We looked at Mark 2:13-17. Please read this for yourself. This is the story of Jesus calling another of his disciples. This time, instead of choosing someone ordinary like James and John the young fishermen who we looked at last week, Jesus chooses someone who is actually living a pretty bad life. Levi is a tax collector which means he is an agent of the corrupt, greedy government that rips more than they should off normal people. He undoubtedly takes more than his fair share and forces people into debt and compromised situations through his work. As a tax collector he would be used to people spitting as he walked by, looking away from him in disgust and turning their backs to him. Unsurprisingly, Levi's friends are also all tax collectors or corrupt businessmen. These guys have a following of prostitutes who they pay to be their lovers and make them feel good about themselves. They have plenty of money to pay for whatever they want.
Jesus, who sees so much more than everybody else when he looks at a person, sees Levi in his tax collectors booth and really SEES him. He sees the real Levi, the Levi that COULD be, the Levi that God sees. He doesn't care that he is about to shock his whole society by befriending but also PROMOTING this piece of so-called 'scum.' To Jesus, he simply is not scum but someone, a man of potential, a man he wants to get to know. He is more than his job, his reputation, his sins.
Goethe once said "Treat a man as he is, he will remain so. Treat a man the way he can be and ought to be, and he will become as he can be and should be."
Jesus treats Levi as he can be and ought to be. He calls him to be one of the twelve people who will be entrusted him with the message of hope and salvation that is the gospel.
Jesus changes history, breaks with the norms of his society and does something that would definitely shock his mum and brothers when he calls Levi to be his disciple.
Then Jesus goes and affirms Levi by eating with him and his 'scummy' friends. Jesus doesn't seem to find them too scummy. He sees the good and he isn't concerned with what anyone else thinks. By eating with Levi's friends, Jesus shows us that God's way is to get in amongst people, just as they are, reminding them by being loving and interested and friendly that GOD VALUES THEM. It would be pretty hard to cling to your sins and illusions if someone like Jesus was sitting and getting to know you, not judging you or waiting nervously for you to change but just being with you, radiating love from a position of his own absolute security in who he is and who God is.
Because Jesus says we can "be like him" when he calls us his disciples...we can have this same effect on people. We don't need to be nervous about what is on the exterior of people's lives. Sins are just badges people wear because they feel rejected or lonely. Jesus knew Levis' sins were badges. Just as Jesus gave Levi the gift of seeing the real him, the man he could be and ought to be, a man who had found security and could throw away his badges, we can do the same for people by really seeing them and treating them with the utmost faith and dignity.
Finally, Jesus gives Levi a new name; Matthew.
It is said that in Jewish tradition, you have three names; the name your parents give you, the name your friends give you (like a nickname) and the name God gives you. The implication is that God sees more than our friends or parents ever will - when God sees us, he really sees us - the best us that can ever be. He is constantly calling us by the name that represents all we can be.
It is an exciting challenge to start to live like the love-bearing, healing-giving, lights of the world that God promises we can be.
Please keep reading Mark and we will resume bible studies about the amazing, anarchic and wild Jesus of the gospels on June 22nd, the week after Bed Pushing.
