Hello, and welcome to the STC podcast. My name is Casey Strine, I’m a member of the STC staff, and I’m excited to be sharing a few of my reflections on the Gospel of Mark with you this week.

This week we will be looking at materials from chapters 1, 2, 3, and 4 of the Gospel according to Mark. The Gospel of Mark is generally known as a fast moving story where Jesus hardly finishes doing one thing before he has started the next. Today, as we move into chapter 2 of Mark, we see Jesus return to Capernaum where he began his ministry and where, for the first time, we see Jesus come into conflict with the religious authorities of the day.

REFLECTION:

Mark tells us that Jesus returns to Capernaum, where he first healed a person in the synagogue. This time, Jesus doesn’t even get the chance to go to the synagogue, but the people come to the house where he is as soon as they know he is in town. Jesus, you might say, is getting the rock star treatment by the people, who are behaving a bit like paparazzi.

Indeed, there are so many people crowded around that no one can get to the front door, let alone through it. Some friends of a paralysed man absolutely committed to getting Jesus to heal their friend are not deterred by the situation. They take radical action, digging a hole through the roof of the house to lower down their friend. Jesus is moved by their determination and faith, so he heals their paralysed friend.

This is not what Mark is most interested in, however. Instead, the most important part of the story is that the scribes—a group of highly educated Jews with a great deal of influence—were angered by Jesus suggesting that he could forgive sins.

Likewise, the story of Jesus calling Levi the tax collector—the man known elsewhere as Matthew, author of another one of the gospels—isn’t really about Levi, or even about the tax collectors and sinners who are dining with Jesus at his house. The story is mostly concerned with the scribes of the Pharisees who are upset by Jesus keeping this company.

You may know that Jesus was often accused of keeping the wrong company, most of all by the religious authorities of his day. Jesus was clear and consistent in his response to such accusations: he was not there for those who thought they had things figured out, but for those who knew that they needed help. The first step in following Jesus has always been, and probably will always be, recognizing that you don’t have all of life figured out correctly.

No matter how familiar that concept may be to us, it can often be hard to live in this way. For most of us listening to this podcast, it is easy to think we have a pretty good handle on how to live life. There is rather a lot of evidence for this view: the large majority of people at STC or listening to this podcast are doing pretty well in school, work, or family life. By nature of the fact you’re listening to a podcast, you probably have a computer or tablet, perhaps a smart phone, and enough free time to listen to the podcast. If you’re listening to a podcast, you probably also have more education than most of the world. By the standards of the wider world, we’re all relatively wealthy, well educated, and have access to loads of opportunities. Do we think of ourselves as sick and in need of a cure most days? Maybe not.

And yet, if we’re being honest, we know our lives aren’t right most days. We’re aware of our faults and failures. We are precisely those people that Jesus came to call and to heal. As we go about our lives this Tuesday, let’s all attempt to live as people aware of shortcomings and thankful that God in Jesus has come to deal with them.

PRAYER:

Lord, I am not worthy that you should enter under my roof, but only say the word and my soul shall be healed. Keep me humble and aware of my need for you this day. Amen.

READING: Mark 2:1-17

A few days later, when Jesus again entered Capernaum,