Mark 2:13-14
He’s Not Like
While you are turning let me say we will talk about the scribes and
Pharisees today. During the early days of Jesus’ ministry, it looked
like the scribes and Pharisees were curious about Jesus. I figure
they wanted Jesus on their team. However, it did not take them long
to realize that He’s not interested.
Matt 2:13 And he went forth again by the sea
side; and all the multitude resorted unto him,
and he taught them.
14 And as he passed by, he saw Levi the son of
Alphaeus sitting at the receipt of custom, and
said unto him, Follow me. And he arose and
followed him.
There are not too many things you can say about Jesus that start out
with "He’s not like…," but this chapter has several. Mark showed us
that Jesus had authority and in the last events, he was also showing
us that Jesus cared. In these verses, he showed us what Jesus is NOT
like.
I. \\#13-17\\ He’s not like everyone else.
A. \\#13-14\\ Calling - Jesus called a tax collector to be a
disciple.
1. As far as Mark’s record, this would be disciple number
five, but it was likely that Jesus was calling others
with Mark only recording the ones who will be well know
later.
2. The disciple who is called was Levi, better known to us as
Matthew.
3. The tax collectors were not liked by most in Israel.
4. Israel considered them to be collaborators with the enemy,
the Romans.
5. They not only hated the tax collectors but they also had
no use for anyone who associated with them, guilty by
association so to speak.
6. We think that is absurd because we know what kind of man
Matthew will be for Jesus; but in that day, Matthew
would have been the Black Lives Matter disciple or maybe
even an al-Qaeda disciple.
7. No doubt when Jesus spoke of a traitor, it was not Judas
but Matthew that got the stares.
8. But Jesus picked Matthew anyway.
B. Party - Not only did Jesus pick Matthew, but He went to a
dinner Matthew had.
Mark 2:15 And it came to pass, that, as Jesus
sat at meat in his house, many publicans and
sinners sat also together with Jesus and his
disciples: for there were many, and they
followed him.
1. \\#17\\ Jesus will make a statement \\#17\\ that makes it
clear that this was not just any dinner. This was an
evangelistic dinner.
2. This tells us something about Jesus and Matthew.
a. Matthew was not only saying good-bye to a former life,
but he was inviting his friends and colleagues to go
with him.
b. Like Jesus, he cared.
c. I don’t know what put Matthew into the tax collecting
business, but it probably was not his first choice.
d. Matthew no doubt learned what resentment, as well as,
out-and-out hatred were in that business.
e. He may have been leaving that life, but he did not
want to live those people behind in their sin.
f. Remember, evangelism was a completely new concept to
the Jews.
(1) There was no evangelism in the Old Testament.
(2) Persuading men that Jesus was the Messiah was a
new concept and Matthew, a young convert
himself, was stepping out into new waters.
(3) But he stepped because he cared.
C. Question - The scribes and Pharisees asked a question.
Mark 2:16 And when the scribes and Pharisees saw
him eat with publicans and sinners, they said
unto his disciples, How is it that he eateth and
drinketh with publicans and sinners?
17 When Jesus heard it, he saith unto them,
They that are whole have no need of the
physician, but they that are sick: I came not
to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.
1. I don’t seen any animosity in the question, just
curiosity.
a. The Jewish way of maintaining their purity was
primarily by isolating themselves from sinners.
b. I believe in standards, but isolation alone does not
work.
c. How do I know? Because it did not keep the scribes
and Pharisees to be pure.
2. And Jesus simply answered the question by telling them He
had come to call sinners to repentance, and you cannot
do that by isolating yourself from them.
a. I do not know where all the boundaries are.
b. But I know If we become like the world then we have
nothing to give them, and if we isolate from the
world we have no one to give it to.
D. Care - In this account, I see two that cared.
1. Jesus cared enough to rescue Matthew.
2. Matthew cared enough to rescue his colleagues.
E. He’s not like everyone else.
II. \\#18-22\\\ He’s not like the disciples of John or the Pharisees.
A. \\#18\\ John and the Pharisee’s disciples asked Jesus why His
disciples did not fast like they fasted.
1. This would have been the students who followed John and
the Pharisees.
2. I do not think there was any animosity in the question
by either John or the Pharisee’s disciples.
3. They were curious and wanted to know.
4. As far as I know this is the only time that the Pharisees
and the disciples of John and Jesus had anything in
common.
B. \\#19-20\\ Jesus directly answered their question.
1. In short, Jesus said they would fast but not right now.
2. What did they have to fast for when God walked among them?
C. \\#21-22\\ But Jesus elaborated on His answer enough to let
them know that He did not come to be like them.
