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New Testament

Reformed Worship (What is “Reformed” Anyway? #4) (King’s Cross)

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INTRODUCTION

The 16th Century Reformation was a reformation of worship. Worship is at the center of human life, and therefore, we believe it is the most important thing we do as Christians. How we think about worship and offer our worship flows into all of life. 

In the beginning, God placed Adam in the Garden Sanctuary where Adam had direct communion with God, and from that Garden a river flowed out to the four corners of the world. In Ezekiel’s vision, a river flows out from under the altar growing deeper until it reaches the sea, bringing healing to the nations. What we do in worship impacts us and the whole world. 

The Text: “For ye are not come unto the mount that might be touched, that burned with fire, nor unto blackness, and darkness, and tempest, and the sound of a trumpet, and the voice of words…” (Heb. 12:18-29). 

SUMMARY OF THE TEXT

Having warned about bitterness, fornication, and rejecting God’s blessing (Heb. 12:15-17), Hebrews says that Christians have not come to the earthly Mount Sinai that thundered and burned with fire (Heb. 12:18-21), but rather, we have come to Mount Zion, the heavenly Jerusalem, where all the saints and angels are, to Jesus the mediator of the New Covenant (Heb. 12:22-24). This New Covenant worship is more sobering since Christ speaks directly from heaven and shakes heaven and earth until only God’s Kingdom which cannot be shaken remains (Heb. 12:25-27, cf. Rev. 21:2). Therefore, we must have His grace to worship acceptably with reverence and fear, since He is a consuming fire (Heb. 12:28-29).  

ACCORDING TO GOD’S WORD

The uniform testimony of Scripture is that God is a jealous God, and He is particularly jealous for His worship. Where He meets with His people is holy ground (Ex. 3:5), and the fierce holiness of Sinai was only a faint glimmer of His heavenly glory (Ex. 19, Heb. 12:18-21). When Nadab and Abihu offered strange fire before the Lord, which He had not commanded, fire devoured them (Lev. 10:1-2). When David was bringing the Ark of God back to Jerusalem and the ox cart stumbled and Uzzah put out his hand to support it, God struck him dead (2 Sam. 6:6-7). These were various innovations that God had not commanded, but God’s fierce anger also burned against Israel when they went through the motions of what God had commanded, while harboring sin in their lives (Is. 2:10-20). When Ananias and Sapphira lied to the Holy Spirit, they died (Acts 5), and when the Corinthians were getting drunk and breaking into factions at the Lord’s Supper, some of them became sick and died (1 Cor. 11). And when Israel turned to blatant idolatries, sacrificing their own children to Baals, God says these evils were not commanded, not even contemplated (Jer. 19:5). 

At the same time, David rightly introduced singing and musical instruments into the worship of God (1 Chron. 6, 25-26), and Israel established the feasts of Purim and Hannukah, with God’s apparent blessing (cf. Esther 9, John 10:22). Putting these things together, the Reformers taught that worship must be according to God’s Word. Our central duty is to come before Him to do those things which He has explicitly commanded or which may be clearly inferred from His Word, and yet in that place of deep humility, we are to offer ourselves fully to Him and in that offering will be unique treasures that are pleasing to Him (Rev. 21:24-26).

COVENANT RENEWAL WORSHIP

The Reformers drew from covenant theology as they reformed worship. The fact that baptism and the Lord’s Supper are covenant ceremonies commanded by Christ helped explain Christian worship as “covenantal.” We are called to worship in Jesus’ name, as those who bear God’s covenantal name in our baptism, and Jesus said that we must celebrate the Lord’s Supper as a “memorial” of His death, the new covenant in His blood (1 Cor. 11). The language of memorial is covenantal: the rainbow was a memorial of God’s covenant promise to never flood the earth again (Gen. 9). The Feast of Passover was a memorial of God’s salvation from Egypt (Ex. 12). And the sacrifices and other feasts were constant memorials reminding God and His people of the covenant (e.g. Lev. 2, Num. 10). 

