Mark 2:13-17
I remember playing sports at recess when I was a kid. And you probably remember how this went. All the kids would be standing together and two team captains would be selected. And they would then, one player at a time, pick who they wanted on their team. And invariably they would pick the best ones first and you’d always be left with the ones that weren’t as good at the end.
Why did it go that way? It went that way because we want the best players on our team who will give us the best results possible. We want to win.
It is the same way in the business world, too. An employer wants the best employees in order to get the best results. That is simply the way we think and operate as people.
But one of the things that I love about the bible and church history for that matter are the people that God chooses to use. Common as rain in a thunderstorm kind of people. Sometimes even despised and rejected by the world. Very often the people that God chose were the least likely candidates. They were people that others would have likely picked last, and yet God picked first.
·Moses was a shepherd with a speech impediment and God called him to confront the powerful ruler on earth and lead His people out of Egyptian captivity.
·David was a shepherd boy that God called to be King of Israel.
·Nehemiah was a cupbearer in service of a foreign king and God chose him to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem.
·Peter and John, described as uneducated and untrained fishermen, yet Jesus chose them as 2 of His prominent disciples.
·Mary Magdalene: Jesus cast 7 demons out of her and she became a notable follower of Jesus.
·Mary, the mother of Jesus. A teenager, not from a family or place of influence, yet God allowed her to be the earthly mother of Jesus.
·And there are so many others in the bible and throughout history that are just like those I mentioned. People that the world would look at as ordinary but that God used in extraordinary ways.
Why would God do things that way? That isn’t how we operate. Those aren’t the people that we would have chosen, most likely. We would have chosen people of influence. People of reputation. People with a large platform of influence. Why does God choose people like that?
First of all, God just flat out does things differently than we would do. And I’m glad He does. His ways are always better than ours and the things that don’t make sense to us are just reminders that God is bigger and better. And God knows all things perfectly and we don’t.
Second, God often chooses the least likely people for another very distinct reason. I Cor 1:27-29 says this: but God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the things which are strong, 28 and the base things of the world and the despised God has chosen, the things that are not, so that He may nullify the things that are, 29 so that no [t]man may boast before God.
In other words, God uses the weak to show how strong He is. God often uses people that the world would dismiss so that His power and His purposes will be done through weak, yet willing vessels. God often chooses the least to show that He is the greatest.
And when God uses unlikely people, the spotlight is put on Him. People say, man, I know that person and that isn’t them. That has to be God working in and through them. And we find that principle at work this morning in Mark 2:13-17 as we continue to work our way through this gospel account of the life of Jesus.
Read 13-17:
Verses 13-14:
1.An unlikely disciple (v.13-14)
Now, we are told in verse 13 that after healing the paralytic man, Jesus went out by the seashore (Sea of Galilee). And as we’ve seen as a theme throughout Mark, crowds were coming to Him. And as the crowds came to Jesus, we find another theme. Jesus took that opportunity to teach them truth.
And then in verse 14 we find another very important moment in Christian history as Jesus calls another one of His 12 disciples. Now, the disciples who had been chosen by Jesus so far were unlikely people in the sense that they were common in society. They weren’t kings or dignitaries or politicians. They weren’t wealthy or influential. They were fishermen, in fact. To this point, in the gospel of Mark, we have a record of Jesus calling Peter and Andrew and James and John.
They were common men who answered the call of Jesus to follow Him. They were seemingly unlikely people for Jesus to call as His disciples.
But this person, Levi, more commonly known as Matthew, was unlikely for a completely different reason. The scripture tells us that he was sitting in a tax booth. And we know from Luke’s gospel that he wasn’t a clerk sitting in the tax booth, he was actually a tax collector.
Now, I mentioned this a few weeks back. Tax collectors were hated by the Jews at this time. They were, first of all, seen as traitors to their own people. The Jewish tax collectors, like Levi here, were hired by the Roman government to exact taxes from their own people. The Jews saw them as defectors to their own people, working for Rome and working against them. Consequently, Jewish tax collectors would not just have been disliked, they would have been socially shunned by other Jews.
But aside from that, they were well known to be thieves as well. Many of them would charge more taxes than the people actually owed. And they would take the excess that they collected for themselves. They were extortionists.
Tax collectors were so hated, in fact, that they are often used as the personification of sin in the gospels. For example, Luke 7:34: The Son of Man has come eating and drinking, and you say, ‘Behold, a gluttonous man and a [y]drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and [z]sinners!’
And we find that kind of language in other passages too. The term tax collector was synonymous with the lowest kind of sinner in Jewish society.
