Mark 2 -- Jesus, what are you doing?
1 A few days later, when Jesus again entered Capernaum, the people heard that he had come home. 2 They gathered in such large numbers that there was no room left, not even outside the door, and he preached the word to them. 3 Some men came, bringing to him a paralyzed man, carried by four of them. 4 Since they could not get him to Jesus because of the crowd, they made an opening in the roof above Jesus by digging through it and then lowered the mat the man was lying on. 5 When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralyzed man, “Son, your sins are forgiven.” 6 Now some teachers of the law were sitting there, thinking to themselves, 7 “Why does this fellow talk like that? He’s blaspheming! Who can forgive sins but God alone?”
Really! What is Jesus doing, this is completely contrary to the Cancel culture. There is no forgiveness, only public humiliation followed by forcing the person to grovel on their knees and beg forgiveness followed by excommunication and boycotts.
8 Immediately Jesus knew in his spirit that this was what they were thinking in their hearts, and he said to them, “Why are you thinking these things? 9 Which is easier: to say to this paralyzed man, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up, take your mat and walk’? 10 But I want you to know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins.” So he said to the man, 11 “I tell you, get up, take your mat and go home.” 12 He got up, took his mat and walked out in full view of them all. This amazed everyone and they praised God, saying, “We have never seen anything like this!”
Wow! Cancel culture doesn’t heal anyone, instead you beat them up and leave them half dead on the side of the road. What new teaching is this that you don’t condemn people but teach them to forgive others. I suspect this paralyzed person was able to act on the Lord’s word immediately by forgiving the four who had carried him to the Lord, probably against his will.
Jesus Calls Levi and Eats With Sinners
13 Once again Jesus went out beside the lake. A large crowd came to him, and he began to teach them. 14 As he walked along, he saw Levi son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax collector’s booth. “Follow me,” Jesus told him, and Levi got up and followed him. 15 While Jesus was having dinner at Levi’s house, many tax collectors and sinners were eating with him and his disciples, for there were many who followed him. 16 When the teachers of the law who were Pharisees saw him eating with the sinners and tax collectors, they asked his disciples: “Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?”
What is He doing! Do these people have a vaccine passport? Of course not, they are sinners, that is how we know who the sinners are and who the “clean” ones are. This is dangerous, they could infect Him.
17 On hearing this, Jesus said to them, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”
Hmm, oh, good point. The world right now is all about condemning and shunning, not about healing and hearing.
Jesus Questioned About Fasting
18 Now John’s disciples and the Pharisees were fasting. Some people came and asked Jesus, “How is it that John’s disciples and the disciples of the Pharisees are fasting, but yours are not?” 19 Jesus answered, “How can the guests of the bridegroom fast while he is with them? They cannot, so long as they have him with them. 20 But the time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them, and on that day they will fast. 21 “No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment. Otherwise, the new piece will pull away from the old, making the tear worse. 22 And no one pours new wine into old wineskins. Otherwise, the wine will burst the skins, and both the wine and the wineskins will be ruined. No, they pour new wine into new wineskins.”
The world does not have the Bridegroom so they cannot understand the church. They cannot control the church, when they try the church will pull away and make the tear worse. They cannot contain the church, if they try they will be burst. If you are not aware when the Bridegroom is taken away or when He is coming, then you are part of the world. If you are not pulling away from the world then you are the old cloth. Today Bill Deblasio the mayor of NYC announced that on August 16th you will have to have a vaccine passport to use your gym, so I went to my gym and cancelled my membership. That is what it means to “pull away” and to make the tear worse. If we share the word about the Mark of the Beast with the world it will cause their whole effort to vaccinate everyone to burst. We are the new wine, they are the old wineskins and they cannot contain us or restrain us.
Jesus Is Lord of the Sabbath
23 One Sabbath Jesus was going through the grainfields, and as his disciples walked along, they began to pick some heads of grain. 24 The Pharisees said to him, “Look, why are they doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath?” 25 He answered, “Have you never read what David did when he and his companions were hungry and in need? 26 In the days of Abiathar the high priest, he entered the house of God and ate the consecrated bread, which is lawful only for priests to eat. And he also gave some to his companions.” 27 Then he said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. 28 So the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath.”
Jesus is Lord of the Sabbath. Soon it will be illegal to hire someone or sell to someone who doesn’t have a vaccine passport. They may have to go through fields in need and eat dandelions or some other form of food. The situation is likely to become very desperate. But remember, regardless of what ridiculous rules the world makes Jesus is Lord, He is Lord of the tribulation. Follow Him, obey Him.