Introduction
When Jesus begins his ministry, people are filled with wonder at what he can do – cast out demons and heal the sick. “Wow! I saw Jesus command a demon to come out of a man!” “That’s nothing, I saw him heal a man born blind.” “Well, I saw him cleanse a leper!”
It isn’t long, though, when they become a bit unsettled at what he is doing as well. “But why did he touch the leper? That gives me the creeps!” “And what’s that business about forgiving sins? Who can forgive sins but God?”
Jesus keeps taking the opportunities around him to “up the ante,” so to speak. Just how much can he say and do before he pushes his credibility and popularity too far? In our passage this morning, we will see him add to the stakes.
The Calling
We begin with the calling of Levi, also known as Matthew. The calling is very similar to that of Simon and Andrew, and James and John in chapter one.
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.
1:16 As Jesus walked beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. 17 “Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will make you fishers of men.” 18 At once they left their nets and followed him.
You have the same elements. Jesus teaches, then walks along. He sees the men at work. He tells them to follow him. They leave what they are doing and immediately follow. What is Mark indicating? That Levi received the same calling as the other men to be a disciple, and that he responded with the same determination as the others. Okay, that’s fine to know. What’s the big deal? Well, Jesus committed another gasper. He showed the audacity to call into his company a notorious sinner.
How do we know Levi was a notorious sinner? By his occupation: he was a tax collector. IRS agents may have an unpopular reputation today of being over zealous in collecting taxes. The tax collectors of Jesus’ day had a reputation of being corrupt. The system itself encouraged such vice. How so?
Our taxes are paid directly to whatever is the appropriate government agency – local, state or federal. The people who collect the taxes are government employees who are paid a salary. They are not so much tax collectors as they are tax receivers for the majority of the people. They actively collect, i.e. go out and get what is owed, when they suspect fraud of some kind. They can exact more money as penalty, but that money goes to the government, not to themselves.
But tax collecting was a franchise business in the ancient world. It worked like this. Officially, the Alachua County Commission decides to tax every commercial truck passing through 2% of the value of its cargo. But what really matters to the county is not getting a percentage of everything, but getting enough money to meet its budgeted income. What it really needs is to earn $100,000 each month through the taxes. Instead of setting up a tax division and paying salaries and benefits to employees, the commission lets private businesses bid for the opportunity to collect the taxes. Bob and Jim, two ambitious men, bid for the opportunity. Bob offers to do the work for $15,000 a month with a guarantee to bring in $100,000 monthly. Jim, however, bids a mere $10,000 with the same guarantee and gets the job. Is Jim more thrifty than Bob? No, he’s more ambitious.
Here is his strategy. He sets up tax collecting stations on the roads throughout the county, and instead of hiring employees to man the stations, he puts them out to bid as well. He sets an income figure that he has to receive from each station. All together they total $125,000 a month. Who keeps the $25,000? Jim does. Doesn’t the county commission care? Not really. They are getting what they need, and they would prefer not to examine all of Jim’s records. Are the station managers upset? No, they are doing the same thing as Jim. Tom, who has to turn over $5,000 each month, is averaging in collections $10,000. The extra $5,000 is all his. Is there really that much tax money owed by the truckers? Well, not really. Some are getting charged 3% or 4% tax. They don’t know what the tax is supposed to be. Some just pay a flat fee so they don’t have to keep getting stopped.
And that system just covers transportation tax. There are many other taxes that affect the locals in every area of life. Bob missed out on the transportation tax business, but he’s making out all right with collecting taxes from the farmers and ranchers. It’s a great business – little overhead and minimal government regulation. All you need is a love for money and a callous heart. You certainly can’t get soft. If you don’t collect your quota, you make up the difference from your own funds.
Levi was probably one of these station managers, which would have made him especially despised by the people because he was the one directly collecting from them and cheating them. As if that wasn’t bad enough, he was either working directly for the Romans or at least for the local government under the Roman system. The similarity for us would be that the county commission was having to send $50,000 of its income to Canada which had taken authority over North America.
By the very job that he had, Levi was a thief and a traitor. He was part of a systematic means of oppressing his own people. To that guy, Jesus says, “Come be one of my disciples.” Jesus had to be pushing the limits of his own disciples this time. The four fishermen, remember, lived in Capernaum. They would have known Levi; they may have paid their taxes to him. Now he is suppose to be their traveling companion.
