Mark next recorded five instances in which Israel's leaders opposed Jesus, evidently not in chronological order. These occurred during the Galilean ministry of Jesus. However, Mark appears to have grouped them so his readers would see that opposition from leaders, particularly religious leaders, was something Jesus had to contend with and overcome. His readers were probably facing similar opposition, and this section should encourage and help all Christians experiencing conflict because they are trying to fulfill God's mission for them.
Popularity with the masses led to problems with the magistrates. Opposition to Jesus intensifies throughout this section.
"The five conflicts between Jesus and the authorities in Galilee show a concentric [chiastic] relationship of A, B, C, B1, and A1. . . .
". . . this central episode [Jesus' teaching about fasting, 2:18-22] focuses on Jesus' response rather than on conflicts or actions, and Jesus' response illuminates all five of the episodes that make up the concentric pattern."57
"Mark's story is one of conflict, and conflict is the force that propels the story forward. The major conflict is between Jesus and Israel, made up of the religious authorities and the Jewish crowd. Since the crowd does not turn against Jesus until his arrest, his antagonists are the authorities. . . .
"The groups comprising the religious authorities are the Pharisees, the Sadducees, the Herodians, the chief priests, the scribes, and the elders."58
2:1-2 These two verses are an introduction to what follows. Mark frequently used summaries such as this one (cf. 1:14-15, 39; 2:13; 3:7-12, 23; 4:1, 33-34; 8:21-26, 31; 9:31; 10:1; 12:1). They are a mark of his literary style.
When Jesus returned to Capernaum after one of His preaching tours, it did not take news of His arrival long to circulate. Soon locals were mobbing Him. Jesus could not find a restful retreat even at home in Capernaum. He graciously used the opportunity to preach to them. Mark's account stresses Jesus' popularity.
2:3-4 "In order to understand the action these verses describe, it is necessary to visualize the layout of a typical Palestinian peasant's house. It was usually a small, one-room structure with a flat roof. Access to the roof was by means of an outside stairway. The roof itself was usually made of wooden beams with thatch and compacted earth in order to shed the rain. Sometimes tiles were laid between the beams and the thatch and earth placed over them."59
Mark's unusually detailed account pictures four men almost frantic to get their paralyzed friend to Jesus so Jesus would heal him. They must have been unconcerned about the damage they were doing to the house and the shower of dirt they sent raining down on everyone below.
2:5 The pains they took proved their faith in Jesus' ability and willingness to heal. Jesus responded by dealing with their friend's need better than they had expected. Sin is the root of all sickness, not that there is always a close correspondence between sinfulness and sickness. Jesus authoritatively forgave the man's sins as only God could do.
2:6-7 Jesus' claim to possess divine authority upset the teachers of the law who were present. The fact that they were sitting in that crowded house shows the respect the Jews gave them. No Old Testament prophet ever claimed to be able to forgive sins. The Jews believed even the Messiah could not forgive sins because the Old Testament never attributed that power to Him. Only God could do that (cf. Exod. 34:6-9; Ps. 103:3; 130:4; Isa. 43:25; 44:22; 48:11; Dan. 9:9; Mic. 7:18).60Consequently they regarded Jesus' claim as blasphemous. Later they condemned Jesus to death for what they considered blasphemy (14:61-64).
"So from the very beginning of the story Jesus walks a tightrope--under constant threat--and must evade incriminating charges until the right time. His narrow escape from such a serious charge early in the story contributes significantly to the tension and suspense in this conflict."61
2:8-9 Only God can heal and forgive sins. These actions are equally impossible to men. However a person cannot verify his claim to forgive sins, but his claim to be able to heal paralysis is verifiable. The scribes therefore assumed that the claim to heal paralysis was the greater one.
2:10-11 Jesus chose to do what they considered harder to show that He could also do what they considered easier.
