The CROSSroads: Personal Lessons from Mark's Gospel by Rev. Mitch Schultz

Updated
2001-05-26; 14:34:15utc

Lesson Twelve: JUST BE YOURSELF (Mark 2:13-17)

"Jesus was having dinner at Levi's house." (vs.15)

Matthew was the sort of man others, particularly Jews, found unacceptable. He stood for everything that was anti-Israel. Everyday Matthew would sit in his tax collecting booth on the busy beaches of Galilee extorting money from his own countrymen and lining his own pockets with the extras. An Israelite working for the cause of expanding the cause of Rome was tantamount to being a traitor. One commentator sums up Matthew's lonely world this way. "He sat near the lake at a table. Around him were piles of money, and account books, and fish - but few friends." Matthew, the tax collector, was the Ebednezer Scrooge of his day. He had a great career, lots of material security, but he lived alone.

Matthew's tax booth offered him a good view of many of the activities that took place around the lake. Mark has already told us that Galilee was a popular visiting site for the Lord Jesus, so Matthew must have seen first hand many of the things Jesus did, and his teaching must have burned conviction into his heart. So when Jesus worked his way through the crowds toward that isolated tax booth the call to follow became irresistible to the man no one else cared for. Matthew left his booth and followed Jesus, but not until he had invited Jesus to his home. It is here in Matthew's home that we discover something unprecedented about God's acceptance of man. The picture Mark paints for us of Matthew's home is at best a worldly one, full of sinners and traitors. The Pharisees were appalled that Jesus would even consider entering this home, let alone eat with these sinners and outcasts.

The home of Matthew on that day serves as a microcosm of the Church today. Everything that took place then is something taking place week after week as sinners and traitors gather together in homes and churches. The body of Christ is a place where all are welcome and accepted by Christ and called to leave all behind to follow him. Jesus had every right to condemn Matthew and his band of cronies as he has the right to reject each of us who have betrayed him and the cause of his kingdom. It was by accepting Matthew however, not by rejecting him, that Jesus drew this sinner to himself. I believe this dinner at Matthew's home was a farewell party to his past life as he chose to now follow a new Master.

Let's think for just a moment of the value of acceptance. I have found in my life that I am able to be most myself around those people who accept me as I am. Their presence does not place on me pressures to be something that I am not and I find that their easy acceptance of me becomes an invitation to share my heart knowing that what I share will not be cause for rejection There is one thing Jesus does as we invite him into the home of our hearts that no one else is willing or able to do. He moves to accept us and invites us to leave everything behind in order to follow him. The truth is, we can be nothing but ourselves around him. What is startling is that he accepts us anyway. This acceptance then becomes a start point for dealing with the sin in our lives.

There was something about the way Jesus was in the home of Matthew that permitted everyone to relax. Around Jesus the sick could comfortably speak of their pain. Those who were sinners did not need to cover their sin – Jesus knew them already as sinners. They could speak freely of their failure and faults as he placed his arms around them offering healing and forgiveness. By accepting Matthew and his friends for who they were, Jesus invited them to disclose everything. I am sure Matthew was not the only one added to the list of Jesus' followers on that day, and today the numbers continue to increase.

You are not accepted by God because you deserve to be, or because you have worked hard for him; but because Jesus died for you. -Colin Urquhart