The Great Physician

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A Counter Cultural Jesus

If there i one thing that we are seeing so far through the book of Mark is that Jesus appears to be a rebellious teacher towards the common ways of the day. He is radical and counter cultural in a good way. He does walk about unruly but rather seeking to make straight what man has made crooked. The false teachings of the day have become burdensome and blinding to the people.
There are times where we are called to do the same. It is not an uncommon thing for us to find that there are teachers in our day distorting the truth, making it more about them and their agenda rather than God and His. This is not a new practice under the sun. False teaching infiltrates many areas of our lives and many times unknowingly.
So at Jesus time we see that the people marvel and wonder who this man is.
Mark 1:27 NKJV
Then they were all amazed, so that they questioned among themselves, saying, “What is this? What new doctrine is this? For with authority He commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey Him.”
He does not speak and teach as the other teachers but rather with authority. He gets to the heart of the matter.
Mark begins to lay out for us the stage of adversity that begins to arise between Jesus and the religious leaders. For Jesus was correcting all their false ways.
Mark 7:1–9 NKJV
Then the Pharisees and some of the scribes came together to Him, having come from Jerusalem. Now when they saw some of His disciples eat bread with defiled, that is, with unwashed hands, they found fault. For the Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they wash their hands in a special way, holding the tradition of the elders. When they come from the marketplace, they do not eat unless they wash. And there are many other things which they have received and hold, like the washing of cups, pitchers, copper vessels, and couches. Then the Pharisees and scribes asked Him, “Why do Your disciples not walk according to the tradition of the elders, but eat bread with unwashed hands?” He answered and said to them, “Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written: ‘This people honors Me with their lips, But their heart is far from Me. And in vain they worship Me, Teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’ For laying aside the commandment of God, you hold the tradition of men—the washing of pitchers and cups, and many other such things you do.” He said to them, “All too well you reject the commandment of God, that you may keep your tradition.
Mark 7:1-8
Mark 7:14–16 NKJV
When He had called all the multitude to Himself, He said to them, “Hear Me, everyone, and understand: There is nothing that enters a man from outside which can defile him; but the things which come out of him, those are the things that defile a man. If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear!”
Mark 7
Jesus didn’t walk according to the traditions of man but rather according to the commandments of God. There are times that it is necessary that we rise up and stand for the truth and expose the fallacies of our day.
You can be sure that those who become liberated from it will hunger for more of the truth but those to whom the attack is on if there heart is not for Christ you begin to gain an enemy.
This is what Mark begins to lay out here for us as we saw last week this week and next week.
Christs counter cultural encounters begins with the religious establishment at the beginning of chapter 2 in mark and continues on through the beginning of 3 then obviously through to his death. But mark gives us a snap shot of controversy here on 5 accounts
Mark 2:6–7 NKJV
And some of the scribes were sitting there and reasoning in their hearts, “Why does this Man speak blasphemies like this? Who can forgive sins but God alone?”
Mark 2
Mark 2:16 NKJV
And when the scribes and Pharisees saw Him eating with the tax collectors and sinners, they said to His disciples, “How is it that He eats and drinks with tax collectors and sinners?”
Mark 2
Mark 2:18 NKJV
The disciples of John and of the Pharisees were fasting. Then they came and said to Him, “Why do the disciples of John and of the Pharisees fast, but Your disciples do not fast?”
Mark 2
Mark 2:23–24 NKJV
Now it happened that He went through the grainfields on the Sabbath; and as they went His disciples began to pluck the heads of grain. And the Pharisees said to Him, “Look, why do they do what is not lawful on the Sabbath?”
Mark 3:1–2 NKJV
And He entered the synagogue again, and a man was there who had a withered hand. So they watched Him closely, whether He would heal him on the Sabbath, so that they might accuse Him.
Mark 3:
Mark 3:6 NKJV
Then the Pharisees went out and immediately plotted with the Herodians against Him, how they might destroy Him.
Mark 3
At the close of this snap shot account between Jesus and the religious establishment it ends with the spiritual leaders of their day seeking that they might destroy Jesus. That was a pretty drastic turn of events.
As we can see this is nothing new under the sun when we see it running through our culture today. Deception by the droves because of so called “religious leaders.” They are spiritual leaders just not of true righteousness.
But what if Christs teachings were to unveil that in your life you are following tradition that is counter productive with the truth. How would you respond?
So proud to think that you could never be wrong?
Or humble like many of the commoners or sinners of their day willing to change, seeking to know more?
Jesus was countercultural in many ways as we will see. In what He taught, in who He reached, and How He lived. He sacrificially emptied himself for the least of these rather seeking to elevate himself as the religious leaders did.
Mark shows Him as the Forgiver of Sins
The Great physician
The bridegroom of Gods people
The Lord of the Sabaath
He is our only hope and source of truth.
