Mark 3:1-6
Times Are Changing
Outline:
I. \\#Mark 1:1-15\\ Introduction
A. \\#1:1-8\\ Jesus Was Announced
B. \\#1:9-11\\ Jesus Was Authenticated
C. \\#1:12-13\\ Jesus Was Proven
D. \\#1:14-15\\ The Bridge
II. \\#Mark 1:16-2:28\\ Meet Jesus
A. \\#1:14-2:12\\ Jesus’ Authority
1. \\#1:16-20\\ Jesus Has Authority over Men
2. \\#1:21-22\\ Jesus Has Authority in Doctrine
3. \\#1:23-28\\ Jesus Has Authority over Demons
4. \\#1:29-39\\ Jesus Has Authority over Sickness
5. \\#1:40-45\\ Jesus Has Authority over Disease
6. \\#2:1-12\\ Jesus Has Authority over Sin
B. \\#2:13-28\\ Jesus Cares for Sinners
C. \\#2:13-28\\ Jesus Is Not Like Others
1. \\#2:13-17\\ He’s not like everyone else.
2. \\#2:18-22\\ He’s not like the disciples of John or
the Pharisees.
3. \\#23-28\\ He’s not like the Pharisees.
III. \\#Mark 3:1-35\\ Things Are Changing
A. \\#3:1-6\\ The Relationship Between Jesus and the
Pharisees
We have noted that Mark is a fast-paced gospel. Mark got us to the
life and ministry of Jesus quicker than any other gospel writer. He
omits a lot of information (all gospel writers do) and summaries some
of what he did record. He gave us what was needed to gain the truths
about Jesus he wanted to portray. In my way of looking at it, Mark
has given us three major thoughts as he wrote his book.
1. Jesus has authority (chapters 1-2).
2. Jesus cares (chapters 1-2).
3. Jesus is not like others (chapter 1-2).
However, Mark has also been selecting events that show the rising
conflict between Jesus and the Pharisees.
1. \\#Mark 1:21\\ It was on the Sabbath Day that Jesus cast out a
demon.
2. \\#Mark 2:23\\ It was on the Sabbath Day that His disciples
plucked and ate corn.
3. \\#Mark 3:2\\ It is on the Sabbath Day that the religious
leaders watch to see if Jesus will heal a withered hand in
the synagogue.
One might get the notion that Jesus only healed on the Sabbath Day,
or that He deliberately healed on the Sabbath to push the Pharisees
buttons; but that is not true. Mark just selected the incidents that
demonstrated his thoughts.
Matthew 12:1-14 give us more details of these last two events which
happened on the Sabbath; and by Matthew’s account, took place on the
same day \\#Matt 12:9\\. That would indicate that the Pharisees might
have set themselves up to see what Jesus would do BECAUSE of what He
had just said.
By the location of these episodes in Matthew’s gospel (chapter 12),
we get an idea that we might be much further into the life of Jesus
than what we would think by only being at the beginning of Mark 3.
Most likely, we well into the first year of Jesus’ life and perhaps
even into His second year of ministry.
With that in mind, let’s notice some thoughts.
I. The Attitude of the Pharisees toward Jesus Was Changing
A. I have described the Pharisees as curious and desirous.
1. Who wouldn’t want Jesus on their team?
2. He was both popular and powerful.
3. But Jesus was not playing by the Pharisees’ rules.
a. Remember the Pharisees were the self-appointed
guardians of the laws of God.
b. Jesus was breaking their interpretation of the Law—not
the Law, but their interpretation of the Law.
(1) The Law said no work could be done:
Ex 20:10 But the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD
thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy
son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy
maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is
within thy gates:
Ex 35:2 Six days shall work be done, but on the seventh
day there shall be to you an holy day, a sabbath of rest
to the LORD: whosoever doeth work therein shall be put to
death.
Ex 35:3 Ye shall kindle no fire throughout your
habitations upon the sabbath day.
(2) And God meant it!
