I am closing out Mark 2 today. Studies will probably drop off for the next few weeks. Next Saturday we fly out for the Philippines and will spend time ministering to the Philippino’s until April 13th. I do not know if internet will be available or not. If it is, I hope to send updates from the field. This study is a bit tedious, but if you bear with me, I believe that it will tweak your thinking. It challenges some of the fables that have wormed their way into our Christian churches. Yet, the study is all about freedom and our Messiah Jesus. Dig in and join me in this study!

Mark 2:18-22  The scribes and Pharisees get it right finally approach Jesus to see why He is doing and preaching in a different manner.  They come directly to Jesus to find out why He is doing what He is.  Why was Jesus ministering in a way that was not consistent with the standards set by John and the Pharisees? Jesus was intensely training His disciples, and was interested in discipling them.

Yeshua taught Torah. Fasting is found in Torah, right? Actually, fasting does not show up until after the first five books of the Bible were written. The fasting situations in the Old Testament took place after Israel had gained the Promised Land after which the land became ruled by judges (Judges 20:26). Fasting was read into Leviticus because of the later practices of the Jews (Zech 8:19; Lev 16:29; 23:27, 29, 32). Fasting then was not found in the Pentateuch or in the original books that were considered “Torah”. It quickly caught on after it was used in Judges and became a regular way to humble yourself before God. However, it was never commanded in Torah. It was a voluntary act that people chose to do in an effort to draw near to God. Where did the idea originate? It is not entirely clear.

I have found that when Yeshua taught, He taught Torah. He also endorsed the actions that were founded after Torah was established such as Purim and Hanukkah. He also endorses fasting in this passage. However, He does not make it a command. It is still a completely voluntary action.  If He were to require the apostles to fast, it would have moved from a voluntary action to a command or instruction of God.

Jesus gives them three situations with which to illustrate His reason why He doesn’t require the disciples to fast.  The requirement to fast is still not turned into a command in the following scenarios.  Yeshua states simply that they will certainly fast in the upcoming days. When? It is up to the disciples. No requirement is given.

First, the Bridegroom is with His bride.  This is an allegory that has been given from early days of the Old Testament (Song of Solomon, Isa 49:18-26; 54:4-7; 61:10; 62:4-5; Ps 45:8-14; Context Ps 45; Jer 2:32; Ezek 16:8-16).

Let’s look at the details of these verses in a nutshell fashion: Isa 61:10: Read the entire chapter for context. This is an interesting passage since Isaiah said that he was clothed with “salvation” in the Hebrew this word is “yeshua”. If we were to translate that word according to the New Testament meaning of the word it would say, “for He has clothed me with the garments of Jesus”. The result, being wrapped in righteousness. Jesus the Bridegroom. Paul built upon this idea saying that we are to be clothed with Jesus the Messiah (Ro 13:14; Gal 3:27). Jer 2:32: Read the entire chapter for context. This chapter makes it clear who the bride is. The called out believers who were designated as the Jews is the Bride in this story. They were unfaithful and God brought them back through chastising them. Ezek 16:8-16: Again, look at the entire chapter for context. This chapter looks at the birth of the nation Israel and the desire that God had for them to live. He called them His bride. He also took intimate care of them. Yet they abandoned God for foreign gods and became an unfaithful bride. God promises that he will remember his bride covenant with them and will eventually restore them to their right place as the bride (Eze 16:60-63). Isa 62:4-5: Read the entire chapter. This is the most specific of the prophecies referring to the restoration of the Jews and the end result. The end of the chapter reaches the conclusion that “your salvation comes” (Isa 62:11-12). If we translate salvation as Jesus, then the passage takes on new meaning “your Jesus comes”. After that they will be called a holy people redeemed of the Lord, sought out specifically. The word in the passage for salvation is Yeshua. Isa 54:4-7: Read the entire passage for context. It speaks of the lovinkindness (grace) of God which honors His covenant. The heritage of the Jews is to be the bride of God (Isa 54:17).

