Mark 2:13-17, Jesus Calls Levi

13 He went out again beside the sea, and all the crowd was coming to him, and he was teaching them. [Jesus is fully engaged in open-air preaching around the shoreline of the Sea of Galilee, drawing sizable crowds to himself.] 14 And as he passed by, he saw Levi the son of Alphaeus [called Matthew in Mt 9:9] sitting at the tax booth, and he said to him, “Follow me.” And he rose and followed him. [As a tax collector, Levi worked for the Roman overlords, making him as much an outcast of orthodox Jewish society as a leper. As Jesus had healed a leper and brought him back into accepted society (1:40), now he “heals” Levi, making him a disciple, a most unlikely choice, and later an apostle. But then God had done the same with his namesake ancestor. You can read about this in Dt. 33:8-11.]

15 And as he reclined at table in his house, many tax collectors and sinners were reclining with Jesus and his disciples, for there were many who followed him. 16 And the scribes of the Pharisees, when they saw that he was eating with sinners and tax collectors, said to his disciples, “Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?” 17 And when Jesus heard it, he said to them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.” [Apparently this meal at Levi’s home was not an isolated incident but one Mark chose to include. Since Jesus did not condone sin, are the scribes right is asking about Jesus’ association with sinners? When “sinners” like Levi came into a relationship with Jesus, they repented and changed their ways. They were new people who then dined with Jesus as part of a new, reformed community. Jesus’ mission was clearly directed at the sinful. Without a sense of needing forgiveness, people could not and would not come to Jesus for healing.]