THE UNIQUENESS OF THE GOSPEL (Mark 2:18-22
INTRODUCTION:
The Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ is absolutely unique from all other forms of religion, and because of its uniqueness it cannot coexist with any other religious system. To change the Gospel in any way by adding or subtracting from its message is introduce error and remove the simplicity and uniqueness of its message. Paul spoke to this very thing in his letter to the Galatians and he spoke very harshly of those who would distort the Gospel. In Galatians 1:6-9 he wrote, “I am amazed that you are so quickly deserting Him who called you by the grace of Christ, for a different gospel; which is really not another; only there are some who are disturbing you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. But even if we, or an angel from heaven, should preach to you a gospel contrary to what we have preached to you, he is to be accursed! As we have said before, so I say again now, if any man is preaching to you a gospel contrary to what you received, he is to be accursed!” (Galatians 1:6–9, NASB95)[1]
The uniqueness and the exclusivity of the Gospel run completely contrary to our culture today that believes in religious diversity (or all roads lead to heaven); relativism (all truth is relative, my truth might be different than your truth, there is no absolute truth); and ecumenism (promoting unity between differing faiths, or religions). Because this is what our world believes and practices it will not tolerate anyone courageous enough to declare that Christianity is true, and all other religions are false. Where the world says that there are many ways to God, the Bible is clear that there is one God, that there is one authoritative divinely written revelation, and there is one way of salvation. Jesus Christ Himself declared this when He said in John 14:6, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.” (John 14:6b, NASB95)[2] As you read through the New Testament this truth is repeated over and over, and our passage of Scripture this morning is one of those passages that teaches the uniqueness and exclusivity of the Gospel and in this case it is against the backdrop of apostate Judaism.
From the opening verse of this chapter the Lord Jesus has had clash after clash with the scribes and the Pharisees. It began with Jesus declaring His authority to forgive sin, He then demonstrated His willingness to extend forgiveness to sinners by calling a tax collector to follow Him as a disciple, and to go as far as to share a meal with him and his friends, other tax collectors and sinners. By His actions, Jesus was showing us and the scribes and Pharisees that His message was completely and absolutely opposed to everything the scribes and the Pharisees represented. They taught a way of salvation through self-righteous effort and legalistic works, the gospel message of Jesus focused on God’s grace being granted to those believing in Jesus Christ and crying out to Him for mercy as they repented of their sins. The scribes and the Pharisees rejected Jesus’ message of repentance and forgiveness because they self-righteously believed that they did not need to repent and be forgiven. On the other hand, it was readily received by those who knew they were not righteous. Therefore, Jesus focused His ministry on being a friend of sinners.
Matthew, Mark, and Luke record this next clash between Jesus and those who questioned Him immediately after the call of Levi and the meal at his home. The chronological sequence is not accidental, and it is here right after the meal with the tax collectors and sinners that Jesus explains just how incompatible His message is with the Judaism practiced by the scribes and Pharisees, and by extension with any system of man-made religion. Let’s pray and then get into our passage.
--PRAY--
SCRIPTURE:
Turn in your Bibles to Mark 2:18-22, our passage for this morning. Please, if you are able, stand in honor of the reading of God’s Word.
Mark 2:18-22,
“John’s disciples and the Pharisees were fasting; and they came and said to Him, ‘Why do John’s disciples and the disciples of the Pharisees fast, but Your disciples do not fast?’ And Jesus said to them, ‘While the bridegroom is with them, the attendants of the bridegroom cannot fast, can they? So long as they have the bridegroom with them, they cannot fast. But the days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast in that day. No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment; otherwise the patch pulls away from it, the new from the old, and a worse tear results. No one puts new wine into old wineskins; otherwise the wine will burst the skins, and the wine is lost and the skins as well; but one puts new wine into fresh wineskins.’ ” (Mark 2:18–22, NASB95)[3]
A CHALLENGE ABOUT FASTING (Mark 2:18)
Each of the clashes that Jesus had with the religious leaders of the day revolved around questions related to His teaching or behavior. As we saw last week, whenever Jesus or His disciples did anything contrary to their rules or traditions, like eating with tax collectors and sinners, the Pharisees and scribes would protest at the breach in conduct and often their rebuke and protest would come in the form of a question. This time Jesus was not only approached by the Pharisees and scribes, but the group that came to Him also included some of the disciples of John the Baptist. Matthew in his parallel account only mentions the disciples of John that come to Jesus, Luke in his account only mentions the Pharisees, but Mark is clear that both the disciples of John and the Pharisees participated in this encounter with Jesus.
