For the NIV reading, click here http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Mark+2%3A1-22&version=NIV
Here we'll keep seeing what it looks like for God's Kingdom to be suddenly present through Jesus - healing, forgiveness of sins, breaking religious assumptions and traditions, etc.
Wow, A lot in this one. Jesus woke up a few Church officials in this one. I don't quite get the reference to the wine skins though.
ReplyDeleteThis has one of the most interesting passages regarding healing. V5 says "When Jesus saw their faith" He healed the paralytic. Not the faith of the one who was healed, the faith of those that carried him there and lowered him through the roof. That's pretty cool. Does this have implications to what direct affect we can have on others? Can our faith and righteousness heal others? Or at least bring about a touch of God?
ReplyDeleteYou said it Darla...a lot in this one. And yes, the current religious system and its leadership has officially been confronted by this Kingdom of God presence through Jesus...and shakes us up as well. Who cares about forgiveness of sins when the poor guy can't walk?! But Jesus seems to think sins are a higher priority than physical disease, sickness, etc. So, to prove he can forgive sins, (easier to say), he heals (harder to do), to prove he really can forgive sins, which only God is supposed to be able to do. It seems healing, as important as it was, was a sign of something more urgent. In fact, Jesus will move on from even the sick in order to keep preaching the kingdom! I suppose I'll have to keep struggling with this kind of thing.
ReplyDeleteDave, I guess one's personal faith is not just about him/her! Here in the US we all too easily forget that the Christian faith is always meant to be a communal reality. I have sometimes said from the pulpit and in conversations that sometimes we have to ride on the coat-tails of each other's faith from time to time...or in this case, ride on their shoulders. Your faith does have implications for me, and mine for you. To press the point, I wonder how willing some of us are to cause a stir (Greek literally reads 'unroofed the roof') in order to bring a person to Jesus for forgiveness/healing.
ReplyDeleteFinal Comments on Day 3 from me:
ReplyDeleteSo there's Jesus having dinner with the sinners and the religious leaders start the criticsm. Why doesn't Jesus' followers fast? Pharisees fasted 2x a week and apparently John's followers did likewise. So Jesus answers with three short sayings or parables.
(1) wedding guests don't fast during the wedding celebration!
Jesus was saying that the Kingdom he came preaching and showing through healings, and his very presence, marks a unique time. It is a time to party, like when a wedding is going on...normal duties get set aside. Jesus will be absent in days to come, and then fasting will be appropriate, though the age he ushered in will continue until fulfilled. But for the time of the disciples, at least until Jesus' death, only feasting is appropriate. That's why Jesus says that at his 2nd return, it will be a feast again...time to party...all night long (hear the Lionel Richie in the background?)
(2) Fasting while Jesus is present is like putting a new cloth patch on an old garment - when it is washed, the unshrunk cloth will tear the garment. In other words, you can't just stitch Jesus onto the 'old' Judaism. Jesus shows up with a new set of clothes that bring the old to complete and perfect ensemble.
(3) Finally, trying to act the way we always do after Jesus showed up is like trying to pour unfermented wine into an old wine skin that has already been stretched...the new wine will ferment and burst the skin that is already at its limit. The new wine requires a new skin. Jesus' first coming requires a unique perpective and set of behaviors in the same way we do different things when at a wedding party than when we're at work. And, though fasting will become appropriate after Jesus' dies, because we miss him, there is also joyful hope because we know he is coming back.
It's late, but one of my 'take-aways' from this section is that I are supposed to be both sad and happy right now - sad because Jesus is no longer here (at least not like he will be), and happy because he is coming back and has given the Spirit in the meantime. The feast hasn't begun, but it is planned and schedulled. For now, I should be telling others about the party they're invited to, shake up the settledness that we church-folk too often get into, expect criticism not least from those already 'religious,' and certainly not try and make Jesus fit into my patterns but change mine up for him...see you at the party...can hardly wait!
Thanks for the wineskin explanation .
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