Sermon Tone Analysis

Welcome—thank you for joining us.

We are continuing our sermon series in the Gospel of Mark.

And if you’re aware of the story so far, you’ll know that Mark’s big idea is that Jesus is the King.

And in Jesus, the Kingdom of God has come, because in Jesus, God’s King has come.

And Mark immediately backs that claim up by showing us what Jesus does—because a real King has authority, and so we have seen Jesus displaying his authority.

Jesus has demonstrated his authority over people by calling disciples to follow him; he has demonstrated his authority over sickness by healing people; he has demonstrated his authority over demons by exorcising them; he has demonstrated his authority to restoring the ritually unclean by cleansing the leper, and he has even demonstrated that he has the authority to forgive sins.

He is, indeed, a King like no other: He is God’s King, and in our passage today we see that he brings in a new Kingdom.

But this new kingdom, as we’ll see, was not something that was welcomed by the religious leaders, and so the sub-theme of the passage is that this new kingdom is opposed.

So let’s dive in.

Firstly, we see that Jesus has come to inaugurate a new kingdom.

A New Kingdom

A Kingdom of mercy (2.13-17)

Read v 14.

Now, we miss the scandal of this passage if we forgot who tax collectors were.

In SA, we rightly have a positive view of the tax revenue services, because taxes are used to help the poor and pay for essential services.

But tax collectors in the first century were loathed, and Jewish tax collectors would have been particularly loathed.

Now, tax collectors generally were hated because tax collectors made a profit directly linked to how much they could squeeze out of their constituents.

Here’s Levi’s business model: as a tax collector in a particular locale, Levi would have made a bid in advance to collect taxes in that area.

His profit came from the difference between the bid he paid to the Romans and the money he collected (much of which would have come from fellow Jews).

So Levi’s business model incentivised him to overcharge in order to maximize profits; tax collectors were generally loathed, then, for their greed and dishonesty.

But in addition to that, what would have made Levi particularly loathsome to other Jews was the fact that he was a sell-out to the imperial power.

And not only was Levi ripping off his own people, but he was doing so in order to enrich the colonizing Roman Empire.

Levi would have been hated.

Absolutely hated by other Jews, especially Torah-observant Jews.

In fact, early Jewish literature reveals that Jewish tax collectors were disqualified as witnesses in court, they were expelled from synagogues, and they were a cause of disgrace to their families.

Additionally, if a tax collector touched your house, the house was considered unclean.

If a tax collector gave alms, receiving money from a tax collector was considered robbery!

So Levi was hated, despised, and considered unclean.

In fact, Levi would have been worse than a leper because leprosy was not chosen, but Levi voluntarily became a tax collector.

So if you think that Jesus cleansing the leper raised eyebrows, then this escalated things further.

But it gets worse because, as you saw, Levi isn’t the only sinner that Jesus is having a dinner party with.

Read verse 15. “Many”!

The offense metastasizes because what we learn here is that the call of a sinner is not an exception in Jesus’ ministry.

It is typical of his ministry.

Jesus is having a party with immoral reprobates and spiritual neophytes; Jesus has chosen to hang out with people that are totally unworthy!

It’s like Alex Ferguson coming to Cape Town, coming to Jubilee, walking past Stephen’s door, and inviting me out for lunch.

I am completely unworthy!

More than that, it causes offense to those who are ‘worthy’!

And the language in verse 15 indicates that Jesus was reclining at Levi’s house, a posture that indicates solidarity with those present.

He is not standing stiffly in the corner—he’s on the couch, passing around the chips and listening to people’s stories.

Jesus identifies with alienated and sinful people.

He has come to connect with the rebels, the failures, the down-and-outs.

And this would have been absolutely galling to the religious leaders, because the Jewish dietary laws were designed to exclude contact with Gentiles and sinners, but Jesus deliberately violating those boundaries.

Jesus is sending out an open invite.

And his disregard for this Jewish boundary marker provokes the rage of the religious leaders.

Take a look at v 16 (read).

Read v 16.

So this illustrates the truth of 2:1–12: there Jesus pronounced forgiveness of sins, here he forgives sinners, entering their houses in fellowship and reclining with them at table.

The purpose of forgiveness is relationship.

This is radical grace, scandalous mercy, and it is summed up in a beautiful statement, verse 17: “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick.

I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”

Because Jesus’ mission is a mission of mercy, a mission of grace, it as as senseless for Jesus to shun sinners as it would be for a doctor to shun sick people.

Jesus has come for sinners, because His new Kingdom is a Kingdom of mercy.

James R. Edwards, The Gospel according to Mark, The Pillar New Testament Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI; Leicester, England: Eerdmans; Apollos, 2002), 85.

Question: how do you experience Jesus?

Is he someone that annoys you, or is he someone that you connect with?

Do you see him as the physician you need for healing?

If you are sick with sin, he is your doctor.

You may feel spiritually disqualified, you may feel enveloped by guilt and shame—but just as a doctor wouldn’t turn away a sick patient, Jesus won’t turn you away.

You can come to him.

Now, I especially want to encourage anyone here feeling burdened by guilt and shame: sometimes, when we are overwhelmed with our sin, we can withdraw from Jesus.

But think about what He is saying to us here.

When does someone need their doctor the most?

When they are at their worst.

When a person is at their sickest, they need their doctor the most.

So when you are soaked in sin and shame, please don’t withdraw from your spiritual physician.

He has the medicine that our sin-sick souls need.

His Kingdom is a kingdom of mercy.

A Kingdom of joy (2.18-22)

Read v 18.

So a comparison is being made to two other movements, John’s disciples and disciples of the Pharisees.

Now Pharisaism was a lay movement of about 6000 people in the first century (about 1% of the total population).

There were other groups in Jerusalem at the time, but the Pharisees were the most influential and had a reputation for orthodoxy.

They were ‘purists’ or spiritual elites, whose view of Judaism essentially set the standard.

Anyway, these two groups are fasting: which was a sign of humility and sadness.

The OT law only required fasting once a year, but the Pharisees emphasized fasting; it was a way of saying, “we’re sorry for our sins, we’re sad, God please draw near to us.”

It emphasized sadness and God’s distance.

And they’re wondering why Jesus’ disciples aren’t doing that.

And Jesus’ answer is that this isn’t a time to be sad—it’s a time to be happy.

This isn’t a funeral, it’s a wedding!

Read verse 19.

You don’t fast at a wedding, you eat and drink!

This is not a time to be sad, it’s a time to be happy!

Like Levi and his sinner friends, it’s a time to hunker down and enjoy the feast.

Because the doctor is in; because the bridegroom is here.

And to think that this is an appropriate time to fast is to be emotionally out of touch with spiritual reality.

Now I wonder if you can relate to that experience—of feeling something that didn’t match the occasion.

Have you ever felt really happy at a time when your joyful exuberance was out of place?

I do!

I remember being in a doctors waiting room, which was a sobering context, when my cellphone rang with the tune “I feel good!”

It was inappropriate, it was emotionally out of touch.

And the religious folks are not able to sync emotionally because they don’t know that Jesus is the bridegroom.

Well, what does that mean?

The prophets foretold that God would come back one day to marry his people.

And as a bridegroom comes to marry his bride, so God would one day come to marry his people.

And so by claiming to be the bridegroom, Jesus is claiming to be God.

Jesus has come to marry His people, and so it is a time to rejoice.

A wedding celebration in a Jewish village normally lasted seven days

Weddings

Now, weddings today are a lot of fun and are very joyous affairs.