Reflecting on Mark's Gospel - Mark 2:13-17

Discipleship is an important element in Jesus’ call and ministry. Jesus clearly attracted quite a following, and the broader group of disciples was much more mixed, including by gender, than the core group of twelve men who were those most closely engaged with following Jesus and supporting him in his ministry.

However, that, in itself, was quite a mixed group. In Jesus’ day, tax-collectors were not a well-liked group. They worked for the hated occupying Romans, and they over-charged in order to make a decent living. As a result, they tended to be quite wealthy, but they were also the sort of people that you avoided, if at all possible. Jesus’ ministry is to all sorts of people and he now calls a tax collector, Levi, son of Alphaeus, to be part of the disciple group.

We can assume that Levi was doing well for himself. It is interesting that this call resulted in a dinner invitation, perhaps demonstrating tax collectors were well able to offer hospitality. An ensuing meal is also part of the story of Jesus’ encounter with Zacchaeus.


However, as with the four fishermen, his position and his job do not prevent Levi from an immediate positive response. He, too, is ready to go with Jesus; and there is an obvious complementary question about how ready we are to walk Jesus’ way.

I wonder if Levi threw a party to mark this transforming moment in his life. He certainly invites Jesus and the disciples back for dinner and we are told that there were also many tax-collectors and sinners present. Now I am wondering if we throw enough parties. It is certainly good to celebrate moments with Jesus in our lives.

This, though, makes the religious authorities rather unhappy; and they start grumbling about the fact that Jesus seems to have rather a lot of inappropriate associates. They do not like the fact that he engages with those whom they would identify, to use the Biblical word, as ‘sinners’. And I wonder who are the ‘sinners’ of our day, and what do we do, if anything, about relating to them.

Jesus is rightly dismissive of those who criticise him for helping the group who most need help – Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick; I have come to call not the righteous but sinners. Again, it is significant that this mirrors the comment recorded by Luke at the end of his description of Jesus’ encounter with Zacchaeus – For the Son of Man came to seek out and to save the lost (Luke 19:10).

In a very real sense Jesus is setting out the way ahead. As Tom Wright (Mark for Everyone) puts it – “Mark is continuing to show how Jesus’ early ministry aroused opposition at the social, cultural, political and above all religious levels. This is part of the long build-up of tension that will finally explode in Jerusalem.”

Jesus has come to proclaim the Kingdom of God. There is a lot of learning to be done about what that means.