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I want to welcome you to Daily Drive Time Devotions in Day 3 of our Look Through
Mark Chapter 2. We're going to focus on verses 13-17 today, and a great story of
something that Jesus did in somebody's life. Everyone in Jesus' day hated tax
collectors.

Levi was a tax collector. Jesus loved Levi. That's the incredible story.

In fact, even as we get into this story today, you might be asking yourself
throughout this next few minutes, "Who is there in my life that everyone hates
that Jesus can give me the power to love? " Because that's exactly what Jesus
does here. Listen to verses 13-14.

Once again, Jesus went out beside the lake. A large crowd came to him, and he
began to teach them. 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. Here's Jesus
walking along teaching.

The rabbis in that day often taught that way. They didn't necessarily go into a
building with a bunch of seats and teach everyone. They would often walk and
teach at the same time.

He's still in Capernaum, and you might remember that Israel at this time is
split up into Roman provinces, and Capernaum is on the border going from one of
those provinces into another. So it was a place where you had to stop and pay
taxes and customs, and the tax collectors in those days were Jewish men who were
working for the occupying Roman government. You could become rich by being a tax
collector, but it was at the expense of all of your countrymen hating you,
because you were working for an occupying government, and you were getting rich
because of it.

And not only that, but when they collected taxes, they were allowed to collect
what was needed, but they could also collect more than what was needed and make
themselves rich. And they essentially, because of the power of the Roman
government, could ask for almost whatever they wanted. And so people were being
cheated out of their money also.

All that contributed to this hatred of tax collectors. The Romans used tax
collectors. The Jews hated tax collectors.

In fact, in the end, the only friends that a tax collector had were other tax
collectors. And one of these collectors is named Levi. By the way, he's also
named Matthew.

And yes, that's the Matthew who wrote the Gospel of Matthew. Put yourself and
Levi in Matthew's place as Jesus walks by this day. As deep as his need was, as
much as he might have known even about Jesus, he's a tax collector.

Jesus wouldn't want anything to do with him. He knew that Jesus would reject
him. Everyone else did.

And yet Jesus walks by, and he sees Matthew, and he says to him, "Follow me. "
Now listen to that call, "Follow me. " That's the call in my life and your life
today.

Those are the two words that are at the center, to be at the center of my life,
my schedule, my day. What am I going to do today? The details of the schedule
might be different, but the decision of the day is always to be the same.

"Follow me. " That's the call that Jesus gave to Matthew, and Matthew followed.
Now this is the first time that Matthew had met Jesus, but it's probably not the
first time he'd heard of Jesus.

The ministry of Jesus was well-known, and Matthew had probably been thinking
about what it might mean in his life, probably been thinking that he would never
qualify as one to follow Jesus. Jesus walks up and says, "Follow me," and
Matthew follows. And I want you to realize what a radical decision this was.

Matthew literally left everything to follow Jesus. His only job was a tax
collector. Once he left that booth, the Roman government would never hire him
again.

He'd left his job. And because he was hated by all of his countrymen, no one
else would hire him. When Peter and Andrew left their nets, their fishing
business to follow Jesus, they could have decided to go back to that fishing
business.

When Matthew left that tax collector's booth and he said, "I'm going to follow
you, Jesus," he literally had nowhere else to go from that point in his life. It
was complete. It was total.

It was abandoned. It was even ridiculous trust in Jesus Christ. He gave it all
in that very moment.

It was not the smart decision from a business perspective, and Matthew was a
businessman. He was burning all of his britches. It wasn't the smart decision,
but it was the eternally right decision.

Matthew, in that moment, in that day, he gave up everything, and he received the
things that he was certain he would never have. By giving up everything, he
gained true friends, not only the other disciples, but also all the servants of
God that he served all his life. By giving up everything, he gained genuine
honor.

This man who was disparaged and hated in all of the land becomes one of the
writers of one of the Gospels, and today we look at Matthew and honor him for
his faith. By giving up everything, the good life that he could have had in that
world with his riches, he gained eternal life. Sometimes God asks us to do that,
to literally give up everything, and when we do, when we have that kind of
faith, the kind of reward that came into Matthew's life comes into our life.

After Matthew decided to follow Jesus, he decides to throw a party for him, and
he invites all of his friends, all the other tax collectors. So Jesus goes to
this party with what the Bible calls tax collectors and sinners. It's mirroring
the language of that day.

