to bring righteousness that failed because the people of Israel were just too sinful, so plan B was to send Jesus. And with that, the church has replaced Israel. And at first glance it could be that Jesus suggests the same, v.21,22, the old garment is torn, the old wineskin is not fit for purpose… what we need is a new wineskin.
Even though we may not tear out the Old Testament, we may be a practical Marcionite, only turning to the Old Testament for cherry-picked morality tales and selective personal promises of prosperity and blessing.
Other people, don’t think that Israel has been dumped and replaced, rather many Christians see Israel as special and almost that the Jewish nation has a special route of their own to God that doesn’t require them to acknowledge Jesus as their Kingly Messiah. However, I would suggest that Jesus is clearly not interested in building a Zionist state or a specific land demarcated on the shores of the Eastern Mediterranean. When we read the New Testament we see that Jesus inaugurates a new family, a new people, where he speaks of inheriting the whole earth, God’s kingdom breaking the old barriers and borders. New wine bursting old skins!
Both views, the first of seeing Jesus as plan B with Israel as a failed plan A, and the second view that sees Israel and Christianity as somehow continuing in parallel, are sub-Christian understandings of what we are to do with the Old Testament. So, what are we to do with the Old Testament?
Before we answer that question, let’s just look at the three scenes briefly.
In the first scene, Jesus claims that He is the Bridegroom who has finally arrived for the wedding everyone has been waiting for. Jesus claims to be bringing in God’s kingdom that doesn’t fit with the old framework, and that the new is so fizzing with life that it just doesn’t fit to be patched onto the old system.
All this is in the context of the Pharisees and the disciples of John the Baptist fasting, while Jesus’ followers basically partying (remember the dinner party of verse 15?).
Now the Old Testament calls for fasting for the Day of Atonement (Lev 16:31), and by the close of the Old Testament and the physical return from exile there were a number of other fasts briefly mentioned in Zechariah 7 and 8. These four fasts we know from other sources were in commemoration of disastrous events in the life of the people of Israel – the breaking of the stone tablets of the Law by Moses because of the idolatry of the golden calf incident, the siege and destruction of Jerusalem by the Babylonians, the destruction of the temple by Nebuchadnezzar, and the murder of Gedaliah, the last king of Judah. Fasts in relation to Law, City/Land, Temple, King.
Interestingly, in relation to Jesus in Mark 2, Zechariah 8 speaks of a time when those fasts would be turned to feasts!
On top of those fasts, the Pharisees of the First Century would fast every Monday and Thursday out of piety and self-consecration, showing themselves to be ‘the righteous ones’. And the left-over followers of John the Baptist continued to fast in preparation for the coming Messiah that John had preached about… they recognised the need for repentance but had failed to follow John’s endorsement of the Messiah having arrived in the person of Jesus.
Jesus and his followers, however, are feasting rather than fasting and this doesn’t fit with the model of sorrow for the disasters of the past or the religious push for piety and preparation.
Scene two, we have Jesus’ followers picking corn from someone else’s field. This gleaning was usually allowed under the Torah (Deut 23:25) but harvesting was forbidden on the Sabbath (Ex. 34:21), so in the eyes of the Pharisees that marked them out as disobedient to Torah, and thus sinners. Surely, Jesus as a popular Rabbi wouldn’t encourage such behaviour?
In response, Jesus tells the story of King David during the time he had already been secretly anointed but was yet to be enthroned as king, when he was seen as the enemy of the current authorities… do you get the parallels?... a time when King David and his followers ate bread that was reserved by Torah for the priests. Jesus mentions Abiathar, the son of the High Priest Ahimelek, at the time, because, I think, after Ahimelek is killed, David offered Abiathar protection because of his actions, “The man who wants to take your life is trying to kill me too. You will be safe with me.” (1 Sam 22:23) And this is significant in regard to all the parallels that can be drawn with Jesus, anointed as King through his baptism, facing opposition and threats of death, yet offering the only eternally safe haven to those who join him, until his enthronement as King.
Third scene, we have the situation where Sabbath laws barred medical professionals from working except in life or death situations. The man with the shrivelled hand could surely wait to be healed. But Jesus takes the choice of saving life or killing and includes ‘doing good or doing evil’. And in healing the man, he brings a taste of the ultimate Sabbath rest. He brings freedom from the slavery of sickness to the man, so that the man can enjoy a better Sabbath. In anticipation of the ultimate Sabbath that Romans 8, Hebrews 4 and Revelation 21 point to, the time when creation and humanity will be freed from bondage to sickness, sorrow and death.
The sad irony is that because of this healing, the keepers of the Sabbath, go out and join up with the political authorities to plot a way to do evil and to kill, which is not the right kind of work for any day let alone the Sabbath.
Now, I’m not going to discuss the merits of taking a day of rest in the rhythm of your life. I’m not going to discuss the merits of giving up food to re-order priorities and to demonstrate to God the seriousness of your concerns. If you are working every hour of every day there are big issues about whether you are trusting God or yourself to provide. And if you can’t ever give up a meal (except on medical grounds) it raises the question of the call of your stomach over your life. Aside from all this, these things are clearly not laws anymore for Christians. You may fast once a week or once a year, you may take a day off on a Friday, a Saturday or a Sunday (or all three, as a precaution!), but these are not codified in Christian religious law.
