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Mark 2:18-3:6
Last week we saw three stories about Jesus
where He completely reverses our religious expectations. In human religion, we expect God to
reward the good and shun the bad.
But what did we see? We
saw three stories where three spiritual outsiders are not shunned but
included by Jesus. The leper, the
paralytic and the tax collector flock to Jesus and Jesus doesn’t seem to
worry about their badness rubbing off on Him. Instead Christ’s goodness rubbed off on them. Jesus, the LORD, the Holy One of
Israel, is Someone the bad people run to (not from, to!). And when they come to Him in faith,
they find cleansing, forgiveness and healing.
And the sentence that you could write across
the top of all three of those incidents is there in v17. Jesus says: “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but
the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners." Jesus turns human religion on its
head. Jesus is not like the
Health Police. He doesn’t go
around enforcing well-being and punishing illness. And He’s not like the Life Insurance
salesman trying to sniff out ill health before He gives you a
policy. You don’t come to Jesus
to show Him your wellness. And
you don’t come to Jesus hiding your illness. Because He’s the Doctor – and He has come to be with the
sick. Only the sick. In fact, unless you admit you’re
spiritually sick, Jesus the Doctor of the Soul has no time for you. Jesus wants the bad people – the
spiritually sick people – those who know that they are weak and unclean
and sinful. Those who know that
they have much to be ashamed of.
He positively seeks out that kind of person. Because He is the Doctor for the
sick.
So now, if we
associate with Jesus it’s not because we’re healthy. If we associate with Jesus we are
saying something very clearly to the world: I AM SICK. If you
call yourself a Christian this evening you are saying to the world I AM A
SINNER, and Jesus is my only hope.
Most people think that Christians are the ones who say to the
world I AM RIGHTEOUS. Jesus says
Christians simply are people who admit to God and the world I AM A SINNER
and Jesus is my only hope.
And so you and I, if
we’re Christians, we are like the leper – unclean, awkward, shunned,
sinful, running up to Jesus for cleansing. Or like the paralytic – helpless, weak, digging through a
roof just to get to Jesus. Or
like Levi, the tax collector – sinful, we should be ashamed of ourselves
but we leave everything to follow Jesus.
We don’t come to Christ because we recognize good spiritual health
in ourselves. We come only
because we recognize healing in Jesus.
Now this is
revolutionary. This is the
complete overturning of the natural, human, religious mindset. And in the three stories that are our
text for tonight, Jesus does not let up.
He continues to overturn even the most cherished religious
practices of His day. If last
week we saw Jesus revolutionizing our thoughts about the people in
His Kingdom. This week we’re
seeing Jesus revolutionize our thoughts about the practices in His
Kingdom. Last week – people. This week – practices.
But there is no let up
from Jesus in this revolution.
Jesus is continuing to plot the destruction of human
religion. And not surprisingly
human religion, threatened by Jesus, is plotting to destroy Jesus. That’s the word in chapter 3 verse
6. We get to the end of these
next three stories and this is the reaction of the religious types: I’ll
read what it literally says:
“Immediately, the Pharisees went out and began to plot with the
Herodians how they might destroy Jesus.”
This is a fight to the death between Jesus and religion.
And in these three
stories we’re studying tonight we focus on a couple of religious
practices that were considered to be basic and obvious markers of your
holiness. And they’re pretty
universal religious practices in the world: Fasting and observing a holy day (in this case the
Sabbath). Fasting and observing
holy days are very tangible ways of assessing someone’s spiritual
fibre. If you want to know
whether a person is a serious religious player, well you just ask them:
Do you fast? And if you want to
sort out the players from the pretenders you ask: How often do you
fast? The other question you
could ask is: Do you observe the holy day? And, again, if you want to sort out the men from the boys
you ask: How strictly do you
observe it?
When people came to
Jesus with these questions they found that He failed their little
religious tests. Which troubled
them greatly. It made them
question: How does Jesus fit into
this world of religious practices?
