Good morning! Please open your Bibles to Mark 2.
I know I am about to date myself, but I wonder how many of you remember Paul Harvey? My mother loved listening to Paul Harvey. He would come on at noon, which was about the time we were driving back from the bowling alley (which is a whole other sermon), and so every day I heard his intro… “Hello Americans. This is Paul Harvey. Stand by for News.”
Am I alone here? Anybody else? I got to the point as a four year old that I would say it before Paul Harvey did—Hello Americans. This is Paul Harvey. Stand by for News.”
But have you ever asked, “Where did the word “news” come from?” Unless you’re a word nerd like me, probably not. But I got a little obsessed with that question this week, so I looked it up. I read in one place that it was an acronym for “Notable Events, Weather, Sports.” But that is false. Mainly because there’s evidence that the word was in use long before professional sports and weather reports were a thing.
Others have said it stands for the four points of the compass—North, East, West, and South. But that’s also false.
What it is is actually pretty simple. It’s the plural of the adjective “new.” And maybe you’re a high school student and you are sitting there thinking, “But wait a minute, adjectives don’t have plurals.” If that’s you, and you actually ARE sitting there thinking that, then congratulations, because you are going to CRUSH the ACT. But secondly, realize that while that is true in English, that isn’t true in most other languages, where if you make the noun plural you also make the adjectives plural.
So there you go. News is simply the reporting of what is new. So by definition, for something to be news, it has to be new. If it isn’t new, then it isn’t really news.
Now let’s get back to our definition of the Gospel as “Good News.” And this morning, I want us to think about the question, “What is NEW about the GOOD NEWS? “
In Mark chapter 2, we have the first example of Jesus’ teaching in the gospel of Mark. We know from Mark 4:2 that Jesus’ favorite teaching technique was a parable. So here, Jesus tells a couple of mini-parables to emphasize what was new about His message and ministry. He says,
21 No one sews a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment. If he does, the patch tears away from it, the new from the old, and a worse tear is made. 22 And no one puts new wine into old wineskins. If he does, the wine will burst the skins—and the wine is destroyed, and so are the skins. But new wine is for fresh wineskins.”
The point that Jesus is making is pretty straightforward: you don’t put a patch of new, unshrunk cloth on an old garment, because the first time you wash it, the patch will shrink and pull away from the garment and make the hole bigger. And the illustration about not putting new wine into old wineskins is the same thing. As wine begins to ferment, it releases gases which expand the wineskin its put in. Notice the point Jesus makes—when the wineskin bursts, it destroys both the wine and the wineskin. Where is He going with this? Well, realize that at this point, Jesus was speaking specifically to the Pharisees. They were the popular religious leaders of the day. And even though we tend to make the word “Pharisee” synonymous with the word “hypocrite,” the truth is that in Jesus’ day the Pharisees were well respected as zealous guardians of the law. They wanted to apply God’s law to every area of life. They wanted to make sure that the truth of God’s Word wouldn’t be compromised by modern society. So they wanted to guard against every conceivable violation. Hands and utensils had to be washed properly. Food had to be carefully prepared. Since ritual purity was so important, Pharisees refused to be around people who ignored these things. (They would have fit right in with all our current conversations about hand washing and social distancing!)
Actually if we had been around at the time of Jesus, we would have probably admired the Pharisees, We might even have been Pharisees ourselves. We have a high view of the authority of Scripture. We don’t want to see it compromised in our society. The problem with the Pharisees is that there was not room in their worldview for anything new. And Jesus comes on the scene and says, “Guess what? I’m doing something new.
Let me ask you something: Raise your hand if you have an iPhone. Now, please keep your hand raised if your iPhone is a replacement for an older model of iPhone. [Ask someone]—do you still carry the other phone? Why not?
See, now that you have the new iPhone, the old iPhone has been deactivated. It no longer has the power to connect you to anyone else.
And this is exactly how the gospel of Jesus is. It doesn’t get added to the Old Testament law. It replaces the Old testament law. There is a new way for sin to be dealt with. There’s a new way to determine who’s in and who’s out of the family of God. And there’s a new relationship to the rules that govern citizenship of the kingdom.”
