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Then He went out again by the sea; and all the multitude came to Him, and He taught them. As He passed by, He saw Levi the son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax office. And He said to him, "Follow Me." So he arose and followed Him.
Now it happened, as He was dining in Levi's house, that many tax collectors and sinners also sat together with Jesus and His disciples; for there were many, and they followed Him. And when the scribes and Pharisees saw Him eating with the the tax collectors and sinners, they said to His disciples, "How is it that He eats and drinks with tax collectors and sinners?" When Jesus heard it, He said to them, "Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance."
The disciples of John and of the Pharisees were fasting. Then they came and said to Him, "Why do the disciples of John and of the Pharisees fast, but Your disciples do not fast?" And Jesus said to them, "Can the friends of the bridegroom fast while the bridegroom is with them? As long as they have the bridegroom with them they cannot fast. But the days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them, and then they will fast in those days. No one sews a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment; or else the new piece pulls away from the old, and the tear is made worse. And no one puts new wine into old wineskins; or else the new wine bursts the wineskins, the wine is spilled, and the wineskins are ruined. But new wine must be put into new wineskins."
- Mark 2:13-22
In yesterday's reading, we were told that Jesus entered Capernaum again after some days, and it was heard that He was in the house. Immediately many gathered together, so that there was no longer room to receive them, not even near the door. And He preached the word to them. Then they came to Him, bringing a paralytic who was carried by four men. And when they could not come near Him because of the crowd, they uncovered the roof where He was. So when they had broken through, they let down the bed on which the paralytic was lying. When Jesus saw their faith, He said to the paralytic, "Son, your sins are forgiven you." And some of the scribes were sitting there and reasoning in their hearts, "Why does this Man speak blasphemies like this? Who can forgive sins but God alone?" But immediately, when Jesus perceived in His spirit that they reasoned thus within themselves, He said to them, "Why do you reason about these things in your hearts? Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, 'Your sins are forgiven you,' or to say, 'Arise, take up your bed and walk'? But that you may know that the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins" -- He said to the paralytic, "I say to you, arise, take up your bed, and go to your house." Immediately he arose, took up the bed, and went out in the presence of them all, so that all were amazed and glorified God, saying, "We never saw anything like this!"
Then He went out again by the sea; and all the multitude came to Him, and He taught them. As He passed by, He saw Levi the son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax office. And He said to him, "Follow Me." So he arose and followed Him. My study bible explains that "Levi (Matthew) is the only one of the Twelve with a powerful position in society and presumably an education. He has probably already heard of Jesus. Follow Me is a divine call, a command, not merely a suggestion. Of course, Matthew, like anyone receiving a call, must respond by his own free will."
Now it happened, as He was dining in Levi's house, that many tax collectors and sinners also sat together with Jesus and His disciples; for there were many, and they followed Him. My study bible tells us: "In dining with sinners, Jesus shows the Kingdom's openness to the outcast, and its destruction of the barrier between sinful men and God. Jesus recognizes these people as a definable group. It is possible to follow Jesus and remain in one's social class; however, friends no longer come first."
And when the scribes and Pharisees saw Him eating with the the tax collectors and sinners, they said to His disciples, "How is it that He eats and drinks with tax collectors and sinners?" A note here explains the difference in emphasis between the old and the new introduced in the Gospel: "The teachers of the Law sought to expel evil; Christ comes to transform it. Jesus does not become unclean by contact with the unclean. Rather, His touch makes the unclean clean." Again, as we mentioned in yesterday's reading and commentary, it is transfiguration, transformation that is at the center of this gospel message.
When Jesus heard it, He said to them, "Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance." My study bible tells us, "Christ came to save and heal, not to judge. There are righteous people who do dead works (actions which are good in themselves but are motivated by legalism rather than by love) and keep people from God. True righteousness comes through faith and is accompanied by wholesome works. Many Pharisees were masters of dead works; some tax collectors and many sinners would become masters of true righteousness."
