Mark 2:13-22 - Homilies By R. Green

Fasting.

"By the sea side" the great Teacher is heard by a listening multitude. Then passing near "the place of toll, his eye fell upon Levi, son of Alphseus," whose service he imperatively claims. Levi, already called to be a disciple, now called to be an apostle, with much sacrifice arises to follow his Lord and Master to the end, so teaching for all future apostles and servants that the claims of the kingdom of Heaven stand first in importance, and must first be met. The simple, brief, authoritative command, "Follow me," may seem to need an exposition and expansion. It is the consummation, doubtless, of many words of instruction; and, perhaps, the outward call corresponds to an inward conviction of duty and an inward preparedness for the sacrifice. The story of compliance is almost as brief as that of the call, "And he arose and followed him. But this does not shut out the possibility of the calm adjustment by Levi of his affairs, as would be necessary before setting out upon a new course of life. Only the impetuous need hurry lest they should change their minds. Then, as it would seem in commemoration of the great change, when the new name Matthew may have been assumed, he, called like Elisha, to the sacred office, like him he makes his feast to his neighbors—his fellow tax-gatherers and friends—and his sacrifice to his God. And Jesus and his disciples are there. Then the murmuring voice of "the scribes of the Pharisees" must needs accuse him to his disciples: "He eateth and drinketh with publicans and sinners." Ah, happily for them and us he doth. He who did not always stoop to vindicate his ways, or tell wherefore or by "what authority" he did such and such things, now, however, vouchsafes to declare his reason. First parabolically: "The ' whole have no need of a physician, but they that are sick.' If these are the sick and faulty, as your words imply, they indeed need me." But the word applies itself. The really "sick" may be the carping complainers. Then, more precisely, he declares his mission: "' I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.' My dealings are with sinners. How can I reach them if I avoid them?" Let every self-conscious sinner who, bruised and sick, desires healing, hear this word of the Lord, the Lord who comes to "call" and to "eat with" the sinner that he may "heal" him. For all time he is to be known as the Seeker of the sinner and the Healer of the sick. But other murmurers are at hand. The feasting of Jesus and his disciples contrasts with the sadness and fasting of John—then in prison—and his disciples, now left alone; and with the punctilious fasting of the Pharisees. How is this? The reply from the lips of the Master is given in three parables, of which the first only, and but partially, is explained. The reply is not temporal and local merely, relating solely to the circumstances of that hour. The true parable has always within it a principle of universal application. The principle here embodied is—

THE TRUE PURPOSE OF FASTING . This may be defined to be the honest expression of conditions proper to be represented by fasting. "There is a time to fast, and a time to feast;" and the outward ordinance must correspond with the inward spirit. The symbols of sorrow must not be assumed when the heart is merry. The song, not the sackcloth; the wine of joy, not the ashes,—is the more becoming. It is a lesson on congruity , or the true harmony or fitness of things ; and the lesson is enforced by three parables.

1 . "Can the sons of the bridechamber fast while the bridegroom is with them?" These words say, as plainly as words can," Men must fast when there is occasion to fast." Is any sad? let the signs of sorrow appear; but if the heart within is merry, let him declare it in song. "Is any cheerful? let him sing praise." Fasting by order, whatever may be the state of the heart at the time, is not in accordance with Christ's teaching. It is not in harmony with itself. It becomes a species of hypocrisy. The day of loneliness and exposure and sadness will come; "and then will they fast in that day."

2 . The patch upon the "old garment," while confirming the former lesson, declares the uselessness of patching up the old, dry, effete formalism with a piece of new, earnest, vigorous life. This would make the faults all the more obvious. Christ's work was not a patch upon the old; it was a new garment. How often men seem to be sewing a patch of Christian propriety on a faulty life—a mere mending of the torn and useless; and how impressively does this teach the need of a new garment altogether—the white robe of righteousness, an entire change of heart and life, a new birth!

3 . But yet more forcibly Christ would teach by another parable the need there was for outward ordinances suited to the new spirit which he came to infuse. The fervent, vital evangelical spirit would certainly rend the dry, hard formalities of legalism. The words seem to refer to the more elastic organization which the expansive spirit would require. As to-day, when a new spirit enters the Churches, it demands not the rigid, unyielding methods of the past, but new ones. Even the good and useful that have long ministered to the spiritual comfort and joy of the fathers, must give place to others which the fresh, vigorous, inventive life of the children demands. "New skins" for "new wine." Yet they must be skins—that which is suitable to the holding of wine that it may be preserved. If changes be made in organizations or methods to suit the constantly fermenting times, they must be such as will conserve the true spirit of devotion and Christian brotherhood. What a striking comment on these words is found in the employment, by many even of the most rigid Churches in our day, of methods which the new spirit within them has demanded! Each may learn for himself:

Verse 23-3:6

The Lord and the law of the sabbath.

