February 18, 2002
BaptistWay Bible Study for Texas lesson for March 10
Pharisees--wrong questions; Jesus--right answers
____By John Park Jr.
__Mark 2:1-17; 3:1-6
___2:1 A few days later, when Jesus again entered Capernaum, the people heard that he had come home. 2 So many gathered that there was no room left, not even outside the door, and he preached the word to them. 3 Some men came, bringing to him a paralytic, carried by four of them. 4 Since they could not get him to Jesus because of the crowd, they made an opening in the roof above Jesus and, after digging through it, lowered the mat the paralyzed man was lying on. 5 When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, "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?"
___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? 9 Which is easier: to say to the paralytic, 'Your sins are forgiven,' or to say, 'Get up, take your mat and walk'? 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 tell you, get up, take your mat and go home." 12 He got up, took his mat and walked out in full view of them all. This amazed everyone and they praised God, saying, "We have never seen anything like this!"
___13 Once again Jesus went out beside the lake. A large crowd came to him, and he began to teach them. 14 As he walked along, he saw Levi son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax collector's booth. "Follow me," Jesus told him, and Levi got up and followed him.
___15 While Jesus was having dinner at Levi's house, many tax collectors and "sinners" were eating with him and his disciples, for there were many who followed him. 16 When the teachers of the law who were Pharisees saw him eating with the "sinners" and tax collectors, they asked his disciples: "Why does he eat with tax collectors and 'sinners'?"
___17 On hearing this, Jesus said to them, "It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners." ...
___3:1 Another time he went into the synagogue, and a man with a shriveled hand was there. 2 Some of them were looking for a reason to accuse Jesus, so they watched him closely to see if he would heal him on the Sabbath. 3 Jesus said to the man with the shriveled hand, "Stand up in front of everyone."
___4 Then Jesus asked them, "Which is lawful on the Sabbath: to do good or to do evil, to save life or to kill?" But they remained silent.
___5 He looked around at them in anger and, deeply distressed at their stubborn hearts, said to the man, "Stretch out your hand." He stretched it out, and his hand was completely restored. 6 Then the Pharisees went out and began to plot with the Herodians how they might kill Jesus.
___She handed me the phone and said, "It's your brother David." I took the phone and said, "How's it going?" With uneasiness in his voice, he responded: "Not too good right now. I'm standing in front of the ranch house and the front porch is now on top of the roof of the house! A wind storm must have flipped the front porch roof right back on the house!"
___Some time later, we were working to repair the standing seam metal roof. I was working on the roof, and David was handing me the panels. In a moment of rare form, I inadvertently slid off the roof, onto the stepladder and held on to the ladder as it fell across that concrete porch, tossing me into the dirt and briars.
___Fortunately, I was not hurt, but unfortunately, three people witnessed the calamity, including my wife who may never let me on a roof again! Fortunately for the paralytic that Jesus healed, his helpers were more sure-footed than I was.
___Background
___The Gospel of Mark is full of action. In the first chapter, John the Baptizer prepares the way for Jesus and then baptizes his cousin. Jesus was immediately blessed by God and led into the wilderness, where he was tempted by Satan and cared for by the angels. Jesus returned from the wilderness spiritually charged and began gathering his disciples, preaching, healing and performing miracles.
___Understanding the context
___As the reader begins chapter 2, he already knows Jesus is the Son of God and has read confirming statements from God, heard of the confirming presence of the Holy Spirit and has read of the confirming acts of divine healing. Since the reader is fully informed, the disciples' confusion about Jesus is puzzling.
___Mark gets right to the point with his Gentile readers. His intent was to interpret the significance of the life, death and resurrection of Jesus, the Son of God, not to provide a list of facts about Jesus of Nazareth.
___Mark wrote the story of Jesus so that those who heard the story would understand how committing themselves to Jesus and his way would affect their lives.
___Chapter 2 finds Jesus about his ministry, but five questions that arise in this chapter become increasingly problematic. Jesus shows more concern for sinners than for righteous people who seek no forgiveness. According to Mark, protecting and enforcing religious law is not the focus of Jesus' ministry. Jesus focused on reconciling sinners, feeding the hungry and healing the sick. This focus puts Jesus in conflict with religious people whose power depends upon identifying and ostracizing sinners.
___The five-question framework
___Early in this gospel, Jesus begins to encounter controversy and growing opposition on the part of the scribes (the official teachers of Jewish religion) and the Pharisees (the lay devotees and enthusiasts for the scribal interpretation of religion). Mark tells five controversy stories, which demonstrate Jesus' authority to forgive sins and to interpret Scripture in nontraditional ways.
___He's blaspheming
___It is in the context of the healing of the paralytic that was lowered through the roof that the first question of five surfaces. The paralyzed man was brought to Jesus for healing, but the crowd inside and outside of the house prevented proximity to the healer. So the man's devoted and resourceful friends broke a hole in the roof and lowered the man on a stretcher into the room before Jesus. When Jesus saw their faith, he forgave the sins of the sick man.
