Mark 2:23-24 commentary: Phariseeism

23 And it came to pass, that he went through the corn fields on the sabbath day; and his disciples began, as they went, to pluck the ears of corn. 24 And the Pharisees said unto him, Behold, why do they on the sabbath day that which is not lawful?

The American Heritage dictionary online gives this definition among the several for corn. “Any of various cereal plants or grains, especially the principal crop cultivated in a particular region, such as wheat in England or oats in Scotland.”

Of course, if you had just believed the Bible you wouldn’t have needed to go to the dictionary. It would have defined itself.

John 12:24 Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.

The Law of Moses did not prohibit one from simply putting something in your mouth. These disciples weren’t working. This is about the oral tradition of the Pharisees.

Deuteronomy 23:25 When thou comest into the standing corn of thy neighbour, then thou mayest pluck the ears with thine hand; but thou shalt not move a sickle unto thy neighbour’s standing corn.

However, the oral tradition of the Pharisees forbade even this.

“The categories of work are forty less one (i.e., thirty-nine): one who sows, plows, reaps, or gathers; who threshes or winnows; one who selects, grinds, sifts, kneads, or bakes; one who shears wool, washes it, cards it, colors it, spins, or weaves it; one who makes two loops, or weaves two threads, or removes two threads from the loom; one who ties, or unties, or sews two stitches; one who tears in order to sew two stitches; one who traps a deer, slaughters it, skins it, salts it, cures the hide, scrapes it, or cuts it up; one who writes two letters and one who erases in order to write two letters; one who builds or destroys; one who extinguishes ignites; one who strikes with a hammer; one who carries from one domain to another. Behold, these are the categories of work, forty less one.”(1)

(1) Center for Online Judaic Studies, “Mishnah Shabbat 7:1-2: The Thirty Nine-Forbidden Labors on the Sabbath”, http://cojs.org/cojswiki/Mishnah_Shabbat_7:1-2:_The_Thirty_Nine-Forbidden_Labors_on_the_Sabbath (Accessed May 13, 2012).

The Misnah is the oral law of the Pharisees, first written down around 200AD it is supposed, but having a much older tradition that reflects several hundred years of oral law.

An application for the Christian today would be the various rules and regulations that churches adopt that make even the Pharisees look tame by comparison. A Pastor’s personal convictions and the demands of running a church body can add a great many rules to what God has shown are His standard of righteousness. This usually comes in three ways. The first is imposing the Pastor’s personal convictions on the church body. The second comes from changing the definitions in the Bible to suit those convictions. The third is to focus on a verse or verses in another dispensation and pounding on that verse or those verses as a standard by which we, as Christians, are supposed to live, according to the Pastor who is trying to support his personal convictions. God doesn’t bless it. It’s not honoring to Him or His words. It imposes additional burdens on the people that they are often unable to bear. It drives people from the congregation. Phariseeism is alive and well in many churches today.

It is important to remember that we are never given authority to add to God’s word or to take away from it; either placing a burden on the church God will not help them carry because it is not of Him or ignoring a sin which will bring the congregation down if they ignore it because it is against His will. If I was preaching a sermon I’d give examples but since I’m not I’ll let you think about it.

What do you require of others because you require it for yourself and yet it can’t be supported by a clear, literal statement given by inspiration of the Holy Spirit written in the part of the Bible specifically purposed for the church by looking at all of the verses regarding a subject? Of course, if you’re a hypocrite you don’t require it of yourself. You just want other people to do it.

Mark 2:21-22 commentary: New wine into old wineskins

21 No man also seweth a piece of new cloth on an old garment: else the new piece that filled it up taketh away from the old, and the rent is made worse. 22 And no man putteth new wine into old bottles: else the new wine doth burst the bottles, and the wine is spilled, and the bottles will be marred: but new wine must be put into new bottles.

In the NEW Testament there is a change. It is not just the continuance of Hebraism. When a Jew gets saved he’s not a “completed Jew”, he’s a Christian. In this dispensation there are unsaved Jews, unsaved Gentiles, and the Church (1 Corinthians 10:32.) A Jew who receives Christ needs to repudiate his former religion and come to Christ. Jesus has pointed out that with all the tradition and rules and regulations that they built on the foundations of the Mosaic Law they built a house on sand (Matthew 7:21-27.) All political religions, Judaism, Islam, Roman Catholic Christianity, Protestantism, Hinduism, etc. etc. are false religions.

