Man who fits No Formua-Mark Lesson 4 (9-27-12)

 A severe rash prompted a farmer to come to town to be examined by a doctor. After the usual paperwork and a series of test, the physician advised the patient that he needed to get rid of the dog that was evidently causing the allergic reaction. As the man was preparing to leave the office, the doctor asked the farmer out of curiosity if he planned to sell the animal or give it away. "Neither one," the patient replied. "I'm going to get me one of them second opinions I been reading about. It's a lot easier to find a doctor than a good bird dog." 

George Hawkins, M.D. in Medical Economics, in Reader's Digest, January, 1982.

Each of us has a physician. Someone we trust to know how to make us feel better. After a year with a very fine doctor of oncology and hematology, we mutually decided that the three different drugs she prescribed had little effect on my skin cancer, but the last specialty drug was negatively affecting my health. One of my friends used to say, “That’s why they call it medical practice.” 

Thank you to the ladies who are concerned for my health. I honestly feel great!  God has blessed me. I have all of my original parts. LORD has given me an immune system that has kept me healthy these last two years so I have not had to miss CBS.

I have successfully hidden my non-Hodgkin's lymphoma from some of you for over 12 years, but now my hair is falling out and it's a little bit harder to hide that! The hair loss was flippantly diagnosed as old age. My thyroid is out of whack, plus medication drug I took had side effects. My Physician says I am in good shape except for my skin. Which you know is your largest organ! I am now under the care of the doctor who originally diagnosed my disease.

Praise for the LORD; the bi-weekly light treatments no longer require the seventy dollar copay.  Next week will be my 10th treatment so you can see how God has blessed me! I know that the LORD is Sovereign. I truly believe the LORD will heal this disease and HE alone will receive all the glory.

Jesus is the Great Physician, our Jehovah Rapha.

However this week’s lesson focuses on a different kind of healing.

Ladies help me recite our memory verse.

 “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick.
I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.”Mark 2:17

Let us PRAY.

“I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.”

  The Man who Fits No Formula

·        Physician (2:13-17)

·        Bridegroom (2:18-22)

·        LORD of the Sabbath (2:23 – 3:6)

Remember last week we talked about the changes for the leper Jesus had made clean. He was no longer an outcast but was now able to walk about the city and enter the temple. But now Jesus has taken to the outer areas. Jesus is again walking by the Sea of Galilee teaching the people

Mark 2: ¹⁴And as he passed by, he saw Levi the son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax booth, and he said to him, “Follow me.” And he rose and followed him.

Sometimes it appears Jesus is trying to cause a stir; trying to shake things up! Jesus chooses the most unlikely fellows to follow him. Tax collectors worked for the Romans and were often dishonest, cheating their fellow Jews.

The Scribes of the Pharisees were looking for something to find fault. “Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?”

“Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick.
I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.”

Jesus is not saying that the Pharisees were righteous, but implying that those who think they are righteous will not repent because they don’t think they have sinned.

Warren Wiersbe says the LORD has three kinds of patients.

·        Those who don’t know about Jesus.

·        Those who  know about Him but refuse to trust Him.

·        Those who will not admit that they have sinned.

We all have known friends and family who refuse to believe they are sick. They won’t go to the doctor until it is too late. We also know those who refuse to see their sin. If they don’t go to Christ for help, He cannot forgive them.

Warren Wiersbe said “Jesus comes to us when we are in need; He makes the perfect diagnosis; He provides a final and complete cure; and He pays the bill!!! What a Physician!” What a Savior!

Do you need to talk to Jesus about something that has burdened your heart? Don’t leave tonight until you have been spiritually healed. The altar is always open for you.

Jesus came not to call the righteous, but sinners.

Do you ever have times when it seems like people are questioning your every decision? Why do we do this? Why don’t we do that? When did that change? It’s almost like the enemy is flinging darts at you all the time. So Ladies, you better be prayed up and armed for battle just like Jesus.

Bridegroom (Mark 2:18-22)

In our next division of scripture “they” are after Jesus again!

I am sure He recognized what was happening.

 “Why do John's disciples and the disciples of the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast?” ¹⁹ And Jesus said to them, “Can the wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them? As long as they have the bridegroom with them, they cannot fast. ²⁰ The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast in that day.

We learned in the first lesson that John was in the prison and his disciples could have been mourning his absence by fasting. Jesus as the bridegroom is referring to the time when He must leave his disciples.

