“CALLING ALL SINNERS”

Text: Mark 2: 13-17 Esv

13 He went out again beside the sea, and all the crowd was coming to him, and he was teaching them. 14 And as he passed by, he saw Levi the son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax booth, and he said to him, "Follow me." And he rose and followed him. 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."   †

1. LIFE WITH THE SELL-OUTS

After healing the paralytic, leaving everyone amazed, Jesus and his disciples make their way along the lake. As they are going, they pass by a tax booth, where a Jew named Levi (also known as Matthew) was collecting taxes—taking money from already poor Jews and giving it to their Roman oppressors.

Tax Collectors

Jews of Jesus’ day despised tax collectors. They saw them as collaborators. Think of Vichy France and the puppet government established by the Germans in France—these French leaders completely compromised with the Nazis. They may have been French on the outside, but inside they were Nazi collaborators.

Tax collectors were like this. They took the wealth of the already occupied Jews and gave the money to Rome. In exchange, they were allowed to overcharge and pocket the difference. They were sell-outs.

At some point, Levi made a conscious decision to depart Jewish integrity. He sold out the interests of his people for money. He may not have cared much for the company of scribes and Pharisees anyway, and may have taken comfort in having friends in low places. We can say that he—like other tax collectors—had  turned from the religious community in order to be a part of a community of acceptance. 

Jesus calls Levi, Follow me!, and immediately Levi gets up and follows. Again, the calling from Christ goes out and the response to his call is like iron filings drawn to a monster magnet.

Next, the text tells us that they were reclining at Levi’s house and that there were tax collectors, sinners, and good number of Jesus’ followers there. Evidently, Levi found tax collecting rather lucrative, for this must have been a large house indeed if so many people could recline and dine there at once.

Sinners

The “sinners” were less likely the amalgam of prostitutes, thieves and drunkards of the popular imagination (I’m thinking of 1960s Sunday School curricula) and more likely Jews who were less than totally observant. We would call them lapsed believers. They were still Jewish, but they may have lapsed in theirs temple tithes and therefore been disqualified from the temple system. In turn, the religious Jews considered them false—barely Jews at all. They were sinners—outside of God’s favor and mercy.

The Pharisees

The Pharisees were of two, basic schools: the school of Shammai and the school of Hillel. The Shammaiites were the ultra-orthodox Jews, and these are the ones with whom Jesus usually met conflict. They were strict and unyielding in their approach to righteousness. They believed it was “work” to heal on the Sabbath, and that Jews were the solely-favored ethnicity, and therefore Gentiles should not convert to Judaism. The school of Hillel was a bit more liberal, in the old sense of the word. They believed that Gentiles who turned away from idols and sought to worship the one, true God should be converted to Judaism. The Greek-named Jews of the New Testament were most likely Hillelites. They viewed healing as a good work, and therefore permitted healings on the Sabbath. It is not unlikely that Jesus was more closely associated with the school of Hillel than Shammai. He had Pharisee friends and followers—Nicodemus, with whom he ate, was likely of the Hillel school, as was Saul, who persecuted Christians before he became Paul—but the Hillel school was less hostile toward Jesus.

In our text the Pharisees say to the disciples, “Why does your rabbi eat with tax collectors and sinners?” This places them in the Shammai school, who believed that eating with Gentiles or even entering their doorway made one ritually unclean. They were clearly outside, for they would not have gone into a tax collector’s home, let alone sat at his table. They confront  the Disciples, but Jesus overhears and gives his strange and wonderful word:

  “Healthy people have no need of a doctor—only the sick. I did not come to call the righteous ones, but the sinners.”

Upside Down

Every jaw would have dropped. This would have turned their world upside down. Rabbis were all interested in righteousness and obedience to the Law of Moses—how could any rabbi dare to say that he came not to call the righteous, but to call sinners? Jesus is calling the very ones everyone expected God to not favor—the ones God seemed most likely to reject.

And yes, this is good news for us: Jesus calls sinners. Hooray, that includes me! The good news here is that God’s calling is the central agent of our salvation, not our righteousness. Neither our goodness nor our rottenness can separate us from God’s calling. He is the magnet; we are the iron filings, and we get pulled in, just like Levi the tax collector.

