The Scandal of Grace

The Scandal of Grace

Mark 2:13-3:6

Scandals and politics are synonymous terms. History is plagued with political scandals, especially the good ole USA. I challenge you this week to count how many times national news organizations start their broadcast with a scandal

If Jesus were doing his ministry today, he would be surely leading off the headlines with his scandal. Yes, I said scandal. In our series from Mark, Encounters: Meeting Jesus in the Gospel of Mark, we find Jesus in a scandal, a scandal of all scandals that has changed not only history forever, but also eternity. It’s the scandal of grace.

Take your Bibles and turn to the second chapter of the gospel of Mark. The events in chapter two reveal Jesus scandalizing the religious establishment of his day. Of course the scandal of grace was more than just a religious scandal, it also had political and social ramifications as well.

The scandal is revealed in a series of questions asked by the religious leaders. The first question was not verbally spoken, but Jesus was able to read the hearts of the religious leaders. Notice verse six of chapter two, “Now some of the scribes were sitting there, and questioning in their hearts, “Why is this man speak like that? He is blaspheming! Who can forgive sins but God alone?” They are correct, but only if Jesus is not God. And Jesus’ whole point was to show that he is God, and is providing a way for sinful man to be forgiven of sins.

The next question is found in verse sixteen of chapter two, “Why does he eat with tax-collectors and sinners?” Next in verse eighteen, “Why do John’s disciples and the disciples of the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast?” And then in verse twenty-four, “Look, why are they doing what is not lawful on the Sabbath?”

The scandal of grace reveals the difference between Jesus and religion, between law and grace. When grace meets religion is scandalizes the religious, as we will see with the Pharisees and the scribes. They are shocked and horrified by the blatant defiance of the traditions and customs brought about by religious leaders. Why is grace so scandalous to religious people? Jesus will show us in how he answers the questions posed by the establishment. His answer to the first question reveals grace embraces sinners.

1. Grace embraces sinners. (2:13-17)

Verse thirteen, “He went out again beside the sea, and all the crowd was coming to him, and he was teaching them. And as he passed by, he saw Levi the son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax booth, and he said to him, “Follow me.” And he rose and followed him.”

The call of Levi, also known as Matthew, is very similar to the call of the other disciples in verses fifteen through twenty of chapter one. The only difference is the occupation of the men. The disciples in chapter one were fisherman. Levi is a tax collector. Levi’s occupation reveals a problem that all have, and that is the problem of sin.

a. The problem of sin

Nobody likes a tax collector, but in the Jewish culture it was more than just a dislike. A Jew who worked as a tax collector was expelled from the synagogue and deemed as unrighteous. If a tax collector touched something within a house the house was considered unclean. In Jewish culture the tax collector was morally and ritually unclean. Truth be told, all are unclean because of the problem of sin

Even so, the Jews would have nothing to do with unrighteous tax collectors. Instead, the isolated themselves from them, and excluded them from being heirs of the kingdom of God.

Instead of avoiding Levi, like most religious leaders, Jesus embraced Levi. You can really see the embracing love of God in Jesus dealing with Levi. Jesus loved Levi even before Levi made any decision to follow him. Jesus embraced the problem of sin because he could see the potential of the sinner.

The invitation that Jesus gives Levi is a life-changing invitation. It was simple, but profound, “Follow me.” Levi had never heard an invitation like this from a religious leader. They would have nothing to do with him. Jesus embraced Levi with the love of God, and Levi responded by leaving everything and following Jesus. He left his job the king of Rome, and gave his life to the King of Kings.

Grace sees beyond the problem of sin, and sees the potential of the sinner that experiences grace.

b. The potential of sinners

Jesus didn’t see Levi the unrighteous tax collector, but Matthew, the gospel writer and evangelist.

The embrace of grace doesn’t stop with Levi. We are told that Levi holds a celebration of his new life in Christ at his home, and he allows Jesus to be the host. Notice the people that were at the celebration, “And as he reclined at table in his house, many tax collectors and sinners were reclining with Jesus and his disciples, for there were many who followed him.” Who was Jesus embracing? Tax collectors and sinners.

The people whom Jesus was associating with were covenant breakers. They were not adherents to the Law of God; therefore, they were not deserving of the kingdom of God. If Jesus were hanging out with sinners today it would be prostitutes, murders, thieves, homosexuals, and people like Walter White and Jesse Pinkman. Grace embraces sinners, religion isolates.

That is why you have the question from the religious elite in verse sixteen, “And the scribes of the Pharisees, when they saw that he was eating with sinners and tax collectors, said to his disciples, “Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?” What Jesus is doing here is really scandalous. More scandalous than a preacher preaching in jeans with no tie? Yes. Much more.

The Pharisees strived to keep the law; therefore, they considered themselves righteous based upon their keeping the law. Because they were keeping the law they were righteous, which made them deserving of the kingdom of God. So, when Jesus shows up preaching the kingdom of God is at hand, and them goes to tax collectors and sinners instead of the deserving religious leaders, well, that has front page scandal written all over it.

Jesus responds to the question in verse seventeen, “And when Jesus heard it, he said to them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.” Jesus didn’t come for those who think they deserve the kingdom of God, the self-righteous. No, he came to those who know they don’t deserve it because they are sinners. Grace embraces sinners and grace forgives sinners.

During the 19th century, in England, a young lady started attending a women’s Bible study. The young woman was living with a man of a different race and had a child with him. She loved the Bible study so much that she came back the next week with her child. She kept coming back until one day the pastor asked her not to come again. He could see the puzzled look so he told her that the women in the Bible study are uncomfortable with her and the child there, and will stop coming if she doesn’t. The young girl responded, “I know I’m a sinner, but isn’t there a place for sinners to go?” Fortunately, the Salvation Army found her and she was claimed for Christ.

