COMMENTARY ON MARK
LESSON NUMBER 23
“ Mark 2:16 And when the scribes and Pharisees saw Him eat with publicans and sinners, they said unto His disciples, How is it that He eateth and drinketh with publicans and sinners? 17 When Jesus heard it, He saith unto them, They that are whole have no need of the physician, but they that are sick: I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.” (Mark 2:16-17)
CRITICS OF JESUS
INTRODUCTION
Levi (Matthew) has made a great feast, or banquet, for the Lord, and has invited Jesus, His disciples, and, we assume, his former associates. It appears as though Matthew desired for these people to be exposed to the Lord Jesus, and therefore brought them all together. He provided a sumptuous feast for the occasion. This was in keeping with what he perceived he had received from the Lord – an abundance. This action from Matthew was like the response of the woman who washed Jesus feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. Jesus said of her extravagant action, “for she loved much” (Lk 7:47). The fact that Jesus called Matthew had deeply impacted the man, moving him to prepare this great banquet. This is the manner of the Kingdom, and it differs significantly from the manner in which Law motivates people. Jesus did not command Matthew to prepare a feast, yet He did. Jesus received what Matthew did, attending the gathering with His disciples, just as He did at the wedding feast of Cana. For those with eyes to see, there is a refreshing lesson to be learned here. If we will receive this “great salvation” that is brought to us by Jesus, and use the gifts and abilities that He has given to us, they will have a marvelously compelling effect upon us. If we choose to search the Scriptures with DOING instead of RECEIVING in mind, we will find ourselves actually doing less and less for the Savior.
FACING THE CRITICISM OF RELIGIOUS MEN
“ 2:16 And when the scribes and Pharisees saw him eat with publicans and sinners, they said unto his disciples, How is it that he eateth and drinketh with publicans and sinners?”
THE SCRIBES AND PHARISEES. There is no indication that Matthew had invited these religious leaders to his banquet. Neither, indeed, does our text suggest that they were sitting at the table with those who were invited. Rather, as self-appointed judges, they were monitoring the whole event.
These were the religious dignitaries of the day. “Scribes and Pharisees” are mentioned fourteen times in the Gospels (Matt 5:20; 15:1; 23:-29; Mk 2:16; Lk 5:30; 6:7; 11:44; John 8:3). Nothing good is said of them. Jesus said peoples’ righteousness must “exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees” if they were to “enter into the kingdom of heaven” (Matt 5:20). Eight times the Lord Jesus called them “hypocrites.” They “murmured against” Christ’s disciples (Lk 5:30). They were the ones who brought a woman “taken in adultery” to Jesus, seeking to snare Him (John 8:3). They were certainly not a group of men highly regarded by God!
These men had taken the office of leadership unto themselves. While there were “scribes” under the Law, they did not occupy an official place in the Jewish economy. As a group, they were never sanctified, or presented as having special authority under the Law and the Prophets. The “Pharisees” had their origin sometime after the Babylonian captivity. They were originally noted for their separateness, seeking to maintain moral and ceremonial purity according to the Levitical law. Their position in the Jewish economy, however, was the result of human judgment, not Divine ordinance. God ordained the spiritual leadership in the High Priest’s office, the priests, and the Prophets. Occasionally He would raise up special servants to lead His people, like Ezra, Nehemiah, and Zerubbabel. These were always endued with wisdom and power, and also employed the ordained servants of the Lord, both priests and prophets.
Here, however, was a group of men who were religious leaders by their own appointment. Jesus said they sat “in Moses’ seat,” but that position was not by Divine appointment. It was because they knew what Moses had said. However, Jesus’ word’s about that circumstance suggests that they had placed themselves in Moses’ seat. In fact, one version reads, “The scribes and the Pharisees have seated themselves in the chair of Moses” NASB (Matt 23:2). The word translated “sit” suggests that the scribes and Pharisees seated themselves in “Moses’ seat” – thus it is defined, “to have fixed one’s abode,” THAYER referring to the action of the seated ones.
We have a similar situation within the church today. God has placed certain gifts within the Christ’s body. Valid gifts include, prophets, evangelists, and pastor-teachers (Eph 4:11; Rom 12:6-7). There are also those gifted to speak words of wisdom and knowledge (1 Cor 12:8). Additionally, there are those with the gift of exhortation (Rom 12:8), and those given grace to “speak” (1 Pet 4:10-11). These are the Divinely appointed resources within the body of Christ, even as high priests, priests, and prophets were under the Old Covenant. However, in our time, there is a group of self-appointed leaders who have assumed the leadership of the Christian community. They are shaping the ideas of believers, and sitting in judgment on those who do not concur with them. These come from the academic community, the psychological community, and religious institutionalism.
