Mark 2; Reading the Bible Together

Joy:
You’re listening to the Lifting Her Voice podcast Episode Number 30.  Today we will read the second chapter of Mark together.  Four friends rip up a roof for a friend in need, Matthew is Levi, and the Pharisees are still questioning Jesus.  

speaker 0:   0:29
Welcome to the Lifting Her Voice podcast.  I’m your host, Joy Miller, and I invite you to grab your Bible and join me as we simply read God’s word together.  Some things require discipline and sometimes that’s just not easy to muster by yourself, no matter how badly you want to do it or how much you know you should.  It’s just easier to do it with a friend.  So refill your coffee or tea, get comfortable in your favorite chair and follow along as I read aloud.  I’m so glad you’re here! 

speaker 0:   1:32
I have the best husband.  He’s an enormously hard worker.  He always does his best, and he has always been a dedicated and generous provider to me and our girls.  He is my husband, my friend, my Christian brother, and now he’s my podcast editor.  Is there anything this guy can’t do?  Not a lot of people know this, but we’ve known each other since we were 12.  We grew up in Southern California and went to the same junior high.  It’s funny how God plants a seed that can draw two people back together.  We never took the easy road, and we made a lot of mistakes.  But by God’s grace, here we are, married nearly 30 years, still in love and looking forward to the next 30 with Christ right in the center.  He’s so good all the time.  

speaker 0:   2:25
Mark, Chapter 2.  When he entered Capernaum again after some days, it was reported that he was at home.  So many people gathered together that there was no more room, not even in the doorway, and he was speaking the word to them.  They came to him bringing a paralytic carried by four of them.  Since they were not able to bring him to Jesus because of the crowd, they removed the roof above him, and after digging through it, they lowered the mat on which the paralytic was lying.  Seeing their faith, Jesus told the paralytic, Son, your sins are forgiven.  But some of the scribes were sitting there questioning in their hearts: Why does he speak like this? He’s blaspheming!  Who can forgive sins but God alone?  Right away, Jesus perceived in his spirit that they were thinking like this within themselves and said to them, Why are you thinking these things in your heart?  Which is easier to say to the paralytic, Your sins are forgiven or to say get up, take your mat and walk?  But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins – he told the – I tell you, get up, take your mat and go home.  Immediately, he got up, took the man and went out in front of everyone.  As a result, they were all astounded and gave glory to God, saying, we have never seen anything like this!  Jesus went out again beside the sea. The whole crowd was coming to him and he was teaching them. Then passing by, he saw Levi, the son of Alphaeus sitting at the toll booth, and he said to him, Follow me, and he got up and followed him.  While he was reclining at the table in Levi’s house, many tax collectors and sinners were eating with Jesus and his disciples, for there were many who were following him.  When the scribes who were Pharisees saw that he was eating with sinners and tax collectors, they asked his disciples, Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?  When Jesus heard this, he told them, It is not those who are well who need a doctor, but those who are sick.  I didn’t come to call the righteous, but sinners.  Now John’s disciples and the Pharisees were fasting. People came and asked him, Why do John’s disciples and the Pharisees’ disciples fast, but your disciples do not fast?  Jesus said to them, The wedding guests cannot fast while the groom is with them, can they? As long as they have the groom with them, they cannot fast.  But the time will come when the groom will be taken away from them, and then they will fast on that day.  No one sews a patch of unshrunk  cloth on an old garment.  Otherwise, the new patch pulls away from the old cloth, and a worse tear is made.  And no one puts new wine into old wine skins.  Otherwise, the wine will burst the skins, and the wine is lost as well as the skins.  No, new wine is put into fresh wine skins.  On the Sabbath He was going through the grain fields, and his disciples began to make their way, picking some heads of grain. The Pharisees said to him, Look, why are they doing what is not lawful on the Sabbath?  He said to them, Have you never read what David and those who were with him did when he was in need and hungry – how he entered the house of God in the time of Abiathar the high priest and eat the bread of the Presence – which is not lawful for anyone to eat except the priests – and also gave some to his companions? Then he told them, The Sabbath was made for man and not man for the Sabbath.  So then, the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath.  

speaker 0:   6:44
I just found out there’s a debate regarding Verse 14 and whether or not Matthew and Levi are the same guy…who knew?  Don’t get me wrong, I love to study the Bible.  I love to go to Bible studies and tear the Word apart and learn the underlying meanings that I don’t know.  For me, it creates intimacy with the text and thereby intimacy with my God.  But folks, we have to exercise some discernment when we study God’s word, at least if our purpose is to learn to be more like Christ…and I’m assuming it is.  Want to know where I go when I’m stumbling on a head-scratcher and begin to wonder how long I’m going to stumble before I move on?  Turn with me almost all the way to the front of the Bible to a book called Deuteronomy.  Use your Table of Contents if you have to, there’s no shame in that.  Then go to Chapter 29 Verse 29. Pause the audio until you find it and then come back and we’ll read it together.  The verse reads, The hidden things belong to the Lord our God, but the revealed things belong to us and our children forever so that we may follow all the words of this law.  In other words, I have a full-time job just understanding and acting on the things he has revealed to me.  If it’s hidden from me, well, maybe it’s not that important or it’s not for me to know right now, and I have to be okay with that.  Moving on, did you recognize all the encounters in this chapter of Mark after reading them in Matthew?  I hope that this will create intimacy with God’s word for you also, as these accounts become more and more familiar to you.  Let’s pray.  Father, thank you again for your word and that we can count on it as true and use it to find our way.  Give us discernment in interpreting your words, Lord.  Make us workers approved by you.  Make us responsible to the things you have revealed to us.  In Jesus’ name, Amen.  

speaker 0:   8:57
Thank you for joining me here today.  I pray God will grow in you what has been planted and watered here.  In this time of unprecedented struggle worldwide, we can look to God for guidance and comfort.  Be sensitive to those in your circle of influence who need a word of encouragement and invite them to join us.  If you like this show, it would be great if you give it a five-star review.  Don’t forget to subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.  See you right here tomorrow.  Be well!