Sermon Tone Analysis

*SERMON TITLE:**    *On kissing frogs

 

*SCRIPTURE: *  Mark 2:13-22  

13Jesus went out again beside the sea; the whole crowd gathered around him, and he taught them.

14As he was walking along, he saw Levi son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax booth, and he said to him, "Follow me."

And he got up and followed him.

15And as he sat at dinner in Levi's house, many tax collectors and sinners were also sitting with Jesus and his disciples—for there were many who followed him.

16When the scribes of the Pharisees saw that he was eating with sinners and tax collectors, they said to his disciples, "Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?" 17When Jesus heard this, he said to them, "Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick; I have come to call not the righteous but sinners."

18Now John's disciples and the Pharisees were fasting; and people came and said to him, "Why do John's disciples and the disciples of the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast?"

19Jesus said to them, "The wedding guests cannot fast while the bridegroom is with them, can they?

As long as they have the bridegroom with them, they cannot fast.

20The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast on that day.

21"No one sews a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old cloak; otherwise, the patch pulls away from it, the new from the old, and a worse tear is made.

22And no one puts new wine into old wineskins; otherwise, the wine will burst the skins, and the wine is lost, and so are the skins; but one puts new wine into fresh wineskins."

*A SERMON APPROACH:     *

It was a scandal!

Jesus saw Levi son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax booth, and he said to him, "Follow me." 

—It wasn't as if Jesus needed more disciples.

People were coming from everywhere to hear him.

—It wasn't as if Levi had asked forgiveness.

Levi had not taken the long walk down the sawdust trail.

Our Gospel lesson offers no suggestion that Levi had a dramatic change of heart.

Levi did not take the initiative—Jesus did!  Levi was sitting at his tax booth doing what he had always done when Jesus said, "Follow me." 

—It was almost as if Jesus had gone out of his way to provoke the decent citizenry by inviting this money-grubbing, traitorous tax collector to become his disciple.

Jesus then compounded the affront by eating dinner with a whole group of tax collectors and sinners.

Keeping company with such people gave everyone the wrong impression.

It made it seem that Jesus approved of their behavior.

It set a bad example for young people.

Can't you imagine a young person, seeing Jesus with people like this, deciding that he or she would seek out the company of sinners as well.

After all, Jesus was gaining quite a reputation as a religious man.

If he was associating with sinners, it must be all right.

Besides that, young people like a little adventure.

They enjoy tweaking their parents' noses.

What could dad or mom say—if Jesus was doing it!

And it was a slap in the face of the good citizenry.

There were many people who tried to do the right thing.

The scribes spent their lives studying God's law and teaching it.

The Pharisees were scrupulous in their observance of God's law.

Many other people, common as they might seem, formed the backbone of their synagogues and kept things on the right track in their communities.

Why couldn't Jesus have chosen to spend the evening with these people—instead of tax collectors—and sinners.

The Pharisees were saddened to see a man with Jesus' talent squandering his promise on people like this—tax collectors and sinners.

They asked Jesus' disciples, "Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?"

Why indeed!

The Pharisees would not have made that mistake, and could not understand why Jesus did.

Jesus overheard their question, and he answered them.

He said,

"Those who are well have no need of a physician, \\ but those who are sick; \\ I have come to call not the righteous but sinners."

That sounds good, but we would like something more.

Let us hear how Levi, overwhelmed by Jesus' kindness, turned his life around.

Let us have some confirmation that Jesus had actually accomplished something here.

Couldn't Mark have told us that Levi had been inspired to return his dishonest money!

Couldn't he have told us about Levi turning his back on his tax booth and becoming a poor but honest disciple!

But Mark does not confirm that Jesus had done a good thing here.

He says only that Levi got up and followed Jesus.

End of story!

Some people fill in the blanks by going to the Gospel of Matthew and reading the story of Matthew's conversion.

Matthew was a tax collector too!  Surely Levi and Matthew were one and the same.

But we don't know that for sure.

No!

Mark tells the story very sparingly—very plainly.

He never mentions Levi's name again.

He does not include Levi in his listing of the Twelve.

Perhaps his reason was that he was not telling us Levi's story.

He was telling us Jesus' story!

Levi was really a bit player.

Mark's focus was on Jesus—the one who took the initiative to call Levi—the one who ate dinner with tax collectors and sinners—the one who gave a sharp answer when challenged by the Pharisees.

Yes, this was Jesus' story—not Levi's story.

The point of the story was that Jesus had come to call sinners, and not the righteous.

He had come as the Great Physician to bring healing to those who needed him.

Everyone needed him, of course, but some people couldn't see that.

The Pharisees didn't think that they needed the Great Physician.

They weren't sick!

They were doing just fine, thank you very much!

They were not really doing just fine, of course.

They were sick too, but they were not just about to admit that.

They were not just about to walk into the doctor's office.

They were like the five year old who says, "I can do it myself!"

So Jesus couldn't help them!

So Jesus came to those whom he could help—those who would receive him—those who knew that they needed the Great Physician!

The early church—the church of Mark's day—the church that was in existence when this Gospel was written—the early church would have found this story delightful.

People criticized the early church.

The early church took in all kinds of people, including people who were not welcome in any other polite company.

Celsus was a critic of the early church.

He sneered at "the ragtag and bobtail" that made up the church's membership.

Who would want to be a member of such an unsavory church?

But Origen, one of the great early Christians, answered Celsus.

He said, "Yes, but Christ does not leave them ragtag and bobtail.

He transforms them by his presence."

And so he does.

We do not know what happened to Levi, but we do know that he was touched by the Master.

It is hard to imagine that he walked away from that incident unaffected.

The church today carries on Christ's ministry to the ragtag and bobtail.

Christ blesses that kind of ministry too!

If you were to look at the various denominations today, you would find that some are declining and some are growing.

Those that are growing tend to be those which have a strong ministry to the ragtag and bobtail.

They reach out to people whom nobody else wants to touch.

They put their arms around the unwashed and love them.

Then they wash them in the baptismal waters and invite them to the table.

It is not usually that simple.

There are lots of disappointments along the way.

It is not a very pleasant ministry, but it is a blessed ministry.