Mark 2: Growth of Ministry & Opposition

• v.1-5 A Paralyzed Man forgiven
• v.6-12 Objections & Healing
• v.13,14 Jesus calls Levi 
• v.15-17 Jesus eats with Sinners
• v.18-20 Jesus Questioned about Fasting
• v.21,22 Jesus gives significant illustrations
• v.23-28 Jesus claims to be Lord of the Sabbath

[Preliminary Notes: From this chapter on we will observe a number of challenges or criticisms of Jesus by those connected to the traditional religious parties of the day. We swill simply note this by a ‘C’.]

v.1-5 A Paralyzed Man Forgiven

v.1 A few days later, when Jesus again entered Capernaum, the people heard that he had come home. 

v.2 They gathered in such large numbers that there was no room left, not even outside the door, and he preached the word to them. 

v.3 Some men came, bringing to him a paralyzed man, carried by four of them.  

v.4 Since they could not get him to Jesus because of the crowd, they made an opening in the roof above Jesus by digging through it and then lowered the mat the man was lying on. 

v.5 When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralyzed man, “Son, your sins are forgiven.”

[Note: Back in Capernaum, when a paralyzed man is brought to Jesus to be healed, Jesus first simply forgives him.]

v.6-12 Objections & Healing

v.6,7 Now some teachers of the law were sitting there, thinking to themselves, “Why does this fellow talk like that? He’s blaspheming! Who can forgive sins but God alone?”

v.8-11 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?  Which is easier: to say to this paralyzed man, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up, take your mat and walk’?  But I want you to know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins.” So he said to the man,  “I tell you, get up, take your mat and go home.” 

v.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!”

[Note: C.1. This provokes objections from some of the listeners who suggest that to do that is blasphemy, for only God can forgive. In response, Jesus asks (implies) which is a clearer act of God, to just speak words or to actually heal, and to make the point, he heals the man, which astounds the onlookers.]

v.13,14 Jesus Calls Levi 

v.13 Once again Jesus went out beside the lake. A large crowd came to him, and he began to teach them. 

v.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.

[Note: Back out by the lake, Jesus teaches and then comes across the tax collector, Levi, and calls him to follow him.]

v.15-17 Jesus Eats with Sinners

v.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. 

v.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?”

v.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.”

[Note: Levi obviously invites Jesus to his home where many of his friends joined with them over a meal. C.2 When some of the Pharisees saw this, they questioned the disciples. Presumably the disciples tell Jesus about this, and he points out who it is who needed him most.]

v.18-20 Jesus Questioned About Fasting

v.18 Now John’s disciples and the Pharisees were fasting. Some people came and asked Jesus, “How is it that John’s disciples and the disciples of the Pharisees are fasting, but yours are not?”

v.19,20 Jesus answered, “How can the guests of the bridegroom fast while he is with them? They cannot, so long as they have him with them.  But the time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them, and on that day they will fast.

[Note: C.3. When people see that Jesus’ disciples are not fasting when others were, they question him, and he gives a wedding illustration implying that he is the bridegroom, and so guests don’t fast until he leaves.]

v.21,22 Jesus gives significant illustrations

v.21 “No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment. Otherwise, the new piece will pull away from the old, making the tear worse. 

v.22 And no one pours new wine into old wineskins. Otherwise, the wine will burst the skins, and both the wine and the wineskins will be ruined. No, they pour new wine into new wineskins.”

[Note: Jesus then gives two illustrations implying that the new life he brought could not be mixed with the old traditional religion.]

v.23-28 Jesus claims to be Lord of the Sabbath

v.23 One Sabbath Jesus was going through the grainfields, and as his disciples walked along, they began to pick some heads of grain. 

v.24 The Pharisees said to him, “Look, why are they doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath?”

v.25,26 He answered, “Have you never read what David did when he and his companions were hungry and in need?  In the days of Abiathar the high priest, he entered the house of God and ate the consecrated bread, which is lawful only for priests to eat. And he also gave some to his companions.”

v.27 Then he said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. 

v.28 So the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath.”

[Note: C.4 On a sabbath Jesus is challenged for letting his disciples ‘work’ – picking grain (legitimate under the Law – see Deut 23:25). Jesus refers them to David’s actions when he had been in need, (see 1 Sam 21:1-6) and points out that God gave them the sabbath, for their benefit, not to make life difficult.]

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