So how does this counter cultural Jesus make a priority in His ministry to help pierce through the facades of men and the confusion of their day?
V.13 He taught them.
Just like last week He saw the multitudes and He preached to them.
Jesus being the source of truth taught the truth. We now having the Truth through His Word should study it.
We have become a cultural that thrives on emotion.
Many times our churches are no different. You can go to a Christian concert and people will come by the droves, but then you host a preaching conference and not near as successful.
Our churches today will have a music service that lasts an hour and preaching that lasts 20 min. And many times in that 20 min nothing was said.
There is nothing wrong with music until we make it our source of truth by which we live by. Hungering more for the feeling rather than the content.
The importance of the Word.
This is why we have singers coming out and denouncing christianity because they are ignorant of the truth.
The greatest safe guard from being led astray is to know the truth. We must study His Word for ourselves that we may be able defend the truth.
I know one day that I have to stand before God to answer for what I teach and how I lead. I am fearful that I would proclaim something that would dishonor His name. I continually am checking myself and desire that you check what I say. Study for yourselves that you may be grounded in the truth.
The greatest safe guard from being led astray is to know the truth. We must study His Word for ourselves that we may be able defend the truth.
But this is no the case for many teachers today and they themselves are deceived.
The day that I no longer open the Bible and seek to proclaim my opinion is the day that begin to deceive those that are listening.
It is our safe-guard.
It s your safe-guard.
We also see The people that He encountered was counter cultural
Levi. Known in Matthew and Luke as Matthew.
Believed to go by Levi then being changed to Matthew after Christ had called Him to Follow Him.
This man was a tax collector.
We dont know for certain the heart of this man and his particular practice but his occupation was one of deception and thievery.
Tax collectors were looked at by others as the scum of the earth. They were robbers. Especially those of Hebrew roots.
For they were looked at not only as robbers but also as triators to the roman government.
It was an occupation of great gain. Most tax collectors were wealthy.
You can just imagine. You know how much we dislike paying taxes. It is everywhere.
You pay taxes out of your income every week. Then just to spend your money you must pay taxes. Food and clothing. You buy a house or a car they charge you taxes. Then if you decide you want to drive your car they charge you taxes. If you decide to upgrade your house they charge you taxes. If you decide to sell your stuff that you already own they have to pay taxes and you will soon too. Then early you have to pay taxes on all that you own.
I say all that to say what if there was one man in our region that we personally was dealing with on all these occassions. Our aggression would no longer be pointed to this governmental system that we never have contact with but now towards this person.
Oh no here he comes again. You want more money?
Heres the thing. They made the majority of their wealth by marking up the taxes that were already in place. Just to throw a twist on things.
This was an occupation that naturally acquired hatred. This man, dont be deceived, was despised.
Yet look what the creator of heavens and earth, who spoke all we know into motion, dug out the oceans and placed the stars in the sky, had done.
He encountered him in the tax office and called him to be his disciple.
You want to talk about counter-cultural.
A love that cannot be explained.
Christ love is not expressed as our earthly love. For it does not show itself forth due to merit and self-righteousness as we see. This man was the least deserving of Jesus’ time let alone to be called to be a disciple of Jesus and later becoming one of the apostles.
This is not a one time practice of Jesus but the norm.
Is your life a mess. Are you a known thief? Are you an adulterer? You are in for a surprise today. That Jesus goes out of his way pursuing people just like you and calling them to eternal life to dwell with Him forever.
When Jesus called Him to follow Him look at what he did?
He arose, got up, and followed Him.
He left everything behind. This was a move that cost him his job. His career. His wealth.
When Jesus calls and you follow it is life changing.
But it comes with a cost.
The bible tells us to consider the costs.
He is now our master. It is now His way not our way. He becomes the Lord of our lives. Becoming liberated from the bonds of Sin for He is the forgiver of sins to then become the slaves of righteousness.
When you become a follower of Christ there is nothing on the table of your life that He cannot touch.
This is no problem to the ones who see Him as the Hope for life and the despair in this one.
This was a counter-cultural move.
The pharisees just couldn’t take it. He was dining with the tax collectors.
You do not dine with the scum. Jesus did. Not for the sake of just dining but with a purpose.
Perhaps none of us espouse such Pharisaical beliefs. In fact, we loathe them. But many of us live them out nevertheless. We come to Christ, and in our desire to be godly we seek out people “like us.” Ultimately we arrange our lives so that we are with nonbelievers as little as possible. We attend Bible studies that are 100 percent Christian, a Sunday school that is 100 percent Christian, prayer meetings that are 100 percent Christian. We play tennis with Christians and eat dinner with Christians. We have Christian doctors, Christian dentists, Christian plumbers, Christian veternarians, and even our dogs are Christian. The result is, we pass by hundreds without ever noticing them or positively influencing them for Christ. None of us are Pharisees philosophically, but we may be practically.
