Gospel of Mark 2:15-22

Gospel of Mark 2:15-22                                       April 22, 2017

 

Jesus Calls Levi (Matthew) 

Read Mark 2:15-22, for an overview 

Last time we were in the Gospel of Mark, we saw Jesus was walking by the sea and saw a Tax Collector, Named Levi, was his Hebrew name and Matthew is his Greek name. 

Jesus said to Levi, "Follow Me." So he arose and followed Him.   

We saw where the Jews classified tax collectors as sinners and they hated them because they collected taxes for Rome.  Levi was regarded as an outcast from society: he was disqualified as a judge or a witness in a court session and was not allowed in the synagogue, and in the eyes of the community his disgrace extended to his family. 

When Levi responded to Jesus calling, he had burned his bridges and he could never go back. 

We found that tax collectors had to be skilled in short-hand writing is why we have detail sermon notes given by Jesus. 

(15)  Now it happened, as He was dining in Levi's house, that many tax collectors and sinners also sat together with Jesus and His disciples; for there were many, and they followed Him.  

Here Jesus is eating again.  Eating a meal together meant something in Jesus' world that it does not mean today in the West.

Hospitality was a sacred duty in the ancient Near East. When someone invited someone else to eat with him, he was extending a pledge of loyalty and protection to that person. 

Are we not to have hospitality? 

Romans 12:13  distributing to the needs of the saints, given to hospitality. 

To accept an invitation to dinner implied a willingness to become a close friend of the host. Matthew apparently celebrated his calling from Jesus and provided food. 

For they were many and they followed him:  Mark alone gives this reason for the number of publicans and sinners gathered there, namely, that these people were numerous and that they generally followed Christ.  

Sounds like today, too many tax collectors.  

(16)  And when the scribes and Pharisees saw Him eating with the tax collectors and sinners, they said to His disciples, "How is it that He eats and drinks with tax collectors and sinners?"  

How did they know, stand outside of the house?   

Sinners - the Gentiles or heathens are generally to be understood in the Gospels, for this was a term the Jewish leadership never applied to any of themselves, 

It was an offence for a Jew to eat with Gentiles as many of the early Jewish Christians felt  

Acts 11:3 saying, "You went in to uncircumcised men and ate with them!" 

By eating with these individuals, Jesus showed that God's forgiveness is extended even to the worst. 

Jesus example shows Believers must go to the unbelievers since we know they would rarely come on their own seeking Jesus 

(17)  When Jesus heard it, He said to them, "Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance."   

In this instance we know Jesus was speaking tongue-in-cheek when He used the word righteous. None are righteous, though some, such as the Pharisees, fancied themselves as such.

 

Romans 3:10 As it is written: "THERE IS NONE RIGHTEOUS, NO, NOT ONE; 

2 Corinthians 5:21 For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. 

Not our righteousness in us, but Jesus righteousness. 

Christ came to call sinners, to repentance. Jesus did not condone the activities of sinners, but required repentance—a change of mind that recognizes the need of a Savior and recognizes Jesus Christ as the only Savior. 

This verse is a fine summary statement of Jesus' mission during His earthly ministry. It is one of only two sayings in Mark in which Jesus expressed His purpose in coming 

Mark 10:45 For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many." 

Jesus presented Himself as the Healer, a divine title of Jesus in the Old Testament  

Exodus 15:26 and said, "If you diligently heed the voice of the LORD your God and do what is right in His sight, give ear to His commandments and keep all His statutes, I will put none of the diseases on you which I have brought on the Egyptians. For I am the LORD who heals you." 

Many Pharisees and priests (conservatives of the day) ultimately did come to faith in Christ (Acts 6:7);  

Acts 6:7 Then the word of God spread, and the number of the disciples multiplied greatly in Jerusalem, and a great many of the priests were obedient to the faith. 

Very interesting information: there are no records in the Scriptures of a Sadducee—the liberals of the period—coming to faith. 

A Question About Fasting 

(18)  The disciples of John and of the Pharisees were fasting. Then they came and said to Him, "Why do the disciples of John and of the Pharisees fast, but Your disciples do not fast?"   

Were fasting:  Were fasting, on that very day. 

The Pharisees' fasting, perhaps twice each week 

Luke 18:12 I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I possess.' 

We know the Old Testament requires fasting on only one day each year—the Day of Atonement in the book of Leviticus 16. 

(19)  And Jesus said to them, "Can the friends of the bridegroom fast while the bridegroom is with them? As long as they have the bridegroom with them they cannot fast. 

Friends - wedding guests - children of the bride chamber, is this the first place in Mark where Bridegroom is mention. 

Interesting side, friends of the bridegroom, Jesus disciples were not the bride at this time, only friends.  When the disciples receive the Holy Spirit, are they then the Bride. 

And Jesus said unto them,.... Both to John's disciples and the Pharisees,

can the children of the bride chamber fast, while the bridegroom is with them?  

Jesus is the bridegroom, as the Apostle John called him,  

John 3:29 He who has the bride is the bridegroom; but the friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly because of the bridegroom's voice. Therefore this joy of mine is fulfilled. 

and that his disciples were the friends of the bridegroom and that it was very unreasonable to desire them to fast at such a time 

Christianity is a wedding. Jesus is echoing the words of John the Baptist: 

The body of believers known as the church is the Bride of Christ.

