13He went out again beside the sea, and all the crowd was coming to him, and he was teaching them. 14And as he passed by, he saw Levi the son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax booth, and he said to him, “Follow me.” And he rose and followed him.
15And as he reclined at table in his house, many tax collectors and sinners were reclining with Jesus and his disciples, for there were many who followed him. 16And the scribes of the Pharisees, when they saw that he was eating with sinners and tax collectors, said to his disciples, “Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?” 17And when Jesus heard it, he said to them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.” (Mark 2:13-17)
Many have misunderstood Jesus’ purpose for coming into the world. Here he explains himself.
Jesus Came to Call
Jesus is not a lucky rabbit’s foot, some inanimate object we can place here or there to spruce our lives up a bit. He is alive and speaks to people, calling them forth. Perhaps he’s turning toward you now, looking at you, speaking to you, calling you to follow him. He demands a response. Will we follow? Or will we reject him?
The call is simple. Just two words, “Follow me.” I was 8 when I heard it and I understood it well enough to respond.
The call is an invitation, not a set of instructions. Not rules, but a relationship. Not a pointing finger, but embracing arms. He did not command Levi to begin a life of impersonal religious rituals, he invited him to join him on the road, walk with him, live with him, learn from him, witness him–follow him.
This is the call of Christianity. It is a life of following Jesus.
Jesus Doesn’t Call “Righteous” People
Tax collectors were greedy, dishonest, traitorous extortioners. They collected taxes from their Jewish brethren on behalf of the hated Roman Empire. Often they over-collected, keeping the surplus for themselves. When Jesus entered Levi’s home for dinner, he would have likely joined several tax collectors along with moneylenders, people who wrung money from the poorer classes through high interest loans, and prostitutes.
The scribes, who were the religious authorities of the day, did not understand why Jesus was calling on well known sinners. Jesus’ replied, ““Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.”
Romans 3:23 makes clear that there are no ‘righteous’ people apart from Jesus; but there are people who are righteous in their own eyes. The scribes were the epitome of such self righteousness. They read, copied, studied, memorized and taught the Hebrew Scriptures (known to us as the Old Testament). But they only filled their minds and mouths with it, blocking it from entering their hearts and lives. And so they became self righteous hypocrites, a peculiar condition which can cut a person off from God’s grace completely.
Since this is such a danger to those of us involved in church life, I put together a nine point self examination to help us identify any self righteousness in our own hearts. These questions come from Jesus’ tirade against the scribes in Matthew 23.
- Do you preach, but not practice?
- Do you expect and demand moral perfection from others rather than serving them?
- Do you do good works only to be seen?
- Do you love being exalted?
- Do you work hard in ministry, yet drive people away from God’s grace?
- Do you give blind guidance, advice without scripture?
- Do you love religious activities more than you love God?
- Do you obey small matters of God’s word while ignoring the weightiest matters, such as genuinely loving God and people?
- Do you work harder on your external appearance than your internal substance?
Jesus Calls Sinners
Praise God that we don’t have to act righteous in order to win God’s favor! He sent Jesus to call sinners like us. Consider the following passages of scripture:
6For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. 7For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die— 8but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. (Romans 5:6-8)
For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. (1 Corinthians 5:21)
The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost. (1Timothy 1:15)
May we hear his call and respond like Levi and the other sinners, not like the self righteous scribes. May we follow Jesus.
Discussion Starters
- Read Mark 2:13-17.
- Is there any significance in the fact that Jesus approached Levi at his place of work (the tax booth), just like he approached the four brothers in Mark 1:16-20 while they were at work fishing? What might this precedent indicate for how Jesus calls people to follow him today?
- Read verse 14 again. What does the call to “follow me” entail? What does it mean to follow Jesus? What scriptures can help fill out our understanding here?
- Read verses 15-16. What would your gut reaction be if you saw in the news that a well known Christian figure was seen spending leisurely time with blatantly sinful people, in their homes, on their turf? Would you be suspicious? Why or why not?
- Without casting stones, who are the overtly sinful people of our day? What does extending the call of the gospel to them look like for the modern church?
- Read verse 17. How can we guard against becoming like the scribes, who deemed themselves well enough not to need a physician, righteous enough not to need a forgiving savior?
- In terms of following Jesus, what is your next step? Has he been calling you to move forward in any specific area?
- How can we extend Jesus’ call to others in our community?
