Let us continue with the study of the Gospel according to Mark. In this lesson, we will study Chapters 2 and 3. Controversy seems to have been a way of life for our Lord Jesus Christ during His earthly ministry. Indeed, He seems to have used these occasions as opportunities to stress the important truths concerning Him and the coming of the Kingdom of God. When we carefully study the Gospel we also find that on every occasion our Lord spoke very clearly, addressing various issues at hand.

What was the main focus found in these chapters?

In these chapters, far-reaching implications are made about the Sabbath principles, and the observance of various laws and customs. Let us briefly examine this passage with a view primarily to highlight these teachings of our Lord in the light of the spiritual freedom He has offered mankind.

Who were the main opponents of Jesus?

We find Jesus embroiled in conflict with the institutional religious leaders of His time, the Pharisees. (Please read an additional note at the end of this Lesson about the main religious and political groups of people during the time of Jesus Christ: the Pharisees, the Sadducees, and the Samaritans.)

The Pharisees were the Jewish religious group that zealously followed the Old Testament laws as well as their own religious traditions. They were highly respected in the community, but they hated Jesus because He challenged their misplaced pride, their uncaring attitudes, and their dishonourable motives. In Chapter 3:6 we read that the Pharisees began to plot against Jesus with the Herodians, a Jewish political group that supported the rule of the Herodian dynasty. Jesus was seen as a threat to them, and though the two groups typically disagreed with one another, on this occasion they joined forces against Jesus.

What were the main points of disagreement between Jesus and the religious leaders?

In the Pharisees’ ongoing conflict with Jesus, the most consistent issue is the observance of the Sabbath. Mark 2:23-24 says, “And it came to pass, that he went through the corn fields on the sabbath day; and his disciples began, as they went, to pluck the ears of corn. And the Pharisees said unto him, Behold, why do they on the sabbath day that which is not lawful?” Jumping ahead to Mark 3:1-2, we read, “And he entered again into the synagogue; and there was a man there which had a withered hand. And they watched him, whether he would heal him on the sabbath day; that they might accuse him.” Jesus went on to heal the man’s hand (Mark 3:5).

What was their main charge against Jesus based on these two incidents?

These are two incidents recorded in the Gospels in which Jesus and His disciples are charged with violating the Sabbath. The account here in Mark 2 is the only time the disciples were censured; most other times it is Jesus Himself who is accused of breaking the Sabbath.

How did the religious leaders interpret the Ten Commandments?

Over time, Jewish legal scholars built an increasingly detailed set of interpretations around the fourth commandment’s instruction to do no work on the Sabbath (Exodus 20:8-11). Jewish tradition eventually codified this into thirty-nine specific categories of forbidden work, with further derivative rules spelling out exactly what counted under each category. For example: the broad command was to do no work; a specific rule said that reaping and threshing counted as work; and a derivative rule said that plucking heads of grain counted as reaping, and rubbing them in the hands counted as threshing. It was on this basis that the Pharisees judged that the disciples had broken the Sabbath law.

Explain the dispute about the Sabbath law.

Jesus’ apparent violation of the Sabbath rules was the heart of the dispute. God gave the Sabbath rest in the Ten Commandments (Exodus 20:8-11). We see that the Sabbath command is tied to two great truths: the creation of the world, and the exodus from Egypt, when God saved His people from slavery. Sabbath, in Hebrew, means rest. These two truths teach us two wonderful lessons about Sabbath rest. To summarise, observance of the Sabbath was meant to remind us that every aspect of life, physical and spiritual, comes from God as a gift, so the result for God’s people ought to be joy, gratitude, celebration, worship, rest, merriment, freedom, praise, and renewal. Perhaps the best one-word summary of what God desires for His people on the Sabbath is recreation — re-creation — in every way: spiritually, physically, mentally, emotionally, and relationally. There ought to be a rhythm of rest in life so that there can be a wonderful refreshment and renewal.

Does it mean that we just have to find time for God one day in a week of seven days?

The Sabbath is not one day given to God while we keep the other six for ourselves. It is rather a peculiar sign and symbol of the deepest things in life. The Sabbath principle reminds us that there must be a time each week when we stop and take note of God. It is a mistake to let our lives become so rushed, so full of busyness, that we fail to take care of two vital human needs — rest and worship.

As the early Christians knew, the particular day of the week is not the important point. You can rest and worship on Saturday, or you can rest and worship on Sunday. Some people have to work on Sundays, and their day off may be Monday or Saturday. They can still fulfil the Sabbath purpose whatever day of the week it is. The Sabbath reminds us to take time to rest and to take time to worship the God who made everything possible for us.

What thoughts do you have about Sabbath?

Once a week, all of us — including preachers and priests — have to decide what we will do with the first day of the week. “What are you going to do this Sunday?” That is the question that looms for all of us as the week draws to a close. Will you go to church, or will you find something else to do? The one thing Sunday — the day the modern world treats as its Sabbath — offers in our society is choice. Weekends have become the ideal time for travel, a mini-vacation, or a family reunion; a leisurely drive or a visit to old friends. Most major sporting events happen on Sundays, and for some, golf on Sunday has become a religion in itself. Others fill the day with television and social media, endlessly browsing rather than resting. And then there is shopping — shops, restaurants, and cinemas are all open and full.

And, of course, one might also go to church. Every week we are confronted with the same question: “What will you do on Sunday?”

What did Jesus mean when He said the Sabbath was made for man?

As Jesus explained, “The sabbath was made for man, and not man for the sabbath” (Mark 2:27). Jesus stood firmly against legalism. He stood consistently for the physical, emotional, and spiritual needs of people over religious tradition, and He remains the Lord of the Sabbath. As we walk into difficult, confusing circumstances, we have to make calls like this: do we love Him enough, trust His Lordship over our lives enough, stand with Him against legalism, and then follow Him, listen to Him, and hold on to Him, moving into freedom? It is exciting, but it is also demanding. Legalism asks nothing of you but obedience to a rule. Following Jesus asks you to think, to process, to pray, and to listen to the Word of God. It is the only way to truly live.

FOR DISCUSSION AND REFLECTION

1. Mark 2 shows Jesus forgiving a paralysed man’s sins before healing his body. What do you think it means that Jesus deals with our hearts before our circumstances? Is there something in your own life you need to bring to Him for forgiveness?

2. Think of one specific way Jesus Christ has made a difference in your life, whether it feels big or small. Write down what you would say if you had thirty seconds to tell a friend about it. What makes it hard to actually say it out loud?

3. Paul wrote, “Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ” (Philippians 1:6). Where in your life do you find it hardest to trust that God is not finished with you yet? What would change if you truly believed He would see it through?

4. Jesus said, “The sabbath was made for man, and not man for the sabbath” (Mark 2:27). Think about the rhythm of your own week. Do rest and worship serve you, or do you feel ruled by busyness and schedules? What would it look like for you to actually keep a Sabbath this week?

5. The Pharisees prided themselves on keeping the rules perfectly, yet Jesus said they had missed what mattered most. Where are you tempted to focus more on looking right than on loving God and other people? What would it take to change that?

— End of Lesson 2 —

The Pharisees, Sadducees and the Samaritans

Over 2,000 years after the life and death of Jesus Christ, we tend to view biblical events through the filter of our own modern Western culture. But Jesus is intricately linked to the Jewish religion and society of His day. To truly grasp His message, we must have a historical understanding of the time in which Jesus lived. This requires a basic knowledge of first-century Jewish culture and society.

The Pharisees and the Sadducees

The Pharisees and the Sadducees were the two most well-known Jewish sects from the time of Jesus the Messiah. Both, to some extent, opposed Him during His ministry and received condemnation from Him. In this article, we will briefly examine the origins, beliefs, and impact of these two rival groups.

Historically, all of our knowledge of the Pharisees and Sadducees has been derived from three main sources: the works of the Jewish historian Flavius Josephus; the early rabbinical writings, composed from around the third century onward; and the New Testament. Recently, however, references to these parties have also been found in some of the Dead Sea Scrolls unearthed at Qumran.

What was the difference in their faith and beliefs?

