Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Mark 2:13
And he went forth again by the sea side; and all the multitude resorted unto him, and he taught them.
13 22. Call of St Matthew; the Discourse at his House
13. he went forth ] i. e. from the town of Capernaum to the shore of the Lake, probably through a suburb of fishers’ huts and custom-houses.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
By the sea-side – That is, by the Sea of Tiberias, on the shore of which Capernaum was situated. See the notes at Mat 4:13.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Mar 2:13
And He went forth again by the seaside.
A walk by the sea
I. It was not a walk of absent reverie.
II. It was not a walk of sentimental admiration.
III. It was a walk hallowed by sacred teaching. We should endeavour to make our walks subservient to the moral good of men, and in this incidental manner we might do much to enhance the welfare of the Redeemers cause. (J. S. Exell, M. A.)
Christian work at the seashore
Can we not do something for Jesus on the sands? If so, let us not miss such a happiness. What situation and surroundings can be better for earnest, loving conversation with our young friends concerning their souls best interests? A few words about the sea of eternity and its great deeps, a sentence or two upon the broken shells and our frailty, upon the Rock of Ages and the sands of time, may never be forgotten, especially if they be but few, and those pleasant, solemn, and congruous with the occasion. A good book lent to a lounger may also prove a blessing. A handful of interesting pamphlets scattered discreetly may prove to be fruitful seed. Souls are to be caught by the seashore and in the boat: gospel fisherman, take your net with you. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Still it is said he taught them, thereby letting his ministers know what is their great work; and therefore they should be persons apt to teach, as Paul directeth Timothy, 1Ti 3:2.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
And he went forth again by the sea side,…. The sea of Galilee, where he had met with, and called Peter and Andrew, James and John; and not far from which were the solitary place, and the desert places, where he was before he entered into Capernaum:
and all the multitude resorted unto him; who had been with him at Peter’s house, and about the door, and those who could not get near him:
and he taught them; the word of God, the Gospel, and the doctrines of it.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
| Christ among Publicans and Sinners. |
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13 And he went forth again by the sea side; and all the multitude resorted unto him, and he taught them. 14 And as he passed by, he saw Levi the son of Alphus sitting at the receipt of custom, and said unto him, Follow me. And he arose and followed him. 15 And it came to pass, that, as Jesus sat at meat in his house, many publicans and sinners sat also together with Jesus and his disciples: for there were many, and they followed him. 16 And when the scribes and Pharisees saw him eat with publicans and sinners, they said unto his disciples, How is it that he eateth and drinketh with publicans and sinners? 17 When Jesus heard it, he saith unto them, They that are whole have no need of the physician, but they that are sick: I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.
Here is,
I. Christ preaching by the sea-side (v. 13), whither he went for room, because he found, upon second trial, no house or street large enough to contain his auditory; but upon the strand there might come as many as would. It should seem by this, that our Lord Jesus had a strong voice, and could and did speak loud; for wisdom crieth without in the places of concourse. Wherever he goes, though it be to the sea-side, multitudes resort to him. Wherever the doctrine of Christ is faithfully preached, though it be driven into corners or into deserts, we must follow it.
II. His calling Levi; the same with Matthew, who had a place in the custom-house at Capernaum, from which he was denominated a publican; his place fixed him by the water-side, and thither Christ went to meet with him, and to give him an effectual call. This Levi is here said to be the son of Alpheus or Cleophas, husband to that Mary who was sister or near kinswoman to the virgin Mary and if so, he was own brother to James the less, and Jude, and Simon the Canaanite, so that there were four brothers of them apostles, It is probable that Matthew was but a loose extravagant young man, or else, being a Jew, he would never have been a publican. However, Christ called him to follow him. Paul, though a Pharisee, had been one of the chief of sinners, and yet was called to be an apostle. With God, through Christ, there is mercy to pardon the greatest sins, and grace to sanctify the greatest sinners. Matthew, that had been a publican, became an evangelist, the first that put pen to paper, and the fullest in writing the life of Christ. Great sin and scandal before conversion, are no bar to great gifts, graces, and advancements, after; nay, God may be the more glorified. Christ prevented him with this call; in bodily cures, ordinarily, he was sought unto, but in these spiritual cures, he was found of them that sought him not. For this is the great evil and peril of the disease of sin, that those who are under it, desire not to be made whole.
III. His familiar converse with publicans and sinners, v. 15. We are here told, 1. That Christ sat at meat in Levi’s house, who invited him and his disciples to the farewell-feast he made to his friends, when he left all to attend on Christ: such a feast he made, as Elisha did (1 Kings xix. 21), to show, not only with what cheerfulness in himself, but with what thankfulness to God, he quitted all, in compliance with Christ’s call. Fitly did he make the day of his espousals to Christ a festival day. This was also to testify his respect to Christ, and the grateful sense he had of his kindness, in snatching him from the receipt of custom as a brand out of the burning. 2. That many publicans and sinners sat with Christ in Levi’s house (for there were many belonging to that custom-house); and they followed him. They followed Levi; so some understand it, supposing that, like Zaccheus, he was chief among the publicans, and was rich; and for that reason, the inferior sort of them attended him for what they could get. I rather take it, that they followed Jesus because of the report they had heard of him. They did not for conscience-sake leave all to follow him, but for curiosity-sake they came to Levi’s feast, to see him; whatever brought them thither, they were sitting with Jesus and his disciples. The publicans are here and elsewhere ranked with sinners, the worst of sinners. (1.) Because commonly they were such; so general were the corruptions in the execution of that office, oppressing, exacting, and taking bribes or fees to extortion, and accusing falsely,Luk 3:13; Luk 3:14. A faithful fair-dealing publican was so rare, even at Rome, that one Sabinus, who kept a clean reputation in that office, was, after his death, honoured with this inscription, Kalos telonesanti—Here lies an honest publican. (2.) Because the Jews had a particular antipathy to them and their office, as an affront to the liberty of their nation and a badge of their slavery, and therefore put them into an ill name, and thought it scandalous to be seen in their company. Such as these our blessed Lord was pleased to converse with, when he appeared in the likeness of sinful flesh.
IV. The offence which the scribes and Pharisees took at this, v. 16. They would not come to hear him preach, which they might have been convinced the edified by; but they would come themselves to see him sit with publicans and sinners, which they would be provoked by. They endeavoured to put the disciples out of conceit with their Master, as a man not of such sanctity and severe morals as became his character; and therefore put the question to them. How is it, that he eateth and drinketh with publicans and sinners? Note, It is no new thing for that which is both well-done, and well-designed, to be misrepresented, and turned to the reproach of the wisest and best of men.
