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Scripture Reading: Mark 2:13-17
In the foregoing message we pointed out that in Mark 2:1-28; 3:1-6 five incidents are recorded to show how the Slave-Savior as the Slave of God carried out His gospel service to care for the need of fallen people: forgiving the sins of the sick (Mark 2:1-12), feasting with sinners (Mark 2:13-17), causing His followers to be merry without fasting (Mark 2:18-22), caring for His followers’ hunger rather than for religion’s regulation (Mark 2:23-28), and caring for the relief of the suffering one rather than for the ritual of religion (Mark 3:1-6). We have already considered the first incident, that of forgiving the sins of the sick. In this message we shall go on to consider the incident of the Lord’s feasting with sinners.
Mark 2:13 says, “And He went out again beside the sea; and all the crowd came to Him, and He taught them.” We have seen that the Slave-Savior, as the light of the world (John 8:12; 9:5), came to Galilee, the land of darkness, where people were sitting in the shadow of death, and that He came as a great light to shine upon them (Matt. 4:12-16). His teaching released the word of light to enlighten those in the darkness of death so that they might receive the light of life (John 1:4) and be brought out of satanic darkness into the divine light (Acts 26:18).
Verse 14 says, “And passing by, He saw Levi the son of Alpheus, sitting at the tax office, and He says to him, Follow Me! And rising up, he followed Him.” The tax office was a toll house, where tax was collected for the Roman government. Levi, also known as Matthew, was one of the tax collectors, probably one in a high position (Matt. 10:3). The tax collectors were condemned, despised, and abhorred by the Jews (Luke 18:11; Matt. 5:46). Most of these tax collectors abused their office by demanding more than they should by false accusation (Luke 3:12-13; 19:2, 8). To pay taxes to the Roman government was very bitter to the Jews. Those engaged in collecting these taxes were despised by the people and counted unworthy of any respect (Luke 18:9-10). Hence, they were classed with sinners (Mark 2:16). Even though Matthew was a tax collector, he was called by the Slave-Savior and later chosen and appointed as one of the twelve apostles (3:18). What mercy!
The record of the calling of Matthew is very simple. He was a tax collector, one who was considered a traitor by the Jews because he helped the Roman imperialists. In the New Testament these tax collectors were classified with prostitutes. Nevertheless, such a person as Matthew was called by the Slave-Savior. The Lord simply said to him, “Follow Me!” We are told that Matthew rose and followed Him. According to the record here, it seems that this was the first time the Lord met Matthew. There must have been some attracting power with the Lord, either in His word or appearance, that caused Matthew to follow Him.
To follow the Lord includes believing in Him. No one follows Him unless he believes in Him. To believe in the Lord is to be saved (Acts 16:31), and to follow Him is to enter the narrow gate and walk the constricted way (Matt. 7:13-14).
This is not the first case recorded in the Gospel of Mark of the Lord calling people to follow Him. In 1:16 He saw Simon and Andrew casting a net into the sea. Then He said to them, “Come after Me, and I will make you become fishers of men. And immediately, leaving the nets, they followed Him” (vv. 17-18). Soon afterward, the Lord called James the son of Zebedee and John his brother, who were in a boat mending nets (v. 19). When He called them, they left their father with the hired servants and followed Him (v. 20). We have a similar situation in chapter two. The Lord saw Levi, or Matthew, at the tax office and told him to follow Him, and Matthew simply rose up and followed Him. His action as an answer to the Slave-Savior’s call implies his abandoning his unclean job and sinful life.
Verse 15 indicates that Matthew not only followed the Lord, but also prepared a great feast for Him: “And it came about that He reclined at the table in his house, and many tax collectors and sinners were reclining at the table with Jesus and His disciples, for there were many, and they followed Him.” Matthew invited many tax collectors and sinners to this feast. If we had been invited to such a feast, we probably would have declined the invitation, not wanting to feast with such people. However, the Lord Jesus attended that feast.
If we read the Gospel of Mark carefully, we shall realize that the scribes followed the Lord like spies wherever He went. Verse 16 says, “And the scribes of the Pharisees, seeing that He ate with sinners and tax collectors, said to His disciples, He is eating with tax collectors and sinners!” We have seen that these scribes, as the proponents of the old and dead religion, were motivated and used by Satan, the enemy of God, to oppose, resist, and frustrate the gospel service of the Slave of God throughout all His ministry (2:16, 24; 3:22; 7:5; 8:11; 9:14; 10:2; 11:27; 12:13, 28). In verse 16 the scribes were self-righteous in condemning the Slave-Savior for His feasting with tax collectors and sinners. The scribes’ word to the Lord’s disciples indicates that, in their self-righteousness, they did not know the grace of God. They assumed that God deals with man only according to righteousness. Here in verse 16 the scribes continued the opposition that began in 2:6-7.
