Mark 2:18-22 They Cannot Fast

(remember that you can click on the reference in the title to see the text)

I had my aching, abscessed upper-left wisdom tooth pulled out a couple of hours ago, so I can't eat with the family. I'm fasting! (for another hour), so the numbness can wear off and I won't damage the blood clot where the tooth used to be. That means I'm fasting for my own good, but why were John's disciples and the Pharisees fasting?

I think the preceding three stories at least may hint at the reason.

The leper wanted to be cleansed. Jesus spoke and he was clean! But then was asked to comply with Moses' law for his cleansing. In this case, there was an appropriate law and it should be followed.

The paralytic was forgiven. Once again the power came from Christ's word. (Oh, he was healed too). But here were offerings for forgiveness and Christ did not ask that these be followed, in this case. Why, because forgiveness is invisible so it would be no testimony to the priesthood? And there is no offerings for healing (the visible part) anyway.

The last story is about the sinners and tax collectors feasting with Christ. What was happening here was that Christ, as a physician, was calling them to be healed of their disease (sin). We are now at a meal, getting even further from the temple and its sacrifices. Maybe Mark is writing this progression down.

I thinks John's disciples and the Pharisees are fasting to be:

1. Clean


2. Forgiven


3. Called of God

They are like the people in Isaiah's day who fast so that
God will notice them

The feasting at Levi's would surely make their fasting look pretty ridiculous especially if it was obvious that the leper, the paralytic and the sinners were getting all that the fasters wanted so badly!

"Don't you get it?" Jesus asks them, "the goodies you want are here with me in the kingdom of God. If you are in the kingdom then you can't fast, you are too busy celebrating. This is a totally new thing, you can't drag in the fasting and other things that Moses never commanded, you have to start again. Only the new will do!"

He disconcertingly adds that one day the He would be "taken away", then we will have to fast. Was this prophetic of his crucifixion or was this about his ascension to heaven?

There is a time for fasting, it is when we are separated from Christ. Not for calling, cleansing or forgiveness, they already exist for us in Christ, but for seeking our friend, "the Bridegroom". Fasting is a way of cutting through obstructions. So He doesn't dismiss fasting, just says that the purpose of fasting is different now.

Maybe I should fast from food, TV, when I want more of Christ.

I've enjoyed this Bible study, I didn't understand the "new wine in new wineskins" before...But now its time to test out my remaining teeth.

Mark 1 The Real Jesus

In the "Christian Growth" section of the newly opened Argenton branch of Koorong, I found this great book Jesus Mean and Wild. Mark Galli bases his book on Mark's Gospel so I grabbed a copy.

He suggests that Jesus, contrary to the prevailing view, is not gentle, meek and mild all the time. Galli spends his first three chapters in Mark 1 showing us the love of an "untamable God".

Chapter One, entitled "Difficult Love", comes from
Mark 1:11-13. He brings out that straight after being filled with the Spirit and affirmed by His Father Jesus is driven by the Spirit into the wilderness for testing. He sums it up by saying "God loves you and has a difficult plan for your life". Those God loves the most are the ones He tests to their limits and refuses to pamper. Why?...Galli posits that suffering renews our spiritual vitality and strengthens our character, but maybe more importantly, it also prepares us for ministry. He says that God may appear cruel but really He is fashioning us, like he did with Christ in the desert, to go out into the wilderness of this world with the gospel. Just as his Beloved Son did.

Chapter Two, entitled "A Hopeful Repentance" is based on
Mark 1:14-15 where Jesus connects the gospel with repentance (ie. to start living and acting differently). Galli says that the shame and guilt of looking honestly at our lives and realising that we are miserable sinners drives us to Christ and repentance This repentance has hope because God is gracious and will not only heal but will also change our actions. As Galli quotes from Frederica Mathewes-Green:

"Jesus didn't come to save us just from the penalty for our sins; he came to save us from our sins - now today, if we will only respond to the challenge and let him.... The Lord does not love us for our good parts and pass over the rest. He died for the bad parts and will not rest until they are put right. We must stop thinking of God as infinitely indulgent. We must begin to grapple with the scary and exhilarating truth that he is infinitely holy, and that he wants the same for us."

Chapter Three, "Holy War", about
Mark 1:23-26 where the demon rightly assumes that the Holy one of God is here to destroy evil.. Even though he fears for his life, the possessed man is attracted to Jesus. He realises that Jesus loves him. Galli says

"The one who loves us is the Holy One who wishes to make all unclean things holy. That means the one whom we cannot stay away from is the same one who is out to destroy those very habits, sins, notions, addictions, and self-justifications that we think we can't live without. And there are times when we feel as if Jesus is out to destroy us.
It is a wonderful and a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the real Jesus."

The real Jesus!

Mark 1:44 For Your Cleansing

Cleaning up after our flood continues. Unfortunately the rain has returned, making things difficult.

The basic process is to wash all the dirty (now smelly) water out with clean water then let the item dry in the sun. This is a tedious process, so lots of things that were once precious are now on the pile to throw out.

Cleansing was no less complex for lepers: The now-clean leper is to go show himself "to the priest and offer for your cleansing those things which Moses commanded".
Moses' commands are found in Leviticus 14.