In all of these passages it is clear that the nations are blended with the Jewish people. Therefore, from the beginning there was a blending of Jew and Gentile when God spoke of His bride. However, it is very clear that the Jewish people are the designated bride in these passages. Gentiles are blended in because of the influence of the judgments on the Jews for their unfaithfulness.

In Mark 2, Jesus focuses in on the details and places His name as the Bridegroom. Who is His bride? The “church” has claimed that this is referring to them. I agree and disagree with this statement. If we refer to the “church” in New Testament terms, then I agree. If we refer to the “church” from ecclesiastical terms, then I disagree. Why?  In the passages listed above, the bride is obviously a blend of Jew and Gentile, yet mainly Jewish. The New Testament idea of the “church” is simply the “called out ones” if we translate the Greek word “ekklesia” properly. Those who are called are the bride of the Messiah.

When He was taken away at His death, the apostles did spend time fasting and praying.  Then after He rose from the dead, and ascended into Heaven, once again the disciples fasted and prayed up until the day of Pentecost.

The picture of the bridegroom was one that was well known to the religious teachers.  Jesus in effect was not just answering their question, but also teaching them to recognize who he was.  Tradition also came into play because it would be foolish for anyone attending a wedding feast to fast during the feast.  My understanding of the Jewish wedding is that they would celebrate the wedding for a week during the wedding festivities.  The first day of the celebration was when the groom made an unexpected trip to the bride’s house along with the entire wedding party to collect his bride.  She is aware that the groom is coming, but never knows the exact time or date.  In other words, surprise.  Imagine what it was like, the bride prepared for the wedding by being constantly ready for the arrival of the bridegroom.  Then at a moment’s notice she was carried by the procession to the bride chamber and married to her husband.  We as westerners simply cannot conceive in our minds the idea of a wedding that is driven by the groom.

Second, the illustration of the garment.  A person cannot patch an old garment with a new piece of material, because it will shrink and ruin the old garment.  This may symbolize the old understanding of Torah versus Torah based on the new covenant (Jer 31:31-34).  The original Torah was specifically designed to offer instructions for the people to live by in order to live righteous lives. On the flip side, it demonstrated how utterly sinful that people are.  In the New Testament, the Torah changes slightly in its application. Instead of being taught to believers, it becomes resident in believers. The Holy Spirit resides in our heart, and we are taught the law of God through our relationship with Jesus the Messiah.

We have a very flexible teacher.  In a way, the understanding of the cloth bends your thinking.  Does the New Testament become like a worn piece of cloth as the Old Testament did?  To answer my own question, I believe that the Old Testament was a temporary solution to the sin problem.  It was not intended to be a permanent answer to the problem of sin.  When Jesus came and established the New Testament, the concepts of the Old Testament were refined and re-written to become a dynamic, ever growing, constantly changing concept driven by the Holy Spirit on a continual basis.

Perhaps you may argue that the Bible was completed at the time that the canon of the scriptures was put together which created the Bible that we use today.  Learning and application did not stop with the canon, our ideas that we hold today are radically different than the ideas of the early church.  The old garment simply does not exist now because the Holy Spirit is driving believers as an ever-changing developing organism.

The New Testament has crippled the church in one way; it has caused the modern church to think that the Old Testament is outdated.  The reality is that the New Testament simply finishes the story of the Old Testament.  Concepts taught in the Old are still valid in the New, and now through the work of the Holy Spirit we are able to compare, contrast, and apply all scriptures to our lives so that we can live rich lives in our Messiah. The final point I would make on this is that God designed a permanent solution to sin in the New Testament through the work of Christ on the cross.  Now that sin has been paid for completely, the one who accepts that sacrifice also gains the Holy Spirit who teaches each of us through the use of the scriptures.
Third, the illustration of the wineskins.  Think about wine, it is a very volatile substance.  In order to get wine, grape juice or some type of juice has to ferment.  That means the juice is alive, it has stuff growing in it causing it to expand, bubble and burp.  If you were to put new wine into old skins, it would rip the skins with the intense pressure that it creates.  The same is true in relation to the Christian life.  We are likened in John as abiding in the Vine, Jesus (Jn 15).  He will bear fruit in our lives through the Holy Spirit.  This fruit is living and active, it is always moving and growing.  The Old Torah was not designed to allow for this type of growth.  The new wineskins are our like new lives in Jesus the Messiah.  When we are born again, we are like the new wineskins ready for the fruit. Through Jesus the Messiah we are given complete forgiveness forever. This is radically different than the temporary covering of sin in the original Torah. The result of this radical change in Torah is a dynamic growth capacity that is built into every believer.