Why were disciples of John with the Pharisees? John had clearly testified that Jesus was the Messiah, and he boldly pointed his followers to Jesus. John in baptizing Jesus saw the Holy Spirit descend and rest of Jesus and heard the affirmation of God the Father. John knew and testified that Jesus was the Messiah, and he had his own clashes with the scribes and religious leaders. So why were some of his disciples joining them in questioning Jesus?
The answer to that question is not given but it most likely included a number of factors. This group in Capernaum may have not known that Jesus was the one whose coming John had foretold. Remember that John the Baptist ministered to tens of thousands of people from all over Israel, multitudes had traveled to the wilderness to hear him preach and be baptized by him. Not all of his followers would have been present on the day he baptized Jesus and declared Him to be the Messiah. Even thirty years after Jesus’ baptism, the apostle Paul encountered a group of John’s disciples who still did not know that Jesus was the one to whom John’s ministry pointed. Whatever the reason, they were there, and remember at this time John was in prison which meant he was not available to correct either their ignorance of who Jesus was or any misplaced zeal because of their loyalty to him as a prophet.
Remember also that the baptism of John was a baptism of repentance that was to signify a renewed spiritual commitment. Those who believed John’s message and were baptized by him were testifying to their desire to turn away from their sin in preparation for the coming of the Messiah. Having made this renewed commitment through baptism, they then returned home more conscientious about spiritual matters and religious observances (like fasting). Because of this some would have naturally been drawn to the scribes and the Pharisees, who outwardly appeared to take religion seriously.
Whatever the reason these disciples of John were among the religious leaders on this occasion as they came to ask Jesus a question. Both groups had a question concerning fasting, which they practiced according to the religious tradition hand down through the centuries. Both these groups were fasting and became concerned when that noticed that Jesus’ disciples were not fasting. That Jesus and His disciples had just banqueted at the house of Levi only caused greater alarm, to eat with tax collectors and sinners when custom required a fast was of great concern. It is possible that John’s disciple simply wanted to know why Jesus approved of such behavior and breach of custom on the part of His disciples. The religious leaders, however, were not simply curious but were driven by hostility and hatred, as always, their question was to be a stinging rebuke for this blatant defiance to religious custom. Furious “they came and said to Him, ‘Why do John’s disciples and the disciples of the Pharisees fast, but Your disciples do not fast?’ ” (Mark 2:18b, NASB95)[4]
For the Pharisees and scribes fasting, prayer, and charitable giving were all ways in which they showed their self-righteousness. I said “showed” because they were very public about each one using them to flaunt their piety. Jesus would confront this superficial spirituality in the Sermon on the Mount teaching that each of those things were to be done in secret to honor God and not to impress others. There was only one annual fast required in the Law of Moses and that fast was on the Day of Atonement when the people should be mourning over sin. The Old Testament mentions a number of other fasts that were voluntary, being associated with grief, sorrow over sin, and a sincere pursuit of communion with God. The Pharisees added their own superficial traditions to the law of God, and they added weekly fasting which was to be twice a week on Mondays and Thursdays. But these fasts were done out of self-righteousness and as a show for people to see how holy they were and not to honor God.
That the scribes and Pharisees had added their own man-made traditions and regulations to God’s Law is seen by their question to Jesus. How was this seen? The true source of their anger was not that Jesus’ disciples were violating God’s Law but that they were failing to observe man-made traditions and rules. They were hypocrites and legalistic, neither holiness nor love for God motivated this clash of the Pharisees with Jesus.
A CORRECTIVE RESPONSE (Mark 2:19-20)
The Pharisees asked this question and Jesus responded but not how they were expecting. He did not apologize for offending them, if anything Jesus escalated this situation in order to expose the spiritual condition of those who posed the question. For John’s disciples, Jesus’ response may have satisfied their interest in this matter, and they may have seen by His response that this was the one to whom John’s ministry pointed. For the Pharisees and scribes. Jesus’ response confronted them with their own self-righteousness, Jesus’ answer pointed out that they were the ones in opposition to God and His saving purposes. If they would have recognized Jesus as the Messiah, they would have never posed their question in the first place.
