Mark Vol. 1 - Week 7 (2:13-22)
Mark 2:13-22
〰️
The King Who Came For Us
〰️
Mark 2:13-22 〰️ The King Who Came For Us 〰️
I hope and pray that these last six weeks have been encouraging and growing for you as a leader and for your community group! We desire that the people in our groups grow horizontally (closer to one another) and vertically (closer to Jesus). The passage we're studying this week is Mark 2:13-22. You have likely heard or read this passage before and scratched your head, asking, "What does Jesus mean by the bridegroom and the wineskin??" Hopefully, this gives us some clarity and the tools to wade through the passage.
Verses 13-17 give an account of Jesus calling a tax collector named Levi (later known as Matthew, the author of the first gospel in our Bibles). Even though the Jewish people really, really disliked Roman taxes, they especially hated Jewish tax collectors. They were seen as working for the enemy, supporting Roman oppression. This anger and hatred towards the Roman Empire was prevalent among Jews at this time, with the Jewish tax collectors literally on the payroll of the Roman Empire. Tax collectors were known for arbitrarily increasing taxes on people only to skim off the top and pad their pockets. They would also have the muscle to back them up, as they could send in Roman soldiers to care for anyone who refused to pay these taxes. With that in mind, we can hopefully glimpse the social ramifications of Jesus speaking directly with Levi, let alone entering his home and dining with him.
So why did Jesus associate with one of the least-liked demographics? The primary audience was Jews, so why would He do something that was so against the grain? The answer is twofold: First, we'd do well to remember that the people Jesus interacted with and lived among were still people. It can be easy for us to read these stories, analyze the details, and talk about the characters in those stories, forgetting that they were real individuals who lived, had families, experienced sorrow and joy, sinned, loved, and experienced life just as we do. Jesus, were He here today like He was then, would love and interact with us as well. He treated people, especially those on the margins (either by their own doing, like Levi, or because of things out of their control, like the paralytic) with dignity and kindness. As an aside, it's worth noting that Jesus befriends Levi, a local representation of Roman oppression. Up to this point, the Messiah was believed to come in with a strong arm, overthrow all oppression, and set Israel free. But here He is befriending the "enemy."
The second is that Jesus wanted to teach by example. Jesus came teaching repentance, belief, and love. He led by example, showing dignified love to the kind of person His people hated the most. So much of Jesus' ministry on earth involved associating with the least likely, the forgotten, and the outcasts. Levi (Matthew) would soon become one of the core followers of Jesus, one of the twelve disciples, and eventually write the account of Jesus' ministry on earth.
There's so much more to unpack here, but moving forward in the text, we see this paragraph of red letters from Jesus. Here, Jesus and His disciples (those closest to Him) were not fasting, while the religious leaders of the time were. Today, fasting is the act of refraining from something, often food, for some time (usually a day at a time) in the pursuit of spiritual growth and dependence on the Lord.
-
In the Old Testament, individuals fasted food, and the average Jewish person would only ever fast on the Day of Atonement as a form of repentance. The Day of Atonement (commonly known as Yom Kippur) is the 10th day of the 7th month of the year, where Israel would fast, clean the sanctuary of impurity, and atone, or pay for, their sins through sacrificial rituals and send a goat into the wilderness¹ (Fun fact: this is where we get the term "scapegoat"). While the average Israelite woman or man would fast once a year, the Pharisees and the uber-religious would fast twice a week as a sign of devotion to the Lord. Nothing in the Old Testament mandates fasting beyond participation on the Day of Atonement, so this is one of those times when the Pharisees take one law from the Lord and expand it for their own self-inflation and the sake of holiness. To be clear, there is nothing wrong with fasting. Fasting can genuinely be God-honoring and stretching spiritual practice with the right intentions. Fasting as a spiritual discipline is intended to remind us of our need for God by denying the desires of our flesh. This is only scratching the surface of the spiritual practice of fasting, so you can find more information on fasting here!
Jesus' response to those questioning Him and His disciples is not a rebuke of fasting itself but an explanation of why they weren't fasting then. It'll be helpful to reread Jesus' words:
"The wedding guests cannot fast while the groom is with them, can they? As long as they have the groom with them, they cannot fast. But the time will come when the groom will be taken away from them, and then they will fast on that day" (2:19-20).
