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HIGHLIGHT: Mark 2:13-17

13Jesus went out again beside the sea. The whole crowd was coming to him, and he was teaching them. 14 Then, passing by, he saw Levi the son of Alphaeus sitting at the toll booth, and he said to him, “Follow me,” and he got up and followed him.

15 While he was reclining at the table in Levi’s house, many tax collectors and sinners were eating with Jesus and his disciples, for there were many who were following him. 16 When the scribes who were Pharisees saw that he was eating with sinners and tax collectors, they asked his disciples, “Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?”

17 When Jesus heard this, he told them, “It is not those who are well who need a doctor, but those who are sick. I didn’t come to call the righteous, but sinners.”

EXPLAIN

Leaders: Feel free to use any of the “Explain” materials to guide discussion as it is needed or to expound on a certain area of the text as it comes up during your Life Group time, but the purpose of this section is to deepen your own personal understanding of the Word. Your members have access to all of this material as well.

In this passage, we see a clash between the religious elites and a group of “sinners,” who at the very least have little concern for the Law or religious things. They may have even been downright scoundrels—the types of people even average citizens (not just Pharisees) would have looked down on. As Jesus has a meal with these people, He reveals the distinction between His goal and the Pharisees’: they sought to uphold even the ridiculous boundaries they had set on the law; Jesus came to save sinners.

v.13 Most agree that this passage is directly connected with the passage before it, in which Jesus announced His ability to forgive sins, both chronologically and thematically. He had just healed a paralytic and had thoroughly grabbed the attention of those who saw it, so He took the opportunity to teach them. Here, we’re going to see Him call a notorious sinner in need of salvation. Matthew 9:9 says that Levi was also called Matthew.

v.14 Accepting Jesus’ call meant that Matthew had to entirely forsake everything he had. A fisherman could easily return to fishing if he decided to stop following Jesus; a tax collector had no chance to go back to his way of life. Matthew’s acceptance of the call to follow Christ

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meant that he entirely forsook his way of life and placed all of his trust in Jesus’ ministry. He held a party to celebrate his new direction—and probably wanted his friends to meet this man who would change his life.

v.15 Here we learn that “tax collectors and sinners” were “reclining at the table” and “eating with Jesus and his disciples.” It looks innocuous to us reading it today, but it is difficult to understate just how offensive this would’ve been to the religious elite looking on.

A tax collector was, to the Israelites, a turncoat. They were usually Jewish people who had gone to work for Caesar. Caesar taxed the citizens under his rule heavily—taxes on income, taxes for using roads, taxes for simply being alive in some cases. These tax collectors had a certain amount they had to collect based on how many people were in the region, but got to pocket anything above that amount that they collected. Therefore, many became corrupt, getting rich off of the extortion of their fellow citizens.

It was so bad that the Mishnah even had rules about how to deal with these citizens. If you are receiving alms, for example, you couldn’t receive it from a tax collector, since it was likely dirty money. If a tax collector entered your house, everything in it was presumed to be instantly unclean. Most rabbis even permitted lying to tax collectors. It is hard to exaggerate just how loathed tax collectors were in that society. Even if individual ones were not so bad, they allowed themselves to be associated with people of that stripe.

And these people were reclining at the table with Jesus. Remember, in first century Jerusalem, people ate lying on one side on a cushion with a low table in the middle of them. But sharing a meal with someone in that context implied something greater in the Hebrew culture. If you ate with someone, you demonstrated your full acceptance of them. You understand who they are, and you cast your reputation into the same pot theirs is in. The religious leaders saw this self-professed rabbi who’d been causing a stir around the area willingly associating himself with the foremost enemies of the state of Israel—the sorts of people even non-religious people would’ve considered despicable.

