The Controversial Christ

Mark 2:1-3:6
Pastor Micah Colbert

Transcript

And many were gathered together so that there was
no more room, not even at the door. And he was preaching the word to them. And
they came, bringing to him a paralytic, carried by four men. And when they could
not get near him because of the crowd, they removed the roof above him. And when
they had made an opening, they let down the bed on which the paralytic lay. And
when Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, son, your sins are
forgiven. Now some of the scribes were sitting there, questioning in their
hearts, why does this man speak like that? He is blaspheming. Who can forgive
sins but God alone? And immediately Jesus, perceiving in his spirit that they
thus questioned within themselves, said to them, why do you question these
things in your hearts? Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, your sins are
forgiven, or to say, rise, take up your bed and walk, but that you may know that
the Son of Man has authority on Earth to forgive sins? He said to the paralytic,
I say to you, rise, pick up your bed and go home. 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, never saw anything like this. Jesus calls Levi. He went
out again beside the sea, and all the crowd was coming to him. And he was
teaching them. And as he passed by, he saw Levi, the son of Alphaeus, sitting at
the tax booth. And he said to him, follow me. And he rose and followed him. And
he reclined at the table in his house. Many tax collectors and sinners were
reclining with Jesus and his disciples. For there were many who followed him.
And the scribes of the Pharisees, when they saw that he was eating with sinners
and tax collectors, said to his disciples, why does he eat with tax collectors
and sinners? And when Jesus heard it, he said to them, those who are well have
no need for physician, but those who are sick. I came not to call the righteous,
but sinners. A question about fasting. Now John's disciples in the Pharisees
were fasting. And people came and said to him, why do John's disciples and the
disciples of the Pharisees fast? But your disciples do not fast. And Jesus said
to them, can the wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them? As long
as they have the bridegroom with them, they cannot fast. The days will come when
the bridegroom is taken away from them. And they will fast in that day. No one
so as a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garnet. If he does, the patch tears
away from it, the new from the old, and a worse tear is made. 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.
Jesus is Lord of the Sabbath. One Sabbath, he was going through the grain
fields. And as they made their way, his disciples began to pluck heads of grain.
And the Pharisees were saying to him, look, why are they doing what is not
lawful on the Sabbath? And he said to them, have you never read what David did
when he was in need and was hungry, he and those who were with him? How he
entered the house of God in the time of Abathar, the high priest, and ate the
bread of the prisons, which was not lawful for any but the priest to eat, and
also gave it to them who were with him. And he said to them, the Sabbath was
made for man, not men for the Sabbath. So the Son of Man is Lord even of the
Sabbath. A man with a withered hand. Again, he entered the synagogue, and a man
was there with a withered hand. And they watched Jesus to see whether he would
heal him on the Sabbath so that they might accuse him. And he said to the man
with the withered hand, come here. And he said to them, is it lawful on the
Sabbath to do good or to do harm, to save a life or to kill? But they were
silent. 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. The Pharisees went out and immediately held counsel with the
Herodians against him. How? To destroy him. These are the words of our God.
Would you pray with me this morning? Father, we thank you for your word. And as
your word goes forward this morning, I pray that you would give us receptive
tender hearts. May we love and cherish and value your truth, submitting to it as
it goes forward. We thank you for Christ. We thank you for what we see of the
beauty and the glory of Christ and his authority as the Son of God over all
things. May we submit to his authority, we pray in Jesus' name, amen. Mark
writes his gospel to prove that Jesus is the Son of God. In Mark 1, we noted
that Jesus came to preach the good news of the kingdom, to usher in God's
kingdom on earth. In Mark 1, we saw his authority as the Son of God over people,
over sickness, over disease, over the spirit world, over Satan's temptations.
