The Call to Follow Jesus

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INTRODUCTION

We are returning today to our study of Mark
It’s been 6 months since our last study in Mark
In our last time in this book, we looked at Jesus forgiving sin in the healing of the paralytic in Mark 2:1-12.
Now were picking up at verse 13 down to verse 17
So if you haven’t already, please take your Bibles and turn to Mark chapter 2
Listen to what the Word of God says…
Mark 2:13–17 NASB95
13 And He went out again by the seashore; and all the people were coming to Him, and He was teaching them. 14 As He passed by, He saw Levi the son of Alphaeus sitting in the tax booth, and He said to him, “Follow Me!” And he got up and followed Him. 15 And it happened that He was reclining at the table in his house, and many tax collectors and sinners were dining with Jesus and His disciples; for there were many of them, and they were following Him. 16 When the scribes of the Pharisees saw that He was eating with the sinners and tax collectors, they said to His disciples, “Why is He eating and drinking with tax collectors and sinners?” 17 And hearing this, Jesus said to them, “It is not those who are healthy who need a physician, but those who are sick; I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”
What a wonderful text about Jesus’ call to sinners for salvation!
Mark 1–8: The MacArthur New Testament Commentary Chapter 8: The Scandal of Grace (Mark 2:13–17)

The dramatic incident recorded in these verses illustrates the fact that no sinner is beyond the reach of God’s grace. Jesus was willing to save even the lowest of the low, a hated tax collector.

You may have been the lowest of the low
I know it was me but not in the way Matthew was treated
As the text opens in verse 13, which is usually where translators end, we hear of…

I. The Main Work of Jesus (v.13)

Listen again to what it says…
“And He went out again by the seashore; and all the people were coming to Him, and He was teaching them.
This passage looks back at the scene in 1:16 when Jesus began His ministry at Capernaum (Hiebert)
After Jesus healed the paralytic, He went out from the house in Capernaum and began teaching again by the seashore (MacArthur)
Jesus’ teaching mostly occurred outside because of the size of the crowds
The previous story in verses 1-12 shows us in verse 4 that the paralytic man and his four friends were “unable to get to [Jesus] because of the crowd,” so they cut an opening in the roof and let their paralytic friend down in the house in front of Jesus
The story ends there in verse 12 and now verse 13 picks up with Jesus leaving the house and going to a place where more people could hear Him teach (MacArthur), for that is why He came
As He traveled along the shore of the Sea of Galilee, all the people were coming to Him, and He was teaching them
The two words “coming” (ercheto, imp.) and “teaching” (edidasken, imp.) indicates that alternating “groups [were] coming out to Jesus, and each group received His teaching” (Hiebert)
Teaching was Jesus’ main work
The New Testament mentions Jesus teaching approximately 50 times
Let’s notice some things about Jesus and His teaching:
He always taught with authority - Mark 1:22, “They were amazed at His teaching; for He was teaching them as one having authority, and not as the scribes.”
He taught by parables - Mark 4:2, “And He was teaching them many things in parables, and was saying to them in His teaching,”
He taught on any day even the Sabbath - Luke 4:31, “And He came down to Capernaum, a city of Galilee, and He was teaching them on the Sabbath;”
He taught in the synagogue - John 6:59, “These things He said in the synagogue as He taught in Capernaum.”
He taught in the Temple - John 18:20, “Jesus answered him, “I have spoken openly to the world; I always taught in synagogues and in the temple, where all the Jews come together; and I spoke nothing in secret.”
He always taught what the Father told Him to teach - John 8:28, “So Jesus said, “When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am He, and I do nothing on My own initiative, but I speak these things as the Father taught Me.”
Looking back at our text in Mark, we need to understand that Mark gives no indication to what He was teaching but we do know from Mark 1:14–15, that when He “14…came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of God, 15 and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.”
Jesus was referred to as “The Teacher” by others (Jn.11:28) and by Himself (Mat.26:18)
Last, every time He taught, He taught exact truth. There was never any deceit or manipulation or lies in anything He said. He spoke 100% truth all the time
That’s why He referred to Himself as “the Truth” in John 14:6.
Since He is the truth and everything He says is true and He cannot lie, you can believe everything He ever said
We have it right here in the Bible
The Bible doesn’t record every word Jesus ever said but every word that has been written down under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit is what God wanted us to hear
Therefore every word recorded is truth
It’s His truth because He is truth and His Word is truth
Jesus said to the Father in John 17:17, “You Word is truth”
Back to our text we learn that after ministering along the shore, Jesus made His way back into Capernaum
Verse 14 says, “As He passed by, He saw Levi the son of Alphaeus sitting in the tax booth, and He said to him, “Follow Me!” And he got up and followed Him.”
This verse gives us the heart of Jesus’ message
The Gospel is about following Jesus exclusively
It’s like what Ruth said to Naomi in Ruth 1:16, “But Ruth said, “Do not urge me to leave you or turn back from following you; for where you go, I will go, and where you lodge, I will lodge. Your people shall be my people, and your God, my God.”
Jesus wants your will
But you can’t change your will to seek Him because you’re dead in trespasses and sins (Eph.2:1)
So He changes your will
He makes you willing
Philippians 2:13, “for it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure.”
Remember all the gospel writers had the same purpose in what they wrote
They wanted to reveal who Jesus is
They wanted to prove He was God by looking at His life, by examining His teachings by seeing His miracles, by seeing how He handled temptation, and by seeing how and why He died and that He rose again
Keep that in mind as we go through the gospel of Mark
Remember Mark began his gospel by telling us that “Jesus Christ, [is] the Son of God” (Mk.1:1)
Mark now tells us in verse 14 of…

