The Unexpected Jesus
In the fall, I took on a challenge to read through the gospels starting with the book of Mark. To be honest, Mark has usually been my least favorite of the gospels. It's so short, fast-paced, and seemingly inelegant (to me, at least). I prefer John for its poetic language or Luke for its detail. However, when I reread the book of Mark a few years ago, I started to see this gospel in a different light. We see Jesus through His actions, and we have to decide who He is -- the Son of God, like the Roman centurion claims in Mark 15, or just a man?
Mark 2:18-22
Now John’s disciples and the Pharisees were fasting. People came and asked him, “Why do John’s disciples and the Pharisee’s disciples fast, but your disciples do not fast?”
Jesus said to them, “The wedding guests cannot fast while the groom is with them, can they? As long as they have the groom with them, they cannot fast. But the time will come when the groom will be taken away from them, and then they will fast on that day. No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment. Otherwise, the new patch pulls away from the old cloth, and a worse tear is made. And no one puts new wine into old wineskins. Otherwise, the wine will burst the skins, and the wine is lost as well as the skins. No, new wine is put into fresh wineskins.”
In Mark 2, there are lots of questions. Some come from observers and followers of Christ; others come from Christ Himself. Questions are curious things. They focus your attention and reveal a person's curiosity. In this section of Mark 2, the people ask, "'Why do John's disciples and the Pharisee's disciples fast, but your disciples do not fast?'" A few verses before, the people ask, "'Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?’” (Mark 2:16b). The people want to know what He is doing, why He is doing it, and, perhaps most importantly, why He is breaking tradition. When we look at these two questions together, we see a theme – Jesus is doing something new and unexpected.
Jesus often answers with an illustration or story. His answer to the fasting question continues to support this theme that Jesus is doing something new. Jesus begins an illustration about new patches, old garments, new wines, and old wineskins. He sums up His point by saying, "'No, new wine is put into fresh wineskins.'" Jesus is doing a new work in people, and they must be transformed into something new as well.
Jesus has come to replace the old Mosaic law, the old covenant, with a new covenant. The old covenant is the old garment and the old wineskin. Through the prophets, God foretold the new covenant (the new patch and new wine). He said, "'I will put my teaching within [the people] and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people…For I will forgive their iniquity and never again remember their sin.’” (Jeremiah 31:33b, 34b). This is Jesus’ purpose; He is instituting the new covenant.
Through His words and actions, He shows the people a new life. One commentary says, "He came to introduce the new, not to patch up the old” (Wiersbe, 96). Not only is Jesus introducing a new covenant and new way of relationship with God, but He is introducing a whole new life for us. Paul writes in 2 Corinthians, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has passed away, and see, the new has come!” (5:17). Paul expands on what this means in Ephesians when he writes, “…to take off your former way of life, the old self that is corrupted by deceitful desires, to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, the one created according to God’s likeness in righteousness and purity of the truth” (4:22-24). When we give our allegiance to Christ, we enter into an entirely new life. We are a new creation with the ability to have a relationship with God.
Jesus is indeed doing something new and unexpected.
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I invite you to journey with me as I explore four passages in the book of Mark. You can find the accompanying Reading & Study Guide under the Study Guide tab or linked here.
Previous Posts:
The Audacity of Jesus, Mark 2:1-12