And with each display of Christ's power and his authority, we see the crowds
growing in their awe and admiration of this miracle working Messiah. Hearing him
teach in the synagogues, they remarked, no one, no one teaches like this. He
commands even the unclean spirits and they obey him. When Jesus was in Peter's
home, we find the whole city coming together, bringing to him the sick and the
oppressed. And by the end of the chapter, we see that Christ could no longer
openly enter into a town because the people were coming to him from every
corner. And as Mark's gospel moves forward, we see this momentum building as the
reign of Christ breaks into the mess of life in a sin-cursed world. He's
healing, he's teaching, he's renewing, he's restoring. How could anyone not love
this Messiah? But not everyone's thrilled about Jesus. Chapter two introduces
tension and opposition into the story of Christ. And so as we take time to look
at chapter two this morning, we want to answer the question, how will you
respond to Jesus' authority? How will you respond to Jesus' authority? Let's
begin in Mark 2, 1 through 12. In verses 1 through 12, we find the first of four
stories where Jesus is doing or saying something that would have been considered
controversial to the religious leaders of his day. Mark 2 begins and ends with
these events that emphasize Christ's authority as the Son of God. So in Mark 2,
we find that Christ has now returned to Capernaum. This was the place where he
previously had cast out a demon out of a man while he was preaching in the
synagogue. He enters back into Capernaum and, of course, it's reported that he's
present and what happens? The crowds, as you can expect, rush back to see Jesus.
They flock to the home where Christ was. And in verse 3, or verse 2, rather, we
see that as the crowds gather, Christ begins to preach the Word to them. We find
this theme of Christ preaching over and over again in Mark's gospel. Yes, he
came as the miracle worker, but he came to deliver a message and, in fact, to be
the message that he would proclaim to the people. So Christ preaches, but
suddenly he's interrupted. Verse 3, and they came, bringing to him a paralytic
carried by four men. And when they could not get near him because of the crowd,
they removed the roof above him. And when they had made an opening, they let him
down on the bed which the paralytic lay. And when Jesus saw their faith, he said
to the paralytic, son, your sins are forgiven. Four men, convinced that Jesus is
able to heal their friend, try to bring their friend to him. But of course,
there's no room to get their friend to Jesus. But that does not deter them and
their faith and mission. They can't get through to the crowds, so they decide to
somehow get their way up on the roof with their friend, break the roof, so that
they could lower their friend to Jesus. Imagine just the commotion of what this
would have just caused here. So the crowds now suddenly see this man coming down
into the presence of Christ. And what is Christ's response? He looks at the man,
and he says to him, son, your sins are forgiven. Now, in the Old Testament,
forgiveness and healing are frequently interrelated. We see this in 2 Chronicles
7, Psalm 103, Isaiah 19. In Jeremiah, it's actually used interchangeably,
healing and forgiveness. Healing is a demonstration of God's forgiveness. It's a
movement of God to bring life and renewal into the realm of death and decay. But
Christ's healing ministry was only a means to an end. It was a sign that the
kingdom of God had come and was driving back death, sin, and the curse. In many
ways, healing was a token of the renewal that Christ had come to bring. Christ
says, son, your sins are forgiven. Verse 6, now some of the scribes were sitting
there, questioning in their hearts. Why does this man speak like that? He's
blaspheming. Who can forgive sins but God alone? Now, we're introduced to this
new group in the story of Mark called the Scribes. Up until this point, we see
the crowds, but who are these people, the scribes, who are opposed to what Jesus
is doing? The scribes would be considered the religious elites. They were set
apart from the common folk. They were schooled in the law of Moses and in all of
the oral traditions. They were the guardians of the truth. They were the ones
who possessed power. What they said, that's what goes. And so they see Jesus,
they see him saying, your sins are forgiven. And they rightly understand that
only God has the power to forgive. And so they asked this question, why? Four
times in this account, we find the scribes or Pharisees asking a why question.
Now, they're not asking this out of genuine interest. Like, why is he doing
this? I wanna understand more. They're asking this question out of a place of
disgust and opposition. It's like, what are you doing? What's he thinking? Who
can forgive sins but God alone? But that's the whole point. Jesus is using this
healing to demonstrate that he is God, the son of God, who has power to forgive.
