This chapter
of Mark’s gospel is busy: forgiving, healing, eating with a tax collector. But also
going against some of the tradition of religion. What stood out to me when I
read this passage was the back and forth between Jesus and the teachers of the
Law of Moses, Pharisees
and some people.
Episode
2: a man who cannot walk, is carried upstairs to the roof of the house where
Jesus is teaching by his friends, they lower him through the roof to get to
Jesus, and Jesus tells him his sins are forgiven.
Challenge
number 1 – only God can forgive sins;
basically who do you think you are??!!
basically who do you think you are??!!
And
then the man can walk
And
people are astonished
I
guess we could say Jesus 1; religious leaders nil
Episode
2: Jesus calls Levi, a tax collector,
later Jesus and the disciples eat at Levi’s house. The Pharisees are shocked that Jesus is eating with a tax collector, someone who is working for the Roman occupiers – this makes him an outcast
later Jesus and the disciples eat at Levi’s house. The Pharisees are shocked that Jesus is eating with a tax collector, someone who is working for the Roman occupiers – this makes him an outcast
A
sinner
unclean.
And
Jesus replies that healthy people don’t need a doctor.
He
came to call sinners
Episode
3: question about fasting
Episode
4: question about eating on the Sabbath
As
in other parts of the gospels it seems the religious leaders were out to trap Jesus,
to show him up as a charlatan, an imposter.
Because
for the teachers of the law and the Pharisees, Jesus was an imposter.
The
religious leaders were tasked with the job of keeping the faith,
of making sure people stayed true to the faith handed down over the centuries and
not getting caught up in fads
or led astray some a charismatic teacher.
of making sure people stayed true to the faith handed down over the centuries and
not getting caught up in fads
or led astray some a charismatic teacher.
As
you see from the interactions recorded by the gospel writers, at least some
took their job very seriously.
Jesus
challenged the establishment religion.
He
challenged the purity code in chapter 1 when he touched the leper
He
challenged the debt code when he forgave the sins of the paralysed man.
He
challenged the holiness code when he ate with a tax collector
And
he challenged the understanding of Sabbath by engaging in civil disobedience. [i]
Jesus
challenged the way religion was lived.
I
wonder if the end of chapter 2 gives us a way to understand these confrontations,
and the way Jesus appears to speak against the law.
“People
were not made for the good of the Sabbath. The Sabbath was made for the good of
people.”
What
if instead of saying you are not allowed to work on the sabbath, it was you are
allowed to rest, you don’t have to work. Your body and brain and spirit need
time to be, not only time to work.
What
if the law to rest on the Sabbath is not an embargo on helping someone, but encouragement
to see yourself and others as more than an economic unit?
To
see yourself and others as people.
I
wonder what this might look like in general.
What
if religion
is to help us relate to God,
to be aware of God
is to help us relate to God,
to be aware of God
To
know the stories so we see points of connections with our own lives
What
if religion is here to help us,
not punish us.
Some
people write about this chapter as breaking boundaries, and Jesus does break
some boundaries, relating to purity and holiness and who can forgive and the place
of the Sabbath, and as he travels and teaches, he breaks some more boundaries
and taboos.
What
might this all means for us?
we
no longer keep Sabbath in the way the first century Pharisees directed. We cook
and wash up and shop and eat out and drive and …..
in
all the back and forth challenging of Jesus and his responses, Jesus never
tells the religious leaders that they are wrong in the detail of the law
they
are wrong in prioritising the law over people.
And
in the midst of all these challenges Jesus says to Levi, come follow me, and he
does.
In
chapter 1 Mark described the calling of Simon, Andrew, James and john; he said
come follow me, and they left their nets and followed.
Levi
is in place ready to collect taxes and Jesus says: come follow me, and Levi
leaves and follows Jesus.
The
calling, or rather the response, of the disciples always surprises me.
Are
they so bored with their lives that anything is an excuse for a break?
Are
they expecting great wealth or status?
There
is nothing to suggest that Jesus was offering wealth, status or better living
conditions than what they had.
Jesus
calls us to follow, to live as disciples
Not
bound by the law, but freed by the law
Will
you follow
into
the unknown?