While the Pharisees primarily came from middle-class families and were zealous for the Mosaic Law, the Sadducees were generally wealthy members of the Jewish aristocracy who had embraced Hellenism. Around this same period, the Pharisees became distinct from the Hasidim, who had fought against the Hellenising forces during the Maccabean revolt. The Pharisees emerged as a significant force in Jewish affairs because they had influence among the common people.

What did the Sadducees believe about life after death?

Unlike the Pharisees, the Sadducees rejected the idea of a bodily resurrection, along with the existence of angels and spirits, teaching instead that the soul perished with the body (see Acts 23:8). This is precisely what lay behind the Sadducees’ pointed question to Jesus about the resurrection in Mark 12:18-27, where He corrected their misunderstanding of both the Scriptures and the power of God. The Pharisees, by contrast, did believe in the resurrection of the dead — one of many reasons the two groups so rarely found common ground.

What custom did Herod break?

When Herod was appointed king by the Romans, he no longer nominated the chief priests from the ancient lineage, but conferred the honour upon certain obscure individuals. Herod also became the first ruler to lock away the high priest’s sacred vestments under his own private seal, so that the high priests no longer had free use of them.

This broke the custom of the high priesthood being attached to a particular family. Herod also abolished the practice of the high priest holding the position for life. According to Josephus, in the 107 years from the beginning of Herod’s reign to the fall of Jerusalem, there were 28 high priests. Herod’s decision to appoint the high priest had a major impact on the operation of the Temple.

What was the situation during the time of Jesus?

By the time of Jesus, the Sadducees included the high-priestly families as well as other wealthy Jerusalem aristocrats. Most members of the Sanhedrin, the central judicial authority of the Jewish people, were Sadducees. Thus, the Sadducees were the party of those with political power, allied with the Herodian and Roman rulers, but they were not a group with much influence among the people themselves. The views of the Pharisees prevailed among the common people.

Who were the scribes mentioned in the New Testament?

The scribes, who were lay teachers of the law, eventually supplanted the priests in the synagogues. The model for the scribes was Ezra, who was designated by the Hebrew title sopher. After the Jewish return from exile in Babylon, this term came to mean one who was learned in the Hebrew Scriptures, especially the Torah (the first five books of the Bible). In the New Testament, these men are primarily called “the scribes,” but they are also referred to as “lawyers” and “teachers of the law.” Although not all Pharisees were scribes, the vast majority of the scribes were Pharisees, and they regulated the synagogues, teaching and interpreting the law. The Pharisees were devoted to the daily application and observance of the Mosaic Law and the “oral law,” known as the Oral Torah.

Paul Johnson, the historian, describes this “oral law” of the Pharisees as follows:

They followed ancient traditions inspired by an obscure text in Deuteronomy, holding that God had given Moses, in addition to the written Law, an Oral Law, by which learned elders could interpret and supplement the sacred commands. The practice of the Oral Law made it possible for the Mosaic code to be adapted to changing conditions and administered realistically.

What did Jesus think of the Pharisees?

While Jesus disdained the hypocrisy of some Pharisees, He never attacked the religious and spiritual teachings of Pharisaism. The sharpest criticisms of the Pharisees in Matthew’s Gospel are introduced by an unmistakable affirmation: “The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat: all therefore whatsoever they bid you observe, that observe and do; but do not ye after their works: for they say, and do not” (Matthew 23:2-3).

Though the Pharisees and Sadducees disagreed on most matters, what did they jointly agree on?

For several reasons, a group of leading Pharisees and Sadducees conspired to put Jesus to death. But because of His popularity, they knew they had to do so secretly or risk the wrath of the people, since many considered Him at the very least a prophet, and quite possibly the long-awaited Messiah. Through the treachery of Judas Iscariot, the Pharisees and Sadducees managed to arrest Jesus in the dead of night. He was illegally tried, tortured, and crucified before the Passover feast.

How did the Sadducees treat the early Church?

The Sadducees were the continual opponents of the early Church and the apostles; no Sadducee is ever mentioned in the Bible as having become part of the community of believers. After the day of Pentecost, the Sadducees were very active against the infant Church. Along with the priests and the captain of the temple, they arrested Peter and John and put them in prison. A little later, they arrested all the apostles and took counsel to slay them (Acts 5:17, 33). Their hostile attitude persisted throughout the rest of the Acts of the Apostles, and there is no record of a Sadducee being admitted into the Christian Church. According to Josephus, the Sadducees were also responsible for the death of James, the brother of the Lord.