And so Jesus responds to this opposition with a question. Verse eight, and
immediately Jesus perceiving in his spirit that they thus question within
themselves said to them, why do you question these things in your heart? Which
is easier to say to the paralytic, your sins are forgiven or to say, rise, take
up your bed and walk. But that you may know that the son of man has authority on
earth to forgive sins. He said to the paralytic, I say to you, rise, pick up
your bed and go home. And he rose and immediately picked up his bed and went out
before them all so that they were all amazed and glorified. God's saying, we
never saw anything like this. Jesus responds as usual in answering a question.
He asks a question, which is easier to say to this man, your sins are forgiven
or to say to him, rise, take up your bed and walk. The point that Jesus was
emphasizing was that if he could make this man rise and has the power to do
that, he also has the power to forgive sins. And he uses this phrase, son of
man, that you may know that the son of man has authority on earth to forgive
sins. Now, that's an important phrase. We know that Mark writes his gospel to
demonstrate that Jesus is the son of God. So why does Jesus refer to himself as
the son of man? Now we might think, well, that's emphasizing Jesus humanity.
This phrase, son of man, for example, was used many times in the book of Ezekiel
to emphasize that Ezekiel was man and God is God. But this phrase, the son of
man is not emphasizing Jesus humanity. It's emphasizing that he is the one that
the prophets spoke of as the Messiah, whose dominion would be an everlasting
dominion. Daniel seven prophesies that the son of man would come and establish
his kingdom to rule over all other kingdoms. And so the people waited for the
time when the son of man would come to establish his kingdom. Jesus is saying
here, I am that one. I'm the promised one, the one you've been waiting for, the
one whose kingdom rules over all other kingdoms. So this isn't emphasizing his
humanity. It's emphasizing his divinity. But he is the one who establishes his
kingdom to rule over all other kingdoms. He is the Messianic king whose divine
authority triumphs over the realm of sin. God and his glory were breaking
through. And so the people, they see the miracle and immediately they're amazed.
They glorify God for the healing. What we might ask is this excitement and
expression of true saving faith? Friends, an enthusiastic response to Jesus
doesn't necessarily mean that a person has committed themselves to the Lord
Jesus. There are in fact many who respond to the message of Christ positively.
But as time goes on, it's clear that the initial excitement isn't necessarily
flowing from a wholehearted submissive faith. For we find much later on in
Mark's gospel, the same crowds who are amazed at Jesus are the same crowds who
cry, crucify him. So let's be careful and discerning, understanding that an
enthusiastic response isn't necessarily a committed response of faith. The
crowds are amazed at what Jesus is doing, but they still haven't grasped his
authority as the son of God. Nor are they ready then to submit to him as the
true son of man. The story continues in Mark 2 13. He went out again beside the
sea and all the crowd was coming to him and he was teaching them. Once again, we
find Christ and the crowds and Christ immediately then addressing the crowds
through a preaching ministry. Now this time, instead of Christ preaching being
interrupted, Christ takes initiative to do something that would have been
considered borderline shocking. Christ has already begun to call disciples to
himself and now he passes by and sees a man named Levi, son of Alpheus, sitting
at the tax booth. And he says to Levi, follow me. Two simple words and Levi
rises and follows Jesus. Now what's shocking about this? Well, when we say here
that Levi was a tax collector, don't think in your mind that he's like an IRS
agent in our society today. That's not exactly, it's not apples to apples here.
I'm not a guy that necessarily loves paying taxes. Nobody really does. Maybe you
do. And yeah, I don't know what to say to you. But we don't necessarily like
that. But we're not talking about something like this here. A tax collector in
that time was something very, very different. That would have been considered a
traitor. The Jews had been subject to Roman oppression and instead of fighting
against this oppressive tyranny, we find the tax collectors who were Jews
working for the Romans. And in fact, oftentimes enriching themselves at the
expense of their fellow Jews. And so the religious leaders and the common folk
were united in their hatred for these people. These guys were the enemies. These
were people that were shunned. They were excommunicated from the synagogue. Even
their families would face disgrace because of their association with this son or
brother or father who was a tax collector. So here is an unlikely man, an
unlikely candidate for discipleship. But Jesus calls Levi or Matthew to himself.