SAW HIM EATING. These “scribes and Pharisees” did not join in the festivities, but were monitoring them as religious authorities. They saw with a critical eye, seeking to justify or condemn what they saw on the basis of their tradition.
THEY SAID TO HIS DISCIPLES. Luke says they “murmured against His disciples,” for to question what Jesus does is to deride those who follow Him (Lk 5:30).They address Christ’s disciples with full confidence that they can speak of their Leader with some understanding. Jesus has said, “It is enough for the disciple that he be as his master, and the servant as his lord” (Matt 10:25). Who better to ask concerning the mind of the Lord than those who are following Him? This perspective casts a fresh light upon being a follower of Jesus. Rather than merely becoming an expert in rule-keeping, the disciple becomes an expert in the Master Himself. Paul referred to this as knowing “Him” (Phil 3:10), winning Christ (Phil 3:8), and “the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus” (Phil 3:8a). May the Lord grant that you may be able to speak intelligently and accurately concerning Christ’s Person and ways.
HOW IS IT? Their question had nothing whatsoever to do with either the moral or ceremonial Law. It was a question driven by their own view of things and the “traditions” to which they held. This was not an honest question. They saw Him “eating” with the people in question, but asked why He was “eating AND DRINKING” with them. They saw no possible reason for being with such a motley group of people. How will Jesus respond?
THE ANSWER OF THE LORD
“ 17 When Jesus heard it, He saith unto them, They that are whole have no need of the physician, but they that are sick: I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.”
WHEN JESUS HEARD IT. Jesus was always aware of the environment around Him, and therefore He heard the question put to His disciples. Luke says, “And Jesus answering said unto them” (Lk 5:31). I suppose they did not expect an answer from the Master Himself. They had already experienced a confrontation with Him when they, upon hearing Jesus declare a man’s sins were forgiven, reasoned, “Who is this which speaketh blasphemies? Who can forgive sins, but God alone?” (Lk 5:21). It must have chaffed them deeply as the forgiven man, formerly impotent, got up before their very eyes, picked up the bed upon which he had been confined, and “went forth before them all” (Mk 2:12; Lk 5:25). Still, unbelief blinds the hearts of men, moving them to speak foolishly.
There is something else about Jesus that ought to here be noted. Jesus does respond to what He hears – whether it is good or bad. When Jesus “heard” a certain ruler from the synagogue say to Jairus, “Thy daughter is dead: why troublest thou the Master?”, He graciously responded, “Be not afraid, only believe” (Mk 5:35-36). When He “heard” words of faith coming from the mouth of a Gentile centurion He marveled and said, “I say unto you, I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel” (Lk 7:9). It is best to consider that He hears our words also, and to consider that before we speak them.
THEY THAT ARE WHOLE. “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick.” NIV There are at least two things made known in this saying. First, the concept of a Messiah had totally eluded these men. Secondly, they did not see themselves as standing in need of such an one. They had made a division in the human race that God had not made, seeing some as “whole” and some as “sick.” Of course, they considered themselves as “whole.”
If it is true that Jesus “died for all” (2 Cor 5:14), and that He was “the true Light which lighteth every man” (John 1:9), then there is really no such thing as a category of “whole” people among Adam’s race. God did not provide a “Physician” for some of mankind. Nor, indeed, were there only some among our race who required a heavenly “Physician.” When sin “entered” into the world, it pervaded the entire race, leaving no one untouched, “for that all have sinned” (Rom 5:12).
Actually, those “scribes and Pharisees” were also among those who stood in sore need of a “Physician.” Jesus was by no means suggesting they were “whole,” or that His ministry had nothing to offer them. They should be been like one of their peers, Nicodemus, who made diligent inquiry of Jesus, seeking for more of the precious balm He had to offer (John 3). I CAME NOT TO CALL THE RIGHTEOUS. “I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.” NKJV Again, Jesus is not suggesting there were some righteous people who really did not need to repent. As it is written, “There is none righteous, no not one” (Rom 3:10). In another place Jesus said to the Pharisees and scribes, “I say unto you, that likewise joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repenteth, more than over ninety and nine just persons, which need no repentance” (Luke 15:7). Do you imagine that Jesus was saying there are really “ninety-nine just persons who need no repentance?” Was His intention to teach men that there are really two categories of people that exist apart from Him – those who need to repent, and those who do not need to repent?
Some have taught that the most important work for the church is saving sinners – getting outside the “walls of the church,” so to speak. Is that what Jesus is saying? Where it is ever remotely suggested that Jesus is intended for only a part of the human race? Where are Adam’s offspring ever said to consist of the righteous and the unrighteous? Did Jesus mean to tell us that there is more joy in heaven when a sinner repents that when a person keeps the faith? Are we to believe that entering the race brings more heavenly joy than finishing it? Are the rewards really dispensed at the beginning of newness of life, or when the course of that life is completed?
