MARK Chapter 02

Healing and Forgiving a Paralytic

2:1 Now after some days, when he returned to Capernaum, the news spread that he was at home.

Capernaum was the home headquarters of Jesus.

2:2 So many gathered that there was no longer any room, not even by the door, and he preached the word to them.

After Jesus had performed the messianic miracle of healing the leper, the crowds were enormous. 

2:3 Some people came bringing to him a paralytic, carried by four of them.

Jesus had asked the leper not to announce his healing publicly, but to report directly to the priest so that the announcement could first go to the Jewish leaders. However, the healed leper disobeyed Jesus and announced his healing. The result was that crowds were bringing multitudes of the sick to Jesus to be healed. These people were not that interested in the message of Jesus, but they were interested in observing healings and miracles.

This scene is very similar to that of the Charismatics today. Charismatics are not too interested in hearing teachings on deep Bible doctrines. However, they are very interested in watching healings, miracles, tongues speakers, and prophets. The devil uses this doctrinal weakness of the Charismatics to deceive them. He places miracle workers in churches disguised as pastors. They perform miracles and then teach a message mixed with truth and error. The devil does not want time in church spent on the deep teachings of the Word of God. He would rather entertain the church with music concerts, skits, plays, healings, tongue speakers, and prophets. The devil will push fellowship and fun over Bible study. Many Biblically-ignorant elders are filling the elder boards of modern local churches and voting in these kinds of doctrineless programs. The modern elder boards are more about increasing attendance and revenue than they are in teaching the truth from sound Bible doctrine.

Four people brought to Jesus a paralytic to be healed. 

2:4 When they were not able to bring him in because of the crowd, they removed the roof above Jesus. Then, after tearing it out, they lowered the stretcher the paralytic was lying on.

There were so many people in the doorway, that the mob crowd had to tear off the roof of the house so that the paralytic could be brought to Jesus. This had to make the owner of the house angry.

2:5 When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, “Son, your sins are forgiven.”

Only God can forgive sins. Jesus was declaring that He was God.

2:6 Now some of the experts in the law were sitting there, turning these things over in their minds:

After Jesus healed a leper, the Jewish religious leaders took Jesus much more seriously. After all, they themselves had been teaching the people that only the Messiah could heal a leper. They were still in the first stage of their investigation. During this first stage, all they could do was to watch and observe. They could not reply or ask questions. Jesus knew they were there. He knew they were in the first stage of their observation. Therefore, He intentionally pushed the issue of His identity with then. He declared Himself to be God. What was their response? Are they going to publicly announce Him as God, or denounce Him as a blasphemer?

The reason the rabbi were "turning these things over in their minds" was because they could not say or ask anything during this first stage of investigation. 

2:7 “Why does this man speak this way? He is blaspheming! Who can forgive sins but God alone?”

Since the rabbi could not speak during this first stage of investigation, they were thinking these things in their own minds. They were correct in their theology that only God can forgive sins. If Jesus was just a man, then He had just committed blasphemy by declaring Himself an attribute of God. However, if Jesus is God, then this was not blasphemy. It was the truth. The rabbi needed to worship Him.

2:8 Now immediately, when Jesus realized in his spirit that they were contemplating such thoughts, he said to them, “Why are you thinking such things in your hearts?

Jesus was omniscient. He could read the rabbi thoughts. He even point blank told them exactly what was in their thoughts. Once Jesus told these rabbi what was in their own thoughts, then the rabbi should have worshipped Him as the God-man Messiah.

2:9 Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Stand up, take your stretcher, and walk’?

Jesus had two ways to prove to this investigation committee that He was God in the flesh. He could either say that the paralytic’s sins were forgiven, but the rabbi would not know that Jesus was speaking the truth until they reached eternity. The second option was to heal the paralytic. 

2:10 But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins,” – he said to the paralytic

Anyone can say that "your sins are forgiven", but this is not measurable. This kind of statement cannot be proven until eternity. Jesus wanted these Jewish leaders to know without a doubt that He was God in the flesh, so He was going to use the more difficult evidence to convince them.

