Good News For a Bad World - Studies in the Gospel of Mark - 9
Mark 2:13-28 (1)
Maybe you remember what happened on July 21 1969. That was when Apollo 11 landed on the moon. And as Neil Armstrong climbed down the ladder he spoke those now famous words, “One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind”. And of course, we all marvelled at what was happening.
In fact, a newspaper reporter at the time said this, “It’s the greatest event in human history.”
Well, it certainly was a great event, but it wasn’t THE greatest event in human history.
THE greatest event in human history wasn’t the day man walked on the moon, but the day God walked on the earth. That WAS THE greatest event in human history. Everything else pales into insignificance in comparison. It really does.
Well it’s been our privilege to walk beside Jesus, as He walked on earth.
OK, today we’re going to find Jesus bursting through all the barriers and breaking all the rules. Not God’s barriers or God’s rules, BUT men’s barriers and men’s rules. You see with Him there are no ‘no go’ areas.
In Mark 2:13-28 Jesus does something that’s totally unbelievable and unthinkable and He even says something that’s totally unpalatable as far as those around Him are concerned. And that’s how we’ll approach this passage.
Alright, to begin with here’s JESUS DOING SOMETHING TOTALLY UNBELIEVABLE.
As per usual great crowds of people are coming to hear Him preach and teach. And suddenly, as He passes by the receipt of custom, He fixes His gaze on someone by the name of Levi. And Jesus stops and speaks. Notice what it says in verse 2:14: “As He passed by, He saw Levi the son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax office. And He said to him, "Follow Me." So he arose and followed Him.”
Now let me say a few things about Levi. Levi was just one of his names. He had another name. His other name was Matthew.
And we’re told that he was sitting, working in the tax office. You say, “What does that mean?” Well, it simply means he was a high flying, leading tax collector.
Now remember Israel was under Roman occupation. So that means, Levi is a Jew who’s working for the Roman authorities. He’s collecting taxes from his fellow Jews to give to this occupying force. Do you see the difficult dynamics of that?
Now then, how do you think people felt about Levi? Do you think he was popular? No way. Being a tax collector was bad enough. Nobody likes tax collectors. Of course not.
BUT being a tax collector, for the hated, dreaded Romans was a million times worse. You see, he was a traitor. A turn-coat. He’d sold himself out to the enemy. He’d sided with the oppressor of his very own nation and that just wasn’t acceptable.
And so, things aren’t looking all that great for Levi, are they? And then, add to that the real possibility of Levi being a right cheat. A crook. A deceiver.
Most tax collectors were. They charged far more than the Romans demanded and the Romans never saw it. They just kept it for themselves. That was the norm.
And no doubt, Levi was like that. And the people knew exactly what he was up to and so they hated him. Here then is this scoundrel.
He’s a man consumed with a love for money and material things. The material man.
But listen. When Jesus speaks with a voice of command, “Follow Me.” Levi gets up and he leaves it all behind and he starts to follow Jesus.
As a bit of a footnote let me say that this encounter with Jesus marked a drastic, radical change in Levi’s attitude to things.
I think it’s wonderful to read through his Gospel and see how often he talks about the danger of materialism and the danger of getting caught up with money.
In fact it seems that every time Jesus spoke about the danger of money, he was the one who latched onto it immediately and made sure he got it down for all of us to learn from his lifetime of mistakes.
He never forgot the trap he fell into and the danger he succumbed to. And so he flashes the red light of warning as often as he possibly can.
So here he is. He gets up and he goes with Jesus. He becomes a follower of Christ. He holds nothing back. It’s all or nothing.
OK, the main point I want you to grasp, is this. Jesus not only stopped and spoke to this despised tax collector, He had dealings with him and He even called him to be an intricate part of His team.
Rough and ready fishermen and now a tax-collector. He goes to the reject, reaches out to the cheat, draws near to the traitor, challenges the thief and calls the sinner.
I wonder, are we respecter of persons. Jesus wasn’t. He had a heart for people, whoever they were and wherever they were from. And so must we. Jesus does something unbelievable.