"He did the miracle which they could see that they might know that he had done the other one that they could not see."62
This is Mark's first use of the title "Son of Man."He used it 14 times (cf. v. 28; 8:31, 38; 9:9, 12, 31; 10:33, 45; 13:26; 14:21 [twice], 41, 62). Scholars have debated the meaning of this title, but the best evidence points to Jesus meaning that He was the divine Messiah, the representative man (cf. Dan. 7:13-14).63
"Jesus apparently chose this title for Himself because its use would not immediately associate Him in the thinking of the people with the undesirable connotations which had developed around the common term Messiah. Thus, His use of the term half concealed and half revealed His self-identification as the personal Messiah. While the term was recognized to have Messianic connections, the title Son of manwould not force the people to make a premature decision concerning His identity in terms of their usual Messianic expectations. It would enable him to connect His Messianic self-presentation with views more in harmony with His own Person and teaching."64
Jesus used the title "Son of Man"when He spoke of His sufferings and death (8:31; 9:9-13, 31; 10:33, 45; 14:21, 41). He also used it when speaking of His future return in glory (8:38; 13:26, 32; 14:62). Thus He used this title to blend the concepts of the Suffering Servant and the Messiah in His readers' minds. It also connected Him with mankind as the Son of Man. Still He was the man with "authority on earth to forgive sins,"the Judge.
Verse 10 reads awkwardly. It begins with Jesus apparently addressing the scribes. Without finishing His sentence He turned to the paralytic and spoke to Him (v. 11). Some commentators have concluded that Jesus did not utter the first part of verse 10, but Mark inserted it in the narrative as a statement to his readers.65Those who hold this view usually point out that Mark did not record Jesus' revealing Himself as the Son of Man to unbelievers before the Resurrection.66However, Mark recorded Jesus doing this in verse 28.
This type of editorial insertion is unusual in the Synoptics. Probably Jesus addressed the scribes and then let His comment to the paralytic be the conclusion of His word to them.67
Jesus gave the paralytic a threefold command. "Rise"tested his faith. "Take up your pallet"required him to assume responsibility for himself that others had previously fulfilled. "Go home"gave him direction that he needed.
"The pronouncement in v. 10 means that the One who has authority to forgive sins in heaven is present in the Son of Man to forgive sins on earth.'"68
2:12 The man responded to all three commands immediately and obediently.
Jesus' healing was complete and instantaneous. Everyone in the house witnessed the miracle including the religious leaders. They were amazed (Gr. existasthai, lit. "out of their minds,"cf. 3:21; 5:42; 6:51). They had witnessed something that neither they nor anyone else had ever seen. No one had ever given evidence of forgiving the sins of someone else. This was a strong testimony to Jesus' deity. However from the reaction of the observers most of them apparently marvelled at the physical miracle but did not worship Jesus as God.
The call of Levi as one of Jesus' disciples was the setting for the second instance of opposition from the religious leaders that Mark recorded in this section.
2:13 "Again"(Gr. palin) identifies this incident as a different occasion (cf. 1:16). Jesus had been in Capernaum, but now He returned to the Sea of Galilee where He could teach the large crowds that followed Him (cf. 1:45; 2:13; 3:7, 13; 4:1; 5:21; et al.).
2:14 "Levi"was this man's given name whereas Matthew ("gift of God") was a nickname. Matthew used the latter name for himself in his Gospel (Matt. 9:9; cf. Mark 3:18), but Mark and Luke spoke of him by his given name.
"It was not uncommon for a man to receive or assume a new name upon entering a new career."69
The Jews despised tax collectors because they worked for the Romans and because they often extorted money for Rome from their fellow Jews.70Levi worked for Herod Antipas since he lived in Capernaum. A major road passed through Capernaum connecting Damascus and the Mediterranean coast. The taxes Levi collected included export and import fees, sales and custom taxes, and various tolls.71Levi gave up a lucrative business when he chose to follow Jesus. A fisherman might return to fishing, but a tax collector could not return to his job since many people competed for this work even though it involved social ostracism. Nonetheless Levi responded immediately to Jesus' gracious and authoritative invitation to follow Him.
The fact that both Levi and James the Less had fathers named Alphaeus does not necessarily mean they were brothers. Apparently they were not. No Gospel writer linked them as they linked Simon and Andrew or James and John. Furthermore Alphaeus was a fairly common name.
2:15-16 Eating a meal together meant something in Jesus' world that it does not mean today in the West. Hospitality was a sacred duty in the ancient Near East. When someone invited someone else to eat with him, he was extending a pledge of loyalty and protection to that person. To accept an invitation to dinner implied a willingness to become a close friend of the host. Jesus' acceptance of table fellowship with sinners conveyed by action the forgiveness that He gave verbally in 2:5.72
"It was an offer of peace, trust, brotherhood and forgiveness; in short, sharing a table meant sharing life."73
This meal took place in Levi's house (Luke 5:29). Apparently he had a large house that accommodated the throng easily, which indicates that he had some wealth.
