Jesus is certainly different. People don’t quite know how to react to him.
Jesus calls Matthew
Matthew 9:9-13, Mark 2:13-17, Luke 5:27-32
The question about fasting
Matthew 9:14-17, Mark 2:18-22, Luke 5:33-39
The healing at the pool
John 5:1-9
The Jews’ displeasure
John 5:10-18
Jesus’ response
John 5:19-23
He speaks of his authority
John 5:24-29
His witnesses
John 5:30-47
As Jesus calls Matthew (or Levi) he takes another step outside what the teachers of the law would deem as acceptable. If we think back to Nehemiah and Ezra, we’ll remember that the Jews were determined to keep themselves pure for God by being exclusive. This mindset is alive and well in Jesus’ Galilee, and devout Jews would separate themselves from “sinners.” A tax collector was by definition a collaborator with Gentiles, and so one to be avoided. For Jesus to call one into his inner circle was definitely a transgression. Another black mark.
But when they challenge Jesus over the company he keeps, he makes the most brilliant answer. Where do you find a doctor? In the middle of sick people, of course, not keeping company with the healthy. he goes on to talk about his ministry as something new, talking about putting new wine in new wineskins. That’s not exactly a polite reply, it’s putting himself on a collision course with the powers that be - calling them old, inflexible and worn out. Dangerous.
Then we read a story of another healing, which gives the pharisees a chance to attack Jesus. Over the sabbath. They think they’ve got him on the question of the sabbath, and they return to it like a dog to a bone. Having healed a paralyzed man, he is spotted by the pharisees carrying his mat on the sabbath - doing work, which is forbidden. Therefore, the man who healed him and told him to pick up his mat can’t be from God, because if he was, he wouldn’t have told the man to break the sabbath.
Jesus replies that God is working, even on the sabbath, which infuriates them. How can God be breaking his own law?? And how can this man make himself equal with God? Jesus replies by insisting that he really is from God, and calling witnesses to prove his case - John the Baptist, Moses and God himself. This is the first of many detailed religious controversies that John records, all of which centre around Jesus’ authority.
Jesus calls Matthew
Matthew 9:9-13, Mark 2:13-17, Luke 5:27-32
The question about fasting
Matthew 9:14-17, Mark 2:18-22, Luke 5:33-39
The healing at the pool
John 5:1-9
The Jews’ displeasure
John 5:10-18
Jesus’ response
John 5:19-23
He speaks of his authority
John 5:24-29
His witnesses
John 5:30-47
As Jesus calls Matthew (or Levi) he takes another step outside what the teachers of the law would deem as acceptable. If we think back to Nehemiah and Ezra, we’ll remember that the Jews were determined to keep themselves pure for God by being exclusive. This mindset is alive and well in Jesus’ Galilee, and devout Jews would separate themselves from “sinners.” A tax collector was by definition a collaborator with Gentiles, and so one to be avoided. For Jesus to call one into his inner circle was definitely a transgression. Another black mark.
But when they challenge Jesus over the company he keeps, he makes the most brilliant answer. Where do you find a doctor? In the middle of sick people, of course, not keeping company with the healthy. he goes on to talk about his ministry as something new, talking about putting new wine in new wineskins. That’s not exactly a polite reply, it’s putting himself on a collision course with the powers that be - calling them old, inflexible and worn out. Dangerous.
Then we read a story of another healing, which gives the pharisees a chance to attack Jesus. Over the sabbath. They think they’ve got him on the question of the sabbath, and they return to it like a dog to a bone. Having healed a paralyzed man, he is spotted by the pharisees carrying his mat on the sabbath - doing work, which is forbidden. Therefore, the man who healed him and told him to pick up his mat can’t be from God, because if he was, he wouldn’t have told the man to break the sabbath.
Jesus replies that God is working, even on the sabbath, which infuriates them. How can God be breaking his own law?? And how can this man make himself equal with God? Jesus replies by insisting that he really is from God, and calling witnesses to prove his case - John the Baptist, Moses and God himself. This is the first of many detailed religious controversies that John records, all of which centre around Jesus’ authority.
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