The Story of Jesus According to Mark, Pt 5: His Way

 May 5, 2024                   NOTES NOT EDITED 
Mk 2:13-28 
His Way!

SIS: We, the Church, can see God move in great power and experience unimaginable blessings if we do things His Way.

One of the most significant verses dealing with how to have success in life, and especially success in the life of the church, is Isaiah 55:9:

⁹ “For as heaven is higher than earth, so My ways are higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts.

The men God uses are a different kind of man.

The method God uses are a different kind of method.

The mission God has is a different kind of mission.

In nearly every church in the United States, and there are over 300,000 evangelical churches alone, there is more pew than people.  Some churches go many years without anyone new joining their fellowship. 

What’s the problem?  I think it is simply this:  we are following Frank Sinatra’s philosophy of life, not Jesus!

And now, the end is near
And so I face the final curtain
My friend, I'll say it clear
I'll state my case, of which I'm certain

I've lived a life that's full
I traveled each and every highway
And more, much more than this
I did it my way.

That’s a great melody and it really sounds good.  It promotes the rugged individualism that has become engrained in the mindset of American pop culture.  But it is wrong!  Dead wrong!  It is a “way.”  But it is the “wrong way.”  As is the case so often, what looks good and sounds good, upon further investigation, is not good at all.

The Word of God gives us a better way.  A harder way to be sure, but a better way.  The key to true prosperity and lasting well-being lies in doing things God’s Way.  And, that way will often bump right up against the way of the world.

Proverbs tells us:  “There is a way that seems (dokein, dogma) right unto a man but the end thereof is destruction.” (14:12; 16:25).

This morning we begin to see the increasing hostility toward Jesus arising in the hearts of the religious leaders—the Scribes and Pharisees.  It started back with the cleansing of the leper and Jesus preaching about the need for forgiveness from sin.  Jesus began to assert His authority as God and the religious leaders did not like it.

If we do things God’s way two things are sure to happen:  1) God will begin to move in powerful, wonderful, unimaginable ways in and through our lives—can I get an Amen!  2) the world, including the “religious” world, will rise up in opposition—bitter opposition.

Our Scripture today details three aspects of God’s Way that are sure to fire up the opposition:  1) God’s Way Pummels Prejudice; 2) Trashes Tradition; and 3) Demolishes Dogma.  Let’s read it together:

READING:  Mark 2:13-17 (NIV84)

13 Once again Jesus went out beside the lake. A large crowd came to him, and he began to teach them. 14 As he walked along, he saw Levi son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax collector’s booth. “Follow me,” Jesus told him, and Levi got up and followed him. 15 While Jesus was having dinner at Levi’s house, many tax collectors and “sinners” were eating with him and his disciples, for there were many who followed him. 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’?” 17 On hearing this, Jesus said to them, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”

As Jesus continues his trek to the cross where He will present Himself as the “Once for all” sacrifice to pay the penalty for the sins of mankind he makes a great deal of friends, and not a few enemies.  Some people, most people, are opposed to the Way of God.  We as His people need to understand His Way, and do everything in our power to walk in that Way.  But, we must be forewarned:  His Way is pretty radical and will elicit a radical response from the Enemy.

1.  His Way PUMMELS Prejudice (13 -17)

(NIV84) 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’?” 17 On hearing this, Jesus said to them, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”

As our text opens this morning we are introduced to a man called, Levi, the son of Alphaeus.  This is the same one called, Matthew.  It was not at all uncommon for a person to have two names:  one semitic and one Greek, as with Thomas, called Didymus, or two versions of a semitic name in Greek such as Simon, called Peter. 

Matthew’s name does not hold the place of prominence in this text, but rather, his occupation, and more specifically how people in the region viewed his occupation.  He was a “publican,” a Jew collecting taxes for Rome.  They were cheats and extortionists.  It would be hard to come up with a modern occupation as detestable as that of the first century publican.  The Jews thought he was a trader and the Romans thought he had no honor.  Everybody despised the tax collector.

Even today, tax collectors working for the IRS seem to be genuinely despised by almost everyone.

Then, following the call of Matthew we immediately are invited to a party where Jesus was a guest.

A “CROWD” (“ochlos” QUALITY as well as QUANTITY ) of “common” people were at this party. To the religious establishment, which controlled most of life in the Jewish community, these people were what today some call, “rift-raft.”  They were “earthy, common, mostly uneducated.”  The Rabbis had a term for them:  the am ha’aretz la torah.  This meant, “people of the earth who do not know the Torah.”

Here’s the point we cannot miss.  Jesus absolutely pummels prejudice.  Man looks on the outside but God looks on the inside.

A preaching professor in college used to say, “God gets some pretty good licks with some pretty crooked sticks.”  God’s chooses to use the base and common people of the world to do His bidding.