The Samaritans

What relationship did the Jews have with the Samaritans?

If there is one quick way to describe the Samaritans, it is that they were the group the Jews despised most and kept at the greatest distance. The history of enmity between Jews and Samaritans goes back several hundred years before Christ, though there were wrongs on both sides. Beyond the fact that Jews and Samaritans were at loggerheads for centuries, the Jews also considered the Samaritans to belong to a lower class of people.

How did Jesus tackle tricky questions put to Him?

Everyone, including those who do not believe that Jesus is the Son of God, will agree that Jesus was very wise and insightful. His insightfulness showed up whenever someone asked Him a question, invariably with the intent to trap Him into saying something they could hold against Him. Jesus usually did not answer in terms of what others wanted to hear; instead, He answered with what the person needed to hear. These encounters gave rise to Jesus’ most famous parable, that of the Good Samaritan, found in Luke 10:25-37. Jesus knew He was speaking to a Jew, and He used the one group that Jews hated the most, perhaps even more than their hatred for the Romans and the tax collectors, to make His point. In this parable it is the enemy who is the hero, not the priest, not the temple assistant — the hero is the one from the other side of the tracks, one of those considered least desirable. The impact of this parable on the Jews and others who heard it must have been so great that it became one of the most quoted stories even in the present day. Even those who have never heard the story use the expression “Good Samaritan” as figurative speech.

What do we know about the Samaritans’ origins?

The Samaritans were the inhabitants of Samaria, the territory that had been the heartland of the northern Kingdom of Israel. After the Assyrians conquered the northern kingdom in the eighth century before Christ, they deported many Israelites and resettled the land with foreign peoples from places such as Babylon, Cuthah, Ava, Hamath, and Sepharvaim (2 Kings 17:24). The Samaritans of Jesus’ day were descended from the intermarriage of the Israelites who remained with these foreign settlers, which is part of why other Jews regarded them as religiously and ethnically compromised. The Samaritans also built their own temple on Mount Gerizim and worshipped there instead of at Jerusalem (see John 4:20), a rivalry that deepened the hostility between the two communities.

What are the two major narratives concerning the Samaritans in the New Testament?

In Luke 10:29-37 we find Jesus narrating the Parable of the Good Samaritan in answer to a question from a Jewish legal expert about who counts as a neighbour. The great importance of this parable, then and now, needs no special mention. Jesus ingeniously turned the tables and showed that the Samaritan is the one who can rise above the prejudices of centuries and show mercy and compassion for the injured Jew, after the Jew’s own countrymen had passed him by. No matter which party one belongs to, everyone is capable of doing good.

We can understand the surprise of the Samaritan woman in the incident found in John 4:5-27, when Jesus rises above the social and religious restrictions — not only of a man speaking to a woman, but of a Jew speaking to a Samaritan. In the background we should remember centuries of opposition and ugly incidents between these two peoples. In this incident Jesus makes it explicit that God is not the God of the Jews alone, but the God of all mankind. He said, “But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him” (John 4:23). We also read in Isaiah 63:16, “Doubtless thou art our father, though Abraham be ignorant of us, and Israel acknowledge us not: thou, O LORD, art our father, our redeemer; thy name is from everlasting.” He is God of all.

What do we know about the earliest Samaritan converts to Christianity?

The disciples of Jesus Christ understood the need to preach the Word to communities beyond the Jewish people. This is evident from what we read in Acts 8:25, that “they, when they had testified and preached the word of the Lord, returned to Jerusalem, and preached the gospel in many villages of the Samaritans.” Aside from Jewish converts, the rest of the early Christian believers were called “gentiles,” a term that included the Samaritans, the word gentile generally meaning simply “non-Jew.” Incidentally, the term gentile comes from Latin; it is not an original Hebrew or Greek word from the Bible, but a translator’s term.

— End of special note on the communities of Jesus’ time —