Mark 2:15-17 - Why does He eat with sinners?

2:15

Jesus was the eating with Levi, and many other tax collectors were there, along with Jesus’ disciples. So this would be a learning experience for the tax collectors, and for the disciples. The disciples would see how Jesus interacted with the tax collectors, people whom they may well have considered to be beyond the pale. In the church we all know that Jesus can reach all people, and indeed wants to reach people from all sorts of backgrounds, including the most unsavoury. Sometimes we are made to feel guilty because we do not know how to interact with certain types of people. Well, in those situations it often not prejudice that stops us, but insecurity, a lack of knowledge. So in areas where we are strong we need to be careful about our attitude towards those who are not strong in that area. We must not have an attitude of making those who are weak in that area feel guilty. Instead, it should be one of gently teaching and developing and encouraging

2:16

Some of the scribes would be Pharisees. The Pharisees were the strictest sect of the Jews marked by their dedication to the Law and its interpretation. So when they saw Jesus eating with tax collectors and sinners they were appalled. Our first reaction is to think that the Pharisees were just wrong and were really nasty people. Now, of course, in a sense they were, and Jesus had many hard things to say about them, but it is worth considering why they were so wrong. This comes down to a fundamental difference between they way that they saw the Law, and the way that Jesus (ie God!) saw the Law. Under the Law there was indeed a strong case for not consorting with tax collectors and sinners. It could make you unclean, and could be seen as having communion with unrighteousness. However, Jesus (ie God) had no such problem. The fundamental difference is that the Pharisees so the Law as a way of life. Jesus saw it as showing what perfection is, the way that things should be, but is pointed out how far short of God’s standards, God’s glory, we have fallen. So people who had failed the Law (and that means everyone) needed to be helped, not rejected.

2:17

Jesus then pointed out to the Pharisees the fundamental point. “It is not the well but the sick who need a physician”. Jesus came to save sinners, not the righteous. The truth, of course, is that we are all sinners, and the Pharisees were sinners just as much as the tax collectors. The grounds for knowing Jesus are not how good we are, but how willing to admit our sin and how willing to receive help from Jesus we are.