Numbers 15:32 And while the children of Israel
were in the wilderness, they found a man that
gathered sticks upon the sabbath day.
33 And they that found him gathering sticks
brought him unto Moses and Aaron, and unto all
the congregation.
34 And they put him in ward, because it was not
declared what should be done to him.
(a) Is there a law that says you cannot collect
wood on the Sabbath?
(b) No, but there is one that says you can’t
start a fire on the Sabbath which means
this fellow was either going to start one,
started one on Friday and did not prepare
to keep it burning, or was planning to
start one on Sunday.
(c) Either way, the idea is that God did not
want this kind of work being done on the
Sabbath.
35 And the LORD said unto Moses, The man shall
be surely put to death: all the congregation
shall stone him with stones without the camp.
36 And all the congregation brought him without
the camp, and stoned him with stones, and he
died; as the LORD commanded Moses.
c. After that, I would have been afraid to even tie my
shoes on the Sabbath!
4. And this is why I feel I might have been a Pharisee in the
Old Testament.
a. As a Christian and especially as one who leads others,
it is and always has been my policy to err on the side
of "too strict" instead of the side of "too liberal."
b. I would rather deprive myself (and others) of a
pleasure that might have been all right than to
encourage them in a sin that would be wrong.
c. And that is exactly what the Pharisees did—with two
more conditions.
(1) They did not just have an opinion but they
created books of commentary which turned into
books of man-made laws which they made the
people keep.
(2) If the people did not, they punished and even
executed them as though they were hardened,
rebellious sinners against God.
d. These are two lines we cannot cross over.
(1) We cannot confuse our opinions with what God
said.
(2) We cannot punish anyone for disagreeing with us.
(a) It is not my job to either punish people
that disobey the Word or to make people
like what God said.
(b) It is my job to help them understand it.
(c). Whatever they do with it afterward is
up to them.
B. So around this time, the Pharisees go from curious to
critical.
Mark 3:2 And they watched him, whether he would
heal him on the sabbath day; that they might
accuse him.
1. This does not seem to be a trap set, just an opportunity
provided.
2. No doubt there was so many hurting, sick, debilitated
people in the Israel that all they had to do was wait for
a Sabbath, and their opportunity would come.
C. And then it went from critical to cold-blooded. From this
point, the religious leaders will seek to entrap and outright
kill Jesus.
Mark 3:6 And the Pharisees went forth, and
straightway took counsel with the Herodians
against him, how they might destroy him.
II. But the question to me is, "Did Jesus break the Law?"
A. Let me answer that question really quick. HE DID NOT.
1. If Jesus did, He could not be the Messiah or God.
2. I will always start studying the Bible with the belief
that the Bible is correct and Jesus is God.
3. If we don’t start from that belief—or at least open to
that belief—then there is no need any worrying about
anything the Bible says.
4. So if Jesus is God (and He is) and He is sinless (and He
was), Jesus could not have broken the Law.
B. So why was it not a sin for Jesus to heal on the Sabbath Day?
1. It wasn’t because Jesus was exempted from keeping the Law.
a. Jesus was not a politician who made a rule and then
exempted Himself from keeping it.
b. No. The Law defines sin. If Jesus broke the Law, it
would have been sin no matter WHO Jesus was.
Galatians 4:4 But when the fulness of the time
was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a
woman, made under the law,
5 To redeem them that were under the law, that
we might receive the adoption of sons.
2. It wasn’t because the act of healing people (and I the
broader act of helping) people was never against the Law.
a. And that is what Jesus said:
Mark 3:4 And he saith unto them, Is it lawful to
do good on the sabbath days, or to do evil? to
save life, or to kill? But they held their peace.
(1) Jesus asked that question as a rhetorical
question, meaning there is no answer given;
but we need one.
(2) Is there a law that said you cannot do good on
the Sabbath Day?
(a) You may not know the answer to that
question, but the answer is no.
