The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath. Therefore the Son of Man is also Lord of the Sabbath

 

 Now it happened that He went through the grainfields on the Sabbath; and as they went His disciples began to pluck heads of grain.  And the Pharisees said to Him, "Look, why do they do what is not lawful on the Sabbath?"  But He said to them, "Have you never read what David did when he was in need and hungry, he and those with him:  how he went into the house of God in the days of Abiathar the high priest, and ate the showbread, which is not lawful to eat except for the priests, and also gave some to those who were with him?"  And He said to them, "The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath.  Therefore the Son of Man is also Lord of the Sabbath."  

 

And He entered the synagogue again, and a man was there who had a withered hand.  So they watched Him closely, whether He would heal him on the Sabbath, so that they might accuse Him.  And He said to the man who had the withered hand, "Step forward."  Then He said to them, "Is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do evil, to save life or to kill?"  But they kept silent.  And when He had looked around at them with anger, being grieved by the hardness of their hearts, He said to the man, "Stretch out your hand."  And he stretched it out, and his hand was restored as whole as the other.  Then the Pharisees went out and immediately plotted with the Herodians against Him, how they might destroy Him.

 

- Mark 2:23-3:6 

 

Yesterday we read that Jesus went out again by the sea; and all the multitude came to Him, and He taught them.  As He passed by, He saw Levi the son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax office.  And He said to him, "Follow Me."  So he arose and followed Him.  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.  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?"  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."  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?"  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.  But the days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them, and then they will fast in those days.  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.  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."

 

  Now it happened that He went through the grainfields on the Sabbath; and as they went His disciples began to pluck heads of grain.  And the Pharisees said to Him, "Look, why do they do what is not lawful on the Sabbath?"  But He said to them, "Have you never read what David did when he was in need and hungry, he and those with him:  how he went into the house of God in the days of Abiathar the high priest, and ate the showbread, which is not lawful to eat except for the priests, and also gave some to those who were with him?"  And He said to them, "The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath.  Therefore the Son of Man is also Lord of the Sabbath."   It's notable that this event occurred on the Sabbath, because, in some sense, even the Sabbath is transfigured through Christ.  In yesterday's reading, the conflict with the religious authorities (represented by the scribes) in some sense encompassed food, eating -- the discussion was about fasting, or rather, Christ's disciples lack of doing so.  Here the discussion evolves out of Christ's disciples eating on the Sabbath by plucking the heads of grain as they wen through the grainfields, and the criticism is that this is work and therefore violates the Sabbath rule.  But Jesus gives Old Testament examples of blameless violations of that Sabbath rule, emphasizing that, "The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath.  Therefore the Son of Man is also Lord of the Sabbath."  My study Bible comments that, under the new covenant, the food which was at one time not lawful for anyone but the priests to eat is now freely given to all by the Lord of the Sabbath.  This was prefigured by David giving the showbread ... to those who were with him.  

 

 And He entered the synagogue again, and a man was there who had a withered hand.  So they watched Him closely, whether He would heal him on the Sabbath, so that they might accuse Him.  And He said to the man who had the withered hand, "Step forward."  Then He said to them, "Is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do evil, to save life or to kill?"  But they kept silent.  And when He had looked around at them with anger, being grieved by the hardness of their hearts, He said to the man, "Stretch out your hand."  And he stretched it out, and his hand was restored as whole as the other.  Then the Pharisees went out and immediately plotted with the Herodians against Him, how they might destroy Him.  My study Bible says that, according to certain traditions the scribes and Pharisees had built up around the Law, healing was considered to be work, and so was not permissible on the Sabbath.  It says that they believed they served God by zealously keeping these peripheral traditions, but their legalism made them insensitive to God's mercy.  The text tells them that Christ looked around at them with anger.  My study Bible comments on this that righteous anger is a natural human emotion which is experienced in the face of sin.  While there is definitely sinful anger (Matthew 5:22), there is also anger that is God-given and proper to humanity (Psalm 4:4).  Christ's anger here is in response to people who profess God, yet have such hardness in their hearts that they cannot rejoice in the healing of one of their brothers.  

 

 In Christian theology, it has been said of Christ's Incarnation, "That which is not assumed is not healed. That which is united to God, that will be saved.  If half of Adam fell, also half will be taken up and saved. But if all [of Adam], all of his nature will be united [to God], and all of it will be saved" (St. Gregory Nazianzius, the Theologian).  What this means is that salvation works through union with Christ, thus giving the Incarnation its true meaning and power in terms of the salvation of the world, and, of course, of human beings.  Taken in another light, what we are to understand is that anything touched by Christ may be transfigured, used for God's purposes.  A strong example, as we mentioned in yesterday's reading and commentary, is the Cross.  The dreaded instrument of the cruelest Roman punishment, designated for the worst criminals, in the hands of God and through the touch of Christ, becomes the symbol for Resurrection, and in God's hands become the instrument that defeated death for all of us.  So, therefore, we can look at today's reading in terms of the effects of Christ's contact with human practices and meaning.  Christ is the One who points out to these religious leaders the blameless violations of the Sabbath incurred by David and his men; and He is also the One who declares the Law as the author of the Law, the Lord, who says here with authority, "The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath.  Therefore the Son of Man is also Lord of the Sabbath."   In the second part of our reading, the observance of the Law advocated here by the Pharisees against Jesus is claiming healing is a violation of the Sabbath.  But if the Son of Man is also Lord of the Sabbath, then Christ's question posed to them becomes more significant:  "Is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do evil, to save life or to kill?" We might as well be asking the purpose of the Law, for we know the purpose of salvation for which our Lord has come Incarnate into the world, and we know that He has called Himself the Physician (see yesterday's reading, above).  Salvation and healing are one and the same, whether we are speaking of the healing of the man with the withered hand, or the salvation of tax collectors and others who needed redemption.  All of this understanding of salvation is included in St. Gregory the Theologian's famous statement noted above.  In Christ's Incarnation as Jesus, we are given the gift of the divine touching the worldly and healing in every dimension, for this is salvation indeed.  Let us keep this in mind as we read through the Gospel of St. Mark.

 

 

 

 

 

Why do the disciples of John and of the Pharisees fast, but Your disciples do not fast?

 

 Then He went out again by the sea; and all the multitude came to Him, and He taught them.  As He passed by, He saw Levi the son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax office.  And He said to him, "Follow Me."  So he arose and followed Him.  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.  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?"  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."  

 

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?"  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.  But the days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them, and then they will fast in those days.  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.  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 2:13–22 

 

Yesterday we read that again Jesus entered Capernaum after some days, and it was heard that He was in the house of St. Peter and his family, Jesus' ministry headquarters.  Immediately many gathered together, so that there was no longer room to receive them, not even near the door.  And He preached the word to them.  Then they came to Him, bringing a paralytic who was carried by four men.  And when they could not come near Him because of the crowd, they uncovered the roof where He was.  So when they had broken through, they let down the bed on which the paralytic was lying.  When Jesus saw their faith, He said to the paralytic, "Son, your sins are forgiven you."  And some of the scribes were sitting there and reasoning in their hearts, "Why does this Man speak blasphemies like this?  Who can forgive sins but God alone?"  But immediately, when Jesus perceived in His spirit that they reasoned thus within themselves, He said to them, "Why do you reason about these things in your hearts?  Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, 'Your sins are forgiven you,' or to say, 'Arise, take up your bed and walk'?  But that you may know that the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins" -- He said to the paralytic, "I say to you, arise, take up your bed, and go to your house."   Immediately he arose, took up the bed, and went out in the presence of them all, so that all were amazed and glorified God, saying, "We never saw anything like this!"

