The United Methodist Church of the Resurrection in Leawood, Kansas, United States Grow Pray Study Guide for Thursday, 22 February 2018 "Caring for people over rigid rules"Daily Scripture
Mark 2:13 Yeshua went out again by the lake. All the crowd came to him, and he began teaching them. 14 As he passed on from there, he saw Levi Ben-Halfai sitting in his tax-collection booth and said to him, “Follow me!” And he got up and followed him.
15 As Yeshua was in Levi’s house eating, many tax-collectors and sinners were sitting with Yeshua and his talmidim, for there were many of them among his followers. 16 When the Torah-teachers and the P’rushim saw that he was eating with sinners and tax-collectors, they said to his talmidim, “Why does he eat with tax-collectors and sinners?” 17 But, hearing the question, Yeshua answered them, “The ones who need a doctor aren’t the healthy but the sick. I didn’t come to call the ‘righteous’ but sinners!”
18 Also Yochanan’s talmidim and the P’rushim were fasting; and they came and asked Yeshua, “Why is it that Yochanan’s talmidim and the talmidim of the P’rushim fast, but your talmidim don’t fast?” 19 Yeshua answered them, “Can wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is still with them? As long as they have the bridegroom with them, fasting is out of the question. 20 But the time will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them; and when that day comes, they will fast. 21 No one sews a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old coat; if he does, the new patch tears away from the old cloth and leaves a worse hole. 22 And no one puts new wine in old wineskins; if he does, the wine will burst the skins, and both the wine and the skins will be ruined. Rather, new wine is for freshly prepared wineskins.”
23 One Shabbat Yeshua was passing through some wheat fields; and as they went along, his talmidim began picking heads of grain. 24 The P’rushim said to him, “Look! Why are they violating Shabbat?” 25 He said to them, “Haven’t you ever read what David did when he and those with him were hungry and needed food? 26 He entered the House of God when Evyatar was cohen gadol and ate the Bread of the Presence,” — which is forbidden for anyone to eat but the cohanim — “and even gave some to his companions.” 27 Then he said to them, “Shabbat was made for mankind, not mankind for Shabbat; 28 So the Son of Man is Lord even of Shabbat.”
***Reflection Questions
Compare Mark 1:21 with today’s first verse. Scholar William Barclay noted, “Steadily and inexorably the synagogue door was shutting on Jesus. Between him and the guardians of Jewish orthodoxy war had been declared.”* Jesus kept doing and saying shocking things. He called a tax collector (who worked for Herod Antipas and/or the Romans) to join him. He said the Kingdom “wine” he brought couldn’t fit the old forms the Pharisees clung to. He said he was Lord even over venerable customs like the laws about proper Sabbath-keeping.
- It’s tempting to dismiss those first-century Pharisees as narrow and blind, without realizing how easily we become like them. Christian singer Todd Agnew’s song “My Jesus” included these challenging lines: “My Jesus would never be accepted in my church, 'Cause the blood and dirt on His feet might stain the carpet.”** What comfortable customs, habits or assumptions might Jesus challenge in your workplace, neighborhood or church today?
- Scholar N. T. Wright unpacked Jesus’ words about Sabbath: “He doesn’t deny that the disciples are out of line with traditional sabbath observance, but he pleads special circumstances and scriptural precedent. He puts himself on a par with King David…. That’s a pretty heavy claim: the implication is that Jesus is the true king.”*** In what ways have you already made Jesus the true king of your life? Are there areas where you might expand his reign this Lenten season?
Lord Jesus, you badly upset complacent, “righteous” people, while accepting outcasts like Levi the tax collector. Make me righteous, not in complacency, but in a way that follows you wherever you lead. Amen.
* William Barclay, Daily Study Bible Series: The Gospel of Mark (Revised Edition). Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 1976, p. 52.
** Todd Agnew’s full lyrics from the song “My Jesus” can be found by clicking here.
*** N. T. Wright, Mark for Everyone. Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2004, p. 28.
Read today's Insight by Janelle GregoryJanelle Gregory serves on the Resurrection staff as a Human Resources Specialist. Janelle finds that her heart is constantly wrestling with the truth that she needs a Savior, and the times when she's at her very best are when she's just too tired to put up a fight.
A couple of weeks ago I attended an event in downtown Kansas City. I had no idea where I was going, so I entered the address into my GPS. Off I went with my trusty travel guide, Gigi (the name I’ve affectionately given to the voice behind my GPS). As I got close, I saw the location pin appear on the GPS map. Gigi led me down a few side streets, and I soon found myself sitting at a stop sign at what had to be the cross streets for my destination. According to the map, my location was right there. But Gigi told me to go straight and around the block. Gigi wouldn’t lead me astray, would she? Certainly, she knew something I didn’t. I took Gigi’s direction, went straight, around the block, down the one-way street, and found myself at the same cross street intersection, just facing a different direction. Gigi got me to my location, but she took me out of my way to get exactly where I had been moments before. Why didn’t I just stop the first time? Why did I keep going just to circle the block? Gigi told me to.
It reminds me a bit of the religious laws at the time of Jesus. These rules were originally set in place for useful and good purposes. They were observed over many centuries, being passed down from generation to generation. As the laws were handed down, the purposes behind the laws were left behind. I imagine when Jesus came on the scene, it was like he was sitting at the intersection with the religious leaders who were saying, “We must go straight. That’s what we’ve been told.” And Jesus responds with, “You fools, the point wasn’t to follow the directions. The point was to get to the destination.”
It’s not as if Christianity has no place for laws. Certainly, it does. There are rules, laws, and disciplines that aim us in the right direction. These only become a problem when we forget that these are a way to get us to the end destination and not the end destination themselves. The destination of our faith should be God; God’s holiness, compassion, love, justice, righteousness, grace, and redemption. As Jesus said, this can all be wrapped up in “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength” and “Love your neighbor as you love yourself.” As we journey on this path of life, let us always keep in mind that this is our ultimate destination.
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Scripture quotations are taken from The Common English Bible ©2011.
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