Jesus and the Outcasts

January 29, 2009, 9:37 pm by dc-agape.

Mark 2:1-22

Three stories occur in this section of the Gospel of John Mark.  One is about healing a paralytic.  The second is about Jesus calling Levi.  This also includes Jesus eating with the “sinners”.  The third story in this section is about Jesus and his disciples doing things differently.  One thing that should be noted is the relationship between Capernaum, Simon, and the Sea of Galilee.  Capernaum was a fishing village on the coast of the fresh water Sea of Galilee where Simon lived. Entering and exiting the village to go to the Sea of Galilee was like walking to the pier at the US city of Evanston, IL.  Notice that the village is tiny and that entering, leaving, and going to be “Sea” is like walking across a couple of city blocks. 

The first story is about Jesus healing a paralytic.  The actual disease this man had is unknown.  The more important thing to notice is the determination of the 4 men carrying the paralytic.  They destroy Simon’s house to get the man to Jesus.  To say the least, Jesus is impressed.  But in healing the paralytic man, Jesus starts a debate with the righteous and religious people of his time (kinda like our own TrueChristianTM).  Oddly this debates ends up being over if forgiving sin is easier than healing a man.  Well we now know which is easier…forgiving a man.  Only under very special cases can a paralytic person be healed, and it costs a lot of money.  Notice in that link the price tag…$300,000 US.  So, it is definitely easier to forgive a “sinner”.  I know a lot of people in the world today that wish Jesus could heal a paralytic (or even an amputee). 

Another part of the story about how Jesus heals the paralytic man is the announcement that he makes during the debate:

Mark 2:10-11 But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins…” He said to the paralytic, “I tell you, get up, take your mat and go home.”

In the process of healing this man, Jesus tells everyone in Capernaum that he is the Son of Man.  But when we look at the Jewish (Hebrew) meaning of this phrase, it means that Jesus has just told us that all mankind has the power to forgive and hence to heal.  Jesus was actually NOT proclaiming his deityship!

The second story is about Levi the tax collector and how Jesus deals with “the most despised people of the Israelites”.  In Jesus’ time these people were worse than the Romans, the adulterer, the prostitute, or the homosexual.  But since they were protected by the Romans the Israelites could not hurt them.  Guess what Jesus does within the first days of his ministry?  First, he calls one of these traitors to be his disciple (later an Apostle).  Second, he (and all his disciples) go and have lunch with Levi’s “sinful” friends.  What has happened to Jesus’ disciples today?  Why do they do the exact opposite from Jesus?  Why do they act like the Pharisees?  From a de-converted gay Atheist, this is one of the biggest set of questions I want answers to!  The best interpretation of this change in the “Christian” attitude towards sinners is that there are no christians on the planet.  Or at least their god does not exist, and they are just “playing” the righteous card.

The third story is about why Jesus’ disciples are different than the other religious sects of the day.  This is actually one of the most disappointing answers that Jesus gives to his audience.  He tells them that it is because they are in celebration with Jesus still being alive.  Jesus certainly does not have freewill, he knows that he must die…to save mankind.  But he is so egotistical, that he claims that his disciples are being blessed by his divine presence.  Even though he has just declared that he is not divine in the verse I quoted earlier.  It would have been much more appropriate for the “Son of God” to tell the Pharisees that his disciples did not follow the old traditions!  I would have loved for Jesus to tell the Pharisees that a distinctly new and radical perspective on religion was being showcased.  But no, Jesus just continues with the arrogance stance of YHWH.

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