V. Christ’s justification of himself in it, v. 17. He stood to what he did, and would not withdraw, though the Pharisees were offended, as Peter afterwards did, Gal. ii. 12. Note, Those are too tender of their own good name, who, to preserve it with some nice people, will decline a good work. Christ would not do so. They thought the publicans were to be hated. “No,” saith Christ, “they are to be pitied, they are sick and need a physician; they are sinners, and need a Saviour.” They thought Christ’s character should separate him from them; “No,” saith Christ, “my commission directs me to them; I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. If the world had been righteous, there had been no occasion for my coming, either to preach repentance, or to purchase remission. It is to a sinful world that I am sent, and therefore my business lies most with those that are the greatest sinners in it.” Or thus; “I am not come to call the righteous, the proud Pharisees that think themselves righteous, that ask, Wherein shall we return? (Mal. iii. 7), Of what shall we repent? But poor publicans, that own themselves to be sinners, and are glad to be invited and encouraged to repent.” It is good dealing with those that there is hope of; now there is more hope of a fool than of one that is wise in his own conceit, Prov. xxvi. 12.
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
By the seaside ( ). A pretty picture of Jesus walking by the sea and a walk that Jesus loved (Mark 1:16; Matt 4:18). Probably Jesus went out from the crowd in Peter’s house as soon as he could. It was a joy to get a whiff of fresh air by the sea. But it was not long till all the crowd began to come to Jesus (, imperfect) and Jesus was teaching them (, imperfect). It was the old story over again, but Jesus did not run away.
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
Resorted – taught [ – ] . The imperfects are graphic – kept coming, kept teaching.
Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament
THE CALL OF LEVI, OR MATTHEW, AND CRITICISM OF THE PHARISEES, V. 13-20
1) “And He went forth again by the seaside;”- (kai ekselthen palin para ten thalassan) “And He went out again (from the home in Capernaum) alongside the seaside,” by the seashore of Galilee, as in Mar 2:16. There was more room out there to attend to the needs of the crowds, to teach, preach, and heal.
2) “And all the multitude resorted unto Him,” (kai pas ho ochlos ercheto pros auton) “And all the crowd came, or simply gravitated to or toward Him;- This continues a history of His early Galileean ministry between His healing the palsied man and the call of Matthew, Mar 2:12; Mar 2:14.
3) “And He taught them.” (kai edidasken autous) “And He taught them,” the huge crowd, as they came to Him and watched, listened to, and followed after Him. Jesus was always a teacher of men, an instructor, who also mandated or commissioned His church to teach, Luk 11:1; Mat 28:19; Act 5:42.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
CRITICAL AND EXEGETICAL NOTES
Mar. 2:14. Receipt of custom.Toll-house. Capernaum was the landing-place for the many ships which traversed the lake or coasted from town to town; and this not only for those who had business in Capernaum, but for those who would there strike the great road of eastern commerce from Damascus to the harbours of the West.
Mar. 2:15. Publicans.Tax-collectors, the local agents of the Roman publicani or revenue officers, who farmed the taxes from the government. Everywhere throughout the Empire they were hated for their rapacity and dishonesty; but among the Jews especially were they abhorred, as being the representatives of a heathen, hostile, and victorious power.
Mar. 2:17. To repentance.Omit these words, imported from Luk. 5:32.
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.Mar. 2:13-17
(PARALLELS: Mat. 9:9-13; Luk. 5:27-32.)
The call and feast of Levi.
I. A seaside walk hallowed by sacred instruction.Christ never wasted His time or opportunities in idle reverie or sentimental contemplation of the beauties of nature. He made every scene yield food for mind and soul. And, asks Mr. Spurgeon, can we not do something for Jesus on the sands? If so, let us not miss such a happiness. What situation and surroundings can do better for earnest, loving conversation with our friends concerning the welfare of the soul? A few words about the sea of eternity and its great deeps, a sentence or two upon the broken shells and our frailty, upon the Rock of Ages and the sands of time, may never be forgotten.
II. A gracious call met by unquestioning obedience.It is said that the publicans had tenements or booths erected for them at the foot of bridges, at the mouths of rivers, and by the seashore, where they plied their detested craftlevying from their countrymen the dues of the conqueror, and adding insult to injury by the extortions they commonly practised. Doubtless the tax-office by the seashore of Capernaum was a very important one, and Levi by this time a wealthy man adding daily to his gains. We need not suppose this was his first encounter with Christ; he may already have been a disciple in a general sense. But now the time has come for him to break away from his old life altogether, to abandon his business and his riches, and to adopt voluntary poverty for the rest of his life. It was a great sacrifice that was demanded of him, and few who heard the call given would be prepared to witness his ready obedience. From his case we may well learn to be very slow in passing judgment on others: however unlikely their character and position in life may appear to us, we know not what methods Christ may be employing to lead them to Himself. From the example of Levi we learn also, that we must be prepared to find our religion a costly thing. Had Levi replied, Lord, let me continue my profitable business for a while; be satisfied with the homage of my heart, surely Christ would have answered, Whosoever there be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, and followeth after Me, he cannot be My disciple. Now what was required of Levi is required, in a certain very real sense, of all. In every heart of man there is by nature the love of riches, or of what riches will purchase: covetous desires; love of self-indulgence in some shape or other; longings after something which is just beyond our reach; allowing our minds to run upon schemes which we would carry out if greater means were allowed, rather than reflecting what sort of use we make of what we have already. These are the things we are required to renounce (as Levi to give up his rich profession) for Christs sake.
III. A social meal marred by ignoble objections.Levis first act is a manifestation of gratitude. He is eager to extend to others a share of the blessedness that has befallen himself. Accordingly he makes a great feast, and invites his old associates and friends to meet the Master at his house, earnestly desiring that they also may become followers of Christ. And the Master understood and appreciated his motive. As the physician is found where pain and sickness are, so Christ came to the dark, dull, ignorant, lost corners of the earth. Anywhere would He sit down, in any company eat and drink, especially in that of the most despised, because there He found those very souls, the lost and the rejected of men, whom He came expressly to seek, and, if they would, to save from themselves, and their own corrupt and miserable condition. But certain scribes of the Pharisees, who, intent to pry into Christs private life, had followed the guests into the dining-room (a common custom in the East), were filled with indignation at His sitting down to meat with a whole company of publicans, and that too (see Mar. 2:18) on one of the fast days of the week. They must needs interpose with their crude criticisms. What cared they that His very presence was medicinalbanishing foul words and thoughts from all breasts save their ownbringing pure air and sunshine into the fetid atmospherean outward and visible sign of Divine grace and love? All they concerned themselves with was the maintenance of the barriers erected by their narrow-minded, self-satisfied exclusiveness. They could not conceive of any one sitting at meat with publicans and sinners from higher motives than the mere enjoyment of social intercourse; it never occurred to them that what Christ sought was not viands, but heartsnot to receive the meat that perisheth, but to bestow the true bread from heaven which endureth unto eternal life. Crafty cowards that they were, they uttered their cavil to the disciples rather than to the Master Himself; but Christ at once accepted the challenge and set the matter in the right light. Where else should the physician be found but in the hospital? what else should he be doing but attending to the ailments of his patients?
