Day 8: Mark 2

Mark starts off his Gospel in chapter one with some feel good stories about Jesus. He gets baptized, he’s healing people, casting out demons, preaching the Good News of the Kingdom of God. People are starting to get excited about the possibilities of this young rabbi from Nazareth. Could this be the Messiah they’ve all been waiting for?

But then every story in chapter two makes someone mad. Jesus claims the right to forgive sins(which only God can do), he hangs out with all sorts of “sinners,” he and his disciples don’t fast or follow all the rules of the Sabbath like good, religious men should. Controversy is already starting to pop up.

But it’s not just controversy for controversy’s sake. Jesus is showing that all the religious rules and traditions are not accomplishing anything. They’re not bringing the lost and hurting to God, in fact, they’re making it harder for the sinner to be saved.

And that it was Jesus has come to abolish. That’s the Good News of the Kingdom of God. Salvation is for everyone. It’s not just for those few extra pious elite. It’s not just for those who seem to have it all together. Salvation is not something that you can earn by memorizing more Scripture than anyone else. It is the free gift of God through his son Jesus Christ.

We need to remember that. Churches can become more and more religious and less and less like Jesus. Christianity is not a set of rules that we have to follow. That doesn’t work, the Israelites proved that to us throughout their entire history. You don’t have to look a certain way, or hang out with the right crowd, or follow all of our man made traditions to get into heaven. And nobody should have to do any of that to feel welcome at our churches. We should be a place for those who know they are sinners, not those who think they are righteous.