The Last Great Hope of Earth
Politicians often run for office on the theme that they’re going to bring hope to the country. One candidate who began his presidential campaign last week went so far as to say, “(America is) truly now, more than ever, the last great hope of earth.” This candidate didn’t just promise to bring hope to America, but actually said that America is “the last great hope of earth.”
I wonder if it’s appropriate to think of America as “the last great hope of earth”? Can any nation be the hope that the world is looking for? Having hope isn’t wrong. But having hope in the wrong things is unwise and ultimately dangerous. Why? Because what if the thing we put our hope in isn’t strong enough to carry it? Even if our country turns out great, it’ll always have some imperfection or flaw and will fail us and the world in some way.
Where should we look for hope? We must look to the most unlikely of places. We must look to a Jewish peasant from Galilee who lived in the first century and traveled around as an itinerant preacher saying that “the kingdom of God is at hand” (Mk. 1:15). Jesus was sent from another world to bring the kingdom of God to this world. God sent Jesus to the earth in order to undo the curse and effects of sin and to make all things new. Simply put, God sent Jesus to bring hope.
Many people experienced this first hand while Jesus walked the earth. But many other people were skeptical about Jesus and wanted him to do things the way they’d always been done. Jesus’ new way, however, couldn’t coexist with the old way. While some people saw in him something they’d never seen anywhere else, others saw him as a threat. Some saw him as their only hope. Others saw him as a dangerous enemy. We meet both kinds of people in our text this morning (Mark 2:13-22).
Jesus and Levi
Verses 13-14 say that Jesus was walking along the sea when he saw a man named Levi “sitting at the tax booth.” We have to understand what a “tax booth” and a tax collector were to understand the significance of what happens here. The “tax booth” where Levi was sitting was a small booth beside one of the busy roadways in the commercial district of Capernaum.
Levi was likely what we would call a customs officer, responsible for taxing the goods that came in and out of the city. To become a tax officer, you had to place a bid with an estimate of how much tax revenue you could collect. If the government liked your bid, they’d hire you as a tax collector and give you a quota. Once you met your quota, everything else you collected you got to keep. Competition was fierce for these jobs because the pay was very lucrative.
The job paid well but it also came with a social cost. Tax collectors were hated because they were seen as traitors to their own people. They gave up their ethnic and social identity in order to turn a profit at the expense of their own people. Tax collectors were expelled from the synagogue and a disgrace to their families. Jews were forbidden to receive money from tax collectors since their income was viewed as robbery. If a tax collector touched your house, it was declared unclean. Anyone who had a tax collector as a friend was deemed unclean. Tax collectors were hated because they were tangible reminders of Roman domination. Tax collectors were detested because they represented an unjust and unclean Gentile government.
What does Jesus do when he walks past Levi’s tax office (v. 14)? Notice two key phrases here, “he saw Levi” and “he said to him…” Jesus saw and spoke to a man who every other Jew ignored and despised. Jesus laid his eyes on a man who no one wanted to look at. Jesus opened his mouth to a man no one wanted to speak to. Jesus sees those who no one else sees. Jesus speaks to those no one else speaks to.
What does he say? “Follow me.” It’s likely that Levi had heard of the works of Jesus and even heard him teach. This was probably the climax, not the beginning, of Jesus’ dealings with Levi.
It was scandalous for Jesus to talk to Levi, much less call him to be one of his disciples. But Mark has already told us about Jesus touching a leper (1:41). Jesus wasn’t afraid of reaching out to social outcasts. His contact with Levi was probably more offensive than his contact with the leper because the leper’s condition wasn’t chosen whereas a tax collectors was. Jesus chose a man who had chosen a life of greed at the expense of his own people.
When Jesus walked by Levi’s booth that day, he didn’t just see a treasonous man full of greed. He saw a broken man full of guilt. He saw something in Levi that no one else saw. And he gave him what no one else wanted to give him. He gave him grace.
What did Jesus’ grace provoke in Levi? Faith. When Jesus said, “Follow me,” Levi “rose and followed him.” Grace from God produces faith in us. “Following” is term that describes a response of faith. “Following” someone involves risk and cost. “Following” someone means getting out of your comfort zone and trusting someone else. “Following” is something we do, not something we think or believe. In response to Jesus’ grace, Levi gets up from his tax booth and follows Jesus into a new and unknown future.