All of the early Christians were Jews. They left their faith. There was a gradual process throughout Acts and they started out as beard wearing, Sabbath observing, pork abstaining Jews and then you get into Paul’s letters you find no mention of going to synagogue or worshipping in the temple.

You don’t take your old religion and add Jesus to it. You discard your old religion and receive Christ. Many fundamentalists retain the things of their former life such as Roman Catholic ritual or various Protestant beliefs or political ideologies that they find still acceptable and don’t put everything on the table for Christ to deal with in His way. I know fundamentalists who are still clinging to things like materialism, sports fanaticism, and state worship and yet, proudly proclaim that they aren’t like the homosexuals and abortionists, who have done the same thing, only the latter often won’t come to Christ because they will put nothing on the table for fear of God removing it.

The modern fundamentalist squeezes through but still retains some baggage which drags him down as he struggles to serve Christ. There is nothing wrong with taking care of your possessions or sports in and of themselves but to cling to them as part of what identifies you as a man is idolatry.

When you become a Christian you must lay everything on the table and let God deal with it as He will. It is no less than a complete surrender to Christ. Maybe He will let you keep some things but when I see Christians slavishly devoted to television, movies, alcohol, pro-sports, the cause of the day, and flag waving I think I can see that someone has not let go. It is one thing to be patriotic but another entirely to be a statist, one who worships the state and follows through with every idea that a leader proposes as long as it follows the Roman Catholic line on abortion and homosexual behavior.

We have our battles and our problems because when we come to Christ we don’t make the Bible pre-eminent, we don’t surrender everything about ourselves to Christ, and we aren’t willing to completely let go of our past affections. If you put new wine into old bottles they will burst.

Mark 2:18-20 commentary: the bridegroom

18 ¶ And the disciples of John and of the Pharisees used to fast: and they come and say unto him, Why do the disciples of John and of the Pharisees fast, but thy disciples fast not? 19 And Jesus said unto them, Can the children of the bridechamber fast, while the bridegroom is with them? as long as they have the bridegroom with them, they cannot fast. 20 But the days will come, when the bridegroom shall be taken away from them, and then shall they fast in those days.

Here comes a division in the Bible. The children of the bridechamber are not the bride.The church is the bride of Christ (2 Corinthians 11:2; Ephesians 5:23-32.) Christ, the bridegroom is going to leave.

John 3:29 He that hath the bride is the bridegroom: but the friend of the bridegroom, which standeth and heareth him, rejoiceth greatly because of the bridegroom’s voice: this my joy therefore is fulfilled.

John the Baptist is the friend of the bridegroom. There are many divisions of people in the Bible that are worthy of study.

Song of Solomon 6:8 There are threescore queens, and fourscore concubines, and virgins without number.

Don’t ask me. I don’t have a clue who the queens are or the concubines. I do know who the virgins are, Jews in the tribulation (Revelations 14:4), from the text, but I haven’t been given any light on the others.

Fasting is for Christians, but has nothing to do with salvation.

2 Corinthians 6:4 But in all things approving ourselves as the ministers of God, in much patience, in afflictions, in necessities, in distresses, 5 In stripes, in imprisonments, in tumults, in labours, in watchings, in fastings;

2Corinthians 11:27 In weariness and painfulness, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness.

Fasting fights against the flesh and afflicts the soul. But, don’t let it become a matter of worshipping your own will. The Christian starts out in self worship using pleasure, moves into worship of Christ, and if he goes far enough will wander into self worship again by his asceticism and separation. Worshipping God genuinely, in the Spirit, is a narrow thing that requires turning neither to the left or right. The libertine, carnal Christian, or unsaved person, seeks to serve his or her own flesh in life and worship with worldly and fleshy music, while the separated fundamentalist often seeks to serve his or her own flesh by pride and denial, to prove how close to Christ they are. Both are self serving and deluded. Be warned.

