Jesus and Levi
Text: Mark 2:13-17
Core Idea: Jesus is the Great Physician. He calls sinners like you and me because He wants to heal us, free us, and dine with us. Then let us follow Him today and never look back. Let us join His table as we invite others to dine with our great Savior.
INTRODUCTION
Good afternoon, Lighthouse. Glad to have you back. I pray that all of you are staying healthy and safe. I don’t know about you, but personally, it’s been much more difficult to be away from the community this time around than before. I miss seeing people; I miss hearing people sing; I miss preaching to the people, not just to my screen; I miss the small chit chat we had after service. Then my prayer for all of us is that we will never get comfortable with this – that we would never get used to worshiping through a screen. Let’s be honest; online service is easier – it’s convenient. We don’t have to fight through all this snow. It saves time from commuting. But even still, I pray that we would always be discontent with this situation, because we truly grow and mature as a community only when we’re in proximity to each other. Then I pray that sooner than later, our discontentment will turn to joyful satisfaction as we get to meet in person to worship the God we love so much. All this to say, “I miss you and I’m praying for you.” When this is over, we should have a huge feast to celebrate.
Well, we’re in the Gospel of Mark. Last week, we learned that the greatest need for the paralytic wasn’t his circumstance, but the revival, renewal of his heart, which was made possible only through the forgiveness of sin in Jesus Christ. And reflecting on the faith of the four friends, I invited us to be a blessing to someone this past week – to pray for someone, to provide a meal for someone, to encourage someone, and so on. If you did, that’s awesome, you should do it again. If you didn’t, thank God that we have another opportunity to do so this coming week. Now, I don’t say this lightly, but I want you to remember that God wants to use you. God wants you to be His channel of blessing. How do I know this? Because God has placed you in this community. You’re placed here for a reason. Then I pray that all of us will intentionally, joyfully extend our love to those around us this week.
Today, we’ll see that Jesus not only forgives our sins, but He enters into a relationship with sinners. He engages and embraces sinners with love and compassion. Now, a word of caution: because many of us have heard this truth so much, we could easily let our hearts become hardened to it. It doesn’t move us; it doesn’t stir our hearts; it doesn’t lead us to gratitude – which is why I’ve been praying for you this week. I prayed that there would be this newness to the truth that we’re about to hear – that we would be humbled by this scandalous love, His shocking grace for us. So, if you have your Bibles, please turn to Mark 2:13-17. Let me read this for us.
13 Once again Jesus went out beside the lake. A large crowd came to Him, and He began to teach them. 14 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. 15 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. 16 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?” 17 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.”
Amen. This is the Word of God for you today.
I want to point out three things from this story:
THE CALL
THE MEAL
THE GREAT PHYSICIAN
1) THE CALL (V. 13-14)
The story begins in verse 13 with Jesus going out to the lake to be away from the crowd – probably to pray, to spend that unhurried time with God. But it doesn’t last long as Jesus once again finds Himself pressed by another large crowd. And we see Him doing what He came to do: teaching and preaching the gospel. And this is the scene where this story unfolds. Mark tells us that Jesus saw “Levi son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax collector’s booth.” Now, as Mark often does, he gives us only a short summary of their interaction, where Jesus said, “Follow me,” and without hesitation, “Levi got up and followed Him.” What Mark doesn’t tell us is that this call would’ve left Jesus’ disciples incredibly shocked and offended in every way. You could almost hear Peter saying, “Everyone but him, Jesus! Just in case you didn’t notice, he’s a tax collector.” And Jesus would’ve responded, “I know. That’s exactly why I’m calling him.”