And I can't help but wonder how the other disciples responded when Christ did
this. Matthew is excited and he celebrates the occasion by hosting a feast in
verses 15 through 17. And as he, Jesus reclined at table in his Matthew's house,
many tax collectors and sinners were reclining with Jesus and his disciples. For
there were many who followed him. And the scribes and the Pharisees, when they
saw that he was eating with sinners and tax collectors, said to his disciples,
why does this man eat with tax collectors and sinners? 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. So Matthew is extended
this invitation. Follow me. Matthew leaves behind his old way of life and he
embraces the Lord Jesus. He's so excited that he did he organizes a large meal
at his home. And here we find Christ sitting at this banquet table with the most
unlikely group of people, a beautiful picture of what is to come when the
Messiah sits with his people at the Messianic banquet table. And of course, the
response of the religious elites is shock and disgust. We had the scribes
introduced in the first part. We have the Pharisees now being introduced in this
story. Who are these Pharisees? These are mostly middle-class businessmen,
synagogue leaders who were known for their zeal for the law and for the
traditions. And they were very careful to maintain ceremonial purity and
distinctions, especially between the righteous and the sinners and under no
circumstances were the righteous to have any association with the sinners or
those who really did not regard their traditions. So they find Christ sitting
with this group of people reclining at table, eating with them as a symbol of
friendship and welcoming. And they say, why does he do this? That he should not
be doing what's he thinking? That's not how this works. They could not
understand his mission. They couldn't imagine folks like this having a place at
the Messianic banquet in the everlasting kingdom. That's not how this should be.
But notice Christ's response. He says, I did not come to call the righteous, the
self-righteous, but the sinners to repentance. As the great physician, Christ
understood that his mission was to call sin sick sinners to himself, to heal and
forgive and renew and restore. A beautiful picture of what Jesus is doing even
now in building his everlasting kingdom. Now friend, there's no evidence in this
passage that Levi is somehow actively pursuing Christ. There's nothing here
about this man that would give anyone any hope that he would follow Jesus. He's
the kind of person that we would look at and think, well, that guy or that gal
definitely would not really be interested in Christ. And they're not going to
really want to hear the gospel. We all have people like that in our mind, in our
heart. But the good news is that these are the people that Jesus came to save.
First Corinthians one says for consider your calling brothers. Not many of you
were wise according to worldly standards. Not many were powerful. Not many were
of noble birth, but God chose what is foolish in the world. The shame, the wise.
God chose what is weak in the world. The shame, the strong. God chose what is
low and despised in the world. Even things that are not to bring to nothing
things that are so that no human would boast in the presence of God. This is our
savior, the one who calls the most unlikely people to himself. Some of you, you
know this. You remember vividly what your life was like before Jesus and how
Jesus came and saved your soul when that was the last thing on your mind and
your life has been changed. That's what Jesus does. I think about my dad. My
dad's no longer with us today, but my dad was one of those unlikely salvation
candidates. After coming back from the Vietnam war, he was deeply embittered
toward God, toward the things of God. He had rejected his religious upbringing.
What had nothing to do with those Jesus freaks. In fact, one of his coworkers
was leading a Bible study. And so my dad, knowing where my coworker was leading
the study, made it a pattern of driving by their home at the time when the Bible
study was going on and he would park his car. He had subwoofers in his vehicle
and he would blare music so that they couldn't do their Bible study. That's what
he would do. So one day his coworkers says, look, Rick, you need to stop this
man. You need to come in here and find out what's going on. He's like, you guys
are crazy. He said, you just come and listen and then we won't bother you
anymore. So my dad came and he heard the good news of Jesus and was saved. His
life was so dramatically changed. In fact, people were just stunned. They said,
what happened to you? What happened to Rick? You're not the guy that used to be
anymore. He wasn't the person that people would look at and say, now that guy is
going to be a good follower of Jesus. That was the last thing on anyone's mind.
