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.”
Tax collectors worked for the Roman government. That meant they were working for Herod Antipas. He was not a good ruler, by any standard. On top of that, tax collectors took more money than the government required. Extortion was how they paid themselves.
Here in Mark 2:13-17 Jesus meets Levi at the tax collector’s booth. Were there piles of money in plain sight? How about an account book? I would love to know more about the conversation Jesus had with Levi. But that conversation leads to Levi following Jesus. In fact, he invites Jesus to a dinner party with his friends… “tax collectors and sinners”.
We often make judgments based on behaviour or actions. For the teachers of the law (Pharisees), Jesus’ attending this dinner is embarrassing. How can he possibly eat with “those” people?
[ASIDE] Why are they spying on Jesus?
Jesus being at this dinner with “tax collectors and sinners” is an illustration of how two questions of life are answered.
- Who is it that God can love? Is it only those who are already righteous, or can/does God love everyone?
- We are called to love God (one of the oldest commandments of the Bible). Does this mean we are to love like God loves? If yes, then does this mean we are to love tax-collectors and sinners?
It has become rather personal.
It is not just personal for those in the first Century. It is personal for us.
As a follower of Jesus, it is easier to sit apart. It is easier to work on my holiness in my own little vacuum, isolated and away from others.
Jesus shocks us. Jesus draws us from being a spectator to perhaps a reluctant participant.
On the one hand, his teaching and miracles loudly proclaim that he is the “Beloved Son”.
On the other hand, his behaviour, if I follow what Mark is saying, brings me into contact with people I would rather not get involved with.
Jesus calls us to engage those around us, even if it makes us uncomfortable.
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