You see, the Jewish people at that time were subjected to oppressive taxes by the Roman Empire. What made things very sticky was the fact that the Romans outsourced the collection of these taxes to the locals. They would tell these tax collectors, “As long as you meet your quota, we couldn’t care less about what you do.” And what resulted was that it attracted the greediest, the morally corrupt to this position – those who knew that they could take advantage of the situation by collecting much more to pocket the rest for themselves. Working for the Roman government, participating in the oppression of your own people was bad enough – what made things worse was that they were building their own wealth by exploiting their own people. When the Nazis invaded Europe, they weren’t the only ones who were despised. The locals who helped them, who showed them where the secret hiding places were, who gave them insider information, and who, in return, received incredible wealth, power, and prestige – they were seen as the lowest of the low, the scum of the earth. And that’s exactly what was happening here. These tax collectors were regarded as traitors, thieves by the people. And as a result, they had to basically give up their Jewish identity, their social status, and their membership in the synagogue. They brought disgrace to their families and were rejected by their communities. Then it’s not surprising to see that associating with tax collectors, fellowshipping with them in any way would’ve been considered an act of betrayal. And yet, Jesus walks right up to Levi and says, “Follow me.” What made this even more shocking was that Levi, who was also known as Matthew, became one of the Twelve Apostles. No wonder the disciples would’ve been furious.
Of course, we could easily judge the disciples for being so closed-minded, but let’s try to bring this home. Listen to what a NT scholar Preston Sprinkle said, “A modern day parallel of a tax collector might be a pimp, who is also a drug dealer, who runs a porn studio on the side, and funnels his profits to support terrorism around the world.” Now, what if Jesus brought someone like that to our church and said, “I’m going to ordain him as one of the leaders in your community”? What would you say? How would you feel? Maybe some of you will joyfully obey because you trust Jesus. But I wonder if many of us would feel uncomfortable. I wonder if we would think that Jesus is being totally impractical – “Here we are, trying to build up this new movement. He’s the kind of person who will bring all of us down. He’s the kind of person who will leave us with a bad reputation. He’s the kind of person we need to avoid.” Yet, that’s exactly the kind of person who Jesus brought close to Himself. Then let me ask you, “Could it be that the reason we may be surprised at the calling of Levi is because we mistakenly think that we’re different, that somehow, we’re better? Could it be that it’s because we forget that we are who we are today purely because of God’s life-giving, transforming power of grace in our lives?” Listen to what Pastor Paul Tripp says, “As we grow in knowledge, in ministry, in biblical literacy, I’m afraid that something dangerous happens. We get greater and our celebration of Christ gets lesser; what a horrible thing to have happen! We get more excited about us; and by the very nature of that, we’re less excited about grace.” Brothers and sisters, may we never forget that we are Levi – desperately in need of God’s grace. Without His gracious call, we would’ve been left in the dark, enslaved to our sins, hopelessly, anxiously waiting for death.
Then how should we respond to this amazing call from Jesus? Mark tells us in verse 14. “Levi got up and followed Him.” We must follow Christ. What does that mean? Let me read from the Gospel of Luke that gives us a little more explanation. This is what Luke 5:27-28 says, “‘Follow me,’ Jesus said to him, and Levi got up, left everything and followed Him.” Levi left everything to follow Jesus. He left his job and possessions; he left all his connections; he left his privileges and power; he left his safety and security. He really left everything in order to follow Jesus. Then I want us to see three things from this. First, it’s actually mind-blowing to see that Levi responded this way because you would expect someone like him to turn Jesus down right away – yet he didn’t. Why? Because that’s what grace does. Grace opens people’s hearts. Grace changes people’s minds. Grace transforms people’s desires. Grace makes it possible for people to respond to the call. Isn’t that what happened to us? In the same way, think of those who you’re trying to reach – especially the ones you think that would never surrender themselves to Jesus. Pray for grace. We must continue to pray that grace would bring their walls down, open their eyes to see the gravity of their sins, and to turn desperately to Jesus for salvation.
Second, Levi’s example doesn’t necessarily mean that we have to quit our jobs and study at a seminary; but it does mean that God is calling us to take our hands off and let Him take control over all of our lives. This means that we’re not picking and choosing areas we want to surrender to God. We can’t say, “God, You can talk to me about my spiritual life, but don’t talk to me about my work. You can talk to me about my church life, but don’t talk to me about my children, my money.” You see, following Jesus means that we don’t confine God to a box; we don’t compartmentalize Him to a category, but we’re essentially giving Him the steering wheel of our lives. He decides all things and we simply trust and obey. So, for example, it means that we’re not changing our career, but it does mean a total reorientation of the way we think about our job or the way we approach the people at our job. It may mean that we stop idolizing work. Or it may mean that we stop approaching work simply as a means to an end. It may mean that we engage with the people we work with in order to be a blessing to them, in order to shine the light of Christ in their lives. It’s true that God could ask you to surrender something completely, to give it up; but it definitely means that we must reorient ourselves to Christ and see everything in light of Him.
