In chapter one of Mark’s Gospel, he wrote about the things Jesus did in His early ministry. Mark showed Jesus’ divinity. He told of Jesus healing people, casting out demons, and teaching. Jesus did these with power and authority. The people who watched and listened realized they had never seen this happen.
Starting with Mark chapter two, Mark relayed to the readers and hearers the religious leaders’ displeasure at what Jesus taught and did. In Mark 2:1-12, the scribes said nothing aloud, but Jesus knew what they thought. They wondered and questioned how Jesus could say to the paralyzed man, “Son, your sins are forgiven” (Mark 2:5 & 8). The religious leaders understood and believed only God could forgive sins. Though these leaders did not overtly challenge Jesus by putting their thoughts into words, they argued with His teaching and actions in their minds.
One other thing each reader of Mark’s Gospel should note is Mark used a literary technique when he wrote Mark 2:1-3:6. This technique gradually led the reader to understand in deeper depths what the writer’s focus was. The chiasm in this passage of verses led to a deeper understanding of the religious leaders’ anger of Jesus. It showed even more who Jesus is: Deity. The first part of the chiasm introduced Jesus’ ability to heal and forgive (Mark 2:1-12). The next three parts showed Jesus teach using food and meals (2:13-17, 2:18-22, &n 2:23-28). A final verse in the chiasm shows Jesus’ overt action and statements proving He is Lord of the Sabbath. He healed a man, though the religious leaders challenged Him on it, on the Sabbath day in the synagogue (3:1-6). This Bible study, based on the chiastic structure above, is the first of three about food. In it, Jesus taught, called, and restored/reunited people.
Teacher
And He went out again by the seashore, and all the people were coming to Him, and He was teaching them. (Mark 2:13 [NASB])
Jesus taught about who He is by preaching, healing, casting out demons, restoring, and reaching out to the downcast. With verse thirteen, Mark did a reboot, of sorts. He showed Jesus in His original mode - walking by the sea and teaching. Mark segued the readers back to the Sea of Galilee. Jesus had been at Simon’s house in Capernaum, where He healed the paralyzed man. In reading the Gospel of Mark, notice Jesus often returned to less populated areas. People began to understand who He was for that moment - the miracle worker and amazing teacher from God. They crowded and made it difficult for Him to be in towns and cities. In Mark’s recording, Jesus walked to the sea to instruct people and to call another man to follow Him. Though none of the people who traveled to listen to Jesus as they sat by the sea understood Him explicitly call them to follow Him, Jesus still sought to be about the Father’s business, preaching to all people.
In verse thirteen, Mark exaggerated again. He said, “all the people were coming to Him.” Mark emphasized how many came to listen to Jesus. “Were coming” and “was teaching” are both past continuous verbs. They describe action begun then and repeated, continuous action by people. The people came and kept coming. Jesus taught and kept teaching. Note the verb “was teaching.” This word almost always refers to teaching the Scripture. Writers use it to explain what Jesus and His apostles said in public. The first verb of this verse is past tense. Jesus “went out again.” This place was familiar to Him, so He returned to it often.
The people came to the sea out of curiosity. After that, they returned home. They did not stay. Many did not become believers in Jesus. Determining how many people traveled to listen to Jesus that day was difficult. A crowd of people wanted to witness for themselves what Jesus would do and teach. Would you go to listen to and see Jesus? Would you stay and follow Jesus, or would you return home?
Realize verse thirteen is about Jesus. He is the primary subject of the verse. The people were the direct objects of Jesus’ teaching. The people came because they heard about Him. They answered Jesus’ call to come to Him, though most did not believe in Him for salvation. The four men He had called—Simon, Andrew, James, and John - learned from His teaching and His actions. The people overheard Jesus teaching His disciples and other people. How many turned away from Him? Would you turn away from Jesus, too? Do you turn away from Him now?
Caller
As He (Jesus) passed by, He saw Levi, the son of Alphaeus, sitting in the tax office, and He said to him, “Follow Me!” And he got up and followed Him. (Mark 2:14 [NASB])
Today, people love tax collectors are as much as in the first century AD. Tax collectors endured much disdain from the Jews and Romans. You might wonder why people hated them. The tax office, where Jesus noticed Levi, was a booth for people to pay a toll to enter Galilee. Galilee was on the western side of the Jordan River. Herod Philip’s territory of the Decapolis was on the east side of the Jordan River. He lived in Syria. Herod Antipas’ territory was on the west side of the Jordan River. The Romans created the Decapolis by creating ten Greek town-cities in Galilee. Nine of those were on the eastern side of the Jordan River. Herod Philip ruled the eastern Decapolis cities. Herod Antipas ruled the one town-city of the Decapolis on the western side of the Jordan River. These ten town-cities came into existence as Rome expanded their empire eastward. The Romans created the Decapolis to promote the common interests of the area. These interests were trade and commerce. The Romans created the Decapolis for a united protection against the people groups who lived around them. Traders came from several countries. Levi collected the taxes/tolls as people crossed the Jordan River into Galilee.
