Sunday
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 “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.”
(Mark 2:13-17, NIV)
The Gospel of Mark, which was written for a Gentile (non-Jewish) audience – probably for the church in Rome — is a succinct, rapid-fire account of Jesus’ ministry that records more of his actions than his words. Early in the public ministry of Jesus, Mark records the calling of Levi the tax collector. Levi, son of Alphaeus whose apostolic name was Matthew, was a member of one of the most hated groups of people in Palestine. For Jews who suffered at the hands of the repressive Roman occupying forces, tax collectors were objects of special hatred because they collaborated with the Romans in draining the local citizens through exorbitant taxation.
Yet Jesus demonstrates the radical character of his Kingdom by forming a group of twelve disciples that includes Matthew, the tax collector, and Simon, the revolutionary zealot. Two further political extremes could not be found in Jesus’ time. Tax collectors collaborated with the Romans while zealots vehemently opposed any form of cooperation with Rome, especially the paying of taxes.
It is not surprising, therefore, that the Pharisees who see Jesus having dinner at Matthew’s house want to challenge him. This is the same concern that Jesus heard repeatedly – he is a “friend of tax collectors and sinners” (Matthew 11:19). Jesus refuses to live by the cultural biases of his day. In his world, tax collectors were so hated that they could not worship in the synagogues or even serve as witnesses in court. The same was true for those who affiliated with them. Jesus is making a clear public statement by calling Levi from his tax collector’s booth and eating dinner in his home. His gospel of peace breaks down barriers between people. Roman collaborators and guerrilla fighters were both going to be given a new vision as his disciples. And his gospel is not limited by the prejudices of his day for it was a gospel of peace which promises reconciliation and the end of hostility between people.
Prayer
Holy God, we confess our sins and recognize that we deserve your judgment. You are a holy and righteous God. Thank you for offering your Kingdom to Levi and to us. Give us the same willingness to embrace those in our culture whom others would reject. Amen.