The church body is comprised of those who have the Holy Spirit living in them.    

Jesus Christ, the Bridegroom, has chosen the church to be His bride. 

Ephesians 5:25-27  Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her,  (26)  that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word,  (27)  that He might present her to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish. 

Just as there was a period of engagement during the time of Jesus Christ which the bride and groom were separated until the wedding, while the groom was preparing their future home.  The bride does not know when the Bridegroom will come for her.  

This is why the Bride of Christ (church) is separated from her Bridegroom during this church age. Her responsibility during the church age period is to be faithful to Him. 

2 Corinthians 11:2 For I am jealous for you with godly jealousy. For I have betrothed you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ. 

Ephesians 5:23-24 For the husband is head of the wife, as also Christ is head of the church; and He is the Savior of the body.  (24)  Therefore, just as the church is subject to Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in everything.   

At Jesus return to the earth, the church will be united with the Bridegroom and the official “wedding ceremony” will take place and, with it, the eternal union of Christ and His bride will be complete. 

Revelation 19:7-9 Let us be glad and rejoice and give Him glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His wife has made herself ready."  (8)  And to her it was granted to be arrayed in fine linen, clean and bright, for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints.  (9)  Then he said to me, "Write: 'Blessed are those who are called to the marriage supper of the Lamb!' " And he said to me, "These are the true sayings of God." 

Wedding is a celebration time.  

Jesus' presence, as with a wedding celebration, called for rejoicing, not mourning.  Jesus first miracle in the Gospel of John, made wine at a wedding celebration.. 

John 2:2-3  Now both Jesus and His disciples were invited to the wedding.  (3)  And when they ran out of wine, the mother of Jesus said to Him, "They have no wine." 

(20)  But the days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them, and then they will fast in those days.   

Jesus gives the first hint of His death and resurrection, in this verse. 

Taken away: This is a hint of the violence of Jesus being removed from the scene. 

John 16:5 "But now I go away to Him who sent Me, and none of you asks Me, 'Where are You going?' 

But the days will come: Remember, the disciples of John were fasting because John was taken by Herod, and put in prison, and so it was a mourning time with them: 

Will fast in those days: referring to the time of the sufferings and death of Christ, which would be, and was a sorrowful season to his disciples, and then they will fast.  The fasting will stop when Jesus returns to the earth. 

(21)  No one sews a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment; or else the new piece pulls away from the old, and the tear is made worse.   

Jesus came to introduce the New Covenant, not patch up the Old Covenant. 

This form is peculiar to Mark, and characteristic of his lively style 

(22)  And no one puts new wine into old wineskins; or else the new wine bursts the wineskins, the wine is spilled, and the wineskins are ruined. But new wine must be put into new wineskins."   

Mark records only four of Jesus' parables—two of which he includes here.

These two examples, garment and wineskins, are two parables. 

Jesus was also talking about Judaism, not the Old Testament Scriptures, but also the religion of the Pharisees and scribes.  Judaism is the religion after Ezra and the destruction of the Temple to force the Jews to follow God so they would not go into captivity again. 

Paul said: in Judaism, not the religion of Abraham, but the religion of the Jews. 

Galatians 1:13-14 For you have heard of my former conduct in Judaism, how I persecuted the church of God beyond measure and tried to destroy it.  (14)  And I advanced in Judaism beyond many of my contemporaries in my own nation, being more exceedingly zealous for the traditions of my fathers. 

The comparison implies that the newness of His message, and of the New Covenant to follow, cannot fit into the old molds of Judaism, which is the traditions of the elders, but into the new covenant by Jesus our Creator.   

Jesus would establish a new covenant.  

Hebrews 9:15  And for this reason He is the Mediator of the new covenant, by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions under the first covenant, that those who are called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance. 

The Law would be written on human hearts, not stones 

Hebrews 10:15-18 But the Holy Spirit also witnesses to us; for after He had said before,  (16)  "THIS IS THE COVENANT THAT I WILL MAKE WITH THEM AFTER THOSE DAYS, SAYS THE LORD: I WILL PUT MY LAWS INTO THEIR HEARTS, AND IN THEIR MINDS I WILL WRITE THEM,"  (17)  then He adds, "THEIR SINS AND THEIR LAWLESS DEEDS I WILL REMEMBER NO MORE."  (18)  Now where there is remission of these, there is no longer an offering for sin. 

In Jesus Christ we have the fulfillment of all that God promised 

2 Corinthians 1:20 For all the promises of God in Him are Yes, and in Him Amen, to the glory of God through us. 

The indwelling Holy Spirit in us enables Jesus’s people to fulfill the righteousness of the Law 

Romans 8:3-4 For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin: He condemned sin in the flesh,  (4)  that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. 

Salvation is not patching up the old; you become a new creation 

2 Corinthians 5:17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. 

The Holy Spirit tends to use new channels of communication. We will use new wine and new skins to supplement how we study the Scriptures, computer Bibles, helps. It made the Word of God more available to more people in the world today, in any time in history. 

I would guess that Mr. Dart voice was heard by more people than any of the Apostles during the early Church history.  The only reason was because of the age we live in.  Communication.  Radio.  TV.   

End of this section. 

Read Mark 2:15-22, for a refresher