SHOP ‘TIL YOU DROP
Mark 2:13-17
Sermon #3 of “Ten Cultural Myths that Drive America”
This is the third sermon in our sermon series, “Ten Cultural Myths that Drive America” from the first six chapters of Mark. Last week we looked at “Image is Everything” from Mark 1:32-39. We discovered the counter-cultural ethic that Jesus utilized as he ministered and saved the human race.
In coming weeks we will look at other slogans that have become embedded into the American psyche, other idioms that define us and motivate us as a people. We will look at:
• Rules are Made to be Broken - Mark 2:18 – 3:6
• Live and Let Live - Mark 3:1-6
• You are Only Young Once - Mark 1:14-20; 3:13-19
• If You Want Something Done Right, Do It Yourself - Mark 3:13-19; 31-35
• If it Feels Good, Do It - Mark 5:1-20
• God Helps Those Who Help Themselves - Mark 5:25-34
• Stand Up For Your Rights - Mark 5:17, 6:1-6
This week we will look at Mark 2:13-17
There is so much in Chapter two that deserves our attention. And I assure you we will come back and look for closely at this chapter. We will look at this passage in the bigger context. For example, in chapter two we see four tests – four tests, four instances where humanity violates God’s law and we see “the final word” on the situation … Jesus speaks and settles the interpretation for all time.
But today, we will look at the story of Levi.
13Once again Jesus went out beside the lake. A large crowd came to him, and he began to teach them. 14As 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.
Note: Luke gives a little bit of additional information for us in regards to Levi’s decision to follow. In 5:28, Luke says, Levi got up, left everything and followed Jesus.
15While 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. 16When 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’?"
17On 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."
John Lennon and the Beatles have a song that says:
The best things in life are free
But you can keep them for the birds and bees
Now give me money ...
You’re lovin’ gives me a thrill
But you’re lovin’ don’t pay my bills
Now give me money ...
Money don’t get everything it’s true
What it don’t get, I can’t use
Now give me money ...
It certainly resonates with the heart of the average American. But, like Lennon’s song, it isn’t the money many want ... it’s what money can get you that we seek. And nothing illustrates this drive like this time of year. We are five days away from the biggest shopping day of the year and the most important retail season of the year.
The proverb, “Shop ‘Til You Drop” will literally be said by millions of Americans over the next 30 days.
The consumer science department at Purdue University says that: The Christmas retail season brings in up to 40 percent of annual sales and 75 percent of yearly profits for retailers (http://www.purdue.edu/UNS/html4ever/2004/041117.Feinberg.holiday04.html).
It has many faces. It looks different from person to person and we call it many things but, at its core, it is one and the same.
Some call it greed. Some call it covetousness. Some call it materialism. Jesus calls it sin. Jesus calls it spiritual sickness.
Just like any sickness it takes its toll on us.
No one in America is immune to this. It is so much a part of the American capitalistic system and psyche that it is inbred into us. Just last night I picked up an L.L. Bean catalog from the end table and found something I “need” on practically every page. Our “stuff” helps define us as a culture.
Somewhere along the way Levi (note the distinct Jewish name) made a conscious and unalterable decision to pursue money. It was a decision that had significant and immediate consequences.
• This was probably Matthew - the Disciple who wrote the Gospel.
• Levi was probably his given name and Matthew ("gift of God") his apostolic name.
• Tax collector jobs were greatly sought after as a sure way to get rich quickly.
May I offer a few observations about Levi’s (Matthew’s) choice and pursuit?
1. IT DEFINED HIM
• “Tax collector”
• There was only one reason to become a tax collector … you made a lot of money.
• Tax collectors were part of the Herodian system.
• It also determined his circle of friends.
2. IT OSTRACIZED HIM
• It resulted in an immediate removal from the Jewish community
• Tax collectors were considered traitors. They could not be judges or witnesses because they were considered untrustworthy
• Tax collectors were excommunicated from the synagogue
• There is probably no more hated Jew in all Galilee than this tax collector.
• Tax collectors were despised by the Jews because they were considered traitors and because they often were, in fact, extortionists.
3. IT OWNED HIM
• In many ways he made a decision that he could ever renege on, walk away from, or change ... at least he cold never walk away from it and return “home.”
