Direct Confrontation

Mark 2:13-17 Once again Jesus went out beside the lake. A large crowd came to him, and he began to teach them. 14 As he walked along, he saw Levi son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax collector’s booth. “Follow me,” Jesus told him, and Levi got up and followed him. 15 While Jesus was having dinner at Levi’s house, many tax collectors and “sinners” were eating with him and his disciples, for there were many who followed him. 16 When the teachers of the law who were Pharisees saw him eating with the “sinners” and tax collectors, they asked his disciples: “Why does he eat with tax collectors and ‘sinners’?” 17 On hearing this, Jesus said to them, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”
 
JESUS came to confront sin. That’s why he confronted Levi son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax collector’s booth. And of all wonders, he commanded Levi, “Follow me.”  No command could have been more confrontational. Jesus aggressively faced one of Israel’s most hated professions. He challenged a man who had betrayed his people, so he could gain wealth and power. Levi’s father had likely shunned Levi and removed him from his house. Only the oppressive Roman government was a friend to Levi.
   In response the self-righteous Pharisees confronted Jesus. They demanded, “Why does he eat with tax collectors and ‘sinners’?” Then Jesus teaches us how to confront accusation with wisdom, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick.”
   Notice this. “Sinners” is written in quotes three times when the Pharisees speak it. But when Jesus speaks of sinners the word is not in quotes. This is key to understanding Jesus’ response to the Pharisees – and to our sin. When written “sinners” the Pharisees refer to a category of people such as Levi and his friends who had rejected Israel. The Pharisees regarded them as impure, a separate class of people because they rejected God’s laws and promises. They were unclean outcasts. When Jesus entered Levi’s home, he not only confronted Levi’s sins, he confronted the Pharisees’ self-righteous judgment.  
   When Jesus said that he had not come to call the righteous, but sinners, there are no quotes around sinners. Jesus knew Levi and his friends were not a special class of sinners. To call Levi and to enter into his home was Jesus’ mission to seek and to save what was lost. (Luke 19:10) How gracious is our God to call us out of even the deepest of sins!  
   But Jesus said he did not come to call the righteous. Were the Pharisees perfect in his sight? His meaning here is that people who do not see their sins will reject his teaching. He judged the Pharisees because they saw themselves as guardians of the law. But they were really stumbling blocks to God’s true intent of his law. There is no salvation for the self-righteous unwilling to confront their own sins.
   That day in Capernaum, Levi – who is also known as Matthew, the disciple and gospel writer – confronted his life. When the Savior confronted him, Levi was ready to follow him. He invited Jesus into his home, so others could measure their lives against the true Righteous One. Levi’s friendship with Rome ended. His love relationship with the Lord God began. How wonderful it is God loves us so much he has confronted us sinners with his command, “Follow me.”