Now, because of tax collectors’ extortion, many of them would have been well-off financially. Levi was well off financially. I will show you the evidence of that from Luke’s gospel here in a bit.
With that background, it’s amazing, but Jesus saw Levi, knew completely who Levi was, and yet still chose Him to be one of His closest disciples! Levi was an even lesser candidate than Peter, Andrew, James, and John. At least they had reputable jobs before following Jesus. No one would have hated them because of their profession. But Jesus called Levi, a man that Jews would have resented!
Despite that, there still would have been a great cost for Levi to follow Jesus. Even though he would have been despised by many, he had a steady, and seemingly lucrative job. But he left it all to follow Jesus. We don’t know the soil of Levi’s heart. We don’t know what was going on in his life at this time. Possibly he was fed up with his life. Possibly he was ashamed of his life. We don’t know. The bible doesn’t tell us. All we know is that Jesus chose to call him and he responded in obedience.
What a great reminder that is. It doesn’t matter one’s past or present. Jesus will meet people where they are. A person simply needs to commit to follow Him. And we’ll talk about that more in a bit.
Now, what did it actually cost Levi to follow Jesus? For Levi it meant a loss of wealth. It meant a loss of comfort. It meant giving up what was familiar to follow the unknown.
Why? Why give that up?
Jesus would later tell a parable that I think is applicable here. Matthew 13:44: 44 “The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in the field, which a man found and hid again; and from joy over it he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.
In that parable, the man sold everything he had in order to buy the field because the treasure that he found was so great. He came across this treasure and it was captivating, it was so glorious, that in joy, he went and sold everything else to acquire that treasure! Obviously, in that parable Jesus was making it clear that He is the greatest treasure to be pursued.
And for Levi, this would prove to be a costly call, but a glorious call. In the way that salvation always happens, God put in Levi’s heart an understanding of the treasure of Jesus. And Levi stepped out of that tax booth to follow a greater calling. And he did this, because, like the parable says, out of joy, not duty, not obligation, but joy….he gave up everything for the treasure of Jesus, the One who called to him and invited him to follow.
Unfortunately, sometimes today people talk about the Lord like this. Give your heart to Jesus and your life will be so much easier. Life will be great. God exists for you. He will give you whatever you want. No cost. No cross. Only blessings in this life and heaven in the next. Sign me up for that! That is an easy pill to swallow. That is easy-believism.
That appeals to our most basic urges as fallen humanity. A divine genie in a bottle that exists to do whatever we want Him to do!
But that isn’t the call of the NT gospel. The call of Jesus is this, repent and believe. The call of Jesus is Luke 9:23: If anyone wishes to follow Me, let him deny himself, take up his cross daily and follow me.
I believe there are many in the Western world who identify as Christians, many of which are not. They like the concept and construct of the cultural Jesus that many have put forth. Or the construct of a Jesus who does their bidding. But the call of Jesus is a call to discipleship. It is a call to follow Jesus! Meaning we go where He goes, we do what He tells us to do, we say what He tells us to say. We follow Him. And, oh, how beautiful that is. It is not always the easiest road, but it is the pathway to life and joy and peace and blessing that transcends the things and concerns of this world.
Levi, answered that call and followed Jesus, leaving his former life behind.
Now, verse 14 alone is amazing. Jesus literally chose one of the last that others would have chosen. He would have been that last kid picked on the playground. Despite Levi’s sin and reputation, Jesus graciously extended a call to Him. That is amazing enough. But then verse 15 shines a spotlight on the mission and the mercy of Jesus even more.
Verse 15:
2.The astonishing invitation of Jesus
We not only find Jesus calling Levi, the tax collector, to follow Him, but here we find Jesus dining with lots of tax collectors and sinners and calling them to follow Him as well.
Interestingly the term sinner here means more than just sinner as we tend to think about sinners.
Listen to this from the NAC: The reference is not to immoral or irreligious persons but to those who because of the necessity of spending all their time earning a bare subsistence were not able to keep the law, especially the oral law, as the scribes thought they should. As a result the scribes despised them. Perhaps a better translation would be “outcasts” (GNB).
Sinners or outcasts, people that the religious leaders had written off as unimportant and unworthy of God because of their sin and neglect.
So, imagine the scene. Jesus, this holy, miracle worker. This man who had amazed the crowds with His words and with His works. And here Jesus is, in a house, eating a meal with a room full of tax collectors and sinners. Thieves and those who were outcasts and despised by the religious leaders. This would have been scandalous for a religious person. How did this meal even come about? It’s pretty amazing, actually. Mark doesn’t give us much info, but Luke does.