Mark 2:16-17 commentary: calling sinners to repentance

16 And when the scribes and Pharisees saw him eat with publicans and sinners, they said unto his disciples, How is it that he eateth and drinketh with publicans and sinners? 17 When Jesus heard it, he saith unto them, They that are whole have no need of the physician, but they that are sick: I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.

One gets the idea here that Christ is being sarcastic. After all, those who think they are whole and have no need of a physician are only fooling themselves.

Here again we have the modernists monkeying with God’s word mainly on the authority of two corrupted manuscripts. In verse 17 they leave out the “to repentance” part, for which Christ came to call sinners to, not just to call sinners. Christ calls the sinner to repentance.

All men are sinners. Solomon acknowledges that fact in his great public prayer in 2 Chronicles 6:36 spoken under the Law given to Moses.

36 If they sin against thee, (for there is no man which sinneth not,) and thou be angry with them, and deliver them over before their enemies, and they carry them away captives unto a land far off or near;

Paul acknowledges this under Grace.

Romans 3:23 For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;

Romans 5:12 Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned:

Repent means, in the Bible, to change your mind about something;

Exodus 13:17 And it came to pass, when Pharaoh had let the people go, that God led them not through the way of the land of the Philistines, although that was near; for God said, Lest peradventure the people repent when they see war, and they return to Egypt:

Modern man is a picture of the Christian before he receives Christ. People today don’t acknowledge they sin at all. They might make some mistakes, some errors in judgment, or be overcome by something over which they have no control. Or their sin is merely a lifestyle choice. But, they can’t muster up repentance for their wicked sins in their hearts. Besides self gratification and self propagation the greatest activity of modern humans is self justification. We have excuses for all of our missteps. But, it is characteristic of mankind today, particularly western man, to only be sorry for their wickedness when they get caught and exposed for it.

You need to change your mind about what you do, sin, and what you are, a sinner. You need to repent and come to Christ. I can argue that repentance is not part of the act of confessing Christ after you have believed by examining the verses in Romans 10:9-10 on salvation. But, if you haven’t changed your mind about your self justification and your inherent evil you won’t ever come to that point. Coming to Christ is not some kind of intellectual exercise. It is a heartfelt understanding that it is our sins that nailed Jesus to that Cross and it is for our justification that He rose from the dead. We are saved for what He did not for anything we have done or can do.

No one ever says, hmm, today I’ll drive the good car to work, wear my yellow shirt, drink some iced coffee, and, oh, I think I’ll trust Christ to save me from my sins and endless ages of agony and suffering. It’s just too important to be a simple choice. No one comes to it that easily. It goes against our pride and undermines our self glorifying and takes us off the throne of our heart and places Christ there in our place just as He went to the Cross and to Hell in our place.

Repent of what you are and what you’ve done. Turn to Christ and be healed and forgiven, a picture of which we have with these people were in Mark.

Mark 2:9-15 commentary: immediate healing

9 Whether is it easier to say to the sick of the palsy, Thy sins be forgiven thee; or to say, Arise, and take up thy bed, and walk? 10 But that ye may know that the Son of man hath power on earth to forgive sins, (he saith to the sick of the palsy,) 11 I say unto thee, Arise, and take up thy bed, and go thy way into thine house. 12 And immediately he arose, took up the bed, and went forth before them all; insomuch that they were all amazed, and glorified God, saying, We never saw it on this fashion.

He is showing them who He is by what He did. He proved that He had the power to forgive sins by having the power to heal miraculously. Can a Roman Catholic priest or could an Old Testament priest do either? No, he can’t. Neither can you or I as we can only judge by the Book but we have no power to do anything about a disease that current medical knowledge and affordability can’t cure but rely on God’s will. And even if it is curable we better be completely dependent on Him. Mistakes can be made even with the best of knowledge.

Again, the healing is immediate. By comparison, salvation is immediate, not a process.

13 ¶ And he went forth again by the sea side; and all the multitude resorted unto him, and he taught them. 14 And as he passed by, he saw Levi the son of Alphaeus sitting at the receipt of custom, and said unto him, Follow me. And he arose and followed him.

Levi is a publican, a tax collector for the Romans occupiers. According to Matthew and Luke, this is Matthew.