It has been pointed out that the covenant renewal at Sinai was a lot like a wedding, with Moses playing the part of the minister giving the vows, with the whole thing sealed with a feast (Ex. 19-24). In fact, the broad structure of that covenant ceremony are reflected in our worship: A Call to worship (Ex. 19:1-9), Confession/cleansing (Ex. 19:10-25), Word declared and explained (Ex. 20-23), followed by a feast, and a blessing (Ex. 24). Others have pointed out that when the three major sacrifices are offered together, they are always offered in the order of Sin Offering, Ascension Offering, and Peace Offering which also corresponds to our order of worship (Confession, Consecration, Communion). “Gather my saints together unto me; those that have made a covenant with me by sacrifice” (Ps. 50:5), and we offer our bodies and praises as living sacrifices (Rom. 12:1, Heb. 13:15). And we renew our covenant on the weekly anniversary of our Lord’s resurrection (Ex. 20:8, Rev. 1:10). 

APPLICATIONS

Family Worship: In the Old Covenant, God had commanded a morning and evening sacrifice, and this is what the New Testament is alluding to with “pray without ceasing” (Num. 28, 1 Thess. 5:17). While there is a greater freedom in the New Covenant, we should generally be aiming for daily Bible reading, prayer, and singing in our homes. And this is a great way to practice for Sunday morning worship. 

BIBLICAL FAITH & GLORY

The Church is the bride of Christ, and we are therefore required to be subject to Christ in everything, particularly in our renewal of His covenant (Eph. 5:24). While some Reformed folks draw a very narrow circle around what is acceptable, they are more faithful than those who simply want to make it up as they go along, whether with rock concerts or circus shows or medieval pageantry. We want to grow up into true Christian glory (2 Cor. 3:18), as we worship in Spirit and in Truth (Jn. 4:24), and at the center of that is a humble, evangelical faith. 

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The Majesty of God (What is “Reformed” Anyway? #1) (King’s Cross)

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INTRODUCTION

As a newer congregation with many newer folks, I want to spend the next few weeks going over some of the basics of what mean when we say we are “Reformed.” Historically, this name goes back to the Protestant Reformation of the 16th century, but it is fundamentally based on the supremacy of God, revealed in Scripture, as the perfect Word of God. To say we are Reformed is to say that we want everything we think, say, or do to be God-centered and obedient to His Word. This is not to say that we have arrived, but it is to say that He is worthy. 

As we do this, we really do want to stand in the “old paths” and hold fast to the “faith once delivered for the saints,” but we want to actually live in this glorious house and not merely become the next museum curators. Or to change the metaphor, we want to fire these cannons at real, modern enemies, not merely polish them and rehearse how they were once used in the glory days of yore. 

The Text: “O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out!…” (Rom. 11:33-36).

SUMMARY OF THE TEXT

Having defended the absolute sovereignty of God over salvation, and arguing for both the salvation of the Jews and the Gentiles, the apostle breaks into this doxology of praise for God’s wisdom and knowledge and judgments (Rom. 11:33). Specifically, this wisdom is unsearchable and past finding out (Rom. 11:33). And Paul poses three rhetorical questions to explain what he means: Who has known what God is thinking? (Answer: Nobody). Who has taught God anything? (Answer: No one). Or who has given God anything such that God owed them anything? (Again: Nobody ever) (Rom. 11:34-35). And the doxology closes with the insistence that everything is from God, through God, and for God, and therefore all glory and praise and honor for all things belongs to Him, and Amen (Rom. 11:36). 

THE “GOODNESS” OF GOD

When we say that want all that we do to be God-centered and obedient to Him, it is important to define which God we are talking about. Instead of worshiping the true and living God, human beings are constantly twisting pieces of creation into idols that we call “the true God,” and center everything around that false god. Remember, Aaron called the golden calf, the “god who brought you out of Egypt” (Ex. 32:4). But many who say, “Lord, Lord” to Jesus do not actually know Him, and Christ says that He will say to them, “Depart from Me, I never knew you” (Mt. 7:21-23). Christ says that the difference is between those who obey Him and those who do not. True obedience requires a deep and abiding humility: “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts” (Is. 55:8-9). This is what we might call the “Godness” of God, His absolute lordship.

God is the “I am,” the Lord of Heaven and Earth, their Maker, their Governor, and He does whatever He pleases (Ex. 3:14-15, Ps. 115:3, 135:6). “And all the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing: and he doeth according to his will in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth: and none can stay his hand, or say unto him, What doest thou?” (Dan. 4:35, cf. Rom. 9:15-20). 