 

  Then He went out again by the sea; and all the multitude came to Him, and He taught them.  As He passed by, He saw Levi the son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax office.  And He said to him, "Follow Me."  So he arose and followed Him.  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.  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?"  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."   My study Bible reminds us that Levi is also known as Matthew (Matthew 9:9).  Roman overlords would assign specific areas to Jewish tax collectors, who were then free to collect extra revenue for their own profit, my study Bible explains.  So, therefore, their collaboration with the occupying Romans, their fraud, and corruption turned other Jews against them and to consider them unclean (Matthew 11:9).  As Jesus dines with them and accepts a tax collector as a disciple ("Follow Me") this is offensive to the Pharisees.  But Christ's defense is simple:  He goes where the need of the physician is greatest.  

 

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?"  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.  But the days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them, and then they will fast in those days.  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.  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."  My study Bible frames this discussion with the information that the Jews typically fasted twice a week (Luke 18:12), on Mondays and Thursdays.  Additionally, there were regularly observed public fasts as well as those which were occasionally proclaimed (2 Chronicles 20:3; Ezra 8:21-23; Esther 4:16; Joel 2:15), particularly on the Day of Atonement (Leviticus 16:31-34) and in times of mourning (Zechariah 7:5; 8:19).  But they saw the day of the Messiah as a wedding feast; that is, this was to be a time of joy and gladness.  Jesus is declaring that day here, referring to Himself as the Messiah/Bridegroom.  My study Bible says that for Christians, fasting (such as during the Lenten fast at this time) is not gloomy but desirable, a bright sadness, for by fasting we gain self-control and prepare ourselves for the Wedding Feast.  When we fast, we are looking forward.  The old garment and old wineskins stand for the Old Covenant and the Law, which are viewed as imperfect and temporary.  The new wineskins are the New covenant and those in Christ.  My study Bible adds that the new wine is the Holy Spirit dwelling within renewed people, who cannot be constrained by the old precepts of the Law.  

 

 In so many ways, the Church is all about the effects of Christ on the world.  Our symbol of salvation is the Cross precisely because the brutal and terrible instrument of crucifixion, when touched by Christ, became transformed into this life-giving instrument by which Christ conquered death for us and made it possible for us to follow Him in Resurrection (John 17:24).  Indeed, this touches upon the meaning of sacrament, whereby ordinary things of the world become transformed into something that carries both this world and the Kingdom with it for us, such as in the Eucharist, or in Holy Baptism.  In this sense, the things which are touched by Christ become the fullness of what the word symbol in its original sense is meant to convey:  through a particular form a connection is made with something else that it points to.  Moreover, whatever Christ has touched is transformed for us by holiness, by grace, and so, we also become transfigured into the identities and image Christ has for us.  In today's reading, we are given to wonder at the transformational power of Christ regarding fasting.  We do not fast merely to mourn or to repent of our sins before God.  In Christian tradition, fasting, as my study Bible describes it, is a "bright sadness."  Some call it a "joyful sorrow."  This is part of the new wine of Christ that needs a new wineskin.  We fast to develop ourselves in spiritual discipline so that we may grow closer to our Creator, and approach that divine wedding feast which we look forward to.  Fasting, in the transfiguring light of Christ, points to that day of joy and union with our Lord, so that we, in discipleship and just like the disciples who lived with the incarnate Jesus, grow to know Him and carry Him into the world.  In this sense, we fast to become, in His images and words given to us, salt and light (see Matthew 5:13-16).  We fast looking forward to something, preparing for it, joyfully growing closer to our Lord even as we cut out things that distract from this focus on the Lord, and "remember God."  Let us look to the light as we journey through Lent to Easter.  

 

 

 

 

 

Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, 'Your sins are forgiven you,' or to say, 'Arise, take up your bed and walk'?

 

 And again He entered Capernaum after some days, and it was heard that He was in the house.  Immediately many gathered together, so that there was no longer room to receive them, not even near the door.  And He preached the word to them.  Then they came to Him, bringing a paralytic who was carried by four men.  And when they could not come near Him because of the crowd, they uncovered the roof where He was.  So when they had broken through, they let down the bed on which the paralytic was lying.  When Jesus saw their faith, He said to the paralytic, "Son, your sins are forgiven you."  And some of the scribes were sitting there and reasoning in their hearts, "Why does this Man speak blasphemies like this?  Who can forgive sins but God alone?"  But immediately, when Jesus perceived in His spirit that they reasoned thus within themselves, He said to them, "Why do you reason about these things in your hearts?  Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, 'Your sins are forgiven you,' or to say, 'Arise, take up your bed and walk'?  But that you may know that the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins" -- He said to the paralytic, "I say to you, arise, take up your bed, and go to your house."   Immediately he arose, took up the bed, and went out in the presence of them all, so that all were amazed and glorified God, saying, "We never saw anything like this!"

 

- Mark 2:1–12 

 

Yesterday we read that, as soon as they had come out of the synagogue (where Jesus cast out an unclean spirit), they entered the house of Simon and Andrew, with James and John.  But Simon's wife's mother lay sick with a fever, and they told Him about her at once.  So He came and took her by the hand and lifted her up, and immediately the fever left her.  And she served them.  At evening, when the sun had set, they brought to Him all who were sick and those who were demon-possessed.  And the whole city was gathered together at the door.   Then He healed many who were sick with various diseases, and cast out many demons; and He did not allow the demons to speak, because they knew Him.  Now in the morning, having risen a long while before daylight, He went out and departed to a solitary place; and there He prayed.  And Simon and those who were with Him searched for Him.  When they found Him, they said to Him, "Everyone is looking for You."  But He said to them, "Let us go into the next towns, that I may preach there also, because for this purpose I have come forth."  And He was preaching in their synagogues throughout all Galilee, and casting out demons.  Now a leper came to Him, imploring Him, kneeling down to Him and saying to Him, "If You are willing, You can make me clean."  Then Jesus, moved with compassion, stretched out His hand and touched him, and said to him, "I am willing; be cleansed."  As soon as he had spoken, immediately the leprosy left him, and he was cleansed.  And He strictly warned him and sent him away at once,  and said to him, "See that you say nothing to anyone; but go your way, show yourself to the priest, and offer for your cleansing those things which Moses commanded, as a testimony to them."  However, he went out and began to proclaim it freely, and to spread the matter, so that Jesus could no longer openly enter the city, but was outside in deserted places; and they came to Him from every direction.