II. The Calling of Matthew (v.14a)

Matthew is identified by His Jewish name, Levi
Both Mark and Luke refer to him as Levi
But in Matthew 9:9 he is identified as “a man named Matthew”
Matthew means “gift of the Lord”
This Greek name was either given to him by Jesus or it was assumed like Saul becoming Paul
He could have possibly used it to hide his heritage since he was a tax collector
“The Son of Alphaeus” is mentioned only by Mark
James the Less is also identified as “The Son of Alphaeus”
But there is no indication they were related
The name Alphaeus was a common name and their fathers could have had the same name
When the twelve are listed they are never listed together like the brothers James and John
Mark says when Jesus saw Matthew he was “sitting in the tax booth”
He was sitting there because he was a tax collector
This was “the place where customs or dues were collected” (Hiebert)
Matthew was working for Herod Antipas, the ruler of Galilee and was a traitor to the Jews
The Roman taxes were bought by the publicani (publican)
These were men of wealth and credit
They were required to meet a minimum quota for Rome, while anything they collected beyond that was theirs to keep (MacArthur)
Some tax collectors asked Jesus in Luke 3:12–13, after they believed and were baptized, “12…“Teacher, what shall we do?” 13 And he said to them, “Collect no more than what you have been ordered to.”
So they had a reputation of being dishonest and collecting more than they were required to line their own pockets
The taxes they were required to collect were the poll tax, income tax (about 1 percent), and land tax (one-tenth of all grain, and one-fifth of all wine and fruit) (MacArthur)
Taxes were levied on the transport of goods and produce, the use of roads, the crossing of bridges, and other miscellaneous activities (MacArthur)
Lenski says…

Under the publicani there were “chiefs of publicans” like Zacchæus who were in charge of an entire taxing district, and under these again common collectors of the taxes.

Matthew was most likely a “common collector of taxes”
When Jesus saw him he was collecting taxes “on exports from Capernaum and import taxes on goods passing through” (Hiebert)
All publicans were hated and despised by the Jews (Lenski)
They were seen as traitors to their country
They also “were notorious for exploiting people, charging more than was necessary or reasonable and then, for those unable to pay, loaning money at exorbitant interest rates” (MacArthur)
Tax collectors or publicans “were considered unclean, barred from attending the synagogue, and prohibited from testifying in a Jewish court” (MacArthur)
They were put in the same class as thieves and liars—the most-debased sinners
One commentator said…
The Mishnah and Talmud (although written later) register scathing judgments of tax collectors, lumping them together with thieves and murderers. A Jew who collected taxes was disqualified as a judge or witness in court, expelled from the synagogue, and a cause of disgrace to his family (b. Sanh. 25b).
The touch of a tax collector rendered a house unclean (m. Teh. 7:6; m. Hag. 3:6).
Jews were forbidden to receive money and even alms from tax collectors since revenue from taxes was deemed robbery.
Jewish contempt of tax collectors is epitomized in the ruling that Jews could lie to tax collectors with impunity (m. Ned. 3:4). (James R. Edwards, The Gospel according to Mark, Pillar New Testament Commentary [Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2002], 83)
According to the Talmud, there were two kinds of tax collectors. The gabbai were responsible to collect the more general taxes, like the poll, land, and income tax. More specialized taxes, like tolls for using roads and bridges, were collected by the mokhes. (See Alfred Edersheim, The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah [Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1974], I:515–518.)
A tax booth would be owned by a great mokhes who would employ a little mokhes to sit there and actually collect the taxes.
From Mark’s description, it is clear that Matthew was a little mokhes.
Because he was in constant contact with the people, daily charging them as they passed his toll booth, Matthew would have been one of the most familiar and hated men in Capernaum. (Mark 1–8: The MacArthur New Testament Commentary (The Call of a Social Outcast (2:13–14)
In spite of all this, Jesus said to Matthew “Follow Me!”
Matthew’s call was…