Why did the Jews consider tax collectors unclean and among the biggest sinners? They believed tax collectors notoriously charged more in taxes than the Roman government required. The tax collectors kept the difference for themselves. Most became rich. Because the tax collectors worked for the Romans, the Jews considered them to be part of the Roman empire, the empire who ruled over them. Added to this, the tax collectors crossed paths continually with Gentiles. This made the tax collectors ritually unclean according to Jewish law. (Note: In Matthew 9:9, the gospel writer called this tax collector Matthew. Levi is the man’s Hebrew name. Matthew is his Greek name.)
Notice the verbs in this verse. “Passed” is past continuous. He walked and passed by people then and kept on walking and passing them. Until He noticed Levi. The verbs “saw,” “said,” “got up,” and “followed” are past tense verbs. Jesus pointedly saw, stopped, and spoke to Levi. He did not pass by him, but focused on him. To Levi, upon whom He focused, Jesus commanded he follow Him. This command required action, either obedience by following Him or disobedience by stubbornly ignoring Him.
Jesus’ commands had authority. He preached, taught, cast out demons, and healed people with authority and power. Many people observed those instances. Other than Zebedee and the hired fishermen, Mark noted no other people witnessed Jesus commanding Simon, Andrew, James, and John to follow Him. This time, a crowd of people saw Jesus focus on Levi and command that he follow Him. Like Levi, Jesus’ power and authority drew the other four men to follow Him.
Mark chronicled Levi’s actions. He wrote about Jesus calling Levi into unity with Himself as His disciple. For the Jews, this was inconceivable and could not happen. They might have wondered why an authority on Jewish scripture would speak to, live with, eat with, and travel with an unclean person, a sinner. Jesus often spoke to, ate with, traveled with, and lived with people Jewish religious leaders considered unclean. The leaders demeaned these people. They considered unclean people like lepers, sick, beggars, tax collectors, and others. Mark disclosed Jesus gave grace to a tax collector in these verses.
Who can receive such love and mercy from God without responding to Him with love? Levi’s love showed through his obedience to Jesus. He got up and followed Him. Notice, Jesus took the initiative and called to Levi. Levi had to choose to answer or ignore His call. Mark did not mention Levi asking for Jesus’ forgiveness and inclusion as His disciple. He did not write of Levi repenting. Still, Levi’s life showed a changed mind and direction. Jesus’ action resulted in a positive reaction from Levi.
Jews and Romans looked down on tax collectors. Levi experienced this contempt while he earned a good wage. Yet, he walked away from everything he knew to follow Jesus, just like Simeon, Andrew, James, and John. Levi did not know if the other four disciples would look down on him. Did the four men despise Levi or accept him as Jesus did, sins and all? Do we make a complete break with our old life when we decide to believe in and follow Jesus? Jesus calls to each person. We each choose, like these five men, if we will hear Him and obey.
Physician
15And it happened that He was reclining at the table in his (Levi’s) house, and many tax collectors and sinners were dining with Jesus and His disciples; for there were many of them, and they were following Him. 16When the scribes of the Pharisees saw that He was eating with the sinners and tax collectors, they said to His disciples, “Why is He eating with tax collectors and sinners?” 17And hearing this, Jesus said to them, “It is not those who are healthy who need a physician, but those who are sick; I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners.” (Mark 2:15-17 [NASB])
Jesus often ate with people. Readers should recognize with whom He ate. The first time Mark records Jesus eating was when He walked to Simon’s house and found his mother-in-law sick with a high fever. The four men with Jesus and the mother-in-law had not yet expressed faith in Jesus as the Messiah. He had not told them who He is. By this reasoning, these five people were not clean from sins, as God defines it. In that regard, they were akin to Levi. Though the Jews considered Levi ritually unclean and not the five people in Simon’s home, they each were spiritually unclean and needed cleansing daily for their sins.
To pointedly show the religious leaders who Jesus considered unclean, He ate with Levi and other tax collectors and sinners. Jesus did not consider these people or any others too sinful to be near Him. Rather, He considered them sinful and desired to make them clean, no matter the cost He would pay. John 3:16-17 expresses this great love of God.
For the Jews, only by refraining from their actions and making amends with God, through giving the right sacrifices, could make a person clean of sins. They knew no other way. Yet, they did not pity the ones ritually cast away from submissive Jewish citizens. For them, these unclean people, with whom Jesus ate, were grossly immoral because they did not follow the laws and traditions of the elders as strictly as the religious leaders liked. The Pharisees considered the people who associated with these unclean people as unclean, too. Yet, as noted when He healed the leper, then touched him, Jesus did not become unclean and sick. He knew He could not become unclean. Healing the leper proved Jesus is inherently clean. That means He is Deity, God.
