Mark 2

May 7, 2023 · Ben Hoyer · 31:37

Continuing the series through Mark, this message covers Mark 2:13-17, the calling of Levi the tax collector and Jesus eating with sinners, with context on how tax collectors extorted their neighbors under Roman occupation.

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All right, we're spending the next kind of 15 weeks left going through Mark the Council of the Gospel and as you may or may not know, Mark is one of the four accounts of the Life of Jesus, Matthew Mark the John and we talked about a couple of weeks ago. I thought about a couple weeks ago how the Apostles were this like version of the literary version that are style that

was common around the first century of the time to be this was a little bit after where they would write they called it a B.O. kind of like Bob you see they were writing like groups of stories that took place during the life of a person and a famous person or a person trying to communicate a strong idea would have deals written about them. They would take true events and arrange them Russian chronological not specifically chronological. These are not biographies

in order to understand the the chronological events that happened but to communicate the intended idea of purpose missing of the person and so Matthew Mark Luke and John idea was written about groups of magic they contain mostly the style of the same outline of the story but they have different pieces in them because they're written by different people to different audiences to communicate different and unique points and we talked a couple weeks ago about how he thinks Mark probably was just younger

than the group of disciples maybe his mom was the woman of the house at the first at the most church where Peter was asked to write around Pentecost Mark ends up going to fall and on a missionary journey he's kind of along with Peter a lot of scholars think that Mark wrote this gospel in Rome while Peter was on postorects there waiting to be martyred and so Mark was around the disciples a lot but not one of the twelve and we think that his version of

the gospel heavily influenced by Peter and we talked two weeks ago I wasn't a few after we talked two weeks ago about Mark chapter one and today I want to look at Mark chapter two and we when I when we decided to go through the gospel of Mark I got started and realized if we just went through the gospel Mark we'd be at it forever so what we're gonna do is read a chapter a week and I'm trying to take a section out of the chapter that I'm talking about and so

this is wrong chapter two so if you want to read it ahead the section you can read chapter three because I'm also telling you we can ask any questions after we're done here today that you want to talk about them but the section I want to look at is Matthew chapter two verse 13 to 17 if you want to follow the wrong I'll read it and then we'll talk to it we went out again but side you see and all the crowd is coming to him this is because she has just

them a crazy thing where he's been marked one of these we talked about two weeks ago in markets one of Mark's favorite words is immediately everything in my gospel happens very fast it's like this all blew up really quickly and Mark gospel doesn't have a birth narrative starts with John the Baptist runs right into the ministry Jesus and immediately down the desert immediately back to come back and her hearing and casting out the in the cemetery and all the authority in

the letters and the first he leads them unclean that leads them as well all of sudden there seems there's lots of people immediately following Jesus and so just before this section where we have right here the reason just before that he's been pleasing and hearing people in a house and it's so crowded in the house people have this one guy who can't walk their body they want to fix his lane this they can't get them so that's a fact to lose you know in first century Israel and so

they climb the stairs up to the top of the roof make off the back and lower the dude down in front of you the whatnot right and do that's respect their faith and their commitment to their body passed off or forgive them first to be brought like what audacity that he didn't forgive them standing here in the house not only is he not a Levi we have an offer any sacrifices we're not even as a temple you can't just like forgive people and Jesus is like well so that

you know that I have the capacity to forgive when that is then walked out of the house where he's been let down on the map Jesus is no longer safe anyman right he would be causing traffic jams of paparazzi wherever he goes in Mark's gospel and so he walks out of the house and then Mark tells the story he goes by the sea he went out again beside the sea he's around the pertinent and all the

crowd that's coming to him and as he passed by he saw Levi the son of Althea sitting at the tax booth and he said they're following me and he wrote he followed him remember just real quickly is this occupied country it's worth thinking about briefly that Jesus this like Messianic King this liberating King walking around Israel and Galilee is a member of this occupied country

militarily occupied and tell them their compliance with the tax is in sports gloomy Roman group we talked about it around Easter but the one of the great tragedies of the cross is not how unique it is but how pedestrian it is they keep the five people all the time you know how to do it it's not a big deal nobody cares about the people who are at this part they do it to keep everybody alive this is a country that he was walking around it and so in order to collect the taxes the

