Can we all be the I-AM? Sanity, Delusion, and Jesus

Followers of the Great Physician

(Mark 2:13-17, Preaching: Pastor Stephen Magee, August 12, 2018)

[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.”

Introduction

Last Sunday we considered together the remarkable account of the friends of a paralytic healed by Jesus. Their faith made a difference for the one they were carrying. Before Jesus healed the man's legs, He surprised everyone by saying, “Your sins are forgiven.” Some took offense, but we are not in their number. We know that we have sin, and even after we have come to Christ, we are on a journey of faith where we would like to have friends who would be willing to carry us to Jesus that we might be more like Him.

While we are impressed with the friends of the man who was healed that day, of course our attention must rightly focus on the Healer. Who is this Man? That is the question that the crowd was asking, and it is also the point of Peter's later preaching and of Mark's record of that proclamation in the gospel that bears his name.

Levi/Matthew's Story

The next stop in that fast-paced story involves a man called here Levi. He has another more familiar name, Matthew, and becomes an apostle and the author of the opening book of the New Testament.

Jesus was teaching a crowd of people by the sea, and “as he passed by” a tax booth that was part of the Roman system of collecting tribute from a subjugated people, He saw a particular man and not just someone who fit into a group. This man was a tax collector. He would have been working within a chain of command that eventually led to the emperor in Rome, but he was a Jew. Such men were hated by the people and considered by observant Jews to be unclean. If someone were looking for the most godly group of followers, this would not have been the place to start.

But here is the amazing Jesus, and He speaks with authority and certainty. He said to Levi, “Follow Me.” As we have seen in an earlier passage when some fishermen were called, the response of Levi must be a testimony to the power of the One who calls him. We are simply told that “he rose and followed Him.”

The Pharisees' Question

Jesus went to Levi's house for a meal according to the customs of their day (reclining) but not according to the acceptable religious practices of observant Jews. One tax collector was bad enough, but Levi had many friends who were also guests at his table that day. Jesus was eating with these Jewish collaborators connected to Roman Gentile overlords and many others who are just called “sinners.” What does that word mean here? It refers to the assessment of the Pharisees that the people around that table were not followers of the ceremonial Law of the Jews together with the traditions of the rabbis. Everything about that meal screamed “UNCLEAN” to the people who were scrupulous in their attention to Jewish religious practices. The problem was obvious to them, so they had to ask His disciples, “Why does He eat with tax collectors and sinners?”

Jesus's Answer

To understand Jesus' answer, we need to understand that all people were created by God to be amazed. We should be amazed by Jesus (see Colossians 1:15-20), but many Jews at that time were amazed by something else: their own careful attention to ceremonial rules.

Jesus said in John 14:6, “I am the way.” The world has always taken offense at that idea. Calvin said, “If any man turn aside from Christ, he will do nothing but go astray; if any man do not rest on Him, he will feed elsewhere on nothing but wind and vanity; if any man, not satisfied with Him alone, wishes to go farther, he will find death instead of life.”

God has a Name for Himself: “I-AM.” The “I-AM” delusion of the world is that each of us is the “I-AM.” The only sanity is to see the Son of God for who He actually is as the true “I-AM” in the flesh who came to live and die for us. This real Jehovah God in person was eating with sinners.

He said to those who were scandalized, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.”

Back to the paralytic from Mark 2:1-12: Are you willing to be the person on the mat, the one who needs forgiveness? Are you willing to be amazed about Jesus, about who He is and what He has done, and let other people care for you in such a way that brings you closer to the One you were created to have as as your sincere focus of greatest amazement and worship?

What are you amazed about?

Are you willing to keep that amazement to yourself?

The story of Levi the tax collector went beyond his own experience of Jesus and into the lives of many other regular people within his circle of influence. Those who thought of themselves as covenant keepers considered it odd that Jesus would share a meal with people like Matthew and his friends. Our Lord understood that contact with lost and troubled children of God was part of His mission. They had to hear His call.

Sermon Point: Disciples are brought to the great Physician for healing. Those who imagine themselves as beyond such a need are kidding themselves. But what can we do if people are sure that they are amazing and are not amazed by Jesus? Help us, O God!

Old Testament Reading—Psalm 70 – Make haste to help me!

New Testament Reading—2 Peter 2 – There will be false teachers among you.