May 22, 2024

Dear Friends,

I hope you can join us tonight as we continue our study in the Gospel of Mark. Tonight we look at Mark 2:13-22 ... or we will look at some of this passage. We'll see how far we go. Notes are attached.

LIVING THE CHRISTLIFE

WAYNE BARRETT

HILLTOP LAKES CHAPEL

MAY 22, 2024

Mark 2:13-22

13 He went out again beside the sea, and all the crowd was coming to him, and he was teaching them.

14 And as he passed by, he saw Levi the son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax booth, and he said to him,

“Follow me.” And he rose and followed him.

15 And as he reclined at table in his house, many tax collectors and sinners were reclining with Jesus and

his disciples, for there were many who followed him. 16 And the scribes of the Pharisees, when they saw

that he was eating with sinners and tax collectors, said to his disciples, “Why does he eat with tax

collectors and sinners?” 17 And when Jesus heard it, he said to them, “Those who are well have no need

of a physician, but those who are sick. I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.”

18 Now 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?” 19 And Jesus said

to them, “Can the wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them? As long as they have the

bridegroom with them, they cannot fast. 20 The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from

them, and then they will fast in that day. 21 No one sews a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment. If

he does, the patch tears away from it, the new from the old, and a worse tear is made. 22 And no one puts

new wine into old wineskins. If he does, the wine will burst the skins—and the wine is destroyed, and so

are the skins. But new wine is for fresh wineskins.”

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v 13 – “He went out again…”

“he was teaching them” – The focus of Jesus’ ministry was teaching

v 14 – As he passed by…”

Levi, son of Alphaeus

May be the same as Matthew, who is traditionally believed to have written the gospel entitled

with his name

“As Jesus passed on from there, he saw a man called Matthew sitting at the tax booth, and he

said to him, ‘Follow me.’ And he rose and followed him.”—Matthew 9:9-13

This is a parallel passage, but so is Luke 5:27, which mentions Levi in the tax booth.

“He appointed the twelve: Simon (to whom he gave the name Peter); James the son of Zebedee

and John the brother of James (to whom he gave the name Boanerges, that is, Sons of

Thunder); Andrew, and Philip, and Bartholomew, and Matthew, and Thomas, and James the

son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus, and Simon the Zealot, 19 and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed

him.”—Mark 3:16-19

Here is mentioned James, the son of Alphaeus, so… James could be another name for

Levi, or he could be a brother of Levi, or it could be another Alphaeus entirely. (Also,

Matthew is not referred to as the son of Alphaeus, but then again, others listed are

also listed without their full family connections!)

No mention of Levi—so if Levi is not Matthew (or James), then Levi, while a disciple,

was not an apostle.

2

This Levi is not mentioned anywhere else by that same name, except in the parallel passages in

Mark and Luke.

While interesting to explore, the point is not whether Levi was the same person as Matthew, etc.,

but that Jesus called and then went to the home of a tax collector!

We don’t know why Jesus called Levi specifically; we don’t really know that about any of Jesus’

decisions to call someone. Still don’t.

The other disciples would probably not have anticipated this.

“For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax

collectors do the same?”—Matthew 5:46 (Jesus)

“If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church. And if he refuses to listen even to the

church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector.”—Matthew 18:17 (Jesus)

“‘Which of the two did the will of his father?’ They said, ‘The first.’” Jesus said to them,

“Truly, I say to you, the tax collectors and the prostitutes go into the kingdom of God

before you. For John came to you in the way of righteousness, and you did not

believe him, but the tax collectors and the prostitutes believed him. And even when

you saw it, you did not afterward change your minds and believe him.”—Matthew

21:31-32

“‘I tell you, among those born of women none is greater than John. Yet the one who is

least in the kingdom of God is greater than he.’ (When all the people heard this, and

the tax collectors too, they declared God just, having been baptized with the baptism

of John, but the Pharisees and the lawyers rejected the purpose of God for themselves,

not having been baptized by him.)”—Luke 7:28-30

“Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax

collector.”—Luke 18:10 (Jesus)

“And behold, there was a man named Zacchaeus. He was a chief tax collector and was

rich.”—Luke 19:2

It may be hard for us to realize the contempt in which the tax collectors were held and how

flabbergasting it was for Jesus to be open to their company—let alone call one as a disciple.

