The Life of Christ in the Synoptic Gospels
FEASTING AND FASTING
The Life of Christ in the Synoptic Gospels
FEASTING AND FASTING
Lesson Plan:
1. Call of Matthew the Publican (vs 13, 14)
2. Matthew Brings His Former Companions to Christ (vs 15, 17)
3. Form of Religion vs. Its Spirit (vs 18-20)
4. New Methods for New Times? (vs 21, 22)
5. Conclusion
Lesson Setting:
Time: A.D. 28. Soon after the last lesson.
Place: Near Capernaum, by the Sea of Galilee, on one of the great caravan routes from Damascus to Egypt.
Place in the Life of Christ: Near the middle of His ministry.
Scripture Reading: Mark 2:13, 14
1. Call of Matthew the Publican
The new stage was the choosing of one of His special disciples, one who was to be with Him as friend and pupil, from the ranks of the despised and hated publicans, regarded as traitors by the Jews.
v 13 ... "And he went forth again," from the city of Capernaum, where he had been teaching and healing.
v 13 ... "By the sea side." He probably went to the northwest of the city toward the mouth of the Jordan. Here He had larger room for teaching than in the city.
v 13 ... "All the multitude resorted unto Him, and He taught," i.e., by the tense of the original. The multitude kept coming to Him, and He kept teaching them. He taught the same Gospel – good tidings to the poor, release to the captives, sight to the blind, liberty to those broken by calamity.
v 14 ... "And as he passed by," moving along the shore. Even in moving from place to place the Lord was on the watch for opportunities.
v 14 ... "He saw Levi." Levi was his name at the time of his call. He is elsewhere called Matthew. Either he had originally two names, as was not uncommon among the Jews, according to Edersheim; or more likely he received the name Matthew, "the gift of Jehovah," after he became a disciple, as Simon received the name of Peter. The new name, as in the case of Peter, expressed his new life, as Jacob, "the supplanter," was changed with his changed character to Israel, "a prince of God." So one of the rewards of the conqueror is a new name, the name of God and of the holy city (Rev. 3:12).
v 14 ... "Son of Alphaeus," of whom nothing is known.
v 14 ... "Sitting at the receipt of custom," "at the place of toll." Toll house, or custom house, for the collection of the taxes on fish, or duties on the merchandise which passed along the great roads to Jerusalem, Tyre, and Damascus, and the East, which centered at Capernaum. Cicero speaks of the toll houses erected by the publicans, "at the approaches to bridges, at the termination of roads, or in the harbors," for the convenience of collection. It is common in Oriental towns to find, just inside of the gateway at the entrance to the town, a sentinel standing on guard before a large open room, in which is seated the collector of the public revenue in company with other public officials. The invariable coffeehouse is close at hand, so that the civilities of life can be exchanged, and all kinds of business can be here discussed and bargains ratified, and, with the help of the official scribes near at hand, the legal documents can be drawn up, and duly signed, sealed, witnessed, and exchanged between the contracting parties. It was call Telonion, "toll house," because the collection of the revenue was the most important business there transacted. The same name is still used. The traveler, on landing at any Greek port, is usually conducted to the modern day version of the Telonion for luggage inspection. These publicans were more like our customhouse officers, than the publicans in the time of Jesus, who collected for the government the general taxes of the people. Still there was abundant opportunity for making money by fraud and oppression, as is sadly true in government today.
Publicans: Our word "publican" comes from the Latin publicani, those who gathered the publicum, or public state revenue. Roman knights were usually at the head of this work, but farmed out the collection of the taxes to under officers, who, in the New Testament, are termed publicans. These were usually the lowest and worst class of the native population, since no others world assume a task so hateful. They were required to pay over to their superiors the exorbitant sum fixed by the law, and depended for their profit on what they could make by fraud and extortion. They often overcharged, brought false charges of smuggling to extort hush money, seized upon property in case of dispute and held it until their levy was paid, forbade the farmer to reap his standing crops until they had wrung from him all that his penury could produce. They were universally feared, hated, and despised throughout the empire. Among the Jews there were still stronger reasons for hating and despising them; for they seemed to be traitors to the Jews as a nation, traitors to their cause and hopes, traitors to God and the true religion. They, as employees of heathen, could not keep the Sabbath, or the Jewish feasts. They were working for the enemies and oppressors of the Jews.