THE GREATNESS OF GOD AND MAN

Sinful men naturally think that the higher the view of God the smaller and more insignificant the view of man. This was the offer of the serpent: Demote the Word of God in order to be promoted to Godlike wisdom. The slander is that God is greedy with His greatness, holding us back, and therefore, such a high view of God turns Him and anyone who worships Him into a moral monster, withholding good and therefore crushing human beings. But the exact opposite is actually the case: every attempt to pull God down always results in the degradation of creation. It is the utter transcendence of God that makes God able to condescend to man freely for our good. But this transcendence is His utter sovereignty and freedom and our absolute dependence (Acts 17:28). Man stands the tallest when He lies prostrate before His Maker: “God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble. Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time” (1 Pet. 5:5-6). But if you stand on your tiptoes trying to be great, trying to pull God down, demanding your life, you will only lose it. 

APPLICATIONS

God is Lord of Creation: Nature is not infinitely malleable: male and female, human sexuality, sin and righteousness, good and evil. You cannot redefine marriage as any sleeping arrangement. You cannot redefine justice as whatever the human judges decree. You cannot rename theft as taxes and government programs. He is Lord of all things because “of him and through him and to him are all things” (Rom. 11:36).  

God is the Lord of lords: All human authority is derived from the Lord Jesus, who was given all authority in Heaven and on earth at His resurrection and ascension (Mt. 28:18). This means that all human authority is limited. Only God has absolute, unlimited authority. Therefore, no human authority is free to change, usurp, or abdicate the assignments God has given: family – health, welfare, and education (Dt. 6, Eph. 5-6, 1 Tim. 5); church – word, sacrament, worship (Mt. 16, 18, 28); state – punishing crime (Rom. 13). In our day, family and church governments have largely abdicated their assignments, and civil government has usurped its assignment, with a myriad of self-deifying “programs,” in direct defiance of the Living God. 

Worthy is the Lamb: When finite human beings are granted a vision of the greatness and majesty of God it is humbling, but it is a joyful humility, a doxological humility that breaks out in grateful praise and worship. Every form of idolatry is a crushing weight, but submission to the Lord of Heaven and Earth in deep gratitude is what we were made for and sets us free. Because God is Lord of all, we are free to just be people. “Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honor, and glory, and blessing” (Rev. 5:12).

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The Deep and Confusing Love of Jesus

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THE TEXT

John 11:1-6
Now a certain man was ill, Lazarus of Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. 2 It was Mary who anointed the Lord with ointment and wiped his feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was ill. 3 So the sisters sent to him, saying, “Lord, he whom you love is ill.” 4 But when Jesus heard it he said, “This illness does not lead to death. It is for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it.”
5 Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. 6 So, when he heard that Lazarus was ill, he stayed two days longer in the place where he was.

SUMMARY OF THE TEXT

Mary and Martha and Lazarus are siblings. Lazarus is ill, the sisters inform Jesus through a messenger, and Jesus makes a decisive declaration: “This illness does not lead to death. This illness is for the glory of God so that the Son of God may be glorified through it.”
Surprisingly Jesus then waits a few days before informing the disciples that they are going to Judea, to Bethany. The disciples aren’t thrilled about this; the last two times Jesus was in that region, crowds tried to stone him for blasphemy, because he was claiming that he was equal to God (John 5:18). But Jesus insists that they must go, because Lazarus has died and they need to go see him. Reluctantly (and perhaps with some gallows humor), the disciples go with him.
When Jesus nears the town, Martha comes to meet him while Mary remains at the house with the large group of mourners. Martha expresses some hopefulness that God can still hear Jesus’s prayers, and Jesus declares himself to be the resurrection and the life. He then summons Mary to see him and she comes and falls at his feet weeping. Jesus is deeply moved and greatly troubled by this, and he himself weeps, and they all go to the tomb together.
When they arrive at the tomb, Jesus orders the stone to be removed (over Martha’s objections). Jesus then prays out loud and then cries out with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out.” And the dead man lives.

EXPECTATIONS & CONFUSION

The unfolding of the story leads us to identify with the confusion of the disciples and Mary and Martha and the crowds. Because their expectations are not being met. Notice the sources of confusion and disappointment:
1) “Lord, he whom you love is ill” (11:3). What’s implied? “Come heal him! We know you can heal, so come do it.” And yet Jesus delays. It’s confusing.
2) The disciples fear returning to Judea, where the Jews had just threatened to stone him. Why go back now? It’s confusing.
3) Jesus seems to speak in riddles. “Lazarus has fallen asleep but I go to awaken him” (11:11). Is Jesus talking about sleep or death? It’s confusing.
4) Jesus’s emotional responses are puzzling. To his disciples: “Lazarus has died, and for your sake I am glad that I was not there.” And then, he is deeply moved and troubled in his spirit. He weeps. If he’s glad, why is he weeping? It’s confusing.
5) Jesus’s request is puzzling. “Take away the stone.” He’s dead, Jesus. Why remove the stone now? It’s confusing.
6) There is one central thought hanging over the whole episode.
Martha (11:21): “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.”
Mary (11:32): “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.”
The mourners finally explicitly raise the question that haunts this whole story (11:37): “Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man also have kept this man from dying?”
I highlight that confusion because it’s where most of us live. Whether it’s illness (cancer, stroke, unexplained sickness, chronic pain), whether it’s the death of someone we love (parent, child, sibling, friend), whether it’s persecution, opposition, or enmity, whether it’s anxiety, doubt, depression—here’s what we know:
1) Jesus is able to fix this.
2) In his compassion, Jesus has fixed these sorts of things for others.
3) Jesus loves me and has compassion for me.
4) And yet, the illness is still here, the death still happened, the persecution has intensified, and the darkness has not lifted.
This is where we live–in the long days between our message to Jesus—“The one whom you love is ill”—and his confusing arrival a week later. And yet John insists from the beginning, “Jesus loved Martha and Mary and Lazarus.” So where is the love of Jesus in this story?

THE LOVE OF JESUS WAITS

The love of Jesus waits. The most shocking word in this entire story is two letters long. “So.” Jesus loved Martha and Mary and Lazarus. So, when he heard about the illness, he stayed two days longer. Some Bible translators can’t handle that reasoning. They say, “Jesus loved them, and yet, when he heard, he stayed two longer.” But that’s not what John wrote. John said, He loved them, therefore he waited. The love of Jesus waits.

THE LOVE OF JESUS WEEPS

Second, the love of Jesus weeps. When Jesus weeps at the tomb of Lazarus, they say, “See how he loved him!” (11:36). And in this, we see the amazing complex and righteous emotional life of our Lord. On the one hand, he’s glad that he waited. And then, when he gets there, he weeps. More than that, he is deeply moved. He sees the effects of death on those he loves, and he joins them in their grief and their anger.

THE LOVE OF JESUS RAISES THE DEAD

The love of Jesus raises the dead. After he waits, and after he weeps, he tells them to roll away the stone. And then he looks at the tomb and calls out, “Lazarus, come forth!”
And Lazarus comes forth. The church fathers noted how important it was that Jesus said the name Lazarus. Had he not, had he simply said, “Come forth,” all the tombs would have emptied and the general resurrection would have happened right then and there.

THE LOVE OF JESUS DEEPENS OUR FAITH

The love of Jesus deepens our faith. Pay attention to what Martha knows. Martha runs to Jesus with some vague hope that Jesus can do something. “But even now I know that whatever you ask from God, God will give you.” And so Jesus takes her deeper. “Your brother will rise again.” “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.” This is a general belief in the future resurrection. And so Jesus takes her deeper. “I am the resurrection and the life.”
This is where Jesus has been taking Martha. “Do you believe this?” With your brother lying in a tomb, knowing that I could have prevented it, Martha, do you believe this? And Martha says, “Yes, Lord; I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God who is coming into the world.”
And so Jesus stands before us today. We live in those long six days. And on this Lord’s Day, because he loves us, he says to us, “Do you believe this?” When the cancer is still there. When the illness is still unexplained. When the headaches won’t stop. When the pain is still oppressive. When the opposition won’t let up. When the darkness hasn’t lifted. When the doubts still weigh us down. When the body is still in the grave. When Jesus is not yet here. At that moment, he says to us, “Do you believe this?”
Jesus loved Martha and Mary and Lazarus. And he loves you. And because he loves you, he may wait. He may take you through unimaginable suffering and loss and pain. And when he does, because he loves you, he will weep with you. And someday, because he loves you, he will raise the dead. He will wipe away every tear. And in the meantime, because he loves you, he deepens your faith.

