Questioning Jesus and some unexpected Answers

 Read Mark 2.

As Jesus began His public ministry, He not only drew crowds of people but He also drew the attention of the Sanhedrin.  At first, the Temple leadership followed Jesus to understand who He was and what He was saying.  When the answers became clear, most of them turned on Him due the hardness of their hearts.

They knew the Scriptures, but the various teachings of famous rabbis and the imposed regulations of the Pharisees were treated with equal weight.  This created an argumentative teaching and learning style among those in positional leadership.  Jesus' teaching was based the Scriptures.  After all, that is His word.  He did not present the opinions of men but taught "with authority" (1:27).

Four of their questions are reported here.
1. "Who can forgive sins but God alone?" (v.7)
The theology of the scribes was correct.  Since sin is primarily a spiritual offense against God, only He has the power to forgive them.  Those who say Jesus never claimed to be God have never read the Bible for themselves.  Jesus' response is clear, "But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins"....(v.10).  As the angel said to Joseph,  "...you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins." (Matthew 1:21)

2. "Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?" (v.16)
The pride-filled, pious leaders behaved as holier than others due to their positions.  As a result, they pretended to have no spiritual needs.  Meanwhile, those who had been marginalized and rejected in society, such as the tax collectors, were receptive of the message of forgiveness.  You cannot fix something that is not broken.  It is when people admit their brokenness that they become willing to turn to Jesus for help.

3. "Why do John's disciples and the disciples of the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast?" (v.18)
The Pharisees paraded their spiritual disciplines to be seen by others.  Jesus was feasting instead of fasting.  He echoed the writing of Solomon.  "For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven: ....a time to weep, and a time to laugh." (Ecclesiastes 2:1 and 4a)  There would come a time for Christ followers to fast but not here.   He referred to Himself as the bridegroom.  This same analogy is used in other places in the New Testament for the Lord, including Revelation 19 at the Marriage Supper of the Lamb.

4. "Why are they doing what is not lawful on the Sabbath?" (v.24)
For hungry people to eat on the Sabbath was not against the Scriptures.  But the Pharisees saw even plucking the grain to eat was equal to working on the Sabbath.  That was their rule, not God's.  Jesus, then, took the conversation a step further by declaring that He was the Lord and in charge of even the Sabbath itself!

Mark presents Jesus as the Servant but never does this account lose focus that He is in fact God in the flesh.