But God reaches down and saves the most unlikely. The religious leaders didn't
like it, but that's our Jesus. He's the son of God. He has authority to forgive
and he has authority to call the most unlikely people to himself. We can take
heart in that. Mark's gospel continues with yet another story of Jesus doing
good, but the leaders rejecting. Now verse 18, John's disciples and the
Pharisees were fasting a regular part of their disciplines. And the people came
and said to him, why do John's Pharisees and the disciples of, or why do John's
disciples and the disciples of the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not
fast? This question, again, not one in which there is genuine interest to
understand the answer, but rather it was essentially an attack on the followers
of Jesus, their piety or their commitment. So in the Bible, fasting was a sign
of mourning over sin. For the Pharisees, fasting had kind of become a sign of
their piety, of their commitment to the Lord. For the followers of John the
Baptist, fasting was an expression of repentance that was designed to hasten the
coming of the Messiah and his kingdom. And so the disciples of John are fasting,
hoping the kingdom will come. The Pharisees are fasting to show how spiritual
they are, but Jesus' disciples, they're not fasting. And so why don't your
disciples fast? Notice in verse 19, Jesus' response. Can the wedding guests fast
while the bridegroom is with them? As long as they have the bridegroom with
them, they cannot fast. The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away
from them, and then they will fast in that day. 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. 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. New wine is for fresh wineskins. What is Jesus saying? This ought to
be a time of rejoicing because the Messiah is here. The king is in their
presence. The kingdom has come. And Christ comes and he brings in a new order.
It's not simply a continuation of what was going on. It was the fulfillment of
everything that had transpired before. The newness that Christ brings breaks the
mold that the people have grown accustomed to. He said, the groom is here. The
king is in your presence. This ought to be a time of rejoicing, not of mourning,
and certainly not a time of trying to show or earn the favor of God. So he uses
two illustrations. First begins with the example of the clothing. We don't take
a brand new cloth and use it to patch up an old garment because when it's
washed, it creates a greater tear. Then there's the illustration of the wine and
the wineskins. This was a little tricky for me for two reasons. Number one, I
was homeschooled. Secondly, we all know wine is basically vinegar. Okay, so not
a big fan, but Jesus uses this analogy. Again, a little different for me to
understand. But the idea is there when you have new wine that's fermenting, it
begins to expand. And so as it's expanding, what's happening? The skins that are
holding it have to expand. And so if that's happening, there's this new wine in
these old skins that have expanded to the max. The skins will burst. What is
Jesus saying here? What's the point of these illustrations? The point is that
Jesus has come to fulfill the old and bring in the new. So these ceremonies, the
temple, the sacrifices, the priesthood, the rituals, all of these things are
part of the old way of life that had been rendered obsolete because the reality
of what these things were pointing to was now in their presence. And he's
calling his followers to embrace newness of life, the newness of life that Jesus
brings. As believers, we continue to experience this newness of life. We're
called to not only walk in that newness, but to show the world the beauty of
living as God's people under God's reign with God's blessing and God's presence.
And so once again, the religious leaders failed to grasp or understand the
significance of Jesus identity as the son of God. Chapter two then concludes
with yet another story. All of these stories are linked together with
controversy and opposition by demonstrating Christ's authority, not only to
forgive, but his authority as the one who rules even over the Sabbath. In
Sabbath, verse 23, he was going through the grain fields and as they made their
way, his disciples began to pluck heads of grain. Now, this of course was
something that was perfectly lawful to do. Deuteronomy 23 points that out. But
the Pharisees through their traditions had added a lot of different restrictions
to the Sabbath law in order to keep people from violating the Sabbath. And so
the Pharisees look, they see what's going on and they begin to complain. Verse
24, look, why are they doing what is not lawful on the Sabbath, not lawful
according to their traditions? What does Christ do in response? In verse 25, he
says, have you never read what David did when he was in need and was hungry? He
and those who were with him, how he entered the house of God in the time of
Abiathar, the high priest, and ate the bread of the presence, which is not
lawful for any, but for the priest to eat, and also gave it to those who are
with him. And he said to them, the Sabbath was made for man, not man for the
Sabbath. So the son of man is Lord, even over the Sabbath. This appeals to an
Old Testament story where David did something that was considered forbidden in
his time of need as he was running from Saul. He ate the bread of the presence,
which technically would have been considered a violation of the ceremonial law.
