Jesus' Guest List

You’re probably heard the saying, “You can please some of the people all of the time, you can please all of the people some of the time, but you can’t please all of the people all of the time”.

That sounds true from my experience. No one can please all of the people all of the time, but … if there was someone who could pull it off you would think it would be Jesus. He’s the Son of God. He’s sinless. He’s full of grace and truth. You would think that Jesus could please all of the people all of the time. But he didn’t.

Jesus was not liked by everyone.

But why didn’t some people not like Jesus. I can think of a few reasons.

• His popularity made some people jealous. He stole the thunder from some people and as Jesus became more and more of a popular teacher, their popularity went down, and that mad them mad.

• He said some pretty controversial things. Like the time he said, “Before Abraham was, I am.” That ruffled a lot of feathers. Last week we looked at a story in Mark 2 when Jesus forgave sins. That made some people unhappy that Jesus was claiming to do something that only God could do.

• He challenged some of the misguided ideas about God and religion. Like the times he healed on the Sabbath. That irritated some people.

• But one primary reason Jesus wasn’t liked by everyone, and here is where I want to focus today, was because of the company he kept. Some people got mad at Jesus because of who was on his guest list.

Let’s go to Mark 2:13-17 for one of those stories where Jesus displeased some people.

Mark 2:13–17 (NIV)

13 Once again Jesus went out beside the lake. A large crowd came to him, and he began to teach them. 14 As he walked along, he saw Levi son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax collector’s booth. “Follow me,” Jesus told him, and Levi got up and followed him. 15 While Jesus was having dinner at Levi’s house, many tax collectors and sinners were eating with him and his disciples, for there were many who followed him. 16 When the teachers of the law who were Pharisees saw him eating with the sinners and tax collectors, they asked his disciples: “Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?” 17 On hearing this, Jesus said to them, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”

Jesus is by the Sea of Galilee teaching and large crowds have come to hear him. As he is walking, he approaches a tax collector’s booth. Tax-collectors were not liked for a number of reasons – they collected taxes, they sometimes extorted people, and in Israel they were Jewish people working for the evil and oppressive Roman empire. They were regarded as traitors.

So I would imagine that when most Jewish people approached a tax-collector’s booth they would either (1) just walk by and ignore him; (2) shoot them a dirty look; (3) maybe mutter insults under their breathe; (4) maybe even make an inappropriate gesture.

What they wouldn’t do is what Jesus does. He goes over to the tax collector’s booth and says, “Follow me.” And what is more amazing is that Levi does. He closes up shop and starts following Jesus. This Levi is also known as Mathew (Levi is his Jewish name and Matthew is his Roman name). He becomes one of the 12 apostles and the author of the first Gospel, Matthew.

What makes this even more interesting is that not only does Jesus call Levi to follow him Jesus starts hanging out with Levi and his tax collector buddies. And not only are their tax collectors at the dinner, but there are also other sinners. What that means – just use your imagination. Other translations call them disreputable characters and riffraff.

At that, the teachers of the Law (religious folk) ask the disciples, “Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?” Mark makes it sound like a pretty innocent question, but a parallel account in the Luke’s gospel puts a little different spin to it:

Luke 5:30 (NIV) — 30 But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law who belonged to their sect complained to his disciples, “Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?”

They were not happy with who was on Jesus’s guest list.

And this wasn’t an isolated account. On another occasion Jesus had dinner with another tax-collector, Zacchaeus. He was the one who climbed up in a tree to see Jesus. Here’s how some people felt about that:

Luke 19:7 (NIV) — 7 All the people saw this and began to mutter, “He has gone to be the guest of a sinner.”