Mark 3 (Jesus picking fights with bullies)

I'm reminded of a scene from Braveheart (which I saw many times in college, but can hardly watch anymore; unless it's the edited for TV version :)  when William Wallace gets his army all fired up and then says to his friend 'I'm going to pick a fight'.  The British looked on the rag-tag group of Scots with scorn and superiority.  Wallace was about to change everything they ever thought about how important freedom is to those who are oppressed.

Well, that was Jesus' battle cry long before William Wallace.

Luke 4:18 (ESV)
“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed,

In order to free people from the oppressive bondage of the Pharisees' religion, Jesus had to pick some fights.  The title I have given to Mark 3 is 'Skirmishes'; based on the first 's' of JeSus is the Ransom.   


The thematic outline is

• Shrunken hand
• Spirits proclaim Him
• Selects the twelve
• Sacrilege against Holy Spirit
• Sisters, brothers and mothers

The key verse is

Mark 3:5 (ESV)
And he looked around at them with anger, grieved at their hardness of heart, and said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” He stretched it out, and his hand was restored.

Brief Commentary

Shrunken hand
The Pharisees were doing their homework.  They followed Jesus around trying to figure Him out.  Here, Jesus came to them in the synagogue where He found a man who had a withered hand (side note; this would have been really cool to watch).  Knowing He was under heavy scrutiny, He picked a fight with the Pharisee bullies using a carefully crafted question.  The Pharisees didn't bite (probably still smarting from the crushing they received from Jesus before).

I really appreciate how Mark includes Jesus' emotions here.  He looked at them 'with anger' and He 'grieved at their hardness of heart'.  Then He healed the guy.  Look at the faith He challenged this man to have; Jesus made the man expose his malformed arm and extend it.  It was probably embarrassing, but certainly awkward.  But when the man stretched it out, he was healed.  Whatever faith this man had in Jesus, he used it and trusted His word.  And he was healed.  Now, Jesus did the healing, but He required the man to have a part.  I suppose a debate could be waged about the possibility that if the man didn't extend his hand then he wouldn't have been healed.  We don't know because the Bible doesn't give us that information.  But it seems that sometimes Jesus commands a person to do something in order to initiate the healing; notably the 10 lepers in Luke 17:11-19.  Jesus told them to go present themselves to the priest and 'while they went, they were healed'.  This was not to earn their healing, but to demonstrate faith and obedience to Jesus.  Hopefully we can track down this guy in heaven and ask what Jesus really did for Him that day.  I can only imagine that there was more to this story for that guy. 

Spirits proclaim Him
I haven't even looked at a map yet to see where some of these towns are and how far apart they are...but it doesn't matter.  Jesus was healing people, and crowds showed up.  So much so that we see Him making a contingency plan in case things get out of hand; a boat to get away from the crush of the crowd.

But the very interesting verse in this section is Mark 3:11.  (don't forget to use Ref-tagger; just hover over the reference and you'll see the verse pop up).  These demons are coming face to face with Jesus and they (obviously) can't handle it.  They cry out "You are the Son of God".  But Jesus strictly orders them to stop. 

I gave my wife free ammunition for teasing me one day.  I took one of those online IQ tests for fun.  Well, obviously it showed up that I am a genius :)  Well, she has no end of fun reminding me (and others) that I am a genius according to the internet.  My job is to play the 'shhh, don't say 'from the internet'' card.  But why?  The source of information labeling me a 'genius' is dubious indeed.  While me being a genius may be true (it's not, but for the illustrations sake, bear with me :), the fact is tainted by the one accrediting it.

The Bible does not say specifically why Jesus tells the demons to be silent.  And I always used to think that the demons just couldn't help themselves when they came into the presence of Jesus; they had to proclaim the truth because of His authority.  But I had another thought also.  Demons, being the minions of Satan, will try anything to discredit, disprove, or dismantle anyone's credibility when it comes to Jesus and the Gospel.  So here, knowing that their time was numbered, what if they were testifying about the true nature of Jesus in order to get people to think "Hey, how can we trust what demons say about this guy?  Who is He really?"...etc.  Or they might think that He was from Satan (see below).  Or they might just think He's crazy.  Our enemy is devious, clever and strategic, and Jesus knows it. And Jesus knew the correct time and place for the disclosure of His person and ministry; it was going to be on His terms. 