Undoubtedly the calling of Levi to be a disciple would create a stir, but as long as Jesus didn’t call attention to it, things might be okay. Perhaps he could slip out of town like he did before. But no, Levi wants to throw a dinner in celebration and Jesus attends as the honored guest. And this is not a private little meal. Levi invites many fellow tax collectors and “sinners.” He invites the crowd that he hangs around with, the only people whom he could be associated with.
We already know the tax collectors are bad. Who are these “sinners”? Some commentators think they are no more than the common people, as opposed to the more religious. It is the teachers of the Law from the Pharisees who are using that label. As far as they were concerned, there were two classes of people: the righteous such as they who strictly observed the rituals to maintain purity, and the sinners – everybody else who ignored the rituals of keeping “clean.” I think, though, Mark is referring to the bad crowd – those who are corrupt and immoral. Even the common folk would not be Levi’s associates, seeing as they are his clients from whom he has been extracting money. In Luke where Jesus goes to the home of Zaccheus, also a tax collector, it is the common people who grumble about Jesus being the guest of a “sinner” (Luke 19:7).
Jesus is creating a scandal for everyone. The common people are scandalized that Jesus has become a friend of an oppressor and publicly dined with the unscrupulous element of the town. His disciples are scandalized to have an oppressor be included in their inner circle; I doubt they gladly joined Jesus at Levi’s home. I doubt that when they heeded the call to follow him, they expected it would include being in such company. And of course, the religious people are scandalized that, on top of the concerns of the crowd and the disciples, Jesus was clearly defiling himself dining with unclean people. Undoubtedly he is breaking every rule in their book of what a godly man would do. Thus we have the unsurprising question by the Pharisees, (16)“Why does he eat with tax collectors and ‘sinners’?”
Jesus gives this reply: (17)“It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.” What a brilliant answer. We will see this about Jesus. He is able to do what we wish we could – always give the perfect comeback. For us it’s usually the next day when we think, “Oh! I should have said…” It is an answer that seems so obvious, and yet, there is still something a bit unsettling about it. Look at the first sentence.
It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. Does anyone complain about a doctor who spends his time among the sick? No one asks, “What are you doing around those sick people? Don’t you know they are not healthy to be around?” Jesus concurs with the Pharisees’ analysis of his fellow dinner guests. They are sinners. They are unclean. That’s why he needs to be among them. What have we seen already that he can do? Forgive sins and make the unclean clean. What can we be sure of that he will do? Teach about the kingdom of God. Jesus never missed a moment to teach.
But having said all that, the Pharisees did not ask, “Why does he minister to tax collectors and ‘sinners’?” but “Why does he eat with them?” We would find it a bit unusual for a doctor to spend his social time in a sick ward, especially in a ward filled with infectious patients. Jesus has gone to a dinner party of sinners, not to a mission hall. Coming as a guest, he is inferring honor to the hosts and his guests. That is what’s really eating at the Pharisees and, I no doubt, everybody else. Why must Jesus mingle with sinners?
No answer. It’s not that Jesus doesn’t have an answer but that his response is sufficient. He does not distinguish between ministering to and mingling with. He doesn’t punch the clock, nor does he separate people into a ministering-to category and associating-with category.
Now, look at the second sentence: I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners. This is one of those comments a person makes and you ask yourself, “Did I just get insulted?” You are not quite sure what he meant by that remark. What did Jesus mean? Was he giving a complement to the Pharisees? “Look, I would like to spend more time with you, but you are already righteous, and I need to focus on the sinners.” Or was he speaking tongue-in-cheek?
To understand what he is saying and the import of it, go back for a moment to the ministry of John the Baptist. Do you remember the purpose of his ministry? It was to “prepare the way for the Lord.” He was the forerunner of the Messiah. It was his job to get the people ready so that when the Messiah came, there would be a people who had repented of their sins and in a sense made righteous. These people the Messiah would call on to follow him into the kingdom of God that he would establish. Remember, you can’t get into the kingdom if you are unclean, i.e. unrighteous. When the Messiah would come, it would be the righteous that he would call, not sinners. Everyone knew that, not just the religious authorities.