very best they can they get local people from the country so they're not no means were passed by the Chinese they give me your money it's Israel you know everybody in town this is why Mark would mention that it's Levi's son of Althea because maybe it's passed around people would know that family who turned to a tax collector and of course tax classes are serving on money if they need to get back to the governor of their region but nobody pays attention to how much money tax classes collect and nobody from whom they're taking them on really

knows how much they're close to pay so a tax budget can export all they want they can take as much as they can or have the nerve to take from the people around them walk on what they must be the governor and keep what they can for themselves tax classes are opportunistic right and real slimy at work right they're collecting for the occupying country and they're ripping off their neighbors in country men he does is walking by going to the sea got a

crew of people following him because he's been passing out demons and he'll be sick and he might do something for them so they're telling the listeners figure out what's going on guys you can forgive sense and he stops and there's a couple to do this and he's like all these people following him who want to know what's up or who want to trap and then see when he'll say something wrong he doesn't ask any of these people to follow him she like gets the guy the

toxic who's that best opportunity but probably find who doesn't demonstrate that he wants to follow who he's not raising his hand he's not blind body man Jesus some of David has mercy on me I know I'm a pastor he's not the key I signed up in three to try and see you come to my house today leave I doing

job find opportunistic at all now feeling the interested in it is doing it all happy making his money Jesus calls him we talked a couple weeks ago I think about how like it's not exact science but a

lot of songs think that the way people became disciples of ground-up was like passing all the levels of school and at each level you would you would pass out of learning the hydrag tribal knowledge about the scriptures or the way of living if you weren't smart enough or didn't fail in the end of the cooling then you might go to become a Pharisee or Sadnessy but some extreme

might find that I turn it rabbi who's teaching what his rabbi thought has memorized the scriptures and the midrass the commentary around the trip and is going into synagogues around Galilee and picking up the scroll where they give it to him and reading the prophet and then keeping the midrass because they'd memorized some of these streams would pass all the levels before might pick and I didn't grab I and follow him around and the rabbi would prison although would go back and forth and if the guy talks all around I said

then perhaps he would let him become a disciple and eventually when he died they would go and be rabbi all into cycles would go and be rabbi's honor Jesus picks the guy we just didn't even raise a hand this is why most people think Levi goes because he's opportunistic and like holy cow's God I've gone down to a long time ago and I think I can be rabbi I'll take that so he does opportunity to get that

okay you went out of his seat and as he passed by Levi's son of office he attached to his seat and he followed me and he rose in thousand verse 15 and as he reclined at table in his house that Levi's house which will become one of you many pastors and sinners were reclining with Jesus and his disciples for their remain resolved and I remember that I looked at stuff one time remember the story about the woman who breaks the jar of all about your feet in the

whole room and I remember I was trying to figure out how that lady get in there one time because it didn't seem like anybody wanted her there and I was trying to figure out how that lady get in there and there is a custom in homes in this time period where the wealthier folks would have like courtyard area in their house open I'll get this all the way but like where people could come and stand around the outside of the table but the people who were invited were

reclining at the table they didn't have chairs no they kind of laid their feet to be out and they would be feeding and talking together but other folks would make their way kind of around the outside in the court right here and so Jesus walking by the cultural people called Levi Levi's opera Christmassy has made it to me and then it's like let's have a party I can't believe I get to be a disciple I don't know how well I do things but let me have any

advice of people over and celebrate I'm about to leave my life here and go follow you like kick it off these are scopes and hang out with Levi on his buddy and everybody can see it small town Levi's got a nice place I know like Jesus is not the table and you know it's an intimate thing you're you're eating out of table where everyone can see and you kind of lay down and then you eat anything

with your hands it's kind of old to eat out of table it's like a real commitment it's a demonstration of the relationship and they're looking at Jesus right people that was eating this they call him tax records and sinners right and every time it is that is table many tax factors and things will recall the Jesus and his disciples for there were many who followed him tax structures and sinners is a

formal category not a hot one specific thing people who are not doing the sacrifices that I will take pictures current folks like Levi and then sinners people who are not truth being the rules and they know they don't keep the rules because it's a small town and they can see you know there's like 600 something laws of course it's like to them from breaking the laws that are in the Torah this is pretty high regulated life and the people who turn

