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.
