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.”
“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”.
But Jesus is not going to let this rest. Their displeasure with him associating with tax collectors and sinners has revealed a flaw in their theology. So Jesus says this:
Mark 2:17 (NIV) — 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.”
This is a profound saying of Jesus and one that addresses two common misconceptions about God and salvation:
(1) I am so good I can earn my way to God.
(2) I am so bad I am beyond God’s love.
Let’s address the first misconception first. This is especially a temptation for those of us who have grown up in church. Those who, at least on the inside, seem to have it all together. Those who have avoided what we might call the “big” sins – that in and of itself reveals some bad theology. We need to remind ourselves that we are sick. That we are sinners and nothing that we have done merits our salvation. Now we can be grateful that we have been transformed and even honored that God is using us to serve in the kingdom, but God forbid we ever think that we are worthy of God’s grace. We always need to have the same sentiment of the apostle Paul who reminded us of this with these words:
1 Timothy 1:15 (NIV) — 15 Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners—of whom I am the worst.
We are saved by the grace of God!
Let’s address the second misconception – that there are some people beyond the grace of God. Jesus obviously blows that out of the water not only by this episode but by his very life. Tax collectors and all sorts of sinners were always on his guest list. He talked to a Samaritan woman. There was and is no one beyond his love. He wasn’t so concerned about where you had been as whether or not you would answer his invitation to follow him.
Let me share an excerpt from a piece written by Russell Moore in Christianity Today:
Passing around the corner from the dining room table, I heard one of my sons reading aloud from C.?S. Lewis’s The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. I stopped and listened, knowing how much those Narnia books have meant to me. He was in the middle of a line, speaking fast and about to move on to the next paragraph. I stepped out into his view and said, “Stop there; read it again. It’s the most important sentence in the book.”
I don’t know that I would always say it’s the most important sentence in the book; I could make the case for at least a dozen options. But I would say it’s the most important sentence for us right now.
Edmund had betrayed his siblings—goaded on by the White Witch and a taste for Turkish delight—and after an entire narrative leading the reader to despise the treasonous brat, Aslan, the lion and rightful ruler of Narnia, appeared and walked a sheepish and defeated Edmund back to the others.
“Here is your brother,” he said, “and—there is no need to talk to him about what is past.”
“Here is your brother, and—there is no need to talk to him about what is past.” If we could feel the weight of that glory—of who is saying it and why he’s saying it—we would see an entire world lit up with the Good News. Aslan is fictional, of course, but there is a real Lion of Judah, and maybe he wants to remind us of a truth we’ve forgotten, perhaps just when we need it most.
No one is beyond God’s love! To any of you tax collectors out there, some religious people may have walked right passed you. Others may have shot you a dirty look. Some even may have muttered insults under their breathe. But not Jesus. He stops. He sees you. He has a place for you at his table. You are on his guest list.
Jesus may not have been able to please all of the people all of the time – but know this – he loves all of the people all of the time. And he loves you. And he says even to you, “Follow me.”
