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February 9, 2003 |
"Jesus: Man of Joy" Series |
Pastor Brian Shimer
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"Marveling at the Bridegroom"
Mark 2
I. Questions have been reverberating through our nation this week after the Columbia disaster last weekend. Questions of Why? What could have been done differently? How can we go on? For some the repeated news regarding the disaster seemed without end. They cared, but they have been asking: What more can be said? It seemed the utmost of irony that these 7 men and women of the Columbia had journeyed more than 6 million miles and were minutes away from arrival and reunion when they were lost. As astronaut Michael Anderson told his pastor: "If this thing doesn't come out right, don't worry about me, I'm just going on higher."
Sometimes in life what we have are questions rather than answers. Jesus understood our dilemma. I often return to paul's inspired description of Him when reading the Gospels:
"Jesus is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by him all things were created; things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities, all things were created by him and for him. He is before all things and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church, he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead so that in everything he might have supremacy. For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross."
II. When we come to this chapter in Mark, we find it held together by four very human questions and some incredible answers from that Lord Paul described.
Last week we saw Jesus approaching life with such joy. The gospel Jesus brought was truly good news. And we noted what kept the Gospel alive in his heart, it was in v 35 where Jesus pulled away from the crowds in order to get in the Father's presence. We illustrated this idea with a beautifully set table for two-- an intimate dining experience with Jesus.
Before chapter 2 begins, Jesus has been outside of villages for some period because of the healed leper's witness.
Here is his first entrance back into Capernaum since the stir of chapter 1. And he is hit with 2 questions about his behavior, and 2 about the misbehavior of his disciples, which really ask: "Why can't you keep your followers in check!"
III. We begin in this house in Capernaum, perhaps it was Peter's home there. The homes were constructed of stone, with high open windows, flat roofs made of dirt, sticks, sod, grasses compacted so that rains would not penetrate. So many gathered to hear Jesus speak that they are packed in and outside around the door. A building code violation.
Four guys come to bring their paralytic friend to Jesus and can't get to him. They go up on the roof, these homes had exterior stairs, dig through the roof, dirt and sticks falling onto and around Jesus, and lower their friend on the mat, probably using the rope belts worn around their waists to support.
Jesus "saw their faith" the Bible says-- "I'll show you my faith by what I do," James would write years later. What was their faith?
Their Faith that God was helping them pull this off: carry, dig, lower!
Their Faith in Jesus as God come to dwell among them.
Their Faith that Jesus would heal their friend
Their Faith in the good news preached by Jesus, that the Kingdom was near.
Jesus saw their faith: What of your faith and mine is He seeing in our actions? Faith or lack is something seen.
Yesterday, when at the Veteran's for Foreign War competition with Grace, another girl also in the event came to our room at the hotel to borrow some rubber bands from Grace for that evening banquet. Grace did not have any, and out spilled her story. When she returned to her room after the event of the day, she found her parents drunk and her dad threw up just after she arrived in the room. She was angry and embarrassed. They were to show up at the banquet that evening. They were in no shape to come alongside their daughter. I offered for Grace and I to take her to the local Fred Meyer and buy what she needed. As we went and returned, I kept seeking opportunity for greater witness to the motivation of our assistance, but found no openings. At last the Lord impressed upon my heart, "you are speaking in action." And with that I realized, she did not have space for the language of faith at that moment, but was receiving my demonstrated love.
Jesus saw their faith, and spoke 5 words to the paralytic: "Son, your sins are forgiven." He did not ask, "What do you want?" The man may have been quite fearful after that ride! Did the friends expect Jesus to forgive him? We don't know.
But I do know, it was not what some in the crowd were expecting, and immediately, the Bible says, Jesus knew what the religious leaders were saying in their hearts. They were not whispering, so he overheard them. No, He knew "in his spirit" what they were THINKING.
"Why does this fellow talk like that? He's blaspheming. Who can forgive sins but God alone?" That's our first question.
By the gift of the Holy Spirit in Jesus, the gift of the Word of Knowledge, Jesus knew their thoughts. You and I have the same Spirit in us, if we have been born again and filled with His Spirit. The word tells us that the Holy Spirit releases the gift we need when we need it. And He released this Word of Knowledge so that he knew what they were saying, and could therefore respond to their hearts, even though they were not voicing their question.