One of the most remarkable things about our Savior is how He was increasingly popular with those the religious establishment treated with contempt. People who were cast out and directly opposed by the holy men were welcome guests at the table of the King of Kings.

v.16 We cast Pharisees in a bad light most of the time, but the truth is that most of them were probably pious and godly men. Some, however, were better described as jealous, hypocritical, and dedicated more to formalism than ministry. Jesus never once criticized a Pharisee for his piety or his desire to be pure; He did, however, have things to say about saying one thing and doing another, elevating traditions above God’s laws, and obsession with judging externals over judging the heart.

v.17 This is likely Jesus’ most profound statement recorded in Scripture. The first half borrows from a popular maxim: “Only the sick need a doctor.” But Jesus’ aim is not mere physical healing—remember, this is connected with the section before, in which He announced His ability to forgive sins. Therefore, Jesus is saying of the salvation He offers that it is only for those who recognize that they need it. The self-righteous who don’t recognize their need for a savior won’t receive the salvation that He provides.

A.M. Hunter wrote on the uniqueness of Christianity as it is revealed in this verse: “It would be true to say that this word of Jesus strikes the keynote of the Gospel. The new thing in Christianity is not the doctrine that God saves sinners. No Jew would have denied that. It is the assertion that God loves and saves them as sinners… this is the authentic and glorious doctrine of true Christianity in any age.”

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A APPLY Your Leader Guide will have material that the member guides do not have. The bolded material is what the people in your group will have, the other material is only for you to help guide discussion.

This guide can be as strict a script or as general a resource as the leader needs it to be.

1. What stuck out to you or challenged you in what you heard in the sermon or read in the text?

2. When is a time you’ve felt left out, looked down on, or harshly judged before? How did that affect you? How did it make you feel about the people (or group) doing that to you?

3. Why do you think the Pharisees were so bothered by what Jesus was doing in these verses? Who are some people or groups that tend to be overlooked by or have a rocky relationship with “religious” people today?

The Pharisees were incensed that Jesus would stoop the level of these people who were openly hostile to the people and things of God. He was a Rabbi, after all—He should know better than to associate Himself, and join His reputation with, these kinds of people! But Jesus was not concerned with His reputation; He was carrying out the work of His Father. He saw them not as outcasts or turncoats, but as people who were just as in need of a Savior as the Levites working in the temple.

It is admittedly easy to fall into the same line of thinking as the Pharisees. We live in divisive times, when it feels like everyone has an agenda and anything we say throws us into one group or another. But this is not a Kingdom view of the people around us. They may look, behave, speak, and think differently than what we consider proper or moral or right, but that does not make them less in need of the Savior we have found—or less worthy of the love He gives.

4. What is the difference between accepting someone as they are (“reclining with” them) and approving of what they do? Why is it comforting to remember that it is not our job to change someone’s heart or actions—it’s just our job to model Jesus for them?

We don’t know exactly what Jesus said to them, but it’s worth mentioning that these people felt comfortable enough around Jesus to eat with Him. Here was a rabbi who wasn’t just unafraid of being around them, He actually welcomed contact with them. He sought these people out because they were no less important to Him than the people in the Synagogues. If we live with a Kingdom view—that we are citizens of heaven, not citizens of the world—the people around us become our focus, regardless of what they are doing. Jesus didn’t have to become a tax collector to show them that He valued them and that they were welcome in His presence. They didn’t have to hide who they were because Jesus sought them out as sinners, knowing full well who they were.

He has done the same to you. He sought you out at your darkest knowing full well you didn’t measure up to His standard—knowing you never would. He became like one of us so that He could show us the way to become more like Him.

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R RESPOND Take a few moments to respond:

• Plan a day with your life group to serve someone in your neighborhood this week in a way they could not repay you for.

Encourage one another through email, text messages, or coffee dates throughout the week to build up and encourage each other.

5. Describe your circles of influence: your family—>friends—>neighbors—> acquaintances. What do these people look like? How do they act? How can you model Jesus best as you live your life among them?

Who are the people you feel comfortable around? Who are the people that feel comfortable around you? Evaluate the different places where you have influence, where you spend most of your time, and discuss ways that you can use those places to model the love of Christ for those around you.