Two days in a row. I think that makes more posts than I did all last year. Speaking of personal bests, I scored a goal at soccer tonight, which gives me a new career best. Three goals this season. Yeah, I'm not much of a scoring threat, but it's always a nice bonus. It wasn't the prettiest goal, but like I always say, you don't have to make excuses for the ones that find the back of the net.
Anyway, on with the show.
Mark 2
Verse 5- "When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, "Son, your sins are forgiven."
Sin seems to be an important piece of Mark's gospel so far. Yesterday, I was wondering about how John could preach a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. Is it the baptism? or the repentance? and what about Jesus' atonement, how does that fit in? Here Jesus sees the paralytic man that is lowered through the roof and declares that their sins are forgiven. Mark lets us know that it's because of their faith, but Jesus didn't mention that at the time. This seemed to be a pretty big deal. On the one hand, it seems as though the people that Jesus was addressing cared about their sins, and forgiveness was therefore something that mattered to them. On the other hand, the "teachers of the law" didn't like it how Jesus was just passing out forgiveness like ice cream on a hot, sunny day. Sin, it would seem, was a big deal. In my world, it is not. The people that I interact with on a daily basis seem to not really take much notice of sin. It doesn't appear to be something they think about. At work it doesn't come up, but most people there don't share my worldview. At church it doesn't seem to come up much either, which perhaps is odd. Should sin still be a big deal? I would think so, but why isn't it?
verse 16 - "When the teachers of the law who were Pharisees saw him eating with the "sinners" and tax collectors, they asked his disciples: "Why does he eat with tax collectors and 'sinners'?" "
Again with the sin. Jesus was hanging with the "sinners". The Pharisees didn't like that too much. I bet the "sinners" did, though. There's nothing worse than being made to feel little. At work, we play a lot of fussball (during breaks people, during breaks). There's lots of friendly trash talking that goes on, but sometimes it crosses the line, at least for me. When it gets to the "I'm better than you, you suck, etc." level, it starts to grate on me, and dare I say hurt. I'm meant to feel little, like I'm somehow lesser because I lost a game of fussball. It does harm to a relationship when one side belittles the other. The Pharisees did that to the sinners all the time. The sinners must have hated that, and likely hated the Pharisees as well. What a breath of fresh air to have Jesus hang out with them. He's just breaking all the conventions regarding sin, isn't He?
Verse 24 - The Pharisees said to him, "Look, why are they doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath?"
Again, the Pharisees are concerned with sin. The disciples are doing something that is considered a sin by the Pharisees, and likely the general populace. So who's right? Obviously, Jesus sets the record straight in this instance, and points out that the Pharisees' interpretation of the law is in error. But that's part of the problem with sin. At various times and stages, cultures and groups, it varies, because it's all based on interpretation. I remember having discussions when I was in Youth Group about whether smoking was a sin. Some said that it hurt your body, which is a temple, and should be kept holy, thus it is a sin. But others then asked why going to McDonald's wouldn't be considered a sin also based on that interpretation. I know McD's hurts my body! How about downloading pirated music, which in Canada, at least, is not illegal. But is it still a sin? Who gets to decide? I'm sure there are many areas where we end up having to interpret what is sin and what is not. It's a bit of a sticky mess, when you sit and think about it, maybe that's why most people seem not to.
Well, that all has me thinking. I'm excited to see what Jesus is up to next. Tune in tomorrow.
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