Lastly, Levi doesn’t respond unwillingly, reluctantly, but joyfully. How do we know this? Because Mark tells us that Levi hosted a dinner in verse 15. In other words, he had a party, a feast, celebrating his new life with Jesus. This makes sense, doesn’t it? This is the only right response for someone who just discovered the grace of God. I remember witnessing a baptism ceremony in Mexico. It was so refreshing because I’ve never seen anything like that. You see, when the person was baptized, the whole church just broke out into a celebration – people were laughing, clapping, jumping in joy, singing, dancing, praising God, hugging the person. It just felt right. Honestly, it would be amazing to see this kind of joy at Lighthouse when we witness someone being saved – this genuine love for the one who has found life. At the same time, we don’t have to wait to rejoice like this until our baptism ceremony. We can (and we really should) do this every day as we meditate on His grace in our own lives. I pray that we would never take His grace for granted; but that we’ll learn to revel in it every single day, every moment of our lives.
2) THE MEAL (V. 15)
Verse 15 tells us that Levi was the host of this dinner and Jesus was the guest of honor. But there were other guests as well which included the whole company of tax collectors that Levi probably knew (it could’ve been his friends) and those who were branded as “sinners” – probably those who were considered unclean and immoral. Now, what’s wonderful about this was that Jesus ate with them. You see, in Jesus’ days and in fact, in many cultures today, sharing meals together has always meant more than just fuel for the body; it was a place of belonging, healing, and connecting. Unfortunately, some of us don’t experience this much in our Western individualistic culture not only because of this pandemic, but also because eating alone has become so easy and convenient. But we must recognize that eating together expresses something much more – they’re incredibly relational. So, to see Jesus dining with these people meant much more than just eating and hanging out. It meant that He wanted to share His life with them. He wanted to have a relationship with them.
What does this mean for us? Let me answer this by asking two important questions. First, “Who do I eat with?” If you made a list of people that you ate with, would your list make others feel uncomfortable, shocked? Would any of them on your list be considered sinners from our society? Or would your list only include those who are like you, who you like, who make you feel safe, and who would benefit you? Brothers and sisters, let us never forget that Jesus invited us to the Table first when we were still sinners. In fact, that’s exactly what the Lord’s Supper is all about. It’s a reminder that we who were despised and hell-bound because of our sins are now welcomed, loved, and embraced – we have this intimate relationship with Jesus. If this is what Christ has done for us, if His love for us is not just something we know but something that we’ve experienced down to the core of our being, if it’s something that’s sustaining us even right now, how can we not display the love of Christ to those around us through something as simple as a meal? Now, don’t get me wrong; I’m not saying, “Just suck it up and eat with people that make you feel uncomfortable!” No, that’s not what I’m saying. I’m simply inviting you to dwell in His grace until it transforms the way you see others – that no matter who they are, you’ll see them as image bearers of God – so that it will propel you out to connect with anyone God places in your life. If you look at verse 15 again, you’ll notice that Jesus didn’t go to this dinner by Himself; His disciples were there too. Sure, some could argue that they were forced to be there, but I think Mark was trying to teach us an important truth: disciples of Jesus go wherever Jesus goes. Then as Christ followers, let us embody the values that drove Jesus to do what He did. Let us be intentional with who we eat because through it, we have an opportunity to tell others about the gospel.