• A Tax collector purchased (from Rome) the right collect taxes. Then they charged what they could get to recoup your losses.
• Tax collectors used dishonesty, intimidation and even force.
But all this changed when one “outside” element entered the story ... Jesus Christ, the Son of God (1:1)
I notice the outside element was not a new concept or an new ideology to follow. It was not an institution … it was the person of Jesus Christ. As Evangelical Christians that is what we understand the core of our faith system to be … a personal relationship with the resurrected Jesus Christ.
Jesus saw beyond the desire for things and money.
• JESUS UNDERSTOOD THE PASSION WAS AN ATTEMPT TO FILL THE VOID.
o He had an ache in his heart – the “good Jews” would have nothing to do with him
o Jesus gives you hope because Jesus can see the “you” inside you that even you do not see. Levi is the example of that. To the Galileans, Levi was an outcast, a traitor, but to Jesus he was a man of detail who had the necessary background to write the third Gospel with all its Jewish uniqueness set in it’s Roman background. Jesus saw a man that would stand by his decision to follow.
• JESUS OFFERED HIM A NEW LIFE.
o A new start with a new set of priorities … and a new way to define himself.
o A new fellowship!
o A new identity / definition of himself.
• What defines you?
o Rit Criscitello – Paul LaPointe once told me that he has never had a conversation with Rit without Jesus being part of it. I have been testing it for 14 months now. think he’s right.
o Oh I know he does have conversations about other things ... I’ve seen the chopper he’s building ... but I also know his relationship with the Christ defines him.
o There was much at stake for Levi in accepting Jesus’ call. Fishermen could easily go back to fishing (as some of the disciples did after Jesus’ crucifixion), but for Levi there would be little possibility of his returning to his occupation.
When Levi left his tradition to join up with Herod’s system it was irrevocable … to leave the tax booth to follow Jesus was also intended to be an irrevocable decision
As as we will see, Matthew made the right choice …
• MATTHEW CHOSE JESUS OVER HIMSELF.
o “Following Jesus is not so much a motion of the feet as it is a motion of the heart.” (Bede)
o The feast was possibly a Good-Bye feast”
o The feast was also an “Introduction to my new life and friend feast.”
Wrap-UP
Levi got up, left everything and followed Jesus. By accepting Jesus’ invitation this man found:
1. New Purpose
2. New Community
3. New Identity
4. Joy and Gratitude
It has many faces. It looks different from person to person and we call it many things but, at its core, it is one and the same … sin.
We’ll see it come up again in chapter 3. We’ll see it emerge again as one of the roots of all sins in the heart in chapter 7.
Some call it greed. Some call it covetousness. Some call it materialism. Jesus calls it sin. The inordinate desire for “stuff” is addressed again and again in Mark’s Gospel. It is always addressed from the lips of Jesus.
Jesus just told us that this debilitating hindrance that affects so many of us is a spiritual sickness – and HE is the physician with the answer.
• A Savior must by definition be among those needing saved.
• Jesus does not see you as reject but as patients
o He comes to us in our need
o He makes a proper diagnosis
o He brings a final and complete cure
o He pays the bill!
• But Jesus cannot spiritually heal those do not acknowledge they need Him.
One of the most important practical steps in actually directing your heart toward God is to discover the evidence of your desire for God in your everyday life. Your materialistic desire is one such body of evidence.
We call them possessions. But is it really just the clothes, the car, the house, the toys?
Is not something more involved?
What about our heart? Why do I we pursue these things? Why do we want the newest? The best? The “other”? Can you see our longing for more of God in this?
So far, we have looked at three proverbs that are so embedded into the American psyche that our culture lives by them by default; “Might Makes right”, “Image is Everything”, and “Shop ‘Til You Drop.”
In each case the corrective, the solution, is one and the same ... a relationship with Jesus Christ.
Freedom, real freedom is found nowhere else. We must do as Levi did.
1. See our “sickness”
2. Seek the Great Physician
Levi got up, left everything and followed Jesus.
This one element, Jesus Christ, the Son of God (1:1) walks up to you today and asks you to follow Him too.
He who has ears to hear, Let him hear.
