Mark 2:13-17

The Calling of Levi

13Once again Jesus went out beside the lake. A large crowd came to him, and he began to teach them. 14As 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.

15While 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. 16When 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'?"

17On 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."




BACKGROUND READING:


Matthew 9:9-13




Luke 5:27-32



Dig Deeper

There are certain jobs that are pretty thankless. I think of a sports referee, where no matter what call you make, half of the fans are angry at you. Another example of that would be a parking meter attendant. No one is happy to see these people. If they have any interaction with the public it is usually to be yelled at or castigated. Most people revile parking meter attendants, it is just the nature of their job. They are out to write tickets that will collect money from people, and no one likes to pay more than they feel they should have to.


This was the type of job that Levi (Matthew) had. As a tax collector in Capernaum he was reviled by everyone, with the exception of other tax collectors. Part of this comes from the man he was probably working for, Herod Antipas. When Herod the Great died in 4 B.C., his kingdom was divided between his three sons: Judea in the south went to Archalaus; Galilee in the north went to Antipas; and what we now call the Golan Heights went to Philip. Capernaum was part of Antipas’ territory, right on the border between his land and Philip’s. People traveling from one area into the other would have to stop and pay a toll in Capernaum.


It is probable that many people would remember when that journey could be made for free. Now they had to pay a toll to a man who represented a king that was not liked by the people. Even worse for these tax collectors was the fact that they were backed by the power of the Roman Empire. In the minds of the people then, these tax collectors were traitors to their people because they were working in collusion with the hated occupiers of the land of Israel.


Due to the incredible power of the Roman Empire, however, there was nothing that an average citizen could do. Their anger and frustration would boil just below the surface, and guess who it would often spill out on? It was tax collectors like Levi. They took a great deal of abuse, verbal and otherwise, and were nearly outcasts in the society. So much so, that in first-century Judaism, one’s entire house would be considered ceremonially unclean if a tax collector entered the house.


Suddenly though, a man comes to Levi one day and doesn’t abuse or mistreat him. No, he actually comes right to him, speaks to him like a human being, and invites him to follow him and to learn from him. Students of a rabbi, were expected to follow their teacher so closely that if the dust came off the rabbis shoes, it would land on theirs. They would follow their teacher and learn how he did everything. This was Jesus’ shocking offer to Levi: Follow me.


There is a deeper point that Mark wants us to catch here, though. Levi had been working for a man who fancied himself the King of the Jews. Now he was being called to follow someone else with designs on that role. Mark is gently moving towards the point in chapter 8, when Jesus’ followers will finally begin to realize who he is.


Part of the problem that the teachers of the law had with Jesus was that he was constantly bucking social standards. He didn’t ascribe to a strict observation of the religious requirements or the political expectations of the day. Shunning tax collectors was a form of political protest against Antipas and the Romans. Jesus’ ministry challenged social expectations and instigated opposition at the social, cultural, political, and religious levels.


Jesus’ response to those critics was vital to his understanding of his vocation. He was a type of doctor that was healing not only physical ailments, but societal ailments of outcasts like Levi, and ultimately the spiritual ailments of all who were willing. There’s not much point for a doctor to always be around healthy people. Nor is there much use in a doctor spending time around the sick who won’t accept that they are sick. The real place for a doctor to be is among the company of those who are sick, who realize it, and who want to get better.

Devotional Thought

Levi had one of those jobs that made it easy for people to, at worst, despise him, and, at best, ignore him. How do you treat people that others tend to dislike or ignore? Do you take special time to get to know and appreciate them or do you treat them like everyone else does? Take some time this week to notice people that are ignored or mistreated by most people. Treat them with the same love and respect that Jesus showed to the tax collectors of his day.