Why Did They Kill Jesus? - Mark 2:6-3:6 Series

Five Conflict Stories

Does Jesus Christ strike you as a likeable guy? The type of guy most people would look up to and respect, even if they disagreed with his teachings? Most people would say “yes,” but think about how his life ended. It ended in his early 30’s with the crowds in Israel begging the Romans to crucify him. Why? What happened? I’ve had a lot of people get upset with me in my lifetime, but I’ve never had a lynch mob screaming for my blood. Why was their such vehement hatred for Jesus?

Very early in the book – starting in v.1 of ch.2, Mark wants to show us the storm clouds begin to gather that ultimately lead to the crucifixion. He’s going to show us how that violent hatred for Jesus started and grew. In this section, we’re going to see Jesus collide with the authorities 5 times. Jesus had lots of run-ins with the Jewish authorities, but Mark picks out five and puts them all in a row here to show us how that hostility began, and why it progressed.

All through these 5 encounters, you’ll see the opposition escalating. In the first one, it was just in their thoughts, and it gets more and more confrontive, until the 5th one, where Jesus and the Pharisees end up toe to toe, both furious with each other. You can’t have two kingdoms occupy the same place at the same time. They are going to collide, and one will have to give way to the other.

1) Blasphemy

It all began in their thoughts. We started looking at this last week – when Jesus forgave the sins of the paralytic. Jesus said to him:

Mark 2:5 …Son, your sins are forgiven. 6 Now some teachers of the law were sitting there, thinking to themselves, 7 “Why does this fellow talk like that? He’s blaspheming! Who can forgive sins but God alone?”

The word translated thinking is actually the word for arguing. They are arguing with Jesus, but only in their own minds. That’s the best way to win an argument. I almost always win arguments when I keep them in my own head. That’s what they try, but it doesn’t work.

8 Immediately Jesus knew in his spirit that this was what they were thinking in their hearts, and he said to them, “Why are you thinking these things?”

Jesus Sees into the Heart

Jesus knows their thoughts. He sees everyone’s heart in this account. He knows what’s in the paralytic’s heart, all four friends, and now the Scribes. That’s something the OT promised the Messiah would be able to do.

Isaiah 11:3 … He will not judge by what he sees with his eyes, or decide by what he hears with his ears.

The Messiah won’t have to rely on what he sees and hears – he will know people’s hearts so he can judge perfectly. And so he says:

8 … “Why are you thinking these things?”

Thought Life

That’s a good question for us. At any given moment in the day Jesus might ask, “Why are you thinking these things?” Repent as quickly and as thoroughly as you can over bad thoughts and attitudes, because God will hold you responsible for what’s in your heart. And what is in your heart will eventually come out in your actions anyway. That’s what we’re going to see happen in the next few encounters.

Blasphemy

So in their thoughts they accuse Jesus of blasphemy because only God can forgive sins, so by forgiving this man’s sins, Jesus was claiming to be God. And if you question whether that’s what Jesus meant, look at v.10.

10 … the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins.

He didn’t back off. It used to be that the only way to have sins forgiven was to look to heaven. But now there is someone walking around on the earth who has the authority to forgive sins committed against God.

Now, when you see the word blasphemy, don’t think of just a doctrinal disagreement. Blasphemy carried the death penalty. And those were the charges when they finally did condemn him to death.

Mark 14:64 "You have heard the blasphemy. What do you think?" They all condemned him as worthy of death.

So this was a very serious issue. (Although, the blasphemy charge wasn’t the real reason they killed him. We don’t find out the real reason until the last one of these 5 conflicts.) But they claim the reason is blasphemy, and the irony is that in ch.15 it says they blaspheme Jesus while he’s on the cross. So the reader of the Gospel of Mark has to deal with the question of who is blaspheming. Either Jesus is guilty of blasphemy for claiming to be God, or they are guilty of blasphemy for not worshipping him as God. The debate about who Jesus is is a high stakes debate, and you have to land on one side or the other.