“Who Does He Think He Is?”

Mark 2 If you want to know who this Jesus is, pay close attention, for time is of the essence.

Join Jesus as he teaches and where pious religious leaders, who know the Torah backward and forwards, come to find out who this man is. Outwardly, they are polite, but their heart chastises Jesus with this question: “who can forgive sins but God alone?” Forgiveness followed by healing should have answered their question that Jesus is God in the flesh who can do both. 

Immediately, Jesus removes himself from the crowded home to the seaside where he could teach unencumbered by their stares. He encounters Levi, the tax collector whose heart is prepared, and he steps out of his comfort zone to “immediately” follow Jesus. He invites his tax collectors and sinners to a feast at which the Pharisees mingle so they can ask why Jesus doesn’t follow protocol about fasting.

The following Sabbath, these same outwardly religious leaders tag along through a grain field. They challenge his ideas about the Sabbath, to which Jesus replied, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.” [Mark 2:27]

Jesus saw to the heart of the matter: The religious leaders wanted to justify their rules; Levi wanted righteousness.

Which do you want?