And Jesus’ fundamental
answer to that question is in verses 21 and 22 where Jesus gives us a
mental image to think about. Just
as last week the mental image of the spiritual Doctor helped explain all
three of those stories, so here the mental image – of sewing a patch on a
garment or pouring wine into a wineskins – that mental image will help to
explain our three stories tonight.
Read it with me:
21
"No-one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment. If he does,
the new piece will pull away from the old, making the tear worse. 22
And no-one pours new wine into old wineskins. If he does, the wine will
burst the skins, and both the wine and the wineskins will be ruined. No,
he pours new wine into new wineskins."
People are looking at
Jesus and struggling to fit Him into their way of thinking. There’s a mould that people expect
Jesus to fit – and Jesus doesn’t fit the mould. But Jesus basically says here: It’s not that I don’t fit into your religious
expectations. Jesus says I won’t
fit into your religious expectations.
It’s impossible to contain Jesus within our own moulds that we’ve
prepared. Jesus and His practices
are like new cloth and if you try to patch them onto any existing cloth
it will tear apart the garment.
Jesus and His practices are like new wine and if you try to
contain them within any existing wineskin it’ll burst the thing
apart. You’re going to have to
begin again. New clothes for the
new patch. New wineskins for the
new wine.
Jesus refuses to be
just one more ingredient in a human religion. You can’t just take a bit of this spirituality and a bit of
that philosophy and add a twist of Jesus. You can’t take your own common sense, your own culture’s
moral code and then expect Jesus to fit in. Jesus demands a complete revolution. We have to begin afresh with Jesus.
First story – Jesus is
questioned about fasting
Immediately we see how
Jesus stands out from common practice:
18 Now John's disciples and the Pharisees were fasting. Some people
came and asked Jesus, "How is it that John's disciples and the
disciples of the Pharisees are fasting, but yours are not?"
Verse 18 lists John’s
disciples together with the Pharisees.
Now you don’t usually see those two groups together. John the Baptist preached fiercely against
the Pharisees. When they came out
to be baptised by John, he called them in Matthew 3:7 a “brood of
vipers!” and told them that the axe of judgement was falling upon
them. But there’s one thing that
John and the Pharisees had in common.
They both fasted. In fact
we know that the Pharisees fasted twice a week (Luke 18:12). The Old Testament law commanded
fasting one day a year. The
Pharisees decided they would be 104 times more spiritual than the law of
God. They fasted twice a week
(Monday and Thurday). And
everyone knew when they fasted because they disfigured their faces and
went around looking terribly sombre all day. (Matt 6:16f). So of course this became a mark of
true spirituality.
And Jesus did not fit into
the mould. Jesus came eating and
drinking – we’ve just seen that in Mark.
Jesus does not fit.
Everyone knew fasting made you holy. Jesus was supposed to be a holy man. How come He wasn’t fasting?
Well to ask this
question is like coming to Jesus with an old wineskin and written on the
wineskin are the words “Fasting is the mark of holiness” and demanding
that Jesus fit into this mould.
But Jesus brings new wine and His new wine doesn’t fit the mould.
Here’s how Jesus
answers:
19 Jesus answered, "How can the guests of the bridegroom fast
while he is with them? They cannot, so long as they have him with them. 20
But the time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them, and
on that day they will fast.
Jesus takes us back to
first principles. He talks about
a bridegroom and says it’s not appropriate to fast at a wedding
reception. Can you imagine coming
to a wedding reception looking sombre and refusing to eat? Weddings are not about fasting,
they’re about feasting. And as
soon as Jesus says that, He taps into a massive theme in the bible.
Everyone who knew
their bible knew that in the beginning there was a marriage and there was
feasting. Adam and Eve came
together and they could eat anything in the garden except the forbidden fruit. Then they get chucked out and by the
sweat of their brow they have to eek out a living.
But everyone who knew
their bible also knew that there was a great hope – the Messiah. And the Messiah was spoken of in many
way, but one of the ways He was described was as a Bridegroom – a
Heavenly, Royal Bridegroom. And
the people looked forward to a time when the Messiah – the Bridegroom
would come together with His people (His Bride!) and on that day there
would be an Almighty feast. So
those who knew their bible were looking forward to feasting with the
Bridegroom.
