“Be Careful of the Company You Keep”
Mark 2:13-17
There can be no doubt, this is one of my favorite scenes in the Gospels and that is saying a lot.
We are able to see the Lord interacting with human beings in a very radical way, a very subversive way, a very new way.
And it is absolutely beautiful.
There are many layers of meaning here.
Let’s open our minds and our hearts this morning, and ask the Holy Spirit to speak to us through this passage.
To whom do we relate to most in this passage…
…the Pharisees…
…Levi…
…the other disciples…
…the other sinners at the table?
What growing edges will God bring to light in our own lives as we listen, meditate and study this morning?
Let’s imagine the dinner table at Levi’s house.
Levi has been called by Jesus to be His disciple despite Levi’s shameful reputation as a crooked tax collector, and is so excited and grateful that he prepares a feast to celebrate.
He invites Jesus, his new colleagues—the other disciples of Jesus.
He also invites his old friends—tax collectors and sinners—who live outside the Law like he does, because he wants to proudly introduce Jesus and the other disciples to them.
There is something almost beautifully naïve here on the part of Levi.
For Levi, Jesus’ calling isn’t just proof of his own personal and individual acceptance by God, but it proves that Jesus is welcoming and calling all people—the religiously and socially marginalized—everyone has been offered a ticket to ride this train.
And Levi figures, why wouldn’t everyone accept it with as much enthusiasm and excitement as he has?
Surely, they will, he thinks.
I remember thinking something similar when I first became saved.
I immediately called up all my friends telling them about Jesus.
I figured they would all sign up like I had.
After-all, why wouldn’t they?
It was the truth staring them right in the face.
It was the secret to life.
It was the ultimate answer to all our problems.
I was sadly disappointed when the reception was not quite what I expected.
In any event, Jesus happily comes to the party and sits at the same table with some of the most questionable characters in town.
Since tax collectors and sinners were often grouped together with beggars, thieves, murderers, the sexually immoral, and Gentiles we can imagine what an inclusive party this was.
Now, the Scribes and the Pharisees, who separated themselves from others by in their strict observance of the Law, especially the Purity Laws are curious about what Jesus does in the house of the tax collector.
They peek in the house and are surprised by what is going on inside.
Jesus, Who claims to be the One Who has the divine authority to forgive sins, is eating and reclining with people who are impure!
Such barrier-breaking behavior flies in the face of the purity system’s wide spectrum of distinctions between the rich and the poor, male and female, Jew and Gentile, sick and healthy.
It must be noted that the same purity system, with its burdensome web of taxation and sacrifice, was also very profitable for the Temple and its priesthood.
Confused, the scribes ask Jesus’ disciples, “Why does He eat with tax collectors and sinners?”
Jesus overhears this, and says to them: “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick.
I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”
But, Jesus’ response to the Teachers of the Law, who were Pharisees, is a bit sarcastic.
Indeed, it is the teachers of the Law, the self-proclaimed righteous people, who are most in need of Jesus’ message, and yet are the least able to hear it.
After-all, if you are convinced you are righteous without Jesus—how are you going to be convinced of your need for a Savior?
We are reminded in Romans 3:23: “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”
And in 1st John 1 we are told, “If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.
If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word has no place in our lives.”
The Pharisees were trying to live by the purity Laws in the Old Testament.
According to these Laws, they must separate themselves from sinners, or else they themselves will become unclean…or sinners themselves, shall we say.
Oh, how Jesus turns everything on its head.
Do you realize that our passage for this morning is the first place where Jesus’ followers are called “disciples” which means “learners” or “students.”
In verse 15 it says, “While Jesus was having dinner at Levi’s house, many tax collectors and ‘sinners’ were eating with him and his disciples.”
The fact that the disciples are first mentioned in an instance where they are literally breaking the Law by eating with the “unclean” indicates that to be a disciple of Jesus Christ is to not separate one’s self from sinners, but to instead, acknowledge that all people are sinners and yet all are welcome to recline at the table with the Lord Who forgives sin and transforms sinners into followers.
All are sick and need a doctor.
And Jesus is the Great Physician Who has come to save our souls.
But unless we realize we are sick, we will not go to the doctor.
One person has written the following: “I chat with Jesus Who surprises me by asking if I am weak enough to be a disciple.”
Are you weak enough to be a disciple of Jesus Christ?
Am I?
Do you recognize your limits enough to put your trust in Jesus rather than in yourself?
Do you know that you need Jesus, the Great Physician?
The teachers of the Law are surprised that Jesus and His disciples eat with sinners.
And this might be a good opportunity for us to think about who we tend to eat with.
Now, I know we are in a pandemic and it can be dangerous to get together for dinner parties right now.
But a time is coming soon, Lord willing, when we will be eating together again.
And this is a good time to think about who we will invite over for a meal.
Will it just be the people who are like ourselves.
People whom we have much in common with?
We have what, some folks have coined, a “self-selective intimacy problem.”
It’s not a whole lot different than what was going on in the first century.