– 2:11 “I tell you, stand up, take your stretcher, and go home.”

The more difficult evidence was to heal the man instantly and have him walk away.

2:12 And immediately the man stood up, took his stretcher, and went out in front of them all. They were all amazed and glorified God, saying, “We have never seen anything like this!”

Jesus proved to the Jewish leaders and to the crowd that not only could He forgive sins, but He could heal a paralytic immediately as well. 

The Call of Levi; Eating with Sinners

2:13 Jesus went out again by the sea. The whole crowd came to him, and he taught them.

After Jesus performed the messianic miracle by healing the leper, and after He healed the paralytic to prove His deity, the crowds became even larger. The crowds were so large, that Jesus had to meet at the sea, get into a small boat, sail out into the water, and then teach from the boat. This would keep people from trying to touch Him and grab Him.

2:14 As he went along, he saw Levi, the son of Alphaeus, sitting at the tax booth. “Follow me,” he said to him. And he got up and followed him.

Levi is Matthew, the author of the Book of Matthew. Matthew was from the tribe of Levi. The Levites were supposed to be the teachers of Israel. However, Matthew sold out his people and became a tax collector. Tax collectors were despised by the Jewish people, because they extorted money from them in order to live luxuriously. There were two types of tax collectors. There were the IRS tax collectors, who collected yearly income tax for the Roman Empire. There were also custom officials, who collected customs on goods bought outside of Rome. The latter were despised the most by the Jews. The rabbi taught that it was morally ethical to hide what one bought in order to avoid the custom taxes. Their reasoning was that the tax collectors were thieves. All Jews had the right to protect their property from thieves. Therefore, all Jewish tax collectors were looked upon as thieves and traitors to the Jewish people. They were ostracized from Jewish society. They were not allowed in the synagogues. 

Notice that when Matthew left his customs post, he did not give a two week notice to his employers. He did not find anyone to replace him in his duty of collecting customs. He was an employee of the mighty and ruthless Roman government, but he left all of this wealth and splendor to follow Jesus. This was a big step, because he was counting on Jesus to provide all of his needs, including food, clothing, and shelter. Jesus would also have to protect him from the Roman government. Matthew knew that serving God was more important than serving state. 

2:15 As Jesus was having a meal in Levi’s home, many tax collectors and sinners were eating with Jesus and his disciples, for there were many who followed him.

Since Matthew was ostracized by the Jewish community, he had no Jewish friends. His only friends were other tax collectors and sinners. He wanted to celebrate his new birth by inviting them to hear Jesus. Therefore, Jesus and His disciples joined the party.

2:16 When the experts in the law and the Pharisees saw that he was eating with sinners and tax collectors, they said to his disciples, “Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?”

The rabbi were now in their second stage of investigation. They were asking questions directly to the disciples, attempting to split them from their teacher.

2:17 When Jesus heard this he said to them, “Those who are healthy don’t need a physician, but those who are sick do. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”

The Pharisees saw themselves as being spiritually healthy and all others as being spiritually sick. Jesus told the Jewish leaders that it was the sick who need a physician. He came to bring sinners into the kingdom of God.

The Superiority of the New

2:18 Now John’s disciples and the Pharisees were fasting. So they came to Jesus and said, “Why do the disciples of John and the disciples of the Pharisees fast, but your disciples don’t fast?”

The Pharisees did not want anyone to break the Mosaic Law, because it would bring divine judgment upon the nation. Therefore, they created an oral law that placed a fence around the written Law. They figured that if one broke the Oral Law, then divine judgment would not occur. If one concentrated on keeping the Oral Law, then they could never break the written Law. Therefore, national divine judgment would be avoided.

The Oral Law was basically man-made traditions created by rabbi. The rabbi eventually claimed that God gave Moses two laws at Mount Sinai. He gave them the written Law, which was the 613 commandments. God also gave Moses the Oral Law, which Moses memorized. Then, Moses gave this Oral Law to Joshua, who gave it to the judges, who gave it to the prophets, who then gave it to the rabbi. The Oral Law was nothing but Jewish superstition and mythologies, but the Jewish leaders saw it as the Word of God. They expected the Messiah to keep both the written and oral Law. When Jesus refused to keep the Oral Law, then this caused problems between Jesus and the Jewish leadership.