With these people, at that right time, Jesus ate. Eating and associating with sinners did not end with this one meal. Jesus continued eating with sinners. In this passage, Mark used past continuous verbs: was dining, was reclining, were dining, and were following. Jesus and people started eating together then. He has continued to be with people and they with Him until now and into eternity. In current lingo, people break bread with each other. Jesus broke bread with people where He walked. He is the living bread for all who believe in Him. In His ministry on Earth, Jesus continued to associate with sinners, and they continued to invite Him for meals. They wanted to associate with Jesus, the teacher. After His death and resurrection, Jesus became the broken bread, the sacrifice for our sins. As such, He is the Living Bread (John 6:51).
Are we like the Jewish religious leaders who judged and persecuted people unlike themselves? Do we shun the sick, lowly, and sinners? Jesus calls each of us to follow Him, to become His disciples. This means we must associate with people who are unlike us, so we can share the gospel and they receive salvation through belief in Jesus.
With verse sixteen, Mark recorded the first time the scribes of the Pharisees outwardly challenged Jesus - His actions and His teaching. Mark recorded these religious leaders asking Jesus’ disciples, “Why is He eating with tax collectors and sinners?” To Jesus, eating with the tax collectors and sinners was no less than eating with devout Jews. Jesus knew these people, all people, sin and fall short of God’s glory (Romans 3:23).
Mark made sure readers understand clearly. He said, “The scribes of the Pharisees saw that He was eating with the sinners…” The religious leaders were devout men. They dedicated themselves to honor God by faithfully keeping the Jewish laws. The problem was they became prideful. The religious leaders became lost in the law's minutia. These laws became obstacles to spiritual growth and distracted them from the law's main purpose. God gave the Laws to lead people to Himself, not to over-inflate self-worth.
“Was eating” is a past continuous verb. It means it occurred then and kept on occurring. The challenge and persecution of Jesus by the religious leaders did not deter Him from associating with unclean people. To the religious leaders, what a person put into him or herself is what contaminated the person and made him or her unclean. Jesus taught in Mark 7:15 that what came from the person’s heart made him or her unclean, a sinner. People cannot make themselves spiritually or ritually clean. Nothing in a person’s being is strong enough to keep him or her from falling into temptation. Jesus came to Earth to preach and teach about Who can make a person truly clean and how He would make it possible. The religious leaders’ adverse reaction to Jesus eating with unclean people should cause us to ask ourselves a question. Would a challenge to our belief in Jesus cause us to stop doing something?
Jesus did not endorse the sins of the tax collectors and other sinners with whom He ate that day. He did not ignore the sins of the religious leaders either. Jesus recognized each person there was a sinner. With His reply in verse seventeen, Jesus explained in a veiled way that each person is a sinner. Until a person recognizes that, they do not recognize a need for a savior. Jesus challenged these religious leaders at their level of concern by His actions. They wondered if this carpenter’s son turned authoritative and powerful teacher did not care for holiness and Torah law. The religious leaders may have questioned in their minds, “Did not Jesus realize the poor example He set by His association with those sinners?” They might have wondered, “Would not Jesus' actions contribute to the moral decay of Israel?” Their question of Jesus included the above conjectured questions. They asked His disciples, “Why does He eat with tax collectors and sinners?”
Does Jesus’ life, teaching, authority, power, and divinity challenge us Christians today in their inviting people to church and not watering down His message? Do our attempts at being correct in all the little bits of God’s Word cause us to miss what God intends? Do we forget the important part, that daily each of us needs a savior?
Jesus replied to the scribes’ question in verse seventeen. He said to them, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.” Look at the verbs in this statement—hearing, told, is not healthy, need, have not come. “On hearing” is a present participle that forms continuous tenses. Jesus would hear and keep on hearing. He would tell and keep on telling all who would listen to Him. Jesus told the scribes without hesitation His reply to their question. They could not doubt He directly replied to them. Those who recognize they are sick and needy are the ones who recognize their condition, that they need a physician. They are for whom Jesus came to heal, cleanse, and reunite with the Father. For these people, sick sinners, Jesus said, “I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.” This verb indicates a link between the present and the past. God wants to wash all sins away, including the consciousness of and guilt from it (Hebrews 9-10)
Jesus used a metaphor in this verse. He used the terms to
which the scribes willingly would connect. He equated the sick with sinners and
the healthy with righteous people, made so by their belief in Him as the Savior
sent by God. This made the physician the metaphor for God. Jesus said in metaphor,
which scribes would understand, that He is divinity and makes people holy by
providing the sufficient sin sacrifice for each person who believes in Him. He
would make the ones sick with sin, healthy with righteousness. Jesus came to cleanse
each person who trusts in Him. A doctor who refused to go to sick people is
useless. He cannot serve anyone that way. Jesus came to serve the people who
recognize they need Him. People who recognize their sins are more apt to
recognize their need for Jesus and welcome His ministry.