The second question is this: “Who in my life can I invite to dine with Jesus?” Pastor Ligon Duncan said, “No man who has tasted grace wants to go to heaven alone. If you don’t care about other sinners joining you in glory, then you just don’t know grace. This man doesn’t want to go to heaven alone. He wants all his tax collector and sinner buddies to be there and to meet the Lord Jesus, because He is worth giving up everything for.” You see, Levi invited other tax collectors (those who were in his circle of influence) because he wanted them to meet Jesus. This was something that other disciples probably weren’t able to do. Levi’s background, position, and influence allowed him to do this. Then in the same way, think of the people in your circle of influence. You have a great opportunity to bring them to Jesus. Even through a simple meal together, in your conversation, you can bring this life-giving message to them. This is how we can be the salt and light of the world. Then how do we do this practically during this pandemic? It’s true that there’s outdoor dining, but I wouldn’t recommend it right now. But I heard that indoor dining will be open by the end of this month; so, you could take advantage of that if you feel comfortable. Or you could eat together online. Or in the spirit of being intentionally relational, for now, forgo the eating part, but go for a walk or give them a phone call and make that time meaningful. Let us model Christ in the way we eat with others.
3) THE GREAT PHYSICIAN (V. 16-17)
Let’s look at verse 16. Mark tells us that there were Pharisees who were watching Jesus’ every move – and not surprisingly, they were infuriated by what Jesus did. Now, in order to better understand why, it’s important for us to know a little more about the Pharisees. The Bible tells us that they were the pious Jews whose entire way of life was not only based on the rigorous teaching and studying of the law of Moses, but also on the rigorous keeping of the law. Now, it’s important to note that their fundamental goal was noble: they really wanted to maintain a life of purity and obedience to God’s law. The problem was that they took it too far. They took it on themselves to obey perfectly. Their system of acceptance was not based on grace but works. So, they did everything they could to avoid getting defiled by keeping their distance from those who were unclean and sinful. Sadly, they were driven by self-righteousness – finding their worth and value by constantly measuring themselves with others. And this was exactly why it just boggled their minds to see Jesus going so close to the unclean. Just listen to the question they ask: “Why does He eat with tax collectors and sinners?” This is deeply arrogant because it implies that they themselves weren’t sinners. They were essentially saying, “Why does Jesus eat with people like that rather than people like us?” Then let’s do a quick heart check. Let’s say that we’re all back at in-person worship on Sunday. Who would make you feel uncomfortable if they walked in and sat next to you? What kind of person would you rather not get involved at church? What kind of person would you rather not be in proximity? Brothers and sisters, I pray that we would continue to guard our hearts from the sin of self-righteousness. I pray that God will save us from this sin because we cannot overcome this on our own.
Now, how did Jesus respond to their accusation? Verse 17. “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.’” What the Pharisees saw was eating and drinking; but what Jesus saw at this table was healing, forgiveness, and reconciliation. The table was where the sick met the Great Physician Himself. The table was where the enemies were transformed into friends, where the lost were found, where the sinners were made into children of God. For Jesus, this meal was a foretaste of the Great Banquet of God, where all will be welcomed, though not all will come. In other words, this is amazing news; but not everyone will get it. You see, no one says, “Wow, I feel good. I feel healthy. I need to see a doctor.” No, that’s ridiculous. So, when Jesus says, “I’m the Great Physician. I bring healing. I came to call sinners,” this is not good news unless you recognize that you’re sinful, that you’re a sinner in need of help. Pastor David Platt said, “People will never know how glorious the cross is until they know how serious sin is.” Then may this be true for you today – that your high view of sin and the higher view of the cross and His grace will lead you to repent, grieve over our sins before Christ knowing that this is the only way to freedom. 1 John 1:9 says, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” Friends, there’s no sin deep enough that you’re out of His reach. There’s no sin that excludes you from His grace. There’s no sin that’s able to separate you from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord (Rom. 8:39). He is able to save you. He is able to heal you. He is able to transform you. So, come and be healed. Jesus Christ came for you.
CONCLUSION
Lighthouse family, Jesus is the Great Physician. He calls sinners like you and me because He wants to heal us, free us, and dine with us. He wants to bring us into a healed relationship with God, a healed relationship with the community of His people. And He wants to send us out to the world with a new heart, a new perspective, and a new mission. Then let us follow Him today and never look back. Let us join His table as we invite others to dine with our great Savior.
sermon questions
Jesus calls us to follow Him which involves a total reorientation of the way we think about every aspects of our lives. What does this mean for your life today? Which specific area of your life is God prompting you to apply this truth?
Why is it important to consider who we eat with? How can our tables be an opportunity for healing, reconciliation, and evangelism? What can be done to make this possible in your life today?