Baruch 3 – “[T]he soul in anguish and the wearied spirit cry out to you” (3:1). “Learn where there is wisdom, where there is strength, where there is understanding, so that you may at the same time discern where there is length of days and life, where there is light for the eyes and peace” (3:14). This begins to sound a lot like the wisdom literature. There is even a touch of environmentalism here as in the following:

“Where are the rulers of the nations, and those who lorded it over the animals on earth; those who made sport of the birds of the air, and who hoarded up silver and gold in which people trust, and there is no end to the getting; those who schemed to get silver, and were anxious, but there is no trace of the works?” (3:16-18)

“Who has ever climbed the sky and caught her to bring her down from the clouds? Who has ever crossed the ocean and found her to bring her back in exchange for the finest gold?” (3:29-30).

“But the One who knows all knows her, he has grasped her with his own intellect, he has set the earth firm for ever and filled it with four-footed beasts, he sends the light—and trembling it obeys; the stars shine joyfully at their set times. . .It is he who is our God, no other can compare with him. He has grasped the whole way of knowledge, and confined it to his servant Jacob, to Israel his well-beloved; so causing her to appear on earth and move among men” (3:32-38). These words certainly refer to His presence in “His people,” the Jews, but as a Christian I cannot but see these words as also prophetic of Christ as well who is "our God. . . on earth . . . among men." 

Mark 2 – Back at Capernaum, word gets out that Jesus is home. The writer emphasizes the crowds that came to him to hear him speak.  They were so great, when people brought a paralyzed man for him to heal, they could not get to him.  The man had to be lowered down through the roof! (2:4). Jesus responds to the people’s great faith in his powers. He tells the paralyzed man that his “sins are forgiven” (2:5). When the “teachers of the Law” challenge this statement as blasphemy, Jesus responds by saying, “is it easier to say to this paralyzed man, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up, pick up your mat, and walk’?” (2:9). Again, there is so much “mystery” the Jesus’ words, it is hard to comprehend even now exactly what Jesus was getting at here. Is he implying that there is some relationship between the man’s sins and his paralysis? I don’t think so. Is he simply saying that his powers as “Son of Man” (2:10) not only permit him to do miracles but to forgive sin? I’m more drawn to that explanation.

Jesus speaks to people as if the words in their hearts were as audible to him as the words of their mouths. Then, so that they may have proof that he (Jesus) does have authority to forgive sins, he tells the man to get up and walk.

Beside the sea, crowds gather to hear him teach.  He asks Levi, the tax collector, to come with him (2:14). Then, he goes to his house to eat with him and other “sinners”. The scribes question his disciples about why he consorts with such people.  So far Jesus has shown interest in the lame and the disreputable (tax collectors), but not much interest in the affluent or well-positioned. He says, “People who are well do not need a doctor, but only those who are sick. I have not come to call respectable people, but outcasts” (2:17).

People ask him why his disciples do not fast (like those of John the Baptist and the Pharisees).  He tells them they will not fast while “the bridegroom” is with them, but when he is gone, they will fast (2:20). He alludes to two things, which imply that new things cannot be patched on to old; new wine cannot be poured into old skins. He and his disciples also pick grain on the Sabbath.  When challenged with disrespecting the Sabbath, he compares what he is doing with what David and his companions did when they were in conflict with Saul—how they ate the bread of the presence in the temple once.  

Jesus actually mistakes the High Priest in the OT allusion—it was Ahimelech, not Abiathar, his son. The story is at 1 Sam.21: 1- and the story is a little different: they do not eat “the bread of the Presence,” but holy bread or consecrated bread. The Jerusalem Bible is less clear that there is a distinction, and in a note it also says that there were exceptions to the rule that only priests could eat of it—if the men were ritually unpolluted, for example. The dispute with the Pharisees here is somewhat different.  It isn’t about the privileges of the priesthood, but what is appropriate for the Sabbath; and Jesus says, the Sabbath rules were made for man, not to frustrate the needs of men.