 

 And again He entered Capernaum after some days, and it was heard that He was in the house.  Immediately many gathered together, so that there was no longer room to receive them, not even near the door.  And He preached the word to them.  Then they came to Him, bringing a paralytic who was carried by four men.  And when they could not come near Him because of the crowd, they uncovered the roof where He was.  So when they had broken through, they let down the bed on which the paralytic was lying.  When Jesus saw their faith, He said to the paralytic, "Son, your sins are forgiven you."  And some of the scribes were sitting there and reasoning in their hearts, "Why does this Man speak blasphemies like this?  Who can forgive sins but God alone?"  But immediately, when Jesus perceived in His spirit that they reasoned thus within themselves, He said to them, "Why do you reason about these things in your hearts?  Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, 'Your sins are forgiven you,' or to say, 'Arise, take up your bed and walk'?  But that you may know that the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins" -- He said to the paralytic, "I say to you, arise, take up your bed, and go to your house."   Immediately he arose, took up the bed, and went out in the presence of them all, so that all were amazed and glorified God, saying, "We never saw anything like this!"  My study Bible asks us to note here that one purpose of the coming of Christ into the world as the incarnate Jesus is to forgiven sins.  This is to free humanity from its bondage.  To forgive sins, it says, is a greater power than physical healing.  As the scribes correctly note, God alone can forgive sins.  So, therefore, the easier task is to grant physical healing.  Although Christ is fully God and holds the authority to forgive, He condescends to those who are gathered in the crowded house in Capernaum (St. Peter's family home, His ministry headquarters) in order to draw people to God, whom they glorified.  

 

 Jesus asks the scribes, "Why do you reason about these things in your hearts?  Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, 'Your sins are forgiven you,' or to say, 'Arise, take up your bed and walk'?  But that you may know that the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins" -- He said to the paralytic, "I say to you, arise, take up your bed, and go to your house."   Although we're told that all were amazed and glorified God following this miraculous sign, we really don't know if the scribes were convinced and came to believe that Christ (the Son of Man) truly had the power on earth to forgive sins.  Jesus offers a crossroads to the people who witness this healing of the paralytic, because it takes one more step from simply witnessing the miraculous healing to truly believing that He is God, and has the power to forgive sins.  That one more step is the step of faith.  As shown by this healing, faith is an indispensable condition for salvation; the text tells us that this forgiveness was extended when He saw their faith.  My study Bible comments on this note that faith is collective as well as personal, which we can see here as the faith of the paralytic's friends which helped in his healing.  Additionally, regarding the power to forgive sins, there are other signs of Christ's divinity on display in this story.  First, He knows the secrets of hearts (when Jesus perceived in His spirit that they reasoned thus within themselves, the text tells us).  This is a quality that also touches upon the power to forgive sins as it is essential for the One who will judge.  See also 1 Samuel 16:7; 2 Chronicles 6:30.  Moreover, He heals by the power of His word (as in the story of Creation, when God spoke the cosmos into existence; see Genesis 1:3).  All the people can see His miraculous healing.  But will all -- including the scribes -- believe that He has the power to forgive sins, and that as Son of Man He is fully human and fully divine?  Throughout the Church's history, we find that so many of the heresies ruled on by Ecumenical Council really had to do in some way or another with this question of the divinity and humanity of Christ.  For whatever reason, it is this paradox of our faith that seems to be the most difficult for many to accept, and this has been true throughout the history of Christianity.  But, nevertheless, this is our faith, and this is the claim Jesus makes in the healing of the paralytic.  It's perhaps extraordinary how Christ presents His claim to the power to forgive sins couched within the healing of the paralytic, for it cracks open the question of whether to believe or not to believe in His divinity.  The human Jesus they see before themselves; can they also believe that He has the power to forgive sins?  In this action, Jesus confronts everyone with an immediate choice.  And this is really our choice, for without faith there is no healing, either physically of the paralysis, or spiritually in the forgiveness of sin and salvation in reconciliation with God.  For the power of judgment and Resurrection is given to Christ, as He teaches in John 5:22-27.  The power to forgive and the authority to judge go hand in hand, and there is only One who can do both.

 

 

 

The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath. Therefore the Son of Man is also Lord of the Sabbath

 

 Now it happened that He went through the grainfields on the Sabbath; and as they went His disciples began to pluck the heads of grain.  And the Pharisees said to Him, "Look, why do they do what is not lawful on the Sabbath?"  But He said to them, "Have you never read what David did when he was in need and hungry, he and those with him: how he went into the house of God in the days of Abiathar the high priest, and ate the showbread, which is not lawful to eat except for the priests, and also gave some to those who were with him?"  And He said to them, "The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath.  Therefore the Son of Man is also Lord of the Sabbath."

 

 And He entered the synagogue again, and a man was there who had a withered hand.  So they watched Him closely, whether He would heal him on the Sabbath, so that they might accuse Him.  And He said to the man who had the withered hand, "Step forward."  Then He said to them, "Is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do evil, to save life or to kill?"  But they kept silent.  And when He had looked around at them with anger, being grieved by the hardness of their hearts, He said to the man, "Stretch out your hand."  And he stretched it out, and his hand was restored as whole as the other.  Then the Pharisees went out and immediately plotted with the Herodians against Him, how they might destroy Him.

 

- Mark 2:23-3:6

 

Yesterday we read that Jesus went out again by the sea; and all the multitude came to Him, and He taught them.  As He passed by, He saw Levi the son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax office.  And He said to him, "Follow Me."  So he arose and followed Him.  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.  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?"  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." 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?"  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.  But the days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them, and then they will fast in those days.  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  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."

 

  Now it happened that He went through the grainfields on the Sabbath; and as they went His disciples began to pluck the heads of grain.  And the Pharisees said to Him, "Look, why do they do what is not lawful on the Sabbath?"  But He said to them, "Have you never read what David did when he was in need and hungry, he and those with him: how he went into the house of God in the days of Abiathar the high priest, and ate the showbread, which is not lawful to eat except for the priests, and also gave some to those who were with him?"  And He said to them, "The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath.  Therefore the Son of Man is also Lord of the Sabbath."  Once again, as in yesterdays reading (above), the Pharisees begin to criticize, based on their understanding of the Law and the traditions built up around it.  But Jesus brings up a blameless violation of the Law, when David and his men ate the showbread which was meant only for the priests (see 1 Samuel 21:1-6).  According to St. Ambrose of Milan, this is an illustration of the old and new covenants.  Under the new covenant, the food which was at one time not lawful for anyone but the priests to eat is now freely given to all by the Lord of the Sabbath.  This was prefigured by David in giving the showbread to those who were with him. 

 

  And He entered the synagogue again, and a man was there who had a withered hand.  So they watched Him closely, whether He would heal him on the Sabbath, so that they might accuse Him.  And He said to the man who had the withered hand, "Step forward."  Then He said to them, "Is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do evil, to save life or to kill?"  But they kept silent.  And when He had looked around at them with anger, being grieved by the hardness of their hearts, He said to the man, "Stretch out your hand."  And he stretched it out, and his hand was restored as whole as the other.  Then the Pharisees went out and immediately plotted with the Herodians against Him, how they might destroy Him.  My study Bible comments that, according to certain traditions built up by the scribes and Pharisees around the Law, healing was considered to be work.  So, therefore, it was not permissible on the Sabbath.  Once again, as in yesterday's reading and commentary, we observe that these men believed that by zealously keeping these peripheral traditions, they were serving God.  But their legalism made them insensitive to God's mercy.   The text tells us that Jesus looked around at them with anger, being grieved by the hardness of their hearts.  My study Bible comments on this that righteous anger is a natural human emotion experienced in the face of sin.  There is anger that is sinful (Matthew 5:22), but there is also anger that is God-given and proper to humanity (Psalm 4:4).  Christ's anger here, it notes, is in response to people who profess God, but who have such hardness in their hearts that they could not rejoice in the healing of one of their brothers.  