IV. A great claim advanced by the criticised Teacher.In calling Himself the Physician of sick souls, says Dean Chadwick, Jesus made a startling claim, which becomes more emphatic when we observe that He also quoted the words of Hosea, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice (Mat. 9:13; Hos. 6:6). For this expression occurs in that chapter which tells how the Lord Himself hath smitten and will bind us up. And the complaint is just before it, that when Ephraim saw his sickness, and Judah saw his wound, then went Ephraim to Assyria, and sent to King Jareb: but he is not able to heal you, neither shall he cure you of your wound (Hos. 5:13 to Hos. 6:1). As the Lord Himself hath torn, so He must heal. Now Jesus comes to that part of Israel which the Pharisees despise for being wounded and diseased, and justifies Himself by words which must, from their context, have reminded every Jew of the declaration that God is the Physician, and it is vain to seek healing elsewhere. And immediately afterwards He claims to be the Bridegroom, whom also Hosea spoke of as Divine. Yet men profess that only in St. John does He advance such claims that we should ask, Whom makest Thou Thyself? Let them try the experiment, then, of putting such words into the lips of any mortal.
V. A pertinent question raised by puzzled friends.It was a very different spirit from that of the scribes which prompted Johns disciples (Mat. 9:14) to ask, Why do we and the Pharisees fast oft, but Thy disciples fast not? They were perplexed to find Jesus, whom their master had taught them to regard with the deepest reverence, feasting on a fast day. They remembered, perhaps, that in the Law the Day of Atonement was the only fast prescribed; and it may have begun to dawn upon them that there was more genuine religion in the non-observance, on the part of Christ and His disciples, of the elaborate system which had by this time degenerated into a pure formality, than in their own strict adherence to it. In reply Jesus takes the opportunity to lay down the principle which should regulate all religious life and its expressionthe principle of naturalness, and not artificiality. There is a time to every purpose under heaven: a time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance. The Baptist himself had said, with reference to Him, that the friend of the Bridegroom, which standeth and heareth Him, rejoiceth greatly because of the Bridegrooms voice. To make that a time of fastingwhen they were basking in the sunshine of the Bridegrooms presencewould have been quite incongruous, if not hypocritical. And after all no one need grudge them their day of gladness, for it would soon be succeeded by the night of bereavementand then shall they fast. So, we know, it happened in the Churchs earliest and purest time. When, e.g., Paul and Barnabas were separated for the work to which the Holy Spirit had called them, the word came to those who were ministering to the Lord and fasting (Act. 13:2). St. Paul ordained presbyters, after prayer with fasting (Act. 14:23); speaks of himself as being in fastings often (2Co. 11:27); and speaks of ministers commending themselves to God in labours, in watchings, and in fastings (2Co. 6:5). And ever since fasting has been enjoined by the Church as the natural expression of heartfelt contrition for sin, and a fit instrument for the subjection of the lower to the higher nature; but not as a meritorious act entitling him who practises it to the favour of God. This latter was the idea with which fasting had become associated in the minds of the Jews; and in order to stamp it with His disapproval Christ adds the parables or similitudes of the piece of new cloth, and of the new wine that must not be poured into old bottles. Christians were indeed to fast, as Jews had fasted; but with them the ordinance was to have a different and far higher significance. It was no longer to be regarded as part of a law of works, part of a servile duty rendered to a despot; it was now to be a spiritual sacrifice offered by spiritual men to a spiritual Father, capable with His blessing to be the means of strengthening and purifying the soul. Fitly, therefore, do we pray in the Collect for the First Sunday in Lent, that God would give us grace to use such abstinence, that, our flesh being subdued to the Spirit, we may ever obey His godly motions in righteousness and true holiness, to His honour and glory.
Mar. 2:17. Not the righteous, but sinners.A motley crowd met at Levis feast. There were men of his own classpublicans: the small district officers who collected the tolls and customs for the great officials over them, who farmed the taxes from the Roman Government; a greedy, extortionate set, whose main object in life was to fill their own pockets by cheating those above and blow them alike. There were others present even less savoury than these to the nostrils of the of Capernaumsinners: open transgressors who made no pretence of virtue, but sinned as it were with a cart-rope. With such companions, we are told, Jesus sat at meat. It was, then, we may be sure, no riotous feast. Jesus was not lending His countenance to their sinful ways. They had been induced to come to see and to hear this wonderful Teacher, and in His presence (depend upon it) they were subdued, restrained, softened. No one would take a liberty or say a vile word before Him. Christian charity would have rejoiced to see these people so changed, even if but for the time. Yet there were some near by who were terribly shocked at the sight. Instead of feeling glad that so many sinners were on the road to amendment through intercourse with Christ, they could only wonder that One so excellent would adventure Himself into such evil company, and run the risk of legal pollution in consequence. The great aim of most of these scribes and Pharisees, in passing through the world, was to hold aloof from everything and everybody that could contaminate them and render them ceremonially unclean. No wonder they were scandalised at the scene in Levis house, and exclaimed, How is it that He eateth and drinketh with publicans and sinners? They put their angry question to the disciples, but the Lord Himself took up the challenge and gave them their answer. They that are whole have no need, etc. They were silent. What could they reply? He whose conduct they presumed to criticise had come as a Physician of souls: the idea was quite new to them; they had never looked on publicans and sinners as people who could be cured: of course it was just such depraved persons that were most in need of a Physician. He had come to call sinners to repentance: certainly it was just people like those around Him that were most in need of such a call. They, the scribes and Pharisees, were the whole, the righteous: the Physician and the call were useless to them!
I. Who are the righteous whom Christ did not come to call?
1. The expression has been taken to denote those who had truly reformed their lives, and who carefully endeavoured to abstain from all known sin. But though this may be a very correct definition of righteousness in general, it scarcely applies here. Our Lord cannot have meant that there were persons living at that time to whom the call to repentancethe very watchword of Christianitywas altogether unnecessary; for we know that the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins was ordained to be preached to all men without exception.
2. There are two meanings which may be attached to the word righteous.
(1) It may have been used by Christ in a figurative sense, without any reference to the actual state of the world, and without even the supposition of there being any such persons as the righteous really in existence. Thus His meaning may have been: You ask Me why I associate with sinners. I answer, that My commission is to sinners. To them, and for them, I am sent. Righteousness is not the qualification required in those to whom I am carrying relief. The righteous, therefore, if such there be, are not included in My charge.
(2) It may have been intended to carry a reproachful admonition to the hearts of the self-justifying Pharisees. Yes, I do eat with publicans and sinners. Amongst them, whose guilt is confessed, and who make no pretence of sanctity, I may perhaps find the willing hearer, the patient learner, and the penitent disciple. But upon you whose hearts are blinded by conceitupon you whose minds are so fully occupied with admiration of your own perfections that there is no room for anything else,upon you My calls to repentance would be lost; and therefore to you they need not be addressed. Such an interpretation may seem inconsistent with the usual mildness of our Lords discourse; but it corresponds with the style which He seems to have invariably adopted in addressing the scribes and Pharisees, whose duplicity of character and affectation of sanctity excited His constant displeasure and drew down upon them His severest reprobation.