We need to reach out to the people with whom we work—go to dinner with them, attend sporting events together, have them over. We need to extend ourselves to those we know are hurting—provide a room for an unwed mother, minister to the multiple cultures around us, volunteer in the local prisons, get involved in the community, even if it means resigning a church job to do it. Jesus said, “My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one” ().
The Pharisees were scandalized. So, brave men that they were, they approached Jesus’ disciples, saying, “Why does he eat with tax collectors and ‘sinners’?” (v. 16).
Hughes, R. K. (1989). Mark: Jesus, servant and savior (Vol. 1, pp. 71–72). Westchester, IL: Crossway Books.
Church this is a scary place if this is where we come. Note Jesus’ response.
Mark 2:17 NKJV
When Jesus heard it, He said to them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance.”
You go to the hospital what do see. Alot of healthy people working out and carrying on?
No. People that are sick that need help.
If you go to the spiritual hospital for a sin remedy you will only find one physician.
Not Muhammad, Not Buddah, not Zeus, Not Baalim, or Jezebel. Not your favorite doctor.
Jesus Christ. He is the forgiver of sin. If you are burden by the weight and the guilt of your sin sickness there is hope this morning. It lies in the hand of the GREAT PHYSICIAN, who gives the perfect diagnosis and the perfect remedy. It was His blood on calvary that was shed paying the price for our sins that we may be remedied of the sin sickness that we have when we come to Him for our Healing.
For this is the purpose that
Do you see your need?
Or are you like the pharisees?
The pharisees were blind to it. They observed themselves as healthy and whole. Righteous. No need of a spiritual physician.
This is like walking around with a broken leg and the bone sticking out, and maggots crawling in it and thinking all is well. It going to kill you but Jesus doesnt help those who think they are well.
I believe in he sovereignty of God and it is no coincidence that you are here this morning.
You are here this morning because you very well may need to hear of the Hope that is found in Christ.
Maybe you you are like Levi. Looked down upon by society. As there was hope for him so is there Hope for you.
Come this morning to the Physician who can Heal your sickness.
What does this look like? The Bible tells us that He calls sinners to REPENTANCE.
When God almighty proclaims you have rebelled and sinned against me, you come professing that His assessment is true, confessing your sins and proclaiming you dont care the cost. I have seen the truth. If it means my father and my mother forsake me, if it means i must leave my job, if it means i must give up my passions and desires…so be it.
I believe in he sovereignty of God and it is no coincidence that you are here this morning.
As we close, we must confess all known sin to the best of our ability. But we must also come again as needy sinners saying, “The first link between my soul and Christ is not my goodness, but my badness; not my merit, but my misery; not my standing, but my falling; not my riches, but my need.”
Hughes, R. K. (1989). Mark: Jesus, servant and savior (Vol. 1, p. 73). Westchester, IL: Crossway Books.
He can Heal what you have wounded. He is the Great Physician. The Healer of our Sin sick disease. There is Hope and it is in the Hand of God. Not the drugs, not in sex, not in money but in His grace that calls unto sinners REPENTANCE.
Its time you get right with your creator.
Christian how are you living in light of the counter cultural truth that Jesus walked in.
In following a counter cultural Jesus that stood for truth and life will manifest itself in its followers lives in the same way. A counter cultural attitude towards the source of truth, the way it is lived out and the mission it calls upon our lives.
In following a counter cultural Jesus that stood for truth and true life it will manifest itself in its followers lives in the same way. A counter cultural attitude towards the source of truth, the way it is lived out and the mission it calls upon our lives.
Matthew 11:16–19 NKJV
“But to what shall I liken this generation? It is like children sitting in the marketplaces and calling to their companions, and saying: ‘We played the flute for you, And you did not dance; We mourned to you, And you did not lament.’ For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, ‘He has a demon.’ The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, ‘Look, a glutton and a winebibber, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’ But wisdom is justified by her children.”
Explain why Johns desciples were a bit scandalized to see Jesus at a party.
In nineteenth-century England, there was a poor woman who attended a church women’s meeting. She had been living with a man of another race by which she had had a baby, and she brought the child with her. She liked the meeting and came back again and again. But then the vicar came to her and said, “I must ask you not to come to this meeting again.” Seeing her questioning look, he continued, “The other women say that they will stop coming if you continue to come.” Looking at him in poignant wistfulness, she asked, “Sir, I know that I’m a sinner, but isn’t there anywhere a sinner can go?” Fortunately the Salvation Army found her, and she was claimed for Christ. That is precisely what Matthew was up against until he met Christ.
Hughes, R. K. (1989). Mark: Jesus, servant and savior (Vol. 1, p. 71). Westchester, IL: Crossway Books.