So, that brings us back to the question of what to do with the Old Testament, and what to do with the Law, the Torah.
The Old Testament Law, Torah, does four things. Firstly, as a strict holiness code, often regarding external markers of the need for internal holiness, the Law highlights the holiness of YHWH. Time and again, the people are to do x or y, because YHWH is holy. Food laws, observance of days, and male circumcision, all point to the holiness of YHWH, and the need for his people’s holiness.
Secondly, the Torah highlights the seriousness of sin. As Romans 7 tells us “in order that sin might be recognised as sin, it used what is good (Torah) to bring about my death, so that through the commandment sin might become utterly sinful.” (Romans 7:13)
Thirdly, highlighting the holiness of YHWH and the seriousness of sin, Torah highlights the problem that it doesn’t deal with. It points to the heart need for a deeper holiness and a more profound rescue from slavery to sin. It acts like a signpost but doesn’t drive us to our destination. Torah is intended to cause Israel to cry out, “What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?” (Romans 7:24)
And fourthly, in regard to the covenant promises of YHWH to rescue humanity from slavery to sin through Abraham’s seed, Torah/the Law acts like a prison warder, locking up sin, and the people of Israel who are slaves to sin, in one place until the time comes for sin to be fully dealt with by Israel’s faithful representative, and the rescue of humanity from slavery is fulfilled in and through Him. Galatians 3:23-25, “Before the coming of this faith, we were held in custody under the law, locked up until the faith that was to come would be revealed. So that the law was put in charge of us until Messiah came that we might be justified by faith. Now that this faith has come, we are no longer under the supervision of the law.”
The Torah is good and holy but it just points… highlighting YHWH’s holiness, highlighting humanity’s slavery in sin, highlighting the heart problem, and acting like a zoo-keeper until the Rescuer arrives to kill the dragon.
Now that the Rescuer has arrived, in the person of Jesus, Torah’s job is done. It never was intended to bring holiness to people’s hearts, it only ever showed on the surface what was a deeper problem, and it was always just prepping the patient until the arrival of the Doctor of the Universe.
So when we read the Old Testament we read the account of YHWH’s creation of humanity to be His priesthood in creation, our rejection of that purpose, and YHWH’s long plan to show in visual form His own character and faithfulness and humanity’s deep need of rescue, and our ultimate calling that would only be fulfilled through a divine rescue.
So, Old Testament Law, Torah, points to a deeper holiness only possible through Jesus’ death and resurrection. Thus laws regarding surface stuff like male circumcision, food laws and the observance of days have served their purpose, but commandments relating to deeper holiness like murder/anger or human sexual purity that are about relating to people and relating to God, these come under the call that can only now be fulfilled in Jesus through the Spirit, for us to be a royal priesthood, a holy nation, loving God fully and loving others equally. Grace has not replaced holiness, rather it has enabled it.
We read the Old Testament always seeing it pointing towards Jesus. We see the Torah as having fulfilled its purpose, and the possibility of the Ultimate Law of love to be realised through the work of the Spirit. Torah has not been dumped as broken, rather it has fulfilled its purpose, and therefore to keep it going would be to maintain the enslavement and the judgment that has already been taken by Jesus, Israel’s One True Representative. Why would anyone want to do that?
However, we still need to engage with the Old Testament in order to know more deeply who Jesus is and why he came and what promised inheritance he is delivering. The fruit Jesus delivers comes from roots in the story of Israel – itself the story of the world through one family.
You don’t stop wearing nappies/diapers because they are broken, and you don’t continue wearing nappies/diapers either. You stop wearing them because they have done their job, and a better reality has arrived. Or you could just stick with the wineskins analogy… your choice.
We can’t leave this reading without being challenged as potential Pharisees. As followers of Jesus we too often spend loads of time drawing the line around ourselves, when more of our effort should be on pointing people to Jesus and letting Him define what following Him looks like.
Carl Medearis, in ‘Speaking of Jesus’ says this…
“When we stand inside the circle, trying to get people ‘into the kingdom,’ we mistakenly do two things wrong. First, we try to ‘download’ the right definitions, doctrines, and beliefs into the brains of people who don’t know the apostle Peter from Homer Simpson. By doing that, we communicate that having the right thoughts is the means of salvation. We’re telling them that it’s the stuff that happens between their ears that matters. When we focus on ideology, we’re not touching thirsty hearts. Thirsty people don’t want to memorize theology any more than they want to learn a new language.
“Second, we’re taking God’s job out of His very capable hands. When we point at the boundary, we’re trying to define it. But if Jesus is lifted up, He draws people to Himself. It isn’t our job to lose sleep trying to decide if so-and-so is ‘in’ or ‘out’. If we were to look at Jesus, in the totality of His love and determination, we would realize we are not required to make ourselves His followers by force of reason. We would realize He came to us in our poverty of mind and heart. It is our job to follow Jesus, like Paul … refusing to know anything else but the crucified and resurrected Jesus.”
