The Way to Follow Jesus - The Gospel of Mark part 2

Ultra orthodox Jews still today form hedges for instance: Israel’s major airline, El Al, recently rejected a plea by ultra-orthodox Jews with a priestly heritage to fly inside body bags. Why would someone want to do this? Ritual law states that a priest who enters cemetery becomes religiously "unclean." A ruling by a prominent rabbi declared that flying over a cemetery was the same as entering it. He suggested body bags as a means of maintaining separation, but abandoned the idea when told by airline security that it would be unsafe. Orthodox priests can now avoid pollution by flying late at night, as the noise levels require night flights to follow an alternate route which doesn’t pass above the cemetery. This type of behaviour sounds bizarre to Western ears, but it harks all the way back to the time of Jesus. The Pharisees too went to great extremes to ensure they observed the Law of Moses.
In the world of Jesus we will come into contact with four sects that were within Judaism of His time.

The Saducees, the Revolutionaries (Sicarii), the Pharisees, and the Essenes.

Each group would have flourished up until the destruction of the Jewish Temple in 70AD.

The Sadducees were in the back pocket of the Romans and were political, rich, and only believed in the inspiration of the first five books of the Bible. They also denied the resurrection of the dead. They Sadducees were the party of the priests on Israel.

The Sicarii wanted to take on the Romans and fight a war through violent overthrow of the government.

The Essenes were a separatist movement that moved into the wilderness and went about trying to purify Judaism. They saw the Temple as so corrupt and out of tough that the best thing to do is to separate and start over.

The Pharisees are one of the most common groups we find in the New Testament and they were a movement of purity.

Their name means to ‘Set Apart’ and were the forefathers of modern day Rabbinic Judaism.
They felt strongly about the Old Law and the Oral Tradition.

They had very intricate rules of fellowship and who you could talk to.
The Pharisees also believed in the Resurrection of the dead.

The Pharisees will plague Jesus throughout His ministry.
Later on in the NT we will meet a very famous Pharisee named the Paul that will called to Christ in His conversion experience.


TONIGHT WE CONTINUE OUR SERIES ON THE GOSPEL OF MARK AND WE TURN TO MARK 2.

THE PHARISEES WILL PRESENT THREE QUESTIONS TO JESUS AND HIS FOLLOWERS IN THIS CHAPTER AND WE WILL BE ABLE TO FOCUS ON WHO JESUS IS FROM THESE QUESTIONS

THESE QUESTIONS REVEAL WHO JESUS REALLY IS.






I. JESUS IS USHERING IN THE NEW EXODUS AND FREEDOM FROM SIN.

Mark 2: 1-11
1 When He had come back to Capernaum several days afterward, it was heard that He was at home. 2 And many were gathered together, so that there was no longer room, not even near the door ; and He was speaking the word to them. 3 And they came, bringing to Him a paralytic, carried by four men. 4 Being unable to get to Him because of the crowd, they removed the roof above Him; and when they had dug an opening, they let down the pallet on which the paralytic was lying. 5 And Jesus seeing their faith said to the paralytic, "Son, your sins are forgiven." 6 But some of the scribes were sitting there and reasoning in their hearts, 7 "Why does this man speak that way ? He is blaspheming ; who can forgive sins but God alone ?" 8 Immediately Jesus, aware in His spirit that they were reasoning that way within themselves, said to them, "Why are you reasoning about these things in your hearts ? 9 "Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, 'Your sins are forgiven '; or to say, 'Get up, and pick up your pallet and walk '? 10 "But so 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, get up, pick up your pallet and go home."

Most common title of Mark is ‘Teacher’ but we don’t get a lot of what he is teaching in Mark. Mark gives us a lot of detail about Jesus action but not much of what he said.

Roofs of first century houses were like a deck where you could get a breeze during the cool of the day.
There would be steps up the side of a 1st century house to get to the roof.


1st time faith is used in the Gospel of Mark but will be used over and over again.

“He sees their faith”
For Mark – faith is dynamic and is about action – we have in our heart but it comes out in our actions.

He forgives the man’s sins even though this man came for healing. Jesus gives them much more than just healing.

The Pharisees think that Jesus is a blasphemer so Jesus shows them that He has the authority

"Why does this man speak that way ? He is blaspheming ; who can forgive sins but God alone ?"

Mark doesn’t just have miracles but always has a meaning attached to this healing.

Jesus also attaches a word to a healing and the word he uses with this man is ‘RISE and WALK”

Jesus answers this first question from the Pharisees – Who can forgive sins but God alone?

Jesus tells us the purpose of His miracles,

THAT YOU MAY KNOW
This is a direct reference to the plagues.

Exodus 8 and 9 Moses uses these words to Pharaoh –
That you may know
They are the new Pharaoh – The Pharisees are the ones that are locking people up in the bondage of the slavery of sin.


Jesus said of the Pharisees later in Matthew 23-
Matthew 23: 4
4 "They tie up heavy burdens and lay them on men's shoulders, but they themselves are unwilling to move them with so much as a finger.

The Pharisee party were the ones that had enslaved Israel. They had returned home from Exile but now their own teachers were the ones that had bound them up in the bondage of legalism..

Jesus gives them the answer they would have never expected. He has authority to forgive sins because He is God and has come to set people free.

