Year 2, Week 30, Day 4 Bible Reading Observations

Year 2, Week 30, Day 4

I have a brief observation for today’s reading of Matthew 8; Mark 2.

Today’s reading continues reporting the miraculous signs that Jesus performs, while at the same time, His actions raises the ire of the Jewish religious establishment. Matthew 8 records a series of healings, which validate Jesus’ claims concerning the Messianic hope: “That evening they brought to him many who were oppressed by demons, and he cast out the spirits with a word and healed all who were sick. This was to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah: “He took our illnesses and bore our diseases” (Matthew 8:16-17; see also Isaiah 53:4). With Jesus’ proclamation of the arrival of God’s Kingdom, His ministry begins to reverse the cycle of suffering and death that entered the world as a result of sin. Mark 2 records with clarity the assertions that Jesus makes concerning himself and the subsequent opposition that such claims provoke in the Jewish religious establishment: “But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”—he said to the paralytic— “I say to you, rise, pick up your bed, and go home” (Mark 2:10-11); and: “And he said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. So the Son of Man is lord even of the Sabbath” (Mark 2:27-28).

One of the things that struck me from today’s reading was the wide range of responses to Jesus’ words and actions. Jesus is establishing who He is and what the ramifications are concerning His arrival. Many were in all of Jesus and recognized His power and authority: “When Jesus heard this, he marveled and said to those who followed him, “Truly, I tell you, with no one in Israel have I found such faith. I tell you, many will come from east and west and recline at table with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven, while the sons of the kingdom will be thrown into the outer darkness” (Matthew 8:10-12). Jesus’ commendation is for a Roman centurion, whose faith-filled humility displayed great confidence in and reverence for Jesus: “Lord, I am not worthy to have you come under my roof, but only say the word, and my servant will be healed” (Matthew 8:8). Jesus demonstrates His grasp of the prophets when they asserted that Gentiles who turn to the LORD would be welcomed: “And the foreigners who join themselves to the LORD, to minister to him, to love the name of the LORD, and to be his servants, everyone who keeps the Sabbath and does not profane it, and holds fast my covenant—these I will bring to my holy mountain, and make them joyful in my house of prayer” (Isaiah 56:6-7a). Likewise, a leper admits that Jesus has the ability to act and the authority to decide as he approached Jesus: “Lord, if you will, you can make me clean” (Matthew 8:2b). And while it is becoming clear that Jesus is extraordinary, his actions, such as when He calms the storm at sea, leave even His disciples mystified: “And the men marveled, saying, “What sort of man is this, that even winds and sea obey him?” (Matthew 8:27). And in showing something of His power and authority, many saw the glory of Jesus: “And he rose and immediately picked up his bed and went out before them all, so that they were all amazed and glorified God, saying, “We never saw anything like this!” (Mark 2:12).

But while many turned to Jesus in trust and submission, in light of what they heard and saw from Jesus, others were taken back by Jesus and  began opposing Him: “And when Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, “Son, your sins are forgiven.” Now some of the scribes were sitting there, questioning in their hearts, “Why does this man speak like that? He is blaspheming! Who can forgive sins but God alone?” (Mark 2:5-7). Jesus’ declaration of forgiveness for a paralyzed man raised great concern for the scribes. They charged Jesus with blaspheme for only God could directly forgive sin. Blaspheming God was a serious matter in which the Old Covenant required a serious response: “Whoever blasphemes the name of the LORD shall surely be put to death. All the congregation shall stone him” (Leviticus 24:16a).  They were right about only God being able to forgive sin, but they were in error for Jesus was God. Jesus identifies Himself to them as the “Son of Man,” and thus linking Himself to the One whom Daniel spoke of as having much Divine authority: “behold, with the clouds of heaven there came one like a son of man, and he came to the Ancient of Days and was presented before him. And to him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him; his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom one that shall not be destroyed” (Daniel 7:13b-14). While they would have been aware of Daniel’s words, they would not believe that they were applicable to Jesus. Jesus again identifies Himself as the “Son of Man,” as He declares His Divine authority over the Sabbath when He claims He is “Lord even of the Sabbath.” The Pharisees’ premise about the unlawfulness of plucking the heads of grain was wrong: “If you go into your neighbor’s standing grain, you may pluck the ears with your hand, but you shall not put a sickle to your neighbor’s standing grain” (Deuteronomy 23:25). However, Jesus was not inclined to squabble with them over the lawfulness of His and His disciple’s actions; Jesus would confront a much bigger error in regard to their understanding of the Sabbath. Jesus would provoke them further by declaring that as the One who is over the Sabbath, He alone properly understood that the true meaning of the Sabbath was not to be seen as a day of restriction but as a gift of rest. They would never get the Sabbath right as long as they rejected the Lord of the Sabbath.

What struck you in today’s reading? What questions were prompted from today’s reading?

Pastor Joe