Matthew the Publican: He was probably of that class of publicans belonging to the toll-gathers, employees of the custom house; disreputable, indeed, but not as much as the tax-gatherers, and he was not necessarily dishonest. He would be in circumstances which would enable him to help many an oppressed Jew. He would be in great temptation because his occupation was one which in general was followed by bad men, in wicked ways, and which therefore threw a shadow of suspicion on every one engaged in it. Moreover the pressure on him to do as the others must have been very great, because those who want to do wrong hate a companion who by doing right is a perpetual reproof and awakener of conscience. Describing Matthew, Dr. William Harrison often said: "Do not think that Christ would have called a bad or corrupt publican – much less that a bad or corrupt publican would have obeyed the call. That which is lost He comes to save – yes, but not that which is defiantly going the way he has forbidden. There are no defalcations from Levi's chest, no oppressions in his tax gathering, but a true merchant of Venice, uprightest and gentlest of the merchant race."
Matthew Called to Follow Jesus: "Said unto him, Follow me" (v 14), both in heart as his Savior, Teacher, and Master, and literally by taking his place among our Lord's constant attendants, Matthew probably gave up more to follow Jesus than some of the other disciples, because it meant a complete abandonment of his work. Disciples who were fishermen could from time to time return to their fishing, but not so the tax-collector, forsaking his post.
v 14 ... "And he arose and followed him." He made a definite, positive choice. But he knew what he had chosen. Being a resident of Capernaum he must have heard Jesus preach the Gospel of the kingdom; he surely had seen at least some of the miracles of Jesus, and heard of more. He would have surely known what Jesus was doing for his nation and for man. He knew what he must leave and had some vision of the better way. Luke says that he forsook all – his business, his gains, his hopes of wealth, his companions, and his luxuries. It was the forsaking of a bad business with the remorse of conscience which grew out of it, a disreputable life of disloyalty to his country, great temptations to dishonesty, and bad companionship. The repentant sinner always forsakes many things which he is blessed to leave behind. Jesus called him to be a disciple, saying to him, as Dr. Harrison often said: "Come up higher then, for there are nobler treasures than these to count, and a nobler King than this to render account to. Thou hast been faithful over a few things; enter thou into the joy of thy Lord."
Why Did Jesus Call a Publican Like Matthew To Be One of His Twelve Disciples? – (a) Jesus needed disciples of all temperaments, all kinds of ability, and a great variety of experiences to reach all kinds of men, in all circumstances. The publicans and disreputable sinners were many, and someone was needed to work among them. (b) Matthew had the right material in him for this work. He had experience with Publicans; he knew their temptations, their trials, their point of view, and the motives that would appeal to them. It may be that one reason why Matthew's life is so little known arises from his lowly work among the lowly. (c) Immediately Jesus took Matthew into His training school to fit him for his wider work, and for writing his Gospel which alone was blessedness and immortal joy.
Illustration: Christ had the double vision of the sculptor. Before Him was the mass of marble rude and shapeless. But the outer shapelessness concealed the inner symmetry and the man he might become.
There is no greater wonder than the effect that Christ's teaching had on the men of His day. We sometimes forget that He was our greatest educator. The results that He accomplished by a comparatively simple method are beyond belief.
He took certain ignorant peasants: a fisherman, a tax-collector, a carpenter; He taught them no literature; He said nothing about classical forms; but after they had been under His instruction for three years they wrote books that have been more quoted and admired, both by the public and by literary authorities, than any other books we know today. He never taught these men architecture, but one of them was the cause for the rearing of the most magnificent edifice in Rome. He never showed them how to play a musical instrument, yet their words are the very heart of the most glorious music of Gounod, Handel and Mendelssohn.
How did He do it? – Not by the usual method. He gave these men the baptism of fire. We see it described in the Book of Acts. The remedy for the defects of modern education, for the indifference and listlessness which modern educators are deploring in schools and colleges, as well as Bible Schools, is the baptism of fire, Christ's spirit of burning love, when we listen to His call, "Follow Me," and we with Him labor with divine zeal to transform the world into the kingdom of God.
Scripture Reading: Mark 2:15-17
2. Matthew Brings His Former Companions to Christ
It is possible that this banquet was given several weeks later, but is naturally and logically recorded here. From Luke we learn that Levi (Matthew) made a great feast in his house, apparently with the purpose of bringing his old friends and neighbors of the publicans under the influence of Jesus. Two attractions always drew guests: First they were to meet Jesus, the wonderful teacher and healer, as the guest of honor. "Jesus sat at meat in his (Matthew's) house." (v 15. The Second Attraction – This was the feast in a friend's house. It seems strange at first sight that eating together, even of common food, should be one of the best means of bringing people together. The reason is not in the food itself, not in a mere sensual act, but in the fact that eating together is the easiest means of acquaintance. Matthew teaches Bible School teachers, students, and all leaders in the church a much needed lesson. The House – Matthew's house was doubtless larger and of a better class. The Guests: "Many publicans and sinners" (v 15) ... "a great multitude" says Luke,
v 15 ... "who sat also together with Jesus and his disciples. And they," i.e., the publicans, followed him, Jesus, into the house. Perhaps it means that many publicans followed in the crowds to hear Him, and see Him work miracles. Scribes and Pharisees also went into the house. They were not invited, but with Oriental freedom they went in to see and hear what was going on. Note: Matthew as a companion and associate of the bad for the enjoyment of it, as in his former business, was in danger; but Matthew as a friend who seeks to do them good is safe.
