HG047-48 Mark 2:13-22, Matthew 9:9-17, Luke 5:27-39
Notes
Transcript
Sermon Tone Analysis
A
D
F
J
S
Emotion
A
C
T
Language
O
C
E
A
E
Social
After these things He went out and saw a tax collector named Levi, sitting at the tax office. And He said to him, “Follow Me.” So he left all, rose up, and followed Him.
Then Levi gave Him a great feast in his own house. And there were a great number of tax collectors and others who sat down with them. And their scribes and the Pharisees complained against His disciples, saying, “Why do You eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?”
Jesus answered and said to them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance.”
Then they said to Him, “Why do the disciples of John fast often and make prayers, and likewise those of the Pharisees, but Yours eat and drink?”
And He said to them, “Can you make the friends of the bridegroom fast while the bridegroom is with them? But the days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them; then they will fast in those days.”
Then He spoke a parable to them: “No one puts a piece from a new garment on an old one; otherwise the new makes a tear, and also the piece that was taken out of the new does not match the old. And no one puts new wine into old wineskins; or else the new wine will burst the wineskins and be spilled, and the wineskins will be ruined. But new wine must be put into new wineskins, and both are preserved. And no one, having drunk old wine, immediately desires new; for he says, ‘The old is better.’ ”
Jesus now goes out beside the Sea of Galilee to teach those who came to Him. Many, many people were there and they seemed content to hear Him speak. We hear of no healings or miracles, just that He made Himself available and people flocked to hear Him. When I read this and other passages that talk about the crowds I wonder what became of them. Where were they after His resurrection? Were so few saved? And Jesus indicated that is the case. All these people actually heard Jesus speak and teach but how many actually followed through on what was said? Of course, that is the question every preacher asks themselves. It is one of the greatest concerns of preachers that what is said is practised including in one’s own life. Even James talked of this in his letter:
But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.
Next Sunday I will have been here 6 months exactly. For those who have been following in their bible readings this means that you are a sixth of the way through the Bible - and I would encourage again to keep reading or to start reading. This is the very basic thing that we should be doing as Christians for it is within the Word of God we discover what God is like, what His plan is, what He says about us and what His will is among many other things. Christians should be reading through it once a year but we are doing it in 3 years. We can do it. Some passages will not be easy but persevere. The readings are on the bulletin every week.
Well, someone who did not appear to be there on the beach with Jesus was a man who was toiling away collecting taxes. Oh boy! Who likes the tax man? People have always hated paying tax. The Romans, who were in charge of Israel in these days, levied taxes upon the people to send back to Rome but they employed locals to do it which in the eyes of the Jewish people was traitorous and evil. It was a well-paid job for being the outcast of society but on top of this they added a certain percentage they skimmed off the top for themselves.
Tax collectors, if we remember, also went out to John the Baptist
Then tax collectors also came to be baptized, and said to him, “Teacher, what shall we do?”
And he said to them, “Collect no more than what is appointed for you.”
First, notice that he does not say that tax collecting is wrong - that would have been surprising to those around but the call to believe is also a call to repentance, not to stop collecting money but for collecting more than they should - to stop skimming the money.
And here comes Jesus and in the topsy-turvy world of the Kingdom of God such people are welcome. There was Levi, who is also known as Matthew, the writer of the Gospel, waiting for people to come in and pay their taxes. And Jesus said to him ‘follow me’ and immediately he gets up, leaves everything behind and joins Him. We have heard nothing of Matthew before this but he immediately followed Jesus. Perhaps this is the first time anyone had taken any notice of him except to revile him and in Jesus he had found someone who accepted him despite who he is and what he had done. People crave acceptance. Don’t we? Who likes to rejected?
Matthew invited Jesus to dinner and he accepts and Matthew invites his friends who are none other than other tax collectors, of course. Who else would have been friends with them? They kept each others company in their own little clique. The fact that Jesus went to eat with them surprised everyone especially the Jewish leaders. It is hard to think of a situation these day in our country where we could surprise some religious people or Christians - perhaps it is like being invited to a gay bar by some in the LBGT crowd to eat and accepting. Many today do things which we are not surprised about anymore such as working with the homeless or with alcoholics and so on.
Who are the ostracised of our society by the religious? It is to these that Jesus would go. Why? Because it is these who need to be healed, to be forgiven, to be reached with the Good News. Churches should be filled with people who have been broken and then restored. Mercy needs to be shown to the marginalised. And Jesus is the One pure example of doing this. He was counter-cultural. He was saying that the Jewish leaders were offering no hope. If you are a sinner then that’s it, you will not hear any good news from them. But Jesus offered hope when they didn’t. They did not realise that it was they who had no hope without turning to Jesus.
Jesus said that I go to those who need healing and forgiveness. Jesus went to those who would receive Him because despite what Jesus said His point was that the Jewish leaders think you are already well and spiritually healthy and have no need of forgiveness. Pride had blinded them. Everyone is in need of healing and forgiveness but it seems that just those on the edges of society seem to realise it. It is very much the same today. Most people here in the West do not consider their situation - they have no care or concern for God for everything seems well with them for they have everything they need, at least, materially. Jesus was saying you think you don’t need me so I’ll go to those who realise they do. It often takes a crisis to realise that whatever this world offers it is not enough. It often takes something drastic to happen to someone religious to realise that their good deeds will not help them. Jesus saw Himself as the doctor come to heal spiritually sick patients.
After Jesus’ answer about the calling of the unrighteous to repentance they took a different tack and saw that Jesus, His disciples and the tax collectors were having a feast and enjoying themselves and so asked a question about fasting! Religious people always want to maintain an air of spirituality which they think means you can have no fun. We are always fasting but your disciples don’t. Why?