But here’s what Jesus
is saying, and it’s absolutely incredible. He’s saying that He is the Heavenly Bridegroom and
He’s come now into their midst.
The Bridegroom is with them – the Messiah is here, and He’s it.
Which means the question is not – why isn’t Jesus fasting like the
religious. The question is – why
aren’t the religious feasting with Jesus?! They have their Messiah right there – He’s supposed to be
the love of their lives. But they
are like the wedding guest who refuses to eat. In fact they are the wedding guest who refuses to eat, who
ignores the Bridegroom and who then plots to kill the Bridegroom. When Jesus says in v20 that the
Bridegroom will be taken away, it’s these Pharisees who will forcibly
remove Him from His own wedding reception.
So Jesus’ words here
ought to have been very convicting for the Pharisees. But in essence He’s saying: when the
Messiah – the Bridegroom – is face to face with His people, it’s time for
feasting not fasting.
But does that mean
there’s no room for fasting in Jesus’ Kingdom? Of course not. In
fact Jesus began His public ministry by fasting for 40 days. And in the sermon on the mount Jesus
says to His disciples ‘When you fast… do it like this.’ Not if, when. There is a place for fasting in Jesus’
Kingdom.
You might think that’s
odd – if Jesus is the Heavenly Bridegroom, shouldn’t we be constantly
feasting in celebration. Jesus
says, that’s not the full story.
Because of verse 20. There
is a day when the Bridegroom is taken away. The Messiah is killed and then the people will turn from
feasting to fasting. And in doing
so He’s fulfilling the one day a year that the Old Testament commanded
fasting. Do you know when the Old
Testament law commanded that you fast?
On the day of atonement.
On the day when symbolically the sins of all the people were
atoned for, on that day, people were to fast. And when Jesus Christ died on the cross He fulfilled that
Day of Atonement – He, our Heavenly Bridegroom, the love of our life, was
violently taken away. And He died
as the sacrifice for our sins to make atonement. That’s a cause of fasting.
And Christians do fast
because their Bridegroom has been taken away. Christians are now a people of feasting and fasting. We feast in anticipation of the great
Wedding Banquet in the future.
And at times we fast because right now we are not with our
Heavenly Bridegroom and we miss Him.
Christians do both – we feast and we fast. Life in Jesus’ Kingdom is very
realistic – we don’t just plaster on the grin and feast all the
time. Neither do we look morose
and fast all the time. We do both
because on the one hand our Bridegroom has been taking away, which is
sad. But we also know one day
we’ll see Him and the fasting will be over – which is joyful.
But whatever we do –
whether feasting or fasting – we do it with Jesus at the centre. That’s the key. Don’t fast because it’s the done
thing. Don’t fast because you
think it makes you more righteous.
Fast only if it’s an expression of your relationship to
Christ. If you strip Christ out
of your spiritual practices you’ve just fallen into human religion.
And that’s what we’re
called to do with the Sabbath (now I’m thinking about the story from verse
23):
In this story Jesus’
disciples were just picking some grains as they walked through a field on
the Sabbath. But verse 24, the
Pharisees are there with their clipboards and pens. And they’ve decided that there are 39
different ways you can break the Sabbath (the bible doesn’t say that, but
the Pharisees have got together and come up with 39 ways of breaking
Sabbath). And apparently this is
one of them – these absent minded disciples picking a few heads of corn
were harvesting according to the Pharisees. And that’s work.
Sounds ridiculous
doesn’t it. But as soon as you
start down the road of human religion you will get yourself into this
kind of mess. As soon as you make
these observances into a mark of your own holiness, you’re inevitably going
to come up with different grades of observance. The Pharisees are just being true to the religious instinct
that is natural to us all, but they conclude that this is Sabbath
breaking.
