Skeptical Bible Study Week 2

This week I read Mark 2.

This chapter give us the story of the paralyzed man that Jesus healed.  For me this whole set up feels very staged.  He’s hanging out at Peter’s house with a bunch of people listening to him and wanting to be healed.  I’m betting dollars to doughnuts that he told one of his buddies to go find some guys to put this whole thing on.  Thinking about context I can’t imagine a paralyzed man at this time having 4 friends to carry him through the crowed and the dig through a strangers roof for this.  If you were paralyzed you were cursed by god and I’m pretty sure no one would want much to do with you.  So the lower him down knowing that the religious elders were there and he doesn’t heal him right away.  He says “Your sins are forgiven”.  He KNEW this would piss of the pharisees.  What better way to get a following than to piss of “the man”?

After the first show Jesus starts another by calling out a tax collector and parting with him.  Again this was going to piss off the religious leaders to no end.  Tax collectors at the time weren’t like the IRS today.  Rome required a certain amount of money from them and they got paid by how much over that they could collect.  So essentially they were ripping off their neighbors.  At least that’s what I was told back in the day….looking at it now I’m having a hard time finding sources out side of biblical theology that states this so….

The chapter ends with Jesus talking about fasting and the Sabbath and telling a different story than that of what the religious leaders were teaching…you know the stuff that was written down…from the god that sent Jesus….and is also Jesus…yeah there’s that.  So in short I feel like this whole chapter is Jesus being rebellious in public forums to gain a following.

Last Week’s study