Empty religion vs. Life in Christ
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There are to many today that are bound in empty religion mixed with the burdensome traditions of man that has brought no life and hope. It only leads to greater despair and confusion on what else must I do to be approved by God. On the flip side Christianity is vibrant and life giving to our mortal steps and breathes a certainty of hope that will come to pass. A new life is born with a proper perspective of what brings honor, what motivates me for greater living, becoming devoted to things that do not lead me to destruction but rather to life. Revealing that my destiny is sure not because of my merit but because of Jesus work.
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Pray.
A REBELLIOUS JESUS
As we have seen in the last couple weeks and continuing into this week Jesus’ encounters with the leading spiritual leaders of His day.
As He had come forth with new authority in his speaking for even the demons obey His voice, you can only imagine the commoners and those who had ailments that would flood the feet of one who has been spoken of that can heal these infirmities.
The God that spoke the world into motion, breathed the stars into place and made man from dust, looks with compassion upon the broken of His day and works great miracles. He speaks and a man that was blind can see. He speaks and a man that is paralyzed gets up and walks. What a miracle worker this Jesus was.
And His lively illustrations brought color to His clear and authoritative teaching that went in the opposite direction of the religious tradition of His day.
This naturally brought pious enemies to Jesus’ door. Why do you not follow our tradition?
This began to become so troublesome to the religious leaders minds that instead of seeing the Messiah and rejoicing, they saw a rebel that was disobeying their self-proclaimed traditions and this was worthy of death.
It ends in chapter 3 with the religious leaders planning from that day forward how they might destroy Him.
What a powerful thing Tradition is.
We must be careful that we don’t allow tradition to be our governing and authoritative force rather than the word of God.
Tradition is not always a bad thing depending on what it is grounded in and position it holds.
Tradition: A long established custom or belief that has been passed on from one generation to another.
In this form I pray that i pass alot of things down to my children that will benefit them for life. Wisdom and instruction that would be rooted and grounded in a habitual practice in my life that my children would see and live in the same light revealing the life giving force of the word of God.
Tradition: A doctrine believed to have divine authority though not in scripture.
This is when you step off into muddy waters not knowing what is going to pop out.
Teaching the traditions of men and putting the divine stamp on them.
Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ.
Colossians
Traditions are deceptive
And I advanced in Judaism beyond many of my contemporaries in my own nation, being more exceedingly zealous for the traditions of my fathers.
Galatians
IT was his zeal for the traditions of his fathers that lead him to persecute the church.
Then Christ appeared to him on damascus road and said saul, saul why are you persecuting me?
knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold, from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers,
Aimless conduct received by tradition. This is what naturally gets handed down by men and woman that have greatly influenced our lives.
So we must be careful that we do not allow tradition to govern our steps but rather the Word of God.
How Zealous we become for things that have been passed down by men but then how lax we become in the clear things that have been passed down by God our creator, The Heavenly Father, who cannot lie, does not deceived.
Do not let your doctrinal hills you are willing to die on be that which is handed down by the authority of men but rather that have been passed down by God.
And again He entered Capernaum after some days, and it was heard that He was in the house. Immediately many gathered together, so that there was no longer room to receive them, not even near the door. And He preached the word to them. Then they came to Him, bringing a paralytic who was carried by four men. And when they could not come near Him because of the crowd, they uncovered the roof where He was. So when they had broken through, they let down the bed on which the paralytic was lying.
When Jesus saw their faith, He said to the paralytic, “Son, your sins are forgiven you.”
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?”
But immediately, when Jesus perceived in His spirit that they reasoned thus within themselves, He said to them, “Why do you reason about these things in your hearts? Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, ‘Your sins are forgiven you,’ or to say, ‘Arise, take up your bed and walk’? But that you may know that the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins”—He said to the paralytic, “I say to you, arise, take up your bed, and go to your house.” Immediately he arose, took up the bed, and went out in the presence of them all, so that all were amazed and glorified God, saying, “We never saw anything like this!”
Then He went out again by the sea; and all the multitude came to Him, and He taught them. As He passed by, He saw Levi the son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax office. And He said to him, “Follow Me.” So he arose and followed Him.
Now it happened, as He was dining in Levi’s house, that many tax collectors and sinners also sat together with Jesus and His disciples; for there were many, and they followed Him. 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?”
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.”
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?”
