January 28, 2014: Mark Chapter 2

The Gospel According to Mark Chapter 2

Originally posted Friday, February 8, 2008

General Comment: Please note that we have added the Matthew location for each of Mark's passages. It may be of help to look at both of the passages and compare them to see how Matthew uses and/or alters Mark's version. Changes were made to correct Mark's errors, to clarify scenes, and to adapt the material to the situations and evangelistic ministry of Matthew's community. You will note that the tone of debate and level of disputes between Jesus and the religious leadership are stronger and more acrimonious than in Mark. Although there was persecution of Mark's community, it was not of the same type or intensity as for Matthew's.

Mark Chapter 2:1-12 Healing a Paralytic  Man [MT 9:2-8]

By comparing the original story in Mark with Matthew notice how Matthew has shortened it to center on the conflict with the Pharisees. In Mark's more developed version we find Jesus at home in Capernaum with part of the crowd in the house and the rest spilling out into the courtyard. Jesus is "speaking the word to them," the word being the good news of the Reign of God being at hand. Outside four men carrying a paralyzed man on a makeshift stretcher approach the house. There are so many people crowding at the door that they cannot bring their friend inside to be healed by Jesus. In a move that Jesus will count as an amazing display of faith, the men find some netting lines, climb the outside ladder to the roof, remove a portion of the reed-thatch clay roofing and slowly let the man down to the floor on the mat supported by the lines. Seeing that the men had overcome two obstacles to their desire to help their friend, the crowd and the roof, Jesus says to the man, "Son, your sins are forgiven." He does so not because of anything the man said but because of the faith of his friends who overcame the obstacles, believing Jesus could help him.

The Scribes who were present consider such an action as blasphemy, where blasphemy means saying or doing anything that lessens the status of God's power or character in the eyes of others. "Who can forgive sins but the One God," they say among themselves (Ps. 130:4; Isa. 43:25; 44:22). Notice the term "the One God." The Scribes are thinking of the great Israelite Creed, the Shema of Deut. 6:4, "Hear, O Israel the Lord; the Lord our God is One." It is this sovereignty of God that they hear being challenged by Jesus who presumes upon God's authority by forgiving the man's sins.

Jesus proceeds to demonstrate that he does indeed have authority, God's authority, to forgive sins. The man has been lying on his mat without moving. Jesus tells him to stand up, pick up his mat and go home, which the man promptly does to the amazement of the crowd, and no doubt the sullenly silent Scribes. In Jewish thought of Jesus time there was a causal relationship between sin and sickness (Ps. 107:17-18; Deut. 28:27ff). That relationship was always seen in light of the connection between forgiveness and healing. In the early Church this latter connection had already been made in the rite of baptism (and the Eucharist), an understanding inherited from Judaism. Since Jesus was understood to be present in a persons baptism and in the Eucharist, it was an easy step to believe that Jesus could forgive sins.

However we understand the Biblical connections, we can appreciate the power of forgiveness as an agent of healing and reconciliation. We humans are a sensitive lot. We are easily offended and hurt. We tend to wear our hurt like a badge and we are quick to polish it in front of others. Worn long enough it can make us ill. Wouldn't we feel better, relieved in mind and soul, if we had enough trust in ourselves to overcome obstacles of our own making and forgive the offender? There are those times in my life when I wish someone would come along and say to me, "Stand up, take up your mat and go home."

Mark Chapter 2:13-17 Jesus Calls Levi  [MT 9:9-13]

In Matthew's version Levi is called Matthew. Even though Mark introduces Levi as the son of Alphaeus, he does not show up in Mark's list of the twelve disciples. A James, son of Alphaeus, does along with a Matthew. Levi does not reappear in Mark after this cameo role. Since Matthew is also a Toll Collector and is mentioned among the twelve in Mark, Matthew and Luke while Levi is not, we might conclude that Levi and Matthew are the same person and that the name change took place to avoid the Jewish criticism associated with having a disciple who was a descendent of a member of the Levitical Priesthood (the Tribe of Levi made up that Priesthood). There are a number of variations on this theme and none of them bear the stamp of history.

Note that Matthew copies this passage almost word for word. In Jesus' reaction to the Pharisees criticism that he eats with tax collectors and sinners, Matthew adds 9:13, "Go and learn what this means, 'I desire mercy, not sacrifice.'"  

Mark Chapter 2:18-22 A Question About Fasting [MT 9:14-17]

There is no important difference between the Markan and Matthean versions of this story. In verse 18 Mark mentions the "disciples of the Pharisees." Matthew removes this since Pharisees were a religious party in which a person had membership, not individuals who would attract disciples. Hillel and Shammai (a contemporary of Jesus) have  been called Pharisees because they founded two great schools of Torah interpretation. They would be better known as Sages or Holy Men, unassociated with any religious party.

Mark Chapter 2:23-28 Lord of the Sabbath [MT 12:1-8]

Matthew generally follows Mark's wording. He removes the name of the High Priest, Abiathar. His father, Ahimelech, was the High Priest (1 Sam. 21:1-6). Matthew adds the comment that the Priests of the Temple work on the Sabbath, and something (the Reign of God) greater than the Temple is involved in Jesus' work. Both Matthew and Mark mention that David's companions shared in the eating of the altar bread. According to 1 Sam. 21 the companions were not with David nor did they share the bread. David told the High priest he wanted the bread for himself and his companions but that was his way of getting all five loaves for himself. In later Jewish and early Christian literature there was a tendency to "smooth out" David's many flaws.

Jesus' closing comment that the Sabbath was made for humanity and not humanity for the Sabbath, reflects the understanding of Gen. 2:1-3. It is not because humanity was created before the Sabbath, but that Sabbath is a gift from God to humanity.