II. What is the repentance to which Christ came to call sinners?
1. Repentance is sorrow for sin. The true servant of Christ must ever feel a regret, a deep, abiding regret, that by his transgressions he has offended a God to whom he is so greatly indebted. This feeling will accompany him through life. He will never be found feeding his imagination with the fancied virtues of his heart, or the supposed graces of his conduct. If he does well, he thanks the God who enabled him to do it, and leaves it to that God to accept his humble servicenever forgetting that he has been, and is, a sinner.
2. Repentance is also amendment of life. He who regrets that he has sinned will follow up that regret with endeavours to sin no more. Fixing his gaze on the Divine standard of purity, he will strive unceasingly to attain to it. By that standard he will repress his passions, model his desires, guide his judgment, and correct his practice.
3. Repentance is, in short, a change of heart. The whole tide of the penitents affections is reversed. He loves what he formerly hated, and abhors that which was formerly his delight. Was he but lately captivated with the charm of sinful pleasures? They are now his abomination. Did he dislike and loathe the reasonable service of his Maker and Redeemer? He now finds in it his solace, his hope, and his ground of rejoicing.
4. But is repentance the same in all minds? Far from it. To him who has long held out against the kindly warnings of conscience, and resisted the gentle solicitations of the Spirit of grace, which would have led him into the path of peaceto him, in truth, repentance is a contest, a trial hard and sore, which may more appropriately be called a conversion. His very principles of action, and the whole temper of his mind, must undergo a complete transformation. But to the avowed and sincere servant of Christ, who has never broken loose from the hallowed circle in which he was placed at baptism, repentance is not a work of so violent a nature; it rather proceeds with the quiet tenor of a gentle stream, ruffled by an occasional unevenness. The mind of the faithful Christian needs not the severe penance of the hackneyed sinner; yet has it reason to be often looking back, confessing its errors, rectifying its conduct, and taking refuge in the Fountain opened for sin and for uncleanness.
III. Consider the necessity and reasonableness of repentance as a condition affixed to salvation.
1. God could not, consistently with every part of His Divine character, bestow eternal life on sinners without repentance. Wisdom, justice, compassion, holinessall the attributes of Deityare equally concerned in this work. No measure, therefore, however gracious in its tendency, must be adopted at the suggestion of one of these attributes which may by any possibility interfere with the free exercise of another. A God of mercy may forgive; but a God of wisdom, justice, holiness, must (so to speak) deliberate as to the manner and measure of His forgiveness. Scripture, therefore, in declaring repentance to be indispensably necessary to salvation, declares that which we can ourselves see to be alone worthy of the Great God, the Giver of all law, and the Just Judge of all the earth.
2. Could we conceive the Son of God, in His capacity of Mediator, interposing His merciful intercession between offended Majesty and unrepentant sinners? A mediator is bound as much to protect the honour of one party as to promote the interests of the other. How then could Jesus, with due regard for His Fathers dignity, plead for creatures who still persisted in their rebellion against Him? How could He present His own blood and His own righteousness in behalf of those who still delighted in the enormities which brought Him to the Cross? What would this be but to betray the honour of the Eternal Father, to prostitute the merits of His own death, and to defeat the whole end and purpose of His atonement?
3. The same truth is equally manifest with reference to the sinner himself. For without that alteration and improvement in temper and habits, which by the Holy Spirit is wrought in us through repentance, heaven itself would possess no attraction for fallen man. There would be an absolute contradiction between the nature of the happiness and the person to be admitted to it. The future life of glory is no scene of carnal or corporeal delightsno place of enjoyment for the senses. Its beauties are all of the moral kind; its pleasures such as the spiritually-minded, and none others, can appreciate. The objects of those pleasures are God, ourselves, and our fellow-creatures made perfect with us. The state of the soul will then be such as results from a virtuous and well-governed will, and a noble command of all the inclinations and affectionsfrom an exalted understanding, an enlarged knowledge of God, His attributes and works, and a perfect perception of His wonderful dispensations of wisdom and mercy towards His creaturesfrom the love of Him, and the ever-pleasing sense of being beloved by Him. This is to be happy, because this is to be good. The contrary statethe state of unrepented sinis misery, be ones outward circumstances what they may. Heaven itself could not remedy the evil. The one and only source of relief is a change of disposition, of principles, of practicesin one word, repentance.
OUTLINES AND COMMENTS ON THE VERSES
Mar. 2:14. LeviMatthew.There can be no question that the Levi of the Second and Third Gospels is the Matthew whom the First Evangelist mentions so modestly (Mat. 9:9). The previous occupation is the same; the call is the same, in time, place, manner, and result; the feast is the same, the guests and spectators, the questions and answers. That our Lord should have bestowed upon Levi the additional name Matthewgift of Godis in accordance with what we are told of most of the other apostles. Respecting his previous history we know nothing; but it is reasonable enough to suppose that, like Peter, Andrew, James, John, and Philip, he had been under the instruction and discipline of the Baptist, and so was not by any means indifferent to religion. For indications that there had been some unusual religious movement among the publicans as a class, see Mat. 21:31; Luk. 3:12-13; Luk. 7:29.
Sitting at the receipt of custom.
1. In business.
(1) Exacting more than is fair from employees.
(2) Bestowing too great assiduity on the amassing of wealth, to the detriment of both body and soul.
2. In general behaviour. Pride and ambitiondemanding obeisance and deference, instead of practising the virtues of humility and meekness.
3. In domestic concerns. Expecting all household arrangements to fit in exactly with ones own convenience or caprice.
4. In pleasure. Greedily pursuing things that cannot bestow lasting happiness.
Incidental services to men.There is here a lesson to us, that we are to be always on the outlook for the good of men whom we are passing by in the various ways of life. Whereever we see a man we see an opportunity of speaking a word for Christ, and of calling men to a higher life. Courage and prudence are equally required in the discharge of these incidental services. There is a modesty that is immodest, and there is a forwardness which is but the courage of humility.J. Parker, D.D.
The greatness of Divine grace, which can make of a publican an apostle.
1. According to Jewish traditionalism, the publican was an excommunicated person; but he is now called to assist in founding the communion of Christ.
2. He was an apostate from the people of God; but called to be one of the pillars of the Church of God.
3. He was an instrument of oppression; but becomes an instrument of glorious liberty.
4. He was a stumbling-block and a byword; but becomes a burning and a shining light.J. P. Lange, D.D.
Christs diligence an incentive to us.Gracious Lord, how diligent art Thou in doing good! how negligent are we in receiving it!who art fain to look us out, and often makest that which seems mere chance to be a blessed occasion to us of spiritual improvement and of eternal assurance, and turnest accidents into special instances of love and intimacy, if we do but as we should do, regard Thy goings, observe Thy looks, and obey Thy calls.A. Littleton, D.D.
