Mark 2

Expository Notes of Dr. Thomas Constable - Mark 2:15-16

Eating a meal together meant something in Jesus’ world that it does not mean today in the West. Hospitality was a sacred duty in the ancient Near East. When someone invited someone else to eat with him, he was extending a pledge of loyalty and protection to that person. To accept an invitation to dinner implied a willingness to become a close friend of the host. Jesus’ acceptance of table fellowship with sinners (i.e., outcasts) conveyed by action the forgiveness that He gave verbally in Mark... read more

Thomas Constable

Expository Notes of Dr. Thomas Constable - Mark 2:17

Self-righteous people such as these Pharisees saw no need for true righteousness because they viewed themselves as righteous. However the people the Pharisees labeled "sinners" represented real sinners, those lacking righteousness. Jesus said He spent time with sinners because they were the people who felt a need for what He had to offer, namely, spiritual healing. He was evidently modifying a well-known proverb. Jesus was using the terms "righteous" and "sinners" ironically here."It would be... read more

Thomas Constable

Expository Notes of Dr. Thomas Constable - Mark 2:18

We do not know why John the Baptist’s disciples were fasting. Perhaps it was because he was then in prison or as an expression of repentance designed to hasten the coming of the kingdom. The Pharisees fasted twice a week, Mondays and Thursdays (cf. Luke 18:12). [Note: Wessel, p. 636.] The feast in Levi’s house may have occurred on one of these days. read more

Thomas Constable

Expository Notes of Dr. Thomas Constable - Mark 2:18-22

3. The religious leaders’ question about fasting 2:18-22 (cf. Matthew 9:14-17; Luke 5:33-39)The third objection the religious leaders voiced arose from the failure of Jesus’ disciples to observe the traditional, not Scriptural, fast days that the Pharisees observed (cf. Leviticus 16:29). Jesus’ association with tax gatherers and sinners seemed to them to result in the neglect of devout practices. read more

Thomas Constable

Expository Notes of Dr. Thomas Constable - Mark 2:19-20

Jesus responded with a parable in which He is the bridegroom and His disciples are the friends of the bridegroom (cf. John 3:29). Jesus had come to unite with Israel, His bride, as her Messiah. The figure of Messiah as a bridegroom may have been unknown among the Jews at this time. [Note: See Lane, p. 110.] The wedding banquet seemed just a short time away. The prophets said it would occur after Messiah’s death and resurrection and after the Tribulation. The bridegroom would have to leave His... read more

Thomas Constable

Expository Notes of Dr. Thomas Constable - Mark 2:21-22

Two more parables clarified why fasting was inappropriate for Jesus’ disciples then. Not only was the timing wrong, but the messianic age that Jesus would introduce would render the old traditional forms of Judaism obsolete. Judaism had become old, and Jesus was going to set up a new form of God’s kingdom on earth that would be similar to a new garment (cf. Hebrews 8:13), the messianic kingdom.A garment symbolized the covering of man’s sinful condition in Old Testament usage (e.g., Genesis... read more

Thomas Constable

Expository Notes of Dr. Thomas Constable - Mark 2:23-24

Jesus’ disciples did something that the Mosaic Law permitted when they plucked the ears of wheat or barley (Deuteronomy 23:25). However by doing it on a Sabbath day they violated a traditional Pharisaic interpretation of the law. The Pharisees taught that to do what the disciples did constituted reaping, threshing, and winnowing, and that was forbidden work on the Sabbath (Exodus 20:10). [Note: Mishnah Shabbath 7:2.] read more

Thomas Constable

Expository Notes of Dr. Thomas Constable - Mark 2:23-28

Picking grain on the Sabbath 2:23-28 (cf. Matthew 12:1-8; Luke 6:1-5) read more

Thomas Constable

Expository Notes of Dr. Thomas Constable - Mark 2:25-26

The incident Jesus referred to is in 1 Samuel 21:1-6. Mark was the only evangelist to mention that Abiathar was the high priest then. This seemingly contradicts the Old Testament since Ahimelech, the father or Abiathar, was the high priest then according to the writer of 1 Samuel. The best solution to this problem seems to be that Jesus referred to Abiathar because he was the better-known priest during David’s reign. The phrase "in the time of" or "in the days of" probably means "during the... read more

Thomas Constable

Expository Notes of Dr. Thomas Constable - Mark 2:27-28

The Pharisees made the Sabbath a strait jacket that inhibited the Jews, though the rabbis conceded that some activities superceded Sabbath observance. [Note: Edersheim, 2:57, 60-61.] Jesus pointed out that God gave the Sabbath as a good gift. He designed it to free His people from ceaseless labor and to give them rest. Sabbath observance had to contain enough elasticity to assure the promotion of human welfare. Jesus’ point was the following."Since the Sabbath was made for man, He who is man’s... read more

Expository Notes of Dr. Thomas Constable - Mark 2:15-16

Expository Notes of Dr. Thomas Constable - Mark 2:17

Expository Notes of Dr. Thomas Constable - Mark 2:18

Expository Notes of Dr. Thomas Constable - Mark 2:18-22

Expository Notes of Dr. Thomas Constable - Mark 2:19-20

Expository Notes of Dr. Thomas Constable - Mark 2:21-22

Expository Notes of Dr. Thomas Constable - Mark 2:23-24

Expository Notes of Dr. Thomas Constable - Mark 2:23-28

Expository Notes of Dr. Thomas Constable - Mark 2:25-26

Expository Notes of Dr. Thomas Constable - Mark 2:27-28

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