God delights in having a “house full of misfits.” (Riff Raff)

‘Go out quickly into the streets and alleys of the city, and bring in here the poor, maimed, blind, and lame!’ . . . so that my house may be filled.  (Luke 14:21, 23)

Notice how Jesus absolutely pummels the prideful Pharisees with a simple direct statement of His mission:

Verse 17: “Those who are well don’t need  a doctor,  but the sick  _⌊do need one_⌋. I didn’t come to call the righteous, but sinners.”

When it comes to church – the more sinners the better!

2.  His Way Trashes Tradition (18-22)

(NIV84) 22 And no one pours new wine into old wineskins. If he does, the wine will burst the skins, and both the wine and the wineskins will be ruined. No, he pours new wine into new wineskins.” 23 One Sabbath Jesus was going through the grainfields, and as his disciples walked along, they began to pick some heads of grain.

Verses 18-22 are connected to the previous verses by the little, oft used word, “kai.”  It can be used in various ways and in some cases isn’t even translated because it can be a simple idiomatic way of moving to a new idea.

But, in this case, the context shows clearly that the problem people had with Jesus extended past the people Jesus associated with to the practices Jesus routinely ignored.  In regard to particular religious practices, such as prescribed ritualistic fasts, (modern idea of Feast Day in the Catholic Church), just because, “everybody else was doing it,” Jesus did not feel compelled to join in.  Jesus did fast, but for the purpose of communing with the Father, not conforming to a calendar.

These scheduled fast days were the accepted “Traditions” of the day. You have heard me in my preaching talk several times about the evils of “tradition.” Jesus calls these “traditions,” wineskins.  This refers to MO’s-METHODS of operation. This is in contrast to “new wine” or the MESSAGE of the gospel. We need to understand:

Methods will always change—the Message never changes

I want to take a moment to clarify exactly what the Word means when it uses the word tradition, and the attitudes and practices associated with traditions—especially in the evil sense.

Traditions are prescribed religious practices added to the Word of God by man.  These traditions take on a “sacramental,” or a saving value.  All denominations, Catholic and Protestant, Baptist or Buddhist, have these “traditions.”  Traditions become a “substitute” for the truth of God’s Word.  Jesus said, Mark 7:9

“You completely invalidate God’s commands by your traditions”

The word, “traditions” comes from the original word root meaning, “to stand up alongside.”  A tradition is any practice that man “adds to or puts alongside the truth of God’s Word.”  The Jews of Jesus’ day did it with all the writings of the Rabbi’s, the Mormons do it with the Book of Mormon, the Catholics do it with all the pronouncements of the Pope, Jehovah Witnesses do it with the New World Translation, Muslims do it with the Quran, and the list goes on and on.  Any man-made book or writings put up as “equal alongside the Bible” is a tradition and “Jesus trashes traditions.”

The word, “invalidate,” in the original language (akouo) meant to “rob something of it’s force, or to make something invalid, and thus useless.”  So, anytime someone uses any authority, idea, or practice that substitutes a religious practice for having a relationship with Jesus Christ, they are leaning on tradition, not leaning on true faith.

God’s grace does not require the assistance of man’s works to accomplish the salvation of His elect.  God can get the job done without any help from our “traditions.”  In fact, as Jesus points out, most of the time our traditions are a great hindrance to God accomplishing His Will and His Way in the life of people.

This means that we must constantly reevaluate what we do in church and why we are doing it.  We need to measure our worship and devotion to God according to The Book—His way.

Jesus trashes tradition. When religion offers us “sacred cows,” Jesus serves us “steaks!”

[STORY] Back when I was growing up, it was tradition in the Catholic church not to eat meat on Fridays, so they substituted fish. In one particularly Catholic neighbourhood  people were settling down to eat their Friday night fish when they smelled a delicious steak wafting from the recently-purchased house nearby. The men of the neighbourhood looked and saw their new neighbour having a BBQ. They looked at their fish but remained stoic and ate it religiously.

However, this kept going on - Friday after Friday the neighbour cooked a BBQ while they ate fish. They got together to determine what to do about this problem. One man had the genius idea they convert the newcomer to Catholicism and then he would have to settle into the same tradition. So, they set about becoming best friends, watching sports, mowing lawns, socialising and the like. The new neighbour was so moved by these efforts at friendship that he agreed to convert to their religious views.

He attended a Catholic church where the Priest splashed him with water, "You were born a Protestant" (splash) "You were raised a Protestant" (splash) "You are a Catholic." The men were pleased and figured this was the end of their troubles.

Next Friday as they settled down to eat fish they again smelled a delicious steak sizzling nearby. They looked out their windows, and there was the neighbour at his BBQ with a small bowl of water ... "You were born a cow" (splash) "You were raised a cow" (splash) "You are a fish."

Our traditions are like fish – they will never be steak

3.  His Way DEMOLISHES Dogma (vv 23-28)

VERSE 25: (CSB) He said to them, “Have you never read

Here also we must define our terms.  What is dogma?  How does dogma differ from “doctrine?”  In a sense, dogma and doctrine are synonyms and mean the same thing.  However, if you look at how the official religious leaders developed their dogma, you will see a very distinct difference. Dogma is a “half-truth without grace.” Dogma may “seem to be right, but it is DEAD WRONG.

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WORD POWER:  (See Sermon Notes for Detailed Description)

The dictionary gives several meanings for dogma:

1.  an official system of principles or tenets concerning faith, morals, behavior, etc., as of a church. Synonyms: doctrine, teachings, set of beliefs, philosophy.

2.  a specific tenet or doctrine authoritatively laid down, as by a church: the dogma of the Assumption; the recently defined dogma of papal infallibility. Synonyms: tenet, canon, law.

3. prescribed doctrine proclaimed as unquestionably true by a particular group: the difficulty of resisting political dogma.

4. a settled or established opinion, belief, or principle: the classic dogma of objectivity in scientific observation. Synonyms: conviction, certainty.

Origin:  1590–1600;  < Latin  < Greek,  equivalent to dok ( dokeîn ) to seem, think, seem good.  Dogma was related to the “official church” tradition of the Catholic church, but it really had its origin in the first century with the scribes and Pharisees.
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Dogma is about POWER, not PRINCIPLES.

Dogma is simply what “seems right,” particularly what seems right to those who hold the power—in Jesus’s day it was the Religious leaders, or Scribes and Pharisees. But remember our warning from Proverbs earlier:  “There is a way that seems (dokein, dogma) right unto a man but the end thereof is destruction.” (14:12; 16:25).

Like traditions, religious practices such as ritual washing and fasting, dogma is an addition to faith.  The modern battle over hymn-singing verses Praise songs was about dogma. Pews verses tables is about dogma. At first glance, dogma may seem quite correct, but in the case of Jesus interacting with Pharisees, Jesus “demolished their dogma” and showed how grievous was the error of the Pharisees.  The example of “dogma” we have in our text is the question of the Sabbath.  Look again at verses 23-24.  Jesus is having a debate over one of the many ADDITIONAL LAWS (DOGMA) added to the Fourth Commandment.

There are as you know, Ten Commandments.  The Sabbath commandment is number 4.  We read in Exodus 20:8-11:

⁸ Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. 

You will notice if you read the Ten Commandments, that God said more about the Sabbath Commandment than any of the other 9, with three verses.  Well, the Pharisees took the matter even further.  The dogma, or teaching in regard to the fourth commandment expanded to to as many as 600 additional laws, as some scholars have noted.

So, clearly in the minds of the Pharisees it seemed (dogma, from dokein, to seem) that Jesus and the disciples clearly were violating the Fourth Commandment by “reaping and harvesting on the Sabbath.”

Here’s the problem with “dogma.”  It seems right and it has a remote connection to what the Scriptures says, but it is as far off from the truth as the stars are from the earth.  Dogma is often a “half truth that is a total lie.” Dogma is “religion of the head without any heart.”

God’s truth involves both the “spirit of the Law and the letter of the Law.”  You can be dead right regarding the “letter” of the law and miss the spirit of the law by a mile. Jesus embodies both the “Spirit (grace) and the “Letter” (truth) of the Law. You must have both.

The Bible says of Jesus,

^{JOHN 1:14} The Word  became flesh  and took up residence  among us. We observed His glory, the glory as the One and Only  Son  from the Father, full of grace and truth.

I’ve come to discover that God is not impressed by people who can quote the Scriptures . . . God is impressed by those who live the Scriptures!

I had a professor in college that said, “Boys (he always called us boys), people will never care how much you know until they know how much you care!  A man or woman (or child) armed with a few verses and great faith will always accomplish more for the Kingdom of God than an intellectual giant full of Scripture, but no real faith.

Truth with grace ends death – dogma leads to a DEAD END!

The problem with dogma is that it has “no heart.”  It is “dead doctrine.”  It turns people into the “frozen chosen” with attitudes that could chill a polar bear and give frostbite to an Eskimo.

The Way of Jesus “demolishes dogma.” 

Jesus is by far the most “radical” figure in history. Here in our text Jesus Pummels prejudice, Trashes tradition, and Demolishes dogma. His Way is a “radical” way that leads to eternal life.

We, the Church, can see God move in great power if we do things His Way.

But, His Way is not the easy way.  His way is not the “politically correct” way. 

Every time I read a passage like this in which the Pharisees and religious leaders confront and attack Jesus, I ask myself:  “If I were there, would I be just like the Pharisees?”  Would I seek to keep my prejudices, follow my traditions, and defend my dogma?

Or, would I live among and love sinners so they could experience
Jesus Christ and gain eternal life?

When my life is all said and done I’d like my song to be:

I've lived a life that's full
I traveled each and every highway
And more, much more than this
I did HIS WAY!