MERCY IS PERSONAL
In order to understand the parable of Jesus in our Gospel today, it is necessary to read the context in which this parable occurs. The Pharisees and Scribes, who believe Jesus to be possessed, are commenting on the great number of healings that have occurred at the very beginning of Jesus’ public ministry– so many in fact that we are told Jesus did not even have time to eat.
But it wasn’t simply the number of healings that upset the Pharisees, it was that the mercy of Jesus’ extended beyond the bounds of the accepted rules and customs; which of course, the Pharisees kept. Just before the Gospel we hear today, Mark tells us that Jesus was healing on the Sabbath, commissioned the twelve to preach, as well as have authority to drive out demons. Nor where they keeping the customs of fasting, or the laws concerning lepers and the unclean.
All the rules, doctrines and the like that were necessary for God, according to the keepers of their customs and traditions, seemed to not apply to Jesus. Thus, he must not be of God, and if he is not of God, then is a demon.
In short, Jesus was creating confusion. God wasn’t supposed to work this way. And to all of this, Jesus challenges the Pharisees to see the fruits of his work.