Mark 2 - Twisted Religion

To truly experience the peace that Jesus offers, you must truly know who He claims to be.

Read / Listen to the chapter:

v1-12 - The people throng around Jesus like He's a rock star, and the paralytic is famously lowered down for Jesus to heal.
- When Jesus forgives the man's sins, it opens a rift between Jesus and the establishment (Pharisees, religious professors, etc) that will widen and get deeper until they hang Jesus on the cross.
v13-17 - The rift between Jesus and the establishment gets worse as the most hated sinners in society end up being the people most attracted to Jesus' teaching.
v18-22 - The establishment is offended that Jesus doesn't follow their arbitrary fasting rituals.
v23-28 - Jesus runs afoul of the establishment's holy grail of man made rule keeping: the Sabbath.

Notice that every section of this chapter involves the Pharisees making an accusation against Jesus, and each time they are technically correct:

Only God has the authority to forgive sins;
It is not healthy for a Godly person to surround himself with people living overtly sinful lifestyles;
Fasting can be a worthwhile Spiritual Discipline, although it's never actually universally commanded by God in the Bible;
The Sabbath should be a day when God's people rest from working.

The problem, of course, is that the establishment completely misses who Jesus is:

Jesus is claiming to be God when He forgives the man's sins;
Jesus came to call sinners to forgiveness;
Jesus, who is Immanuel (God with us), supersedes whatever religious practices people follow to bring themselves closer to God;
Jesus, the Son of Man, is Lord even of the most holiest day of the week.

Ultimately, the establishment missed out on the peace Jesus came to offer them because they twisted good theology into self centered religion.

Don't make their mistake. Be sure you know Jesus for who He actually is, not who the world often twists Him into.

ACKNOWLEDGE WHO GOD IS: Our Father, who can forgive our sins;
ALIGN YOUR LIFE WITH GOD'S WILL: Pray for the courage to follow Jesus as Mathew did (v14)
ASK GOD FOR WHAT YOU NEED: