Mark chapter 2 continues recounting stories of Jesus healing, with one of my favourite instances where a paralysed man’s friends carry him to Jesus and when they find they cannot get him to Jesus, climb up onto the roof, dig a hole and lower him down in front of Jesus. How desperate are we for our friends to meet Jesus?
The passage continues with the account of Jesus inviting Levi (Matthew) to follow him and a couple of heated discussions with some pharisees.
There are a couple of things that stood out to us as we explored the intended meaning, implied meaning, interpreted meaning and inspired meaning together. Firstly the desperation of the group of friends to get their friend to Jesus. They were stopping at nothing. There was however something else that interested us about the excavation of the roof to get their friend to Jesus. From a historical point of view the inference by fact that they were able to access the main room in which Jesus most likely was teaching is that this was probably a very ordinary, common house. Archaeologists suggest the houses of the more affluent of that time usually had multiple floors and main room where friends, family and neighbours may have congregated would have not been accessible from the room. It’s also hard to overlook the pharisees disapproval of Jesus’ choice of words “my son, your sins are forgiven” which to a certain extent seem to parallel King David’s words in psalm 103 v 2-3 “Praise the Lord, I tell myself and never forget the good things he does for me. He forgives all my sins and heals all my diseases.”
Previously in chapter 1 Jesus invited Simon, Andrew, James and John, by the side of the lake to follow him and this time as he heads out to the lakeshore he meets Levi who he invited also. Unlike the others Levi was not a fisherman instead a tax collector. This certainly caused quite a stir. It would appear tax collectors were even less liked in those days than they are now. Tax collectors were appointed by the Roman Empire to provide funds for the empire. In this way they became a symbol of oppression, not only had they sold out to the empire but they also profited by charging those in their jurisdiction extortionate rates of tax. Most would see a corrupt rogue but Jesus saw something different. With His time and His invitation He called out the value lying underneath. They were already upset but of course this got right on the nerves those who spent so much of their time running away from the appearance of anything improper and what a response Jesus makes. It plays right into the pharisees own inflated value of themselves. “Healthy people don’t need a doctor – sick people do, I have come to call sinners, not those who think they are already good enough.”
No wonder they seem out to get him in the following discussions about fasting and the sabbath, all the time seemingly missing the great big hints Jesus drops about being the messiah. He couldn’t make it much clearer in His answers but still the pharisees seem to be more interested in winning an argument than exploring the possibility in His hints. Could it be they were so wrapped up in their interpretation of the scriptures they missed the Messiah right under their noses? Could theirs be the very human problem of wanting to be right so much it reduced their ability to consider the man who had been authenticated as the Son of God by a voice from the clouds, healed people wherever he went, who taught with authority, and who the demonic obeyed as a possible Messianic candidate because he wasn’t quite the Princely revolutionary they hoped would free them from Roman oppression. After all He did hang out with traitors who embodied the roman oppression through their profiteering tax collecting though?
Could it be we all wrestle with that very human problem from time to time?
Long may we come alive as we pursue relationship with Jesus in all his mystery and curiosity.