Matthew 10:3 Philip, and Bartholomew; Thomas, and Matthew the publican; James the son of Alphaeus, and Lebbaeus, whose surname was Thaddaeus;

Luke 5:27 And after these things he went forth, and saw a publican, named Levi, sitting at the receipt of custom: and he said unto him, Follow me.

This is a government tax collector, who was considered collaborators and corrupt. He drops it all and walks after Christ, who has the power to save anyone. The apostles have immediately left whatever they were doing and followed the physical Christ, God in the flesh, the king of the entire universe, without looking back.

15 And it came to pass, that, as Jesus sat at meat in his house, many publicans and sinners sat also together with Jesus and his disciples: for there were many, and they followed him.

In the Old Testament people who are trying to live right and honor God are called the righteous and those who are wicked and couldn’t care less are sinners. In the New Testament Christ comes to die for the ungodly, the sinners, and if you consider yourself righteous without Christ you won’t be saved. You won’t see any need for it.

Romans 5:6 For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly.

Romans 5:8 But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

1Corinthians 15:3 For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures;

Christ came to die for the very people that the Old Testament condemned. Read this in the Psalms.

Psalm 1:1 ¶ Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. 2 But his delight is in the law of the LORD; and in his law doth he meditate day and night. 3 And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper. 4 ¶ The ungodly are not so: but are like the chaff which the wind driveth away.5 Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous. 6 For the LORD knoweth the way of the righteous: but the way of the ungodly shall perish.

The problem with many modern, American Christians is that they have adopted the Old Testament view because they are Biblically illiterate and can’t “rightly divide” the word. They assume that because they dress nice, have nice things, and act in some kind of civil and relatively polite manner, occasionally attending church, saying ‘grace’ over dinner, and not doing really bad stuff that they are righteous. American Christians are amazing in the things they have managed to accomplish without Christ. This is easy to test and prove. Go up to the most righteous person you know, the person who appears to really be a great Christian, unlike myself, and ask them how much during the average day do they commit to prayer, Bible reading, memorization, and study, and how much time do they commit to listening to the radio or watching television.

You’ll find that the more pious seeming the individual the less time or love they have for listening to God through God’s word speaking to their spirit or talking to Him in prayer. While you and I are struggling with our revulsion to our wicked sins and abhorring our flesh for our sinful nature, while we are praying on our knees for light from His word and begging Him to keep us from sin, they are walking around smug and self satisfied, willfully ignorant. Those with communist leanings will insist that the Christian should vote Democrat and those with fascist leanings will insist that a Christian must vote Republican. The one replaces God with the government in a slightly different way than the other. But, either one has still replaced God in their hearts.

Our nation is wicked, from the conservative state worshipping churches with a political flag on their pulpit platforms to the liberal state worshipping churches who want to be “inclusive”. Neither one gives a good red cent for Jesus Christ. They have invented a God they worship and ultimately it comes back to the worship of self.

Mark 2:6-8 commentary: knowing their thoughts

6 But there were certain of the scribes sitting there, and reasoning in their hearts, 7 Why doth this man thus speak blasphemies? who can forgive sins but God only? 8 And immediately when Jesus perceived in his spirit that they so reasoned within themselves, he said unto them, Why reason ye these things in your hearts?

Imagine someone turning to you during a sermon and saying, “Why are you thinking that way about the preacher right now?”

The fact that our thoughts are open to God’s knowledge can be very disconcerting. We are told to bring every thought into obedience to Christ, a command that once again proves to us our inability to obey Him without His help. Remember what Joshua said to the Hebrews as he doubted their ability to keep their promises to God.

Joshua 24:19 And Joshua said unto the people, Ye cannot serve the LORD: for he is an holy God; he is a jealous God; he will not forgive your transgressions nor your sins.

And what Jesus said to his disciples.

John 15:5 I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.

Now, keep that in mind as you ponder this from Paul.

2Corinthians 10:5 Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;

Try to wrap your mind around that when you hear Jesus respond to the thoughts of the scribes. Its time to understand that God sees things from the other side also through the inside, not by necessity looking down from a throne like in Greek mythology. God can see what is going on in your spiritual heart and thoughts much more simply through your spirit.

