The New Covenant

Mark 2:14–22 NASB95

As He passed by, He saw Levi the son of Alphaeus sitting in the tax booth, and He said to him, “Follow Me!” And he got up and followed Him. And it happened that He was reclining at the table in his house, and many tax collectors and sinners were dining with Jesus and His disciples; for there were many of them, and they were following Him. When the scribes of the Pharisees saw that He was eating with the sinners and tax collectors, they said to His disciples, “Why is He eating and drinking with tax collectors and sinners?” And hearing this, Jesus said to them, “It is not those who are healthy who need a physician, but those who are sick; I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners.” 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?” And Jesus said to them, “While the bridegroom is with them, the attendants of the bridegroom cannot fast, can they? So long as they have the bridegroom with them, they cannot fast. “But the days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast in that day. “No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment; otherwise the patch pulls away from it, the new from the old, and a worse tear results. “No one puts new wine into old wineskins; otherwise the wine will burst the skins, and the wine is lost and the skins as well; but one puts new wine into fresh wineskins.”

I. Introduction

a. Last week we learned that Jesus had at some time before He began His ministry he moved from Nazareth to Capernaum.

b. We learned that the main attraction in Capernaum was the Synagogue and approximately 30 meters from the synagogue Simon Peter lived.

c. Jesus’ ministries home base was Capernaum.

d. We saw that He was in the house where He lived, could have been Simon Peter’s house or a place that He had, that all the doors and exits were blocked because of the amount of people.

e. Then their came four men carrying a paralytic and their faith in Jesus’ ability to heal the man was so strong that they would not stop at anything to get this man to Jesus. Therefore they climbed up on top of the house and tore a hole in the roof and lowered him down.

f. Now Jesus seeing the faith of the four men and taking this opportunity to show that He was the Son of Man, God in flesh, pronounced that the man’s sin was forgiven. Jesus did this to prove the point that He was the Son of Man, God in flesh.

g. Naturally the scribes and pharisees got judgemental and Jesus called them out of the evil that was in their hearts.

h. By the signs and wonders that Jesus performed, which was proof that He was the Messiah, Son of Man, God in flesh by healing the paralytic.

II. Calling of Levi

a. Some time after the healing of the paralytic, Jesus was passing by where the tax collector, Levi (Matthew), was collecting taxes and called him to follow Jesus.

b. Now tax collectors, worked for Herod, which was the sole representative to Rome. Now the tax collectors were housed at the main entrance to the city, what would happen is that everyone bringing in goods and food to sell would have to pay like a sales tax on their goods. The tax collector would also charge a surcharge to collecting those taxes and would keep it themselves.

c. Now since these folks worked for Rome, they were considered traitors and were considered outcast and usually named publicans, sinners or tax collectors. This meant that the religious and regular folks would not associate with them and if you would associate with them then you would be considered a publican or sinner also.

d. So therefore the scribes and pharisees really got all bunged up when they saw Jesus, later that evening, sitting at dinner with them. Eating dinner meant a lot in the biblical times and was considered an honor or even a intimate act of friendship/companionship.

e. But Jesus knowing their hearts called them out and corrected them, reminding them of why He was here. His mission is to call sinners to repentance and not the righteous.

f. Now I want us to understand that He was not calling the pharisees righteous. Another thing in a modern times church have been havens of where we only have our own kind there and we only minister to our own kind. Therefore shutting our doors to the lost that are outside our doors. We need to remember what Jesus’ mission is, to win the lost and be made a ransom for sin.

