McGarvey and Pendleton Fourfold Gospel commentary

Mark 2, 3

We had covered Mark 1, which included a bit about John the Baptist, how he prepared the way for Christ and how he baptised Jesus. It mentioned Jesus' temptation and the calling of his first disciples (Simon, Andrew, James and John). Jesus began healing people and casting out demons and He began travelling through the area of Galillee.

Jesus healed a man of leprosy and told him not to tell anyone.

Mark 1

⁴⁵Instead he went out and began to talk freely, spreading the news. As a result, Jesus could no longer enter a town openly but stayed outside in lonely places. Yet the people still came to him from everywhere.

Mark 2


Jesus Heals a Paralytic

¹A few days later, when Jesus again entered Capernaum, the people heard that he had come home. ²So many gathered that there was no room left, not even outside the door, and he preached the word to them. ³Some men came, bringing to him a paralytic, carried by four of them. ⁴Since they could not get him to Jesus because of the crowd, they made an opening in the roof above Jesus and, after digging through it, lowered the mat the paralyzed man was lying on. ⁵When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, "Son, your sins are forgiven."
⁶Now some teachers of the law were sitting there, thinking to themselves, ⁷"Why does this fellow talk like that? He's blaspheming! Who can forgive sins but God alone?"
⁸Immediately Jesus knew in his spirit that this was what they were thinking in their hearts, and he said to them, "Why are you thinking these things? ⁹Which is easier: to say to the paralytic, 'Your sins are forgiven,' or to say, 'Get up, take your mat and walk'? ¹⁰But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins . . . ." He said to the paralytic, ¹¹"I tell you, get up, take your mat and go home." ¹²He got up, took his mat and walked out in full view of them all. This amazed everyone and they praised God, saying, "We have never seen anything like this!"

[Verse 1 talks about how “Jesus had come home”. This meant he had come back to Capernaum after healing the leper who blabbed to everyone and caused large crowds to follow Jesus. As we mentioned, Jesus had left the towns and stayed out in the lonely places. Now he had returned to a town. Anyway, we see this incident with the paralyzed man whom Jesus forgives of his sins. Why did this man's friends bring him to Jesus? They had probably heard how Jesus had previously healed the man with leprosy and thought he could do the same. But Jesus forgives the man of his sins. This incident shows the priorities of Jesus. It's more important for us to have our sins forgiven than to have good health. It's more important for us to have our sins forgiven than to go on living with them on our record. Jesus didn't forgive sins in this way very often as far as it's recorded in the bible. He only does it two other times. But Jesus was in front of such important representation of the Jewish law that he wanted to make a point that he had the power to do this. He was the son of God. And he forgave this sin in front of those most likely to get angry about it. “Blasphemy!”, they thought to themselves. This amazed everyone. Of course it was amazing! To see a man who claimed to be the son of God, who not only could heal people, but could forgive sins! “We have never seen anything like this!” This was the first time the lips of a man had ever uttered these words with any effect. “Your sins are forgiven.” It was amazing stuff! Notice that nobody refused what Jesus was doing out loud. They only thought it in their hearts...but it was all the same to Jesus. Also, we begin to see the similarity between sin and physical disease. This man had two illnesses. His paralytic state and his sinful state. We all suffer from this same disease of sin and need healing. But this paralyzed man had a great day. He came in being carried on a bed and left carrying the bed. But more importantly, he left with his sins forgiven. Imagine how great that must have felt.]

Jesus often called himself the Son of Man. This term, “Son of Man” in verse 9 is one that the prophet Daniel used in

Daniel

¹³ "In my vision at night I looked, and there before me was one like a son of man, coming with the clouds of heaven. He approached the Ancient of Days and was led into his presence. ¹⁴ He was given authority, glory and sovereign power; all peoples, nations and men of every language worshiped him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away, and his kingdom is one that will never be destroyed.

The Calling of Levi

¹³Once again Jesus went out beside the lake. A large crowd came to him, and he began to teach them. ¹⁴As he walked along, he saw Levi son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax collector's booth. "Follow me," Jesus told him, and Levi got up and followed him.
¹⁵While Jesus was having dinner at Levi's house, many tax collectors and "sinners" were eating with him and his disciples, for there were many who followed him. ¹⁶When the teachers of the law who were Pharisees saw him eating with the "sinners" and tax collectors, they asked his disciples: "Why does he eat with tax collectors and 'sinners'?"
¹⁷On hearing this, Jesus said to them, "It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners." [KJV “to repentance”]

[In the eyes of the Jews at this time, a tax collector was the lowest of the low. They taxed the working Israelites for the Roman empire. They were apparently thought of as traitors and so they probably led a sort of ostracized life. And who should Jesus choose to follow him, but Levi (elsewhere called Matthew) a tax collector. Who should this Jesus called himself the Son of God eat dinner with, but tax collectors and sinners. This was ridiculous to the Pharisees. But it is also a trap we can fall into today to have more respect for some people than others because of our traditions or preconceptions about wealth or power rather than using God's measurements of man. Jesus picked these people to help because he wanted to show who he came to help. Not the righteous, but sinners. In a way, he was rebuking the Pharisees for their narrow perception.]