To summarise this process for a poor man:

1. The priest takes the man away from a settled area to examine him for signs of leprosy
2. If the leper is found to be clean, the priest will take two "clean and living birds", apparently wild birds, often sparrows. (Was this why two sparrows are sold?) The priest kills one bird over a stream and catches it's blood in an earthen vessel.
3. The living bird, along with some cedar wood, scarlet (dyed wool) and hyssop (cleansing herb), is dipped into the blood.
4. The drenched living bird is sprinkled, seven times, over the leper, who is now pronounced clean.
5. The living bird is released there in the field.
6. The now-clean man washes his clothes, shaves completely and washes himself.
7. The man goes home, but he is not allowed inside, he has to camp outside for seven days.
8. On the seventh day he shaves again (head, beard, eyebrows), washes his clothes and himself in water and "he shall be clean".
9. On the eighth day he visits the temple for the first time, taking a male lamb, two doves or young pigeons, 2 litres of fine flour mixed with oil and 300mls of oil. He gives these things to priest at the temple door.
10. The priest takes the lamb, as a trespass offering - "to make atonement for him", and the oil and "waves" them before the LORD. The priest then kills the lamb and puts some of its blood on the man's right ear, right thumb and right right big toe.
11. The priest pours some of the oil into his left palm and using his right-hand fingers, sprinkles some of the oil "seven times before the LORD", he puts some on the man's right ear, thumb and big toe on top of the blood and the rest is put on the man's head "to make atonement".
12. The priest offers one of the doves as a sin offering and the other with the grain as a burnt offering.

Why did Jesus command him to do this, he was obviously clean. already. Why go through all this unnecessary ritual?

Some of the reasons may have been:

• As LORD himself, Jesus would uphold the laws that He Himself had told Moses to enact.
• The purpose of the ritual was to "make atonement", and Jesus' purpose was to preach the good news of atonement.
• His stated purpose in this verse, is that it would be a testimony to the priests. He was intent on converting the priests and didn't want any "illegal" behaviour to get in the way of their acceptance of Him

Actually, just reading all this ceremony is a testimony to me. I realised that:

• My cleansing.requires lots of blood and a long process. It is no simple, one-off event.
• The birds show me justification: Jesus died and washed in that blood I am "free as a bird".
• The wait outside home shows me that, despite the fact that I am clean, I still haven't "arrived" yet, I am still not home, there is more to be done. In a way I'm on probation.
• The real atonement, becoming close to God, didn't happen out in the field, it happens through Christ's sacrifice and work as a priest.
• This atonement is only complete when the "Lamb's" life blood has made a restitution for my wasted and filthy life and the same blood has been applied to my all hearing, doing and going And then the oil (the Spirit?) sanctifies those same areas and blesses my clean-shaven head. So now I am consecrated to God in the same way as a priest.
• The atonement is complete, I am back with God!. But the process is not finished yet. A sin offering must be made. Even though I am clean and at peace with God, I still offend Him. Christ as my High Priest must continue to present His blood for me in the heavenly sanctuary.

What a wonderful Saviour! I come to your temple...atone for me.

Mark 1:42 And he was Cleansed

Last Friday, Lake Macquarie (and the whole Hunter Valley)was hit by a storm. We had over 300m of rain and 120k/h winds that blew a huge collier up on beach in town (Newcastle).

Andrew,my 17 yo son, picked me up from work that day. It was dark at 5.00 and the rain was blinding. We passed at least 6 "drowned" cars on the short drive home. Andrew has become an excellent driver, I'm not sure that I could have handled the treacherous conditions as well as he did.

Once home our problems had just begun. By 9:30 flood waters were rising downstairs and we had to bring the washing machine and whatever else we could salvage, up stairs. There is nothing worse than watching the water slowly going up the doors of the cars, knowing that there is no way of moving them.

By the time we went to bed the water was knee deep and almost waistdeep out in the back yard. (We went down to rescue the hens, they spent the night in the bathroom). The water was so cold that we were hypothermic after our efforts.

By Saturday morning the water had gone, but all our stored papers, clothes, Julie's sewing materials, the car floors and our camping and garden equipment were covered with a layer of grey mud. The firewood had washed down the backyard and the bananas were over at crazy angles.

We had no power but just a visiting the neighbors, made us realise that we had gotten off lightly. Both neighbors were evacuated and one had water through the living area of the house (and their car was flooded to the roof). On our block, at least 4 houses were flooded that we know of.

So after 5 days of cleaning I'm exhausted but downstairs is almost back to normal (minus the two large piles of things that we used to consider important) So I can sympathise with our leper in today's verse. He wanted to be clean. I know just how wonderful that first hot shower on Monday night felt. Clean at last!

Jesus touch, though wonderful, didn't bring the cleaning, it was His words. His words still had (and have) the same power they held when he spoke the solar system into existence.

The leprosy left. What a wonderful result - nothing like this had happened since Elisha's time. And everything left behind was beautiful and clean.

I know that cleaning is hard work. In this case it was Christ that did the work. And so it is with my sin, He bears the cost.

Speak to me, Lord.