Saturday in the Park, part 1

Saturday night, July 12 became (in a sense) a historical night for our evangelism team (more on that later). Before every evangelism outing, we meet about 1 ½ hours beforehand for prayer and Bible study in the Gospel of Mark. We are looking to our Master for further examples in evangelism by studying His interactions. Mark 2 gives us four controversies for our example, where objectors questioned Jesus’ ability (2:1-12), His motives (2:13-17), His actions (2:18-22), and His beliefs in contrast to tradition (2:23-28). We came up with four contemporary questions that are answered by timeless principles found in Jesus’ reply:

Questioning Jesus’ ability, the Pharisees asked, “Who can forgive sins but God alone?” Even today people feel paralyzed in their sin, perhaps reasoning in their own hearts that they’ve sinned too much to be forgiven. Jesus not only forgives, but brings healing that one can be released from the paralyzing bondage of sin.

Questioning Jesus’ motives, the Pharisees saw Jesus eating with tax-gatherers and sinners. When Jesus first came to Capernaum the first time (chapter 1) the house was filled with the sick and demon possessed. Everyone else was left outside. When Jesus came back to Capernaum, the house was filled with Pharisees so there was no room even for the sick, who had to stay outside (that’s why the man had to be let down through the roof). Now Jesus is in a house filled with sinners, and the Pharisees are outside. Why is He eating with these people and not with those who see themselves to be righteous? The reason is because they don’t see themselves as sick. They are not broken over their sin. One present-day objection to the gospel is, “there are people who are worse than me. I’m no sinner.” Jesus said He came to call the sinner.

Questioning Jesus’ actions, the Pharisees were not satisfied with His eating. Now they questioned His fasting. Luke tells us this question is on the heels of the previous question, as the Pharisees were not merely standing outside watching Jesus eat with sinners, but they wanted to make their religiosity clear: they were fasting as they watched Him eat. Why won’t He follow tradition? Jesus did not come to patch up the old, but to introduce something new. Presently I often hear people say things like, “You can’t do ministry this way,” or, “Well, at my church . . .” Jesus did not come to keep the status quo, to do things the way they’ve always been done.

Finally (as if eating with sinner was not enough, and fasting was not enough) the Pharisees catch Jesus and His disciples eating again—this time in the fields, plucking and eating grain. They sought to question Jesus’ beliefs, strongly suggesting Jesus does not keep the Sabbath. Jesus responds, in effect, by saying “You guys ever read the Bible? We’re not doing anything different than David.” This reminds me of the objection people raise to believing the gospel by the so-called “denominational” problems—why do these people do ‘this’ and those people do ‘that’?” The only truth they need to hear is that Jesus is Lord of the Sabbath.

(more tomorrow)