But Jesus says, I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners. How can that be? How can he call sinners into the holy kingdom of God? The answer is that he is not calling sinners to walk into God’s kingdom as they are; he is calling them to himself, to follow him that he might make them righteous. He is a doctor who heals the sick, not simply a caretaker. And those who answer his call will find themselves healed of their disease of sin.
Is Jesus acknowledging that there are some who are righteous who don’t need him? No. He is simply speaking in terms the self-righteous can understand. They cannot argue that “sinners” need help. Now, if they are discerning, if they have ears to hear, they will understand that by the way he feels at ease with the “sinners,” he is not impressed with their so-called righteousness. And the fact that he does call everyone to follow him, certainly indicates that he lumps them in with all the other sinners.
Lessons
What then are we to make of Jesus? We really need to be honest about this. It is easy to smile at the religious leaders being uncomfortable with the way Jesus did ministry, but if we are to receive the full message of Scripture, we need to realize that we are most like them. The Pharisees were the conservative Jews of their day, just as we are the conservative Christians of our day. They took seriously the Word of God, and if they were overly legalistic, it was out of zeal to obey God, to uphold his righteous commands. They believed in morality like we do. They were concerned that the people of their nation were giving in to the ways of the pagan society that surrounded them, just like we are concerned about church people giving in to the ways of the secular society that surrounds us. The Pharisees were the law-abiding, moral people, just as we consider ourselves to be.
In truth we would have raised the same question about Jesus that the Pharisees did. And I have to be honest; I know that if Jesus were in my congregation I would be uncomfortable having him around. I wouldn’t question the rightness of what he would do; after all, he is Jesus. I would just prefer that he help out another church. I can only imagine whom he would invite to our church dinners, much less to the worship services. I know that I would be nervous picking up the telephone, never knowing when it would be Jesus inviting me to go out with him to some place or home of “sinners,” or worse yet, asking if he could bring some new friends over to my house.
Then there would be other calls. Some from church members: “Pastor, do you know where I just saw Jesus?” Some from the press: “Reverend Clark, how do you feel about one of your members associating with strip club personnel?” Or the most dreaded calls: “Preacher, Jesus said you would be willing to help me out.” What would we do with this guy who can’t seem to set appropriate boundaries between ministering and fellowshipping? What would we do with someone who doesn’t understand the importance of protecting his name, who doesn’t seem to understand how he scandalizes everyone?
Again, note here whom Jesus is associating with that causes a scandal. They are not the poor. Levi and his fellow tax collectors are doing fine financially. They are not of a minority group – people who by virtue of their circumstances are ostracized – like the Samaritans or lepers. They are Jews with no physical defects to speak of. They are, quite simply, people who have chosen wicked, immoral behavior. They are irreligious. They are oppressors who have made themselves the enemies of the poor and the common people. Levi and his associates are not the drug dealers down the block, though some may be. They are the neighborhood gang leaders putting the screws on their hard working, peaceful neighbors.
What is Jesus doing hanging out with them? He’s saving them. Because he is befriending them and teaching them the gospel, many of them are repenting and following him. What then does he want us to do? Who does he want us to reach out to? Who does he want us to invite into our homes to share his love? Whose homes does he want us to enter to share his gospel? Who are the sick needing our healing friendship? What are the neighborhoods he would have us enter, even live in? These are tough questions, but they are the ones that Mark is bringing before us. If Jesus’ mission is to heal the sick, and such people are the sick, what then are we, his disciples, to do?
But here is one other question, not for us, but for those “sinners.” Who else but for you has Jesus come to save? I have heard the comment, “Religion might be good for you. You are a good person, but it’s not for me. I’m not religious.” Do you think Levi was an elder in his synagogue? Do you think the label “sinners” was a nickname for the choir? It is you, in the midst of your sinfulness that he calls to join him in his kingdom. It is you that he calls, just as he called Levi, to leave behind your sins and follow him.
Indeed, it is all of us that he calls to leave our wickedness. We understand, don’t we, that none of us are righteous; that we are all in our hearts wicked; that when Jesus says he came to call sinners and not the righteous, that he wasn’t leaving us out of the call. He just wasn’t grouping us with the righteous. We are the “sinners,” just as the Pharisees were the “sinners.” Let us give praise to our glorious Lord who called such poor and needy sinners as we out of darkness and into his saving light.
