Sermon Tone Analysis

*“I Am The Law”*

*Mark 2.13-28*

 

To this point, we are seeing Jesus doing some pretty radical things.

He has been amazing people with his authoritative teaching, his exorcism of demons, healing the physically ill – including lepers.

His popularity was increasing by the minute.

And, as we will see in this text, his opposition will increase as well.

A couple of weeks ago I mentioned that questions regarding Jesus’ identity came from people.

And, strangely, the demons seem to know precisely who he is.

Jesus has told them to remain silent so that he can fulfill his mission.

But we also know that this merely delays the inevitable.

The more he is healing and teaching and demonstrating authority over demons, the more attention he will draw to himself.

Last week we saw the significance of the healing of a leper.

To be a leper meant you were “walking death.”

Doug drew out many of the similarities between this physical disease and our sin nature.

And we saw the great faith of this man as he somehow understood that this Jesus was able to deal with this very serious and very deadly disease.

As can be expected, the man’s healing prompted him to tell everybody of this miraculous event.

This, of course, drew lots of attention toward Jesus so that he had to withdraw for a time.

In chapter two, Mark recounts the familiar story of the paralytic.

Jesus returned to Capernaum.

This fact did not remain a secret and so the people once again flocked to Jesus.

So many people came that there was no room.

Jesus was preaching the word, the text indicates.

And then again something very significant happens.

Because a group of guys had faith in what they knew of this Jesus, they carry a paralytic up to a roof and lower him down in the presence of Jesus.

Not your everyday occurrence.

We discussed this story a bit on Wednesday night in the Christianity Explored class.

Matthew, who has been visiting us, reminded us that it would be a great risk to actually ruin somebody’s roof to lower their friend down.

They believed that Jesus was able to help their friend – to the extent of causing damage to someone else’s property.

Jesus’ response comes unexpected to us.

He forgives the man’s sins.

And the scribes began questioning in their hearts and thinking that Jesus is blaspheming.

Jesus is God, however, and thus can read their thoughts and offers a bit of a lesson and then heals the man of his physical ailment which demonstrates that he has authority to forgive sins because he is God.

Because of who Jesus is, any interaction or confrontation demands a response.

He cannot be merely a great teacher, a prophet or a moral guy.

His claims and actions require that you dismiss him altogether or you bow the knee to his lordship.

Jesus presses on in his mission in our text this morning.

We are in Mark chapter 2 beginning with verse 13.

We will be covering Mark 2.13-28 this morning in the sermon, *“I am the Law.”

*Let’s read the text as we get underway.

We find our first point in verses 13-18.

We see the *Mission of Jesus.*

And this mission consists of teaching, seeking, and calling.

In verse 13, Jesus returns to the Sea of Galilee while his popularity continues to increase.

Because of the outrageous claims, authoritative teaching, healing and authority over demons, he has amassed quite a following.

Jesus once again does not consider the healings and such to be the focus of his ministry.

He uses these to authenticate who he is and then continues to teach them.

Mark does not indicate here the content of what he was teaching.

It could well have been further explanation of the events just prior regarding the forgiveness of sins.

Mark has already informed us the overall message of his mission: Repent and believe the gospel from 1.14-15.

It is this turning away from sin and faith in the good news of God that provides the forgiveness for sins.

It is no mere coincidence here that Jesus “passes by” a man at a tax booth.

Commentators are a bit undecided of the identity of Levi.

Some think that he is James, the son of Alphaeus – one of the disciples.

But I think Mark’s account parallels Matthew’s telling of the story where Matthew indicates that it is actually the Lord Jesus calling *him* from the tax booth in Matthew 9.9.

Jesus uses the now familiar words of “follow me” and Levi immediately gets up and follows after Jesus.

And we have seen others respond to this call.

Simon and Andrew, James and John both left their nets behind to follow Jesus after his invitation.

The calling of Levi introduces some new elements however.

Levi was a tax collector.

As a tax collector, his job did not revolve around GST or PST.

And whatever your thoughts about the fairness of these taxes, they wouldn’t necessarily be identified with robbery.

One commentator writes, “In ancient Palestine, tax collectors were known for dishonesty and extortion.

The Roman tax system was complex and varied, even in a small country like Palestine.

Land and poll taxes were collected directly by the Romans, but taxes on transported goods were contracted out to local collectors, most of whom were ethnic Jews but probably not observant Jews, since Torah-conscious Jews could not be expected to transact business with Gentiles.

Levi was one of these middlemen (or in the service of one) who made bids in advance to collect taxes in a given area.

His own profit came from what he could mulct from his constituents, and a portion of his receipts stayed in his own pockets.

The Roman system of taxation depended on graft and greed, and it attracted enterprising individuals who were not adverse to such means.”

In addition, Levi (or Matthew) would have been employed by the Romans to collect taxes for them and would have been viewed as a traitor to the Jewish people.

It would be safe to say that if we were Jesus looking for people to believe the message of the gospel, we probably wouldn’t go immediately to a tax collector.

We would probably look to the “seekers” of the day – trying to persuade those in the synagogue perhaps.

Jesus goes to the truck drivers of the day – fishermen and tax collectors.

They were the “rough around the edges” kind of folk that he goes after here.

To me, this clearly communicates the power and authority of Jesus.

Isn’t it true that as we share the gospel, we shy away a bit from the drug dealers, the motorcycle gangs, and those who we would not expect to be receptive of the gospel?

One commentator concludes, “this incident exposes a persistent tendency among God’s people throughout history to exclude and to write off others we classify as irredeemable.”

I know that there are many here who have come to faith because somebody else was courageous and exercised great faith when they shared the gospel with you.

You may not even have considered yourself a seeker.

But when Jesus calls, you can’t help but respond.

I know that I am so thankful to have had people that reached out to me when I was lost in the pursuit of the world and my own pleasure.

Allow even this brief account of a tax collector embolden your witness to Christ.

Romans 1.16 says, “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the */power of God for salvation/* to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.”

Levi responds to the authoritative call of Jesus.

Now think about what is at stake.

With the previous call of the fishermen, could they not return to fishing if “things didn’t work out?”

What about a tax collector that abandons his post?

This appears as an “all or nothing” deal.

Look what happens next.

Jesus goes to a party with more of these folks.

He doesn’t just preach to them, he befriends them.

Matthew hosts a party here and Jesus is there hanging out with them.

In fact, this gathering has quite the dynamic.

The text indicates that Jesus and his disciples were partying with “tax collectors and sinners.”

Now this is intriguing!

To be clear, some of those that were at the party were indeed criminals – namely the tax collectors.

But, as James Edwards indicates, “many are simply laborers and commoners, who were too busy, too poor, or too ignorant to live up to the rules of the religious authorities.

In our eyes, of course, listing common folks with thieves is like throwing jaywalkers into jail with hardened criminals, but it did not seem so to the Pharisees.

Matthew 11:19 “The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, ‘Look at him!

A glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’

Yet wisdom is justified by her deeds.’”

Luke 15:2 And the Pharisees and the scribes grumbled, saying, “This man receives sinners and eats with them.”