Mark 2:15-17
Who
do you normally see sitting around in Emergency Rooms of hospitals, healthy
people or sick people? How about an airport security line, someone traveling or
someone out for a day at the airport? How about a university lecture hall, a
student or a sightseer? Who hangs around with Jesus, sinners or people who
don’t need help?
We
look at our world today and there are lots of people who need help, but are
unwilling to ask for it. I’m not talking about welfare or Obama phones. I am
talking about our sin problem. So many won’t even acknowledge that there is
sin, let alone that they have sin in themselves. We can’t even speak the truth
about terrorism, so we end up practically strip searching little old ladies in
wheelchairs, and let the 20-30 year old Middle Eastern men with bulky clothing
muttering Arabic prayers under his breath walk right onto the plane. We can’t
profile. How stupid is this! If we could admit there is sin, then we could say
there are some people who really do want to kill us. Denying sin causes all
sorts of problems.
Jesus
has a way of pointing out the obvious. He goes right to the heart of the
matter. The people who hang around with Him are sick, and they know it. It is
the religious leaders, and specifically the professors of religious studies,
who are upset with the crowd Jesus is eating with. They would never dirty
themselves by association with this type of people. You can hear in their words
that they feel better than these people. They have elevated themselves and
denied their own need. They feel they have achieved a level of perfection that doesn’t
require intervention, at least not as much as these “sinners” who hang around
with Jesus.
Jesus
is eating at Levi’s house, a tax collector who defrauds his tax payers. He
betrays his Jewish heritage by working for Rome, helping to impose their will
through the collection of taxes. He is a drag on the economy by redistributing
wealth from hard working people to the government.
And
at Levi’s meal with Jesus are all sorts of other people who are undesirables
according to these religious leaders. Jesus has no problem with people who
admit they need His intervention. He welcomes us. The blindly self-righteous
are the ones He confronts repeatedly.
Jesus
uses a common comparison as He responds to these religious leaders. Are you
willing to admit that you are spiritually sick, or do you still think you have
some goodness in you?