Mark 2
CHAPTER 2
Healing a paralyzed man
And after some days, when he entered again into Capernaum, it became known that he was in the house. 2 And many were gathered together, so that there was no longer room, not even about the door; and he spoke the word to them. 3 And they came, bringing to him a paralyzed man, carried by four of them. 4 And when they could not come near to him for the crowd, they uncovered the roof where he was; and when they had broken it up, they let down the bed whereon the paralyzed man lay. 5 And Jesus seeing their faith, said to the paralyzed man: Son, your sins are forgiven.
6 But some of the scribes sitting there questioned in their hearts: 7 Why does this man speak so? He blasphemes. Who can forgive sins but one- God! 8 And immediately Jesus, perceiving in his spirit what they questioned within themselves, said to them: Why do you question these things in your hearts? 9 Which one is easier to say to the paralyzed man? Your sins are forgiven; or to say, Arise, pick up your bed and walk- ? 10 But so you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins (he said to the paralyzed man): 11 I say to you! Arise, pick up your bed and go to your house. 12 And he arose and immediately picked up the bed, and went out in full view of them all. They were all amazed and glorified God, saying: We have never seen anything like this before!
The call of Levi
13 And he went out again by the sea side; and all the crowd went to him and he taught them. 14 And as he passed by, he saw Levi the son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax office; and he said to him: Follow me. And he arose and followed him.
15 And it came to pass, that as he was dining in Levi's house, many tax collectors and sinners sat down with Jesus and his disciples. For there were many, and they followed him. 16 And the scribes of the Pharisees, when they saw that he was eating with the sinners and tax collectors, said to his disciples: How is it that he eats and drinks with tax collectors and sinners? 17 And when Jesus heard it, he said to them: They that are whole have no need of a doctor, but they that are sick. I came not to call the righteous but sinners to repentance.
Old and new wine
18 And John's disciples and the Pharisees were fasting; and they came, and said to him: Why do John's disciples and the disciples of the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast? 19 And Jesus said to them: Can the sons of the bride chamber fast while the bridegroom is with them? As long as they have the bridegroom with them they cannot fast. 20 But the days will come when the bridegroom shall be taken away from them. In that day, they will fast.
21 Nobody sews a piece of unshrunk cloth onto an old garment; or else the new piece pulls away from the old, and the tear is made worse. 22 And no one puts new wine into old wineskins, otherwise the new wine bursts the wineskins, the wine is spilled, and the wineskins are ruined. New wine must be put into new wineskins.
23 And it came to pass, that he was going on the Sabbath day through the grain fields; and his disciples began, as they went, to pluck the ears of grain. 24 And the Pharisees said to him: Look, why do they do on the Sabbath day what is not lawful? 25 And he said to them: Have you never read what David did when he had need and was hungry- he and they that were with him? 26 How he entered into the house of God when Abiathar was high priest and ate the showbread, which it is not lawful to eat except for the priests, and gave also to those that were with him?
27 And he said to them: The Sabbath was designed for man, and not man for the Sabbath. 28 Therefore the Son of Man is lord even of the Sabbath.
Commentary
2:5 The man was healed because of the faith of his friends. To some extent we can save others, obtain their forgiveness or bring about their betterment in this life. As this is the case, we should give ourselves to prayer and caring practical effort for others; for we really can make a difference to the salvation of others.
2:8 Was this ability to read others’ minds given to Jesus as a blast of insight from the Holy Spirit? Or was there a process of perception going on, whereby His intense sensitivity to others, even His enemies, enabled Him to know their minds?
2:14 Tax collectors were seen as collaborators with the Romans and were hated. Jesus also called a Zealot, a hard line nationalist terrorist, to His group of followers (Lk. 6:15). The body of Christ is comprised of people very different from each other. Yet our tendency is to attend a church or group comprised of those from our own class, background and personality type. But the body of Christ is so different.
2:16 In 1st century Palestine, to eat with someone was a sign that you fellowshipped them. Jesus ate / fellowshipped with sinners in order to bring them to Him; rather than only fellowshipping those whom He considered fit for His table. His ‘table manners’ were deeply controversial and offensive to traditional Jews and were a factor in their mad hatred of Him.
2:25 What David did when he was needy and hungry justified what Jesus did; we have an insight here into His poverty.
2:28 Jesus is greater than the Sabbath; we don’t need to keep the Sabbath today (Col. 2:14-17) because Jesus has fulfilled all the Jewish regulations.
