Mark 2:13-17

[snapstur]

@Shield> Let's pray

@Shield> Father we thank you for a wonderful day in you

@Shield> thank you for bringing us here safely

@Shield> thank you for your many blessings on our lives

@Shield> thank you for this network where we can play, learn, be challenged and encourage others.

@Shield> We ask your blessing on this evening as we study the Word together

@Shield> In Jesus name amen


@Shield> welcome

@Shield> We have been working through the Gospel of Mark

@Shield> we now are in chapter two

@Shield> If you have a question or comment, please raise your hand o/

@Shield> if you need prayer or encouragement you may pc Angel4God or Bethel

@Shield> they are the voiced users

@Shield> they will be happy to pray with you:)

@Shield> last week we experienced a text-based drama from Mark's perspective, of Jesus healing the man in the home

@Shield> in the midst of it, the Pharisees thought to themselves what problems this was causing, that Jesus should talk like this and do this, especially that he spoke of being able to forgive sins

@Shield> Jesus discerned their thoughts and told them so prophetically, further proving his divinity

@Shield> That encounter, in terms of narrative or story, foreshadowed what is to come in this Gospel

@Shield> by that I mean...

@Shield> the conflict between Jesus and the religious leaders, especially the Pharisees

@Shield> Lets pick up the narrative in verse 13 of chapter two in the book of Mark

@Shield> Mark 2:1 3 Once again Jesus went out beside the lake. A large crowd came to him, and he began to teach them.

@Shield> sorry, that is verse 13

@Shield> 14 As he walked along, he saw Levi son of Alpheus sitting at the tax collector's booth. "Follow me," Jesus told him, and Levi got up and followed him.

@Shield> let's pause for a moment, as we are introduced to a new character

@Shield> what are some observations, from this verse, that you can make about this person Levi?

@Shield> anyone?

Noah> He was a tax collector.

@Shield> yes

Dacia-in-chapel> he was also willing to hear Jesus out and followed him

@Shield> anyone care to add to that?

@Shield> ok

@Shield> so he was a tax collector and in the end he did follow Jesus.
..
Tigeress_blanc> he was obedient and followed immediately he didn't wait

@Shield> anything else?

@Shield> ok

@Shield> anything else?

bmb777> he was following him, probably knowing he would lose his job. so he sacrificed that.

Noah> He was the Son of Alpheus

@Shield> good Noah, thank you

@Shield> so let's pause there...

@Shield> Let me add a few thoughts

@Shield> Think of the worst rumors you may have heard about an experience with the IRS

@Shield> and multiply it into a systemic way of life

@Shield> and that was the tax system of the first century.

@Shield> Levi was part of a trade which systematically overcharged citizens for personal profit

@Shield> tax collectors were considered to be the lowest of the low in that society

@Shield> not because they were collecting taxes...

@Shield> but because they were robbing the poor in particular, in the process

@Shield> Levi was one of them

@Shield> But Jesus called him

@Shield> Isn't interesting how Jesus called people out of the margins?

@Shield> More on that later if we have time:)

@Shield> So here we see Levi responding...

@Shield> 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.

@Shield> observations? remember, let's please raise your hands 0/ and I will call on you

@Shield> what is happening in this verse?

Noah> o/

@Shield> yes Noah?

Noah> Levi invited Jesus and those following him to his house for a feast or dinner.

Tigeress_blanc> o/

@Shield> yes thank you Noah

@Shield> yes Tigeress_blanc?

Tigeress_blanc> Alot of people were watching I think to see what would take place

Dacia-in-chapel> o/

@Shield> I think that certainly can be inferred Tigeress_blanc, and we will see that in a moment in the next verses...

@Shield> yes Dacia-in-chapel?

Dacia-in-chapel> Jesus was not worried about the popularity , his popularity w those who already accepted him..many were...appalled and that did not stop him

@Shield> thank you for that observation Dacia-in-chapel:)

@Shield> anyone else?

Tigeress_blanc> o/

@Shield> yes Tigeress_blanc?

Tigeress_blanc> sinners were there along with the disciples none excluded

@Shield> yes, very important point.

@Shield> and with that thought, let's repost the verse and continue to the next

@Shield> 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.

@Shield> 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'?"

@Shield> remember our friends the Pharisees who had questioned in their thoughts Jesus’ contention that he could forgive sin?

@Shield> and remember Jesus response that if he has power to heal, surely he has power to forgive?

@Shield> well, let's see what happens now....

@Shield> 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."

@Shield> Now I want to work with you to unpack this.

@Shield> There is much going on here, but overt, and subtle.

@Shield> Jesus' handling of this issue is quite deft, in that he dealt with the overt challenge in a way that penetrated to the heart of the matter, the heart of why the Pharisees were challenging his authority.

@Shield> So let's go back again to the text...

@Shield> in verse 16, what is the complaint of the Pharisees?

dodi> o/

Blue-eyes> why does he eat with the sinners....