 

Today's reading expands on St. Mark's orientation, observed in yesterday's reading, to Christ's ministry as one of healing.  Healing involves all kinds of aspects of what it is to be a human being.  In today's case, we observe two:  one is the aspect of human hunger; the other is of a wounded limb. In yesterday's reading and commentary, we noted that Christ's sense of healing is for the full wholeness of a person, and it extends to the soul.  Ultimate healing is connected, therefore, to repentance and the forgiveness of sin, for it is in the freedom from the kind of bondage that sin brings that we may find ourselves.   But essential to concepts of healing in today's reading is yet another gift from God, and that is the Sabbath.  Jesus says,  "The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath.  Therefore the Son of Man is also Lord of the Sabbath."  In our modern age, we might think about the Sabbath rest as a time simply to forget about our usual work, or to relax, or as is common, to exercise.  But the Sabbath is a holy day; we put aside our normal concerns and come to sit in rest in the Church, to be surrounded by the beauty there in worship services, and to consider ourselves a part of the kingdom of God and what that means.  If we come to participate in the Eucharist, then confession, putting ourselves before God, considering how God might guide us forward in life, and giving ourselves to our faith, is also part of our Sabbath.  So when Christ tells us that the Sabbath was made for man, He's indicating that indeed, all of this is necessary for us.  It restores us and heals us.  The spiritual life isn't separate from everything else in our lives, it gives us nourishment, rest in the places and ways that we need it, a refreshment of ideas and orientation, and perhaps most of all the Lord of the Sabbath.  For Christ, the Son of Man as Lord of the Sabbath, is our champion who heals us, and He is the one setting down the terms of mercy and true nourishment, caring for need, on the Sabbath in today's reading.  He is our Physician, who cares for soul, body, heart, mind, and spirit -- and guides us to the things which are truly needful.  

 

 

 

 

How is it that He eats and drinks with tax collectors and sinners?

 

 Then He went out again by the sea; and all the multitude came to Him, and He taught them.  As He passed by, He saw Levi the son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax office.  And He said to him, "Follow Me."  So he arose and followed Him.  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.  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?"  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."  

 

 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?"  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.  But the days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them, and then they will fast in those days.  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  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 2:13-22 

 

Yesterday we read that again Jesus entered Capernaum after some days, and it was heard that He was in the house.  Immediately many gathered together, so that there was no longer room to receive them, not even near the door.  And He preached the word to them.  Then they came to Him, bringing a paralytic who was carried by four men.  And when they could not come near Him because of the crowd, they uncovered the roof where He was.  So when they had broken through, they let down the bed on which the paralytic was lying.  When Jesus saw their faith, He said to the paralytic, "Son, your sins are forgiven you."  And some of the scribes were sitting there and reasoning in their hearts, "Why does this Man speak blasphemies like this?  Who can forgive sins but God alone?"  But immediately, when Jesus perceived in His spirit that they reasoned thus within themselves, He said to them, "Why do you reason about these things in your hearts?  Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, 'Your sins are forgiven you,' or to say, 'Arise, take up your bed and walk'?  But that you may know that the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins" -- He said to the paralytic, "I say to you, arise, take up your bed, and go to your house."  Immediately he arose, took up the bed, and went out in the presence of them all, so that all were amazed and glorified God, saying, "We never saw anything like this!"

 

  Then He went out again by the sea; and all the multitude came to Him, and He taught them.  As He passed by, He saw Levi the son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax office.  And He said to him, "Follow Me."  So he arose and followed Him.  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.  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?"  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."   Levi the son of Alphaeus is also known to us as Matthew (Matthew 9:91-13).  My study Bible explains that Roman overlords assigned specific areas to Jewish tax collectors, who were free to collect extra revenues for their own profit.  It notes that their collaboration with the occupying Romans, their fraud, and their corruption caused other Jews to hate them and to consider them unclean (Matthew 11:19).  Jesus dining with them and accepting a tax collector as a disciple ("Follow Me") is an offense to the scribes and Pharisees.  But Christ's defense of His ministry is simple:  He goes where the need of a physician is the greatest.  He clarifies His mission:  "I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance."  

 

  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?"  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.  But the days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them, and then they will fast in those days.  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  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."  Typically, fasting practices for the Jews included fasting on Mondays and Thursday (Luke 18:12).  Moreover, my study Bible tells us, fasts were regularly observed or occasionally proclaimed (2 Chronicles 20:3; Ezra 8:21; Esther 4:16; Joel 2:15), and most particularly on the Day of Atonement (Leviticus 16:31-34) and also in times of mourning (Zechariah 7:5; 8:19).  But for the Jews, the day of the Messiah was foreseen as a wedding feast; that is, a time of joy and gladness.  Here Jesus is proclaiming that day, and subtly declaring Himself to be the Messiah/Bridegroom.  For Christians, my study Bible comments, fasting is not gloomy but desirable.  It is a "bright sadness" because in fasting, we gain self-control and prepare ourselves for the Wedding Feast.  Moreover, the old garment and old wineskins stand for the Old Covenant and the Law, according to my study Bible.  They are viewed as imperfect and temporary, while the new wineskins are the New Covenant and those in Christ.  The new wine is the Holy Spirit dwelling within renewed people, who cannot be constrained by the old precepts of the Law.

 

 Of course, we know from an important story in the Gospels, that wine was essential to the celebration of a wedding feast (see John 2:1-12; Christ's first divine sign of seven in St. John's Gospel).  So Christ's comparison of old and new wine here is significant, because wine is symbolic and essential to covenant.  So it is also in our Eucharist; in addition to the understanding of the mystical presence Christ's Blood in the wine of the Eucharist, wine retains its covenantal meaning as well, for in taking our Eucharist we affirm that He is our Bridegroom and we wish to be united to Him as His Church, the Bride.  So when Jesus speaks of old and new wine in today's reading, we need to pay attention to the depth of what He's saying.  This isn't simply about a kind of preference in terms of a simple metaphor about what we drink, but its deeper sense is about how we live covenant, what we live by, what we know, and how we participate in the divine life of God.  One hallmark of that new wine is no doubt the element of forgiveness that is so crucial to Christ's ministry, and that becomes a counterpoint to the criticism of the Pharisees and the scribes.  Just as Jesus touched a leper (and therefore "unclean" person) in Monday's reading, something forbidden in the Law, Jesus' proximity to these sinners as He eats and drinks with them is offensive to the Pharisees and scribes, who follow the Law and the traditions built up around it as scrupulously as possible.  They, in fact, live their scrupulosity in seeking to serve God.  We can simply imagine, then, how they view Christ's behavior with these tax collectors and sinners.  But Jesus has a mission that they can't understand, and it is a mission of repentance for the purpose of forgiveness of sins.  So, as He says, He's come to call sinners to repentance, because repentance is essential to forgiveness -- and it is the freedom from sin that is the true state of wholeness or healing.  Thus, He likens Himself to a physician seeking to treat the cause of illness in those who are sick.  The Law for its purposes sought to ameliorate the effects of sin in community, to limit it, to protect the community from it.  But it did not have the power to forgive sin, for only God has that power.  As Jesus here insinuates, He has that power, for He is God.  Jesus does not openly declare Himself to be the Messiah (or to be divine) in an open or obvious sense.  But He does fulfill this role, and He is doing things that only a Messiah who was both human and divine could do.  The religious leaders will understand this, and therefore be offended by it.  His followers are those who drink the new wine and need it, for it heals what ails them, and they follow Him in the ways that He leads them.  But this wine needs new wineskins, which will expand with time and age and the powerful enzymatic properties of the wine.  As time passes, and the Church continues in the world, we continue to discover that these wineskins must expand.  We find new ways in which healing and repentance go hand in hand.  We discover that our own healing depends upon freedom from sin, not just limiting sins effects.  Real healing asks for a radical turnaround, and it needs what Christ gives.  Moreover, the Holy Spirit, the real new wine, must lead from there, always expanding, always producing new saints, always giving us its creative responses to what unfolds with time.  Let us remember we must be the product of that new wine, and continue expanding as it asks of us, for that is what repentance is for.  Today's reading is also a valuable and important lesson about the deceptiveness of appearances.  For the Pharisees and scribes are judging by what they see, and indeed Jesus is sitting with those who are considered to be notorious sinners.  But with the new wine we're taught that life is not always what it appears to be, and we must find God's way for us regardless of social appearances and pressures otherwise. With social media and new technologies, the powerful manipulation of image (and the demand that we pursue the same) is more potent and persuasive than ever.   Let us make that commitment with our covenant in the new wine of Christ, who teaches us to be wise as serpents and simple as doves, and gives us the Spirit for discernment midst all of the things we think we see.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