And Jesus said to them, “Can the friends of the bridegroom fast while the bridegroom is with them? As long as they have the bridegroom with them they cannot fast. But the days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them, and then they will fast in those days. No one sews a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment; or else the new piece pulls away from the old, and the tear is made worse. And no one puts new wine into old wineskins; or else the new wine bursts the wineskins, the wine is spilled, and the wineskins are ruined. But new wine must be put into new wineskins.”
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?”
But He said to them, “Have you never read what David did when he was in need and hungry, he and those with him: how he went into the house of God in the days of Abiathar the high priest, and ate the showbread, which is not lawful to eat except for the priests, and also gave some to those who were with him?”
And He said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath. Therefore the Son of Man is also Lord of the Sabbath.”
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This is exactly where we come this morning in our text when these people and come to question Jesus about the customary practices of the day and the lack of Jesus’s disciples participating.
It was customary in this time by the influence of the religious leaders that they would fast 2 times a week. Commentators differ on which days exactly they were.
Its like they were asking, Jesus don’t you know that our tradition has taught us that fasting twice a week is essential to holy living yet, you having this great following and influence, proclaiming to be the Son of God yet do not practice these things.
Something is off here.
Here your eating with sinners and tax collectors, which is questionable activity anyways, yet you do not fast a clear sign of righteousness.
What did He say about fasting in Matthew.
“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.
Matthew
The religious practice of the day was deceptive. For their motives behind fasting was to be seen by men and perceived as holier than thou.
Yet they would disfigure their faces that they may appear to be fasting.
Christ exposing their intent at heart and their profitless reward. An applause of men.
Yet Christ says when you fast do so in private without the display of fatigue.
The purpose of fasting to come to closer communion with the father in a time of need or for more intimate fellowship with the father
yet these religious leaders desired not to be seen by God with fasting but rather to appear more righteous and holy before men.
How often do we do this?
So and so is going to ride with me I need to put on Christian music.
Teenager i know you do this with your parents before.
I better watch my mouth...
Encounter with a man at miss spanns house
Plumber that came and worked on my house.
I need to sound spiritual when i pray
I need to look the part
All this that we may gain the approval of men, and in an attempt to appear more Godly to men.
It completely defeats the purpose and point to which we are trying to make.
You dont need to worry about what I think and approve of you need to worry what God thinks and approves of.
But how often are we satisfied with the empty applause of men.
These religious leaders wanted people to operate by their order and law.
“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.”
They wanted people to act according as they would have them. John nor Jesus were wrong in how they lived for they had different missions as we will see here.
John a demon
For he withstood from those things that they delighted in.
Jesus a glutton and a drunkard
For He partook with who they didn’t delight in.
In our churches if we are not careful we will allow the tradition of our fathers fighting against the work of Gods mission.
Well known pharisee leader that stood up for the
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?”
This is a mindset that often comes with those that like their tradition and preferences rather than the mission of God.
But like all good traditions there were always loop holes and exceptions.
So these pharisees fasted a couple times a weak but with an exception during a wedding feast. This was not a time to be sad and somber but a time to be joyous and celebrating.
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.”
So this cultural practice Jesus used as a means to describe the eschatological time which Joy of the coming kingdom and messiah has come so those who properly understand this time and who it was that they were asking “why dont you fast?” it wouldn’t even be a question at all.
This is not a season of sadness seeking to beckon unto God for this is a season of Joy for God has come to man to redeem that which could not redeem themselves.
This just makes me think of the woman at the well when Jesus told her if she only knew who He was it wouldn’t be him asking for a drink but rather her that she may receive water that would cause her to never thirst again.
And when she saw she understood.
But for us today this is more than just metaphorical language but a present reality when we repent and trust in Christ.
That we no longer thirst for the things of this world but we thirst for righteousness.
Its when we see ourselves as we truly are rebelling against the only one that has shown us true love, to find that He is our only Hope.
The best part is that when we are made new we are not friends of the Bride but rather we are the Bride.
Yet why is that it appears, as though, we who are in Christ are continually looking at their relationship as hindering what we want to do.
Yet why is that it appears, as though, we who are in Christ are continually looking at their relationship as hindering what we want to do.
We walk about with sad countenances as if our best lives were behind us and not in front of us.
We have a misconception of what Christ has done forgetting all that He did. Hello have you forgotten that you have been redeemed from despair, from the pit of darkness now to dwell in His marvelous light?
We are like the unfaithful Israel in Hosea that is continually cheating on God with the hand crafted and made gods of our day.
Bowing to the gods of self, convenience, pride, pleasure, and even tradition.