Levi immediately rose and followed Jesus—demonstrating what Jesus often taught about the

despised sinners.

v 15 – “And as he reclined…”

The Gk. is ginomai – it came to pass, it then happened, it emerged…

We might say “so the next thing you knew…”

More lit. “And it came to pass in His [Jesus’] reclining in his [Levi’s] house, many tax collectors and

sinners were reclining with Jesus and his disciples, for there were many, and they were following him.”

A crowd came to hear Jesus

“tax collector” we have already reviewed

“sinner” meant a lot of things, none of them good. It meant, descriptively, someone whose

lifestyle was not according to the commandments. It might range from prostitutes, to just

generally immoral people, to thieves, murderers, swindlers, general lowlifes, etc.

“Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be

deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who

practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor

swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you. But you were

washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ

and by the Spirit of our God.”—1 Corinthians 6:9-11

3

But the term was not used just descriptively (like “non-believer), but was a derogatory,

dismissive term.

“For there were many, and they were following him.”

They were eager for and responsive to Jesus’ teaching—and to Jesus himself!

And there were lots of them! (There still are.)

Mr. Wu – Berlin vs China

v 16 – “And the scribes of the Pharisees…”

Some mss. have “scribes and the Pharisees”

“when they saw” – lit. “having seen him…were saying to his disciples” – This probably occurred

later, i.e. the scribes or Pharisees would not have been at Levi’s house.

more lit. “And having heard, Jesus says to them…”

v 17 – “Those who are well…”

“well” – ischuó, are able, have power, have strength—here pp., so “those having power,” “those

having strength,”…

but those being “sick” – kakós, sick, ill, also cruelly, wrongly

Jesus describes people who have an ongoing condition

more lit. “I came not to call righteous [people], but sinful.”

One of Jesus statements which stopped the mouths of his critics, who could only

1. Identify themselves as “righteous” and then acknowledge the sensibility of what Jesus

was saying about those who were not

2. Not identify themselves as “righteous,” and then acknowledge that they, too, were

sinners

But the meaning of Jesus is probably best understood if we imagine the word righteous being in

quotation marks—meaning no one is actually righteous, but for those who think they are, I

have not come to call them!

Something akin to Jesus’ statement “Let him who is without sin cast the first stone.”

v 18 – “Now John’s disciples and the Pharisees…”

This seems to begin a new section in Mark. No longer is this a day to day narrative from

Capernaum and beside the sea. We are still early in Jesus’ Galilean ministry, but here and

what immediately follows is more episodic with less detail on time and place.

It is important to see here, that Jesus is not teaching a lesson about fasting, he is teaching a lesson about

himself and the beginning of the new era that he, himself, represents.

Jesus himself fasted

And after fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry.—Matthew 4:2

He taught about fasting

“And when you fast, do not look gloomy like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces

that their fasting may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their

reward. But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, that your fasting

may not be seen by others but by your Father who is in secret. And your Father who

sees in secret will reward you.—Matthew 6:16-18

v 19 – “Can the wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them?”

Jesus’ point here, on which he then expands, is that now, his disciples’ religious practices are

based on a living relationship with him and that former practices based on the law, while

appropriate for their time, are no longer required or even appropriate.

4

Jesus makes fasting about himself—"the bridegroom”—although he does so obliquely. He does

not actually say that he is talking about himself as he uses a bridegroom and a wedding as an

example… but he is. Because of his presence with his disciples and what was currently

happening—they would be unable to fast and mourn.

v 20 – “The days will come…”

Here Jesus is definitely looking ahead for the disciples, but at time, probably no one understood

his meaning.

vv 21-22 – “No one sews a piece of unshrunk cloth…”

This passage has tremendous significance, noted down through the years

Jesus continues to point to himself and to the New Covenant which he represents and establishes

Jesus is the fulfillment of the law

What was appropriate for one era, is no longer appropriate

To try and combine legalism with the new life that is found in Christ may look like it would fit

and work, but like the unshrunk cloth or the new wine in old wineskins, the result would be

catastrophic