Intro.
Last week we started a new journey into the book of Mark. I shared with you that there are 4 instances in the book of Mark where Jesus uses the phrase, “Follow Me.” Last week we took a look at catching Jesus’ dream. Yet, not just a dream, but a reality. It was “Come follow me and I will make you fishers of men.” We examined our responsibility in presenting the Gospel message to a world that is lost and so in need of Good News. Also, that we need to make sure of the way we are presenting it. Are we forcing it down peoples throats or are we showing them an example by the way we live our lives?
Today we are going to take the next step down the path as we follow after Jesus. Today’s passage comes from the second chapter of Mark starting at the 13th verse. Let’s see what it says.
Mk 2:13 Once again Jesus went out beside the lake. A large crowd
came to him, and he began to teach them.
Mk 2:14 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.
Here we find Jesus, walking beside the lake.
But this time, instead of coming across some fishermen, Jesus encounters a tax collector. Levi (AKA Matthew).
à What’s so special about this? Well let’s take a look at who Levi is. He is a tax collector. What does that mean?
He is employed by the Roman Government
He is hated by the Jews for being a traitor
He’s a cheat
An extortioner
A thief
A swindler
Considered dirt by most people
Yet, now Jesus comes into the picture. He approaches this man who is hated by most people, and doesn’t treat him the way he is used to being treated.
He approaches Levi openly
He comes with a positive, friendly attitude
He invites Levi to follow Him
And just like Andrew, Peter, James & John:
Levi leaves his table to follow the Lord. This could be a very risky decision for Levi, because the position of tax collector was sought after by greedy people looking to get rich fast.
He risked this get rich quick job.
We don’t know where they went immediately… but the passage goes onto say:
Mk 2:15 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.
Here we have some dinner party happening. Levi has invited his closest associates:
other tax collectors
“sinners”
Great crowd of friends he hangs out with. Yet it seems that he wants his associates & friends to meet this guy who treated him differently than any other person has ever treated him. He wants to share the kindness and the compassion of his newly found friend and teacher, Jesus. As I said last week,
there is something special about Jesus.
That is why Levi wants his friends to meet the man:
Who didn’t curse at him
Didn’t threaten him
Didn’t avoid him
But treated him as a person
Illustration:
A tiger met a lion as they drank beside the pool
Tell me said the tiger, why you’re always roaring like a fool
It’s not so foolish said the lion with a twinkle in his eyes
They call me King of Beasts, it pays to advertise.
A little rabbit overheard and ran home like a streak
He thought he’d try the lion’s plan but his roar was just a squeak
And a hungry fox that morning had his breakfast in the woods.
The moral of the story: it does not pay to advertise unless you have the goods.
Levi had found the goods in Jesus and he wanted to advertise. He wanted these scrub friends of his to know that there is someone who is different and stands out from the others. Someone who doesn’t judge them, by their occupation, but looks straight to the heart.
Now if we look at the rest of this passage we find some unfriendly visitors hanging around.
Mk 2:16 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’?”
Mk 2:17 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.”
The holy rollers come upon this little get together, and it doesn’t sit well with them. They see Jesus & His disciples sitting and eating with tax collectors, and “sinners”. They are perplexed. They’re stunned and they ask WHY? Why in the world is He allowing Himself to be seen with these kind of people. They’re despicable. Bottom of the heap kind of guys. So they approach a couple of the disciples, and ask WHY?
The reference to “sinners” here is defined as those people who refused to follow the Mosaic Law as interpreted by the Pharisees. Jesus being closely associated with these despised tax collectors and "sinners" was too much for the "teachers of the law" to keep quiet about.
These Pharisees represented some of the worst elements of traditional religion: jealousy, hypocrisy, and religious formalism. Jesus’ consorting with people who openly refused to keep the requirements of the law prompted them to ask why a supposedly observant Jew would associate with them.
Jesus overhears their question. Immediately He has a response for them. I don’t believe He had to think about it. It says, “On hearing this, He says: It is not the healthy who need a doctor but the sick. I’ve not come to call the righteous but sinners.
A doctor ministers not to healthy persons but to those who are sick. So Jesus came not to call the "righteous", here meaning the self-righteous but "sinners" (i.e., those who are alienated from God in their lives). Jesus’ call is to salvation; and, in order to share in it, there must be a recognition of need. A self-righteous person is incapable of recognizing that need, but a sinner can.
We can find a specific example of this in Luke chapter 18, here Jesus shares another parable with some who felt pretty good about their righteousness:
Lk 18:9 To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everybody else, Jesus told this parable:
Lk 18:10 “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector.
Lk 18:11 The Pharisee stood up and prayed about himself: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector.
Lk 18:12 I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.’
Lk 18:13 “But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’
When our lives are lived to the point of being so proud of what we do with our faith, it is easy to forget where we came from. It is easier to look down on others who are “sinful”. When all we do is sit around where it is comfortable and we are surrounded by other Christians, and then judge everyone we consider to be “sinners”, then we have totally missed the point of the mission that Jesus has laid out for us.
I think Jesus lays it out most clearly in His interactions with another tax collector many of us have heard of. Zacchaeus.
Lk 19:10 For the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost.”
We have to get beyond spending so much time on ourselves, and look outside these four walls and to follow out the mission that Jesus set forth for us to follow.
Let me share one last illustration to help drive home this point.
Once upon a time some visitors took a tour of an oil refinery. The tour guide showed them all the intricacies of the refining process. The vast catalyst chambers, the pipes, the heating vats—everything that went into the refining of oil. As the tour ended, one of the visitors asked the tour guide a simple question. “Sir, you showed us everything except the shipping department. This size oil refinery processes a huge amount of petroleum, turning it into gasoline and lubricants. But you haven’t showed us where it’s all put into containers and shipped out to the world.”
“Well, you see,” said the tour guide, “we don’t have a shipping department. Everything that is produced in this refinery is used up as energy to keep the refinery going.”
If all we do is spend all our energy on those who are already here, what are we doing to help grow the Kingdom of God?
Maybe, you are content with where we are. Perhaps growth really scares you. Well, it is not about how you feel, it’s about what God has set as the standard. It is about the Mission that Jesus came here to fulfill. Drawing lost people into a relationship with Him.
As I mentioned a few weeks ago, Jesus will never call us to do something He hasn’t already done. It is His goal & purpose for the church to fulfill. We must Follow Him in faithful obedience.
This morning, I pray that you see the mission that Jesus has called us to. We are to be reaching out to those who are lost.
It is all a part of the Transformation we talked about through the month of July. That we become more like our Creator and see with His eyes and love with His heart. May we again take to heart the call Jesus has made to each of us. It is time to make a decision. If you desire to make a right relationship with God and want to step up to the plate to accept Jesus’ call, than do so this morning and don’t wait any longer. The call, Follow Me!