The point Jesus is making is that the scribes and Pharisees saw themselves as “righteous,” with no requirement for a Savior. As such, they had no need for Jesus, and therefore He was not sitting with them. If, in fact, they were what they professed themselves to be, Jesus would have contradicted His mission to choose their company.
This word is a word of rebuke, not a doctrinal definition. Jesus is saying He has nothing to offer those who do not see their need of Him, or who look at Him as being anything but a Savior and a Physician. He is not primarily a mere Helper of human dilemmas, but the Resolver of the alienation and enmity caused by sin.
THE DIVINE MANNER OF SPEAKING
“ 15 They that are whole have no need of the physician, but they that are sick: I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.”
In this saying, we see something of the manner of Christ’s speech and ways. He would often reason with men upon the basis of what they thought of Him. In this, we will see that those who do not see Jesus as He truly is, cannot possibly live consistently with the flawed view they have chosen to embrace. Some examples of this are in order.
EXAMPLE 1. In the parable of the talents, Jesus spoke of an unfaithful steward, and of the manner in which he thought. When faced with his own unfaithfulness, that wicked steward said, “Lord, I knew thee that thou art an hard man, reaping where thou hast not sown, and gathering where thou hast not strowed: and I was afraid, and went and hid thy talent in the earth: lo, there thou hast that is thine” (Mat 25:24-25). The lord of that steward replied, “Thou wicked and slothful servant, thou knewest that I reap where I sowed not, and gather where I have not strowed: thou oughtest therefore to have put my money to the exchangers, and then at my coming I should have received mine own with usury” (Mat 25:26-27).
Was Jesus saying the Lord is, in fact, “a hard” master? Is it true that He reaps where He does not sow, and gathers where He has not “strowed,” or scattered seed? Indeed not! Rather than being “hard,” the Lord is “meek and lowly in heart.” His yoke is “easy,” and His burden is “light” (Matt 11:29-30). It is His “gentleness” that makes men great (Psa 18:35), and He is “abundant in goodness and truth” (Ex 34:6). That servant could not possibly have been more wrong. However, the Lord used his own reasoning against him, showing how just his punishment was. If, in fact, that is how this wicked servant had considered his lord, he would logically have worked the harder to please him. But he had uttered a lie, and it is not possible to favorably shape one’s life by a lie.
EXAMPLE 2. In the parable of the pounds, Jesus also spoke of an unfaithful steward. That wicked servant also buried his stewardship, reasoning much like the man who mishandled his “talent.” After hearing his miserable defense of the deed, the master replied, “Out of thine own mouth will I judge thee, thou wicked servant. Thou knewest that I was an austere man, taking up that I laid not down, and reaping that I did not sow” (Luke 19:22). Again, the idea is not that the master was really “austere,” or difficult to please. Nor, indeed, did he go about robbing various fields of what others had planted. Nevertheless, the lord of that servant spent no time explaining his real nature. Instead he judged the man by his own words – “out of thine own mouth will I judge thee.” The man’s own reasoning became the basis for his condemnation, for it was a wicked and dishonest way of thinking.
EXAMPLE 3. In His well known sermon on the mount Jesus said, “Judge not, that ye be not judged” (Matt 7:1). Many have supposed that this saying forbids any form of human assessment. This, however, it not at all the case. Jesus does forbid men to judge “according to appearance,” but also demands that they “judge righteous judgment” (John 7:24). Transgressors within the body of Christ are to “judged” by others (1 Cor 5:12). There are also times when judgment is to be made “between brethren” (1 Cor 6:5). Paul encouraged the Corinthians to “judge” what He said (1 Cor 10:15). Jesus is not, therefore, demanding that no discretionary judgments be made by His people.
The Lord elaborates on judgment, appealing to the very principle I am now expounding. “For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again” (Matt 7:2). Thus a person will be judged in precisely the way he judged others – out of his own mouth. This is further declared elsewhere. “With the merciful Thou wilt show Thyself merciful, and with the upright man Thou wilt show Thyself upright. With the pure Thou wilt show Thyself pure; and with the froward Thou wilt show Thyself unsavory” (2 Sam 22:25-27). Jesus said, “Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy” (Matt 5:7). Again He said, “Judge not, and ye shall not be judged: condemn not, and ye shall not be condemned: forgive, and ye shall be forgiven: Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom. For with the same measure that ye mete withal it shall be measured to you again” (Luke 6:37-38). Again Jesus said, “But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses” (Matt 6:15).
This, then, is a Divine manner – to deal with men in strict accord with their assessments of Him, and the manner in which they conducted themselves among men. It is this manner that moved Jesus to speak to the scribes and Pharisees as He did. He used their own flawed reasoning against them, showing that the repository of their minds was nothing more than a bag filled with holes, and a cistern that could hold no water.