Perhaps none of us espouse such Pharisaical beliefs. In fact, we loathe them. But many of us live them out nevertheless. We come to Christ, and in our desire to be godly we seek out people “like us.” Ultimately we arrange our lives so that we are with nonbelievers as little as possible. We attend Bible studies that are 100 percent Christian, a Sunday school that is 100 percent Christian, prayer meetings that are 100 percent Christian. We play tennis with Christians and eat dinner with Christians. We have Christian doctors, Christian dentists, Christian plumbers, Christian veternarians, and even our dogs are Christian. The result is, we pass by hundreds without ever noticing them or positively influencing them for Christ. None of us are Pharisees philosophically, but we may be practically.
We need to reach out to the people with whom we work—go to dinner with them, attend sporting events together, have them over. We need to extend ourselves to those we know are hurting—provide a room for an unwed mother, minister to the multiple cultures around us, volunteer in the local prisons, get involved in the community, even if it means resigning a church job to do it. Jesus said, “My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one” ().
The Pharisees were scandalized. So, brave men that they were, they approached Jesus’ disciples, saying, “Why does he eat with tax collectors and ‘sinners’?” (v. 16).
Hughes, R. K. (1989). Mark: Jesus, servant and savior (Vol. 1, pp. 71–72). Westchester, IL: Crossway Books.
As we close, we must confess all known sin to the best of our ability. But we must also come again as needy sinners saying, “The first link between my soul and Christ is not my goodness, but my badness; not my merit, but my misery; not my standing, but my falling; not my riches, but my need.”
Hughes, R. K. (1989). Mark: Jesus, servant and savior (Vol. 1, p. 73). Westchester, IL: Crossway Books.
Erma Bombeck tells how she was sitting in church one Sunday when a small child turned around and began to smile at the people behind her. She was just smiling, not making a sound. When her mother noticed, she said in a stage whisper, “Stop that grinning—you’re in church,” gave her a swat, and said, “That’s better!” Erma concluded that some people come to church looking like they had just read the will of their rich aunt and learned that she had given everything to her pet hamster!
Hughes, R. K. (1989). Mark: Jesus, servant and savior (Vol. 1, p. 77). Westchester, IL: Crossway Books.
When Christ fills the wineskins of our lives, the swelling life within stretches us to new limits. The inner pressure expels unneeded things and fills every aspect of life. Those who have not yet had Christ take up residence in their life can scarcely imagine how fully they will be filled; how every aspect of their humanity from their intellect to their emotions will be changed. So dynamic is the new life that the old wineskins of previous religious structures must give way.
Practically speaking, our old selves (our previous experiences, our present level of growth, our intellectual formation, our cherished customs, our prejudices, the familiar, the comfortable) apart from Christ tend to be old wineskins. We have to allow Christ to modify all these areas or we will burst. You may be one who needs to do this today—to say to Christ, “Take my intellect, my customs, my prejudices, the familiar, the comfortable, and renew them to hold your wine. I want all I can get.”
Returning to the flow of our text, the reason the Pharisees were repeatedly colliding with Christ was that they were in effect old wineskins. They simply could not handle the real thing. This is what ultimately brought the fatal collisions over the Sabbath.
Hughes, R. K. (1989). Mark: Jesus, servant and savior (Vol. 1, p. 79). Westchester, IL: Crossway Books.
The Pharisees were like this too. They actually whitened their faces, put ashes on their heads, wore their clothes in shoddy disarray, refused to wash, and looked as forlorn as possible. You could not be spiritual unless you were uncomfortable. They thought spirituality makes you do things you do not want to do and keeps you from doing the things you want to do.
The fasting religious establishment had self-righteously put the question to Jesus. So Jesus answered them directly and brilliantly: “How can the guests of the bridegroom fast while he is with them? They cannot, so long as they have him with them. But the time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them, and on that day they will fast” (vv. 19, 20).
After an ancient Jewish wedding, the couple did not honeymoon, but stayed at home for a week of open house in which there was continual feasting and celebration. For the hardworking, this was traditionally considered to be the happiest week in their lives. The bride and groom were treated like a king and queen that week (sometimes they even wore crowns). They were attended by chosen friends known as “guests of the bridegroom,” which means literally, “children of the bride’s chamber.” Their guests were exempted from all fasting through a rabbinical ruling which said, “All in attendance on the bridegroom are relieved of all religious observances which would lessen their joy.”
For us believers on the other side of the Cross and Resurrection, the application for this is hugely encouraging. We are not just “guests of the bridegroom”—we are the Bride of Christ! This is more than metaphorical language—it is reality. It speaks of the deepest intimacy and exchange. We actually have the “Spirit of God” (). Therefore, we are to outdistance the attendants of the bridegroom in the intensity and continuance of our joy.
Hughes, R. K. (1989). Mark: Jesus, servant and savior (Vol. 1, pp. 77–78). Westchester, IL: Crossway Books.
Isaiah 54:5 NKJV
For your Maker is your husband, The Lord of hosts is His name; And your Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel; He is called the God of the whole earth.
Isaiah 5
Jeremiah 31:32 NKJV
not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, though I was a husband to them, says the Lord.
They were unfaithful to their husband. The major theme of Hosea is Gods love for His adulterous wife and His desire to restore the nation to His favor once again.
The Bible Exposition Commentary Chapter Two: What the Servant Offers You (Mark 2:1–3:12)

