I came not to call the righteous

Once more a visit to His adopted hometown created a stir, vv. 1-2, and the Lord took opportunity to ‘[preach] the word unto them’. Amidst amazing stories of healing power, Mark gives these constant reminders of the main focus of His ministry: to preach the word of God. It should still be at the heart of Christian service, the major activity among all our labours.

It took four men co-operating to bring the palsied man to the Saviour, just as today it requires believers to be ‘striving together for the faith of the gospel’, if souls are to be won for Him, Phil. 1. 27. For the first time in this Gospel, we get a hint of resentment and opposition; His authority to forgive sins was questioned but the healing of the paralysed man confirmed that authority. Forgiveness is a prerogative of deity, Ps. 103. 2-3.

The seaside was another venue for preaching, Mark 2. 13, and it was in that vicinity that Levi (Matthew) was called. Mark discloses what Matthew in his modesty does not divulge, that it was he who hosted the meal for the Lord, to which he invited publicans and sinners. It appears that Matthew was as concerned for the salvation of his colleagues as Andrew was for ‘his own brother Simon’, John 1. 41. Sadly, we are not so burdened today! ‘He that winneth souls is wise’, Prov. 11. 30.

The cowardly scribes and Pharisees attacked Him through His disciples, but as ever, the Shepherd sprang to the defence of the sheep. Eating with the outcasts was no indication that He condoned their sin. On the contrary, His mission was to call ‘sinners to repentance’, Mark 2. 17. By contrast, these self-righteous religionists would never hear His call.

At verse 18, the narrative switches from feasting to fasting. People were questioning what they probably deemed to be lack of devotion and earnestness on the part of the Lord’s disciples as compared with John’s. He showed that there was no need to display signs of sobriety and self-denial when the bridegroom was still with them! The time for that would come, but even after the bridegroom would be ‘taken away from them’ the joyful wine of Christianity could never be contained in the old wineskins of legalistic Judaism; they are incompatible, v. 22.