The disciples of John and of the Pharisees were fasting. Then they came and said to Him, "Why do the disciples of John and of the Pharisees fast, but Your disciples do not fast?" And Jesus said to them, "Can the friends of the bridegroom fast while the bridegroom is with them? As long as they have the bridegroom with them they cannot fast." My study bible says here that this is "an expression of the messianic joy which accompanies the presence of Christ Some believe this episode suggests the Eucharist."
"But the days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them, and then they will fast in those days. No one sews a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment; or else the new piece pulls away from the old, and the tear is made worse. And no one puts new wine into old wineskins; or else the new wine bursts the wineskins, the wine is spilled, and the wineskins are ruined. But new wine must be put into new wineskins." The value of fasting as a spiritual practice is not neglected here by Christ, nor was it neglected by the early Church. But the emphasis here is on what is new: sinners dine with Christ and are a part of this party of the bridechamber. My study bible says regarding Christ's teaching about "new wineskins": "This is not a blanket condemnation of Old Testament traditions, which Christ came to fulfill, not to destroy (Matthew 5:17). Rather, this verse stresses the newness of Christ's teaching. The old and the new cannot mix."
Let's look at the emphasis in today's reading: over and over again, there's the call of sinners by Christ. Matthew (Levi) himself is considered a public sinner as a tax collector, an agent of the Romans, willing to do a job that was notorious for its corruption, widely despised by the people. We should note, for today's audience perhaps, that Jesus says He calls sinners to repentance (although some ancient versions do not include the phrase "to repentance"). Whatever text we look at, the context is clear: Jesus' mission is a saving ministry. He's here not to bring immediate judgment, but rather to save. In that context, we're all sinners. We all need some kind of growth and change. Whatever that might be, Jesus is placing a different emphasis on what's important, and His claim here is a call of redemption, coming to save that which was lost, to offer a way forward into the kingdom. There is no one who cannot be saved by coming to Him as a little child. As Jesus dines in the center of that table of sinners as honored guest, let us consider the picture it makes for us. He is the centerpiece. But His message is one of transformation, transfiguration: by coming to Him as a little child -- with the trust of a little child -- we are healed. This transformation is likened to the work of a physician: "Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick." Transformation, transfiguration: those who are ill spiritually or even in any other sense if we are really to take the context of the Gospel into consideration, need this Physician to heal. Spiritual ailments require spiritual healing -- but in Jesus' context all affliction comes from being bound (paralyzed if we are to use yesterday's text as an analogy) by the "strong man" whose rule of this world Jesus is here to undo. On every level, Jesus is here to transform, to transfigure, but this only happens through our assent to His work in us and in our world. When it comes to the new wineskins, His gospel is so expansive, so explosive in some sense, that it cannot be contained within the old ways of understanding. Just as the wine ferments into something new, so the action of this transformation is upheld in the analogy of the new wineskins. The good news is just that: something new, that cannot be easily contained, that requires a whole new way of thinking to embrace its understanding. We may not all think that there is anything about ourselves that needs healing or changing. We may not all believe that we are sinners. But if we consider that to "sin" really means to "miss the mark" we may need to come to a different -- and new -- understanding of our own faith. A sin can be just as much a failure to love what is truly good about ourselves as it is a failure to love the good of God. A false sense of guilt is a lie as is a false sense of innocence. Any affliction can be addressed by this Physician. Which of us is entirely perfect in such a sense? Which of us can make such an assumption without practicing self-deception (another form of lying)? This physician is here for all of us, and this good news is still so far from being contained within the boundaries of our every day assumptions that it will always require new wineskins. Let us continue to understand that His gospel cannot be contained in day-to-day ways of thinking, but will always require our own willingness to expand with it. Like a little child, we come to Him. We don't have all the answers. We don't know all our own imperfections. But we can read the Gospel, and continue to have expanded for us His transfiguring power, His call to righteousness, to a change of mind (the literal meaning of the word for repentance in the Greek). His gospel message will always call us to see and relate to ourselves and to the world in new ways beyond our own limits.