How does Jesus
respond? Does He say ‘Stop being
so anally retentive. That was an
Old Testament thing, we’re beyond that now.’ Well no. He
actually goes back to the Old Testament and tells them that they don’t
properly understand the Old Testament teaching on holy things. From v25 Jesus reminds them of a story
from 1 Samuel 21 where the true king of Israel, David is with his men and
they are on the run from the acknowledged king Saul and his men, who have
turned very nasty indeed. In fact
Saul and his henchmen are out to kill David and his followers. So the comparisons are there for
anyone to see. Jesus is the true
King in their midst. The
disciples are like David’s mighty men.
And who is like the evil henchmen trying to kill Jesus? Well the Pharisees are. For those with ears to hear it, this
is a very provocative parallel to draw.
But Jesus point is that the special bread for the temple was given
to serve the true king David and his followers. The priests didn’t say ‘No it’s special, we’ll let David
and his men starve.’ Rather the
special bread served David. And
Jesus says it’s the same with Sabbath.
This special day called the Sabbath is meant to serve the ultimate
King – David’s descendant, Jesus.
So it’s entirely appropriate for the Sabbath to serve Him. Verse 27:
27
Then he said to them, "The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the
Sabbath. 28 So the Son of Man is Lord even of the
Sabbath."
It might sound a bit
cryptic to our ears but Jesus is making some massive claims about Himself
here. He is not only the ultimate
King David, He’s also the Son of Man and He’s also the LORD.
Son of Man is a title
that’s especially unpacked in Psalm 8 and Daniel 7. The Son of Man is God’s Human Ruler
over the universe. In verse 10 we
see Jesus calling Himself the Son of Man who has authority on earth to
forgive sins. Just as the Father
in Heaven has authority to forgive sins so also the Son of Man on earth
has that same divine authority to forgive sins. The Son of Man and His Father in Heaven are one in purpose,
authority and love. And Jesus is
this Son of Man. What’s more He
is the LORD even of the Sabbath.
Now Sabbath was
instituted on the seventh day of creation. On the seventh day God rested from His work of creation –
God started Sabbath and He started it from the very beginning. Jesus says ‘Yes I am the LORD of the
Sabbath.’ What?!? Who does Jesus think He is? That thing that God instituted at the
beginning of creation – Sabbath – I am its LORD. I am its master. It serves me. No wonder the religious types plotted
to destroy Jesus. Either He was
in fact the Heavenly Bridegroom, the Son of Man, the LORD or He must be
destroyed as a blasphemer. You
can understand their reactions in some ways. Given that they didn’t recognize Jesus for who He was, they
had to kill Him. Jesus’ claims to
divinity left them with no other choice, His new wine had to burst their
old wineskins. That’s what’s
going on.
Well briefly let’s
look on to the last story from chapter 3 verse 1.
3:1 Another time he went into the synagogue, and a
man with a shrivelled hand was there. 2 Some of them were
looking for a reason to accuse Jesus, so they watched him closely to see
if he would heal him on the Sabbath.
If you have the Spirit
of Christ, you see this situation as an opportunity to re-create and
restore a man. If you have the
spirit of the Pharisees, this is an opportunity to lynch Jesus. Jesus immediately unmasks the passive
aggressive atmosphere.
3
Jesus said to the man with the shrivelled hand, "Stand up in front
of everyone." 4 Then Jesus asked them, "Which is
lawful on the Sabbath: to do good or to do evil, to save life or to
kill?" But they remained silent. 5 He looked round at
them in anger and, deeply distressed at their stubborn hearts, said to
the man, "Stretch out your hand." He stretched it out, and his
hand was completely restored.
Jesus goes back to
basics. Just like He did with
fasting He asks the question – what is this practice all about? What is the Sabbath really about? Isn’t it about saving life? Well yes, it was precisely about
saving life. The Old Testament
gives two main reasons for celebrating the Sabbath. One is to celebrate God’s creation,
the other is to celebrate God’s salvation. But both are about God giving life. Life from nothing, life from the
dead. Sabbath is a day where you
rest in God’s life-giving provisions.
