Mark 2

1 – 2

A few days later, Jesus came back to Capernaum. The news spread that He was at Peter’s house. So many people gathered to hear Him preach that Peter’s house was full. There was no place to stand, not even outside the door. Jesus was teaching them [from God’s Word].

These people knew nothing but what the Jewish teachers told them. Jesus would have told them how the Old Testament showed that the Messiah would come with healing and with a kingdom that was from heaven. We teach the Bible not our own words

3. Some people came, bringing a paralyzed man to Jesus. Four of them were carrying the paralyzed man.

We have friends who cannot do anything for themselves. We are patient with them even if they are not walking with Jesus. We walk through the ups and downs of life with them. We let them know that our life is not for us but for them.

4. But they could not get to Jesus because of the crowd. So they went to the roof above Jesus and made a hole in the roof [of Peter’s house]. Then they lowered the mat with the paralyzed man on it.

These men wanted their friend to be healed. They did not think that their friend needed to give his life to Jesus. Sometimes when we are helping people we need to ask them first if they believe that Jesus is the Son of God, and that His death on the cross paid the price for their sins, and that He rose from the dead to give us new life.

People come to us with many problems, but the first thing is to bring them to Christ and many of these problems will go away! What is more important, seeing a miracle or seeing someone give their life to Jesus?

5. Jesus saw that these men had great faith. So he said to the paralyzed man, “Young man, your sins are forgiven.”

We need friends to hold the ropes for us when we need help and prayer. These men could have seen that their were too many problems and stopped trying to help. Sometimes the Lord asks us, “How much do you want to help?”

6 – 8

Some of the teachers of the law were sitting there. They saw what Jesus did, and they said to themselves, “Why does this man say things like that? He is saying things that are against God. Only God can forgive sins.”

Right then Jesus knew what these teachers of the law were thinking. So He said to them, “Why are you imagining these things?

This is the beginning of these Jewish teachers following Jesus around and trying to find something bad to say about Him.

These men were listening to evil spirits giving them imaginations about Jesus. The Bible says to stop thoughts of imaginations and fill your mind with God’s Words instead. 2 Corinthians 10:5

9 – 12

Which is easier: to tell this paralyzed man, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to tell him, ‘Stand up. Take your mat and walk’? But I will prove to you that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins.” So Jesus said to the paralyzed man,

“I tell you, stand up. Take your mat and go home.” Immediately the paralyzed man stood up. He took his mat and walked out while everyone was watching him. The people were amazed and praised God. They said, “We have never seen anything like this!”

Because the man was healed this proved that his sins were forgiven. The people gave glory to God. Be careful when someone says that they have a spiritual gift and then when they do something people give glory to a man instead of to God.

13 – 14

Jesus went to the lake again. A crowd followed him there, and he taught them. While he was walking beside the lake, he saw a tax collector named Matthew son of Alphaeus. Matthew was sitting in the tax office. Jesus said to him, “Follow me.” And Matthew stood up and followed Jesus.

The people hated tax collectors. They would say that Matthew had turned against his own people. Matthew was tired of this life and left everything to follow Jesus.

15 – 16

Later that day, Jesus ate at Matthew‘s house. There were many tax collectors and “sinners” eating there with Jesus and His followers. Many people like this followed Jesus. The teachers of the law who were Pharisees saw Jesus eating with the tax collectors and “sinners.” They asked His followers, “Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?”

A famous man who did not believe in God said that he could not understand Christians. He said. “If I thought that my friends were going to be in hell forever I would never stop trying to save them. If Christians really believe this, then why are they not telling everybody?” Matthew wanted all of his friends to meet Jesus.

17. Jesus heard this and said to them, “Healthy people do not need a doctor. It is the sick who need a doctor. I did not come to invite good people. I came to invite sinners.”

The apostle Paul wrote about people without hope and slaves to sin. He said that we were like this. Jesus also said that people who have done many evil things will go into heaven before some people who think that they are very good.

18. One day the followers of John and the Pharisees were giving up eating. Some people came to Jesus and said, “John’s followers and the followers of the Pharisees give up eating. But Your followers do not. Why?”

The Jewish teachers were hoping that Jesus would mix together his teaching with their teachings. They wanted everybody to think that they were very spiritual.

19 – 20

Jesus answered, “When there is a wedding, the friends of the bridegroom are not sad while he is with them. They do not give up eating while the bridegroom is still there. But the time will come when the bridegroom will leave them. Then the friends will be sad and will give up eating.

Sometimes we go without eating to show God that we want to be weak so that He can be strong in our lives. We do not let anybody know that we are doing this. It does not matter if you just skip a meal, or only drink juice for a day, or eat nothing -what matters is that you are showing God that you need His help and you want to hear from Him.

21 – 22

“When a person sews a patch over a hole on an old coat, he never uses a piece of cloth that is not yet shrunk. If he does, the patch will shrink and pull away from the coat. Then the hole will be worse. Also, no one ever pours new wine into old leather bags for holding wine. If he does, the new wine will break the bags, and the wine will be ruined along with the bags for the wine. People always put new wine into new leather bags.”

Jesus is saying that you will need new ways because the teaching He gives you will grow so much that you will need room to stretch your thinking.

23 – 24

On the Sabbath day, Jesus was walking through some grain fields. His followers were with Him and picked some grain to eat. The Pharisees saw this and said to Jesus, “Why are Your followers doing what is not lawful on the Sabbath?”

The Old Testament said that you can eat some grain as you are walking through a field. Deuteronomy 23:25

We see again that the Jewish teachers found something wrong with the way Jesus was healing people and how His followers were not fasting but now the disciples are not eating grain in the correct way.

The devil will always find something to accuse you of, if it is not one thing, then it will be another. Ask Jesus to tell the devil to be quiet and keep your mind on things you know in the Bible.

25 – 26

Jesus answered, “You have read what David did when he and those with him were hungry and needed food. It was during the time of Abiathar the high priest. David went into God’s house and ate the bread that was made holy for God. The law of Moses says that only priests may eat that bread. But David also gave some of the bread to those who were with him.”

God will even forgive us for not following the smaller things in His Law if we have an important reason. When we need something it is very important to Him!

27 – 28

Then Jesus said to the Pharisees, “The Sabbath day was made to help people. They were not made to be ruled by the Sabbath day. The Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath.”

People need rest every seven days, not because of the Old Testament Law but because we are weak and cannot keep our strength if we never stop and rest. People who work seven days a weak are always tired and get sick very easily.

So resting one day every week is not because we belong to a church that says we have to do this but it is so we can show God that we trust Him for the things we need without working every day. We also want to show Him that we look forward to spending some time with Him reading His Word and taking notes on what He shows us!