Thoughts for the Day

Jesus went out again beside the lake; the whole crowd gathered around him, and he taught them. As he was walking along, he saw Levi son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax booth, and he said to him, ‘Follow me.’ And he got up and followed him.

And as he sat at dinner in Levi’s house, many tax-collectors and sinners were also sitting with Jesus and his disciples—for there were many who followed him. When the scribes of the Pharisees saw that he was eating with sinners and tax-collectors, they said to his disciples, ‘Why does he eat with tax-collectors and sinners?’ When Jesus heard this, he said to them, ‘Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick; I have come to call not the righteous but sinners.’

(Lectionary, New Revised Standard Version)

Thoughts

As we have seen before, Mark is in a hurry to write his Gospel (see 2nd paragraph of Jesus is baptised). We are only in Chapter 2 of his account and Jesus has already appointed four disciples - Simon and Andrew, and James and John - all of them fishermen. Now he calls a fifth disciples, Levi although we know him as Matthew which was his Greek name. He was contracted to collect taxes from the people for the Roman Empire which was a big problem since the Jews believed the only tax that should be paid was Temple tax for God's work, and certainly not to the hated Romans. Tax collectors were also known to cream off money collected, for themselves. We must assume that Matthew might have been a member of the tribe of Levi who of course had been appointed to look after all things to do with the Temple and the worship of God, which makes things seem even worse.

As far as the ordinary person was concerned there was probably no greater sinner than Matthew. His job meant he was an outcast from society, and was unable to worship Yahweh (God). After calling Matthew Jesus compounds his actions by going to eat at his home where other outcasts are gathered. When questioned his answer is "Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick; I have come to call not the righteous but sinners."

At this point all those who queried his actions, and that more than likely included his first four disciples, are brought up short, to examine themselves and their attitudes. The question for us is, are we among the so-called righteous with their smug superiority that looked down on Levi the outcast, or are we among the sinners who know our sin and long to be healed?

Lord Jesus,
our world is quick to make judgements
and we are no better than many
who jump to conclusions.
Help us to examine our motives
and our attitudes,
acknowledging that they often fall short
of what You require.
May we ask Your forgiveness for our sin
and come to You for healing.
Amen.