Mark 2

The conflict over authority continues to grow.

     2:1-12.  Multitudes are being healed at his command.  That is visible for all to see.  Jesus makes clear what can’t be seen.  He has divine authority to forgive sins!  The healings are only a visible sign of this.  Sin is what really ails man.

     2:13-17.  Jesus also demonstrates his authority over the sins of men by restoring sinners such as Levi (Matthew).  The Pharisees cannot understand this, for they treat the disease of sin in society by purging and cutting off sinners.  They imagine they keep themselves healthy this way, so they do not value the doctor.

     2:18-22.  For the first time Jesus refers, in a veiled way, to his coming death (20).  But to everything there is a season, and this is not yet a time to mourn, for the bridegroom has come.

     2:23-28.  Once again, authority is the issue, and the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath (28).

     Vv.25-26.  1 Sam.21:6 would indicate that this was done by David on the Sabbath, because the bread of the Presence was replaced each Sabbath, and the old bread was to be eaten by the priests (Lev.24:8-9).

     The Fourth Commandment is the last of the first table of the Law, which reveals man’s duty to God.  But it also shares with the second table a moral duty toward other men.  In it, God extends the mercy of rest to inferiors.  Should we not extend mercy to those under us, rather than misuse the law to further enslave?  This controversy continues into Mk. 3.