But God does not condemn David for breaking this ceremonial rule in this
desperate time of need. Is the priest showing mercy and providing for David was
more significant and more important than observing a ceremonial regulation? What
is Christ doing by pointing to this illustration? He's saying to the Pharisees,
by adding to the law these different restrictions, you're missing the whole
point of the law. You're missing the point here. The Sabbath was not our man was
not made for the Sabbath. No, the Sabbath was made for man. God's commands are
an expression of his goodness and in giving his commands, he's giving man a way
to experience the blessing of life under his reign. As we in faith submit to
God's ways, we experience the blessing of God's goodness. But the Pharisees had
distorted that goodness and made what was meant to be something that brings life
a burden that brings death. And so Jesus says the Sabbath was made for man, not
man for the Sabbath. So the Son of man is Lord even over the Sabbath. That the
one who created and gave the commands is Lord over the commands. The point is
this, Jesus rules over all. And so the story concludes this controversy, this
rising tension between the religious leaders and Jesus concludes in chapter
three, one through six. In chapter three, one through six, Jesus once again
enters the synagogue and as he preaches and teaches, there's a man who's there
with a withered hand and the scribes and Pharisees, they watch Jesus. They want
to see what he's about to do. But he healed this man on the Sabbath because in
their mind, if he did, that would be considered work, which would be considered
a violation of the Sabbath. Jesus knowing what's taking place in verse three, he
calls the man with the withered hand to come here, to come into his presence.
And once again, he reorients their perspective in verse four. Is it lawful on
the Sabbath to do good or to do harm, to save life or to kill? And of course
they were silent. And so he looked at them and there's anger, there's grief
because of the hardness of their hearts and he said to the man, stretch out your
hand. And of course the man stretched it out and his hand was restored. And this
time, instead of asking questions, the Pharisees are now hellbent and determined
to destroy the miracle working Messiah. Jesus deliberately violates the
traditions in order to demonstrate his authority over all. So what's the point
of all of this? What's the point of these different events and stories that are
recorded in Mark's gospel? As Mark writes these events, these historic true
events, he's forcing us into a decision. How will we respond to Christ's
authority? If you're not here as a believer, will you bow the knee to Jesus? For
those who are Christians, we ought not be surprised by the world's response to
Jesus. There'll be folks like the Pharisees and the scribes who respond to the
authority of Christ with open hostility. They want nothing to do with it.
There'll be those who are like the crowds. They express interest. Jesus is
intrigued, maybe even excitement, but they're not ready to commit to Christ. And
the issue we need to understand is not intellectual. It's a moral issue. People
don't want to relinquish control and submit to the authority of Christ. Think
about this, friends. These scribes and Pharisees zealous students of the law,
they knew the scriptures and they're seeing Christ and his power to heal and
forgive and restore. The problem is not intellectual. It's a moral problem. They
don't want to submit to the authority of Christ. And that's fallen man in our
natural condition. We go all the way back to the book of Genesis and what
happens? We find that man would rather choose good and evil for themselves than
to submit to the goodness of God in his reign. The problem is moral. There are
some here. You hear the truth of Christ. You know the truths. You can articulate
the truths about Jesus, but you've never really bowed the knee in repentance and
faith. Friends, Jesus calls you today to repent and believe the gospel, to
submit to his lordship. The reality is one day we will all acknowledge Christ as
Lord. Every knee will bow, every tongue will confess that he's Lord. We're
called to do that now before it's too late. If you're here without Christ,
submit to his authority. And for those who are Christians, be ready to give an
answer. Be ready to proclaim the authority of Christ, but also show the world
the beauty of life under the rule and reign of Christ as you walk in the newness
of life that Jesus brings. So the question that these people needed to answer,
the question we need to answer is how will you respond to Christ's authority?
Let's pray. Father, we thank you for these events that are recorded for us in
your word, where we see the authority of Jesus, we see the breaking in of his
kingdom, we see the newness of life that he brings, we see the glory of the
salvation that he provides. Father, may we embrace Christ in faith. For those of
us who are followers of Christ, who know the Lord, I pray that we would daily
submit to your authority, walking in newness of life as we submit to your word
in your way. Empower us, we pray, in Jesus name, amen. Let's stand together as
we sing.