Oh come on! I get frustrated with these kinds of questions which arise out of some sort of vindictiveness. I feel like this when politicians are asked questions by journalists and then they ask another question which reveals the journalist’s own opinion. There is no answer that can be given that would satisfy the bloodlust. And this is how it was for Jesus. And we should not expect anything different from the world or from individuals. Whatever you say can be twisted. So, how to answer these blind Jewish leaders?
Jesus said, would you fast at a wedding? They are celebrating that I am with them but there will come a time when I am not, then they will see that that is the appropriate time to fast. Jesus was alluding for the first time when He was going to be crucified. Yes, fasting is a spiritual discipline but there is a time for it and a time not for it.
Fasting is one of those disciplines that is very infrequent among Christians. Obviously if there are health issues then you should certainly listen to the doctor’s advice. But there are times we should fast especially when making important decisions or needing certain answers from God or in a spiritual battle but also as a practice in which we draw near to God for a time. Fasting is not commanded of Christians in the New Testament however Jesus assumed we would fast:
“Moreover, when you fast, do not be like the hypocrites, with a sad countenance. For they disfigure their faces that they may appear to men to be fasting. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward. But you, when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face,
Fasting is found in the early church for special occasions such as in:
So when they had appointed elders in every church, and prayed with fasting, they commended them to the Lord in whom they had believed.
Prayer and fasting go together. Consider fasting along with prayer and the of the reading Scriptures. And on occasions we should do this together as a Church.
Jesus goes on to talk in a parable about clothes then wineskins.
First it would be strange to take a new piece of clothing to fix an old one.
Two years ago you bought a jumper from Marks and Sparks and, unfortunately, it developed this hole in it, so, this week, you went back to M&S to buy the same jumper, it’s still in stock! - miracles happen - it is absolutely identical. I know, you say, I’ll fix the old one with the new one I just bought; after all it is my favourite jumper. Well, the idea is plainly stupid. For starters the shade of the old jumper would have faded a little and so the colours will not exactly match even if you have used colour-fast washing powder - and then you are going to ruin the new for the old and in the process you will ruin both irrevocably.
Then there is the new wine into old wineskins. New wineskins have some elasticity because the fermentation process produces a gas that expands the wineskin but after fermentation the wineskin has stretched as far as it can go so to put more new wine afterwards means that when it ferments it will split the wineskin.
The point of this parable is simply that repentance is necessary to become a child of the Kingdom of God. You put new life into the old life and the two are incompatible. All you’ll do it ruin your life and it will be worse than before. We find in Luke that those who have lived the old life are not immediately drawn to like the new. Old wine is far better than new wine until you become accustomed to the taste.
This is quite an understandable thing. This is true in the Church. The old way of doing things are considered to be better. We are content to let it be - keep the status quo. When new things are introduced there is a hankering after the old until, in time, we acquire a new taste. Old wine has to run out sometime! New wine has to replace it. The status quo for us as a fellowship will only lead to our demise.
There were arguments 2 centuries ago about railways and the fact that canals were going to be made obsolete by them and put many people out of work. This argument carries no currency today. Trucks have taken over most of the hauling that that went on because unlike railways they can go straight to the door. There are still canals, still railways and still trucks but who knows what the future holds - but it does hold change - the future is probably with drones. Nobody today would think a horse and cart is the way to take goods from one place to another yet, at one time, this was the case. The saying ‘change is here to stay’ is true.
We can coast along if we like but this is against the commands of Christ to go and make a difference in the lives of those around us. Jesus invited Matthew to follow Him and he got up and did just that. And today there are those in Manselton waiting for the invitation.
[Of course, this parable was to the Jewish leaders. Judaism is on the way out - Jesus, the new wine is here - they will soon be replaced whether they like it or not. In AD70 the old form the Jewish religion came to an end. There was and is now no temple, no sacrifices, no king nor priests. The old went and there was nothing they could do about it but accept the situation.]
We, like Matthew, have received the new wine, we are now followers of Christ - and this means following in His footsteps; following Him as our example of the things we should do; we are to go to the marginalised of society; to those who are unwanted; and tell them the good news of a God who came to give them liberty and acceptance, to save them and us from an eternity in hell and the lake of fire. And it has been achieved at the cross.
Communion
Communion
The good news is in what we are celebrating this morning. We are given bread to remind us of His body, a life lived in the flesh among us, touching others, reaching out to the marginalised, a life lived in order to die for the sake of you and me. Then we are also given wine which we have already heard about today - the new wine, the new covenant, the new agreement saying that the old is gone and the new is come. Wine representing his very blood which He shed for us to give us the acceptance, the forgiveness, the reconciliation we all need for we could never have been good enough on our own. The good news is that it is available for all who would receive it and make Jesus both Lord and Saviour in our lives.
Let us examine ourselves and ask God to cleanse us again in the blood of Jesus that we may partake of the Lord’s table with clean hearts. Let us spend a few moments in silence getting right with God and preparing to receive these symbols of sacrifice given for us.
23 For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you: that the Lord Jesus on the same night in which He was betrayed took bread; 24 and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, “Take, eat; this is My body which is broken for you; do this in remembrance of Me.” 25 In the same manner He also took the cup after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood. This do, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.”
26 For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death till He comes.
The resurrection was the proof that sin and death no longer have a hold on those who put their faith in Jesus and one day He is coming back as the Judge of the living and the dead.
Benediction
Benediction
Now may the God of peace who brought up our Lord Jesus from the dead, that great Shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, make you complete in every good work to do His will, working in you what is well pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.