Sermon Tone Analysis

*“Expectations”*

*Mark 3.1-12*

 

            Mark began his gospel indicating that this is the gospel of Jesus Christ who is the Son of God.

We recall that Mark presents the gospel in a different manner than the other gospel writers.

Mark moves quite abruptly from one event to the next.

He seems most concerned with the action of the narrative and the fulfillment of Jesus as the Son of God.

He does not include the birth narrative, but launches straightway into the ministry of John the Baptizer and indicates that though he is the greatest of the prophets, he is merely a forerunner who prepares the way for the Lord Jesus Christ.

After Jesus is baptized and tempted in the wilderness by Satan, he declares a new eschatological age.

His words are strong and authoritative.

He proclaims that because of his arrival on the scene, the “time is fulfilled and the kingdom of God is at hand.”

And because of this fact, a response is required.

Jesus commands everyone to “repent and believe in the gospel.”

This will be his message and his ministry.

As he goes from town to town healing and silencing demons, he indicates in Mark 1.38 that he must continue with his preaching ministry.

For this is why he came.

We saw last week that people are really beginning to question who Jesus is.

First, we watched as Jesus approached a tax collector and called him to follow.

The text seems to indicate that Levi immediately followed after Jesus – leaving behind his occupation.

After this, it seems as though Levi then invited Jesus to dinner.

And much to the chagrin of the religious leaders, Jesus partied with the “sinners” and tax collectors – the worst of the worst in their mind.

And so they begin to question.

“Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?”

John’s disciples and the Pharisees were fasting and they asked, “Why don’t your disciples fast?”

On the Sabbath, Jesus’ disciples pluck a few heads of grain and the Pharisees asked, “why are they doing what is not lawful on the Sabbath?” Jesus has come and challenged their view of the law.

He accuses them of being so rigid with the letter of the law, that they have lost its intent.

He reminds them that there is no place for fasting when He is present among them.

And then he tells them that the Sabbath was made for man and not man for the Sabbath.

Jesus is the Lord of the Sabbath.

And so we will see again, that Jesus continues to boldly confront the Pharisees and their understanding of the Law.

And we will also see that it is not well received.

This will set things in motion more rapidly as opposition to him and his ministry increases.

We are in Mark chapter 3 this morning.

Please turn your Bibles with me to Mark 3.1-12.

I have entitled the sermon, *Expectations*, because we will see that people often had (and still do have) different expectations of who Jesus should have been and he should be.

Let’s read the text as we get underway.

READ.

The first point is *Law or Life? *“Again he entered the synagogue.”

Mark records another account that takes place in a synagogue.

Though not the main point of the passage, it is noteworthy that Jesus makes it a practice to frequent the synagogue on the Sabbath.

Though he could have merely been off doing his own thing, it seems as though he made it a priority to attend worship at the synagogue.

Jesus enters the synagogue.

It is not clear whether this is the same day or the following Sabbath.

Interesting to note that once again there is a man here with a withered hand.

We noticed previously in chapter 1 that there was also a man with an unclean spirit (a demon) who was also in the synagogue.

But here there is a man who had a deformity.

Though I’m not sure any commentators indicated this, you almost tempted to think that he has been brought there for a trap.

And I’ll explain.

Just looked at the next words.

“And they watched Jesus.”

The meaning of this word and phrase is to “watch maliciously” or “to lie in wait for.”

Let’s set the scene.

The synagogue was this building where they would come to worship on the Sabbath.

It consists of a room where the seats were lined up against the outside walls.

It was a place of worship as well as a place to come and dialogue about philosophies and ideas.

I envisioned Jesus entering the synagogue and as he does people are congregated throughout in conversations.

You can almost see and hear them whispering in their circles, pointing and watching his interaction with this deformed man.

Can you see it?

The text indicates that they watched him.

They watched him so that they might ambush him.

Do you think that they themselves invited the man into the synagogue?

It is certainly cause to wonder.

Consider Luke 14.1, “One Sabbath, when he went to dine at the house of a ruler of the Pharisees, they /were watching/ him carefully.”

Or Luke 20:20 “So /they watched him/ and sent spies, who pretended to be sincere, /that they might catch him/ in something he said, so as to deliver him up to the authority and jurisdiction of the governor.”

And some other texts indicate that they lie in wait for him and test him in order to bring charge against Jesus.

Perhaps these were the same Pharisees that just saw Jesus picking the heads of the grain in the fields.

Maybe they were others who heard about it and wanted to see for themselves.

So here they were – waiting for Jesus to take the bait as it were.

They were waiting for a reason to accuse him.

Ironically, it doesn’t appear that they were in the synagogue to worship.

Does it?

They didn’t say anything.

The text says they watched.

I suppose it is possible that they were whispering and pointing.

Regardless, Jesus knows their hearts.

And just for a prime teaching opportunity, he tells the man to come.

I am not sure why the ESV translates it this way.

It is literally rendered, “stand up in the middle.”

I suppose if Jesus were in the middle of the room, this would certainly make sense.

It is clear that Jesus is going to deal with this here and now.

I tried to put myself in the place of this man.

So did one commentator when he wrote, “One can almost feel the man’s horror.

Had he dreamed his handicap would be made a public spectacle he surely would never have braved attending synagogue.

Rather than escaping notice, the dread of most persons who bear handicaps or deformities is having people stare them in the face: the man is summoned by Jesus to the center of the synagogue.”

And Jesus asks them the question, “Is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do harm, to save life or to kill?”

As we will see, he is not necessary challenging their knowledge of the law but the condition of their hearts.

James Edwards notes, “For Jesus human need poses a moral imperative.

Where good needs to be done, there can be no neutrality, and failure to do the good is to contribute to the evil.

It is thus not simply permissible to heal on the Sabbath but /right/ to heal on the Sabbath, whether or not it is “lawful.”

A litmus test of true versus false religion is its response to injustice.”

I think the point here is that you can be theologically knowledgeable and lack compassion for people.

To glorify God is to be theologically accurate with a proper disposition of the heart.

Edwards again notes, “Questions of theological orthodoxy and moral behavior cannot be answered in the abstract, but only by responding to the concrete call of God in one’s life and to specific human needs at hand.

The test of all theology and morality is either passed or failed by one’s response to the weakest and most defenseless members of society.

For Jesus the call of God presents itself urgently in the need of this particular man.”

For Jesus, to heal is to do good; to do nothing is evil.

To heal is to save a life; not to heal is the equivalent of killing.

It seems as though merely not working and resting on the Sabbath was not enough.

The day must be used for good things.

And of course we know the sum of the Law don’t we?

Mark 12:28 “And one of the scribes came up and heard them disputing with one another, and seeing that he answered them well, asked him, “Which commandment is the most important of all?” Jesus answered, “The most important is, ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.