Who did Jesus come for?
30th November 2006
Mark 2:13-17
Once again Jesus went out beside the lake. A large crowd came to him, and he began to teach them.
As he walked along, he saw Levi son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax collector's booth. "Follow me," Jesus told
him, and Levi got up and followed him.
While Jesus was having dinner at Levi's house, many tax collectors and "sinners" were eating with him and his
disciples, for there were many who followed him.
When the teachers of the law who were Pharisees saw him eating with the "sinners" and tax collectors, they
asked his disciples: "Why does he eat with tax collectors and 'sinners'?"
On hearing this, Jesus 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."
This story is also in Matthew 9:9-13 and Luke 5:27-32. Mark and Luke call the tax collector "Levi" but Matthew calls himself "Matthew". We don't know for sure, but it seems likely that Levi was his original name and Matthew was a name given to him by Jesus (as Simon was given the name Peter). As I say, we don't know, but Matthew means "gift of the Lord" and it would be great if Jesus did give him that name, as if to say that an outcast and sinner could be really valuable to the Lord.
For as long as I can remember, and probably much longer, people have joked about hating the tax man. This is not without reason; after all, the tax people take away about half our income. But in our country, it's just a joke, because we know that tax inspectors and their colleagues are about as honest as the rest of us. They take from us what the government decide they should. But in Jesus's time, the tax collectors were genuinely hated. They worked for the despised Roman occupiers, and many of them took much more in tax than they were required to.
But Jesus called Levi!
I - and every genuine Christian - am glad that Jesus doesn't just choose the popular, morally upright, model citizens. Jesus loves outcasts, he loves the socially awkward, he loves the failures, he loves the dishonest. He loves sinners!
And something happened in Levi's heart when Jesus called him. Luke 5:28 says:
and Levi got up, left everything and followed him.
All Christians are supposed to follow Levi's example. Jesus said,
Luke 9:62
No man, having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.
Luke 14:33
...any of you who does not give up everything he has cannot be my disciple.
But few do.
Perhaps Levi's response is an example of what Jesus told a Pharisee regarding another sinful person who knew Jesus's forgiveness:
Luke 7:39-46
When the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to himself, "If this man were a prophet, he would
know who is touching him and what kind of woman she is - that she is a sinner."
Jesus answered him, "Simon, I have something to tell you."
"Tell me, teacher," he said.
"Two men owed money to a certain money-lender. One owed him five hundred denarii, and the other fifty.
Neither of them had the money to pay him back, so he cancelled the debts of both. Now which of them will
love him more?"
Simon replied, "I suppose the one who had the bigger debt cancelled."
"You have judged correctly," Jesus said.
Then he turned towards the woman and said to Simon, "Do you see this woman?
I came into your house. You did not give me any water for my feet, but she wet my feet with her tears
and wiped them with her hair.
You did not give me a kiss, but this woman, from the time I entered, has not stopped kissing my feet.
You did not put oil on my head, but she has poured perfume on my feet.
...
Those of us who know that God has forgiven us much, are truly grateful to Him.
And we read in Luke 5:29 that:
Then Levi held a great banquet for Jesus at his house, and a large crowd of tax collectors and others were eating with them.
A HUGE banquet! When we see that Jesus accepts us absolutely, just as we are, warts and all, then we should worship Him and serve Him EXTRAVAGANTLY! It's those of us who think we're really quite nice people, that think we're somehow doing God a favour by serving Him, that don't have this extravagant heart.
Those whom Luke calls "others", Mark and Matthew call "sinners". Well, Levi/Matthew ought to know! They were his friends, eating at his house. Why would Levi ask Jesus to have dinner with such a group of sinful people - hated by the decent folk? Why? Because they needed to meet Jesus! They needed the same forgiveness and acceptance that Levi now knew!
And why did Jesus agree to eat with them? For the same reason!
The Pharisees were so full of judgementalism, they couldn't understand this. They asked:
"Why does he eat with tax collectors and 'sinners'?"
And Jesus told them:
It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.
Every Christian is a sinner. If we had never sinned, we wouldn't need to be forgiven.
1 John 1:8
If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.
But:
1 Timothy 1:15
Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save
sinners...
We do those outside the church a huge disservice when we give the impression that we think that Christians are somehow "better" than non-Christians. It's us who are sick, it's us who need Jesus's help. It's us who are sinners, and need Jesus to bring us to repentance.
In Matthew's own account of this story, he quotes Jesus as saying one more thing in his response:
Matthew 9:12-13
On hearing this, Jesus said, "It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick.
But go and learn what this means: 'I desire mercy, not sacrifice.' For I have not come to call the
righteous, but sinners."
Well, what does "I desire mercy, not sacrifice" mean?
It means loving and forgiving others is much more important than any religious ceremony or observance. Christians today, like the Pharisees of old, need to remember that the first duty of a Christian is to love God and the second is to love other people. All the rest comes a very distant third.
Matthew 22:37-40
Jesus replied: "'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.'
This is the first and greatest commandment.
And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbour as yourself.'
All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments."
And judging others because they're sinners, while forgetting that we're sinners, too, is the opposite of love.