All Souls Saturday. Holy Priest-Martyr Theodotus, Bishop of Cyrenia (c. 321).
Great Fast Day 20.
Hebrews 10:32-38. 1 Thessalonians 4:13-17. Mark 2:14-17. John 5:24-30.
Read Mark 2:14-1
Glory to Jesus Christ! Glory forever!
As we already know, in Jesus’ time the followers of Judaism were divided into two groups, one of which encompassed the strict law-keeping orthodox Jews and another one was referred to as the so-called “people of the land” who did not observe all the rules and regulations of the Mosaic Law in their fullness. The difference was so huge that the orthodox Jews were not allowed to do anything with the unfaithful Jews whom they regarded as a common uneducated mob. They were not supposed to talk to them, to be involved in any business with them, to journey with them, to invite or visit them, and even to share a meal with them. To marry one of the people of the land would be no different than to die, since it would make a person similar to a leper who is infected with incurable disease and for that reason is cast away from the society. The orthodox Jew hardly saw any difference between an adulterer, a thief or a killer and a person who ate pork or did not wash his or her hands in a proper way. The people of the land including tax-collectors were regarded as being permanently unclean and condemned by the majority of the Jews.
It is no wonder that Jesus named himself “a doctor,” since the orthodox Jews regarded sin as something contagious and the sinners as being perpetually sick with impurity. In contrast, Jesus makes a clear distinction between a sin and a sinner. He was also not afraid to make a difference between breaking the moral law and not preserving all the aspects of the ritual law. Having said this, one would entirely lose the point by thinking that Jesus in any way supported any kind of morally sinful behaviour or even disrespect for the ritual law. On the contrary, He never hesitated to condemn a sin, but not a sinner who can be cured and saved if he or she chooses to do so.
In order to be healed, we need to admit that we are sinners and we need God’s help. According to one of the most prolific commentators of the New Testament, William Barkley: “the one person for whom Jesus can do nothing is the person who thinks himself so good that he does not need anything done for him; and the one person for whom Jesus can do everything is the person who is a sinner and knows it and who longs in his heart for a cure. To have no sense of need is to have erected a barrier between us and Jesus; to have a sense of need is to possess the passport to his presence.” In my mind, it says it all.