Part of this oral law was that the Pharisees were to fast on Mondays and Thursdays. The Jewish religious leaders asked Jesus why He and His disciples were not keeping this part of the Oral Law.

2:19 Jesus said to them, “The wedding guests cannot fast while the bridegroom is with them, can they? As long as they have the bridegroom with them they do not fast.

Jesus was the bridegroom. He had invited all of those who would listen to Him to a feast. He did not expect them to fast when the bridegroom was present with them on earth.

2:20 But the days are coming when the bridegroom will be taken from them, and at that time they will fast.

Jesus will only be on earth for less than three and a half  years longer. After His crucifixion and resurrection, then His people will fast.

2:21 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 the tear becomes worse.

If the holes of an old garment were patched up with new cloth, then when the garment is washed, the patch will tear the new garment. Judaism was the old garment. Jesus was teaching a new teaching that was outside of Judaism.

2:22 And no one pours new wine into old wineskins; otherwise, the wine will burst the skins, and both the wine and the skins will be destroyed. Instead new wine is poured into new wineskins.”

An old wineskin was already stretched out as far as possible. If new wine would be poured into this old wineskin, then it would stretch out, burst the wineskin, and all of the wine would pour upon the floor. Judaism was the old wineskin that needed to be replaced. The teaching of Jesus was the new wine, which needed to be drank and enjoyed. 

Lord of the Sabbath

2:23 Jesus was going through the grain fields on a Sabbath, and his disciples began to pick some heads of wheat as they made their way.

Judaism had created 1500 new laws for keeping the Sabbath. The disciples had broken four of these 1500 laws. First, when they picked the wheat off the stalk, they were guilty of reaping on the Sabbath. Second, when they rubbed the wheat in their hands to separate the wheat from the chaff, they were guilty of threshing the wheat on the Sabbath. Third, when they blew the chaff away, they were guilty of winnowing on the Sabbath. Fourth, when they ate the wheat, they were guilty of storing on the Sabbath. 

The poor were allowed to glean the fields so that they could at least work for what they would eat. Jesus and His disciples were living in poverty, so the Mosaic Law allowed them to glean the fields.

Many modern social programs place the burden of feeding the poor on the over-taxed community.  However, the poor do not have to work to receive benefits. Therefore, there are many lazy people who do not want to work for a living. They burden society by receiving these benefits without working for them. The Mosaic Law did not support a poverty program that allowed the lazy to benefit. Everyone had to work for their own food.

2:24 So the Pharisees said to him, “Look, why are they doing what is against the law on the Sabbath?”

The Pharisees were accusing Jesus and His disciples of working on the Sabbath. However, they were using the Oral Law as their justification for this accusation.

2:25 He said to them, “Have you never read what David did when he was in need and he and his companions were hungry –

David lived before the Oral Law was issued. However, the Pharisees taught that the Oral Law had been passed down orally from Moses to the prophets of David's day. 

2:26 how he entered the house of God when Abiathar was high priest and ate the sacred bread, which is against the law for any but the priests to eat, and also gave it to his companions?”

David ate the loaves of the temple on the Sabbath when he was hungry. The priests allowed him to do so. Jesus and His disciples were hungry also. The modern Jewish priests should not disallow what the ancient priests would never disallow.

2:27 Then he said to them, “The Sabbath was made for people, not people for the Sabbath.

The rabbi taught that Israel was created to keep the Sabbath. Jesus taught the opposite. He taught that the Sabbath was made for people, so that they could rejuvenate.

2:28 For this reason the Son of Man is lord even of the Sabbath.”

Jesus was the Son of Man. The Son of Man was a messianic title given in the Book of Daniel. Jesus was the Creator and the Master of the Sabbath. Jesus, not the Pharisees and their Oral Law, was the only Lord and Master of the Sabbath. The Pharisees did not have the right to make 1500 additional rules for the Sabbath. Jesus was the only one who could create new laws for the Sabbath.