The Man Who Befriended Sinners

Jesus demonstrates that He is not the Messiah anyone was expecting by calling those who were dismissed by society to Himself.

Introduction

According to the Congressional Quarterly Almanac for the 98thCongress, our national budget for 1985 was 1,021 trillion dollars. That is a huge amount of the money! That’s a huge amount of taxes! It is almost beyond comprehension. One person was asked to put into a way that we could understand better, and he gave this illustration:

If you began at the birth of Christ spending $1,400,000 a day, every day, without any time off for weekends or holidays, and continued spending at that rate through the fall of Rome, the Dark Ages, the Middle Ages, the Renaissance, the Age of Enlightenment, the Industrial Revolution, right on into the Twentieth Century till today, you would have just now succeeded in having spent the $1.021 trillion. Or, putting it in a shorter time frame, say fiscal 1985, the fiscal year in which we succeeded in spending $1.021 trillion, you would have to spend more than $32,000 a second, about $2,000,000 a minute, or more than $114,000,000 an hour!

That’s one person’s way of illustrating the spending in 1985. Think of the energy it takes to spend this much money; or even better, think of the energy it takes to collect it. It seems almost impossible. But as we all know Uncle Sam is capable of some pretty big miracle! Now, don’t misread my tone. I don’t want to get into political statements or anything like that, simply introduce today’s passage. However necessary, though, taxes are, none of us like paying them. Tax forms and the mention of the IRS go along with high blood pressure and heart medicine.

But, if there is any consolation, it has been this way for the last two thousand years in the Western World. Such were also the conditions in first century Palestine, under Roman control. Now, the Romans collected their taxes through a system called “tax farming” (this is similar to farming out franchises such as Chick-Fil-A or McDonalds). Someone from Rome would assess a district and set a fixed tax figure, and then sold the right to collect taxes to the highest bidder. The buyer had to hand over the assessed figure at the end of the year and could keep whatever he gathered above that. The obvious potential for extortion was compounded by the poor communication characteristic of ancient times, so that the people had no exact record of what they were to pay. And there were all kinds of taxes: a poll tax, a ground tax, an income tax, roads, harbors, a sales tax.

The system fostered exploitation by the arbitrary power of the tax collectors. They could stop anyone on the road, make him or her unpack their packs, and charge just about anything they wanted. If the person could not pay, the tax collectors sometimes would offer to loan money at an exorbitant rate, thus putting people further into their greedy little hands. They were well trained at their craft. This profession, as you can imagine attracted the most scummy and criminal of society.

As so, without surprise, the Jewish tax collectors were easily the most hated men in Hebrew society. They were considered to be despicable vermin. They were not only hated for their extortion, but also because they were the lackeys of the Romans—similar to how the French hated Nazi collaborators during WWII. These Jews could not serve as a judge or a witness in a court session and were excommunicated from the synagogues. They were the lowest of the low!

And now we enter our passage. Now, as we open up to the Gospel of Mark 2, we understand the gravity that’s going on. We understand why people were so angry. And we understand today’s point, that Jesus is the true Servant King who befriends the most wretched, the most awful, the most scummy sinners, including you and me.

If you have a Bible today and I hope you do, I want to invite you to turn with me to the Gospel of Mark 2:13-17. If you don’t you can use the one in front of you and turn to page 888. And as you’re turning, please stand, if you are able, in honor of reading God’ Holy Word.

I. Jesus Calls the Seemingly Unlikely to Follow Him, v.13-14

In verses 13 and 14 we see Jesus doing what He loved doing: teaching the Word and calling disciples to follow Him. It is these first two verses we see our first point about His love for sinners in that He calls the unlikely (at least the seemingly unlikely) to follow Him. He left the small house for a large open area where the crowds could get close to Him and hear Him. The crowd kept coming to Him, and He kept on teaching. It’s interesting that the verbs “coming” and “teaching” in these verses are in what we call the “imperfect” tense. The imperfect tense indicates that it is a recurring action. This is something Jesus did, and kept on doing. This is something that the crowd did and kept on doing. They kept coming and Jesus kept teaching. What is significant about this? That Jesus is out among the people, with those who need His touch and those who need His teaching. He was not removed from the people. He was not inaccessible. He was for them and among them. And here we come across our first principle: to reach the lost, you have to be with the lost, and you must share the gospel.

And it is here we see Jesus purposefully crosses paths with a tax collector named Levi.  This Levi is elsewhere called Matthew, the same Matthew who penned the Gospel of the same name. It’s interesting, the name Matthew means “gift of God.” This one who had been a thief will now receive a gift from God and become a gift to the people of God whom he had previously swindled. This is a miraculous transformation that only God could do! This is utterly amazing, for of all the people in Capernaum, Levi was the most unacceptable to be one of Christ’s disciples! Jesus sought out the man no one else wanted, the one everyone else wished would fall under the immediate wrath of God. This, of course, was to become one of the trademarks of Jesus’ ministry, but Jesus saw a man Levi, not a category, and He knew what that man could become.