2. CALLING ALL SINNERS

So to what does Jesus call the sinners? To a nonstop, clear-conscience continuance in their love of sin? Of course not. All sinners are called to follow, and once we do, everything, everything, everything changes.

Jesus’ continuing mission is the same: he calls sinners to repentance, but first he calls them into relationship with himself. Here we see the central agenda of Christ’s Church: to call sinners into relationship with Christ, to repent of sin and to follow him our entire lives. We too should be vigilant in seeking the lost—the sinners—proclaiming to them the favor of God and helping them to find their way into relationship with him and the whole body of believers, the Church.

Given that Jesus calls sinners—not the righteous—how should that change the way we do church? What model should we adopt for the life and mission of First Presbyterian Church of Upland. Here are a few options:

1. The Country Club

This is the Jesus-themed social gathering—the Christian Club—a place where believers can gather apart from the pressures and onslaught of a fallen world, a place where we are comfortable because everyone else here is a believer. We are among our own kind and have a safe space where we feel we truly belong. Sounds pretty good, doesn’t it?  It’s probably the most popular congregational model for Presbyterians.

2. A Hospital for Sinners

This model envisions the church as a life-saving station or rehabilitation house. This kind of church has big, emergency room doors and is comfortable with messes, blood and lots of first aid patients.

3. A Hospital for Saints

This model offers another hospital, but one reserved for members. Their motto: “We care about our members!” Something is certainly missing when we care only for our own. Remember what Jesus says about those who love only those who love them back.

4. A Huddle for God’s Workers

This church is the place we gather to equip ourselves for our real work, which is out there in the world. We gather, shake off the burdens of the past week, fill up on Word and Spirit, and charge back onto the field for another go at our share in Christ’s ministry. Preparation, training, and mid-game corrections mean everything for this model.

5. A School for Christian Maturity

This kind of church builds up its members, equipping them to grow into the image of Christ. No matter how long we are in this world we remain incomplete and need to be trained and equipped for the works God puts before us.

What model makes sense for us? Perhaps “for us” is not the issue, but we should rather ask What model makes sense for those we are sent to reach?

THE UN-LAPSING OF AMERICA

America has always had flaws, but it is not flawed for its faith in God. Cultural heretics of the airwaves seek to pin oppression, racism, sexism and homophobia onto the Church as if to say that these are the true fruits of Christianity. We know that these are common sins as ancient as humanity itself and equally prevalent in atheist or pagan cultures. Perhaps America, like Levi, has lapsed a bit.

21st century America is increasingly unchurched. The way church is done has changed. We are part of a competitive, consumer-economy worship market where congregations compete against one another to draw the numbers and boost the metrics. As a result, denominational identity has become largely irrelevant. Churches seeking numerical success tend to become so welcoming and user-friendly that historical distinctiveness is rendered irrelevant, even unworthy of preservation.

Who cares what’s Presbyterian, Methodist or Lutheran in a market where any number of churches undergo constant shape-shifting in order to help you—as Burger King used to say—have it your way. We are in new territory for the Church—more than just another swing of the historical pendulum— we are truly navigating unchartered waters and the old maps will not work.

We are explorers on a journey, which begins for anyone when the voice of Jesus is heard calling, Follow! Follow me! Do you hear him calling? Is Jesus your monster magnet and are you being drawn? Will you follow and join us on the journey?

We’re Presbyterians here, but we are not selling a Presbyterian brand. We are all about Jesus, and our hope and purpose is that the call to faith would go out to every person. We are like a hand passing a monster magnet over the iron filings of this world, seeing who will be drawn.

We offer what we ourselves have and give it away freely. We are on a journey of following Jesus, living our lives in relationship with him, growing in his spirit and grace, and sharing him with everyone.

We too our selling out, but not to our own interests. We are selling out to Jesus. All we have, all we are and all we hope to become—we repent and surrender all to the one, true Lord. 

Won’t you join us on our journey?

   †