Normally the Jews of Jesus' day ate their meals seated. They only reclined on pillows or rugs when special guests were present or for festival meals.74Obviously Levi regarded Jesus' presence with him as a special occasion.
The antecedent of the "them"who followed Jesus is probably the tax gatherers and sinners, though it may be the disciples. The term "the scribes of the Pharisees"occurs nowhere else in the Gospels. These were teachers of the law who belonged to the sect of the Pharisees.
"The Pharisees were progressive, a party among, though not of, the people. Their goal was that Israel should become the righteous nation of the covenant. To this end they taught compliance with the tradition of the elders,' an oral code of conduct effectively adapting the law of Moses to later times and changing demands."75
Tax collectors had a bad reputation because they were often dishonest.76The term "sinners"refers to Jews who did not follow the Pharisees' traditions as well as worse sinners. Jesus' critics believed that He should not associate with such people if He had a genuine regard for the Old Testament, as they professed to have. To do so risked ceremonial defilement.
2:17 Self-righteous people such as these Pharisees saw no need for true righteousness because they viewed themselves as righteous. However the people the Pharisees labeled "sinners"represented real sinners, those lacking righteousness. Jesus said He spent time with sinners because they were the people who felt a need for what He had to offer, namely spiritual healing. He was evidently modifying a well-known proverb. Jesus was using the terms "righteous"and "sinners"ironically here.
"It would be true to say that this word of Jesus strikes the keynote of the Gospel. The new thing in Christianity is not the doctrine that God saves sinners. No Jew would have denied that. It is the assertion that God loves and saves them as sinners.' . . . This is the authentic and glorious doctrine of true Christianity in any age."77
This is a fine summary statement of Jesus' mission during His earthly ministry. It is one of only two sayings in Mark in which Jesus expressed His purpose in coming (cf. 10:45). Here He presented Himself as the Healer, a divine title in the Old Testament (Exod. 15:26).
The third objection the religious leaders voiced arose from the failure of Jesus' disciples to observe the traditional, not Scriptural, fast days that the Pharisees observed (cf. Lev. 16:29). Jesus' association with tax gatherers and sinners seemed to them to result in the neglect of devout practices.
2:18 We do not know why John the Baptist's disciples were fasting. Perhaps it was because he was then in prison. The Pharisees fasted twice a week, Mondays and Thursdays (cf. Luke 18:12).78The feast in Levi's house may have occurred on one of these days.
2:19-20 Jesus responded with a parable in which Jesus is the bridegroom and His disciples are the friends of the bridegroom (cf. John 3:29). Jesus had come to unite with Israel, His bride, as her Messiah. The wedding banquet seemed just a short time away. The prophets said it would occur after Messiah's death and resurrection and after the Tribulation. The bridegroom would have to leave His friends and His bride before the banquet. Still while they were together they could and did rejoice, not mourn, which fasting represented. Jewish custom exempted the friends of a bridegroom from certain religious obligations including participating in the weekly fasts.79This was Jesus' first hint of His coming death in Mark's Gospel.
2:21-22 Two more parables clarified why fasting was inappropriate for Jesus' disciples then. Not only was the timing wrong but the messianic age that Jesus would introduce would render the old traditional forms of Judaism obsolete. Judaism had become old, and Jesus was going to set up a new form of God's kingdom on earth that would be similar to a new garment.
A garment symbolized the covering of man's sinful condition in Old Testament usage (e.g., Gen. 3:21; Isa. 61:10). The Jews were to lay aside the old garment of the Mosaic dispensation and put on the new of the messianic age. Judaism had also become rigid and inflexible because of the traditions that had encrusted it, like old goatskins that contained wine. Jesus' kingdom could not operate within those constraints. It would be a new and more flexible vehicle for bringing joy (wine) to humanity.
The first of these three parables may have been more relevant to John's disciples since they anticipated a coming change. Jesus may have directed the second and third parables more to the Pharisees since they wanted to maintain the legalistic practices of Judaism that were now threadbare and inflexible.
The remaining two instances of opposition from the religious leaders arose over and concerned Sabbath observance. In the first case, the Pharisees opposed Jesus for permitting His disciples to do something they considered sinful. In the second, they opposed Him for doing something Himself that they objected to.