The Divine call.God has created us by His power, and designed us by His wisdom, and preserves us by His mercy for greater and nobler ends than to serve the wicked world and sinful flesh; nor is He wanting by His grace to afford every one sufficient means for his spiritual conduct. He passeth by us often when we are not aware of Him; He looks upon us and we see Him not; and He calls us by checks of our own conscience, by motions of His Holy Spirit, and by the preaching of His Word: but we stop our ears against Him, and will not hear; and when He cries to us, Follow Me, we sit still and mind Him not. Oh, let us open our eyes to behold Him, our ears to hear Him, and our hearts to receive Him!Ibid.
Mar. 2:15. Levis feast.
1. The gratitude of the believing heart for the blessings of salvation will manifest itself in gifts to the Lord:Zaccheus; Mary of Bethany; the woman that was a sinner; Lydia; the converts on the day of Pentecost.
2. The earnest believer will not be ashamed to confess Christ before his former associates and fellow-workmen. The Church has great need of men like Hedley Vicars, who laid down his Bible on the mess room table in the presence of his brother-officers, as an unmistakable token of the change that had come over him.
3. The converted man will be anxious about the conversion of others. He goes forth as Christs soldier to win captives from the enemy. Naturally he begins the campaign nearest home.
4. The Christian religion, in order to accomplish its glorious mission, must descend to the most degraded, and by its own inherent power raise them up.
Mar. 2:17. Who are the righteous?A glance at a concordance will prove that both Old and New Testaments constantly speak of men as righteous. God loves to give us credit for being that which He foresees us capable of becoming, even though we have got only a few steps on the road as yet. The righteous are simply those whose intention is pure. Sinners we all are, and must be; but wilful sinners we need not be. We may have been thoughtless many a time, and, in consequence, surprised into folly and sin; but if we at once own and lament our frailty, He is not extreme to mark what is done amiss; and whilst by His grace we keep ourselves from presumptuous sin (Psa. 19:13) our names are enrolled among the righteous, and He imputes not our iniquities to us.
The Divine Physician.
1. Sin is sickness of the most dangerous kind.
2. Repentance is the first step towards the healing of the soul.
3. Christ is the souls Physician, for whose skill no case is too hard.
4. The more grave our state, the more anxious is Christ to restore us to spiritual health.
How to do good.From this answer we may see
1. Duty of doing good avowedlynot going about it in an indirect manner, as if we were making an experiment, but boldly and distinctly, approaching it with a set purpose of spending our best energy upon it.
2. We may see it to be our duty to go to those who are least cared for. We are only working in the line of the Saviours mission as we begin at the very lowest point in the social scale. We cannot do fundamental and permanent good by beginning at the top or in the middle; we must get down to springs and causes, we must begin at the very deepest point of human apostasy and work our way steadily upward; there is a temptation even in Christian work to stop short of the lowest depth of human necessity.
3. Jesus Christ shows it to be our duty to associate with those whom we seek to save: He sat with them, He talked to them, He asked them questions, He made Himself their personal friend, and so attained over them personal supremacy. This practice levels a deadly blow at the theory of doing good by proxy. It is comparatively easy to send other men on errands of mercy, but we are only working in Christs spirit in so far as we are prepared to go ourselves and openly identify our whole influence with the cause of fallen men. Where there is this intense personal consecration, there will, of course, be a disposition to engage as much co-operation as possible; our duty is to see that we do not find in co-operation an excuse for personal negligence.J. Parker, D.D.
ILLUSTRATIONS TO CHAPTER 2
Mar. 2:14. Attractive power of Christ.If steel filings be mixed with dirt and a magnet be applied, it will attract the steel to itself, and draw it away from the grosser particles. Thus does Christ draw men from that which is earthly and polluting.
Christ our Guide.With my brother I was once climbing the Cima di Jazi, one of the mountains in the chain of Monta Rosa. When nearly at the top, we entered a dense fog. Presently our guides faced right about and grounded their axes on the frozen snowed slope. My brother, seeing the slope still beyond, and not knowing it was merely the cornice overhanging a precipice of several thousand feet, rushed onward. I shall never forget their cry of agonised warning. He stood a moment on the very summit, and then, the snow yielding, he began to fall through. One of the guides, at great risk, had rushed after him, and seizing him by the coat, drew him down to a place of safety. So Christ is our Guide amid the mists and the difficult places of life. It is not ours to go before Him. Where He leads we may go. When He stops, we should stop. It is at our peril if we go a step beyond.Newman Hall.
God often calls men in strange places.Not in the house of prayer, not under the preaching of the Word; but when all these things have been absent, and all surrounding circumstances have seemed most adverse to the work of grace, that grace has put forth its power. The tavern, the theatre, the ball-room, the gaming-house, the race-course, and other similar haunts of worldliness and sin, have sometimes been the scenes of Gods converting grace. As an old writer says: Our calling is uncertain in respect of place, for God calls some from their ships, and some from their shops; some from under the hedges, and others from the market; so that if a man can but make out unto his own soul that he is certainly called, the time when and the place where matter little.
Christs effectual call.We read in classic story how the lyre of Orpheus enchanted with its music not only the wild beasts, but the very trees and rocks upon Olympus, so that they moved from their places to follow him; so Christ, our heavenly Orpheus, with the music of His gracious speech, draws after Him those less susceptible to benign influences than beasts and trees and stones, even poor, hardened, senseless, sinful souls. Let Him but strike His golden harp, and whisper in thy heart, Come, follow Me, and thou, like another Matthew, shalt be won.
Follow Me.Aulus Gellius tells us a story of one Protagoras, who, being poor, was forced for a livelihood to carry burdens. One day he had got some chumps on his back, which he was bringing to town for fuel. Democritus, a famed philosopher, meets him; admiring his contrivance, how he got that rude parcel of stuff together in that order, for his further satisfaction bids him lay down his bundle, untie it, and do it up again. He does so, and that with such method and artifice, that the philosopher perceiving by this essay he had a logical head and an ingeny fit for science, told him, Come, young man, you must along with me; you are fit for greater and better things than this you are about. He takes him along with him, maintains him, breeds him up in philosophy, wherein he proved subtle, and in some degree eminent. It was the same case with Matthew here, if I may make comparison. He was puzzling and pelting himself in a sorry employment. Our Saviour comes by and finds him sitting at it; He fetches him off with a gracious call, as if He had said, Come, leave this sordid and scandalous employ; I have greater and nobler service for thee. Follow Me.A. Littleton, D.D.
Mar. 2:15. Sinners drawn to Christ.Travelling along a country road on a hot summers day, you may have noticed the people before you turn aside at a certain point and gather around something that was yet hidden from you. You knew at once that it was a clear, cold spring that drew them all together there. Each of them wanted something which that spring could supply. Or you have seen iron filings leap up and cling to the poles of a magnet when it was brought near to them. The attraction of the magnet drew them to itself. So sinners were drawn to Jesus; they felt that in Him was all fulness, and that He could supply their need.
The converted seeking to convert others.It is thought that Matthew wished to introduce his friends and old companions to Christ. Colonel Gardiner, after his conversion, finding that his former friends considered him mad, invited them to meet him, and pleaded the cause of religion with such force and strength of reasoning, that one cut short the argument with saying, We thought this man mad, and he is in good earnest proving us to be so.