Mark 2:23-28:

The Pharisees were focused on one thing, the rules and regulations.  In order to be a good Jew, a person had to keep Torah!  One thing in particular that they must keep was the Sabbath!  In order to insure that the Sabbath was properly kept holy a whole list of things was issued regarding it, right down to the number of steps that you could take on the Sabbath.  The work and rest that they were supposed to be getting was not working because they had to stress over all the rules.

Jesus informed the Pharisees that “the Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath.”  The point of this is simple, the Sabbath is supposed to be a day of rest for the man.  The Pharisees had made it a day of work because they served the Sabbath as slaves to it.  The punch-line of the Sabbath is found in verse 28, “So the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath.”  Jesus claimed that he was God in this statement and that the Sabbath was made for Him.  Mark did not record the reaction of the Jews to this statement.  The other Gospels do not contain a reaction either, it could be that the Pharisees were trying to figure out who Jesus was and were still putting together his statements.

Look at 1 Samuel 21:1-6 and 22:17-18 for the context of David.

David and his men were fleeing from Saul because of the incident with Jonathan where he informed David of Saul’s intent to kill him.  David was on the run because he felt that he would be killed by Saul.  Driven by fear, David fled from Saul under the pretense that he was on the kings business.  In effect, he was on the kings business because as the kings enemy he was leaving the land.  God worked though these circumstances to make David into the man that he needed to be in order to take the role of king over the land.

There was a high price to pay for the bread that David and his men consumed.  Saul instructed Doeg to kill all of the priests of the Lord, killing 85 men that day, (1 Samuel 22:17-18).

Back to Mark.  What can we learn from this passage?  The idea of the Sabbath is that it is to be a day of rest and of worship of the Lord.  Today the Christian church has replaced the Sabbath with Sunday, for a whole myriad of reasons.  Most of them are not scriptural.  For example, way back in the early church, Constantine implemented Sunday as the day of worship because it was the day to worship the sun god.  Constantine claimed to be a “christian” emporer and declared that day as the day of worship.  Some will dispute this by saying that Jesus rose on Sunday from the dead.  That is also true.  The Sabbath in the scriptures only refers to the time period of Friday sundown to Saturday sundown… No scripture justifies a change from Saturday to Sunday when the verses are studied in context.

Jesus is the Lord of the Sabbath.  This tweaks our thinking since many today deny the Sabbath entirely. I have often said that Christians today only take nine of the Ten Commandments seriously. We have thrown out the commandment on the Sabbath since we have changed the day. Today, many who declare that Sunday is the Sabbath continue working as if it is any other day. Thus they contradict their own claim. If we take Yeshua’s word that He is Lord of the Sabbath, then we need to examine our understanding of the Sabbath.

Many today due to our 24/7 lives; simply are unable to keep the Sabbath holy. My job for example works around the clock, seven days per week. I have a choice to quit my job and try to make it on the designated days. However, after being on the job for close to thirty years, this is rather difficult. Retirement is rapidly approaching for me. Once that takes place, this wrong will be made right. In the mean time, I often take my rest on a different day. Yet, even when working on the Sabbath, I am constantly aware of that. It is a time where meditation and rest are squeezed in at every opportunity.

Write in with your thoughts.