Discipleship Is a Lifestyle
Levi’s obedience to Jesus’ command is a picture of what happens when any of us becomes a Christian. Listen to how L. R. Scarborough, the second president of Southwestern Seminary, describes this: “‘Follow me.’ Much is involved in these imperial words…Christ summed up in two words all his eternal program of life. Of course, he meant (Levi) could not follow him and love and follow his sins. Hence, there was a separation from his sins, his love of sin and his indulgence in sin, in the very thought of following Jesus. No man can closely follow Jesus and love his sins…Repentance from sin is the initial step to God on the part of every sinner…Not only repentance from sin was involved in this command of Jesus, but also faith in him as the Messiah, as the Son of God. ‘Following’ Jesus meant discipleship, and discipleship meant accepting his teachings, and accepting his teachings meant accepting him, his personality, his claims of divine Sonship and Messiahship. Hence the very essentials of the plan of salvation are (present) in (Levi’s) acceptance…of Christ’s call, ‘Follow me.’”
“Following Jesus” isn’t merely an intellectual exercise. Following Jesus means becoming a disciple of Jesus. Being a disciple of Jesus isn’t an occasional thing we do, or something out of the ordinary flow of our everyday lives. To be a Christian is to be a disciple of Christ, all day, every day, everywhere. A follower of Christ is seeking to become more like Christ and help others become more like Christ. Before Jesus was taken back to heaven, he commanded his disciples to “make disciples” (Matt. 28:19).
A disciple follows and learns from Jesus and helps others follow and learn from Jesus. If you say you’re a follower of Jesus but you’re not helping anyone else follow Jesus, the New Testament doesn’t understand what you mean when you say, “I’m a follower of Jesus.” This happens when younger Christians discuss their faith over a meal with an older Christian, when younger Christians spend time in older Christian’s home learning how they apply their faith to every area of life. Think right now of someone you can start meeting with regularly to help follow Jesus. Discipleship is not a program. It’s a way of life for everyone who’s heard and obeyed Jesus’ gracious call, “Follow me.”
“A Quiet Faith”
This kind of Christianity is in stark contrast to much of what passes as “Christianity” in American culture. I read an obituary this week of a man born in my hometown and died after ninety years on this earth. It said that the “love of his life” was his wife and that he “cherished” time with family on vacation at the beach. It said that he “was a firm believer in education and hard work, instilling those values in his children and grandchildren.” It said that his “second love in life was flying,” having successfully completed his last solo flight on his 90th birthday.
All of these things are good. I want many of them to be said of me one day. But there was another line in the obituary that stood out to me. It simply said that he was “a man of quiet faith and a longtime member at a church in Dallas.” In the six paragraphs that described his life, barely one sentence was given to his faith. Only God knows this man’s heart, but I wonder if Levi’s obituary would’ve read like this? I wonder if our obituaries will read like this? Will we be known for cherishing and believing and treasuring in things of this world more than Jesus Christ? Will our faith, our following Jesus, leave little discernible evidence that we were transformed by the grace of Christ? What will our obituaries say about us as disciples of Jesus?
A Conversion Party
Jesus’ grace toward Levi changed his life. He literally walked away from his old life. Look at what Levi did next (v. 15). Levi invites Jesus, his disciples, and all his tax collecting friends over for a conversion party! The language of “reclining” tells us that this wasn’t an average dinner. This was a party and a feast and Jesus was the guest of honor. Levi was the host and he invited other tax collectors and what Mark calls “sinners” to join the celebration. “Sinners” were the rank and file Jews who weren’t committed to the in-depth study of the things of God. They followed the way of the culture rather than the details of the law. They were the opposite of the Pharisees. The word “Pharisee” is taken from a Hebrew word that means “separated one.” They were devoted to keeping the law of God and keeping a distance from anyone who did otherwise. They didn’t dare associate with, much less eat with, “sinners and tax collectors.”
But Jesus did. Jesus’ acceptance of Levi sent a signal to others like him. Jesus’ grace travelled like a shockwave through Levi’s circle of friends and associates. They wanted to see who this religious teacher was that called Levi to be his follower, so they went to Levi’s conversion party.
Self-Righteous Snobbery
Verse 16 says that “the scribes of the Pharisees” weren’t as thrilled with what Jesus was doing. In 2:1-12, Jesus provoked conflict by forgiving sins. Here he provokes conflict by eating with sinners. Jesus’ fellowship with these sinners violated the social and religious conventions of that day. The thought was that sin would rub off on you if you were around sinners.
Many Christians think this way today. Many think that we can be contaminated if we hang out with unbelievers. This is a misunderstanding of sin. Sin is not just something that we have. Sinner is something we are. We don’t catch sin like a cold. It’s already in our hearts. This is why God’s grace is so amazing. He doesn’t just clean up the outside of us. He cleans our hearts.