Illustration: A reformed drunkard can go as a reformer into a saloon and be safe; but if he sits around with the drunkers as a jolly companion, he is almost sure to fall. We are to go to such places as physicians, and not as accomplices or approvers. There are a few who sail down the sewers like swans, their snowy plumes unsoiled by all the defilement. A missionary working among unbelievers, or in the most degraded portions of a nation’s city, is safe. And, he grows better all the time. Sunshine is not defiled by shining upon filth and taking the deadliness out of it.
The church is safe in the world as long as the world is not in the church, as a ship is safe in the ocean as long as the ocean is not in the ship. The church is a lifesaving station.
The Inspiration of Hope: The Gospel of God's love, the elevation of Matthew to be a companion of Jesus, the Son of God, gave new life and hope to all earnest publicans. The Faultfinders: "The scribes and Pharisees" (v 16) whispered, not to Jesus, but to His disciples,
v 16 ... "How is it that he eateth and drinketh with publicans and sinners?" Eating and drinking was a covenant of friendship. The substance of their charge was not that He taught sinners, but that He ate with them, that is, mingled with them on terms of social equality. They thought that something must be wrong with a teacher who consorted with such people instead of with the cultured scribes and wealthy and honored Pharisees.
v 17 ... "When Jesus heard it." He either overhead their words or the disciples reported them.
v 17 ... "He saith unto them." He gave two answers to their criticism, one from analogy, the other from Scriptures.
v 17 ... "They that are whole." Strong, healthy, as the Pharisees imagined they were, morally. It is only ...
v 17 ... "they that are sick" who need a physician. So, the very things of which the Pharisees objected to and found fault with, were the reasons why Jesus should go among the publicans and sinners. He was the physician of the soul, and went where the sin sick were, and to those who felt the need of spiritual healing. It would be a strange physician who would not go among the sick. And yet this was just what the scribes were doing. They were neglecting their business.
The application was plain: "I came not to call the righteous" (v 17). If there are any like the angels, they do not need my salvation,
v 17 ... "but sinners," like those in His presence.
There is a singular and beautiful characteristic which divinely differentiates Christianity from all other religions on earth. Christianity seeks the lost. No other religion does this. Christianity is not only sublimely different from all other world-religions because of the miracles Jesus performed, but because of the desire it implants in the human soul for the reclamation of sinners. There is in every other religion either horror or contempt for the vile and dissolute. In Christianity there is nothing but compassion. Other religions wait for men to seek them; Christianity seeks men and dies if it ceases to do so. The other answer is given in Matthew's Gospel, quoted from Hosea 6:6 – learn what this meaneth, I will have mercy, kindness to the poor, and erring, and wandering, and not sacrifice, a formal worship that neglects the very duties which true religion inspires.
Scripture Reading: Mark 2:13, 14
3. Form of Religion vs. Its Spirit
If Matthew's feast was held on Sunday or Wednesday evening, when at sunset began the regular Monday and Thursday fast days of the stricter Jews, then ...
v 18 ... "the disciples of John and of the Pharisees" would be actually fasting while Jesus and His disciples were feasting. And it was natural that they should ask,
v 18 ... "Why do the disciples of John and of the Pharisees fast, but thy disciples fast not?" Why are Your disciples less religious? Why do they not realize the evils of the time and the oppressions of the nation, and show it by fasting?
The reply was by a familiar illustration: "Can the children of the bridechamber" (v 19). The bridegroom's friends, who conducted the bride from her father's house to her future home amid festivities and rejoicings, and to the marriage feast.
v 18 ... "Fast, while the bridegroom is with them?" It was wholly incongruous and could only be a form. So while Jesus was with His disciples, bringing light to those in darkness, deliverance from sin, and all the joys and blessings of the kingdom of heaven, to fast would be a moral discord, a useless form, a mockery of religion.
v 20 ... "But the days will come," etc. At Jesus' death they will feel like mourning, so sad and troubled that fasting will be the natural expression of their hearts.
