THE GOSPEL OF MARK chapter 2 from Joyce Voysey

Jesus at Capernaum (his home town?): he was ‘in the house’ - whose house?  Possibly Peter’s.  He could have been on the verandah where there was room for the crowd which overflowed into the courtyard, around the door and out into the street.  (Dummelow)

Jesus preached to them.  He healed the man of palsy after his friends had let him down through the roof.  Healing through the destruction of sin.  What were his sins?  Possibly those which confront all of us: belief of life in matter; belief in existence separate from Spirit; belief of sensation in matter; all the things the scientific statement of being in Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy handles. See p. 468:8- 15.                                                          

Multitudes found him at the seaside.  Levi becomes a follower.  This man, Levi, is called Matthew in the Gospel of Matthew.  He was a Customs man and possibly had contact with people who imported and exported goods (there was trade with Egypt and Damascus), hence he presented a means of spreading the Word to other countries perhaps.  He was possibly employed by Herod.    As a Publican (tax collector) he was employed by the Romans, so was hated by the Jews.  Some doubt if he is the writer of the Gospel of Matthew.  I like to think he was, because he writes like an eyewitness.  He is said to have copied Mark, but he has so much that is not in Mark, e.g. The Sermon on the Mount.

Scholars say that Matthew, as a tax collector, couldn’t have written the gospel in the Greek language, or even translated it from Hebrew.  The reasoning is that the Greek does not read as having been translated from another language.  BUT Matthew had been a student of the Christ, and don’t we see people transformed by Christian Science and able to speak in public, write for periodicals, etc. etc?

So Jesus eats at Matthew’s house.  Jesus and his disciples, plus publicans and sinners, were there.  Scribes and Pharisees were not invited, but came out of curiosity to see and condemn Jesus’ fraternising with publicans and sinners (the meal being public affair), whereas these were the very people Jesus wished to meet with.  They needed uplifting.

Nit-picking of the scribes and Pharisees:  I have been reading all the laws Moses gave them to worry about and fuss over.  Wow!  No wonder they were confused about what was right.  “How is it that he eateth and drinketh with publicans and sinners?”  Surely, they were questioning.

CHAPTER 3

Another of Moses’ laws has the scribes and Pharisees going round in circles when Jesus is confronted with a man with a withered hand.  Would he heal him on the Sabbath day?  Is that against Moses’ law?  The restrictive thinking and teaching of the Pharisees was possibly the cause of the withering of the man's hand.  Jesus was angry with them for their lack of compassion, their lack of brotherly love.  Jesus loved the man and healed him.  I figure this is healing number 5 (+ many others healed) in the book of Mark.

The Pharisees now took counsel with Herodians.  Who were the Herodians?  The Peloubet Bible Dictionary has: Canon Cook describes these persons as “that party among the Jews who were supporters of the Herodian family as the last hope of retaining for the Jews a fragment of national government, as distinguished from absolute dependency upon Rome as a province of the empire.”

Herod Family: Though of Idumean origin, and thus alien by race, this family was Jewish in faith.  Herod the Great was appointed procurator of Judea by Julius Caesar, BC 47.  The Bible Dictionary is interesting on him.  It looks like the job was an hereditary one, and, of course, not popular with the ordinary Jews.

Repeating: The Pharisees now took counsel with the Herodians!  They were desperate!