A sinner in that day was a person who did not follow the Jewish law to the full.
You could tell by the way a person dressed, they're a sinner, they're not
following the law to the full. You could tell by the kind of work they were
engaged in, they're a sinner, they're not following the law to the full.

You could recognize in society, just as you walked along, sinner not sinner,
sinner not sinner, Jesus is invited to this party with sinners and tax
collectors. Listen to what happened, verses 15 to 17. 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.

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? " 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.

" What's going on here? What is Jesus talking about in this last verse that I
just read? "I have not come to call the righteous but sinners.

" He's talking about self-righteous people, the kind of people who were accusing
him here, that the righteous people that in this day were saying he's doing the
wrong thing. Remember that so-called righteous people, rabbis and teachers like
Jesus, in that day they were not even supposed to associate with these sinners.
Their holiness could be stained even by being in the presence of these tax
collectors and sinners.

So Jesus is being challenged. Why would he even be with people like this? Let me
just say as an aside before we finish this story, doesn't the Bible say to be
careful as believers about who we surround ourselves with?

Aren't we supposed to associate with the right kind of people? Remember that the
Bible particularly warns us about being around other believers who are not
trying to follow Jesus and that that is dangerous because of my fellowship with
another believer. If they've decided they're not going to follow Jesus, that can
be very dangerous in my life.

It will have a greater influence on my life as a believer. But this idea that I
can somehow wall myself off from an unholy world and it will make It didn't work
in the days of the monks and the monasteries. It doesn't work today.

That's why Jesus said we're to be in the world but not of the world. Jesus
realized he could be with these people and show them the good news. And so when
he's challenged about this, Jesus says it's not the healthy who need a doctor
but the sick.

I've come to call not the righteous but sinners. He's talking about people who
think they're righteous. He's talking about people who think they're healthy.

If I think I'm healthy, there's no way I'm going to a doctor's office. I don't
like going to a doctor's office. It's uncomfortable going to a doctor's office.

I have to admit that I'm sick to go to a doctor's office. If I think I'm
healthy, I'm not going to a doctor's office. If I think I'm spiritually healthy,
if I think I've got it all together in myself, I do all the right things, I'm
not going to Jesus.

I'm not going to trust Him. If I think I'm righteous in myself. Righteous means
I've got a right relationship with God.

I've got a right relationship with others. I'm doing the right deeds in my life.
If I think I've got it all lined up right in my life, I'm not going to Jesus.

I don't need to trust in him. I've got it all figured out myself. If I don't
realize I'm sick, I can never be cured.

If I don't realize I'm a sinner, I can never be forgiven. So the question here
is where do I have, where do you have in your life a deep, deep need of Jesus?
And where do you need to admit that need?

Admit at that point in my life I am sick. At that point in my life I need his
healing. It might be something about a temptation in your life.

It might be at some point of a relationship in your life. It might have to do
with a judgmental critical spirit in your life. It might have to do with holding
God's will at bay in your life.

Where do you need to admit that you have a deep, deep need of Jesus, that you're
sick, that you're in need of healing? And then I just want to ask one more
question before we pray. Jesus went to this party with tax collectors and
sinners, with people who didn't know him.

He was around people who needed to get to know him. And if people in our world
today are going to get to know Jesus Christ, they need to be around believers.
They need to see the fresh, new, joyful faith that we have.

So my other question is this, what invitation to what party do you need to
accept? Not one that would put you in a place where you'd be tempted to do the
wrong thing. But is there some party you need to go to where you realize I'm not
like those people?

I may even feel a little uncomfortable around those people, but they've invited
me and I'm going to go because I want to be in a place where people can see what
Jesus can do in a person's life. And even if I feel a little uncomfortable, my
prayers at the joy will shine through. Let's talk to God for a few minutes.

Lord, show us what invitations we need to accept and help us to go to those
parties so people can see the light of who you are. And Lord, show us where
we're sick and in need of healing. Instead of hiding it, pretending that it's
not there, help us to come to you.

You are the great physician. You are willing to heal, heal our hearts, heal our
pains, heal our sins. God, help us to come to you.

We ask this Jesus in your name. Well, join us tomorrow. We're going to be
looking together at verses 18 to 22.