I attended a beautiful wedding this weekend. The bride was a former student and her mother a dear friend of mine. I also knew the groom from church.  It was a beautiful ceremony. The Bride was beautifully arrayed her gown of purest white. Her hair and makeup was perfect. She was the center of attention. But if you didn’t know the groom, it would be hard to pick him out among all the black tuxedos.

 In “Here Comes the Bridegroom,” Bob Deffinbaugh writes, “If there is anything that sticks out in the Bible regarding the imagery of the bride and the Bridegroom, it is that the glory belongs to the Groom. It is the Groom (Jesus Christ) Who chose us to be a part of the bride (John 15:16). It is the Groom Who laid down His life to purchase the bride (Ephesians 5:25). It is the Groom Who is working to perfect and purify the bride, so that He may present her to Himself (Ephesians 5:26). The glory goes to the Groom.”

Ladies when Christ returns for his Bride; there will be no doubt who He is! Will you say “I do” to Jesus to commit to him in all your ways?

“Remember Jesus came not to call the righteous, but sinners like you and me.”

The next 2 verses always puzzled me. What do patches and wineskins have to do with Jesus? Some study was required.

²¹ No one sews a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment. If he does, the patch tears away from it, the new from the old, and a worse tear is made. ²² And no one puts new wine into old ^(Y)wineskins. If he does, the wine will burst the skins—and the wine is destroyed, and so are the skins. But new wine is for fresh wineskins.”^[c]

We know the Scribes and Pharisees are observing all that Jesus has taught in the synagogue. They had to agree with the scriptures he read in the synagogue and His quotations from the Old Testament. Maybe they were hoping He was the Messiah coming to rescue them from the oppression of the Romans. They probably would like to take part of His message and then their man-made laws and Mosaic laws; put it together and make a new patchwork covenant. We see in these verses that you can't patch the old with the new.  

Jesus came to introduce the New Covenant not to patch up the old. The Old Covenant required blood sacrifice for sin.  Jesus came to provide the perfect blood sacrifice for all our sin (past, present and future sins) for each and every one of His children. All who will receive His free gift of life everlasting.

Wiersbe say “Salvation not a partial patching up of one’s life; it is a whole new robe of righteousness.”

Last year study of Joshua we learned about 10 different rock memorials. Deuteronomy 27: 2-8 tells us that the laws were to be written on stone as a remembrance for our children. Jesus will write the new covenant on human hearts.

Will you allow Jesus to write the new covenant on your heart? Are you leaving a memorial for your children?

“Jesus came not to call the righteous, but sinners.”

·        LORD of the Sabbath (Mark 2:23 – 3:6)

²³ One Sabbath he was going through the grainfields, and as they made their way, his disciples began to pluck heads of grain. ²⁴ And the Pharisees were saying to him, “Look, why are they doing what is not lawful on the Sabbath?”

Jesus must tire of always explaining the laws to these people. The retelling of the hungry King David eating the showbread reserved only for the priest was mainly for Mark’s audience, the Romans. They could not understand all the Jewish laws, but would honor a hungry warrior king.

The Jews had 39 laws for Sabbath. Laws on how far you could walk, what medical attention was emergency, what activities are considered work. It was allowed to take some fruit or grain from a neighbor’s property as long as they were not using tools or harvesting.

The Jews did cherish the Sabbath. God gave the Sabbath to the peoples of Israel when Moses brought them out of Egypt.  It was a day of rest for his people to recover from their week of work. Jewish tradition had taken this gift and altered it so it became a burden and a hardship for the people.

²⁷ And he said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. ²⁸ So the Son of Man is lord even of the Sabbath.”

Let’s follow Jesus into the synagogue where He encountered the man with the withered hand. What will He do? He knows this is a test!

Mark 3:

² And they watched Jesus, to see whether he would heal him on the Sabbath, so that they might accuse him.

⁴ And he said to them, “Is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do harm, to save life or to kill?”

But they were silent. ⁵ And he looked around at them with anger, grieved at their hardness of heart, and said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” He stretched it out, and his hand was restored. ⁶ The Pharisees went out and immediately held counsel with the Herodians against him, how to destroy him.

Jesus may have pushed too far! Now the Pharisees are joining forces with the Herodians to kill Him! The Herodians were a political party that supported King Herod Antipas. This support of Herod took away Jewish independence in the minds of the Pharisees, making it difficult for the Herodians and Pharisees to unite and agree on anything.

But one thing did unite them—opposing Jesus.

The Son of Man is lord even of the Sabbath. Is he Lord of your life?

Will you choose to accept Jesus Christ who came not for the righteous but for sinners?