Mark 2 Study Notes

2:13-14 Sea refers to the Sea of Galilee. Only Mark identified the tax collector as Levi the son of Alphaeus (cp. Mt 9:9; Lk 5:27, from which we learn that “Levi” was another name for Matthew; Mt 10:3). The toll booth was probably a local customs booth. Tax collectors were regarded as no better than thieves or Gentiles. Follow me recalls 1:17-18. This is the standard term in the Gospels for discipleship. He got up and followed him shows Levi’s response to Jesus’s call was immediate.

2:15-17 Reclining at the floor-level table on an elbow with the feet extended across the floor was the traditional dining posture. Levi invited Jesus and his disciples to a banquet that included notorious figures—sinners and tax collectors (cp. Lk 5:29). “Sinners” refers to those who deliberately violate God’s laws. By dining with such people, Jesus in some sense identified with them. Far from condoning their sins, Jesus dwelt among them because he had come to save sinners. On scribes, see note at 1:21-22. Most scribes were Pharisees. Pharisees (“separated ones”) strictly observed the written and oral law, believed in angels and resurrection, opposed Greek influence, and were esteemed by the people. They were constantly in conflict with Jesus. The righteous whom Jesus says he didn’t come to call is an ironical reference to the self-righteous Pharisees.

2:18 The question about fasting arose because the behavior of Jesus’s disciples contrasted with that of disciples who belonged to John the Baptist and the Pharisees. Fasting was only required on the Day of Atonement (Lv 16:29-30, but see Est 9:31 and Zch 8:19 for fasts originating in the postexilic period). In NT times, the Pharisees fasted on Mondays and Thursdays (Lk 18:12). It was considered an act of piety (Mt 6:16-18).

2:19-20 A wedding typically lasted seven days. Guests (lit “sons of the bridal chamber”) may refer to wedding guests or the groom’s attendants. The groom recalls John the Baptist’s designation of Jesus (Jn 3:29). Will be taken away suggests forcible removal and shifts the focus to Jesus’s coming death. Jesus stated that after he had been violently “taken away” as John the Baptist had been (1:14), his disciples would fast as John’s disciples were doing now.

2:21-22 These are Jesus’s first parables in Mark. Wineskins were made from soft, pliable goatskins. Old wineskins that already had been used to ferment wine lost their elasticity, became brittle, and would burst if used again, resulting in the loss of the containers and the new wine. Both sayings indicate the impossibility of integrating Jesus’s teachings (the new) with the religious structures and practices of traditional Judaism (the old).

2:23-24 What is not lawful does not specify what regulations were broken. The controversy was that they did this on the Sabbath, a day of rest on which no work was permitted (Ex 20:8-11; Dt 5:12-15). Harvesting and threshing grain on the Sabbath was specifically forbidden (Ex 34:21). The ripened grain places this narrative in late spring or early summer. On the Pharisees, see note at vv. 15-17.

2:25-26 Jesus defended his disciples by appealing to David’s flight from King Saul (1Sm 21:1-6). In the time of Abiathar the high priest is peculiar to Mark (cp. Mt 12:3; Lk 6:3) and is debated because the event actually happened when Abiathar’s father Ahimelech was high priest. However, Abiathar was the only high priest to escape Saul’s slaughter of the priests (1Sm 22:19-20), and he was well-known throughout David’s era. Thus Mark’s reference is a fitting approximation. The bread of the Presence refers to twelve loaves of unleavened bread placed in the temple’s holy place to represent Israel’s twelve tribes. These were replaced every Sabbath, and only priests could eat them (Lv 24:5-9). Which is not lawful is a repetition of the Pharisees’ phrase in v. 24, allowing Jesus to declare that while David’s actions were technically a violation of OT law they were not condemned.

2:27-28 Mark alone recorded Jesus’s declaration about God’s priorities regarding the Sabbath and humans. On Son of Man, see note at vv. 8-11. Lord even of the Sabbath turned the issue to Jesus’s authority and affirmed his status.