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Why We Worship On Sunday (CCD)

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INTRODUCTION

With a handful of exceptions, Christians are overwhelmingly united in their willingness to worship God on the first day of the week. After all, we have been doing this for two thousand years, and we are rarely questioned about it. Why not just go with the flow? The answer to that question is that we should want to be deliberate Christians in everything we offer up to God. We never want to be guilty of the “will worship” that Paul condemns in Col. 2:23. We are constrained to offer to God what He requires of us, and not anything else. So why do we worship on the first day of the week? Why didn’t the Church remain with the seventh-day Sabbath of the Jews?

 THE TEXT

“Now concerning the collection for the saints, as I have given order to the churches of Galatia, even so do ye. Upon the first day of the week let every one of you lay by him in store, as God hath prospered him, that there be no gatherings when I come” (1 Corinthians 16:1–2). 

SUMARY OF THE TEXT

Paul is reminding the Corinthians about his directives for how they are to gather up the collection for the saints in Jerusalem. He is doing with them just as he did with the saints in churches throughout Galatia (v. 1). The Corinthians were to take up their collection in same fashion as did the Galatians. But how was that? The first thing to note is that Paul was authoritatively requiring them to do it in a particular way. On the first day of the week, everyone was to set aside a particular amount, as God had blessed him. This had to have been a collection at church because otherwise the problem that Paul was trying to avoid (“no gatherings when I come”) would not have been avoided at all. But thing about this passage that should interest us is how Paul describes Sunday. Many modern translations simply say “first day of the week,” but this is misleading. The phrase literally is mian sabbatou—“first [day] Sabbath.”

WHAT IS THE WORD FOR WEEK?

In Greek, the usual word for week is hebdomas. The common rendering of mian sabbatou as “first day of the week” appears to be taking “sabbath” as a synecdoche, taking the part for the whole—as in, “many hands make light work.” But this seems strained to me, especially considering the fact that the gospel writers appear to be using the phrase to point to something really significant about the importance of the resurrection.

Here are some literal renderings [Kayser]: “Now after the Sabbath, as the first [day] Sabbath began to dawn” (Matt. 28:1). “Now when the Sabbath was past . . .  very early in the morning, on the first [day] Sabbath, they came to the tomb” (Mark 16:1-2, 9). “Now on the first [day] Sabbath, at early dawn, they came to the tomb” (Luke 24:1). “Now on the first [day] Sabbath Mary Magdalene came to the tomb early” (John 20:1).

We worship God the Father in the authority of the resurrected Son in the power of His Spirit, and we do this on the first day of the week. And yet, a very common greeting that we use is happy Sabbath, and we call our preparatory meals Sabbath meals. This is no extension from our theology. The New Testament repeatedly calls the first day of the week a Sabbath. It is God’s way of marking how He made all things new in the resurrection of Christ (Rev. 1:10; 21:5). Sunday really is a Sabbath. 

 AND SO CHRIST RESTED

Read through Hebrews 4 very carefully. We should take care not to fail to enter God’s rest in the way the Israelites in the wilderness failed to enter it. Faith is the way to enter (Heb. 4:1-3). God’s works were finished at the foundation of the world, and then He rested. But then, centuries after that, He said that faithless ones would never enter His rest, in just the same way that faithless Israelites had not entered His rest (vv. 3-5). This means that coming into His rest is still an open invitation—“it remains for some to enter.” So God in His mercy has again appointed a certain day, calling it Today. Do not harden your hearts as His voice comes to you Today (vv. 6-7). If Joshua had accomplished this through the invasion of Canaan, God would never have spoken of another day after that (v. 8). And this is why . . .

“There remaineth therefore a rest (sabbatismos) to the people of God. For he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from his” (Hebrews 4:9–10).

Who is being referred to here with the pronouns of v. 10? It cannot be referring to some discouraged Pharisee, finally giving up on his vain works, and then entering into a holy rest. That is nothing at all like God creating the world and then resting—and that is the explicit comparison that is made. So what is like that? Just as God created the world in six days and then rested, so also Christ recreated heaven and earth in three days and nights, and then He entered His rest. And that is why Christians still have a sabbath-rest, which is on our first-day Sabbath. 

Let us therefore labor to enter into that resurrection-rest (v. 11). Let us not fail to enter into resurrection-Sunday rest the way the Jews fell short in the wilderness. Why is that? The eighth day, the first day of the week, the first day Sabbath, is the glorious Today. Today if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts.   

FROM THE BEGINNING

The Epistle of Barnabas (c. 100 AD) says this: “You see how he says, ‘The present Sabbaths are not acceptable to me, but the Sabbath which I have made in which, when I have rested from all things, I will make the beginning of the eighth day which is the beginning of another world.’ Wherefore we Christians keep the eighth day for joy, on which also Jesus arose from the dead.”

In the first giving of the Ten Commandments, the reason for sabbath observance was the creation of the world in six days and rest on the seventh (Ex. 20:11). In the second giving of the Ten Commandments, the reason given has been changed. It was now because of the Exodus from Egypt (Dt. 5:15). In the third giving of the Ten Commandments, we are reminded that the resurrection of Christ changed absolutely everything (Rom. 13:9-10; 14:9). This is because Christ is all. Christ is our creation-rest. Christ is our Exodus-rest. Christ is our resurrection-rest. And this means that Christ is the foundation stone for every successive first-day Sabbath. 

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The Scandal of Forgiveness & Feasting (The Inescapable Story of Jesus #2) (CCD)

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INTRODUCTION

The glad tidings which Jesus proclaimed were met with severe opposition. In this chapter we see that the scandalous nature of His ministry consisted of two things: He forgave sins, and He feasted with sinners. This is just the first sign that Jesus Kingdom is going to be met with stiff resistance from Israel’s religious leaders. But Jesus doesn’t skirt the scandals. Instead, He is setting the stage for the greatest scandal of all, the death of Christ for sinners.

THE TEXT

And again he entered into Capernaum after some days; and it was noised that he was in the house. And straightway many were gathered together, insomuch that there was no room to receive them, no, not so much as about the door: and he preached the word unto them. And they come unto him, bringing one sick of the palsy, which was borne of four. And when they could not come nigh unto him for the press, they uncovered the roof where he was: and when they had broken it up, they let down the bed wherein the sick of the palsy lay. When Jesus saw their faith, he said unto the sick of the palsy, Son, thy sins be forgiven thee. […]

Mark 2:1

SUMMARY OF THE TEXT

Mark doesn’t let off the gas in telling the story of Jesus. After Jesus’ escapades in surrounding towns (Cf. 1:38), He now returns to Capernaum, His home base for much of His ministry (v1). The news of His return causes a stir (v2), while He preaches to the people, four friends bring a paralyzed man to the house; being thwarted in getting their friend to Jesus due to the crowd, they hop on the roof, dig through it, and lower their pal down in front of Jesus (vv3-4). Jesus sees their faith and extends forgiveness to their friend (v5). This offer of forgiveness sparks spiritual heartburn for certain religious scribes, as they are angered by what they perceive as blasphemy (vv6-7). After all, only God can forgive, right? Jesus perceives their incredulity and doubles down on His divine prerogative to forgive sins (v8). He exposes their inner thoughts (v9) and then confirms His divine office as a new Son of Man (Adam) and commands the paralytic to rise up and walk home with his mat (vv10-11). Immediately, the man did as Jesus commanded, and the people glorified God for this marvelous thing (v12).

The next episode in this chapter is the calling of Levi (Matthew) by the seaside (v13); and Levi leaves his money-grubbing and obeys Christ’s call to follow (v14). He welcomes Jesus into his home to feast with him and his unsavory friends (v15). This feasting with sinners elicits more opposition from the scribes & Pharisees (v16). Jesus leans into the controversy. Our Lord likens Himself a doctor, but a doctor for sin-sick souls; as such a doctor He will not leave sinners in the misery of their sin, but He calls such sinners to repentance (v17, Cf. Mk. 1:15).

John’s disciples join in the Q&A to raise another objection. The Pharisees & John’s disciples fast, so why don’t Jesus’ disciples (v18)? Jesus answers with a series of riddles. Do wedding guests fast when the bridegroom is present (vv19-20)? Do you patch up tattered garments with luxurious new fabric (v21)? Do you put bubbly new wine into well-worn casks (v22)? No, no, and no again. Jesus is asserting here that He is bringing about a new order of things. The old order is like a husk, which must fall aside in order for the new life to burst through. The sorrow of exile is on its way out, and the joy of the Messianic Kingdom is upon them.