Mar. 2:16. Religious prejudice.Happily, in our age and country, though prejudice of class is not yet done away with, there is not much left to give an idea of the intensity of the religious prejudices and sectarian divisions of the ancient East. Giant Prejudice now can do little more than sit grinning at the pilgrims and biting his nails at them because he cannot come at them; and it is hard for modern occidental imagination to conceive of him as he moved and acted in full social and political power. But one example will do. Read Legers Histoire de Pimont, and learn the cruelty, brutality, and obscenity practised on the poor Waldenses; and then imagine how the Pharisees felt toward Jesus, who received sinners and ate with them. The lower the grade of knowledge and culture (and most of the Pharisees were probably illiterate), so much the more savage were the feelings and actions of the persecutors, though their cruelty was not refined in proportion to their savageness. In modern times this religious prejudice exists, and strongly too. There are certain sects still in Palestine and Syria who will buy and sell with you, but not eat with you, drink with you, nor pray with you. They are often the dirtiest of the dirty, but they hold your clean touch defilement. As when, in certain parts of India, one ventures to clear his throat in the street, all the shops near by are immediately shut up; so, in some places, an unlucky touch by a Christian will defile a handful of figs, a bunch of grapes, a melon; or perhaps even a whole basket of fruit.
Mar. 2:17. God welcomes sinners.As the story goes, a certain generous but eccentric nobleman sometimes asked not only the high-born and wealthy but the squalid and poor to his feasts. Previous to one of these occasions, a courtier had the misfortune to tear or to stain his dress. How was he to appear now at his benefactors table? After some thought he came to a wise conclusion. These were his words, If I cannot go as a nobleman I will go as a beggar. Say the same to Him who spreads the gospel feast. Never mind though you cannot go as a saint; go as a sinner. You will be welcome.
Christ saves sinners.Luther says: Once upon a time the devil said to me, Martin Luther, you are a great sinner, and you will be damned! Stop stop! said! I; one thing at a time. I am a great sinner, it is true, though you have no right to tell me of it. I confess it. What next? Therefore you will be damned. That is not good reasoning. It is true I am a great sinner, but it is written, Jesus Christ came to save sinners; therefore I shall be saved! Now go your way. So I cut the devil off with his own sword, and he went away mourning because he could not cast me down by calling me a sinner.
All are sinners.I remember a gentleman taking exception to an address based upon the words of God concerning Jew and Gentile, that both are guilty before God. I remarked, But the Word of God distinctly says, There is no difference: for all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God (Rom. 3:22-23). My friend replied, Do you mean to say that there is no difference between an honest man and a dishonest one, between an intemperate man and a sober man? No, I remarked; I did not affirm that there was no room for comparison between such cases; but my position is, that if two men were standing here together, one an intemperate man and the other a sober man, I should say of the one, This man is an intemperate sinner, the other is a sober sinner. My friend did not know how to meet the difficulty, but answered, Well, I dont like such teaching. Very quietly I replied, Then I will make some concession, and meet your difficulty. I will admit that many are superior sinners, and that you are a superior sinner. I shall not soon forget my friends expression of countenance when he had taken stock of the argument.Henry Varley.
Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell
6. THE CALL OF MATTHEW AND HIS FEAST 2:13-17
TEXT 2:13-17
And he went forth again by the seaside; and all the multitude resorted unto him, and he taught them. And as he passed by, he saw Levi the son of Alphaeus sitting at the place of toll, and he saith unto him, Follow me. And he arose and followed him. And it came to pass, that he was sitting at meat in his house, and many publicans and sinners sat down with Jesus and his disciples: for there were many, and they followed him. And the scribes of the Pharisees, when they saw that he was eating with the sinners and publicans, said unto his disciples, He eateth and drinketh with publicans and sinners. And when Jesus heard it, he saith unto them, They that are whole have no need of a physician, but they that are sick: I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.
THOUGHT QUESTIONS 2:13-17
82.
Why did Jesus do most of His teaching outside?
83.
Isnt it rather strange to read of a tax collector working by the Sea of Galilee? Explain.
84.
Was this the first meeting of Jesus with Matthew? How account for the immediate response?
85.
Why did Jesus go to eat at the home of Matthew? Be specific.
86.
Are we to conclude that the publicans and sinners were at the feast only because they followed Jesus?; or did they come by invitation?
87.
What was wrong with eating and drinking with publicans and sinners?
88.
Why ask the discipleswhy not ask Jesus?
89.
In the answer of Jesus was He being ironical in His reference to the well and the sick?
COMMENT 2:13-17
TIMEEarly Summer A.D. 28.
PLACENear the northern shore of Galileeon the road from Damascus as it entered Capernaum.
PARALLEL ACCOUNTSMat. 9:9; Luk. 5:27-28.
OUTLINE1. Teaching the multitude by the seaside, Mar. 2:13. 2. Matthew called from his work to follow Jesus, Mar. 2:14. 3. The feast in the home of Levi, Mar. 2:15. 4. The criticism of eating with sinners; the answer of Jesus, Mar. 2:16-17.
ANALYSIS
I.
TEACHING THE MULTITUDE BY THE SEASIDE, Mar. 2:13.
1.
The place where He had taught before.
2.
A great crowd present because of previous miracles.
II.
MATTHEW CALLED FROM HIS WORK TO FOLLOW JESUS. Mar. 2:14-17
1.
The place of toll was noticed by our Lord.
2.
Immediate response.
EXPLANATORY NOTES
I.
TEACHING THE MULTITUDES BY THE SEASIDE, Mar. 2:13.
Mar. 2:13. By the seaside. Our Lord often is found in the open air preaching to the multitudesespecially was this true beside the Sea of Galilee. There were many villages from which came the many people to hear Him.
II.
MATTHEW CALLED FROM HIS WORK TO FOLLOW JESUS. Mar. 2:14-17
Mar. 2:14. He saw LeviThere were many who fished in the lakeThere were many more who came in and out of the cityfrom all of these would Levi collect taxes. Jesus had already healed one leperhe is about to heal anothera social leper of the society of His day, Here was a Jew hired to collect taxes of his own people for the despised Romans. If such tax collectors were paid a common wage for their work it would have been scorned as an occupationbut when all knew they assessed beyond the amount prescribed and kept the overcharge for themselves it became a position of utter contempt. By Mark alone is he called the son of Alphaeus. There is no reason to suppose that this was any other Alphaeus than the one referred to in all the lists of the apostles where we have James, the son of Alphaeus. In three of the lists he stands next to Matthew and Thomas. Matthew and James are thus presumably brothers; and if, as is almost certain, Thomas was the twin brother of Matthew, Alphaeus was the father of three of the twelve. If the word brother is rightly supplied before of James in Luk. 6:16 (Judas the brother of James), he may have been the father of four.
We have no record of a previous acquaintance of Jesus on the part of Levi. We can assume the following: (1) He could have heard the preaching of Mar. 2:13. (2) One of his brothers could have introduced Jesus to him. (3) He could have been among the other publicans who were baptized by John (Luk. 3:12-13; Luk. 7:29). (4) Peter said the apostles were followers of Jesus from the baptismor baptizing of John (Act. 1:21-22).