III. Fasting

a. If you remember from the Gospel of John studies we described what it meant to be a pharisee. Pharisee’s adhere to the written law along with the oral law. They felt that there was many things passed down orally that were interpretation of the written law, culminating into the Talmud, the written oral law. These individuals were very ritualistic in that they would fast twice a week, Monday and Thursday.

b. Luke 18:9-14 “And He also told this parable to some people who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and viewed others with contempt: “Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. “The Pharisee stood and was praying this to himself: ‘God, I thank You that I am not like other people: swindlers, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. ‘I fast twice a week; I pay tithes of all that I get.’ “But the tax collector, standing some distance away, was even unwilling to lift up his eyes to heaven, but was beating his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, the sinner!’ “I tell you, this man went to his house justified rather than the other; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but he who humbles himself will be exalted.”

c. Fasting was used a penitent act, usually done during a disaster or some calamity. Usually done when repenting for sin or some calamity.

d. For instance when David was caught in adultery with Bathsheba the child she bore, God struck with sickness, 2 Samuel 12:16 “David therefore inquired of God for the child; and David fasted and went and lay all night on the ground.”

e. Now Jesus’ response to the pharisees was significant when He said, “…While the bridegroom is with them...” He was referring to Himself as the Messiah, who was sent, since this was a wedding time it is not appropriate to fast but to rejoice, just like you would do at a wedding feast.

f. But then He predicted His death, burial and resurrection, by stating, “But the days will come when the bridegroom is taken away...” When that happens, then His disciples with fast. Now this was a practice that the early church did as stated in Acts 13:2-3 “While they were ministering to the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “Set apart for Me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.” Then, when they had fasted and prayed and laid their hands on them, they sent them away.”

g. Then Jesus abruptly goes into a parable about the new patch sewed onto an old garment, and new wine in old wineskins

IV. New Covenant

a. Now the pharisees were under the old covenant and Jesus is bringing in a new Covenant, not of the law, which the pharisees were living by, but the new covenant based upon faith in Jesus Christ who is the sacrifice.

b. Hebrews 8:7-13 explains this, “For if that first covenant had been faultless, there would have been no occasion sought for a second. For finding fault with them, He says, “BEHOLD, DAYS ARE COMING, SAYS THE LORD, WHEN I WILL EFFECT A NEW COVENANT WITH THE HOUSE OF ISRAEL AND WITH THE HOUSE OF JUDAH; NOT LIKE THE COVENANT WHICH I MADE WITH THEIR FATHERS ON THE DAY WHEN I TOOK THEM BY THE HAND TO LEAD THEM OUT OF THE LAND OF EGYPT; FOR THEY DID NOT CONTINUE IN MY COVENANT, AND I DID NOT CARE FOR THEM, SAYS THE LORD. “FOR THIS IS THE COVENANT THAT I WILL MAKE WITH THE HOUSE OF ISRAEL AFTER THOSE DAYS, SAYS THE LORD: I WILL PUT MY LAWS INTO THEIR MINDS, AND I WILL WRITE THEM ON THEIR HEARTS. AND I WILL BE THEIR GOD, AND THEY SHALL BE MY PEOPLE. “AND THEY SHALL NOT TEACH EVERYONE HIS FELLOW CITIZEN, AND EVERYONE HIS BROTHER, SAYING, ‘KNOW THE LORD,’ FOR ALL WILL KNOW ME, FROM THE LEAST TO THE GREATEST OF THEM. “FOR I WILL BE MERCIFUL TO THEIR INIQUITIES, AND I WILL REMEMBER THEIR SINS NO MORE.” When He said, “A new covenant,” He has made the first obsolete. But whatever is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to disappear.”

c. The old covenant was based upon the Law and no one can be justified by the law as stated in Galatians 2:16 “nevertheless knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the Law but through faith in Christ Jesus, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, so that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the Law; since by the works of the Law no flesh will be justified.”

d. The only way to be justified is through faith in Jesus Christ.

V. Summary

Put it this way, the new covenant, faith in Jesus Christ was to be given to not only to the Jews, but to the entire world, therefore it cannot be contained in the old, being confined to Judaism but must be put in a new so it can expand and encompass everyone.

God intends us to have His law written in our hearts and empowered by the Holy Spirit, but we could not do that unless Jesus Christ came and tore down the partition, sin, that kept us from having a relationship with God.