Christians, those who have been embraced by the grace of God, should never isolate themselves from sinners. The Christian life is not isolation, nor is it assimilation. It is mission, a mission to bring the forgiving message of Jesus to those who are sick with sin. Grace embraces sinners. Grace transforms sinners.

2. Grace transforms sinners. (2:18-22)

The scene changes in starting in verse eighteen, “Now John’s disciples and the Pharisees were fasting. And people came and said to him, “Why do John’s disciples and the disciples of the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast?” The only fast that was commanded in the law was on the Day of Atonement. Every other fast was something that the religious leaders added beyond the law.

The religious leaders did not understand why the disciples of Jesus were not fasting two times a week. Therefore, Jesus answers, and he do so using three metaphors as illustrations: a wedding, sewing new cloth on old cloth, and putting new wine in old wineskins.

A Jewish wedding was a time of joy, a time of celebration, a time of feasting. Therefore, Jesus likens his presence with his disciples as a wedding. Jesus in the bridegroom, they are in the presence of the bridegroom, which always results in joy. This metaphor points to the New Covenant where sinners are wed to Jesus Christ and they become one, and joy becomes a permanent quality of their lives. That is why we are commanded to rejoice in the Lord.

The next two metaphors drive home the same point. The new will not mix with the old. Jesus is referring to the Old Covenant, which was external, and the New Covenant, which is internal. The New Covenant will not fit into the religious system that the Pharisees devised. Jesus didn’t come to reform religion. He came to replace it with himself.

God was doing a new thing in Christ. The law would no longer be external, but internal, written on the hearts of believers by the indwelling presence of the Spirit of God. The scandal of grace is the transformation of the sinner from the inside out through the indwelling presence of the Spirit of God. Grace embraces sinners. Grace transforms sinners. Grace liberates sinners.

3. Grace liberates sinners (2:23-3:6)

The next two scenes take place on the Sabbath, one in the grain fields the other in the synagogue. The first one is the grain field where you have the disciples walking through it plucking the heads of grain. This was scandalous; therefore, the question in verse twenty-four, “And the Pharisees were saying to him, “Look, why are they doing what is not lawful on the Sabbath?” To the credit of the Pharisees, it was unlawful to plant or harvest on the Sabbath. However, their interpretation of the law and application fell short of God’s intent. You could say that they missed the forest because of the trees.

Jesus answers the question with an astonishing response, “And he said to them, “Have you never read what David did, when he was in need and was hungry, he and those who were with him: how he entered the house of God, in the time of Abiathar the high priest, and ate the bread of the Presence, which it is not lawful for any but the priests to eat, and also gave it to those who were with him?” Now, the story that Jesus is referring to is found in 1 Samuel chapter twenty-one. What is interesting about this story is that not only did David break the law by eating the bread, but he also lied to the priest about why he was there.

I don’t know about you, but this is hard to understand. How do we reconcile what seems to be disobedience on the part of the disciples and King David, and Jesus justifying it? I believe verse twenty-seven helps, “And he said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.” The Sabbath was given to man for his good. It wasn’t designed to harm man, but to restore man, to revive man, to help man. The Sabbath is for the man, not man for the Sabbath. This is where the religious leaders got it wrong.

Religious people think that man was made for the Law. It was given so that man can keep it and merit favor and acceptance from God. Therefore, those who see the law in this way will want to know all the details to the law and keep them to merit favor and acceptance. They will even go as far as adding more detail to the law so that they can earn acceptance, and deserve acceptance. That is a misunderstanding of the Law.

First, the law was given for man’s good, not harm. Moses said to the Israelites, “Israel, what does the Lord your God require of you, but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all of his ways, to love him, to serve the Lord your God with all of your heart and with all of your soul, and to keep the commandments and statutes which I am commanding you this day for your good.” The commandments and statutes were given for man’s good, not harm.

Second, the law was given to show us that we can’t keep the law, and; therefore, we can’t merit favor and acceptance with God by trying to keep the law.

I believe it is the Pharisees who are breaking spirit of the law. They are more concerned about keeping the law than they are about meeting needs of their fellowman. The Pharisees were keeping the law, not because they loved God, but because they loved self. They didn’t try to keep the law out of love for God, but out of a desire to earn favor, which is self-centered.

Jesus drives this home in the next scene in the synagogue, “Again he entered the synagogue, and a man was there with a withered hand. And they watched Jesus, to see whether he would heal him on the Sabbath, so that they might accuse him. And he said to the man with the withered hand, “Come here.” And he said to them, “Is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do harm, to save life or to kill?” But they were silent.”

When religious people are confronted by grace the respond like the Pharisees, “The Pharisees went out and immediately held counsel with the Herodians against him, how to destroy him.” "Christianity is not an addition to what you’ve done. It’s a whole new thing."

The scandal of grace will decimate your tiny little kingdom of one and then welcome you to a kingdom of righteousness and peace that has no end.

Grace will call you to admit your inability while it comforts you with the powerful indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit.

Grace will expose the depth of your sin while it astounds you with the extent of God's mercy.

Grace will work to smash your pride while it gives you more reason for confidence than you've ever had before.

Grace will expose all of your weaknesses while it blesses you with divine strength.

No scandal is ever a good scandal, unless it is the scandal of grace. Have you experienced the scandal of Grace? Have you ever been embraced by the love of God and forgiven? Transformed by the power of God? Have you ever been liberated to love God and love people? Then you have not experienced the scandal of grace.

God is able to make all grace abound so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times we can abound in every good work. That is the scandal of grace. Are you living it? Are you sharing it? Are you spreading it?