Hearing what the scribes said to His disciples, the Lord said to the scribes, “Those who are strong have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners” (v. 17). This word indicates that the Slave-Savior considered Himself a Physician to the people who were sick with sins. In calling people to follow Him, the Lord ministered as a Physician, not as a judge. The judgment of a judge is according to righteousness, whereas the healing of a physician is according to mercy and grace. The Lord came to minister as a Physician; that is, He came to heal, recover, enliven, and save people.
The Lord’s word that the strong have no need of a physician implies that the self-righteous scribes did not realize their need of Him as a Physician. They considered themselves strong. Therefore, blinded by their self-righteousness, they did not know that they were sick.
In verse 17 the Lord said that He did not come to call the righteous, but sinners. This indicates that the Slave-Savior is the Savior of sinners. Actually, there is none righteous, not even one (Rom. 3:10). Those who think they are righteous are self-righteous. The Slave-Savior did not come to call these “righteous” ones; He came to call sinners.
In verse 17 the Lord seems to be saying to the scribes, “The strong do not need a physician. The sick ones, however, know that they need a physician. Are you scribes strong or weak? Are you sick or healthy? You are more sick than these tax collectors, but you are not willing to admit it. Because you will not admit your need, I cannot heal you. I have come as the Physician to heal you, but you will not admit that you are sick. Furthermore, I have not come to call the righteous ones — I have come to call sinners.”
In the two cases recorded in 2:1-12 and 2:13-17 — the incidents of forgiving the sins of the sick and feasting with sinners — we see the best way to carry out the gospel service. This is to help people have their sins forgiven so that they may enter into the enjoyment with God. To feast with the Lord Jesus is to enjoy God with Him.
All sinners have lost God and have also lost the enjoyment of God. Sinners have been taken captive away from God and from the enjoyment of God to be slaves of Satan. All sinners are slaves under the authority of Satan. Because they are such slaves, they have no enjoyment and no peace. In carrying out the service of the gospel, the Lord Jesus first forgives our sins and then brings us into the enjoyment of God.
After you were saved, did you not experience an enjoyment that could be compared to a feast? If you were saved without having such a feast, this means that you did not have the joy of God’s salvation. In this sense, your experience of salvation was not adequate, not complete. Complete salvation includes forgiveness of sins and a joy that is in God. This joy is the enjoyment of God, and this enjoyment is a feast.
I can still remember the joy I experienced when I was saved. Although I was born, raised, and educated in Christianity, I was not saved until the age of nineteen. Oh, what joy I had on the day I was saved! I was very happy, and it seemed that everything in heaven and on earth was pleasant to me. That was the enjoyment of God, the joy of salvation. The joy of salvation is a feast. When we have the joy of salvation, we are feasting with the Lord Jesus.
Many of us can testify that when we recall our experience of salvation, we can still taste the joy we experienced. After we were saved and knew that our sins had been forgiven, there was joy within us. We regarded the Lord Jesus as the most wonderful One, and we were joyful in Him, feasting with Him.
This joy of salvation, the enjoyment of God, is a strong proof that we have been brought back to God. The joy of salvation testifies that we are no longer far away from God, but have been brought back to Him. The proper way to carry out the gospel service is to help people experience the forgiveness of sins so that they may have the joy of salvation, the enjoyment of God.
Thus far, we have covered three cases of sickness in the Gospel of Mark. The first case was that of Peter’s mother-in-law (1:30-31). Peter’s mother-in-law was sick with a fever. We have pointed out that this fever may signify an abnormal, unbridled temper. Mark uses a woman to illustrate this condition. It is especially easy for women to come down with such a “fever,” a fever that causes them to be very touchy. In order to help someone who has a fever like this, we must first be calm ourselves. Then gradually the other party will calm down.
The second case of sickness in this Gospel is the case of a leper (1:40-45). This leper portrays a typical sinner. Leprosy, the most contaminating, contagious, and damaging disease, isolates a person from both God and man. Leprosy causes its victim to lose fellowship with both God and man. Hence, the cleansing of the leper in 1:40-45 signifies the recovering of a sinner to fellowship with God and with men. The leper needed not only healing but also cleansing. The case of the leper was much more serious than that of Peter’s mother-in-law, for she did not need cleansing, but needed only healing.
The third case of sickness in Mark’s Gospel is the case of the paralytic (2:1-12), the case of a man who was disabled as the result of being paralyzed. The cases of Peter’s mother-in-law and the paralytic indicate that men are disabled by sin and that women have a fever because of sin. In other words, the same thing that disables men — sin — also causes women to be “set on fire” with a high fever. Therefore, we may say that women are sick of a fever and that men are sick of paralysis, disablement. Furthermore, both men and women are lepers in need of cleansing.
These three cases reveal that the Slave-Savior serves those who are sick with a fever, those who are paralyzed, and those who are lepers. The Lord serves us with His forgiving authority and His cleansing power. He forgives our sins, cleanses us, and brings us back to God. He restores our fellowship with God and man. Because of Him, our sins are gone, and we have God as everything to us. Now we are enjoying God as our life, our light, our everything. We are feasting with the Lord. This is the gospel, and this is also the way to carry out the gospel service.