(b) Jesus went on to ask if there was a law that
it was wrong to save life on the Sabbath?
(Again, the answer is no.)
(c) So what kind of laws were given? The laws
to keep people from doing evil and killing.
(d) If a man is suffering and you can do
something to heal him and you don’t, is
that good or evil?
(e) Jesus must have been saying that.
b. In Matthew, Jesus examples of other actions that were
not violations of the Law.
(1) \\#Matt 12:4\\ Jesus spoke of the priests who
gave David’s hungry men the shew bread to eat
because they hungry.
(2) \\#Matt 12:5\\ Jesus said those who read and
taught the Bible on the Sabbath Day had not
broken the Law.
c. Based on that, it would have been wrong for Jesus to
see this man and NOT heal him.
(1) And Jesus more or less taught this when He healed
the woman who had a spirit of infirmity for 18
years on the Sabbath \\#Luke 13:10-17\\.
(a) Again, it was on the Sabbath.
(b) When He healed her, the ruler of the
synagogue told Jesus to do His healing on
the other six days of the week, not on the
Sabbath.
(c) And again, on the surface, that sounded
reasonable, but Jesus said it was not.
(d) He asked if you are going to water and feed
your livestock on the Sabbath to keep them
from suffering, why would you want to let
this woman suffer another day?
(2) And that is a good question.
(a) No one wants to let a pet or their livestock
suffer a whole day without food or water,
although it would not kill them.
(b) To do so if you had the power to keep them
from suffering would just be cruel.
(c) And Jesus was telling the ruler of the
synagogue, it would be wrong and cruel to
let that woman suffer another day.
d. And all of this is leading to a bigger reason why it
was not sinful for Jesus to heal on the Sabbath.
3. It wasn’t sin God desires the human race be merciful.
a. Although Mark did not record Jesus’ statement about
mercy, Matthew did.
Matt 12:7 But if ye had known what this meaneth,
I will have mercy, and not sacrifice, ye would
not have condemned the guiltless.
b. And this is what the Pharisee is incapable of
understanding, namely, that even the Law was given
to teach us to be merciful.
(1) I know God made something difficult for us to
understand.
(2) As I have said, the Bible is not a Book to be
understood by the casual reader.
(3) But even the Law was given to teach us that we
must be merciful.
(4) No human being could keep the Law.
(a) Every sacrifice that was brought was a
tribute to that.
(b) So you would think we would all be willing
to cut someone else a little slack., to
always encourage your fellowman to repent.
(c) After all, if God would forgive the man who
confessed his sin and brought a sacrifice
to atone, shouldn’t we be able to forgive
the one who is at least trying to do right?
(d) But no, the Pharisee in us so often reaches
for the biggest stone.
(5) Someone said, "But God commanded the death
penalty for breaking certain laws."
(a) Yes, but that was the last resort.
(b) Why do you think He gave a book with so many
sin sacrifices?
(c) The only sin that there was no sacrifice for
was stubborn rebellion.
c. I mentioned the man in Number 15 who was stoned.
(1) I wonder what might have happened if someone had
run to the altar with a sacrifice for his sin.
(2) I wonder what would have happened if someone had
just run to the altar and prayed for mercy.
(3) Would God have stopped the judgment and let the
man life?
(4) I know He did in the New Testament.
(a) The Scribes and Pharisees brought a woman,
taken in adultery, taken in the very act.
(b) They wanted the woman to be stoned, but
Someone said, "No. Show her mercy."
(c) That someone was Jesus.
III. Notice the Attitude of Jesus toward the Pharisees Was Also
Changing
Mark 3:5 And when he had looked round about on
them with anger, being grieved for the hardness
of their hearts….
A. The Law is often characterized as harsh and rigid, but the
Law has never forbidden mercy—and neither has God.
B. Only the heart of mankind has done that.
C. Is it not strange that the creature that needs mercy the most
is the one who so rarely gives it?
D. May God help us to do better.
<Outline
Index> <Close Window>