Proverbs 20:27 The spirit of man is the candle of the LORD, searching all the inward parts of the belly.

Instead of always thinking of a work of God as something showering down on us as it was with the ancient Hebrews we need to also remember that what we want from God He can and will provide us from inside of us through His connection with our physical and mortal bodies in this world. We often, in our flesh, and from our failure to realize that the church and the Hebrews under the Law operate under much different circumstances fail to realize the spiritual nature of His dealings with us.

If you want to be filled with the Holy Spirit as in Ephesians 5;

17 Wherefore be ye not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is. 18 And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit; 19 Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord; 20 Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ;

It doesn’t happen now as in the early days of the apostolic church …

Acts 2:2 And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. 3 And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them. 4 And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.

The Jewish believer in the early church was surrounded by signs and “infallible proofs” because...

1Corinthians 1:22 For the Jews require a sign, and the Greeks seek after wisdom:

The believer within the church does not bear the proof of the Holy Spirit indwelling them by performing the sudden and instantaneous ability to speak in foreign languages and offering gifts of healing by the laying on of hands. Charismatic Christians still have diseases that aren’t healed by Benny Hinn. They still die of sudden illnesses like heart attacks or suffer long as in a cancer. No preacher’s handkerchiefs or aprons applied to the sick will make them get up (Acts 19:12). The indwelling of the Holy Spirit is not proven by a great and amazing defiance of physical laws on the believer’s part today.

The believer today displays proof of the Holy Spirit being inside of him by what the Bible aptly calls “the fruit of the Spirit.”

Galatians 5:22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, 23 Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law. 24 And they that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts. 25 If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.

The signs of God to the Jewish people under the Law were from without. The signs of God to a believer under Grace come from within. God can heal anyone He chooses and He doesn’t need a “man of God” to be His vehicle. If it is within His will to heal you, you will simply be healed after much prayer and humbling. You will only be healed if your healing will result in glory for God to shine His light on others to draw them to Him.

So, remember that God knows every thought and God is aware of what is happening inside of your body and your mind at all times. Don’t be surprised at the judgment seat of Christ when He shows to have known your darkest thoughts and desires as well as your best intentions and hopes.

Romans 2:16 In the day when God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ according to my gospel.

Mark 2:2-5 commentary: forgiven and healed

2 And straightway many were gathered together, insomuch that there was no room to receive them, no, not so much as about the door: and he preached the word unto them. 3 And they come unto him, bringing one sick of the palsy, which was borne of four. 4 And when they could not come nigh unto him for the press, they uncovered the roof where he was: and when they had broken it up, they let down the bed wherein the sick of the palsy lay. 5 When Jesus saw their faith, he said unto the sick of the palsy, Son, thy sins be forgiven thee.

There are several points that can be made here.

You can’t get to God of your own strength. Notice also that the people, the world, are hindering him from getting to Christ. The media will lie to keep you from the truth. So called educators will lie to you to keep you from the truth. Popular culture will lie to you to keep you from the truth. Religious leaders will lie to you to keep you from the truth. Politicians will lie to you to keep you from the truth. Your family, your employer, and your own flesh will lie to you to keep you from the truth. But, a true friend will do whatever it takes to bring you closer to Christ even if it means tearing off the roof.

Another thing is that salvation is at the feet of Jesus Christ. Finally, salvation is immediate. You get to Christ, recognizing you are a helpless sinner, and He’ll save you immediately. Christ responds to faith. And I’d also say that if you read THIS Bible, believing, and expecting Christ to do something to you and for you and through you, just watch Him work. He will be glorified through you to the end of the salvation of others who see your faith and its results.

Christ healed the body and the soul. If you notice, here there were many people who came to hear Christ preach but only one sought to be healed and was forgiven. There are a great many so-called Christians who come to hear the message but very few who want to be healed.

Spiritual healing precedes physical healing here. Will you come to be forgiven and healed? In the early, predominantly Jewish, Apostolic church and again in the Great Tribulation to come notice in the book of James, written to Jewish Christians in both of those times, how close spiritual healing and forgiveness are intertwined with physical healing.

James 5:14 Is any sick among you? let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord: 15 And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him.