The Lord used an illustration of a wedding celebration to make His point. “And Jesus said to them, ‘While the bridegroom is with them, the attendants of the bridegroom cannot fast, can they? So long as they have the bridegroom with them, they cannot fast.’ ” (Mark 2:19, NASB95)[5] Jesus’ illustration highlighted an indisputable spiritual truth. When people fast it is for times of grief or for sorrowful reflection, but that is not the purpose of a wedding, instead it was a joyful and festive event. The attendants of the bridegroom were the groom’s closest friends, and they had the responsibility of carrying out the plans of the wedding feast. A typical Jewish wedding lasted up to seven days, and it began when the bridegroom and his attendants arrived. Because this was a joyous occasion, to fast would be inappropriate and an insult to the bride and groom. Even the Pharisees and scribes knew this because the ancient rabbinic rules forbade fasting at a wedding feast. Jesus words were very clear that for a member of the wedding party to fast at such a joyous event would have been ridiculous and rude. Equally absurd would be the disciples fasting and grieving while the Messiah was with them.
Jesus used the excitement and anticipation that accompanies a wedding to illustrate the joy and elation surrounding His own presence. Fasting in preparation for the coming of the Messiah, preparing one’s heart in repentance and grief over sin. But upon His arrival it would not be appropriate. His long-awaited arrival should be a time of rejoicing and celebration. The Old Testament never directly refers to the Messiah as a bridegroom, it does so indirectly by referring to Israel as the bride of Yahweh (God’s covenant name with Israel). Jesus expanded on that imagery by naming Himself the bridegroom in this illustration. The New Testament develops Jesus’ imagery even further by portraying the church as the bride of Christ.
Jesus’ response ended in an ominous note. He said, ““But the days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast in that day.” (Mark 2:20, NASB95)[6] Jesus was saying that the disciples’ rejoicing and celebrating would end abruptly when the groom was unexpectedly snatched away. The words translated “taken away” are translated from a verb that carries the idea of a sudden, violent removal and Jesus clearly was referring to His crucifixion. At the time, mourning and grief would be right and justified. However, their sadness and grief over Christ’s crucifixion and death would be transformed into immeasurable joy just three days later at His resurrection. In the early church and even today there are reasons to fast, but only as a voluntary act of humble dependence on God.
The disciples did not understand Christ’s predictions of His suffering and death when He spoke of them, and this is the first such reference we have in Mark’s Gospel. Jesus knew why He had come to this earth in human flesh and His substitutionary sacrifice on the cross was central to His earthly mission—it was necessary so that the forgiveness He preached could be received. The celebration that we will experience at the wedding feast of the Lamb is only possible because the bridegroom was willing to die for us, His bride.
Jesus’ point to the Pharisees and scribes was simply this: Judaism at its most devout level, which was the Judaism that the Pharisees and scribes personified was completely and utterly disconnected and alienated from God’s plan of salvation. They were mourning and fasting, when they should have been rejoicing and celebrating, all because they had rejected Jesus the Savior and Messiah, and still clung to their own rules and regulations to earn salvation. Because of this they had nothing in common with Jesus Christ. They were consumed with their self-righteousness, Jesus offered grace, mercy, and forgiveness. They denied they were sinners in need of repentance and forgiveness. They clung to their external ceremony and tradition; Jesus offered a transformed heart. They loved the applause of men; Jesus offered the approval of God. They had dead ritual; Jesus offered eternal life. They promoted a system; Jesus provided salvation.
SOME CLARIFYING PARABLES (Mark 2:21-22)
Jesus did not end with His wedding feast illustration but went on to give two more parables to illustrate His point of the uniqueness of the Gospel. The message of salvation is completely incompatible with any false religion or system that promotes a works-righteousness, and this included the apostate Judaism of Jesus’ day.
Jesus’ first parable had to do with patching a tear in an old garment. Jesus explained, “No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment; otherwise the patch pulls away from it, the new from the old, and a worse tear results.” (Mark 2:21, NASB95)[7] In other words, if you use a new piece of cloth that has not been washed to fix a tear in a old tunic, when the new cloth gets wet it is going to shrink and it will pull as it shrinks and make a worse tear than before it was patched. Jesus’ point in this parable was that His gospel of repentance and forgiveness of sin could not be added to or patched onto the legalistic religion of the Pharisees and scribes. The true gospel cannot be successfully attached to the garment of superficial traditionalism worn by the scribes and Pharisees, the two are incompatible. The apostate Judaism of Jesus’ day was like tattered garments, and they were beyond repair. Jesus did not come with a message to patch up their old system, He came to totally replace it.
