Mark #6 - Jesus, Friend of Sinners

Mark 2:13-22 (NIV)

Previously on Daily Read, we listened as Mark described moments when the authority and power of God for forgiveness and healing burst out of the temple and into a common house in Capernaum through Jesus, as he healed a paralyzed man and forgave his sins. In today’s passage, Mark continues to illustrate how Jesus busted the boundaries of who people think should follow him, who he should eat with, and whether or not they should be fasting.

But one key to understanding today’s passage is to consider the absolute ire and disdain that nearly all Jewish people had for tax collectors like Levi. This guy would have been seen as a sellout, a traitor—a Jewish man who is collecting taxes on behalf of the oppressive Roman empire. There were coins in that region that had imprinted on them images of Roman soldiers with a foot on the neck of a Jewish man. And Levi was likely one of the people profiting off of that reality. But Jesus tears through all the boundaries as he calls this man to divest from the empire, to walk away from his post, and follow him.

As you listen today, allow the Spirit to bring such a person to your mind. What kind of person is your Levi? Be honest. Who would it bother you to see Jesus invite to follow him, to dine with him, to call his guests at the wedding feast?

----------REFLECT----------

1. What part of this passage stood out to you? Was there a word, a phrase, or an image?

2. When Levi got up and walked away from that booth, he walked away from Herod as King, and towards Jesus as King. How would you have felt if you were a disciple, maybe someone who’d been taxed heavily by Rome, sitting and eating with sinners and tax collectors like Levi? Would you feel comfortable, or uneasy? Why do you think that is?

3. Who is your Levi? What would it mean for you to pray for them to turn away from Herod and towards Jesus? Or are you Levi? What would it mean for you to turn from Herod towards Jesus?

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