This new order which Jesus is bringing is one in which Yahweh, by His Messiah, will dwell with His people, feast with them, and rule them personally. Mark shows us that Jesus has the authority to rearrange the order of things by recounting a story of Jesus defending His disciples from the Pharisees’ accusations of Sabbath breaking. The disciples plucked grain on the Sabbath (v23), and the Pharisees, like snitches, accuse them of breaking the law (v24). Jesus puts Himself forward as a New David, and likens His situation with David’s eating the holy bread in the days of Abiathar (vv25-26). The Sabbath breaking controversy carries over into the next chapter, but this section ends with Jesus’ strongest claim yet for being the Messiah: He is the Son of Man, and thus, He is Lord of the Sabbath (vv27-28).

WHICH IS EASIER?

The first episode in this chapter addresses the pride found in the heart of the self-righteous. Jesus’ question “Which is easier?” still provokes the self-righteous. As we saw in Mark 1, Jesus has been cleansing the land of demons and diseases; but now He takes it a step too far for the Pharisees: He forgives the paralytic’s sins. Prophets of old had performed healings (Elijah, Elisha, Isaiah, etc.). But Jesus has taken up not only the prophetic mantle but the priestly one: forgiving sins.

The self-righteous want forgiveness to be something that is kept locked away, unavailable, out of stock, to be dripped out like an IV. And the self-righteous always want to be in charge of how forgiveness is administered. But when Jesus comes forgiveness comes too. When God brings our nation to its senses, there will be an avalanche of forgiveness. Forgiveness for abortionists, transgender doctors, market manipulators, porn stars, pedophiles, angry dads, manipulative moms, slothful sons, and unchaste daughters.

Jesus uses some deep irony here. It is easier to say “Your sins are forgiven” than to say “Rise up, paralytic, and walk.” But Jesus tells them that He is healing the paralytic so that they would know that Son of Man has power on the earth to forgive sins. The greater work of forgiving sins is demonstrated in the lesser work of healing the body. This is a Messianic claim to universal power and dominion (Dan. 7:13-14, Cf. Ps. 80), accompanied with a  Messianic sign to validate the claim (Is. 35:6).

ACCUSATION AND ASSURANCE

Throughout this chapter, Jesus and His disciples are on the receiving end of a series of accusations. The Scribes, Pharisees, and even John’s disciples get in on the action of accusation. Accusation is the Serpent’s work. And accusation works. It causes your heart to race, your mind to swirl, your will to quail. The police lights in your review mirror cause a hot flush to rise to your face, because they are accusation in flashing red and blue. You are a lawbreaker. The voice of the Accuser keeps men in fear, keeps them cowards, keeps them from being free. 

This is seen in a number of ways in our own tangled legal code. Some legal experts argue  that the average American commits three felonies a day. A cheery thought. This is not due to the moral purity of our legal code. Rather, this is because we have forsaken God’s law and entered the labyrinth of man’s unstable preferences. Jesus breaks the spell of accusation. He doesn’t say we haven’t sinned, but He offers forgiveness for our sins, and fellowship at His table. 

The stinging word of accusation can hang over your head for a lifetime. Bad student. Loudmouth. Failure. Cult member. Right-wing extremist. Little brat. Terrible friend. Not cool enough. Criminal. Jesus shows that the Accuser is about to be cast down, and He offers assurance of welcome. Your sins are forgiven. David’s Greater Son has come, and invites you to His sabbath feast. The end of Satan’s empire of accusation should not be met with gloomy fasting, but with exuberant feasting.

THE GOD WHO FEASTS

The action doesn’t slow down at all as this chapter closes. Mark shows us Jesus as a New David, and thus has authority to rearrange the order of things. The Sabbath follows His rules. The Sabbath was a blessing from God to His people, to indicate the leisurely feast He invites His people to. The Pharisees wanted the Sabbath to be an intricate web of uncertainty, Jesus declares it to be the domain of David’s Son. These elders of Israel call Jesus a glutton, but Jesus, as one commentator puts it, “is continuing God’s behavior from the Old Testament”.

Jesus’ Gospel is that sinners can not only be forgiven but also feast with God. There is no asterisk on this invite to dine with Yahweh. Jesus the Messiah, like His ancestor David, has a troop of misfits whom He names mighty men. They can partake of the Holy Bread, because He has recruited them into His army. The Pharisees called the disciples lawbreakers, Jesus, in effect, calls them Mighty Men. The Pharisees say you should be morose and fast, Jesus says rejoice for the Kingdom has come. The Pharisees say sinners shouldn’t be seated at Yahweh’s table; Jesus says, “Come and welcome.”

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