Pharisees, Sinners, & Jesus

Opening Prayer (Petition & Intercession)

Read Mark 2:15-17

Mark 2:15–17 LSB

15 And it happened that as He was reclining at the table in his house, many tax collectors and sinners were reclining with Jesus and His disciples. For there were many of them, and they were following Him. 16 And when the scribes of the Pharisees saw that He was eating with the sinners and tax collectors, they were saying to His disciples, “He is eating and drinking with tax collectors and sinners!” 17 And hearing this, Jesus said to them, “Those who are healthy do not have need for a physician, but only those who are sick; I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”

It is given to the poor, the despised publicans, the prostitutes, those who are so “poor” they know they can offer nothing and do not try. They cry for mercy, and they alone are heard.

James Montgomery Boice

Key Question: Who’s Righteousness Defines Me?

I. Salvation is Available to All People, Not Only Some People. (v.15)

Salvation is more than a decision, it is a deep-seeded, interpersonal calling to community with God.

The act of sharing a meal is the invitation to share more than food, it is the invitation to share themselves with Him, and Jesus giving them the bread of life and living water.

The word “follow” is the active verb in this verse, which indicates that these publicans and sinners, are not merely curious individuals, but people who are learning from him, and devoting themselves to Him.

John 4:10 LSB

10 Jesus answered and said to her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, ‘Give Me a drink,’ you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water.”

John 6:35 LSB

35 Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me will never hunger, and he who believes in Me will never thirst.

II. Salvation is According to the Son, Not the Interpreters. (v.16)

Pardon is negative, the remission of a penalty or debt; justification is positive, the bestowal of a righteous status, the sinner’s reinstatement in the favour and fellowship of God.

John Robert Walmsley Stott (English Preacher)

The Teachers of the Law cannot fathom that someone “clean” would share a deeply intimate gathering with people who they deemed below them.

The verse highlights the inverted virtue scale of those who counted themselves deserving of God’s honor, while pushing everyone else to the fringes of access to God.

Here we see how Jesus comes to correct the assertion of the Teachers of the Law, given their man-centric hermeneutic.

1 John 1:8–10 LSB

8 If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar and His word is not in us.

III. Salvation is for Those in Dire Need of It, Not Those Who Think They Deserve It. (v.17)

Leviticus 10:1–3 LSB

1 Then Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, took their respective firepans and put fire in them. Then they placed incense on it and offered strange fire before Yahweh, which He had not commanded them. 2 And fire came out from the presence of Yahweh and consumed them, and they died before Yahweh. 3 Then Moses said to Aaron, “It is what Yahweh spoke, saying, ‘By those who come near Me I will be treated as holy, And before all the people I will be glorified.’” So Aaron kept silent.

Jesus hears the criticism and responds with a direct and gentle way of highlighting his purpose and the Teacher’s misunderstanding of God mercy and grace.

The issue with intellectualism, moralism, antinomianism, agnosticism, gnosticism, and any other “-ism” that stands as a prefix to the Gospel is that it destroys the essence of God’s free gift of eternal life and causes fairytale-like divides in humanity.

The image depicted by Jesus is one that calls people not to choose sides of ‘well’ versus ‘unwell.’ It calls the hearer to understand that in the grand scheme of the universe, all who are living and dying have a terminal sickness called sin.

“If you have ever come to God, crying out for salvation, and for salvation only, then you have come unto God aright.”

Charles Spurgeon

IV. My Attitude to the Least Must…

Hospitable and Compassionate.

Focus on God’s Holiness as the Standard for Guilt.

Remember God Brought Me to Remission From the Cancer of My Sin.

Invitation & Prayer of Thanksgiving