Healing the Sick

Introduction

From the very beginning, Mark is telling us the story of the Son of God. In the first chapter, Mark demonstrates that Jesus is the fulfillment of God’s plan as we find Jesus in the wilderness. It is in the wilderness that good things happen to God’s people. It is in the wilderness where God meets his people and there is a new beginning. Jesus is in the wilderness as a sign of God meeting his people again and a new start. Then Mark enforces the impact of Jesus by allowing Jesus’s first words in the account to those of repentance. When Jesus speaks things happen. Then Mark depicts the great success that Jesus has as he preaches and heals among the people. He heals many and preaches wherever he goes. As a result his fame and his acceptance among the people spreads.

Beginning in 2:13 going through 3:6, Mark writes about the opposition which is beginning to take place among the religious leaders. There are several stories woven together demonstrating Jesus’ continuing popularity among the people but the religious leaders are beginning to seek out ways to discredit Jesus. In this section Mark records four disputes regarding Jewish ritual laws and customs. Each controversy ends with opposition.

In 2:16, the religious leaders ask “why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?” In 2:18, the question is asked, “how is it that John’s disciples and the disciples of the Pharisees are fasting, but yours are not?” In 2:24, the Pharisees rebuke Jesus’ disciples for plucking grain, “Look, why are they doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath?” And in 3:4, after healing a man on the Sabbath, Jesus turns the tables on his opponents by asking, “Which is lawful on the Sabbath: to do good or to do evil, to save a life or to kill?” This question silences the opponents.

Even as Mark has called on his readers to make a decision about Jesus early on, he uses this opportunity to allow his readers to see that opposition existed. Masterfully, Mark portrays the opposition as those who are trying to protect their customs and rituals rather than listening to God’s Son. If one does not choose to follow Jesus; if one does not repent; if one is not convinced about Jesus then they are aligned with the opposition. And the opposition is unwilling to yield their will to the voice of Jesus.

Today we are going to look at Jesus’ call of Matthew to become a disciple and the subsequent dinner that Jesus shared with others at Matthew’s house. We are going to look at the opposition and we are going to recapture the enormity of what Jesus did by eating with tax collectors and “sinners.” The challenge is to be like Jesus. And today we will be challenged.

Follow Me

Jesus is beside the Sea of Galilee. This area is his base. He spends his time traveling among the villages and towns preaching and healing. He is a man who rarely has time to himself. Such is the case on this day. As he goes out to the Sea and the crowds flock to him. He teaches. He walks. He sees Levi at his collection booth. Levi’s booth would have been set up on a well traveled road. Anyone who traveled this road had to pay a tax. It was an ancient toll booth. Jesus sees him and simply says, “Follow me.”

As he did with Simon, Andrew, James, and John, so Jesus does here. He speaks and something happens. Levi gives up his job and walks with Jesus. Unlike the first disciples this is even more monumental. The first four could and eventually did for a time return to their profession. But not Levi. Walking away from his toll booth meant there was no returning. Tax officials were hardly choice candidates for discipleship. Just think how we feel about the IRS now and you get only a taste of the kind of ostracism Levi must have experienced in his life. Tax collectors were never considered righteous. They were known as thieves and traitors as they worked for the government and abused their own flesh and blood for money.

Levi leaves his toll booth and begins following Jesus. Verse 15 helps us to recognize that while Levi is singled out there are a number of others who come to follow Jesus as well. Quickly the scene changes to Levi’s house in which Jesus and other tax collectors and sinners are eating dinner together. Do not read into this that this is some party in which drunkenness is going on. Rather at this dinner Jesus is the center of attention. Jesus doesn’t just call Levi and others to be disciples, he befriends them as well. He didn’t call them to a party. He called them to repentance and transformation. This appeal is appalling to the religious leaders. These are not the kind of people that good folks associate with. Jesus responds to that criticism by reminding them that doctors take care of sick people. He has come to be a spiritual physician to the spiritually ill.

Let’s Have Dinner

Who do you identify with in this story? Levi—the one called to follow; the one willing to repent; the one willing to turn away from his past; the one who wants to be near Jesus no matter the cost. Jesus—the one who associates with those that no one else will associate with; the one who calls people to a higher standard even while spending time with them; the one who is friend with all. The religious leaders—the one who have labels and tags for certain groups; the ones who criticize those who may try to include those not like us. Who do you identify with in this story?

We tend to eliminate ourselves as a “Levi” because we are not thieves and unrighteous people and that may be the crux of the problem. If we eliminate our association with Levi then that only leaves Jesus and the religious leaders and not too many of us will say that we are like Jesus. You see, if we don’t identify with Levi then maybe we have forgotten or somehow gotten confused about who we are to identify with. We all know there are certain folks we shouldn’t associate with right? If we aren’t careful we may begin to believe that only certain folks deserve to know Jesus. If we aren’t careful it may be that in our uncomfortableness of rubbing elbows with those who don’t exactly fit in with us that we think sinner have to do something first in order to become worthy recipients of God’s grace. What Levi demonstrates for us is that Jesus calls all in their sin to come to him. If you can get out of your sin first, then of what value is Jesus?

Jesus wasn’t afraid of being contaminated by sinners. He believed that he came to contaminate the sinner with God’s love. Jesus didn’t believe that he had to protect God’s holiness but that God’s holiness had to be brought to the people who needed it the most. There is no room to snub or reject someone because they are sinners. Rather that is all the more reason to bring Jesus to them. Notice that it is to bring Jesus to the sinners not get the sinners to Jesus. Make no mistake, Jesus is giving a new and different perspective in this story. Religious leaders would not have spent time with sinners until they changed. Jesus goes to the sinner and makes it clear that we cannot win people if we are not willing to be with people.

It is time that we quit singing “Amazing Grace” and believe that it applies only to wretches like me and to no one else. Ambrose Bierce in his Devil’s Dictionary defined an evangelist as a “bearer of good tidings, particularly such as assure us of our own salvation and the damnation of our neighbors.” Jesus is breaking down the barriers which separate sinners and those who see themselves as righteous. By the end of the gospel of Mark it is quit plain that there are no righteous to call. All fall short of God’s glory and are in need of the physician. This is not an indictment but rather a challenge to think differently about those who are around us. The difference between us and those who do not Jesus may only be that we haven’t introduced Jesus to them.

We must think about Jesus differently. Carlos Christo said, “While we look for him among priests, he is among sinners. While we look for him among the free, he is a prisoner. While we look for him in glory, he is bleeding on the cross.” Jesus didn’t come to turn the religious establishment upside down. He came to demonstrate in very real ways that life is found not in religious customs and ritual, but in him. And when we introduce Jesus to our friends, then they too can have a life altering relationship with him. So who do you identify with in this story? There may be a Levi here today who is ready to follow Jesus. There may be a Pharisee here today who thinks that customs and rituals is their badge of honor. May we all be Jesus to our friends.

Follow Jesus

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