Mark 2:18-22
18 The disciples of John and of the Pharisees were accustomed to fast. People came to him and objected, "Why do the disciples of John and the disciples of the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast?"
19 Jesus answered them, "Can the wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them? As long as they have the bridegroom with them they cannot fast.
20 But the days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast on that day.
21 No one sews a piece of unshrunken cloth on an old cloak. If he does, its fullness pulls away, the new from the old, and the tear gets worse.
22 Likewise, no one pours new wine into old wineskins. Otherwise, the wine will burst the skins, and both the wine and the skins are ruined. Rather, new wine is poured into fresh wineskins."
When ever I read this passage, one single question always comes up in my mind: what under heaven does it mean? I understand the first part of the passage perfectly well, but the later half seems to be completely unrelated to what came before, yet the author clearly intends for the two parts to be considered complimentary and part of the same story, and, in fact, the same quote.
Let’s look at the beginning, as it is a wonderful place to start. Jesus is fairly clear as to why his disciples do not fast, as he is still with them. But then he begins to talk about mixing the new with the old, how neither will come out okay. What does this have to do with fasting and bridegrooms?
When we come before Christ, we are old creations, and he then makes us new, as I noted in my previous entry (cf. 2 Cor 5:17). The old is gone and the new has come, thus we must no longer partake in our old activities. They do not mesh with the ‘new creations’ that we are. Thus, we do not put into ourselves that which is old, or we will be ruined.
The verses themselves speak of putting a new on the old, however, not an old on the new. Christ is looking at this in a different way than anybody else. If we take the new things of God (here I am looking at new as meaning good, or quality) and place them in the old things of the
world, they do nothing good. If the pharisees fast without holiness, doing it only for their own good, they not only do nothing for themselves but in fact damage the very thing that fasting is. Those people who do ‘good’ while not being good themselves actively destroy the good they are doing, for it loses all meaning.
Thus when Paul says that the letter kills but the Spirit gives life, he is saying much the same thing (cf. 2 Cor 3:6). It is not the empty actions that saves man, but the Spirit working through him. Earlier in that letter Paul says he needs no letter of recommendation, for the Corinthians are his letter, written on their hearts (2 Cor 3:2). What those people did was enough witness for both Paul and Christ, that they were putting the new things to good use.
I hope this made a bit of sense to you. The passage is really not to clear and exactly why this two things go together, but God has a funny way of working out confusion for his better good.
Mark 2:1-12
1 When Jesus returned to Capernaum after some days, it became known that he was at home.
2 Many gathered together so that there was no longer room for them, not even around the door, and he preached the word to them.
3 They came bringing to him a paralytic carried by four men.
4 Unable to get near Jesus because of the crowd, they opened up the roof above him. After they had broken through, they let down the mat on which the paralytic was lying.
5 When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, "Child, your sins are forgiven."
6 Now some of the scribes were sitting there asking themselves,
7 "Why does this man speak that way? He is blaspheming. Who but God alone can forgive sins?"
8 Jesus immediately knew in his mind what they were thinking to themselves, so he said, "Why are you thinking such things in your hearts?
9 Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, 'Your sins are forgiven,' or to say, 'Rise, pick up your mat and walk'?
10 But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority to forgive sins on earth"--
11 he said to the paralytic, "I say to you, rise, pick up your mat, and go home."
12 He rose, picked up his mat at once, and went away in the sight of everyone. They were all astounded and glorified God, saying, "We have never seen anything like this."
Today I am touching on one of the better known healings in the Bible, the cure of the paralyzed man. This is a favorite story of those who teach the younger generation, as the excitement attached to lowering a man through a roof can capture even the most wild child.
To adults, however, it often comes up lacking, not because it is a boring or bad story, but because we have heard it so many times and have no heard anything new. But, given that this is the Word of God, we can trust that God will keep up with fresh ideas. As it says, “ See, I am doing something new!” (Isaiah 43:19). This story is old, but more can be brought out of it.
This story itself is about newness. The man who comes to Jesus (not necessarily by his own volition) is damaged in two important ways. Physically, he is incapable of productive work and was forced to beg. Spiritually, he is under the burden of sin, for the sacrifices of the temple did not truly cleanse people. When he is brought before Jesus, however, his damage is wiped away. As is said in the book of Revelation, “Behold, I make all things new!” (Revelation 21:5), and this Christ does.
At its very core, this is what healing is about. Why are some people healed, rather than brought up to be with the Father? Many reasons. Perhaps there is more for them to do on earth, or maybe they are not yet right with God. But, behind every reason, is the reflection of the end of the world, where the old things pass away, and the new Heaven and new Earth come.
This passage also teaches us an important point about healing. When we pray for healing, whether for ourselves or for others, we always seem to aim for the physical healing, yet here, before Christ cured the man, he forgave him. The scribes were scandalized at this, for who but God could forgive sins. Of course, as a friend of mine put it, Jesus is God, but we can’t expect them to know that yet.
After the physical healing, however, “they were all astounded” and praised God (emphasis mine). Even the scribes realized that this Jesus is something else, and they are renewed in their faith. By the end of this story, the only thing which has not been made new is the roof of the house, but we can bet Jesus got around to that in his spare time (not that he likely had much, given the crowds).
Come to God in faith, and you shall be renewed, you and all those around you, for “ whoever is in Christ is a new creation: the old things have passed away; behold, new things have come” (2 Corinthians 5:17).
