Sunday
School Lessons
Commentary by Walter Albritton
March 9
The Inevitable Conflict Begins
Mark 2:1—3:6
Key Verse: {Jesus} saith unto them, They that are whole have
no need of the physician, but they that are sick: I came not to call the
righteous, but sinners to repentance.
– Mark
It actually seems
incredible that religious leaders were so opposed to the ministry of Jesus. The
very people who should have rejoiced to see people healed and delivered from
demonic bondage are the ones who rejected Jesus and wanted him killed.
What is clear is that
the Pharisees expected a Messiah who would affirm them for their righteousness
and condemn sinners for failing to meet the excessive demands of their many
laws. Jesus, however, understood that his mission was to the poor, the outcasts
of society.
Conflict was
inevitable because the Pharisees had a different attitude toward people than
that of Jesus. The Pharisees viewed some people, like themselves, as good,
while others were bad. Some people were important; others were worthless. Some
were righteous; the rest were sinners.
The righteous had
earned God’s favor by keeping the law. This made them “respectable” in their
own eyes. The result was a “holier than thou” attitude. They shunned the common
people, and felt it beneath their dignity to even eat with or socialize with
sinners.
The behavior of Jesus
toward society’s riffraff was thus shocking to the religious hierarchy. They
were amazed that Jesus would stoop so low as to even sit down with sinners,
much less eat with them.
No doubt the Pharisees
were offended that Jesus did not check in with them and ask their permission to
speak of godly matters. They had a good thing going when Jesus appeared. They
assumed they had a corner on the truth. Actually, they were cheating the poor and
using meticulous laws to keep them “in their place.” Moreover, instead of
offering sinners love and mercy, the Pharisees burdened them with condemnation.
Jesus, however, spoke
with an authority the Pharisees had not given him. His authority came from his
Father, who had filled his son with grace and truth. The truth of Jesus cut the
Pharisees to the quick, while his grace was good news to sinners in need of
God’s forgiveness.
What infuriated the
Pharisees, to the point of plotting the death of Jesus, was that they understood what he meant by the terms “the righteous” and “sinners.” They knew
that Jesus had tagged them hard, exposing their self-righteousness, when he
said that he had come to call “sinners to repentance,” not “the righteous.”
The bitter truth for the Pharisees was that
there are no righteous people! There are only sinners, and all people stand in
need of the forgiving love that God offered the world in the gift of his only
Son.
Those who think
themselves righteous are perhaps the worst of sinners. Blind indeed are those
who think themselves healthy, or whole, when in fact they are sick and in need
of the ministry of the Great Physician. They are sicker than those who
recognize their need of mercy.
Even Pharisees may be
changed by the power of the gospel. Paul, himself a Pharisee of the Pharisees,
was delivered from self-righteousness. So great was his transformation that he
even called himself “the chief of sinners.”
Read the marvelous
insight God gave Paul and celebrate its truth. Remember always that out of the
conflict which Jesus endured with the Pharisees, came this profound
understanding of the good news of grace:
“This righteousness
from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no
difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are
justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus”
(Romans 3:22-24, NIV).
Thanks be to God!
There is hope, and salvation, for sinners who believe! + + +