@Shield> yes dodi?

dodi> that he was mixing with social outcasts--sinners and other tax collectors

@Shield> thank you dodi, and thank you as well Blue-eyes

dodi> and mixing them with them too

@Shield> I should add something here from the perspective of the Pharisees

@Shield> as with any good story, it is helpful to consider motive

@Shield> Years ago in seminary I wrote a paper on the origin of the Pharisees

@Shield> and in the process of doing my research I discovered something helpful in understanding them

@Shield> The Pharisees were considered with the purity of worship

@Shield> Their movement was birthed out of the ashes of a culture which had been torn asunder in the invations of neighboring nations

@Shield> we do not know in precise detail the specifics, because much of the record was strictly oral, rather than being transmitted textually

@Shield> but it is safe to say that they were motivated to preserve the transmission, interpretation and observance of the law

@Shield> in particular, they focused on interpretation of the law

@Shield> If we were to compare them to a religious contemporary group, which is always a dangerous thing to attempt,

@Shield> the closest we could come is to say they were the religious conservatives, the fundamentalists of their day

@Shield> they focused deeply on detailed minutiae in their latter days

@Shield> which is where we get the understanding of pharisaic attitudes and behaviors

@Shield> Jesus himself called them a brood of vipers

@Shield> not because of their early zealousness for religious purity, but because they had become hypocrites in the process

@Shield> so when the questioned Jesus about the tax collectors and the sinners with whom he was dining...

@Shield> they did so in utter ignorance of their own bankrupt spiritual condition

@Shield> this is the great irony of this encounter and those to follow in the verses to come

@Shield> in their zeal for purity, they had become utterly spiritually bankrupt

@Shield> what started out as a ***le quest to preserve the law in their early founding years, developed into a legalistic, constantly evolving set of impossible rules and regulations that had nothing to do with heart matters and everything to do with spiritual religious abusiveness and control

@Shield> I take time to share this for two reasons in particular

@Shield> the Pharisees were human

@Shield> with whom Jesus would have been just as happy to dine

@Shield> had their hearts been receptive to him

@Shield> like the tax collector

@Shield> like the ragtag group of sinners

@Shield> like me

@Shield> like you

@Shield> I know this because in acts we see Jesus calling Saul, the Chief of the Pharisees, the most zealous persecutor of Christians in history

@Shield> he delighted in murdering Christians, thinking he was doing God as service

@Shield> Jesus met him on the road and said, Why are you persecuting me?

@Shield> I don’t know what you are going through tonight

@Shield> I don’t know what you have or haven’t done in your life

@Shield> or this week

@Shield> or even might be doing as we chat.

@Shield> But Jesus wants to dine with you

@Shield> Jesus loves you

@Shield> no matter what you think you have done.

Tigeress_blanc> Amen

@Shield> His shed blood on the cross will wash away your sin if you choose to follow him

Disciple> Amen

@Shield> if you are not sure whether you have a relationship with Jesus, will you allow us to minister to you tonight?

Angel4God> Amen

Scarlett nods amen

@Shield> you may open a pc window with me and I will give you further assistance in a moment.

@Shield> for those of us who do follow Jesus

@Shield> remember

@Shield> let's not become at heart, like the Pharisees

@Shield> This is my opinion alone

@Shield> not CCNet's necessarily

@Shield> But I believe one the great obstacles facing evangelical churches today is that we have become known more for what we are against

Dacia-in-chapel> amen!!

@Shield> than for what we are for

@Shield> Jesus was for the marginalized

@Shield> the sinners

@Shield> even if it was messy

peanutbuttercup> amen

@Shield> are we?

@Shield> let's pray

Disciple> Amen

Bethel> Father, we lift up all our friends here tonight

Dacia-in-chapel> yes Lord

DadSonDaughter> Yes father

Angel4God> yes Lord

Snapstur> Yes, Lord

Bethel> asking that You would touch each one with your gentle touch

Tigre_branco> yes Lord

peanutbuttercup> thank you Father

Dacia-in-chapel> yes Lord

Disciple> Yes Lord

Bethel> and those that do not know you we ask that they ask You into their heart before the night is over

Bethel> as none of know when we will meet eternity

Tigeress_blanc> Lord thank you for your word and for this server bless those who minister here and lead and guide us in what you wish us to say to those who come here may they always see you in us Jesus

Dacia-in-chapel> yes Lord send your spirit and pour your wonderful truth into minds and hearts, darkened ..

Disciple> Yes Lord

Tigre_branco> Yes Lord

Bethel> Lord, we thank you for the Word of God

Snapstur> Yes, Lord

Tigre_branco> Yes Lord

Bethel> Help us to measure up to the Word

Dacia-in-chapel> yes Lord Jesus, King of Kings!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Bethel> Thank you for keeping us safe

Tigre_branco> Yes Lord

Angel4God> yes Lord

Bethel> thank you for loving us

Dacia-in-chapel> We love you, worship and bow in awe of you , our creator!!!!!!!

Bethel> we give you all the glory and honor

Disciple> We praise you Father

peanutbuttercup> yes, Lord Jesus

Bethel> in the mighty name of Jesus.. amen

Disciple> Amen!!

Scarlett> amen:)

Deacon> Amen

carol> amen

Tigre_branco> Amen

here> amen Jesus

Angel4God> Amen

joyfulsis> amen

Snapstur> Amen

peanutbuttercup> Amen!

Tigeress_blanc> Amen

DadSonDaughter> amen