III. The Call to Follow Jesus (v.14b)

This is the response we are to have to the Gospel
What is the gospel?
Simply, Jesus died in our place
What is our response? To follow Him in faithful obedience embracing who He is and His atoning work on the cross
Jesus gave this same call earlier to Simon (Peter), Andrew, James and John (sons of Zebedee) in Mark 1:16-20.
He also gave this call to the rich-young ruler in Matthew 16:24
Matthew 16:24 NASB95
24 Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me.
He said in Matthew 10:38, “And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me.”
Matthew immediately followed Jesus
Matthew 9:9 says “And he got up and followed Him”
Luke says in Luke 5:28, “And he left everything behind, and got up and began to follow Him.”
Matthew’s response was miraculous
It was a reflection of the supernatural work of regeneration that had taken place in his heart (MacArthur)
Matthew had been a man of the world, who had sold his soul for a lucrative career in a despised and dishonest profession. In that moment, Matthew was transformed from a tax-collecting lover of money into a Christ-following lover of God (cf. Matt. 6:24). Everything that controlled his life up to that point no longer had any meaning. The money, the power, the pleasures of the world all lost their grip on his heart. Under conviction, all he wanted was forgiveness and he knew Jesus was the only one who could provide it. He had a new heart, new longings, and new desires (cf. 2 Cor. 5:17). (MacArthur, John. Mark 1–8. Moody Publishers, 2015, p. 116.)
Jesus says this to everyone who desires to follow Him
You “must deny [yourself], and take up [your] cross daily and follow Me” (Luke 9:23)
Matthew’s transformation immediately led to a celebration
Out of gratitude, he held a large reception for Jesus in his home (Luke 5:29) so that many tax collectors and sinners could hear Him too
The celebration centered on a feast where Jesus was the guest of honor
The tax collectors and sinners at the feast were also social outcasts

From the perspective of the self-righteous religious leaders, these people represented the dregs of society. From Jesus’ viewpoint, they comprised the mission field. They were sinners and knew it—the very kinds of people He had come to seek and to save.

In first-century Israel, sharing a meal together was a statement of social acceptance and friendship. For the Messiah to eat with these kinds of people was beyond outrageous in the minds of the religious leaders.

Jesus receives all sinners who are willing to repent and believe in Him, regardless of what you have done
When Jesus saves you, what do you do?
You start…

IV. Evangelizing Others (v.15)

This was the response of everyone who encountered Jesus
They could not keep the news to themselves but shared it with everyone
After the news of Jesus’ birth was given to the shepherds by the angels and they saw and confirmed it was true, Luke 2:17 says, “When they had seen this, they made known the statement which had been told them about this Child.”
After Jesus healed the man with leprosy, Mark 1:45 says “he went out and began to proclaim it freely and the spread the news around.”
After Andrew spent the day with Jesus, John 1:41–42 says, “41 He found first his own brother Simon and said to him, “We have found the Messiah” (which translated means Christ). 42 He brought him to Jesus…”
The same is true about Matthew
Verse 15 says, “And it happened that He was reclining at the table in his house, and many tax collectors and sinners were dining with Jesus and His disciples; for there were many of them, and they were following Him.”
Matthew invited “many tax collectors and sinners” to dine with Jesus and His disciples
Because it was a feast and Jesus and His disciples reclined at dinner with them, Jesus would have done His main work of teaching the Gospel to them
The end of verse 15 indicates that He was saving them too
It says, “for there were many of them, and they were following Him”
John MacArthur said…

The banquet at Matthew’s house became a revival. It was a celebration held to honor Jesus and to proclaim the story of forgiveness, as Matthew shared his testimony and as the Lord personally interacted with Matthew’s friends. The crowd of society’s most unsavory characters, considered unsalvageable by the religious establishment, were befriended by Jesus for the purpose of saving them. They were sinners in need of God’s grace. The Messiah Himself extended that grace to them, and many of them believed in Him.

R.C. Sproul said…

Contact with sinners is seen as defiling Jesus, since rabbinic regulations specifically prohibit such table fellowship. On the other hand, the “sinners” will see in this a gesture of friendship and acceptance (14:20 note).