Jesus Questioned About Fasting

¹⁸Now John's disciples and the Pharisees were fasting. Some people came and asked Jesus, "How is it that John's disciples and the disciples of the Pharisees are fasting, but yours are not?"
¹⁹Jesus answered, "How can the guests of the bridegroom fast while he is with them? They cannot, so long as they have him with them. ²⁰But the time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them, and on that day they will fast.
²¹"No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment. If he does, the new piece will pull away from the old, making the tear worse. ²²And no one pours new wine into old wineskins. If he does, the wine will burst the skins, and both the wine and the wineskins will be ruined. No, he pours new wine into new wineskins."

[Jesus criticized what they were doing here over and over again. Straining after a gnat but swallowing a camel. Trying to get the speck of sawdust out of your brother's eye when there is a plank in your eye. The Pharisees often got so caught up in fixing the behavior of others that they never got around to fixing their own problems.

He also uses this parable of putting new wine into old wineskins. They used to put new wine which is grape juice into animal skins and it would ferment and expand over time. So, if you put new wine into old skins, they'd burst. I'm not very clear on his comparison of old and new wineskins here. One possible interpretation would be that Jesus' teachings were like new wine compared to the old Mosaic teachings. These Pharisees were saying, “the old wine is better.” They refused his teachings in many cases, so, the Gentiles (the new wineskins) accepted it and His church spread to them. Perhaps there are other interpretations of this too. ]

Lord of the Sabbath

²³One Sabbath Jesus was going through the grainfields, and as his disciples walked along, they began to pick some heads of grain. ²⁴The Pharisees said to him, "Look, why are they doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath?"
²⁵He answered, "Have you never read what David did when he and his companions were hungry and in need? ²⁶In the days of Abiathar the high priest, he entered the house of God and ate the consecrated bread, which is lawful only for priests to eat. And he also gave some to his companions."
²⁷Then he said to them, "The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. ²⁸So the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath."

[Jesus was pointing out his authority here. He was lord of the Sabbath. He was higher than any priest in the temple at the time David was hungry and ate the consecrated bread. He was in authority.]

1 Samuel 21
¹ David went to Nob, to Ahimelech the priest. Ahimelech trembled when he met him, and asked, "Why are you alone? Why is no one with you?"
² David answered Ahimelech the priest, "The king charged me with a certain matter and said to me, 'No one is to know anything about your mission and your instructions.' As for my men, I have told them to meet me at a certain place. ³ Now then, what do you have on hand? Give me five loaves of bread, or whatever you can find."
⁴ But the priest answered David, "I don't have any ordinary bread on hand; however, there is some consecrated bread here-provided the men have kept themselves from women."
⁵ David replied, "Indeed women have been kept from us, as usual whenever I set out. The men's things are holy even on missions that are not holy. How much more so today!" ⁶ So the priest gave him the consecrated bread, since there was no bread there except the bread of the Presence that had been removed from before the LORD and replaced by hot bread on the day it was taken away.

Mark 3

¹Another time he went into the synagogue, and a man with a shriveled hand was there. ²Some of them were looking for a reason to accuse Jesus, so they watched him closely to see if he would heal him on the Sabbath. ³Jesus said to the man with the shriveled hand, "Stand up in front of everyone."
⁴Then Jesus asked them, "Which is lawful on the Sabbath: to do good or to do evil, to save life or to kill?" But they remained silent.
⁵He looked around at them in anger and, deeply distressed at their stubborn hearts, said to the man, "Stretch out your hand." He stretched it out, and his hand was completely restored. ⁶Then the Pharisees went out and began to plot with the Herodians how they might kill Jesus.