Mark 2:20 is a hint of our Lord’s anticipated death, resurrection, and return to heaven. It is unlikely that His disciples, at that early stage in their training, even understood what He meant. However, Jesus was not suggesting that His absence from earth would mean that His followers would have to replace the feast with a funeral! He was only pointing out that occasional fasting would be proper at a future time, but that joyful celebration should be the normal experience of believers.

The Bible Exposition Commentary Chapter Two: What the Servant Offers You (Mark 2:1–3:12)

Jesus came to usher in the new, not to unite with the old. The Mosaic economy was decaying, getting old, and ready to vanish away (Heb. 8:13). Jesus would establish a New Covenant in His blood (Luke 22:19–20). The Law would be written on human hearts, not on stones (2 Cor. 3:1–3; Heb. 10:15–18); and the indwelling Holy Spirit would enable God’s people to fulfill the righteousness of the Law (Rom. 8:1–4).

The Bible Exposition Commentary Chapter Two: What the Servant Offers You (Mark 2:1–3:12)

Salvation is not a partial patching up of one’s life; it is a whole new robe of righteousness (Isa. 61:10; 2 Cor. 5:21). The Christian life is not a mixing of the old and the new; rather, it is a fulfillment of the old in the new. There are two ways to destroy a thing: you can smash it, or you can permit it to fulfill itself. An acorn, for example, can be smashed with a hammer, or it can be planted and allowed to grow into an oak. In both instances, the destruction of the acorn is accomplished; but in the second instance, the acorn is destroyed by being fulfilled.

Jesus fulfilled the prophecies, types, and demands of the Law of Moses. The Law was ended at Calvary when the perfect sacrifice was once offered for the sins of the world (Heb. 8–10). When you trust Jesus Christ, you become part of a new creation (2 Cor. 5:17), and there are always new experiences of grace and glory. How tragic when people hold on to dead religious tradition when they could lay hold of living spiritual truth. Why cherish the shadows when the reality has come? (Heb. 10:1ff) In Jesus Christ we have the fulfillment of all that God promised (2 Cor. 1:20).