They were questioning Jesus' authority to forgive. "But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins…" (v 10).
Forgiveness is not a matter of an office or position in the church but of authority. The Father gave him authority. We are given authority to be born children of God, by God's power, the Bible says in John 1. When we are thus born, we also have been placed under the forgiveness of the blood of Christ, we read in Ephesians 1. When we are thus forgiven, we have the authority on earth to forgive, Matthew 18. Jesus says that what we release or forgive on Earth is forgiven in heaven.
Jesus plays with the question by asking his own: "Which is easier to say 'be forgiven' or 'rise and walk'?" Both are easy to speak, but only one can be seen on earth. Talk about teaching with authority! Look at the reaction of the people, "they praised God!"
IV. Jesus calls Levi (also called Matthew, the one who wrote
the first Gospel) to follow him, and then goes to his house for a dinner party with lots of sinners. That action birthed the second question, posed to Jesus' disciples: "Why does he eat with … sinners?" v 16
Jesus doesn't look at people as the Pharisees do. Those visibly sick, like the paralytic, and those visibly in sin, like the tax collector and his friends, both need what Jesus offers. Both need forgiveness and healing, pictured also in the call to follow, like Levi received. Jesus is about making people whole. The Pharisees are wanting people to be religious by keeping rules. But Jesus never was stuck in the religious mud instead we see him laughing, eating, enjoying others and setting them free.
V. Now Jesus is questioned about his disciples because they are not fasting. Our third question in verse 18 can be rephrased, "Why aren't your disciples fasting?" But it could also be stated: "How come you can't lead better?"
With Humor Jesus responds with three outrageous pictures:
1. Why would wedding guests fast? They will fast sometime, when the bridegroom is taken away, he predicts, thus predicting his own departure. But then, they will fast differently than the religious leaders. Fasting is one "act of righteousness" but it is not done to show off to men, but to be humbled before God. Jesus says: It was a time to feast and celebrate. In our day, imagine a wedding where no food or drink is served, all wear black, and no one laughs! See the humor?
2. Why would anyone Sew an un-shrunk patch onto an old garment…
The result would be when the patch shrunk a larger hole. No one would do that! But I have helped my mom out by washing her wool jacket in the washing machine… but I won't talk of that. It changed, and she wasn't laughing.
3. Why would anyone pour new wine into old wineskins…
They would burst. Everyone knew this. Today we do not have a comparison to these goatskin wineskins. Then the older the wineskin the more brittle the goat hide. New fermenting wine would cause those old skins to burst. It was as illogical as putting milk in an unwashed vinegar bottle! Or putting Tupperware lids in the microwave and expecting them to still seal.
With humor Jesus is saying; "Something new is needed here!" Don't demand the same religious responses you are practicing to be applied to my followers. This is something new here. The old ways cannot be applied. Sometimes the church becomes more Jewish than Christian when she adopts man made rules and applies them to men.
VI. The final question is just like the third, in which Jesus is being asked about his disciples' behavior, this time, "Why are they doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath?"
"Have you never read…?" Jesus asks, and you can detect a twinkle in his eye. Had they read? Indeed, they had most of it memorized. But had their hearts been penetrated by what they had read? Not to the point of applying it to life.
In a sentence he corrects centuries of Sabbath malpractice.
God's day of rest was made for man not man to obey laws during it. Sabbath (a day of rest) is about following Jesus. They were gleaning as the poor were allowed to do in fields. It was not wrong. If Jesus is lord of the Sabbath, that means we can follow what He directs instead of trying to follow our own manmade rules.
VII. The questions begin with the authority of Jesus over forgiveness "So that you know that the Son of Man has authority on earth…" and end with His authority over the Sabbath "the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath" But the kind of authority Jesus has as "Lord" is not like that of a tyrant, but a lover.
He is like a bridegroom loving his wife. Jesus uses His great authority -- over all things -- not to bind but to free; not to make ill, like the Pharisees' rules, but to heal. To such a Lord we can turn with any question and meet a relationship bigger than any answer.
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