Now you may be wondering how do I know he was a thief? Because he was a tax collector. And because of the dishonesty of his profession, Levi was in desperate need of a touch from Jesus. And so, with amazing brevity, the shocking scene unfolds. Jesus sees this man named Levi and says, “follow Me.” And in response to this demand upon his life, Levi gets up and follows Him. By calling Levi to follow Him, Jesus once more commits a scandalous act. It would rival His touching a leper. But if there’s something we know about Jesus, it’s that He never cowered to social pressure, or just accepted societal norms. But did He actually do? He came to call sinners to Himself, and that is what He was going to do! That is what He still does today!

So what did Levi do? Well, he counted the cost, took the risk, and followed Jesus (Lk 5:38). This was a radical decision! He gave up his lucrative business and all of his stuff, and there was no going back. He turned his back on his former way of life for a completely new one. But why? Why would Levi be willing do all this? And even more so, why would Jesus invite such an outcast? Levi saw something in Jesus that he wanted to join, and Jesus saw in Levi what he would become. Jesus saw a sinner in need of salvation, not a lowlife scumbag who deserved condemnation. Jesus saw not the wicked life of a tax collector and extortionist but the changed life of a disciple, an evangelist, an apostle, a Gospel writer! That’s the scandal of grace, my friends! Jesus sees in us what no one else can see and turns us into what we were intended to be—mature image bearers who reflect His glory. All this is made possible by scandalous grace and Jesus’ choice to be the friend of sinners!

II. Jesus Calls the Socially Undesirable to Follow Him, v.15

Before we get the next point, I want to tell you a story that illustrates the point that Jesus calls the undesirable to follow Him. Centuries ago a number of workmen were seen dragging a great marble block into the city of Florence, Italy. It had come from the famous marble quarries of Carrara and was intended to be made into a statue of a great OT prophet. But it contained imperfections, and when the great sculptor Donatello saw it, he refused in at once. So, there it lay in the cathedral yard, a useless block. One day another sculptor caught sight of the flowed block. But as he examined it, there rose in his mind something of immense beauty, and he resolved to sculpt it at once. For two years, the artist worked on the work of art. Finally, on January 25, 1504, the greatest artist of the day assembled to see what he had made of the despised and rejected block. Some of the crowd included Botticelli and Leonardo de Vinci. As the veil dropped to the floor, the statue was met with a chorus of praise. It was a masterpiece! And to this day, time has judged their approval of this work correctly, because Michelangelo’s David is one of the greatest works of art the world has ever known.

Christ saw in the flawed life of Levi the tax collector a Matthew the gospel writer. He still sees men and women with his artist’s eye, seeing the undesirable others as His works of art. Ephesians 2:10 says, “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared ahead of time for us to do.” And so, Levi’s life was revolutionized. And so, in good measure, he decided to host a dinner in Jesus’ honor as verse 15 describes (read). This is appropriate! The day of salvation should be a day of celebration. And so, Levi must have owned a large home because he invited a large number of friends and acquaintances over to the house to eat and meet Jesus. Now we don’t know what it was outside of this celebration. Was it a goodbye party, or a new life party, but whatever it was it was Levi’s way to honor Jesus and share Jesus with his friends.

But here’s what we know, we know that it was a party of “tax collectors and sinners.” We know who the tax collectors were, but who were these sinners? The term sinners, here, is the technical term for anyone who did not live by the rigid rules of the Pharisees. They, like the tax collectors, were alienated and rejected. These are people who needed God’s grace and knew it. And they were no doubt stunned that the famous Rabbi who was making a name for Himself by all His teaching and healing would share a table with them. And they were no doubt humble and thankful. However, the religious hypocrites were offended and angered.

Though not the main point of this passage, these religious leaders show us an important truth: bigotry (in any form) is always ugly and pathetic. Disdain for those who are not like you is anti-Jesus. For any reason: because they don’t look like you, because they don’t like the things you like, because they don’t live the way you live. Whatever it is, bigotry demonstrates the fear and depravity in our hearts and is clear evidence that we are sinful people that desperately need grace in our own lives, even as we proclaim this grace to others.

In this even, Jesus shows us that the Messiah calls and eats with sinners, extending forgiveness to all who would follow Him. The meal itself was a foreshadowing and anticipation of the great banquet at the end of the age. The one talked about in Rev 19:9, the Great Marriage Supper of the Lamb, when people from every tribe, tongue, people, and nation who have experienced this scandalous grace, including the unlikely and undesirable, will recline with King Jesus at a great banquet that will never end.