Christ didn’t live in a monastery. He was where people were because he cared about people. The religious leaders of his day lived separate from people because they cared more about themselves than others. How do you view your unbelieving friends and colleagues at work? Do you avoid or engage? Do you roll your eyes at their sin or pray for their hearts?
Even Well People Need a Doctor
Verse 17 says that when Jesus heard about the complaint, he responded with one of his most memorable sayings. He says, “What good is a doctor who only associates with people who’re well?” Preventive medicine is a good thing, but we need doctors the most when we’re sick. Jesus is saying sarcastically that the scribes and Pharisees don’t think they’re sick because they think they’re righteous. They don’t think they need Jesus’ grace.
But not everyone who needs a doctor knows they need a doctor. The scribes and Pharisees were sin sick and they didn’t know it. They assumed that their religious practices and good deeds and Bible study and distance from sinful people made them acceptable to God. The reality was that they were further away from God than the sinners because the sinners understood that they needed the grace of God.
Friend, if you’re here this morning and you’re not yet a follower of Jesus, we love you and are so glad that you’re here. You may assume that God accepts you because you’re a good person who does good things. You may think that your good deeds cancel out your sins. You may think that you don’t deserve hell because you’re not as bad as other people. But if you want to become a Christian, you must understand that even your good deeds aren’t good enough to get you into heaven. The Bible says that God is perfect and that we have to be perfect to be in his presence. It also says that our best works are filthy before God because they’re stained with selfishness. This is why God sent Jesus. Jesus lived a perfect life, died for our sins, and rose on the third day so that everyone who puts their trust in him and turns from their sins will be forgiven and declared perfect in God’s sight. The good things that we boast about aren’t good enough to get us through heaven’s gates. So if you want to become a Christian, you must stop bragging about the things that you think make you right with God. Christians repent of their sins and their righteousness. A Christian knows that only Jesus’ good deeds were acceptable to God.
A Radically New Era
Jesus exploded the categories and practices and traditions of the first century Jews with his message of grace and forgiveness and his radical call to discipleship. This is what he’s getting at in verses 18-22.
People see Jesus and his disciples feasting when they think they should be fasting. All the other religious groups were fasting, so why weren’t Jesus and his followers? Jesus replied by saying that there was a time and place for fasting, but this was not that time. Why? He used the metaphor of what happened at weddings in their culture. Weddings lasted for a week and were a time of great celebration and eating and drinking. No one wanted to be fasting when a wedding was on the calendar. Jesus is saying that, as long as he – the groom, is with them, they should be celebrating. There will be a day when he departs (v. 20). After his execution and departure from this planet, his disciples should fast. But while he’s in their presence, there should be joy and celebration and feasting, not fasting.
Then in verses 21-22, Jesus switches metaphors and gives two short parables that illustrate the folly of trying to put the newness of his message in the structures of the old. Verse 21 says that a new piece of cloth shouldn’t be sewed onto old clothes because when they’re washed, they’ll shrink and tear off and make a bigger hole. Verse 22 says that new wine shouldn’t be put into an old wineskin because when the new wine ferments, it emits gasses that expand and stretch the wineskin and would thus burst the wineskin and leave you with no wine and no wineskin.
With these parables Jesus was saying, “You can’t take the newness of my message and force it into the old structures because the old structures can’t bear it.” He’s not condemning the law of God. He’s condemning the traditions that the scribes and Pharisees had developed around the law that kept people from coming to him.
Jesus’ coming signaled the beginning of a radically new era. People were not ready for it, especially the religious people. They tried to deal with Jesus’ new way by pushing him into the pattern of the old way. But the old way of the law had already been stretched beyond capacity and could not handle the infusion of the new message of Jesus. Jesus was saying that people couldn’t enter God’s kingdom if they stayed in their old ways.
Jesus at Your Tax Booth
The good news of Jesus’ gospel is that everyone who gets out of their tax booth of sin and follows Jesus will get to live in his kingdom forever! Everyone who’s broken by their sin and understands that they’ll never be good enough for God and receives the grace of God through faith will be declared righteous and forgiven. Jesus came to save sinners from their sin and religious people from their religion.
Jesus is walking by your booth this morning. He sees you and he’s speaking to you. He’s showing you a grace unlike anything else. He wants to recline at your table, save your friends, and heal your sin disease. He wants you to join his wedding party. He wants you to fast now while you wait for a feast later. He wants to give you a seat at his Father’s table in his Father’s kingdom. He wants to give you new garments. And he wants you to drink new wine from new wineskins in a new world.
Jesus came to do a new thing for those stuck in old ways. Jesus is the “last great hope of earth” for everyone who hears his voice and leaves everything to follow him.