___In Jesus' time, it was common to regard physical ills as a punishment or consequence of sin. It may well be that the paralytic himself believed his paralysis was due to sin--we do not know for certain--but Jesus saw the deeper need and said six powerful words to the man, "My son, your sins are forgiven!"
___The next verse (2:6) in the Scripture begins with the word "but." My psychologist friends remind me that after every high comes a low, after every mountain comes a valley. The high of the paralytic's restoration with God is followed by the low of the scribes' scowl. They had a front-row seat, but they missed the miraculous moment. They missed the messianic manifestation for which they had formal training and about which they were considered experts.
___Instead of rejoicing, they engaged in religious reasoning-- "Why does this fellow talk like that? He's blaspheming! Who can forgive sins but God alone?" Immediately (Mark's favorite word), Jesus responds to their thoughts and identifies himself as the "Son of Man."
___Son of Man
___Mark has now recorded that Jesus is both Son of Man and Son of God. The latter title was obviously the dearest to Mark and the Gentile church. The phrase "a son of man" was used commonly in Old Testament times in the same way we might refer to "a human being." However in the New Testament, "the Son of man" becomes a title. This is the title Jesus used for himself more than any other.
___Most contexts indicate that in using this title Jesus is thinking of Daniel 7:13, where the "Son of man" is a heavenly figure, both an individual and the ideal representative of the people of God. It seems that sometimes Jesus uses this title to emphasize his authority (Mark 2:10), and at other times his humility (Mark 10:45).
___Sabbath healing
___The first question of five is topically related to the fifth question. They both come under the category of "a healing and a controversy." The fifth question (3:1-6) relates to the healing of the man with the withered hand. Jesus was in the synagogue, along with a man with a withered hand and also a group who were looking for a reason to accuse Jesus.
___Verse 2 has an indicting phrase--"so they watched him closely to see if he would heal on the Sabbath." The implication is that by this time they had no question as to if he could heal, but if he would heal on the Sabbath. They were watching Jesus through the judging eyes of legalism.
___Jesus looked around at them in verse 5 "in anger and deeply distressed at their stubborn hearts." They felt Jesus was not following the law, while Jesus was trying to teach them they did not understand the law.
___Poor dinner guests
___The setting of the second question comes in 2:23-27, where Jesus calls Levi, the tax collector, to follow him. Levi left his tax booth and followed Jesus to a large dinner, which included many tax collectors, sinners and Jesus' disciples. Upon this sight, the Pharisees asked the disciples why Jesus would eat with these people?
___To the observant Jews in Jesus' own time, it was scandalous to associate with such men. Jesus violated their code of conduct and the tradition of ceremonial cleanness. Jesus had a way of drawing the irreligious.
___The modern counterpoints of tax collectors and sinners do not come in large numbers to our churches today. It is disturbing to think that the very class of people on whom Jesus had a strong pull are conspicuously absent from churches today. We might say, "If they don't come, it is their own fault." However, these people were approached and invited by Jesus. He demonstrated sympathy, compassion, love and equal treatment. He had no walls of aloofness around him.
___Wrong day
___The second question relates topically to the fourth question regarding controversies over eating. In the second question, Jesus is accused of eating with the wrong type of people. In the fourth question Jesus' disciples acquire food in the wrong way (2:23-28).
___The disciples had a physical need, and they had all about them God's provision for their need. The Pharisees were watching the disciples in the field, performing unlawful work by picking some heads of grain. Once again, the religious leaders choose the appearance of godliness over the substance of the work on God.
___Pious improprieties
___Ironically, the third controversy was over not eating, fasting (2:18-22). The Pharisees fasted twice a week; quite possibly, John's disciples did too. Often those who are strict tend to make their own practice a standard and then condemn all who do not fully come up to it.
___Ecclesiastes 3 says there is a time for everything and Jesus' response is similar. Jesus says in effect that there is a time to fast and a time not to fast, and this is no time for fasting and mourning. The kingdom of God is at hand, and the powers of darkness are being overthrown. Jesus rejected exclusive and artificial standards of goodness. He rejected the closed circled of "the righteous."
___Unlikely allies
___This is the climax of the series of five conflicts with the scribes and Pharisees recorded in chapters 2-3, of Mark. The opposition to Jesus grew so strong, the hatred of the Pharisees so bitter, that they joined hands with the Herodians, the supporters of the Herodian family, whom ordinarily they opposed, in a declaration of war. In this case, the religious forces lined up against Jesus with secular political and economic power.
___Even though the Pharisees and the Herodians were far apart in ideas and belief, nevertheless, they both were defenders of the status quo. The Pharisees were defending a religious order and privilege. The Herodians were defenders of an entrenched order of political power. Both feared Jesus as an upsetter.
Questions for thought and discussion
___Why did Jesus forgive the paralytic's sins before he healed him?
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