III. Jesus Calls the Spiritually Unhealthy to Fellowship with Him, v.16-17

Our final point this morning is that Jesus calls the unhealthy to fellowship with Him. Verse 16 introduces us for the very first time to the group that will oppose Jesus all the way to the cross, the Pharisees. Though not all of the Pharisees were scribes, most of them were. Most likely these guys were outside the home, peeking through the windows, watching what was going on through the open door with much disdain. They did not like what they saw. I imagine one of the disciples probably left to get more food for the party and one the Pharisees pulled at his robe or something asking, “why does he eat with those people?!” In an accusatory tone, no doubt.

But before we get to Jesus’ response to them, we first must realize who this group of people were. The Pharisees were the pious Jews who rigorously followed the law of Moses. They opposed anything non-Jewish, therefore they were against Greek and Roman influence. The Jewish historian Josephus claimed there were about 6,000 of them in Jesus’ day. And while the Sadducees were mostly upper-class aristocrats and priests, the Pharisees appear to have been primarily middle-class laypeople. The Sadducees had greater political power, but the Pharisees had broader support among the people.

So, what was the most important thing about the Pharisees? It was their strict adherence to the law of Moses, the Torah. They carefully obeyed not only the written law but also the oral law. The oral law was a bunch of extrabiblical traditions that expanded and elaborated on the OT. In Mark 7:3, Mark will refer to it as the “tradition of the elders.”) Why did they do this? Because they deeply wanted to obey and apply the Torah’s mandates to everyday life, and to “build a fence” around the Torah to guard against any possible violation. Hands and utensils had to be clean in a very particular manner. Food had to be properly grown, cleaned, tithed, and prepared. And so much others.

Jesus condemned the Pharisees for raising their traditions to the level of Scripture and for focusing on the outward requirements of the law while ignoring matters of the heart. For their part the Pharisees denounced Jesus’ association with tax collectors and sinners, and they deplore the way He placed Himself above things such as Sabbath regulations.

But despite these differences, Jesus was much closer theologically to the Pharisees than the Sadducees. They both shared beliefs in the authority of Scripture, the resurrection, and the coming of the Messiah, all things the Sadducees rejected. But conflicts arose between the two because Jesus challenged them on their own turf, and He was a threat to their leadership and influence over the people.

We use the word “Pharisee” today to refer to hypocrisy and legalism in religion today. It’s a term with a negative connotation. But not so in Jesus’ day. A Pharisee was held with high esteem because of his piety and devotion to the law of God.

What does that have to do with today? Well, perhaps none of us espouse such Pharisaical beliefs. In fact, we rightfully loath them. But many of live out these kinds of beliefs in our lives. We come to Christ, and in our desire to be godly we seek out people, “like us.” And we ultimately arrange our lives so that we are with nonbelievers as little as possible. We attend Bible studies that are 100% Christian, a Sunday school class that is 100% Christian, and do everything with Christians. We need to reach out to people, to have dinner with people, to do things with people, who are not like us. People who need Jesus. Remember what Jesus prayed in John 17:15, “I do not ask that You take them out of the world, but that You keep them from the evil one.”

So, what did Jesus do? He heard their criticism and He responds with a proverb that explains His mission and justifies His actions. Look at verse 17 (read). Jesus uses irony to expose the hypocrisy of His critics. The Pharisees, the religiously moral and upright, were just as needy of a spiritual doctor, healing, and medicine as the tax collectors and sinners. The wicked. But sadly, they did not recognize that they, too, had a spiritually terminal disease that only the Great Physician named Jesus could heal. In essence Jesus says, “to those who think they are righteous I have nothing to say. To those who know they are sinners in need of salvation I have come, to heal the and call them to Myself.” You must see yourself as lost before you can be found. You must know that you are spiritually sick before you can be spiritually healed. You must know you are spiritually dead in sin fore you can be made spiritually alive by the Savior!

Final Thoughts

What do we learn from this party? Two things:

1. Jesus and His followers did not isolate themselves from a needy world, nor did they assimilate it. They went out with Christ in mission. Because the Christian life is not to be one of isolation, nor assimilation. The Christian life is about Christ’s mission.

2. Christ sat down with sinners. He dined with them and they with Him. And He met their needs.

And in all this, Jesus was a friend of sinners. He called the seemingly unlikely, reached out the socially undesirable, and healed the spiritually unhealthy. He cared for them, He spent time with them, and He loved them. If this is true of our Master, then the simple application for us is this: it must be true of us as well.