The Controversial Christ

Mark 2:13–17 ESV

He went out again beside the sea, and all the crowd was coming to him, and he was teaching them. And as he passed by, he saw Levi the son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax booth, and he said to him, “Follow me.” And he rose and followed him. And 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. And the scribes of the Pharisees, when they saw that he was eating with sinners and tax collectors, said to his disciples, “Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?” And when Jesus heard it, he said to them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.”

Introduction

Review last week’s sermon (Jesus’s Authority to Forgive Sins)

Last week, Jesus directly confronted the Pharisee’s on the basis of His ability to forgive sins.

Not only His ability, His authority.

This sparks the contention between Jesus and the Pharisee’s. Jesus was controversial to them. But the confrontation between Jesus and the Pharisee’s is not due to their personality, or a “turf war”.

Jesus takes issue with what the Pharisees represent. They were self-righteous, they “earned their place in the Kingdom”, “God owes them something bc of how good they are.”

This is where the battle, the controversy between Jesus and the Pharisees takes place… when these two ideologies clash.

We see that in our text this morning, the battle between living for the truth or living for a lie. Living for The Lord or living for yourself.

There’s a crossroads that all of us will come to, for those graduating this year, you’ve reached that crossroads in your life. One where you will need to ask yourself this, “Will I live my life for myself or will I live for The Lord?”

That’s a question that was posed to a young man named (Levi) Matthew, and it is one that every one of us will have to wrestle with at some point.

READ OUR TEXT

I. Matthew’s Reputation

Mark 2:13–14 “He went out again beside the sea, and all the crowd was coming to him, and he was teaching them. And as he passed by, he saw Levi the son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax booth, and he said to him, “Follow me.” And he rose and followed him.”

Before we really dive into the text for this morning, I want you to consider the person we are dealing with, Levi. (Better known as Matthew, his Gk. name) Matt. 9:9

Matthew was a Jewish man, Alphaeus, his father, was a very Jewish name. But, one day, Matthew gets a proposition.

Rome occupied Israel, meaning they were large and in charge. Due to their occupation, the Jews owed the Romans taxes. The Romans elected to outsource the collection of these taxes to Jewish citizens, making them do the dirty work for them.

The Jews viewed the Romans as the enemy, much like Babylon or Egypt in the OT. So, to work for Rome was the same as working for the enemy.

ESPECIALLY, to work for Rome against your Jewish fellow-man, this was seen as treachery.

But the allure to being a tax collector was this: You could charge whatever taxes you desired, and anything you took in over what was required to turn in to Rome was yours to keep.

With this said, this job was often very appealing to people who were opportunists. Someone who was entrepreneurial, and was okay with cheating if it meant they could get ahead.

Every tax collector did this, and due to that, they became very rich. Matthew would have been no exception, he would have been a very rich man.

But this came with a cost, a severe one. Due to the dirty nature of this business, a tax collector was seen as unclean by other Jews.

Ceremoniously, he was banned and prohibited from attending synagogue services, and he was unable to make sacrifices in the Temple.

He was cut-off from his people. Monetarily, materially wealthy, but socially and even spiritually bankrupt.

This is the circumstance Matthew found himself in, outwardly having everything but inwardly empty.

Matthew had chose a path earlier in his life that got him money, success, notoriety, possessions, everything he ever wanted. But, it was not enough.

This is where we see Jesus step into the picture…

II. Master’s Request

Mark 2:14 “And as he passed by, he saw Levi the son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax booth, and he said to him, “Follow me.” And he rose and followed him.”

So here we have Matthew, possessing everyhting he could want in the world but truly owning nothing. He has had to sell his soul at the riches and comfortabilities of this world.

Then, Jesus comes along. Now, Matthew probably would have known about Jesus. He had to have heard about this miracle-worker, healer, teacher, prophet of a man.

But what Matthew knew about Jesus was nothing compared to what Jesus knew about Matthew.