During this time, fasting was viewed with the posture of sorrow and repentance. Jesus tells them that while He (the bridegroom in this analogy) is here on earth, people do not (or should not) need to fast. There will come a time to fast, but the fulfillment of the promise of the coming atonement has arrived. Continuing, Jesus says,
"No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment. Otherwise, the new patch pulls away from the old cloth, and a worse tear is made. And no one puts new wine into old wineskins. Otherwise, the wine will burst the skins, and the wine is lost as well as the skins. No, new wine is put into fresh wineskins" (2:21-22).
This is where we can start getting lost, but it makes a lot of sense in the end. Agriculture was a massive part of the culture and region of the time, so the process of making wine was pretty common knowledge. As it ferments, the wine expands, and it needs a vessel that will either expand or not give way with it, allowing it to ferment and age. Jesus' audience here would have known this, so when He says that "no one puts new wine into old wineskins," He refers to the passing of the Old Law and Covenant and the creation and entrance of the new Covenant. The old methods and rules are no longer in play. There is a new way of doing things and a new definition of what it means to follow God.
With this in mind, as we enter into discussion with our people, I want to challenge us to consider what fasting looks like for us practically. Have we done it before? How was it? What did it look like for you? Fasting can take many forms now, especially considering food can be a sensitive topic, or health restrictions can prevent us from going an entire day without eating. Many people go through a period without listening to secular music. Some participate in the Daniel fast, eating only fruits and vegetables (Daniel 1:8-16). The purpose is both the heart behind it and the act of denying what our flesh craves in favor of seeking the Lord. If not listening to secular music for a time creates a craving in your heart and mind, then do it! The purpose is to turn our hearts towards God by denying our flesh something it desires, seeking things from above. There are no "Christian points" we get by fasting something. We fast because we desire God and desire to be like Him and close to Him.
Key Terms and Doctrine
The new covenant over the old
In Exodus, we're presented with the story of God making a covenant with His people, Israel. A covenant is simply an agreement with the highest level of accountability, not all that different from a contract as we know it today. The Old Covenant is outlined in Exodus 24 and goes into greater detail in chapters 25-30. In this Covenant, the nation of Israel was to make sacrificial offerings to the Lord as payment for their sins. Romans 6:23 tells us that the price for sin is death because that's the scale of offense to the Lord. Christ, however, pays that price on our behalf at the cross. In doing so, He overturns the old Covenant, installing a new one. The author of Hebrews writes that "By saying a new covenant, [God] has declared that the first is obsolete" (Hebrews 8:13a). This Covenant is described by the prophet Jeremiah in 31:31-34:
"Look, the days are coming"—this is the Lord's declaration—"when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah. This one will not be like the Covenant I made with their ancestors on the day I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt—my Covenant that they broke even though I am their master",—the Lord's declaration. "Instead, this is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after those days"—the Lord's declaration. "I will put my teaching within them and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. No longer will one teach his neighbor or his brother, saying, 'Know the Lord,' for they will all know me, from the least to the greatest of them"—this is the Lord's declaration. "For I will forgive their iniquity and never again remember their sin."
This is the new Covenant described here and what we see a glimpse of in Mark 2. No longer is there a need for animal sacrifice to atone for our sins. Jesus has authority over sin and has the power to forgive. Even more exciting is the fact that the new Covenant wasn't only for the nation of Israel. The title and status of "God's people" in the old Covenant were limited to Israelites. The new Covenant now includes Gentiles, those outside the Jewish lineage. Paul writes of this in Ephesians 3:1-11, where he calls Gentiles "coheirs, members of the same body, and partners in the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel" (v6). This Covenant and access to God is available to everyone, not only those of the nation of Israel.
Discussion Questions
What stood out to you from the passage?
What are some repeating words, phrases, or concepts in this passage?
Does anything in this passage remind you of another part of Scripture?
What does Jesus say is his reason for associating with sinners and tax collectors?
Following Jesus means associating with the least, last, and lost. Who might those people be for you?
What are some ways or who can you love that would be counter-cultural?
What does verse 15 say Jesus was doing with the tax collectors and sinners?
How does it make you feel to know that you were "sick" at one point? How should that increase your compassion for those who don't know Jesus?
What does Jesus teach us about fasting here?
Have you ever fasted? What did it look like?
What is something you might consider fasting?
1. Lexham Bible Dictionary, The Day of Atonement (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2016).