Who Did Jesus Come For?

Bible Passage: Mark 2:13-17

INTRO

One thing that I find to be incredibly interesting about history is the constant division of people on the basis of worldly and ideological thoughts processes.

We can see this type of division play out in many different ways across multiple different countries and people groups.

Obvious examples we could point out would be division and prejudice caused by wealth, race.

Some countries have entire structures in place that will discriminate based upon things like where you were born or the family you were born into.

It seems as if humans are always looking for ways that we can make distinctions amongst ourselves. We like to have tribes. people who think like us, act like us and look like us.

I believe there is an aspect of this that is God given!

God has not only created unique people who also all bear His image, but has also uniquely placed those peoples into larger groups of people who come together to form families and nations.

The problem lies not in the diversity of the people that God has made but in the ways that we acknowledge and interact with those differences.

In the story that we are diving into today, Jesus gives his followers and those who are against him a whole new perspective on what the Kingdom of God looks like, more specifically, who He is calling to be apart of it.

I wanna answer this question together this morning… Who did Jesus Come For?

BODY

Jesus has just recently healed the paralytic who was brought to Him by 4 men. This has led to an even bigger buzz around the city about this man who is teaching with authority and healing the sick.

We don’t know if this was the same day or a few days later but Mark tells us that Jesus left the house and went out beside the sea of Galilee continuing to teach them about the Kingdom of God.

One particular day when He was walking around, likely being followed by multitudes of people, he calls his next disciple…

Read Mark 2:14

Let’s stop here for a moment…

Jesus being followed by the masses has just called a tax collector to come and be his next apprentice/disciple.

little history lesson regarding 1st century Roman culture and gov…

Rome was a conquering nation that was mainly concerned with 2 things… territory and taxes

They conquered more territory because it meant more money for the state.

What Rome really didn’t care much about at all was your religious affiliation so long as you didn’t cause any problems for the Roman government.

This is eventually how Jesus was able to be charged and killed by Jewish officials in partnership with the Roman Gov. They would often continue to cooperate with the structures and systems of the people they ruled.

In order to collect these taxes to fund the government, build roads, have a military, etc. they would hire local people to be what we call tax collectors.

These people were sent out on behalf of Caesar to collect the taxes that people owed on various things.

Because Levi was at a booth close to the Sea of Galilee, it’s likely he collected taxes on fish and imports.

So Levi was a Jewish man, employed by the Roman empire to collect people’s money.

There is a problem with this… tax collectors were often corrupt and would take more than what was required to line their own pockets with the excess. Not too much has changed huh?

One commentary describes the situation like this…

The Gospel of Mark (b) The Call of a Tax-Farmer. Ch. 2:13–14

When a Jew entered the customs service he was regarded as an outcast from society: he was disqualified as a judge or a witness in a court session, was excommunicated from the synagogue, and in the eyes of the community his disgrace extended to his family

This meant that not too many people were big fans of guys like Levi. It is not unlikely that there are people following Jesus who have been ripped off by this guy at one point or another.

This is the man that Jesus asks to follow him. And follow him he did.

Later on, Mark says that “as he reclined at table in his house, many tax collectors and sinners were reclining with Jesus and his disciples, for there were many who followed him.” - Mark 2:14

Not only has Jesus called a hated outcast to be one of his disciples, he now has many of them including other “sinners” (This word in this context is better said outcast as well) in His home.

This term reclining at His table represents an acceptance and love that Jesus had for these people

Jesus was doing life in the center of a group of people that no one especially within the tradition that Jesus was brought up in wanted to associate with.

Read Mark 2:16

The scribes of the Pharisees start questioning Jesus’ disciples

“What is your Rabbi doing?” “Does he not understand who those people are?”

Jewish teachers are supposed to keep themselves clean from sin and in their minds, this act tainted Jesus’ witness and reputation.

The pharisees have declared Jesus to be guilty by association. Though he had not participated in the acts of the people he was with, his friendliness to them was enough to make the pharisees enraged.

What they fail to grasp is that Jesus’ actions offer God’s people an alternative to this wooden thinking

Jesus keeps himself pure of the stain of sin whilst offering mercy to those who need it.

I can’t tell you how many times I have had the same thoughts and questions as the Pharisees and how much God has had to break me of this thinking.

I was a church kid who knew my Bible and did the right things and when my friends at school or people at my church just couldn’t seem to figure it out like I thought I had, I would scoff and cast judgement on those people.

Almost as if I was declaring myself to be free of sin or at the very least, my sin wasn’t as bad as other’s sins.

Just so we are clear, Jesus has a lot to say about that type of heart posture and it isn’t good…

Read Mark 2:17

Jesus explains to people like me a very simple concept… He’s a heart surgeon and people who need a heart surgeon are one’s who know that theirs is broken.

This is not to say that those who questioned Jesus and judged the people he was with were righteous and free of sin… they just didn’t believe they were.

What a damning place to be

Jesus makes very clear the fact that he has come to call people who would recognize that they are hopelessly sick and that he is the only doctor capable of making them well.

CLOSING

Here are a few applications based on this story

Who are you?

Are you a tax collector or a pharisee?

The Kingdom of God welcomes in the lowly and poor in spirit not the haughty and the proud.

I remember a distinct moment in my life when I began to ask God for compassion. I recognized how incompatible my perception of people was with the call to follow Jesus.

I begged God to help me see that the ground at the foot of the cross is even. no starts higher or closer to God than another. over time, He has begun to break me and show me just how bad I really am.

Jesus saves the people we don’t expect

The saving power of Jesus doesn’t always fit into the boxes that we create in our minds

James 2:1–4 ESV

My brothers, show no partiality as you hold the faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory. For if a man wearing a gold ring and fine clothing comes into your assembly, and a poor man in shabby clothing also comes in, and if you pay attention to the one who wears the fine clothing and say, “You sit here in a good place,” while you say to the poor man, “You stand over there,” or, “Sit down at my feet,” have you not then made distinctions among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts?

Jesus even saves the people you don’t like or understand

Will you take a seat on Jesus’ couch?

Jesus has come to sit down in the midst of sinners

So Who Did Jesus Come For? Sick, gross, vile, nasty, shady, dirty, rotten sinners.

If you don’t identify yourself as that type of person, then Jesus isn’t for you.

Jesus is saving people who know they are sick not people who can’t see their own cancer.

But he holds in his hands the sick, the needy and the poor in spirit