As we look at this first parable it is important to note that the old garment Jesus refers to is not the Old Testament, nor is it the Law of Moses. Jesus did not come to destroy the Law, but to fulfill it. The old garment that Jesus refers to is the rabbinic stipulations and rituals, and rules that the Pharisees had added to God’s Law to such a degree that Judaism had become no more than keeping all the extra-biblical ritual, rules, and traditions to earn salvation rather than honoring the divine requirements of God’s Word. The old garment then is the legalistic system of rabbinic tradition that had obscured the true Law of God. Jesus was not interested in mending the religion of the Pharisees. Jesus’ message of the good news of salvation by grace through faith in Him could never be combined with the works-righteousness of apostate Judaism.
Jesus’ second parable had to do with wine making and carried with it the same message. Jesus said, “No one puts new wine into old wineskins; otherwise the wine will burst the skins, and the wine is lost and the skins as well; but one puts new wine into fresh wineskins.” (Mark 2:22, NASB95)[8] Just as patching an old garment with unshrunk cloth would make it worse, putting new wine into old wineskins would destroy them. Wine in Israel was stored in containers made from animal skin. Most often goat skin. The hide of the animal had to be removed in such a way that it would be uncut except at the legs and the neck. The leg openings would then be sealed or tied off and the neck would be used as a spout, to either pour wine out or put new wine in. As the new wine would begin its natural fermentation process it would release gas causing the leather skins to expand. An old wine skin, having lost its elasticity, could break during this process of fermentation. If this happened both the wine and the skins are destroyed. To avoid this from happening new wine was always put in fresh wine skins—containers that had the strength and flexibility to hold up as the wine fermented.
Like the first parable, which Jesus used to demonstrate that the true gospel cannot be attached to a false system of works-righteousness, this parable demonstrates that the legalism of Judaism cannot contain the message of salvation by grace. In the same way that new wine was incompatible with old wineskins, the true gospel is contrary and opposed to any system of salvation by works. Jesus’ point was that the good news of salvation could not be poured into the brittle, cracked wineskins of apostate Judaism any more than new wine could be poured into old wineskins. The gospel of salvation by grace through faith in Jesus Christ is not compatible with any man-made or demonic religion.
CONCLUSION:
These two parables if taken together illustrate the uniqueness and exclusivity of the Gospel, and the tragedy that results from trying to mix it or make it a part of a false religious system. They are incompatible and only one is the truth, and Scripture is clear that it is the gospel of salvation through grace alone by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and His death and resurrection on our behalf. Anything else is a false gospel that leads not to heaven, but to hell. We live in a world where relativism reigns, absolute truth is unheard of in our society, whatever you believe is your truth, that is relativism. But as Christians we know that there is an absolute truth that tells us that everyone will have to stand before the Creator God and give an account for his life unless we have repented and believed the message of salvation by grace through faith alone. There is no other gospel and as believers we need to guard the treasure that has been entrusted to us as Paul instructed Timothy in our Scripture reading this morning. We need to make sure that it is unstained and undefiled when we pass it on to the next generation. May we never have to hear the words of Paul that he wrote to the Galatians, “I am amazed that you are so quickly deserting Him who called you by the grace of Christ, for a different gospel; which is really not another; only there are some who are disturbing you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. But even if we, or an angel from heaven, should preach to you a gospel contrary to what we have preached to you, he is to be accursed! As we have said before, so I say again now, if any man is preaching to you a gospel contrary to what you received, he is to be accursed!” (Galatians 1:6–9, NASB95)[9] May we never hear those words but faithfully guard the treasure of the undefiled gospel that has been entrusted to us.
[1]New American Standard Bible: 1995 update. (1995). La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation.
[2]New American Standard Bible: 1995 update. (1995). La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation.
[3]New American Standard Bible: 1995 update. (1995). La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation.
[4]New American Standard Bible: 1995 update. (1995). La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation.
[5]New American Standard Bible: 1995 update. (1995). La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation.
[6]New American Standard Bible: 1995 update. (1995). La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation.
[7]New American Standard Bible: 1995 update. (1995). La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation.
[8]New American Standard Bible: 1995 update. (1995). La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation.
[9]New American Standard Bible: 1995 update. (1995). La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation.