Day four of the Questions for Mark study and I will again use one devotional question to inspire this devotional.

“What does Jesus do here that’s unexpected or controversial?”

Mark 2:18 And the disciples of John and of the Pharisees used to fast: and they come and say unto him, Why do the disciples of John and of the Pharisees fast, but thy disciples fast not?

This is just the first example that points out the issues at hand in today’s reading from Mark 2:13 to Mark 3:6. Every example shown is about challenging Jesus for His teaching because it did not line up with all the rules and regulations that the religious leaders of the day had set up for the Jews to follow. Here is a quote from Jack Wellman on whatchristianswanttoknow.com.

“God never intended the Sabbath to become a burden but that’s what the religious leaders of Jesus’ day had done. They made that day seem to everyone to be like a camel that’s been weighed down by every possible weight imaginable.  In fact, they had added hundreds of other manmade traditions, which they considered to be equal to or in some cases, greater than the law, that were not in the original Sabbath command.”

We did not live in that era and we have no experience with being put to the test over issues that God never called out. We do live in an era today where a prophetic warning seems to be playing out in main stream churches.

2 Thessalonians 2:10-12 And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.

They are falling away from sound doctrine, the truth, Christ.

Day three of the Questions for Mark study and I will again use one devotional question to inspire this devotional.

“What details do you notice about Jesus’ interactions with these two men?”

Mark 1:40 And there came a leper to him, beseeching him, and kneeling down to him, and saying unto him, “If thou wilt, thou canst make me clean.”

Mark 2:3-5 And they come unto him, bringing one sick of the palsy, which was borne of four. And when they could not come nigh unto him for the press, they uncovered the roof where he was: and when they had broken it up, they let down the bed wherein the sick of the palsy lay. When Jesus saw their faith, he said unto the sick of the palsy, “Son, thy sins be forgiven thee.”

Here are two issues of faith in stark contrast. The leper has faith in Christ and announces “If it be thy will.” Christ will is paramount and this hurting man is willing to take whatever Christ has to offer.

The palsy man has no demonstration of faith, but his four friends have enough faith to do whatever intakes to bring their companion to Christ. They even go so far as to tear of the covering from over His head to get there. That is no small thing if you stop and think about it. The faith of the four is recognized but what does Christ do? Rather than the obvious, to heal him of the palsy as he has done for so many other all over the region, He gives the man what the man truly needed even though he did not know it or express it. Forgiveness of sin.

In this I see one important issue common to both, faith first. The leper had faith and Christ enacted His will. The palsied man had no faith so by forgiving the man’s sins first Christ activated his faith so that when Christ said take up your bed and walk, he could respond in faith.