Jesus saw His own ministry as a liberation:

Luke 4: 18
18 "THE SPIRIT OF THE LORD IS UPON ME, BECAUSE HE ANOINTED ME TO PREACH THE GOSPEL TO THE POOR. HE HAS SENT ME TO PROCLAIM RELEASE TO THE CAPTIVES, AND RECOVERY OF SIGHT TO THE BLIND, TO SET FREE THOSE WHO ARE OPPRESSED,

He performed this miracle to prove that salvation had come and freedom from sin was on the way. The healing of this lame man was just a sign that the New Exodus was occurring and He was brining in freedom through the power of God.
We can also learn that in the eyes of Jesus the true miracle is forgiveness of sins. That is the most important aspect of working of miracles.



II. JESUS CAME TO SEEK AND SAVE THE LOST

Mark 2: 14-17

14 As He passed by, He saw Levi the son of Alphaeus sitting in the tax booth, and He said to him, "Follow Me!" And he got up and followed Him. 15 And it happened that He was reclining at the table in his house, and many tax collectors and sinners were dining with Jesus and His disciples ; for there were many of them, and they were following Him. 16 When the scribes of the Pharisees saw that He was eating with the sinners and tax collectors, they said to His disciples, "Why is He eating and drinking with tax collectors and sinners ?" 17 And hearing this, Jesus said to them, "It is not those who are healthy who need a physician, but those who are sick ; I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners."

This passage reinforces something from the story of the paralytic. Jesus saw their faith and was moved. In this passage Levi sees Jesus pass by and he gets up and follows Him. When it comes to believing in Jesus it requires a dynamic faith that drops everything and follows.
Tax Collectors – collecting money for the Romans – outcasts of society – Benedict Arnolds of the Jews.

Pharisees- Separated ones – Had many food laws and who you could eat with. The Pharisees used social peer pressure because they did not have the power to enforce the Law. They punished by social pressure.
Jesus calls Levi – Levi becomes a follower of Jesus and has a party. This party is the who’s who of notorious people and the Pharisees are scandalized that Jesus would eat with these people. What was He thinking by eating with the rif-raff of Galilee?

Verse 17 is damning indictment for the Pharisees. They basically were so righteous in their own minds that they didn’t need Jesus.
The very mission of Jesus was to find the lost, no matter where they were and to bring them the message of salvation.

Luke 19: 10
For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost."

This question by the Pharisees as to why he eats with the sinners is answered simply with this verse. Jesus is on a laser focused mission of saving the lost.

If we are called to be like Jesus we must have the same mindset that the social orders of this world cannot infect our mission to those that may be the outcasts of our society.

The outcasts and fringe groups were the very ones that Jesus went directly to in His ministry.
We can also contrast the heart of Levi and his party goers with that of the Pharisees. The Pharisees didn’t need Jesus because they felt they were ‘Good Enough’ without his teaching.

The heart that God looks for is the one that is humble and contrite. There is no room for ‘self righteousness’ in God’s Kingdom.

Psalm 51: 16-17
16 For You do not delight in sacrifice, otherwise I would give it; You are not pleased with burnt offering. 17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit ; A broken and a contrite heart, O God, You will not despise.





III. THE LONG AWAITED WEDDING BETWEEN GOD AND HAS PEOPLE HAS BEEN USHERED IN BY CHRIST

All through the OT we see the theme of the God loving Israel like a husband loves his spouse. God wanted to paint this picture so clear that he commands Hosea to marry Gomer the prostitute to show how Israel had been unfaithful to Him.

The Jews believed that there would be a future event in which God would come as a groom for his people and there would be a day of a great wedding feast.

Mark 2: 18-22
18 John's disciples and the Pharisees were fasting ; and they came and said to Him, "Why do John's disciples and the disciples of the Pharisees fast, but Your disciples do not fast ?" 19 And Jesus said to them, "While the bridegroom is with them, the attendants of the bridegroom cannot fast, can they? So long as they have the bridegroom with them, they cannot fast. 20 "But the days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast in that day. 21 "No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment ; otherwise the patch pulls away from it, the new from the old, and a worse tear results. 22 "No one puts new wine into old wineskins ; otherwise the wine will burst the skins, and the wine is lost and the skins as well; but one puts new wine into fresh wineskins."
3rd Great question of the Pharisees was why did Jesus Disciples not fast?
"Why do John's disciples and the disciples of the Pharisees fast, but Your disciples do not fast ?"

Pharisees fasted on Monday and Thursday – Weddings were the one exception – 7 days of feasting and you would be allowed to break your fast for those days.

Jesus had come and the great wedding feast of God and his chosen people had begun.
Jesus was the climax of the covenant made with Israel and there was no time to mourn because the Groom was there to bring His Bride Home.
We find this imagery all through Jesus teaching of the idea of the great wedding feast.
In Jewish culture the male would pay a bride price to the family of the bride and then would go back and build onto his family’s home.
The Jewish home was called an insula and many times the son would build onto the family complex.
When the Son’s work was complete the father of the son would decide when the consummation of the wedding would take place and the feast.
When that day came (only the Father knew) the best man of the groom would come and tell the Bride that the time was about to occur. When the Groom came through the city to get his wife they would blow the shofar to announce his coming. This would begin a 7 day period of celebration.
This image of Jewish weddings brings light onto many NT passages.
In John 3: 28-29 John the Baptist tells us he is the best man and he announces the coming of the groom.
Jesus tells us that he goes to prepare a place for us and then will come to receive us. Jesus also tells us that only the Father knows the time of His coming.
We also see at the end of the book of Revelation this wedding feast that will occur when Jesus returns.
In this Chapter of Mark the Evangelist has revealed a great deal about Jesus.
We learned that he is ushering in a New Exodus from sin, has come to seek out that which was lost, and is setting up the marriage of God and his people.