And the Pharisees couldn’t accept this. As a result, as it says in chapter 3:6, they began to make plans for how they could destroy Jesus. So with the time we have left this morning, let’s zoom out and look at what these different controversises tell us about what’s new with the Good News.
1. There is a new way to be forgiven (2:1-12)
Story number 1: At the beginning of chapter 2, Jesus is back in Capernaum teaching. Most likely, he is at Peter’s house. And the place is packed with people wanting to hear Jesus. So many that you literally couldn’t get through the door. And Jesus is preaching “the word” to them (This is the only time in the gospels the phrase “preach the word” is used. The Greek word for word is logos. In John 1, Jesus is called “the word” or “the logos,” so Jesus is literally preaching Himself). Verse 3 says that 4 friends come bringing a paralytic on a bed. Remember, Mark is the gospel for specific, eyewitness details, and true to form, Mark is the only gospel that tells you how many friends there were.
So when these friends see that they can’t get their friend through the door, they really let him down. Literally. As in, through a hole they make in the roof. They drop him at Jesus feet. And verse five says something that, depending on how you understand the way salvation works, ought to mess you up:
5 And when Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, “Son, your sins are forgiven.”
Whose faith? The word “their” is ambiguous, and we tend to look at it and exclude the paralytic himself. See, it messes us up because we understand that forgiveness of sins is a person-to-person transaction. Our sins aren’t forgiven because of someone else’s faith, but because of our faith, right? Well, don’t get too bent out of shape about that. But there’s nothing in the text to suggest that Jesus wasn’t talking about the faith he, the paralytic had right alonng with the faith his friends had. The faith he had to get his friends to do this for him. The faith he had to allow himself to be lowered. We don’t have to exclude the paralytic from the “their” that’s there.
Aren’t you glad Jesus Himself didn’t exclude the paralytic?
Well, the scribes were bent out of shape for a totally different reason. Even if they had accepted Jesus as the Messiah (which they never did), In Jewish thought, not even the Messiah was able to forgive sin. And for sin to be forgiven, an animal had to be brought to the temple. The High Priest had to lay his hand on it. And it had to be slain. Nowhere in Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, or Deuteronomy did it say “Lower a guy through the roof and his sins will be forgiven.”
So they ask the right question:
7 “Why does this man speak like that? He is blaspheming! Who can forgive sins but God alone?”
It’s the right question because its true: only God can forgive sin. But the scribes come to the wrong conclusion. Instead of daring to believe that Jesus is God, they conclude that Jesus is a blasphemer. And they can’t bring themselves to consider that there might be a new way for sins to be forgiven. That maybe God wants to make a way to right relationship with him that isn’t going to be by the blood of bulls and goats.
Well, Jesus perceives “in his spirit that they thus questioned within themselves,” (ding ding! Omniscience! Another clue that He is God!!) so He asks them some questions of his own:
“Why do you question these things in your hearts? 9 Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Rise, take up your bed and walk’?
What’s the answer? Which is easier? The truth is, they are both equally easy for someone to say, because talk is cheap. But they are both equally impossible to do, unless you have the authority Jesus had. We talked about Jesus authority last week. So look what he does:
10 But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”—he said to the paralytic— 11 “I say to you, rise, pick up your bed, and go home.” 12 And he rose and immediately picked up his bed and went out before them all, so that they were all amazed and glorified God, saying, “We never saw anything like this!”
Of course they had never seen anything like this! Why? Because the good news is new. It’s a new patch that can’t be sewn onto the old garment of the law. It’s new wine that can’t be poured into the old wineskin of the Scribes teaching.
It’s a new way to be forgiven of sin—through a relationship with Jesus.
Now let’s look at what happens next. Last week, we talked about Jesus’ call of Levi the tax collector. How Jesus saw Levi (Matthew) at the tax booth and said follow me, and Levi got up and followed him. But what we didn’t talk about is what happened after that.