Mark 2:21 No man also seweth a piece of new
cloth on an old garment: else the new piece that
filled it up taketh away from the old, and the
rent is made worse.
22 And no man putteth new wine into old bottles:
else the new wine doth burst the bottles, and the
wine is spilled, and the bottles will be marred:
but new wine must be put into new bottles.
1. Jesus was bringing a new patch and new wine into the
world. The new wine and the new patch are pictures of
grace.
2. And the old was going to have to be put away. The old
bottles and the old garments are pictures of the law.
3. Jesus was saying that these two do not naturally go
together.
a. We know in some ways, the law and grace go
together.
(1) No one can appreciate grace and mercy until they
have understood the law and judgment.
(2) Even in grace and mercy, there must be law to
tell us what grace and mercy are rescuing us
from.
b. However, the notion that man could please God by
keeping the law was about to be completely scraped
and done away with.
(1) In that aspect, there was nothing salvageable in
the old.
(2) Jesus was bringing something completely new and
different into the world.
D. He’s not like the disciples of John and the Pharisees.
III. \\#23-28\\ He’s not like the Pharisees.
A. But now we step up to the big leagues, the Pharisees.
1. The Pharisees seemed to be the religious leaders with the
most clout.
a. They are mentioned 95 times in the New Testament.
b. The scribes 66.
c. The priests are actually mentioned more but they seem
to have less authority among the people than the
Pharisees.
d. That is interesting since the Pharisees were not a
Biblical group at all.
e. They are not mentioned at all in the Old Testament
because they did not come into existence until 150 to
200 years before the birth of Jesus.
2. The Pharisees self-appointed function was to be certain
that the Jews remained faithful to the Old Testament
laws.
a. I say laws (plural) because although they focused on
the commands, the Pharisees totally missed the main
purposes of the Law.
(1) The Law was to help the people get and stay right
with God.
(2) The Law was to identify the Messiah.
b. On both of those counts, the Jews failed miserably.
B. \\\#23-24\\ The Point of Conflict
Mark 2:23 And it came to pass, that he went
through the corn fields on the sabbath day; and
his disciples began, as they went, to pluck the
ears of corn.
24 And the Pharisees said unto him, Behold, why
do they on the sabbath day that which is not
lawful?
1. In verse 23, the disciples pick, pluck, and eat corn off a
cob as they are passing through a corn field.
2. In verse 24, the Pharisees ask Jesus about it.
a. Again at this point, there does not seem to be any
animosity toward Jesus, just curiosity.
b. The Pharisees probably figured that Jesus would
correct His disciples, but He did not.
c. Instead, Jesus made—what seemed to them—an
astonishing statement:
Mark 2:27 And he said unto them, The sabbath was
made for man, and not man for the sabbath:
28 Therefore the Son of man is Lord also of the
sabbath.
3. In that statement, made three things clear:
a. Jesus was making it clear that He’s not a Pharisee.
b. Jesus was making it clear that what the disciples did
was not breaking the Law.
c. Jesus was making it clear that He is the Lord of the
Sabbath.
4. Now we are going to have animosity. From this point on,
the Jews will realize that Jesus is not on their team
and never will be.
a. Once the Pharisees realized that Jesus would never be
a Pharisee, that He would not accept their
interpretation of the Law, and worst of all, that He
was claiming to be the Lord God Almighty who was
Lord not only of the Sabbath but of them, things
were going to get really heated really fast.
b. But the Lordship of Jesus is always the point of
conflict between man and God.
(1) Man does not mind having a God who feeds us,
heals us, helps us, and protects us.
(2) But when that God starts telling us what is right
and what is wrong, He’s got to go.
5. The point of conflict is always over the Lordship of God.
C. That is exactly what is going on in the United States.
1. We have been inching God out of His place as Lord for
some time.
a. We inched Him out of our school.
b. Then we inched Him out of public life.
2. At the same time that we were inching God out of
authority, we were inching the world and government in.
3. With abortion, the world quit inching God out of His
authority and starting taking giant steps.
4. However, on June 26, 2015, man officially refused God as
Lord when our Supreme Court said marriage can be between
anything.
5. With that not only the United States but the whole world
told God He is not Lord, and all the confusion and chaos
that is following is a direct result of man assuming a
role he cannot measure up to.
6. Like a dog staked out on a chain, God has given the US
just enough rope to hang himself and that is exactly what
this county is going to do.
7. The only questions are when and how.
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