Jesus passed "through the cornfields," in the course of fulfilling his great mission of preaching, healing and blessing. His "disciples began as they went" to pluck the ears of corn growing in abundance and probably lying across their path. It was the day of delights, a day hallowed and blessed. The plentifulness of the Divine beneficence, the quiet of the sabbath calm, the glow of the bright light, would bring near to these self-sacrificing disciples thoughts of him who now most truly must provide for them their daily bread, the firstfruits of whose care they now gather. Gladly the lynx-eyed Pharisees arrest the great Teacher with their "Why do they on the sabbath day that which is not lawful?" The direct reply is reserved, and the inquirers thrown back upon themselves and their carelessness in reading "what David did when he had need." The reply rests upon this word "need," and the following word "bungled," as in the second instance it rests upon "to do good, and to save a life." And we are reminded at once of the two classes of circumstances in which, as we have been accustomed to hear, the sabbath form may be broken without infringing the sabbath law, yea, even when that is done which at other times "it is not lawful" to do, viz. in works of necessity and works of charity. But underlying and overarching the whole is the law which the "Lord of the sabbath" now utters, a law wider in its application than the many details of sabbath observance—"The sabbath was made for man."

I. Let us first learn that THE SABBATH WAS MADE . It was a Divine institution. It was ordained of God. It was no mere accident that led men to mark the sabbath day with a special sanctity. From the many days, each laden with blessing, it pleased God to choose each seventh day for rest. To the toil-worn and weary how great an addition of blessing is this! The sabbath was not an imposition. It was designed to ease the heavily laden; to give time for song; to brighten the house by the presence of the father, who from morn till night was torn from his family by the necessities of labour; to minister to the demands of the higher nature; to bring all into closer alliance with things spiritual, by reflection and by worship. Truly this is to crowd it with blessing. It was not to be a dull day, for it was blessed; it was not to be a common day, for it was hallowed.

II. BUT THE SABBATH WHICH WAS MADE , WAS MADE FOR MAN , It was made in his interests, to promote his weal. Therefore, anything that can prove itself to be "for man"—for man at large—is in harmony with sabbath law and the sabbath spirit. And the strictest sabbath regulations must break down in presence of human necessities, provided they are indeed and of a truth necessities. Yea, the need of the ox or ass must be considered, whether it be the need of rest or deliverance from the pit. It is "lawful to do good," it is lawful "to save life," it is lawful to feed the hungry—even the sacred temple bread yielding service to needy men. The highest interest to be considered is the interest of human life. All must be sacrificed to it. The temple service itself must be stayed if the priest be needed to pluck one out of fire.

III. SINCE IT IS MADE FOR MAN , HE WHO , BEING SON OF ALL , IS LORD OF ALL , IS OF NECESSITY AND RIGHT LORD OF MAN 'S SABBATH . Thus this great gift, the Divine preservation of which was always a sign of blessing, and the removal of which a sign of cursing,—this Lord's day and man's day, by the Lord's appointment and ordination, must, if men would be wise, be observed in such a way as to promote the highest interests of men, as they are interpreted by him who is Lord of them and Lord of their day. Oh, how well were it if the tight-laced, and the loose-laced also, would consider this great law, and make the sabbath a day over which its true Lord rules! Learn the sin of him who breaks the sabbath and who teaches men so.

1 . He sins against God who made it to be a sabbath.

2 . And he sins against man who needs it to be a sabbath, and for whom it was made. Is it a sabbath if the son of toil, after six long days of labour, is compelled to serve a seventh? This is contrary to the Law of the Lord. Far less is it a sabbath if all opportunities for religious worship, for spiritual refreshment, for family fellowship, are sacrificed; and still less if the day be spent in merely worldly amusements and pleasures; and least of all if it be devoted to evil. Then the day, designed for the good of body and soul, is spent to the injury or ruin of both. And so the Lord's day becomes the devil's day.—G.