their nose up at the rules are very obvious everyone and those are the ones who are at the table with Jesus and the disciples and everybody knows it's there and Mark says not only were there their past lectures and sinners at the table a lot of past lectures and sinners were the ones following Jesus around this is like you can't exactly overlay church today on to temple then and spin

guys then you almost can like religion that religion got to the into religion reality in each culture right and it's really conspicuous that the ones who observe who Jesus is and the opportunity available to them in the person of Jesus

the ones on the outside of the church the ones not keeping the religion we'll get back to that but let's keep going and the tribes in the Pharisees when they saw what he was eating the things and talked like we said to his disciples why did he eat with the collectors and the sinners they don't know

they're like this guy wants to be a rabbi we don't exactly know where he's coming from he thinks he can forgive people we're in part of this mission as an idiot only the guy picked up his mountain walk and we know he wasn't walking before something is going on but clearly his powers don't extend to the ability to know who is sitting back here because why would he sit next to these children why do we sit next to these people who don't get it who breaks the

rules who don't think that I mean how about this and sinners they also like to be because they do not know not because they're trying to be cute or coy but they're like this guy did no way to this guy to be who he wants to be and sit next to these people what he should be doing is pointing them out and including himself from them so that he will be end up like them a task lecture and a sinner why did he do the task lectures and sinners and when Jesus heard

it he said to them those who are well have no need of a position but those who are sick I came not to call the righteous but I remember a lesson I learned very early I graduated from summer in 2008 which every year gets longer ago and it's very

rare for our son there as a nomination to do this but they sent me to work with my dad and I remember early on I was asking in my first year of ministry we have something going on in the church among some of the people we work at the same church for a little while I said I don't think you can let that happen I think I think you've got a room there and tell that people what's up and I

mean I wasn't exactly like that but that's about what I said and I remember we were sitting in the car going right across just we're going to get us to my house and I just got to ask you what's the happening isn't that our job like where is part of this community I was supposed to tell those people what's up and he looked at me I feel like he kind of tried but he was probably more gracious than them he looked at me like hey it is not my job to be the simple least of the

words once I shut down that road I'll never stop I feel like Jesus is hanging out with these people who get it and don't get it they're all just missing they get Jesus hard pieces of what they desperately we could stack up what it might be Jesus had acceptance when they've never felt fully accepted he had loved a knife to love them exactly where they all he has

perfect enough to animate and support the weight of their lives to give them something to live for and a direction to go they're opportunistic and they realize that Jesus has something of what they need to get it and also they're still running for love and acceptance and purpose and power in places where they'll never come in they get it and they don't get it Jesus is hanging out with them and these people can only see the way they're doing the rules they

probably forgot what the rules were for in the court and just see the rules on these guys that break in the rules and Jesus is like look it's not my job to be the simple least in the world I think you just demonstrate that over and over again I think he is his perfectly common with the religious establishment wondering whether he cares about him at all I think

he definitely does I think he's a busy life to resolve the problems of our deep-seated arrogance and confidence that we know better than them I think I think he cares deeply about him I don't think he cares about whether the religious establishment knows where he's not alive I think it's very okay being misunderstood about the punishment for things he is not okay ever being

understood by his commitment to love those who are broken and fall short he demonstrates love to them publicly and privately over and over again to the confounding amazement of the religious establishment Jesus they say what do we do we he doesn't even know who is sitting next to and he's like I'm even look I came for the for the sick and not the well

when when Matthew tells this story he quotes this prophet Jesus quotes this prophet Matthew tells the story and he he throws the religious leaders a little bit of a bone to figure out what he's doing in Matthew's gospel Matthew's there remember this is our house and when Matthew writes down the story for us he can give one little line to this says he says look at what this means I was

out of mercy and not sacrificed in Jesus this is what Rabbi this how they text people because remember Rabbi to have the whole Bible memorized the Old Testament the Torah the history the writings of wisdom literature the major prophets the minor prophets the old thing and so when they would when they would text people they would quote one line of text and then in order to pass the text you know the line before it or the line after it and then ask the follow

question that proves you knew those things as those people said look at what this means I desire mercy that fact and quote I say it's chapter six verse six I didn't know that I would say but there's cross entrance notes where I can find you so I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry

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