Jesus passed by Matthew’s booth on purpose that day, He knew exactly what He was doing. He went there for the purpose of picking Matthew up from where he was.

Jesus knew him intimately.

He knew his status: That he was a tax collector, a thief, unclean, and worthless by the world’s standards.

He knew his sin: He knew Matthew as a lying, thieving criminal. He knew he valued possessions over doing the right thing.

BUT He knew his struggle: He also knew that Matthew was looking and longing. He knew Matthew needed a Savior. He saw past the outward corruption to the inward heart that was repentant and receptive to salvation.

So what does Jesus do? He utters these beautiful simple words, “Follow me.”

In this interaction, we see a beautiful display of the Gospel in action…

III. Magnified Reward

Matthew is sitting here with everything possession wise - he has sought the things of the world. He has worked to make himself rich. He has reached for the things he desires and gotten them. He has been successful in his effort. By the world’s standard, he has made it.

PAUSE: Graduate, young person, mama, daddy, whoever you are… This is what the world offers: A life full of flash but no fulfillment. The world says money is everything, so you forsake your morals, God, values, chase money, get it, just to find it wasn’t worth it. / The world says sexual desires are everything, so you chase that, get what you’re seeking while forsaking what’s good and right, just to find it isn’t fulfilling you / The world says fame and glory are everything, so you chase it forsaking what’s right - just to find you are just as miserable with 1 mil followers on TikTok and you were beforehand.

The world offers you everything, and then gives you its everything, only for you to realize that the world’s everything actually means nothing. You can’t spend your way to happiness, you can’t fame your way to peace, you can’t commit sexual immorality to true satisfaction. Instead, you’ll find yourself where Matthew is.

Then Jesus comes along and says, “Matthew, follow me…”

Notice Jesus doesn’t say “follow me and I’ll give you ___”

That’s what the world does, but Jesus is just saying “follow me” You know why? bc the prize of following Jesus is JESUS. When we follow Jesus we get HIM, and that is our reward. Calvin said, “Whenever we contemplate the one person of Christ as God-man, we ought to hold it for certain that, if we are united to Christ by faith, we possess God.”

Colossians 3:3–4 “For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.”

The reward of following Christ is Christ Himself which so far exceeds the riches and rule of this world. It so far exceeds the things the world has to offer.

What this world gives to you is nothing compared to what it takes from you. It will rob you of your soul, it will rob you of eternity.

On the other hand, what Jesus gives to you far exceeds what He takes - He gives life, and takes death. He gives righteousness, and takes unrighteousness. He gives satisfaction, and He takes longing. He gives the Spirit, and He takes Satan. He gives fellowship with God, and takes the separation.

How? Bc of what He did for us on the Cross of Calvary - He took all of those things for Himself, so that you and I could have Him.

Notice this also, in v. 14, when Matthew stands to follow Christ, he did not bargain with him.

In order to follow Jesus, Matthew had to forsake all of those things that he possessed. He lost material possessions, but gained spiritual life; lost earthly wealth, but gained eternal security.

This same dilemma is presented to you today. Jesus says, “Follow Me…”, and to respond to that call requires turning to Him, and away from sin.\

In conclusion, to the graduate (or anyone else): you sit at a crossroads today, there is a fork in the road. On one hand you can follow the world, and it will give you everything you want. On the other, you can answer the call to follow Christ, and it will give you everything He wants.

I wish we could transport Matthew down here and ask him if it was worth it. But, judging by what the Bible tells us, and the fact that Matthew wrote a Gospel account then went to die a martyr’s death for the sake of Jesus Christ, I think we can guess what his answer is.

Young person, I challenge you to find one of these older saints who have been saved for years, and ask them if following Jesus is worth it.

To every person today, you may be saved, but your life has not reflected on that is following Jesus - the invitation today is to do that very thing. Rise up from the “tax collecting booth” of your life, come down to the altar and surrender your life to following Him.