It's also interesting that the demons obeyed Him, but some people (see Mark 1:40-45) completely blew Him off. 

Selects the twelve
These guys are worth mentioning.  Not because of who they were, but because of who the became under Jesus.
Simon Peter
James
John
Andrew
Philip
Bartholomew
Matthew
Thomas
James son of Alphaeus
Thaddaeus
Simon the Cananaean
Judas Iscariot, who betrayed Him.

Sacrilege against Holy Spirit
Jesus then beautifully mixes logic and parable in His refutation of the Pharisees' accusation that He was 'of the devil'.  He blows up their argument by reminding them that a kingdom divided against itself cannot stand.  Then Jesus changed the focus and put it in proper perspective; He came to bind the strongman (Satan) in order to plunder (rescue) those whom were enslaved by him (lost people).  

And then He draws a line in the sand after being accused of being 'demon possessed.  "All sins can be forgiven except blasphemy against the Holy Spirit" (28-29).  This 'unforgivable sin' gets some people really worked up.  Here's my basic thought; if you are worried that you have committed the unforgivable sin, you almost assuredly have not.  A lifestyle of continually blaspheming and denying God and His free gift of salvation would not leave one wondering or caring about the unforgivable sin.  If a person rejects Jesus, disregards God, and attributes the powerful, holy work of Holy Spirit to demons, one may suppose that the unforgivable sin (that is a continued rebelliousness that never repents nor seeks forgiveness) will continue for eternity.  We need to take sin (ours and others') very seriously.  I sometimes summarize discipleship to Jesus as 'loving more of what He loves, and hating more of what He hates'.  Jesus hates sin and everything about it.  Thus His call to 'repent and believe in the Gospel' (Mark 1:15). 

Sisters, brothers and mothers
First of all, His family wasn't coming to give Him some of his favorite cookies and a pep talk.  We know they aren't really sure what to think of Jesus and His antics.  But He still uses this incident to make a point; 'My family is those who obey God and follow Me'.  I don't know if it's as much a statement against His family as it is for His disciples.  There's more to following Jesus than getting some degree or prestige.  Those who repent of sin and believe in Jesus are actually adopted by God the Father into His family.  And with that adoption comes the inheritance due a child of God; eternity in heaven with Him. 

Mark 2 (calling the sick and sinners)

So far, so good :) I think we are on track to continue as planned with the CMS (Chapter Memory Study) in Mark. The outline acronym is holding up, so we'll stay with 'Jesus is the Ransom'.

We're on chapter 2, which brings us to the 'e';

• Extricates the paralytic
• Extracts Levi
• Explains fasting and Sabbath
  

As with chapter 1, I was able to multiply the memory hooks for this outline (not only starting with the same letter, but having the same second letter also). I can't promise this will always happen, but it's nice when it does.

The memory verse for chapter 2 is;

Mark 2:17 (ESV)
And when Jesus heard it, he said to them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.”

Brief Commentary
The story of the paralytic and his 4 helpful friends has always been one of my favorites. But after studying it more deeply (and graduating from my archaic 'flannel board' version of the event) I discovered some profound implications tucked away in its midst.


Extricates the Paralytic (extricate = to release somebody or something with a difficulty from a physical constraint or an unpleasant or complicated situation)
Jesus was preaching (possibly in Peter's house) and many people had gathered to hear Him. There we so many people that the four men carrying their friend on a cot could not get close to hear Jesus or possibly get their friend healed. So these guys get up on the roof, start tearing apart, and lower their friend through a hole. There was no trap door. There was no sky light. They actually dismantled someone's roof right over top of all of the people who were inside the house listening to Jesus. Mark doesn't record this, but I'm guessing the folks sitting there were not too fond of the debris and noise these inconsiderate men were filling the house with. So, when all the craziness subsides and the paralytic is now laying right in front of Jesus (in the middle of a sermon, by the way)...'what's Jesus going to do with this guy?'