Forsake these futile gods that only lead us into greater despair cling to the one who has laid down his life for you.
This passage in part testifies of the point where the Bridegroom will no longer be with us, signifying his completed work on the cross, His ascension on high, to prepare for the day when He returns for His bride, the church.
But this time of celebration and feasting is not traded for a funeral but rather only to find the an appropriate occasional fasting in the future all through the lense of a hope found in Christ.
This doesn’t mean that we will not face hard times or struggles, that we will not be met with momentary sadness.
But as the apostle Paul has said, “
For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.
HOPE is now the lense that we look through, in all the struggles we face upon this earth.
V.21-22
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 (). Jesus would establish a New Covenant in His blood (). The Law would be written on human hearts, not on stones (; ); and the indwelling Holy Spirit would enable God’s people to fulfill the righteousness of the Law ().
The Baptist’s reform movement was concerned to repair the old order, by penitence and fasting (by “shrinking the patch”); whereas a more flexible dispensation was needed (“new wineskins”) to accommodate the eschatological joy of the dawning Kingdom.
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.
The Bible Exposition Commentary Chapter Two: What the Servant Offers You ()Salvation is not a partial patching up of one’s life; it is a whole new robe of righteousness (; ). 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.
NKJVFor 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.
NKJVnot 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.
Whichever analysis of this passage is deemed to be more plausible, the way Jesus distances himself here from the pious practice of fasting, which was as widely esteemed in 1st-century Judaism as it continued to be in early Christianity, is highly distinctive
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.
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 (). When you trust Jesus Christ, you become part of a new creation (), 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? () In Jesus Christ we have the fulfillment of all that God promised ().
The Bible Exposition Commentary Chapter Two: What the Servant Offers You ()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 (). Jesus would establish a New Covenant in His blood (). The Law would be written on human hearts, not on stones (; ); and the indwelling Holy Spirit would enable God’s people to fulfill the righteousness of the Law ().
The Bible Exposition Commentary Chapter Two: What the Servant Offers You ()Salvation is not a partial patching up of one’s life; it is a whole new robe of righteousness (; ). 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 (). When you trust Jesus Christ, you become part of a new creation (), 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? () In Jesus Christ we have the fulfillment of all that God promised ().
This is not a time of mourning but of Joy and celebration for light has dawned
Matthew 4:1
“The land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali,
By the way of the sea, beyond the Jordan,
Galilee of the Gentiles:
The people who sat in darkness have seen a great light,
And upon those who sat in the region and shadow of death
Light has dawned.”
Light has dawned hope is here. It is not found in religion and the keep of rules but it is found in a relationship with God our creator who has given sinners hope who had no hope. Who made a way when there was no way.
He is the only one who can forgive your sins, for it is Him who we have offended, and it is His law we have transgressed but what lies in the hand of our God and creator that will one day judge the world is grace and mercy for all who repent, not because of our works of righteousness but because of His.
Bow to the king this morning, repent where you have sinned and trust in the Hope that Christ has brought.
Pharisees themselves were even noted by Jesus as fasting to be seen by men. Look up.
The Pillar New Testament Commentary: The Gospel according to Mark Fasting and Feasting (2:18–22)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 (; ). 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.
The Lexham Bible Dictionary Asceticism
ASCETICISM A voluntary abstention from the satisfaction of bodily and social needs, including food, drink, sexual activity, sleep, clothes, wealth, and social interaction.
The Anchor Yale Bible Dictionary Fast, Fasting
For these reasons, a unitary, historical approach to the passage may be preferable. On this view, Jesus rejected fasting as inappropriate to the initial period of his ministry. But his rejection was not unqualified; he predicted that at some later stage “fasting,” in the sense of deprivation and persecution, would again become appropriate, and he may have expressed this in language deliberately reminiscent of Joel 2:16. At the same time, in response to those who were ready to criticize both the Baptist for his asceticism and Jesus for his lack of it (cf. Matt 11:16–19), he argued by means of the parables that both lifestyles were justifiable in the context of their different aims. The Baptist’s reform movement was concerned to repair the old order, by penitence and fasting (by “shrinking the patch”); whereas a more flexible dispensation was needed (“new wineskins”) to accommodate the eschatological joy of the dawning Kingdom.
Whichever analysis of this passage is deemed to be more plausible, the way Jesus distances himself here from the pious practice of fasting, which was as widely esteemed in 1st-century Judaism as it continued to be in early Christianity, is highly distinctive.