Ministry of Eating – Mk 2:13-28
Jesus is much more than a healer. He has come to forgive sins and stands in the place of God. This fact must be dealt with so He purposely provokes our way of thinking. By challenging traditions He reveals that the gospel stands in opposition to what we preserve as right.
13 And He went out again by the seashore; and all the people were coming to Him, and He was teaching them. (NASB®)
What did Jesus do in a crowd?
The fact that multitudes of people are drawn to Jesus is by now a foregone conclusion. Once more, He moves to a place that doesn’t restrict numbers and instructs them in the way of the gospel.
Am I teachable?
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.(NASB®)
Why did Levi throw a party?
As a tax collector in Capernaum, Levi (better know to us as Matthew) would have been both well known and wholly despised. Jesus not only talks to him, now making Himself unclean, but tells Him to leave this life and come after Him. Without hesitation, Levi follows fully realizing to step down from his position meant he could never return.
Who else would attend Levi’s retirement party but his colleagues and those equally despised as him? The numbers suggest a high degree of curiosity and so Levi, not wanting anything left to speculation, introduces them to the One who had changed his life.
Who are my friends?
Am I excited to share what Jesus has done for me?
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.” (NASB®)
What’s wrong with avoiding parties?
To be a scribe, was to be a devout student and teacher of God’s word. To be a Pharisee, was to be unreservedly committed to the absolute obedience of God’s Law. Their understanding and lives set the standard by which all who loved God should live. Based on this, it is quite understandable that upon seeing Jesus associating with and partaking in the activities of those who had no respect for God’s commandments, they would be seriously disturbed and demand an explanation.
Jesus reminds them that by being religiously isolated you miss the exact people He came to help i.e. those aware of their need. The challenge of the gospel is the realization that if you could earn your way into the Kingdom you wouldn’t need a Messiah.
Is my faith based on being good?
Am I willing to share the gospel with those who need it?
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. (NASB®)
What’s wrong with fasting?
Choosing to willingly abstain from something i.e. food, for a time period, can be an effective way to help focus an earnest desire in seeking God. By reducing your dependence on the temporal, fasting is supposed to make you hungry for the eternal. Some of John the Baptist’s followers and Pharisees had taken this spiritual discipline (required only once on the Day of Atonement) and made it a bi-weekly habit. Some even used it as a means to display their spirituality. No longer hungering after God, this rote ritual becomes merely a measure of obedience and loses its significance.
So focused on their behavior in comparison to others, they forgot the fact that fasting was not allowed at certain times. During a wedding celebration, fasting was forbidden and certainly the same would be true with the arrival of the King of Kings.
Is my faith a celebration?
Do I impose my behavior on others?
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.” (NASB®)
What’s the problem with the gospel?
Jesus uses two everyday examples to help the disciples and Pharisees come to an understanding. In repairing clothes and making wine, everyone knows that the new is incompatible with the old. Even when forced, the results are disastrous. So it is with the gospel. It does not fit with man made religious conventions and personal traditions. The old Jewish, legalistic way of thinking cannot contain this new Kingdom. Your old habits and way of thinking have no place in the new reality.
Am I flexible for the gospel?
Do I try to fit God’s word into my thinking?
23 And it happened that He was passing through the grainfields on the Sabbath, and His disciples began to make their way along while picking the heads of grain. 24 The Pharisees were saying to Him, “Look, why are they doing what is not lawful on the Sabbath?” 25 And He said to them, “Have you never read what David did when he was in need and he and his companions became hungry; 26 how he entered the house of God in the time of Abiathar the high priest, and ate the consecrated bread, which is not lawful for anyone to eat except the priests, and he also gave it to those who were with him?” 27 Jesus said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath. (NASB®)
What’s wrong with tradition?
In Genesis, God set apart (= sabbath) the seventh day and in Exodus we are told that like God, no work is to be done on that day as a reminder that it is God who set apart Israel. Of course, God needs our help in making Himself clear so by the time Jesus and the disciples were “passing through” (work) and eating grain (legal but not on the Sabbath because it was harvesting, threshing = work) the Pharisees had to expose their error.
Remember, the Pharisees made it a point to know God’s word so Jesus in pointing out their ignorance would have been delivering a tough blow. If God can amend the rules and not punish David (God’s chosen King) for looking after the needs of his men, why would the King of Kings be guilty for looking after the needs of His disciples? If the law looses it ability to be merciful, that is what is in error. God gave man a time to focus on his relationship with Him and in turn build relationship with others. There is no benefit to keeping the day otherwise.
Are rules more important than relationships?
Am I open to correction?
28 So the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath.” (NASB®)
Who does Jesus claim to be?
To make sure there remains no confusion, Jesus provides a certain defense for His actions. Not only is He the appointed representative of mankind but He is God and thus as creator of the Sabbath, is free to do as He sees best.
Do I accept Jesus as both man and God?
Am I willing to submit to His authority?
Worship
Jesus Friend of Sinners – Casting Crowns: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rJXIugwiN7Q
Let Love Win – Carrollton: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SKWm0bGZlDU