2. There is a new definition of belonging (2:13-17)
Sometime after that, maybe even that evening—the text doesn’t say—Levi threw a dinner party for all his tax collector friends. Levi would have been wealthy as a tax collector, so presumably he would have had a pretty big house. So we read in verse 15 that
15 And as he reclined at table in his house, many tax collectors and sinners were reclining with Jesus and his disciples, for there were many who followed him. 16 And the scribes of[a] the Pharisees, [other translations say “scribes and the Pharisees”], when they saw that he was eating with sinners and tax collectors, said to his disciples, “Why does he eat[b] with tax collectors and sinners?”
Now again, let’s crawl inside the heads of the Pharisees for a minute. Remember that they were committed to purity. And purity meant separation. If you were to truly belong to God, you couldn’t associate with anyone that was impure, or unclean. Or sinful. Unfortunately, for the Scribes and the Pharisees, that pretty much meant anyone who wasn’t a scribe or a Pharisee. So I imagine they pass Levi’s house, and they know there’s a party going on up in here. Cars all up and down the street. Folks lining up outside just to get down. And they would never think of going in themselves, so I imagine they’re out on the sidewalk. Or maybe they’re in the flowerbeds, looking through the windows. But here’s what I think is fascinating, and if you don’t picture the scene in your mind, you’ll miss it:
You know they aren’t going to go into the house of a tax collector, right? So they ask “Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?”
Who do they ask? [The disciples]. So for them to ask the disciples, where would the disciples have to be? That’s right. The disciples must have been out on the sidewalk too. Not all of them—verse 15 says that the tax collectors and sinners were reclining with Jesus and the disciples. But some of them must have been hanging out on the fringes in order for the Scribes and Pharisees to ask them this question. Maybe they were thinking to themselves, “is this right? Are we really going to have to share our Jesus with those kind of people?”
Maybe the Scribes and the Pharisees weren’t the only ones that needed convincing that there was a new definition of who’s in and who’s out. So look at Jesus’ response:
17 And when Jesus heard it, he said to them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.”
Did you notice? Here’s another ambiguous pronoun. I’d always just assumed that the “them” was the scribes and the Pharisees. But when you realize that the disciples themselves might have had some hesitation about eating with tax collectors and sinners, maybe they’re the them.
Maybe we’re the them. Aren’t there a few people that, if we’re being honest, we think “Really?” Jesus, are you really going to include them too? But don’t you know what they were like in high school? Don’t you know about the things they’ve done? I mean, I know you can save anybody, Jesus, but does “anybody” really mean… anybody?
But Jesus introduces a new definition of belonging. It’s a definition that doesn’t depend on being born a Jew. And praise God, it’s a definition that doesn’t depend on being brought up in a good Christian home. Its actually a definition that doesn’t depend on anything at all from us. Look again at verse 15:
15 And as he reclined at table in his house, many tax collectors and sinners were reclining with Jesus.
What were they doing? They were reclining with Jesus. Doesn’t say they were working for Jesus. Or behaving for Jesus. They were reclining with Jesus. That’s a resting posture. And if you can stop working so hard and just rest with Jesus, then guess what? You BELONG with Jesus.
One of my favorite hymns is “Jesus I am resting, resting.” It doesn’t get sung very often anymore. Its actually kind of hard to get your mouth around all the “thees and thous.” But listen to these words:
Jesus, I am resting, resting, in the joy of what Thou art;
I am finding out the greatness of Thy loving heart.
Thou hast bid me gaze upon Thee, and Thy beauty fills my soul,
For by Thy transforming power, thou hast made me whole.
O, how great Thy loving kindness, vaster, broader than the sea!
O, how marvelous Thy goodness, lavished all on me!
Yes, I rest in Thee, Beloved, know what wealth of grace is Thine,
Know Thy certainty of promise, and have made it mine.
Simply trusting Thee, Lord Jesus, I behold Thee as Thou art,
And Thy love, so pure, so changeless, satisfies my heart;
Satisfies its deepest longings, meets, supplies its every need,
Compasseth me round with blessings: thine is love indeed!
