Mark

AUTHORITY OVER THE SABBATH

/ David R Maas / 2 Comments

In response to Jewish leaders, Jesus demonstrated that he is Lord even over the “Sabbath Day” – Mark 2:23-3:6.

On one occasion. a group of religious leaders objected to his looseness to their Sabbath traditions. But Jesus used the opportunity to demonstrate that the “Son of Man” is “Lord” even over that day. God did cease His creative activities on the seventh day, but its formal establishment as a regulated day did not occur until the Torah was given (“Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy”).

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TAX COLLECTOR SUMMONED

/ David R Maas / Leave a comment

Forgiveness links the call of the tax collector to the preceding story, the authority of Jesus to discharge sins – Mark 2:13-17. 

When Jesus pronounced the paralytic’s sins “discharged,” he offended the religious sensibilities of the scribes and Pharisees. In this next story, he alienated the men from Jerusalem further by associating his ministry with “sinners,” men who were considered especially ritually unclean by many of the more religious leaders of the Jewish nation.

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AUTHORITY TO DISCHARGE SIN

/ David R Maas / 2 Comments

Jesus healed a paralytic, demonstrating the authority of the Son of Man to discharge sins – Mark 2:1-12.

The present literary unit consists of five stories that highlight Christ’s authority and the conflicts between him and the religious authorities from the Temple, primarily over issues of ritual purity and Sabbath regulations. And there are parallels between the present story and the preceding one about the cleansing of the leper.

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AUTHORITY OVER RITUAL PURITY

/ David R Maas / 4 Comments

The touch of Jesus cleansed a leper, and the forbidden contact did not render him “unclean” – Mark 1:40-45.

His touch cleansed a leper from ritual impurity, restoring him physically AND religiously. Remarkably, Jesus touched the man BEFORE he was cleansed of his ritual impurity, let alone its confirmation by the priests. Any concern over contracting “uncleanness” did not stop the Messiah from healing one of the sons of Israel.

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AUTHORITY OVER DISEASE

/ David R Maas / 2 Comments

Neither social conventions nor purity regulations prevented Jesus from ministering to the physical needs of men and women – Mark 1:29-39.

Jesus did not allow scruples over purity regulations to prevent him from healing the sick and delivering the oppressed from demonic spirits. Neither Sabbath restrictions nor the Levitical rules governing ritual purity were never intended to prevent human needs from being met, although that is effectively the result of some of the “traditions of the elders.”

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