Commentary on a Harmony of the Evangelists Matthew, Mark, and Luke Matthew 9:9–13; Mark 2:13–17; Luke 5:27–32

For I came not. Though this was spoken for the purpose of reproving the pride and hypocrisy of the scribes, yet it contains, in a general form, a very profitable doctrine. We are reminded that the grace of Christ is of no advantage to us, unless when, conscious of our sins, and groaning under their load, we approach to him with humility. There is also something here which is fitted to elevate weak consciences to a firm assurance: for we have no reason to fear that Christ will reject sinners, to call whom he descended from his heavenly glory. But we must also attend to the expression, to repentance: which is intended to inform us that pardon is granted to us, not to cherish our sins, but to recall us to the earnestness of a devout and holy life. He reconciles us to the Father on this condition, that, being redeemed by his blood, we may present ourselves true sacrifices, as Paul tells us: The grace of God, which bringeth salvation, hath appeared to all men, teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, and righteously, and devoutly in this world, (Tit. 2:11, 12.)

The Gospels record only sporadic and coincidental exchanges between Jesus and the Sadducees, Herodians, and Zealots, and none between Jesus and the Essenes; but throughout his ministry Jesus is in a standing debate with Pharisaism, primarily over the issue of tradition. The essential difference is especially evident in Mark 7:1–23, in which Jesus accuses the Pharisees of overvaluing oral tradition and undervaluing the intent of the law itself.

The Pharisees normally fasted on Mondays and Thursdays (Did. 8:1; b. Ta‘an. 12a), although this was not required.

Pharisees themselves were even noted by Jesus as fasting to be seen by men. Look up.
Matthew 6:16–18 NKJV
“Moreover, when you fast, do not be like the hypocrites, with a sad countenance. For they disfigure their faces that they may appear to men to be fasting. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward. But you, when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, so that you do not appear to men to be fasting, but to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly.

Those who challenge Jesus on the issue of fasting are identified by Mark in the most general terms (“Some people”). They evidently were commoners rather than Pharisees, which reinforces the impression that fasting was regarded as part and parcel of true piety in the Jewish world of Jesus’ day. Their question, “ ‘How is it that John’s disciples and the disciples of the Pharisees are fasting, but yours are not?’ ” insinuates that if Jesus and his followers intend to be taken seriously they had better pay greater attention to fasting protocol.

The chief impression of both parables is their finality. The unshrunken patch “will pull away” from the old garment, “making the tear worse.” The Greek word for “pull away,” airein, is the root of the word in v. 20 describing the bridegroom being “taken from them” (Gk. apairein). Likewise, the wineskins will be “burst” and “ruined” (Gk. apollymi, “destroyed”). In both instances something once serviceable is destroyed and of no further worth. The new patch and new wine are incompatible with the old cloth and wineskins; and if the attempt is made to combine them, the new substances will destroy the old.

“Both parables are about the relation of Jesus, of Christianity indeed, to traditional Judaism.” The parables illustrate the radical posture and presumption of Jesus. Jesus is the new patch and the new wine. He is not an attachment, addition, or appendage to the status quo. He cannot be integrated into or contained by preexisting structures, even Judaism, Torah, and the synagogue. He is, of course, neither ascetic nor anarchist, and thus he participates as a human being in human structures. He goes to the synagogue, but not as everyone else goes to the synagogue. Jesus goes with a new teaching (1:27). He is like the scribes in that he teaches, but his authority surpasses theirs (1:22). He honors Torah by sending the healed paralytic to make the offering required by Moses, but he is not bound by Torah; he breaks it when it impedes his ministry (2:24; 3:1–6), and he subordinates it to himself (Matt 5:17; Rom 10:4). His contemporaries exclaim, “ ‘We have never seen anything like this!’ ” (2:12). He relinquishes himself completely, though never surrendering his divine authority. He gives himself in service, though rendering allegiance to none but God. He gives his life to the world, but he is not a captive of the world. The question posed by the image of the wedding feast and the two atom-like parables is not whether disciples will, like sewing a new patch on an old garment or refilling an old container, make room for Jesus in their already full agendas and lives. The question is whether they will forsake business as usual and join the wedding celebration; whether they will become entirely new receptacles for the expanding fermentation of Jesus and the gospel in their lives.

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