Remember Jesus invitation from last week? In Matthew 11:28, Jesus says, 28 Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Stop working so hard. Recline.
3. There is a new relationship to the rules (2:23-3:6)
Now, when we trust that through Jesus, our sins can be forgiven, and that because of him, we can know that we belong in his family, that gives us a new relationship to the rules. Let’s look quickly at the last couple of stories. Both of them involve the rules about the Sabbath. Look at verse 23:
23 One Sabbath he was going through the grain fields, and as they made their way, his disciples began to pluck heads of grain. 24 And the Pharisees were saying to him, “Look, why are they doing what is not lawful on the Sabbath?”
I have to pause here to ask, were the Pharisees stalking Jesus? It seems like every time Jesus turns around, there’s a Pharisee trying to catch him doing something wrong. Jesus’ disciples are going through the grain fields. And they get hungry. So they pluck some heads of grain to eat them. I don’t know if the Pharisees are walking along behind them, or if they are standing on the edge of the field with binoculars, or what, but sure enough, they immediately start pointing fingers saying—“They’re harvesting! They’re gathering grain! It’s the Sabbath! Citizens arrest! Citizens arrest!
You want to talk about work? Do you know how hard the Pharisees worked to make sure they didn’t work on the Sabbath? They had calculated how many steps you could walk to get to synagogue before it was considered working on the Sabbath, and then they made sure nobody’s home was built more than that many steps from the synagogue.
Even to this day, if you go to Israel and stay in a high rise hotel, you’ll see this in the elevator lobby:
SHABBAT ELEVATOR sign. Every hotel has one elevator that is programmed to stop at every floor on the Sabbath so that you aren’t doing the work of pushing a button. And if you have someplace you have to be on the Sabbath, you either budget some extra time, or you wait in the lobby until a Gentile walks up, and then ride down with him!
So Jesus looks at these guys and says, “You’re missing the point!” “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.”
A similar thing happens when Jesus and His disciples get to the synagogue. There’s a man with a withered hand there. And now you know the Pharises are stalking Jesus, because verse 2 says, they watched Jesus,[a] to see whether he would heal him on the Sabbath, so that they might accuse him.
3 Again he entered the synagogue, and a man was there with a withered hand. 2 And they watched Jesus,[a] to see whether he would heal him on the Sabbath, so that they might accuse him.
Jesus brings the guy with the withered hand front and center in front of everybody. And basically, he says to all of those scribes and pharisees, “Guys, which is more important to you—your rules, or people?”
And we can ask the same question today. Which is more important? Being right, or people? Venting your righteous indignation on social media against everyone who supports the wrong candidate or has the wrong view about your favorite political issue, or even cheers for the wrong football team—or people? Which is more important-- having a spotless sanctuary, or having hundreds of loud, wiggly, greasy-fingered snotty nosed kids running around for a week of vacation Bible school? Which is more important: Having a fellowship hall that never smells like smoke or body odor, or hosting an alcoholics anonymous group for men who are trying to get sober?
Jesus says, “You know what? I’m doing a new thing. We are going to have a new relationship to the rules. From now on, we aren’t going to think that following the rules is what saves people, but that saved people follow the rules out of a glad and thankful heart. And I’m looking for people will never put following the rules above loving people. I’m looking for people that that are going to see people and love people and be willing to give up their own comfort for people and die to themselves for people. Who will never put propriety before people. Who will never put politics before people. Who will never put prejudice before people. Are there any people here like that?
5 And he looked around at them with anger, grieved at their hardness of heart, and said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” He stretched it out, and his hand was restored. 6 The Pharisees went out and immediately held counsel with the Herodians against him, how to destroy him.
In the coming weeks leading up to and through Easter, we are going to see how the Pharisees tried to destroy Jesus. But we are also going to see how they completely and totally failed. Because Jesus couldn’t be destroyed. And the life he offers you today is for all eternity. He offers a new way for your sins to be forgiven. He has created a new definition of what it means to belong to His family. And through him we have a new relationship to the rules.
And He offers you this invitation: Recline with Jesus.
INVITATION
