Mark 2:1-3:6 | A Rising Crescendo of Conflict

 

Mark 2:1-3:6 | A Rising Crescendo of Conflict

 

The main drama in the Biblical narrative of this episode is the escalating conflict between Jesus and the religious authorities. In Jesus’ day, the leaders of Judaism were hugely invested in tradition and status quo. They were concerned with who to eat with and how to keep from profaning the Jewish Sabbath. Meanwhile, Jesus was on a mission to meet people’s deepest needs, and cared little for contrived religious observance when it conflicted with healing, forgiving, and loving the desperate people around him. We will observe the heart of Jesus to heal the sick and consider the moral imperative of healing relative to our contemporary health care issues. We also will learn an important literary structure which Mark uses in this passage, which will help us understand the meaning of many other sections of the Bible.

 

00:00 Opening Comments

07:34 Conflict about authority to forgive

18:22 Conflict about eating with the wrong people

24:25 The basic conflict: out with the old, in with the new

30:01 Conflict about eating the wrong food

35:57 Conflict about authority to heal on the Sabbath

41:02 Final Comments

 

Study Questions for Mark 2:1-3:6

for your personal or small group use.

1.      The four friends and the paralytic came to be healed. The crowd expected this, as well. Why didn’t Jesus just heal him, like they expected, rather than offer forgiveness (v. 5)?

2.      Why were the teachers of the law so upset (v. 6)?

3.      In this story of the man let down through the roof, do you identify most with the paralytic man, his friends, or the religious teachers? Why?

4.      What do you think the teachers of the law thought when Jesus responded as he did in verse 17? What did Jesus disciples think? What did Levi and his friends think?

5.      How did Jesus’ story of the bridegroom answer their question about fasting (vv. 19-20)? 

6.      What do verses 21-22 say about the relationship of Jesus with Judaism? The relationship of Christianity with Judaism?

7.      How does the story about David apply to the Pharisees’ concern about Sabbath observance (vv. 25-26)?

8.      One of the main areas of conflict between Jesus and the religious authorities was the Sabbath. Every one of the 10 commandments is retaught in some fashion in the New Testament except one, the command to remember the Sabbath. What implication should we take from this?

9.      Since Jesus had the ability to heal, when presented with the man with a withered hand, did He have a moral imperative to heal him (3:1-3)? Do we also have a similar moral imperative to provide healthcare for all our people?

10. What prompted Jesus’ anger (3:5)

11. In what ways have you seen religious rules or institutions hurt people? What causes that?[1]

[1] Becker, et. al., V. (1988). “Mark.” In Serendipity Bible for Groups: New International Version (p. 1296). Serendipity House.
 

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