Mark 2

the chapter of the Gospel of Mark

Mark 2 is the second chapter of the Gospel of Mark in the New Testament of the Christian Bible. In this chapter, the first arguments between Jesus and other Jewish religious teachers appear. Jesus heals a paralyzed man and forgives his sins, meets with the disreputable Levi and his friends, and argues over the need to fast, and whether or not one can harvest food on Sabbath.

The original text was written in Koine Greek. This chapter is divided into 28 verses.

Several writers treat Mark 2:1 3:6 as a single unit for analytical purposes. Joseph Mali refers to these verses as containing the "Galilean Conflict Stories", whilst noting that there is no scholarly consensus in this field. He notes "Markan Public Debates" and "controversy dialogues" as other terms which have been used to cover these verses. The Jerusalem Bible refers to the "Five Disputes" set out in these verses. Vincent Taylor suggests that this passage may have existed "as a connected whole" before the gospel was compiled. It is not stated who the men are, but it is implied that some of them have faith in Jesus. Since Mark has so far listed four disciples, some writers speculate that Mark might be indicating it is them doing the carrying, but there is no general agreement on this. They then create a hole in the roof of the house (, apestegasan tēn stegēn, "they uncovered the roof") and lower the man in to see Jesus. Kilgallen suggests that because they "dug" through the roof this indicates that it is a poor house, with the roof made of leaves, bark, and dirt. It might also have had wooden beams for more sturdy support. Longman, Strauss and Taylor's Expanded Bible states "they dug a hole in the roof" and notes that Judean "roofs were generally flat and made of thatch and dried mud" and The Living Bible refers to a "clay roof". Tom Wright suggests that this is Jesus' own house. Jesus is impressed by their effort, praising all the men's faith, and he tells the paralytic that his sins are forgiven. Wright suggests that the forgiveness is granted in part for creating a hole in the roof, but also that the forgiveness Jesus granted "went deeper" than this. Jesus calls the man "Son", a term of affection. Some of the teachers of the law present (belonging to the sect of the Pharisees) are disturbed by this. "Why does this fellow talk like that? He's blaspheming! Who can forgive sins but God alone?" Mark observes that Jesus " knew in his spirit that this was what they were thinking in their hearts "
He says to them "Why are you thinking these things? Which is easier: to say to the paralytic, 'Your sins are forgiven', or to say, 'Get up, take your mat and walk'? But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins " He says to the man " get up, take your mat and go home." (8 11). According to Raymond E. Brown, it may have been easier to tell the man something than to demand he get up and walk. Jesus chooses to prove his ability to forgive sins, with a demonstration of the man's ability to walk. He forgives and heals by word alone, highlighting the power of his words. In both Luke and John Jesus rejects the notion that illness and misfortune are the result of sins. The teachers say that only God can forgive one's sins; some see Exodus and Isaiah and as proof of this claim. Mark thus leaves it implied that Jesus is God and that faith in his power can lead to not just a cure of physical ills but to a forgiveness of a person's sins. Early Christians may have used this story to buttress their claims of Jesus' ability to forgive sins. maybe a middle or nickname, and both fathers had the same name. Mark names Matthew but Levi as one of the Twelve Apostles in , so if one considers Mark alone it is not clear this Levi was an Apostle. A tax collector could mean two things. He could have been an independent contractor with the Roman government, who paid a fee to Rome to obtain the right to extract taxes from the people in a certain area, with an added fee for the collector and his employees. He might have also been a toll collector for Herod Antipas, Either way, Levi would have been a very unpopular and even despised person. Jesus and his disciples eat "at his house" (, en tē oikia autou) with Levi and his disreputable friends and the "teachers of the law who were Pharisees" ask his disciples why. Some ancient authorities put the question as "why does he eat and drink" with them. The house is generally understood to have been Levi's, but the text is not certain, and Nicoll refers to a suggestion that "Jesus, not Matthew, was the real host at the social gathering": the "call" to sinners can be read as an "invitation", just as a host might invite guests to a meal. Teaching the law was a profession, and the Pharisees were a group of men who were considered pious. Whether they were at the dinner or were simply aware of it is unclear. The proper preparing and eating of food are very important in Judaism. It was even considered dangerous to eat with those who did not observe the same dining customs by some Jews like the Pharisees. Jesus replies the famous "It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners." Matthew has him say "But go and learn what this means: 'I desire mercy, not sacrifice'" between the two sentences in Mark's version. Luke says " but sinners to repentance". Jesus compares himself to a doctor to show that, as a doctor fights disease by working with the sick, so Jesus must go to sinners in order to help them overcome their sins. Jesus had earlier announced that his mission was a call to repentance in Mark 1:14 15 (31). The Oxyrhynchus Gospels 1224 5:1 2 also record this episode of "dining with sinners". Jesus thus ends the debate with a statement with no rebuttal by his opponents. Many see this as Mark's way of telling the story to set up Jesus for his memorable words, which Mark uses in the next two incidents and others as well. Scholars have labeled this method of narration an apophthegm, chreia or pronouncement story. All three synoptics have this occur after the healing of the paralyzed man. Mark says many people followed Jesus. In contrast to the followers Jesus attracted, it is not clear how many actual disciples (students) he recruited, only Luke 6:17 (NRSV) calls it a "great crowd of disciples", and says that many left.

Some people asked why is it that the disciples of John the Baptist and the Pharisees (often) fast, or were engaged in fasting just at that point in time, Heinrich Julius Holtzmann suggests that John's disciples might have been fasting "on account of the loss of their master", although Meyer considers this an unsupported interpretation. or "on those days". All three synoptic gospels use the same phrase, ἀπάρθη ἀπ’ αὐτῶν (aparthē ap’ autōn), which does not appear elsewhere in the New Testament. The words are taken as an allusion to Jesus' death. For those who do not believe Jesus had foreknowledge of his death this is taken as an interpolation of the early Church. This might be Jesus trying to convey that one must shed those old things that are incompatible with his new way. Ignatius of Antioch, among others, interpreted it as Jesus saying he was the start of a new religion separate from John the Baptist and Second Temple Judaism. Some Christians have used it to propose new ways of being Christian or even entirely new forms of Christianity. As early as the second century, Marcion used it to justify his doctrine, later called Marcionism and deemed heretical. The interpretation favored by John Calvin does not suffer from the inconsistencies and the disconnectedness of the interpretations listed above. In his Commentary on Matthew, Mark, and Luke, Calvin states that the old wineskins and the old garment represent Jesus' disciples, and the new wine and unshrunk cloth represent the practice of fasting twice a week. Fasting this way would be burdensome to the new disciples, and would be more than they could bear.