And this “self-selective intimacy” reinforces the status quo.
It really is a barrier to communication between different groups of people such as the rich and the poor, employers and employees, black folks and white folks, urban people and rural people, the young and the old…
…groups that could learn so much from one another and learn to love and respect one another, if only we would allow God to break down the barriers between us.
In Mark Chapter 2, Jesus disrupts all the social norms that come with mealtime.
He eats with everyone who will come: tax collectors, sinners, His disciples, scribes, Pharisees.
There can be no doubt that Jesus doesn’t just revise the ancient purity laws; He defies them, at least as they had been traditionally interpreted and practiced.
So, if disciples are called to eat with all kinds of folks, what does that mean for us?
What does that mean when we return to having church meals and are stuck with a decision as to which table we will sit at?
Will we just hang out with our friends, leaving new comers to feel left out and unwanted?
Or will we be intentional about being inclusive and hospitable?
A few weeks ago, a woman from Texas named Rebecca Bolin wrote about this sort of thing in the Upper Room Devotional.
Rebecca writes: “My husband and I invited Mina and her husband over for coffee and dessert.
They are from Iran and had moved to our small town…seven months earlier.
But they told us that we were the only people in our town who had befriended them so far.”
Rebecca continues, “As I read a thank you letter from Mina, I remembered the summer I spent in Taiwan on a volunteer trip.
I didn’t speak the language, the food was unfamiliar, the customs were new to me, and I looked different from everyone else.
But through the hospitality of strangers, I was able to adjust and enjoy myself…
…I know firsthand how refreshing it is when a stranger shows care, tries to get to know you, or introduces you to their loved ones.”
Yes.
Disciples, followers of Jesus, are those who join with Jesus to eat with sinners and strangers, tax collectors and the religiously self-righteous.
Disciples don’t separate themselves from others.
Disciples don’t think they are better or above others.
Disciples are sinners who are seeking to follow, learn from and be like Christ.
What Jesus and His disciples did the day they ate at Levi’s house was revolutionary and it was extremely upsetting to the “good people” of the town.
Today, we have social media that would cover such events.
The social media of Jesus’ day consisted of checking out who was eating with whom, and discussing the company someone kept.
Had this situation happened today, a video of the event would have been posted, followed immediately by a barrage of outraged comments, shares, links and tweeted rumors.
The whole thing would have gone viral in no time.
The loyal defenders of Jesus and His disciples would take up their cause and within a few short hours, the lines would all be blurred.
Most folks would have an opinion and most would feel sure about the “rightness” of their opinion.
Most would feel they had “furthered the cause,” however they defined it.
Is it possible that at least part of Jesus’ plan is to blur the lines?
If we had a video that focused in on Jesus’ facial expressions, capturing His body language and recording His eye contact—would we see Jesus tilting His head and looking directly into the eyes of those questioning Him, with a slight smile on His face as He says, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick.
I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners”?
Was anyone in that group, other than Jesus, healthy?
Was anyone, other than Jesus, righteous?
It’s one thing to accept imperfect people.
It’s another thing altogether to begin to acknowledge our own need for a physician.
Our society puts an increasingly high value on being right, being sure, “having all the answers or having it all together.”
And while it is acceptable to admit needing our high-tech gadgets, our smart phones and laptops…
…is it acceptable to admit that we need help from the Holy One, the God of tax collectors, teachers of the Law, prostitutes and Pharisees?
Some of us may stay awake at night afraid we might lose our job or we might be worried about the lump under our skin.
Our relationships might be in turmoil, and we may desperately hope no one can tell.
As long as we look the part, as long as there are still “Levi’s” around to distract attention away from us, perhaps we are safe.
But think about it.
Who is totally well?
Who has no need?
For Jesus, all the lines are blurred, if not erased.
Jesus is at home with the very weak and wayward side of humanity and He wants us to be “at home” with it ourselves.
You know, if we don’t love and accept ourselves we tend to project our dislikes of ourselves onto others as well.
In our prayers, we might want to tell Jesus about some of the things that we don’t like about ourselves.
And, in light of how comfortable Jesus is in relating with “sinners,” the imperfect and the impure, perhaps we can allow Jesus to put our own faults into perspective.
In doing so, can we come to love ourselves, others and Christ?
And in doing so, can we accept that we are in need of a Savior—just like everyone else is in need of a Savior.
No one has a “one-up” on anyone else.
None are righteous; none of us are without sin.
Not one!
I touched on what Paul says in Romans Chapter 3 a few minutes ago.
I’d like to close with a few more gems from that chapter.
I think these verses speak very well to our Gospel Lesson this morning.
Listen to what Paul says to us: “Now a righteousness from God, apart from the law has been made known…
…This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe.
There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ.
God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood.”
This is what it is all about.
We all need a doctor.
Jesus is that doctor.
And Jesus calls us to follow Him, to learn from Him, to be believe in Him and to be one of His disciples.
In the process we, who are sick, make a U Turn and begin on the road to recovery and eternal life.
Praise God.
Amen.
