The Book of Mark #10 chapter 2:13-17
The Book of Mark
The Scandal of Grace
Mark 2:13–17
 
Imagine if Jesus had come in 2014 rather than the first century, and had come for the same reason that He came then, to be a Sacrifice for sin.  I would guess He would have been killed for the opposite reason He was killed then.
 
The reason the Jewish leaders hated Jesus so much was because He was not religious enough. By their standards, He was not holy or legalistic enough.  He let his followers pick grain on Sunday and get by with all kinds of stuff and it was intolerable.
 
Ironically, if Jesus had come in our time, He would be way too holy, far too righteous, too demanding, and too legalistic to be tolerated.
 
We would hate Jesus for condemning good people. They hated Him for forgiving bad people and very quickly into His ministry, the Jewish leaders began to develop a deadly hatred for Him and it was primarily driven by what they viewed to be his association and toleration of those who were sinful.  In fact, that was the moniker they stuck on him.  He was a “friend to sinners”.
 
And in their mind, the Messiah could not possibly have a lower standard of righteousness than they did.  And here He was eating with tax collectors and touching lepers and spending time with prostitutes and sinners.
 
 
That was the downfall of His ministry.  It is what one author calls the scandal of grace.  Jesus welcomed sinners and rejected the self-righteous.  Now while that is the scandal of grace, it is also the glory fo the gospel.  Jesus receives sinners.
 
God does not gives salvation to people who earn it or deserve it or achieve it or people who are good enough, or righteous enough, or holy enough.  He gives salvation to the ungodly and the unholy and the unrighteous who believe in Christ and repent. This is the scandal of grace.
 
And that is the focus of the passage before us tonight in our study of the Gospel of Mark.
 
Chapter 2, verses 13-17
 
The summation of the story is verse 17.  The only people are given salvation are not the people who earn it, but the people who sinners. That's the message of the gospel.
 
He came to seek and to save that which was lost. Luke 5:32, where the same story is recorded says, "He came to call sinners to repentance." He can save only sinners who repent and believe in Jesus. By the way, the story is also included in Matthew 9:9 to 13, it's an important enough account that Matthew, Mark, and Luke all record it because it gives us the essence of the glory of the gospel.
 
Now remember the last verses that we looked at, verses 1 to 12, gave us the account of the man who was healed of paralysis. You remember his friends took the roof apart and dropped him down into the house where Jesus was teaching.
And Jesus not only healed him, but more importantly Jesus forgave his sins. Now when Jesus announced to this man his sins were forgiven, it threw the Jewish leaders into an outrage because only God can forgive sin.  In essence, since Jesus did forgive sin and proved He was God by healing the man, they should have affirmed that He in fact was God and did what He had the right to do.  But instead they reject Him.
 
But that story, verses 1 to 12, gives the account of Jesus' authority to forgive sins. Now the next story, the one I just read, tells you whose sins He forgives.  He forgives the sins of those who are self-confessed sinners. He came not to call the righteous, but sinners.
 
So let’s take a look at the story and see what we find.
 
We see first of all,
 
1. The Call of Levi
 
verse 13
 
Now just to keep the flow of the gospel in our mind, let’s think about that.  “He went out again." He went out of what? He went out of the house that He was in when He healed the paralytic. That's in Capernaum, most likely the house of Peter and Andrew.
 
Now he’s going back to the seashore.   Much of His teaching was outdoors for practicality’s sake.  The crowds wouldn’t fit inside so He went outside, the crowd follows and He teaches them.
That was, very likely, the itinerary every day of His ministry.  He spent His days surrounded by crowds, interacting with them and preaching the gospel.
 
However, on this day, there is another item of business to take care of.  Verse 14 tells us He is on the move.  He is apparently leaving the seashore and traveling to another destination.
 
And as He is traveling, passing by,
 
Verse 14
 
Now again, I need to encourage us to see that through first-century eyes because what just happened is shocking.. This is scandalous beyond comprehension. No self-respecting teacher of any kind, much less a Jew, would want anything to do with a tax collector. It would literally be the biggest stain on anyone's career to have a follower and an intimate who was a tax collector. That was the worst of the worst, the dregs of human society in Israel.
 
But Jesus was different. Jesus shattered all the stereo types. And as He goes back toward Capernaum, He passes by a tax booth and sees Levi, a tax collector.
 
Now the way the tax system worked was the Roman government, who was in control at the time, offered tax franchises and they were sold to the highest bidder. And it didn’t matter to the Romans about nationality or race.  Anyone who had the money could bid on the job.
 