Jewish religious leaders criticized the early Christian church for not living with high standards. They took in anyone. Christ does not leave people as sinful and with no hope. He transforms them with His love, forgiveness, and salvation. Christians should love the unlovely and encouraging them to continue growing into more Christlikeness. To do that, the Christian church must eat with sinners and associate with them, like Jesus’ example to us in this passage. How else would the unsaved come to know Jesus and His love unless He ministers through us?
Application and Conclusion
Jesus came to call and save sinners. Unless God shows them their sins or they are already in despair because of them, how will they recognize their need and His plan of redemption and healing? When a person thinks he or she is righteous, that deters him or her from accepting Jesus as his or her Savior. Paul said in Romans 3:10, “None is righteous, not even one.” The psalmist said the same thing in Psalm 14:1, 53:1, & 143:2. John said that if we say we have no sins, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us (1 John 1:8) The religious leaders were unable to see their unrighteousness because of their vanity and overlooking the minutia of the law and intent of God. They did not see that the law did not save, but only reminded people of God and their sins. Paul said, “For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). Each person alive faces temptation and sometimes sins. No one is immune except for the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, because they are inherently holy. Their being defines holy and from where the word originates. Job 14:4 says no one can make something clean (righteous) when he or she is unclean (unrighteous). Job said he recognized humanity’s unrighteousness in Job 15:14 & 16.
Jesus did not explain fully in Mark 2:14-17 why and how a person is unclean like He did in Mark 7:15. Instead, He pointed to His purpose - to call sinners and to go to other cities, towns, and villages so more people would learn about the gospel. By confronting the scribes, He led them to ponder and decide if they were sick or healthy and if He was the Messiah or just a carpenter’s son. The leaders would have quickly cast-off what Jesus said except that He compared the sick to sinners and the healthy to the righteous. These religious leaders had to confront who they really were. Did what Jesus said apply to them?
Maybe the leaders took offense at what Jesus said. Mark does not record their rebuttal. The readers perceive only silence from them in this gospel writing. But internally, the religious leaders may have pointed to the people who obviously were unrighteous. How easy can a person point his or her finger at someone to cast doubt away from their own sins? This episode of Jesus eating with the sinners and the scribes confronting Him would become the foundation upon which they later heard of Jesus’ teachings. Just as someone must plant a seed, water it, weed around the plant, and give it sunlight to grow, Jesus planted a seed in the religious leaders’ hearts. Would they continue to listen to Him and let what He said cause them to grow, or would they quash it?
We live in a world of overabundant tolerance where people are less likely to criticize sin and sinners. Remembering that each of us is a sinner should cause less finger-pointing and scapegoating. Yet, the world appears more polarized. Sin fragments the people of the world. We lose unity with each other. Sin does this. We each are sinners. And we all need a Savior. Because of God’s love, Jesus died for our sins so we would not have to die the eternal death penalty, separation from God. Jesus died so we could receive forgiveness and salvation. He is our Reuniter, Teacher, and Caller: our Physician. Jesus came to reunite us with each other and with God. As Christians, our part in God’s plan is to encourage people to experience rebirth that comes from Jesus and to practice spiritual discipline. Christians are to minister to the unsaved and the saved. The Jewish religious leaders misunderstood that. They spewed venom on people like the tax collectors and Gentiles. They could not recognize their own sin because they busily cast blame on other people. This would not let them see their own sins. We often call out people’s sins to shift the spotlight from our sins.
Do we encourage Christian brothers and sisters? Do we go to the unclean and tell them of Jesus’ love and salvation for them? Are we more likely to criticize sinners rather than ourselves? Do we, as Christians, hold each other accountable to the standard Jesus set? Remember, we each are sinners and each day we need the Savior.
Jesus has not given up on you. Even when you sin each day,
He does not give up on you. Do not give up on yourself or your friends and
family. That is not the love of which He spoke. Jesus said the two commandments
for each person are to love the Lord God with all your heart, soul, mind, and
strength and to love your neighbor as yourself (Mark 12:30-31). Love does not
give up on God or on other people. God does not give up on us. Instead of
pointing a finger at someone, stretch out your hand and help them stand. We
must continually seek God each day and help, encourage, and share the gospel
with other people.
Don’t be a Pharisee; be one who truly sees.
Instead of pointing a finger at someone, stretch out
your hand and help them stand.