Well just with anything good, evil followed
We see that in what happens next in verses 16-17
It says, “16 When the scribes of the Pharisees saw that He was eating with the sinners and tax collectors, they said to His disciples, “Why is He eating and drinking with tax collectors and sinners?” 17 And hearing this, Jesus said to them, “It is not those who are healthy who need a physician, but those who are sick; I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners.””
In these verses we hear Jesus…

V. Encountering False Teachers (vv.16-17)

The false teachers were “the scribes of the Pharisees”
They were blind leaders of the blind
Jesus said in Matthew 15:13–14, “13…“Every plant which My heavenly Father did not plant shall be uprooted. 14 “Let them alone; they are blind guides of the blind. And if a blind man guides a blind man, both will fall into a pit.”
Verse 1 tells us that he was speaking to “some Pharisees and scribes”
These false teachers were dangerous
They “come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves” (Mat.7:15)
Jesus said in Matthew 15:3, they “transgress the commandment of God for the sake of [their] tradition”
Historically they were the “theological descendants of the Hasidim, a second-century B.C. movement of piety, learning, and faithfulness to the Mosaic law against Greek pagan influence” (Sproul) “of Maccabean times” (Hiebert)
The Gospel of Mark: An Expositional Commentary b. Call of Levi and His Feast (2:13–17)

They were opposed to the Sadducees, who were more lax in their interpretation of the law. The Pharisees accepted as binding not only the written law but also a growing body of oral tradition, professedly dating back to Moses, which increasingly came to regulate every area of life.

They were judging Jesus and His disciples because they were “eating and drinking with tax collectors and sinners”
John Philips says…
Exploring the Gospel of Mark: An Expository Commentary a. His Publican Friends (2:13–17)

Their idea of a holy man could be summarized in the word separation. A good man would not want to be contaminated by associating himself with traitors. He would not want to be compromised socially or have his reputation ruined by such association.

“Publicans! Sinners!” We can hear the horror and contempt in their voices. We can see the disgust on their faces. Why, such people were moral lepers. They were outcasts, untouchables. Not one of the members of the religious establishment would even so much as dream of having his name linked with such people.

Yet, here was this young prophet from Nazareth attending a party convened by the scum of the neighborhood. They could not gainsay His miracles, but now they began to question His morals. They challenged His disciples to explain this very peculiar behavior of their prophet. Surely a prophet’s task was to denounce and damn such people, not to dine with them.

Instead of going directly to Jesus, they came to His disciples and asked, “Why is He eating and drinking with tax collectors and sinners?”
Jesus heard their question and said to them, “It is not not who are healthy who need a physician, but those who are sick; I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners”
The healthy don’t need a doctor
Only those who are sick need a doctor
Jesus, the Great Physician, didn’t “come to call” the self-righteous
The self-righteous are those who do not see their sin
They’re not grieved or repentant of it
Only those who see themselves as “sinners” see their need of spiritual healing, which is what Jesus came to do
Jesus’ time with sinners was “to call them, turn them from their sinful ways” (Hiebert)
This was “an act of divine compassion” (Hiebert)
That should be your purpose too

No statement of Jesus in this Gospel is more profound than this one. A doctor ministers not to healthy persons but to the sick. So Jesus came not to call the “righteous” (i.e., the self-righteous) but “sinners” (i.e., not merely people who refuse to carry out the details of the law but those who are alienated from the life of God). Jesus’ call is to salvation; and, in order to share in it, there must be a recognition of need. A self-righteous man is incapable of recognizing that need, but a sinner can.

R.C. Sproul says…
Mark Self-Righteous Snobbery

What good is a doctor who associates only with well people? It is a good thing for doctors to be involved in preventive medicine, but we need doctors even more when we are sick. Of course, not everyone who is sick and needs a physician realizes it—such were the scribes and Pharisees.

There was some irony in Jesus’ words when He said to the scribes and Pharisees, “I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance.” The implication was that these religious leaders themselves needed to repent of their sin. They were the sickest of the sick, all the while thinking they had no need of a physician.

Mark ends this story here but Matthew includes one more statement by Jesus
It’s found in Matthew 9:13, “But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire compassion, and not sacrifice,’ for I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners.””
They had no compassion for the unsaved
They didn’t care that they were under the wrath of God
They didn’t care that they needed the gospel of grace
I close with these words from William Hendriksen…
Mark 2:13–17 The Call of Levi

The passage makes clear that the invitation to salvation, full and free, is extended not to “righteous people,” that is, not to those who consider themselves worthy, but rather to those who are unworthy and in desperate need. It was sinners, the lost, the straying, the beggars, the burdened ones, the hungry and thirsty, whom Jesus came to save.

CONCLUSION

What about you?
Do you have compassion for the lost?
Do you bring the unsaved to Jesus?
Do you give them what they need?
Jesus came to call “sinners” to repentance
If you have never repented and come to Jesus, I urge you to come to Him now
Romans 10:9–10, “9 that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; 10 for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation.”
Let’s pray.
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