Well, here's what Mark gives us. Jesus saw their faith....pause. First, He saw faith in action. He looked past the annoyance and the interruption and saw straight to their faith. Next, He saw their faith. Notice that we never hear from the paralytic. We don't know how or how much he was paralyzed, we just know he obviously couldn't walk on his own. But Jesus doesn't say 'I notice how well you order around these slaves', or 'I'll give you points for effort', or 'because you have made an individual profession of faith'. He sees the faith of the group (at least the 4 guys who could walk and talk) and is moved with compassion to forgive the sins of the paralytic. We don't read here that He even acknowledged the other 4 guys. He goes right to the one who is sick (see theme verse :). I also wonder what the friends first thought when Jesus said that. 'Um, that's great, but we need a fifth guy for our arena-ball team, and we were hoping you could make him walk...at least enough to play goalie...' Were they disappointed? Were they confused? I can't imagine it was just the scribes who were thinking 'um, what was that all about?'

So Jesus does something radical, causes people to ask questions, and then brings home the point. (on a side note, I wonder what His sermon was about. I bet it was good, and I bet this fit right in :). He perceived in His spirit what they questioned in their hearts and He called them on it.

Mark 2:8-11 (ESV)
⁸ And immediately Jesus, perceiving in his spirit that they thus questioned within themselves, said to them, “Why do you question these things in your hearts? ⁹ Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Rise, take up your bed and walk’? ¹⁰ But 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, rise, pick up your bed, and go home.”

And the peoples' response? 'We never saw anything like this!' Amazing. I love how Jesus shows us that if we walk in the Spirit, no matter what we are doing we can always bring glory to God, help people, and proclaim the Gospel. I'm so glad Jesus sent another Helper to show us the way to love, serve, and proclaim like Jesus did.

Extracts Levi
So Jesus continues to teach the people who were following Him. Then He passes by a tax booth and sees Levi. What people saw was a suspicious tax collector who worked for Rome and, by reputation of tax collectors, probably dealt unfairly and unscrupulously with the Jews. I get the impression that these guys were even lower-regarded than the IRS is today :) But what Jesus sees is a man with the potential to love, serve, and follow Him as a disciple; not to mention write it all down as the first book of the New Testament.

But not only does Jesus talk to this tax collector (gasp), we soon find Him hanging out with all of this guys tax collector buddies and questionable characters. In fact, it says that now there were many of these unsavory individuals following Jesus. And the scribes were beside themselves. But notice who they complain to:

Mark 2:16 (ESV)
And the scribes of the Pharisees, when they saw that he was eating with sinners and tax collectors, said to his disciples, “Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?”

Remember, the scribes just got crushed by Jesus for what they were thinking. They might have been (justifiably) a little gun shy to confront Him again. So they went to His disciples and registered their disgust. But, as they soon learned, Jesus not only has a discerning spirit, but really good hearing :)

Mark 2:17 (ESV)
And when Jesus heard it, he said to them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.”

This verse was easy to pick as the theme verse for the chapter. It draws the three stories (paralytic, Levi, fasting and Sabbath) together under one main thought; 'I didn't come for the people who think they are righteous and well, but for the ones who know they are sick and in need'.


Explains Fasting and Sabbath
I put these two together because they are linked in theme (and I wanted to keep the outline to three points :). The Pharisees tried to pin Jesus and His disciples down with the application of their law. Jesus, on both counts, refutes them by teaching that the Law (probably more specifically in this case, the rules established by Jewish custom) was made for men, not men for the law. Jesus' message (the Gospel) was not intended to fit into the 'old wine-skins' (the laws). Nor were those laws and customs to keep people from faith and trust in Jesus because of their rigidness and complex systems. The Gospel of grace confronts the religion of the law at every turn. Jesus continues to confront the established 'institution of religiousness' with His message of the Gospel.


Both confrontation of religion and presentation of the Gospel are just as critical today as when Jesus first preached it.