Luke’s gospel tells us that this meal took place at Levi’s home. Listen to Luke 5:27-29: After that He went out and noticed a tax collector named [m]Levi sitting in the tax booth, and He said to him, “Follow Me.” 28 And he left everything behind, and got up and began to follow Him.29 And Levi gave a big reception for Him in his house; and there was a great crowd of tax collectors and other people who were reclining at the table with them.
Do you see what is happening here? Here is this wealthy man, Levi. In a home large enough to gather lots of people. Levi, had just given up his job to follow Jesus but already it is clear by his actions that his mission in life had changed. Just called by Jesus and now Levi was bringing lots of people to meet Jesus! And he was bringing the people he knew. Again, Levi, because of his job as a tax collector would have likely only had friends who were other tax collectors and sinners. Birds of a feather flock together. He brought who he knew to meet Jesus. Tax collectors and sinners.
So, why would Levi tell others about Jesus? Why would he bring them to a meal at his house to meet Jesus. Because He was excited. We talk about things that we are excited about. We share the things that we love. The things we care about are on our lips. And even though Levi had just begun to follow Jesus, even though Levi didn’t know a lot about Jesus yet, he was thrilled. And he threw a party in order to introduce others to Jesus.
And it says here in verse 15 that many of them were following Jesus.
Jesus eating with these kinds of people was scandalous. But even more scandalous than that…Jesus was allowing these tax collectors and sinners to follow Him. These were now His people. Redeemed and changed, with new mission and purpose, following Jesus.
What is that? That is grace. That is mercy. That is kindness.
Jesus gave them what they didn’t deserve. And He didn’t give them what they did deserve. He was kind to them. And He allowed them a place at the table. He allowed them to follow Him.
But good and bad run parallel tracks. As this was an exciting time seeing sinners come to know and follow Jesus, the scribes of the Pharisees went on the offensive. They were unhappy! They were angry and incredulous.
Verse 16:
3.The callous indignation of the religious leaders
Here was their unstated accusation, ultimately. Why would someone claiming to be a holy man of God dare identify with, much less eat, with people like that!
And here was their implication: We would never do that! We are righteous. We are clean. We wouldn’t eat with dirty sinners like that.
Don’t miss the backdrop of the comparison of the grace of Jesus vs the pride of the religious leaders. Don’t miss the remarkable truth that grace leads to fellowship while pride leads to separation.
While this whole event should have been celebrated by the religious shepherds of Israel, it wasn’t. The very ones who should have celebrated the most, were the most angered by it. Thieves and sinners identifying with Jesus to the dismay of the religious leaders.
Yet, notice who was at the table with Jesus. The unrighteous. Notice who wasn’t. The self-righteous. One group at the table with Jesus; the other outside.
The ones who thought they had it all together didn’t come to Jesus. The ones who knew they were messed up did come to Jesus.
We find the unrighteous indignation and condemnation by those who thought they were righteous. And so, Jesus, explained to them why He was eating with tax collectors and sinners.
Verse 17:
4.The mission of Jesus explained
Here Jesus used an earthly illustration to highlight a spiritual truth. Sick people need help. Sick people need a doctor. And the spiritual truth. Jesus said, I did not come to call the righteous, or self-righteous. I came to call sinners. The self-righteous seek to be their own savior and thereby exclude themselves from being rescued from their sin. Jesus came to call needy sinners to salvation.
Now, this verse should cause us all to rejoice! Because we are all sinners.
While the Pharisees met the tax collectors and sinners with condemnation; Jesus met them with grace.
While the pharisees met them with distance; Jesus invited them into fellowship with Himself.
While the pharisees met them with judgment; Jesus met them with mercy.
So, what do we do with these verses today?
Here are a few things:
1.Perhaps today you are separate from God. Maybe it is because of self-righteousness. Maybe it is because you think you are unworthy. Are you hungry enough to come to the table of grace? Are you desperate enough to call on Jesus? Call on Jesus today. Turn from sin and surrender to Him today.
2.For the Christian: If you feel like you are not a very good candidate to be used by God because of your past or because of self-perceived weaknesses, well….you are the kind of person God normally uses. Be willing. Be obedient. Just use what God has entrusted you and let Him multiply it and use it for His glory. Let God work in and through you to do what you can’t do, but He can.
3.Reminder: To be a disciple is to be with Jesus, follow Jesus, and bring others to Jesus. It is a disciple who is making more disciples. Who can you bring to Jesus? And how can you help them grow to be a mature disciple of Jesus?