[The Pharisees were motivated by hatred for Jesus to consort with this Herod who was later responsible for the death of John the Baptist. But the Pharisees tried to hide their hatred of Jesus and just make it look like they were zealous of the law. As we can see, they began to look at Jesus only as an opponent. They really just saw him as someone to be brought down. Someone in whom they needed to find a fault. They were watching him so carefully. Jesus asks them this question that we can learn from. Is it good to do good (and heal this man) or do evil (and leave him be). We see from this and other verses in the new testament, such as where it talks about neglecting to help a brother in need, that inaction when we have an opportunity to help someone can be sinful in itself. If we are inactive as Christians, we are unfruitful.]

Crowds Follow Jesus

⁷Jesus withdrew with his disciples to the lake, and a large crowd from Galilee followed.

[We read in Matthew that Jesus was withdrawing because he knew of the schemes of the Pharisees to kill him.]

⁸When they heard all he was doing, many people came to him from Judea, Jerusalem, Idumea, and the regions across the Jordan and around Tyre and Sidon. ⁹Because of the crowd he told his disciples to have a small boat ready for him, to keep the people from crowding him. ¹⁰For he had healed many, so that those with diseases were pushing forward to touch him. ¹¹Whenever the evil spirits saw him, they fell down before him and cried out, "You are the Son of God." ¹²But he gave them strict orders not to tell who he was.

[As we've previously seen, sometimes Jesus told someone that they weren't to publicize what he did. He had a particular way and time in which he wanted to be known and it wasn't at this time. We see that the more well-known he was, the more the Pharisees went after Him.]

The Appointing of the Twelve Apostles

¹³Jesus went up on a mountainside and called to him those he wanted, and they came to him. ¹⁴He appointed twelve--designating them apostles --that they might be with him and that he might send them out to preach ¹⁵and to have authority to drive out demons. ¹⁶These are the twelve he appointed: Simon (to whom he gave the name Peter); ¹⁷James son of Zebedee and his brother John (to them he gave the name Boanerges, which means Sons of Thunder); ¹⁸Andrew, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, James son of Alphaeus, Thaddaeus, Simon the Zealot ¹⁹and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him.

[We find in the book of Revelations that he chose 12 apostles in relation to the 12 tribes of Israel. Paul said that his ministry was to the Gentiles, where as the other apostles focused more on the Jews.

This church that the apostles were going to start would be God's new Israel.]

Jesus and Beelzebub

²⁰Then Jesus entered a house, and again a crowd gathered, so that he and his disciples were not even able to eat. ²¹When his family heard about this, they went to take charge of him, for they said, "He is out of his mind."
²²And the teachers of the law who came down from Jerusalem said, "He is possessed by Beelzebub^[3] ! By the prince of demons he is driving out demons."
²³So Jesus called them and spoke to them in parables: "How can Satan drive out Satan? ²⁴If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. ²⁵If a house is divided against itself, that house cannot stand. ²⁶And if Satan opposes himself and is divided, he cannot stand; his end has come. ²⁷In fact, no one can enter a strong man's house and carry off his possessions unless he first ties up the strong man. Then he can rob his house. ²⁸I tell you the truth, all the sins and blasphemies of men will be forgiven them. ²⁹But whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven; he is guilty of an eternal sin."
³⁰He said this because they were saying, "He has an evil spirit."

[The Pharisees were grasping at straws at this point to say that Jesus was casting out demons with the help of demons. It would be like finding a thief breaking into your house and your neighbor's house and asking the neighbor's thieves to help you stop your thieves. Jesus goes on to talk about how terrible it is to blaspheme the holy spirit. To reject the evidence given by the holy spirit in miracles such as Jesus was performing and then say these wonderful things were done by Satan is to reject the only evidence that faith is based on. And there is no forgiveness except through faith.]

Jesus' Mother and Brothers

³¹Then Jesus' mother and brothers arrived. Standing outside, they sent someone in to call him. ³²A crowd was sitting around him, and they told him, "Your mother and brothers are outside looking for you."
³³"Who are my mother and my brothers?" he asked.
³⁴Then he looked at those seated in a circle around him and said, "Here are my mother and my brothers! ³⁵Whoever does God's will is my brother and sister and mother."

[Apparently, Mary and Jesus' brothers were quite worried about the trouble he might have been getting into in saying the Pharisees were committing an unforgivable sin because they thought it necessary to “rescue” him by sending someone in to call him out. But Jesus has an unexpected reply. His earthly family thought they could use that relationship to call him out of there. But Jesus said that his family was someone quite different and he couldn't be appealed to in this way. Jesus only recognizes spiritual relationships at this point. This is why we today are brothers and sisters in Christ. And this adoption we experience is so far beyond any earthly relationship.]