The Principle Underlying the Fast Fasting would seem to have its basis: (a) In a grief over sin so deep and intense that all desire for food is taken away; or such a strong desire for holiness, for the progress of God's work, for the removal of all that hinders it, that we forget to eat. Therefore, it implies that we are doing that which fasting expresses, or it would be the most useless and hypocritical of forms. This is the meaning of Isaiah's message to Israel: "Is not this the fast that I have chosen? to loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke? Is it not to deal thy bread to the hungry, and that thou bring the poor that are cast out to thy house? when thou seest the naked, that thou cover him; and that thou hide not thyself from thine own flesh? Then shall thy light break forth as the morning." (b) While fasting as a mere form is useless, and used to make a show of religion is hypocrisy, yet it can be made a real help to spiritual life. For it leaves the body unburdened with food, so as to leave the mind and heart in their most active and free condition. Exactly the same principle is employed by all our college athletes in preparation for a great contest They go without many things which they enjoy at other times. It was on these principles that Jesus fasted forty days in the wilderness in the decisive crisis of His life.
Scripture Reading: Mark 2:21, 22
4. New Methods for New Times?
Jesus continues His reply by a statement of the general principle, of which His answer to their question about fasting was one application. But many more applications were to appear in the progress of the grafting of the new kingdom of God upon the old. This principle would help the disciples in many a difficult question in the future, and all down the ages.
First: v 21 ... "No man also seweth a piece of new," unfilled, unshrunk ...
v 21 ... "cloth," rather than "undressed," which is an unfamiliar manufacturer's term. But the cloth, just as finished as it ever would be, would yet shrink in the wearing unless it had been sponged and shrunk – a familiar experience.
v 21 ... "On an old garment," as a patch.
v 21 ... "Taketh away from the old," etc. The patch, exactly fitting the rent in the old garment, would shrink more and more, till the older and weaker cloth gave way under the intense strain, and the rent became much larger than before.
Second: v 22 ... "And no man." None are so foolish. "Putteth new wine into old bottles," "wineskins," i.e., skins of animals from which the body is withdrawn leaving the skin whole, except the neck, which becomes the mouth of the bottle, and the legs, which are tied up. The word "bottle" originally carried the true meaning, being a bottle of leather. In Spanish, bota means a leather bottle, a boot, and a butt. In Spain, wine is still brought to market in pigskins. In the East, goatskins are commonly used.
v 22 ... "Else the new wine doth burst the bottles," by the pressure of the gases produced by the process of fermentation upon leather weakened and cracked by age. A prominent brewer says that the pressure of champagne in glass bottles after nine months is equal to sixty pounds to the square inch. "And no one having drunk old wine immediately dessert new ..." (Lk. 5:39). The Lord's Kingdom was more than 'restitution,' it was 're-creation,' but He knew it would be hard for those trained in the traditions of the Old, to accept the New and, to them, strange truths; even when He is endeavoring to lighten their darkness. Was the Lord making an allowance for them? Could Jesus be thinking of the cross? Of His people rejecting Him? Could the refusal of the Holy Spirit regarding taking the gospel to the Gentiles for a while be alluded to by Jesus here at Matthew's feast, i.e., the Lord perhaps giving His chosen people a little more time to develop a taste for the new wine? Before expanding the Gospel to the Gentiles? Luke further states, " ... for he says, the old is better." Those who had acquired a taste of old covenant ceremonies and Pharisaic traditions were loath to give them up for the new wine of Jesus' teaching. Luke alone adds these thoughts.
5. Conclusion
Applications: (a) The wine, the juice of the grape, is essentially the same in whichever form it is preserved. 'Religion' is true only if its doctrines are truthful and obedient to God's Holy Word. If so, then it will essentially be the same in whatever country or location manifested. (b) The wineskin bottles were the 'forms' in which true religion was expressed and preserved. Yes, it has scriptural 'form' and some method of use and expression, but it is the church Jesus died for only if its doctrine is truthful to God's Holy Word ... only if it speaks where God's Word speaks and remains silent where God's Word is silent. (c) But these 'forms' are determined by God, and not by man and not by the time in which we live and not to be adapted to express man's religious life, and man's interpretation of spiritual truth. (d) Feelings, circumstances, knowledge, philosophies, theories and persons are continually changing; and religions and doctrines of men vary greatly accordingly in expression. But God's Word never changes and it matters not the age or the time, the church of our Lord survives only when men listen to His Holy Word.