When Jesus saw their faith, He said to the paralytic, "Son, your sins are forgiven you"

 

 And again He entered Capernaum after some days, and it was heard that He was in the house.  Immediately many gathered together, so that there was no longer room to receive them, not even near the door.  And He preached the word to them.  Then they came to Him, bringing a paralytic who was carried by four men.  And when they could not come near Him because of the crowd, they uncovered the roof where He was.  So when they had broken through, they let down the bed on which the paralytic was lying.  When Jesus saw their faith, He said to the paralytic, "Son, your sins are forgiven you."  And some of the scribes were sitting there and reasoning in their hearts, "Why does this Man speak blasphemies like this?  Who can forgive sins but God alone?"  But immediately, when Jesus perceived in His spirit that they reasoned thus within themselves, He said to them, "Why do you reason about these things in your hearts?  Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, 'Your sins are forgiven you,' or to say, 'Arise, take up your bed and walk'?  But that you may know that the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins" -- He said to the paralytic, "I say to you, arise, take up your bed, and go to your house."  Immediately he arose, took up the bed, and went out in the presence of them all, so that all were amazed and glorified God, saying, "We never saw anything like this!"

 

- Mark 2:1–12 

 

Yesterday we read that as soon as Jesus and the disciples had come out of the synagogue, they entered the house of Simon and Andrew, with James and John.  But Simon's wife's mother lay sick with a fever, and they told Him about her at once.  So He came and took her by the hand and lifted her up, and immediately the fever left her.  And she served them.  At evening, when the sun had set, they brought to Him all who were sick and those who were demon-possessed.  And the whole city was gathered together at the door.  Then He healed many who were sick with various diseases, and cast out many demons; and He did not allow the demons to speak, because they knew Him.  Now in the morning, having risen a long while before daylight, He went out and departed to a solitary place; and there He prayed.  And Simon and those who were with Him searched for Him.   When they found Him, they said to Him, "Everyone is looking for You."  But He said to them, "Let us go into the next town, that I may preach there also, because for this purpose I have come forth."  And He was preaching in the synagogues throughout all Galilee, and casting out demons. Now a leper came to Him, imploring Him, kneeling down to Him and saying to Him, "If You are willing, You can make me clean."  Then Jesus, moved with compassion, stretched out His hand and touched him, and said to him, "I am willing; be cleansed."  As soon as He had spoken, immediately the leprosy left him, and he was cleansed.  And He strictly warned him and sent him away at once, and said to him, "See that you say nothing to anyone; but go your way, show yourself to the priest, and offer for your cleansing those things which Moses commanded, as a testimony to them."  However, he went out and began to proclaim it freely, and to spread the matter, so that Jesus could no longer openly enter the city, but was outside in deserted places; and they came to Him from every direction. 

 

  And again He entered Capernaum after some days, and it was heard that He was in the house.  Immediately many gathered together, so that there was no longer room to receive them, not even near the door.  And He preached the word to them.  Then they came to Him, bringing a paralytic who was carried by four men.  And when they could not come near Him because of the crowd, they uncovered the roof where He was.  So when they had broken through, they let down the bed on which the paralytic was lying.  When Jesus saw their faith, He said to the paralytic, "Son, your sins are forgiven you."  And some of the scribes were sitting there and reasoning in their hearts, "Why does this Man speak blasphemies like this?  Who can forgive sins but God alone?"  But immediately, when Jesus perceived in His spirit that they reasoned thus within themselves, He said to them, "Why do you reason about these things in your hearts?  Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, 'Your sins are forgiven you,' or to say, 'Arise, take up your bed and walk'?  But that you may know that the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins" -- He said to the paralytic, "I say to you, arise, take up your bed, and go to your house."  Immediately he arose, took up the bed, and went out in the presence of them all, so that all were amazed and glorified God, saying, "We never saw anything like this!"  My study Bible asks us to note that one purpose of Christ's coming into the world is to forgive sins, to free humanity from the bondage of sin.  To forgive sins is a greater power than physical healing, for, as the scribes correctly note, God alone can forgive sins.  So, therefore, the easier task is to grant physical healing.  Although Christ being fully God holds the authority to forgive, He condescends to the people gathered by healing this man so that He draws people to God, whom they then glorified.  

 

 There is another note in my study Bible on this healing of the paralytic, and that focuses on faith.  It says that this healing shows that faith is an indispensable condition for salvation.  Faith, it notes, is collective as well as personal -- as is shown in today's reading.  For the faith of the paralytic's friends helped in this healing.  Moreover, in addition to the power to forgive sins we may also observe other signs of Jesus' divinity here.  First, Jesus knows the secrets of hearts (see 1 Samuel 16:7; 2 Chronicles 6:30), and He heals by the power of His word, through a command ("I say to you, arise, take up your bed, and go to your house").  Today's reading asks us to ponder not just the power of faith, but perhaps what faith is, exactly.  Many people think faith simply means to believe in something.  Often I find people seem to understand faith as just the capacity for believing something is true, or being convinced of something. But in context with today's reading, and the relationship with God that faith implies so powerfully here, it seems we need to change that concept of faith.  It isn't simply believing in something.  Faith is entrusting oneself, which means to pursue and to follow the path that sets forth.  The paralytic's friends may believe, or possibly they hope, that Christ can heal their friend.  After all, by now His fame as a healer has spread, and so many people come to see Him in hopes of such help.  But what really happens here is all that extra effort the paralytic's friends make to pursue Jesus, to go where He is, and to bring their friend to Him.  This isn't just an analytical conviction about something or someone.  This is putting heart and soul into pursuing God, pursuing Christ.  They go the extra mile and make the extra effort, they use a creative strategy to overcome obstacles, and they come down even through the roof if that's the only way they can come to Christ.  And that is the real and true example of what faith is in this story.  Let us note that the text says it was when Jesus saw their faith that He pronounced the paralytic's sins forgiven.  Faith is the pursuit of God, of Christ, of going that extra effort, even thinking outside of the box, outside of conventions that make an obstacle, to come to Him, to meet Him where we need to.  That is a lifelong pursuit and a lifelong practice a lifelong journey.  For He is the path -- the "way, the truth, and the life" (John 14:6).  Keep in mind that the word translated as "way" means "road" in modern Greek.  He is that very road, and faith is finding Him where He is, not where we want to meet Him.  And we are to meet Him where He leads us, for He is that very road, or path, of faith.  Faith is not about believing something hard enough so that it comes true, and neither is prayer, for that matter.  In prayer we seek Him, and we seek His path for us -- not the other way around.  Let your faith live in this pursuit and finding Him where He is, for that is where our salvation lies.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath. Therefore the Son of Man is also Lord of the Sabbath

 

 Now it happened that He went through the grainfields on the Sabbath; and as they went His disciples began to pluck the heads of grain.  And the Pharisees said to Him, "Look, why do they do what is not lawful on the Sabbath?"  But He said to them, "Have you never read what David did when he was in need and hungry, he and those with him:  how he went into the house of God in the days of Abiathar the high priest, and ate the showbread, which is not lawful to eat except for the priests, and also gave some to those who were with him?"  And He said to them, "The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath.  Therefore the Son of Man is also Lord of the Sabbath."

And He entered the synagogue again, and a man was there who had a withered hand.  So they watched Him closely, whether He would heal him on the Sabbath, so that they might accuse Him.  And He said to the man who had the withered hand, "Step forward."  Then He said to them, "Is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do evil, to save life or to kill?"  But they kept silent.  And when He had looked around at them with anger, being grieved by the hardness of their hearts, He said to the man, "Stretch out your hand."  And he stretched it out, and his hand was restored as whole as the other.  Then the Pharisees went out and immediately plotted with the Herodians against Him, how they might destroy Him.

 

- Mark 2:23-3:6 

 

Yesterday we read that Jesus went out again by the sea; and all the multitude came to Him, and He taught them.  As He passed by, He saw Levi the son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax office.  And He said to him, "Follow Me.  So he arose and followed Him.  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.  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?"  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."  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?"  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.  But the days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them, and then they will fast in those days.  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.  And no one puts new wine into old wineskins; or else the new wine bursts the wineskins, and the wine is spilled, and the wineskins are ruined.  But new wine must be put into new wineskins."

 

 Now it happened that He went through the grainfields on the Sabbath; and as they went His disciples began to pluck the heads of grain.  And the Pharisees said to Him, "Look, why do they do what is not lawful on the Sabbath?"  But He said to them, "Have you never read what David did when he was in need and hungry, he and those with him:  how he went into the house of God in the days of Abiathar the high priest, and ate the showbread, which is not lawful to eat except for the priests, and also gave some to those who were with him?"  And He said to them, "The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath.  Therefore the Son of Man is also Lord of the Sabbath."  For the incident referred to when David and his men ate the showbread from Abiathar the high priest, see 1 Samuel 21:1-6.  In yesterday's reading, Jesus spoke about the new wine and new wineskins, which symbolize the people coming to God under the New Covenant He initiates.   Here, my study Bible comments that under the New Covenant, the gospel of Christ, the food which was at one time not lawful for anyone to eat except for the priests,  is now freely given to all by the Lord of the Sabbath.  This was prefigured by David when he gave the showbread ... to those who were with him.

And He entered the synagogue again, and a man was there who had a withered hand.  So they watched Him closely, whether He would heal him on the Sabbath, so that they might accuse Him.  And He said to the man who had the withered hand, "Step forward."  Then He said to them, "Is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do evil, to save life or to kill?"  But they kept silent.  And when He had looked around at them with anger, being grieved by the hardness of their hearts, He said to the man, "Stretch out your hand."  And he stretched it out, and his hand was restored as whole as the other.  Then the Pharisees went out and immediately plotted with the Herodians against Him, how they might destroy Him.  My study Bible comments that, according to certain traditions that the scribes and Pharisees had built up around the Law, healing was considered to be work.  So, under the Law it was not permissible on the Sabbath.  It notes that they believed that they served God by zealously keeping these peripheral traditions, but their legalism made them insensitive to God's mercy.  Note that the Herodians are supporters of the Herodian dynasty, who rule for Rome, and it is these with whom the Pharisees begin to plot against Jesus.

 

 In yesterday's reading, Jesus spoke of the new wine and the new wineskins, indicating those tax collectors and other sinners with whom He had associated, and even called as disciples (Matthew, or Levi, the tax collector).  In that context, Jesus referred to Himself as a healer, stating, "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," indicating that repentance was the medicine that made possible renewal and grace through this work of Christ the Physician.  Here in today's reading, He heals directly a man with a withered hand, and thus violates one of the peripheral traditions that had been built up around the Law, and which were zealously followed by the Pharisees and the scribes, as my study Bible comments.  In Christ's actions, we see the triumph of mercy, but there is more than that -- there is the illustration of the renewal of life and its possibilities, something akin to the practice of repentance and grace within the gospel of Christ.  Unlike the rigid Pharisees and scribes, who here seem far more concerned with their own authority than with the healing of the man with the withered hand (or even pausing to consider what it means that Christ is able to heal, or to hear His doctrine), illustrate what "legalism" means.  A kind of unvarying strictness in following rules set up and abstracted from principles of spiritual teachings inspired by God teaches us about the inevitable clash between our own sense of what seem like good ideas, and the true grace of God as given through the Spirit.  For God's love is what is expressed through such inspiration, and given all for our good.  Abstraction from such inspired gifts to us might be well-intended, but nonetheless it's fallible and human.  Therefore we always need to practice sincere prayer, to be open to the love of a merciful God, and to practice mercy in situations where harm may result otherwise, or even and including in circumstances where we don't always know the answers.  Perhaps the most important lesson we take from today's reading is the hope found in the potential for healing, for this points the way to Christ's love and the power of grace at work in our lives.  In the time we're given for repentance, in the repeated offerings of love and forgiveness to all in Christ, even in the illustration of God's repeated sending of servants (prophets) and finally the Son in this parable, for example, calling us back to God, we learn of the abundance of mercy and the deep desire of God for relationship and reconciliation to us.  Christ's death on the Cross remains, in a real sense, an extended hand of forgiveness to all (Luke 23:34), should we choose to realize it and follow Him.  The teachings of Jesus Christ, or so it seems to this author, can only be fully understood and accepted within this context of the sense of a living God who is both powerfully loving and merciful beyond our human concepts and expectations -- and it is to this God that we are asked to come and to learn from, and to find community and hope for our lives.  For without that understanding of love, we cannot function in accordance with Christ's teaching appropriately, because we fail to know the One in whom we put our faith and hopes, and with whom we form the depth of relationship as One who knows us better than we know ourselves.  Let us consider God's love and grace, and Christ's power to renew and to heal.  For it is in this context that "the Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath.  Therefore the Son of Man is also Lord of the Sabbath."

 

 

 

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

 

 Then He went out again by the sea; and all the multitude came to Him, and He taught them.  As He passed by, He saw Levi the son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax office.  And He said to him, "Follow Me.  So he arose and followed Him.  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.  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?"  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."

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?"  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.  But the days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them, and then they will fast in those days.  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.  And no one puts new wine into old wineskins; or else the new wine bursts the wineskins, and the wine is spilled, and the wineskins are ruined.  But new wine must be put into new wineskins."

 

- Mark 2:13-22 

 

Yesterday we read that again Christ entered Capernaum after some days, and it was heard that He was in the house.  Immediately many gathered together, so that there was no longer room to receive them, not even near the door.  And He preached the word to them.  Then they came to Him, bringing a paralytic who was carried by four men.  And when they could not come near Him because of the crowd, they uncovered the roof where He was.  So when they had broken through, they let down the bed on which the paralytic was lying.  When Jesus saw their faith, He said to the paralytic, "Son, your sins are forgiven you."  And some of the scribes were sitting there and reasoning in their hearts, "Why does this Man speak blasphemies like this?  Who can forgive sins but God alone?"  But immediately, when Jesus perceived in His spirit that they reasoned thus within themselves, He said to them, "Why do you reason about these things in your hearts?  Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, 'Your sins are forgiven you,' or to say, 'Arise, take up your bed and walk'?  But that you may know that the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins" -- He said to the paralytic, "I say to you, arise, take up your bed, and go to your house."  Immediately he arose, took up the bed, and went out in the presence of them all, so that all were amazed and glorified God, saying, "We never saw anything like this!"

 

  Then He went out again by the sea; and all the multitude came to Him, and He taught them.  As He passed by, He saw Levi the son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax office.  And He said to him, "Follow Me.  So he arose and followed Him.  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.  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?"  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."  Levi is also called Matthew, and he is the Evangelist who wrote the Gospel we know by that name.  In the system of the Empire, Roman overlords assigned specific areas to Jewish tax collectors, who were then free to collect extra revenues for their own profit, as my study Bible explains it.  It notes that therefore, their collaboration with the occupying Romans, their fraud, and their corruption caused other Jews to hate them and to consider them to be unclean (Matthew 11:19).  Here Christ dining with them and also accepting a tax collector as a disciple ("Follow Me") is an offense to the Pharisees.  But Christ's defense is quite simple:   He goes where the need of the physician is greatest.  He has come not to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance.

 

 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?"  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.  But the days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them, and then they will fast in those days.  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.  And no one puts new wine into old wineskins; or else the new wine bursts the wineskins, and the wine is spilled, and the wineskins are ruined.  But new wine must be put into new wineskins."  My study Bible explains that the Jews typically fasted twice a week (Luke 18:12), on Monday and Thursday.  Moreover, there were public fasts which were regularly observed, or occasionally proclaimed (2 Chronicles 20:3; Ezra 8:21-23; Esther 4:16; Joel 2:15), particularly on the Day of Atonement (Leviticus 16:31-34) and also in times of mourning (Zechariah 7:5, 8:19).  However, the Jews saw the day of the Messiah, by contrast, as a wedding feast:  this is a time of joy and gladness.  Here, Christ is proclaiming that day, and He declares Himself to be the Messiah/Bridegroom, my study Bible explains.  For Christians, it notes, fasting is not gloomy but desirable; it is a bright sadness.  For by fasting, we gain self-control and we prepare ourselves for this Wedding Feast.  In this light, we understand that Jesus uses the illustration of the old garment and old wineskins to stand for the Old Covenant and the Law, viewed as imperfect and temporary.  The new wineskins are the New Covenant and those in Christ.  The new wine is the Holy Spirit dwelling within renewed people, who cannot be constrained by the old precepts of the Law.  

If we look closely at today's reading, we might see a kind of revolutionary concept at work between the Old and the New.  That is, once a person is identified as a sinner, or as someone detrimental to community, Christ's work is healing, rehabilitation.  His aim is to save, to redeem.  He says, "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."  As Physician, then, Christ is here to heal, and that healing -- most significantly -- is repentance.  One wonders, at times, if today we have lost sight of this teaching about repentance.  Forgiveness is God's glorious purview, but it is not realized without some significant action on the part of the one who is forgiven their sins.  First of all, we must couch all concepts about faith within the understanding that we are called into relationship to God.  This is the nature of the reality we inhabit, that we are creatures of God.  Of course, we have the freedom to repudiate this should we so choose.  But that road is not a road of repentance; it is moving in the opposite direction.  To forgo forgiveness is also possible for God's creatures -- even, it seems, for angels -- but the consequences of such choices remain.  Repentance is not a kind of "Get Out of Jail Free" card, which we can just pull up when we think we need it, but like all things concerning our faith and the deep things of God, it really depends upon the state of the heart.  Jesus most solemnly condemns hypocrisy, even in those who are meant to represent God on earth and shepherd God's people (Matthew 23).  So, therefore, in considering Christ's eating and drinking with tax collectors and other sinners, people who were considered to be harmful to the community and spiritually impure, we need to think about what this repentance is that Christ puts so much stress on.  Certainly the good news of Christ's gospel of the Kingdom is first that repentance is not only possible, but desired by God.  In yesterday's reading (see above), the scribes ask, "Who can forgive sins but God alone?" and thereby make it clear to us that Christ possesses this authority to forgive and to judge.  But what is repentance?  How does it work?  Why is this the great good news of our Physician, the healing and liberation which He brings to us?  Perhaps as a result of 2,000 years of Christian history, often we find people who may be so assured that they cannot sin or endanger their spiritual welfare through their choices, because we now have been so conditioned to understand God's love and forgiveness.  But repentance, nonetheless, remains an important work for us to do.  Perhaps it is the most important work of all we should consider, for repentance isn't the same thing as simple remorse or regret.  Repentance is the action of change, of turning toward God to be more reconciled to God and the ways God would ask us to walk in life.  And this is indeed the great light we need in our lives.  To neglect this saving and healing work in us is to ignore the gift we're given of the light of Christ, and the presence of the Holy Spirit at work.  To refuse to take this notion seriously is to refuse the gift, or to practice the hypocrisy Christ so condemns in the actions of the Pharisees and scribes in Matthew 23.  The New Covenant is all about recognizing our capacity for change and healing and renewal under the actions and guidance of the Physician who is Christ.  When we forget what a great wonder and marvel this is, we have only to turn to those systems in which forgiveness never seems to take place, where to cross a social rule or a particular value system or even a political opinion renders a person hopelessly assigned to oblivion -- and rehabilitation only comes at the expense of personal integrity and particularly of what one believes to be the truth.  Let us consider the great gift of the Physician, and remember the power of healing always present in Christ.  For if we are afraid to change, or admit our mistakes, or refuse this reconciliation in God's sight, we lose ourselves, we lose our spiritual health and understanding in God's light.  That is simply too much to lose, and bears all kinds of sacrifices to achieve it.  It's God's wisdom we need in order to determine who we are in our best sense of self, for to refuse is to lose one's life to delusion and fantasy, to a self-created idol rather than God's gift to us of true identity and spiritual health.  Let us rejoice within the new wineskins for the new wine of the wedding feast of Christ the Bridegroom, for He brings His love in order to invite us in where life is truly good. 

Who can forgive sins but God alone?

 

 And again He entered Capernaum after some days, and it was heard that He was in the house.  Immediately many gathered together, so that there was no longer room to receive them, not even near the door.  And He preached the word to them.  Then they came to Him, bringing a paralytic who was carried by four men.  And when they could not come near Him because of the crowd, they uncovered the roof where He was.  So when they had broken through, they let down the bed on which the paralytic was lying.  When Jesus saw their faith, He said to the paralytic, "Son, your sins are forgiven you."  And some of the scribes were sitting there and reasoning in their hearts, "Why does this Man speak blasphemies like this?  Who can forgive sins but God alone?"  But immediately, when Jesus perceived in His spirit that they reasoned thus within themselves, He said to them, "Why do you reason about these things in your hearts?  Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, 'Your sins are forgiven you,' or to say, 'Arise, take up your bed and walk'?  But that you may know that the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins" -- He said to the paralytic, "I say to you, arise, take up your bed, and go to your house."  Immediately he arose, took up the bed, and went out in the presence of them all, so that all were amazed and glorified God, saying, "We never saw anything like this!"

 

- Mark 2:1–12 

 

Yesterday we read that, as soon as they had come out of the synagogue where Jesus had been preaching (and cast out a demon), they entered the house of Simon and Andrew, with James and John.  But Simon's wife's mother lay sick with a fever, and they told Him about her at once.  So He came and took her by the hand and lifted her up, and immediately the fever left her.  And she served them.  At evening, when the sun had set, they brought to Him all who were sick and those who were demon-possessed.  And the whole city was gathered together at the door.  Then He healed many who were sick with various diseases, and cast out many demons; and He did not allow the demons to speak, because they knew Him. Now in the morning, having arisen a long while before daylight, He went out and departed to a solitary place; and there He prayed.  And Simon and those who were with Him searched for Him.  When they found Him, they said to Him, "Everyone is looking for You."  But He said to them, "Let us go into the next towns, that I may preach there also, because for this purpose I have come forth."  And He was preaching in their synagogues throughout all Galilee, and casting out demons.  Now a leper came to Him, imploring Him, kneeling down to Him and saying to Him, "If You are willing, You can make me clean."  Then Jesus, moved with compassion, stretched out His hand and touched him, and said to him, "I am willing; be cleansed."  As soon as He had spoken, immediately the leprosy left him, and he was cleansed.  And He strictly warned him and sent him away at once, and said to him, "See that you say nothing to anyone; but go your way, show yourself to the priest, and offer for your cleansing those things which Moses commanded, as a testimony to them."  However, he went out and began to proclaim it freely, and to spread the matter, so that Jesus could no longer openly enter the city, but was outside in deserted places; and they came to Him from every direction.

 

  And again He entered Capernaum after some days, and it was heard that He was in the house.  Immediately many gathered together, so that there was no longer room to receive them, not even near the door.  And He preached the word to them.  Then they came to Him, bringing a paralytic who was carried by four men.  And when they could not come near Him because of the crowd, they uncovered the roof where He was.  So when they had broken through, they let down the bed on which the paralytic was lying.  When Jesus saw their faith, He said to the paralytic, "Son, your sins are forgiven you."  And some of the scribes were sitting there and reasoning in their hearts, "Why does this Man speak blasphemies like this?  Who can forgive sins but God alone?"  But immediately, when Jesus perceived in His spirit that they reasoned thus within themselves, He said to them, "Why do you reason about these things in your hearts?  Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, 'Your sins are forgiven you,' or to say, 'Arise, take up your bed and walk'?  But that you may know that the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins" -- He said to the paralytic, "I say to you, arise, take up your bed, and go to your house."  Immediately he arose, took up the bed, and went out in the presence of them all, so that all were amazed and glorified God, saying, "We never saw anything like this!"  My study Bible emphasizes in ts comments that, as shown by this healing of the paralytic, faith is an indispensable condition for salvation.  Faith, we understand, is collective as well as personal, because the faith of the friends of the paralytic (the four men who carried him) helped in his healing.  It notes three signs of Christ's divinity on display.  First, He knows the secrets of hearts (see 1 Samuel 16:7; 2 Chronicles 6:30).  Second, He forgives sins, which is a power belonging to God only.  And finally, He heals by the power of His word.  My study Bible further elaborates on the fact that one purpose of Christ's coming into the world is to forgive sins, which frees humanity from its bondage.  It notes that to forgive sins is a greater power than physical healing.  As the scribes correctly note, God alone can forgive sins.  So, therefore, it is the easier task to grant physical healing.  Although Christ is fully God and He holds the authority to forgive, to heal this man is to condescend to those gathered in order to draw people to God, whom they then glorified.

In a worldly perspective, we would see the healing of this paralytic as truly a more extraordinary power than forgiving sins.  But from a perspective that includes some sense of the reality of God, the forgiveness of sins is more extraordinary, as noted by my study Bible (see commentary above).  Perhaps in our modern world, we take forgiveness for granted, as in what is now frequently called a "post-Christian" culture, we are inculcated into a sense in which for centuries we have prayed the Lord's Prayer, the Our Father, which was given to us by Jesus, and in and through which we are taught to forgive as we are forgiven.  Forgiveness can be a tricky problem, as we don't necessarily think of it in the correct paradigm of understanding God's forgiveness as first and primary, and our own as something which is secondary to God's.  Christ teaches, in giving that prayer, that we can't ourselves realize God's forgiveness without being forgiving ourselves.  But the primary judge, our Lord, is the One who is the true arbiter of such forgiveness, as He shows in today's reading.  Once again, we may turn to the paradigm and culture of the ancient Jews which existed at the time of Christ, the context in which this event took place, and within which Christ so stuns the scribes in today's reading.  As discussed in yesterday's commentary, the system of sacrifices and institutions of the temple were a process whereby the people not only could understand what sin was, but in and through which they were reconciled to God.  Christ's remarkable forgiveness then, comes as a shock indeed to the scribes, for how could a man forgive sins?  Or, as they ask here, significantly, "Who can forgive sins but God alone?"  Indeed, and therein is the riddle that poses the question of just who Christ is.  Who is this Son of Man, as He refers to Himself?  And we know the answer, that Christ is both fully human and fully God.  It's within this understanding that the greater power is to forgive sins, but to express also the truth of the Son of Man, a miraculous healing is also given, expressing concretely the identity of the One who is present to them in a "worldly" sense that can be perceived and understood.  But if we don't have the mind and the understanding of the truth of the spiritual reality behind Christ and within which our world is created and known by God, then we moderns fail to understand the real impact of sin and its detriments to us.  Is it possible that this paralytic suffers from something sinful that has affected his condition?  This is possible, but one thing is clear:  although he suffers physically, he is still in need of forgiveness for his sins, and this is the great grace of God, and our Lord Christ, in response to the faith of his friends who help to carry him.  In the same way, we can pray for our friends and help to "carry" them to Christ.  Moreover, it's helpful to understand that in the tradition of the Church, paralysis is often seen as a metaphor for the condition of being "stuck" in a sin, unable to repent -- or to change -- that is, to get past it, to grow.  For sin is like paralysis, like slavery, as my study Bible describes it.  We are stuck in a repeated pattern, perhaps even despite our best efforts, and we need help to break it.  For that also, the Holy Spirit has been given to us as a gift of Christ and His Incarnation into the world, so that we have a Helper.  We might, today, take for granted this possibility of forgiveness, but for those who have experienced the freedom of God's forgiveness, the effect upon the soul and upon our lives is boundless, for we are set free to live differently, to establish something good in our lives, to live as we are taught to live in Christ's light.  Let us consider the power of God to forgive, for it is also the power to liberate us, to set us free from our paralysis within something detrimental to ourselves and our mental, physical, and spiritual health.  Let us also glorify God in return.