Study notes

Mark 2

Introducing MarkWho wrote it, when, why, and what to look for as you read

2:1

He was home: See Matthew 4:13. The large crowd shows that Jesus was popular.

2:1–12

This controversy story is also a miracle story. It includes both a dispute and an act of healing or power.

Because it contains a miracle, it connects with the earlier group of miracle stories in 1:21–45.

2:1–3:6

Five controversy stories (2:1–12, 13–17, 18–22, 23–28; 3:1–6) are grouped together because they share a common theme. Each story shows a conflict between Jesus and the religious leaders. In these accounts, Jesus says or does things that challenge their beliefs and practices. These stories show the great authority that Jesus has.

2:1–22 Section

People were amazed by Jesus’ teaching and the way he healed people. But the religious leaders became angry when Jesus forgave a man’s sin. They believed that only God could forgive sin.

Jesus was a human being. The leaders couldn’t understand that God had come to earth as a human being through Jesus. No one expected this. Jesus was showing people what God is like.

Jesus wasn’t afraid to be with people who were ill. He wasn’t afraid of people controlled by demons either. He talked with people who sinned and shared meals with them. He brought hope to people who weren’t accepted by others.

What Jesus taught and did wasn’t like the things that the religious leaders taught and did. It was so different that Jesus described it like new clothes or new wine. God was doing something completely new through Jesus. He was bringing life that sin and death couldn’t destroy.

2:4

  • through the crowd: See 2:1.

  • Houses at that time usually had flat roofs made of mud, thatch (dry plant material), and branches. The men made an opening by digging through the roof.

2:5

  • Jesus saw the faith of the paralytic and the four men who brought him.

  • your sins are forgiven: Those listening understood the words of Jesus as a claim to having the same authority as God (see 2:6–10; Luke 7:48–49).

2:6–7

Only God can forgive sins, yet Jesus had authority to do so (2:10).

2:9–11

Which is easier: to say … 'Your sins are forgiven': This claim cannot be directly proved or disproved, while the claim to heal can be. Jesus showed his ability to heal in order to show his authority to forgive.

2:12

We have never seen anything like this!: Mark often shows how Jesus amazed people (1:22, 27; 4:41; 6:50–51).

2:13–15

  • Levi was also called Matthew (see Matthew 9:9–10). Certain people are known by two names in the New Testament (for example, Simon is also called Peter; Saul is also called Paul; Judas son of James is also called Thaddaeus, see study note on Mark 3:18).

  • This type of tax collector (Greek telōnēs) collected sales taxes, customs, and road tolls, unlike those who collected the poll tax (12:14). Other Jews disliked local tax collectors like Levi because they often charged the public more than they owed (Luke 19:8). As agents of the Romans, the Jews considered them to be traitors. Jesus invited Levi, a tax collector, to follow him, joining Peter, Andrew, James, and John (Mark 1:16–20).

2:13–17

This controversy is about Jesus spending time with sinners who had a bad reputation, such as tax collectors, and eating with them.

2:17

Jesus answered his opponents with a well-known proverb. He compared himself to a doctor and sinners to sick people. Salvation is for those who know they are sinners, not for those who think they are righteous (Luke 16:15; 18:9; Romans 3:23).

2:19–20

Jesus was like a bridegroom at his wedding, so fasting was not appropriate. It was a time to celebrate (Luke 15:23–25, 32). The disciples would fast after Jesus went up to heaven (see Acts 13:2–3; 14:23).

2:21–22

The old customs of the old covenant do not fit with the new arrival of God's kingdom. People know that a patch of unshrunk cloth sewn on old clothing will tear the old cloth as it shrinks. In the same way, cracking old wineskins will burst when new wine ferments in them. The fasting of the old ways cannot be mixed with the feasting that comes with the new.

2:23–28

In this controversy, Jesus and his disciples are accused of breaking the Sabbath (Exodus 20:8–11). Picking grain by hand in another person’s field was lawful (Deuteronomy 23:25). The charge was that by rubbing the chaff from the kernels, the disciples were working on the Sabbath, which was forbidden (Exodus 34:21).

2:23–3:6 Section

Jesus and the Pharisees disagreed a lot about the Sabbath day. God had given his people laws about respecting the Sabbath as a holy day.

Jesus showed the Pharisees that they had forgotten what the Sabbath day was really for. It was meant to be a day of rest for God’s people. Eating when they were hungry and doing good didn’t dishonour God or the Sabbath day. Neither did healing people and saving lives.

But Jewish leaders had made many extra rules about keeping the Sabbath day holy. Jesus was doing things that broke those Jewish laws. He was upset that the religious leaders cared so much about their rules. They cared more about the rules than about people or what God wanted. The leaders didn’t like the new ideas that Jesus was teaching.

2:25–26

Jesus answered by referring to an event in the life of King David (1 Samuel 21). David and his men ate the sacred bread, the twelve loaves in the tabernacle that only priests were allowed to eat (see Leviticus 24:5–9). In that sense, they did what the law did not permit. But Jesus showed that a deeper principle was also at work (Mark 2:27–28).

Verse notes: Adapted by Mission Mutual (Aquifer Open Study Notes) from Tyndale Open Study Notes © 2023 Tyndale House Publishers. CC BY-SA 4.0. Section notes: Biblica Study Notes © 2023 Biblica, Inc. CC BY-SA 4.0, via BibleAquifer. About the sources