We must conclude that when the words of Jesus Follow Me fell on his heart it was one prepared to receive them. Here was a hungry soul in the most unlikely of circumstancesbut then our Lord found several of thesewe think immediately of the woman at the well (Joh. 4:7-38).
Mar. 2:15. Jesus (he) sat at meat in his houseLuke tells us the feast was prepared by Matthew for Jesus (Luk. 5:29). We are not to conclude this event happened immediately after the calling of Levino time element is indicated. We ought to mark the difference in the readings of the King James Version and the American Standard. The name Jesus is supplied by the translatorsit is much more natural to refer this to Leviwho here in his own house is reclining at the table in the presence of Jesus and many others. Evidently Matthew wanted all publicans to hear and see what he had heard and seen. The publicans were at the feast by invitation as were undoubtedly the disciples of Jesus.
Mar. 2:16. The scribes and Phariseesa better translation would read the scribes of the Pharisees. This is the first mention of the Pharisees in Marks Gospel. They were a sect of separatists. The group began in the Maccabean period, in the second century before Christ. The Pharisees were trying to withstand the rising tide of Hellenism in Palestine. They stood strongly for close adherence to the law, including strict observance of all the ceremonial requirements. But like all such groups, the sect became more and more legalistic in its emphasis. (Earle) These scribes stood outside the house to ask this question of the disciples.
Mar. 2:17. They that are whole (strong). This was used ironically by Jesus to describe the Pharisees attitude about himselfsince he felt self sufficienthe need not concern himself over the work of the great physician.
They that are sicksurely even at the risk of contagion the physician must minister to the sick, If the Pharisees felt these publicans and sinners so much in need they could not object if someone attempted to help them.
not to call the righteous but sinners. Jesus plainly states His purposeHis work, His concern would be among sinnersHis callHis healing would be for themif this offended the Pharisees so be it!
FACT QUESTIONS 2:13-17
107.
Who would hear Jesus by the Sea of Galilee i.e. besides a few fishermen?
108.
Why did Levi have his place of toll by the Seaside? Why was he hated?
109.
Who were the brothers of Matthew?
110.
What are the possibilities of previous contact of Matthew with Jesus?
111.
Why was Levi so ready to follow?
112.
Who prepared the feastin whose house?
113.
Why did the Pharisees criticize Him?
114.
How did Jesus attempt to show the Pharisees their sin?
115.
Did Jesus infer there were some men who could not be helped?
Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series
31. MATTHEW CALLED, Mar 2:13-14 .
(See comment on Mat 9:9.)
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
‘And he went out again by the sea side, and the whole crowd were resorting to him and he was teaching them.’
Once again Mark draws our attention to Jesus’ popularity with the ordinary people. His growing outward success is one of his themes. And he does not fail to draw our attention to the fact that Jesus preaching ministry went on, for this was why He was sent (Mar 1:38). The tenses indicate that the people were constantly coming, and that He was constantly teaching them. It was an ongoing process.
The introduction is general. There is no direct connection with the previous incident, nor the next. The verse is slipped in simply to emphasise what has been said above, that Jesus’ popularity with the common people is growing apace.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
The Divine Physician Has Come to Make Men Whole (2:13-17).
The second great statement of this chapter is about the Great Physician, and is introduced by the call of Levi (Matthew). But we are not, of course, just to concentrate on the statement alone for the context is important, and indeed leads up to the statement. The call of four local fishermen to be disciples must have caused some surprise, but the call of a hated tax-collector and outcast must have been seen as staggering. It would have raised shocked horror in many Jewish hearts. And yet it exemplified fully what Jesus had come to do and be.
Analysis of 2:13-17.
a
b And as He passed by He saw Levi, the son of Alphaeus, sitting at the place where tolls were collected, and He says to him, “Follow me.” And he arose and followed Him (Mar 2:14).
c And it happened that He was sitting eating food in his house, and many tax collectors and sinners sat down with Jesus and His disciples (Mar 2:15 a).
d For there were many and they followed Him (Mar 2:15 b).
c And the Scribes of the Pharisees, when they saw that He was eating with the sinners and tax collectors, said to His disciples, “He eats and drinks with tax collectors and sinners” (Mar 2:16).
b And when Jesus heard it, He says to them, “Those who are whole do not need a medical doctor, only those who are ill” (Mar 2:17 a).
a “I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners”. (Mar 2:17 b).
Note that in ‘a’ He was teaching the crowds, while in the parallel we have the essence of what He was teaching them. In ‘b’ we have the description of one whom He calls, and in the parallel how He sums him up. In ‘c’ we find Jesus eating food with tax collectors and sinners, and in the parallel the judgment of the Scribes on it. Centrally in ‘d’ we have the important fact that many tax collectors and ‘sinners’ followed Him.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Jesus Calls Levi ( Mat 9:9-13 , Luk 5:27-32 ) Mar 2:13-17 gives us the account of Jesus calling Levi or Matthew, one of the twelve apostles, to forsake all and follow Him. Mark places emphasis upon the calling of the disciples as well as Jesus’ ministry of preaching the Gospel with signs following.
Fuente: Everett’s Study Notes on the Holy Scriptures
Jesus Faces Opposition As Jesus’ public ministry expanded from Capernaum to other cities throughout Galilee, the Jewish leaders began to publically question His actions. Jesus took these opportunities to teach on the principles of the Kingdom of Heaven.
Outline Here is a proposed outline:
1. Jesus Calls Levi Mar 2:14-17
2. Jesus Teachings On Fasting Mar 2:18-22
3. Jesus Teaches About the Sabbath Mar 2:23-28
4) Jesus Heals Man with Withered Hand Mar 3:1-6
Fuente: Everett’s Study Notes on the Holy Scriptures
The Calling of Levi and the Dinner at His House.
v. 13. And He went forth again by the seaside; and all the multitude resorted unto Him, and He taught them.
v. 14. And as He passed by, He saw Levi, the son of Alphaeus, sitting at the receipt of custom, and said unto him, Follow Me. And he arose and followed Him. The encounter with the scribes in no way diminishes the zeal of the Lord for the proclamation of the Gospel and for the performance of all the duties of His office. The crowd willingly fell back as He came forth, and eagerly fell in behind Him as He took His way toward the sea. And again He did His work as the great Teacher of the New Testament. As He then, in the intervals of His teaching, was walking along the great road that led from Capernaum toward the northeast, He passed by the booth of a customs collector, or, as the people were commonly called in Palestine, a publican. Palestine had been a province of the Roman Empire since tile year 67 B. C. The Roman officers that had charge of the collection of taxes had this somewhat disagreeable task performed by others, who did it for a consideration. The lowest tax-collectors, especially those engaged in exacting duties and customs, were cordially hated by the people. Now Capernaum was situated on the main caravan road between the West and the East, between the Mediterranean Sea and the city of Damascus. Traffic on this road was very heavy, and the consequent income from tariff was large. For every animal in the caravan a tax had to be paid, and the duty on imports ranged from 2 to 12 percent. There was also the disagreeable feature that a mere declaration of values was not considered sufficient. The officers personally unpacked the goods and made their calculations accordingly. No wonder the publicans were not popular, being engaged in such a disagreeable work, and for the Romans, the oppressors of the country, at that. And yet, Jesus stops at the booth of this man Levi, the son of Alphaeus, and bids the publican in charge follow Him. It is more than probable that Levi was already acquainted with Jesus, that he at least knew of Him, having been present, perhaps, at some of His sermons. At any rate, it was an effectual call. The Lord, by His Word, so influenced the heart and mind of this man, that he willingly gave up his work and became a disciple of Christ. And from this day he bore the name Matthew, in accordance with a Jewish custom, by which individuals assumed a new name upon the occasion of some critical occurrence in their lives, like Peter and Paul.