 
Now sitting in this tax booth is a man named Levi.  That gives a possible insight into his nationality because Levi is a Jewish name.  He is for one of Jacob's sons, a son born to Leah, so it’s a pretty sure bet he's Jewish.  That means he sold his soul to the Romans for money.
 
The Romans are hated by the Jews. They are Gentiles, they are unclean and they are occupying the Jewish homeland.  So they despise the Romans.  m. And here is someone who has sold his soul to these Gentiles for the sake of extorting money out of Jews.
 
So if you were a tax collector, you were the worst of the worst of the worst. But on this day, everything changes for him because Jesus passes by and calls him to be a follower.  And everything changes, including his name.  We don’t know him as Levi; we know him as Matthew.
 
How did his name get from Levi to Matthew? I don't know.  We don't have any record in the Scripture. But my guess is he changed his own name.
 
If you had been a tax collector, it might be good for your future to alter your identity. It might save your hide. And if he did choose his own name, he chose well because Matthew means gift of the Lord. He had been given a gift of the Lord in the gift of salvation.
 
So this is Matthew. In all the accounts which list the Twelve, there is no Levi, there's only a Matthew. Jesus comes along, sees this guy named Levi sitting in the tax booth, and says to him, "Follow Me", and he immediately obeyed.
.
In that moment, everything that had controlled his suddenly lost its meaning.  Luke adds that “he forsook all” and followed Jesus. He had a new heart, new mind, new longings, new desires and never looked back.
 
So, Levi Matthew, the traitor, the robber, the outcast, the greedy, abusive sinner became a disciple and an apostle and a writer of the history of Jesus.
 
Well, the call of Matthew leads to
 
2. The Community of Sinners
 
verse 15
 
Matthew is now so filled with gratitude and thrilled about what the Lord has done in his life, he throws a party in honor of Jesus.  No doubt he wanted his friends to meet Jesus and hear what Jesus has done and give them an invitation to follow Christ also.
 
So what you had here was all the dishonorable, despised rejects of Galilee.  Nobody else wanted to hang around a tax collector.  And suddenly revival breaks out!  Sinners and gamblers and thieves and thugs and prostitutes and drunkards and Sabbath violators are all getting saved!
 
These are people who would never have a chance of getting to heaven and yet through Jesus they did and the self-righteous did not.  I can promise you this crowd has never been around anybody like Jesus!  No one was a friend to sinners except for other sinners.
 
And yet here sits Jesus and his disciples laughing and eating and fellowshipping around the table.
 
Well if you know the Pharisees, you know where this story is heading because the call of Matthew and the community of sinners leads to
 
3. The Contempt of the Self-Righteous
 
Verse 16b
 
Remember, grace is scandalous.  They couldn't believe it. Eating symbolized acceptance, welcome and friendship. They wouldn't eat with anybody who was a sinner and they would pride themselves on that being because of Psalm 1:1, they would go back and say, "How blessed is the man who doesn't walk in the council of the wicked or stand in the path of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers."
 
They refused to do that. How can Jesus do this? How can this be the Messiah, the Son of God, the Lord of heaven, the Savior when He doesn't even come to the standard that we established? This is absolutely unacceptable.
 
And finally we see
 
4. The Condemnation of Jesus
 
Verse 17
 
Now apparently the Pharisees are outside looking through the window or door and taunting the disciples.  They certainly wouldn't have gone inside that house!
And when Jesus speaks, He is isn’t speaking to them, but to His friends around the table, but He answers their question.
 
First he gives as analogy and it’s a very simple analogy.  Doctors go to sick people. Jesus is the spiritual doctor.  He is the spiritual healer and He is available to those who know they are sick and need to be healed.
 
If the Pharisees have diagnosed these people as being sick, and certainly these people knew they were sick also, then certainly the Pharisees can see that Jesus needs to be with them.  It just makes sense that the Savior would go to sinners.  So His first answer is with an analogy.
 
His second answer is from authority.
 
verse 17b
 
In essence Jesus says to these Pharisees, "I didn't come for you because you won’t let me do anything for you.”
 
He just accepts on their own assessment of themselves. They believe themselves to be righteous.  Jesus says, “Okay, since you're righteous, I didn't come for you. And as long as you continue to think you're righteous, you'll die in your sins and go to hell.  I accept your diagnosis.”
 
 
 
 
 
And nothing has changed.  It is still the same today.  The church of Jesus Christ is not made up of good people who think they're righteous.  It’s made up of sinners who know they're not.
 
This is the gospel.
 
Yes, He has the authority to forgive sin, but the only sin He can forgive is the sin of those who know their wretchedness, acknowledge it, put their trust in Him.
 
Let’s pray.