Reading
MARK 2:18–3:12
Once when John’s disciples and the Pharisees were fasting some people came to
Jesus and asked, “Why don’t your disciples fast like John’s disciples and the Pharisees
do?”Jesus replied, “Do wedding guests fast while celebrating with the groom? Of course
not. They can’t fast while the groom is with them. But someday the groom will be taken
away from them, and then they will fast. “Besides, who would patch old clothing with new
cloth? For the new patch would shrink and rip away from the old cloth, leaving an even
bigger tear than before. “And no one puts new wine into old wineskins. For the wine
would burst the wineskins, and the wine and the skins would both be lost. New wine calls
for new wineskins.”
One Sabbath day as Jesus was walking through some grainfields, his disciples began
breaking off heads of grain to eat. But the Pharisees said to Jesus, “Look, why are they
breaking the law by harvesting grain on the Sabbath?”Jesus said to them, “Haven’t you
ever read in the Scriptures what David did when he and his companions were hungry?
He went into the house of God (during the days when Abiathar was high priest) and
broke the law by eating the sacred loaves of bread that only the priests are allowed
to eat. He also gave some to his companions.” Then Jesus said to them, “The Sabbath
was made to meet the needs of people, and not people to meet the requirements of the
Sabbath. So the Son of Man is Lord, even over the Sabbath!”
Jesus went into the synagogue again and noticed a man with a deformed hand. Since
it was the Sabbath, Jesus’ enemies watched him closely. If he healed the man’s hand,
they planned to accuse him of working on the Sabbath. Jesus said to the man with the
deformed hand, “Come and stand in front of everyone.” Then he turned to his critics and
asked, “Does the law permit good deeds on the Sabbath, or is it a day for doing evil? Is
this a day to save life or to destroy it?” But they wouldn’t answer him.
He looked around at them angrily and was deeply saddened by their hard hearts. Then
he said to the man, “Hold out your hand.” So the man held out his hand, and it was
restored! At once the Pharisees went away and met with the supporters of Herod to plot
how to kill Jesus.
Jesus went out to the lake with his disciples, and a large crowd followed him. They came
from all over Galilee, Judea, Jerusalem, Idumea, from east of the Jordan River, and even
from as far north as Tyre and Sidon. The news about his miracles had spread far and
wide, and vast numbers of people came to see him. Jesus instructed his disciples to have
a boat ready so the crowd would not crush him. He had healed many people that day, so
all the sick people eagerly pushed forward to touch him. And whenever those possessed
by evil spirits caught sight of him, the spirits would throw them to the ground in front of
him shrieking, “You are the Son of God!” But Jesus sternly commanded the spirits not to
reveal who he was.
REFLECTION
- Jesus says that the Sabbath was created “to meet the needs of the people.” How can the Sabbath and intentional rest meet needs that you have?
- Jesus is starting to reveal who he is, but he has not said it explicitly. He is keeping the evil spirits quiet as well. Why do you think Jesus was not clear about who he was from the beginning?