The fourth incident, recorded in 2:23-28, is that of the Lord’s caring for His followers’ hunger rather than for religion’s regulation. Mark 2:23 and 24 say, “And it came about that He passed through the grainfields on the Sabbath, and His disciples began to make their way, picking the ears of grain. And the Pharisees said to Him, Look! Why are they doing on the Sabbath what is not lawful?” Here we see that the Slave-Savior cared for the hunger of His followers rather than for the regulation of religion. As those who follow the Savior we are not hungering. Instead, we are filled and satisfied. Because we are satisfied, we can testify, “We don’t care to keep the regulations of religion and remain hungry. Religious regulations always leave us hungry. But as those who follow the Slave-Savior, we are not hungry any longer. Every day of the week, including the Sabbath, He gives us something to eat. Now we are satisfied. We don’t care if others condemn us according to their religious regulations. Others may care for religious regulations, but we care to be satisfied in the Lord.” This case, therefore, may be summarized by the word satisfaction.
The word that best summarizes the fifth incident, that of the Slave-Savior’s caring for the relief of the suffering one rather than for the ritual of religion (3:1-6), is the word freedom. In this incident we see that on the Sabbath the Savior restored a man’s withered hand. Here we see that He did not care for the ritual of religion; He cared for the relief of the suffering one. He wanted to release that one, to liberate him. Thus, in this incident we have the matter of freedom.
Let us review the five words used to describe these five incidents: forgiveness, enjoyment, joy, satisfaction, and freedom. What a marvelous sequence we have here! Imagine how different it would be if forgiveness came last instead of first. According to the historical sequence recorded in Mark, first we have forgiveness and then enjoyment, joy, satisfaction, and freedom. The forgiveness of our sins by the Lord always issues in enjoyment, joy, satisfaction, and freedom. We can testify of this from our experience.
These incidents were not arranged by Mark in order to present a doctrine. On the contrary, these incidents are presented according to historical fact and sequence. In other words, they happened in the order in which Mark put them. These five events took place under the Lord’s sovereignty according to the actual sequence of the enjoyment of His salvation. The first item in this sequence is the forgiveness of sins. We can testify from our experience of the Lord’s salvation that when we have the forgiveness of sins we also have enjoyment and joy. This joy is followed by satisfaction and freedom. How wonderful!
As we consider the sequence of these five incidents in the Gospel of Mark, we realize once again that the Bible truly is the Word of God. Apart from the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, no human being could compose such a writing as we have in the Gospel of Mark. I do not believe that Mark was highly educated or had a thorough knowledge of Greek. To be sure, the Greek in the Gospel of Mark is not as high as that in the Gospel of Luke or in the Epistles of Paul. But even though the language in the Gospel of Mark may not be especially polished, the five incidents in this section are arranged in a marvelous sequence, a sequence that corresponds fully with our experience of the Lord’s salvation. According to this sequence, we have forgiveness, enjoyment, joy, satisfaction, and freedom.
As we consider Mark’s record, we need to worship the Lord that this indeed is part of His holy Word. This is not merely a composition written by a person with limited education. No, it is the breath of the sovereign God. All the Scripture, including the Gospel of Mark, is God-breathed (2 Tim. 3:16). This means that the narration in Mark 2:1—3:6 is God-breathed. As a reminder of the sequence here, I recommend that you write in the words forgiveness, enjoyment, joy, satisfaction, and freedom next to these sections in your Bible.