Mark 2:13-28.  We want to keep in mind that Mark is writing this particular history of the life of Jesus for followers of Jesus in Rome.  Those followers had already seen some trouble fro being Christ followers or Christians and more was soon to come.  So far we have see the story move very fast and there has been an emphasis on the message Jesus was bringing to the people (the “Good News” or gospel about how Jesus was the way to get right with God).  We have also seen some miracles to prove that Jesus had both the power and authority to deal with our disobedience and rebellion toward God (sin).

In the beginning of Chapter 1 we saw Jesus ask four men specifically to follow him; Simon and Andrew and James and John, two sets of brothers.  In today’s reading Jesus calls out to another man specifically to follow him, Levi.  WE are told he is the “son of Alphaeus”.  It appears that Levi is another of the guys that will eventually become Jesus’ inner circle, one of the twelve disciples or apostles (A disciple is a follower of someone and an apostle is a person sent to be a messenger of a person.  As the story of the Twelve unfolds in the Gospels and Acts we will see that they were both followers and ‘sent ones”).  In lists of the twelve Levi is not mentioned but there is an apostle named Matthew and most scholars think that they are the same person.  In those same lists there is an Apolstle named James (Not the same guy who rote the book of James) who is also described as a “son of Alphaeus”.  Some people think that this “Levi” is actually James and others think that they were brothers.  In Matthew 9:9 it looks like the Levi in Mark’s story is Matthew.  Remember it was not uncommon for people to have more that one name in those days.

The more important part of the story is who Levi is, how he is described, and what happens.  Levi was evidently a tax collector.  He probably worked for the local government rather that the national Roman government.  He would have still been hated by the Jewish people.  We see that Jeus asks him to follow him which he does.  This isn’t just for a short walk, but Jesus is asking him to follow him permanently.  Next we see Jesus sitting in Levi’s home eating with a pretty interesting group of people.  The people are called tax gatherers and sinners.  The Pharisees were a very strict group of Jews who worked very hard at following the Law of Moses.  In fact they had identified over 600 rules from the Old Testament and had very strict rules about following them.  Clearly eating with “tax collectors and sinners” was against the rules.  The interesting thing is that Isaiah tells us that “all of us have wandered away from God like wandering sheep” and then calls that kind of action “iniquity”.  The word translated “iniquity” in that verse comes from a word meaning bent or twisted or crooked.  In the New Testament the word translated “sin” means to miss the mark, like missing a bulls eye in archery.  Both ideas are similar we have followed the wrong path and it is crooked.  So we are all sinners and if we aren’t going to eat with a sinner we will have to eat alone…. But then there will still be one there.  When Jesus heard their complaints he answered by telling them that sick people need a doctor not healthy people and that he was there for the spiritually sick people, to help them.

Mark links another story with this one, one where Jesus is asked about his followers, “Why don’t your followers fast (go without food) like the followers of John the Baptist and the Pharisees do?”  Jesus answer relates to the reason for fasting.  Fasting in the Bible is usually linked with a serious time of  prayer (talking to God) or to mourning (being sad over something that has happened) or to repentance (being sad about going down the crooked path of sin and wanting to turn back to the right way (repent means to turn and go the other way)).  It would be inappropriate for the followers of Jesus to fast because they were right there communicating with God ion the flesh.  Walking side by side with him would be about as straight as anyone could go, spiritually.  Like a wedding feast, being with Jesus was a time of joy.  The other two examples Jesus give really tell us what his point was.  The patch will shrink and rip the old shirt in a worse way.  A wine skin was a sort of leather bottle that new wine (not fermented yet) would be put.  As the wine fermented it would build up pressure and stretch the leather.  But the new leather had enough “give” in it to take the pressure.  If the skin was old and already stretched out it would rip and be ruined under the pressure ofnewly fermenting wine and both would be lost.  The point is it would be inappropriate to fast and mourn when they were with Jesus.  There would be a day for sadness but not right now, he told them.

One last story that Mark brings in at this point was about picking and eating on the Sabbath (Saturday for the Jewish people.  It was supposed to be a day where the people focused on God and did no hard work).  The Pharisees with their strict rules said they could do no work at all and picking a piece of fruit or a head of grain was work to them.    The Jewish people really looked up to one of their former kings, a guy named David.  Jesus used a story about David to point out that the rules weren’t about the rules but about our relationship with God.  There was food in the temple that was supposed to be saved for the priests.  The priests didn’t have a lot of land and farms and relied on the offerings brought to the temple for their support.  One time before David was king he was fleeing from Saul the guy who was king at the time.  He and his followers stopped and asked the main priest for some food.  The priest said all he had was the food dedicated to the other priests and David told him to give him some, which he and his men ate.  The point< Jesus told the people questioning him was that these rules were supposed to help us in our relationship with God not hurt us.  The rules are supposed to serve us and not the other way around.

I think for a bunch of believers being chased, beat up, and killed it would be comforting to know that Jesus loves us even when we have failed (he ate with sinners then and he will care for us today).  It would also be encouraging to know that Jesus is interested in us, our hearts, our souls, not just strict obedience to a bunch of rules.  It may have been difficult or impossible for those Roman Christians to live up to all that they thought they should do, especially if they were listening to their Jewish friends.  Of course Jesus told us that we need to love him with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength so what we do does matter, we can’t lie, hate, steal, or show disrespect for God in other ways and pretend that it doesn’t matter but we are not to be slaves to the Old Testament Law either.  With the power of the Holy Spirit in us we are free from sin not free to sin.  In the end Jesus is the boss and we need to do what makes him happy and from these stories it looks like spending time with him is what makes him happy.

God help me be with you each day.  Let me remember that you are right here watching, listening, ready to help.  Help me listen too, through your word both on the written pare of the Bible and as the Holy Spirit echoes it through my mind and heart.  Thank you for loving me help my actions show that I love you back.  Let my life have joy it the relationship and not be subject to the sadness of a useless religion.