He gaveyou’re your life in the first place and He gave you new
life when you were saved, so stop working as though you gave yourself
those things, and rejoice that God has done it.
If that’s what Sabbath
is – is it appropriate to re-create this man’s hand, to give him back his
life again in this area? Yes – in
fact Sabbath is the day you’d choose to perform such miracles if you had
your head screwed on. Jesus does
have His head screwed on. In
front of eveyone he says ‘Stretch out your hand’. He stretched it out and his hand was
completely restored.
Notice something
strange about this healing. Jesus
commands something that’s impossible.
Stretch out your withered hand.
He can’t, it’s withered.
But Jesus’ word makes the impossible happen. Jesus’ word is like the word that said
‘Let there be light’ in the beginning.
Do you ever read that and think ‘Who are these words addressed to? How can there be a command about
something that hasn’t come into existence yet?’ Well the command creates the thing that obeys it. Jesus’ word is a divine word – it’s a
Genesis 1-like creation word. He
commands something that doesn’t exist yet, but He commands it into
existence.
Who does Jesus think
He is? Who do you think He is?
Is He the creator
God? Is He the Son of Man? Is He the LORD even of the
Sabbath? And more personally, is
He your Heavenly Bridegroom?
If He’s not then all
you’re left with is dead religion at best. Dead practices done for the sake of it. If He is our Heavenly Bridegroom, then
we are compelled to begin all our thinking and all our practices again
with Jesus at the centre. He is
new wine and He demands new wineskins that are made for Him to be at the
centre.
Can I ask you to
re-think your spiritual practices.
Because even the best spiritual practices can become dead
religion.
Whether you fast or
don’t fast – the question is not whether you do or don’t do it, the
question is why do or don’t do it?
If you fast, is it because you miss Jesus your Bridegroom and you
want to express and cultivate that feeling. Or is it just a ritual you think you ought to do. If you
don’t fast, is it because you joyfully aniticipate seeing Him face to
face and are too busy feasting.
Or is it just that you never really thought about fasting, it’s
just not something you’ve done.
Or with Sabbath – the
question is not basically do you or don’t you observe a special day, the
question is why do you or why don’t you observe a special day. Perhaps have a look at Romans 14
sometime this week as you think about this question. Romans 14 is a great meditation on
this – being Sabbatarian or not, the real issue is: Are you pursuing this
‘to the Lord’.
It’s all too easy to
say, ‘I don’t keep any day special’ but not because you’re convinced of
how Jesus is at the centre of Sabbath and has fulfilled it all. Instead people so often say ‘I don’t
keep any day special, cos I’ve never done it in the past and I’ve not
thought about it.’ Well that’s no
good. The new wine of Jesus has
come, and we haven’t even thought about what forms of worship and
spiritual practice will honour Him.
But we need to think about these things. And the big issue is not Are you Sabbatarian or not. The big issue is why? We must make sure that whatever we do
has Jesus at the centre of our thinking.
We can apply that to
any spiritual practice. Do you
read your bible every day? Is
reading your bible a spiritual practice of yours? Why?
Why? Because that’s what
Christians do? Because it makes
you more holy to perform this task?
Well you’ve just stripped Jesus out of this spiritual practice and
turned it into human religion. If
you read your bible – do it with Jesus at the centre. Do it because you want to hear a love
letter from your Heavenly Bridegroom.
Do you see how we need to think through the new wineskins that go
with the new wine of Jesus?
Apply this to any
spiritual practice. Do you give
money away? Why? Is Jesus consciously at the heart of
that – you want to further His kingdom on earth and so you direct your
earthly wealth towards that. Or
do you just do it, because that’s what you’re supposed to do? This week will you think of the
spiritual practices you’re involved with (Souls at 7 is one of
them). Think of your spiritual
practices and ask: Is Jesus, my Heavenly Bridegroom at the centre of
it? If not you’ll have to
completely re-think it. It’s not
just a case of tacking on Jesus to your religious observances. It’s about having appropriate new
wineskins that honour the new wine of Jesus at the centre.
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