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann
Mar 2:13-17 . See on Mat 9:9-13 ; Luk 5:27-32 . Matthew deals with this in the way of abridgment, but he has, nevertheless, retained at the end of the narrative the highly appropriate quotation from Hos 6:6 (which Luke, following Mark, has not ), as an original element from the collection of Logia .
] out of Capernaum. Comp. Mar 2:1 .
] looks back to Mar 1:16 .
Mark has peculiar to himself the statements . as far as , but it is arbitrary to refer them to his subjective conception (de Wette, comp. Kstlin, p. 335).
Mar 2:14 . ] in passing along , namely, by the sea, by the place where Levi sat. Comp. Mar 2:16 .
On Levi ( i.e. Matthew) and Alphaeus , who is not to be identified with the father of James, [63] see Introd. to Matthew, 1. Hilgenfeld, in his Zeitschr. 1864, p. 301 f., tries by arbitrary expedients to make out that Levi was not an apostle.
Mar 2:15 . ] is understood by the expositors of the house of Levi. [64] Comp. Vulg.: “in domo illius. ” In itself this is possible, but even in itself improbable, since by just before Jesus was meant; and it is to be rejected, because subsequently it is said of those who sat at meat with Him, just as it was previously of Levi : . Moreover, the absolute ( to invite ), Mar 2:17 , which Matthew and Mark have, while Luke adds , appears as a thoughtful reference to the host , the on whose part will transplant into the saving fellowship of His kingdom. Accordingly, the account in Matthew (see on Mat 9:10 ) has rightly taken up Mark’s account which lies at its foundation, but Luke has not (Mar 5:29 ). It is not indeed expressly said in our text that Jesus went again into the city; this is nevertheless indirectly evident from the progress of the narrative ( . . . . .).
. . .] A statement serving to elucidate the expression just used: . . ., and in such a way that is prefixed with emphasis: for there were many ( . . .); there was no lack of a multitude of such people, and they followed after Jesus. Against the explanation of Kuinoel, Fritzsche, de Wette, Bleek: aderant , it may be at once decisively urged that such an illustrative statement would be unmeaning, and that may not be turned into a pluperfect. And mentally to supply with , as Bleek does: at the calling of Levi , is erroneous, because the narrative lies quite beyond this point of time.
Mar 2:16 . The corrected reading (see the critical remarks) is to be explained: and Pharisaic scribes when they saw , etc., said to His disciples . To attach this . . . . to the previous . (Tischendorf) is unsuitable, because , taken by itself alone, would be absolutely pleonastic, and because ., in accordance with the context, can only mean the following of adherents .
Respecting . . ., comp. on Mat 9:11 . Here the direct seeing (coming to Him) of the . is meant, not: cum intelligerent (Grotius and others, de Wette).
] quid est, quod , so that there needs to be supplied after , not (Schaefer, ad Bos. Ell. p. 591), but the simple . Comp. Luk 2:49 ; Act 5:4 ; Act 5:9 .
[63] A confusion that actually arose in very early times, which had as its consequence the reading (instead of ) in D, min., codd. in Or. and Vict. and codd. of It.
[64] Yet Bleek and Holtzmann have agreed with my view, and also Kahnis, Dogm. I. p. 409 f.
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
Second Conflict.The Eating with Publicans and Sinners. Mar 2:13-17
(Parallels: Mat 9:9-13; Luk 5:27-32.)
13And he went forth again by the sea-side; and all the multitude resorted unto him, and he taught them. 14And as he passed by, he saw Levi the son of Alpheus sitting at the receipt of custom, and said unto him, Follow me. And he arose and followed him. 15And it came to pass, that, as Jesus sat [reclined] at meat in his house, many publicans and sinners sat [reclined] also together with Jesus and his disciples; for there were many, and they followed him. 16And when the scribes and Pharisees saw him eat with publicans and sinners, they said unto his disciples, How is it that he eateth and drinketh with publicans and sinners? 17When Jesus heard it, the saith unto them, They that are whole have no need of the physician, but they that are sick: I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. 9
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
See on the parallels of Matthew and Luke.The narrative of Mark has here also its characteristic traits of vividness. A congregation of the people around Christ at the sea-side, and a discourse uttered there, form the introduction to the calling of Matthew. From Mar 2:15 we learn that many followed the Lord who belonged to the class of publicans and sinners (excommunicated persons). Meanwhile Matthew (Mar 9:13) alone has our Lords appeal to the saying of Hosea (Mar 6:6).
Mar 2:13. Forth (from the town), again (Mar 1:16) by the sea-side.Setting plainly before us the position of Capernaum, connected probably with the sea by a suburb of fishers huts and custom-houses.
Mar 2:14. Levi (see the explanation in Matthew) the son of Alpheus.Not to be confounded with Alpheus the father of James the Less.
Mar 2:15. In his house.Not in his own house, as Meyer thinks. See on Matthew. The must be understood of the spiritual following of the disciples, and not merely of outward accompanying.
Mar 2:16. When the Pharisees (see on Matthew) saw Him.Not coming into the house, which is improbable; but as observers of the feast, after which they came forward towards the disciples coming out.
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL
1. See on the parallels of Matthew and Luke.
2. The offence taken at our Lords table-fellowship with publicans and sinners has significance, first, in respect to Church principles as against Donatism and Novatianism; and, secondly, in relation to the true idea of communion as against Confessionalism; and, thirdly, in favor of Christian and social intercourse in opposition to the narrowness of Pietism.
3. The holy intercourse of Christ with sinners, the redemption of the world, is here represented in a concentrated image.
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL
1. See on Matthew.The multitude of the needy people gave the Lord occasion to summon helpers to Himself.Levi (Matthew) better than his reputation: a warning against all premature condemnation of our neighbor.How different is the glance of our Lords eyes into the world from that of the Pharisees eyes!Christ in the house of publicans and sinners an offence to the Pharisee; Christ in the house of the Pharisee was not strange and repulsive to sinners (the woman, Luk 7:37): 1. Historical; 2. typical.The feast in which Christ is a guest.The feasts in which Christ was a guest all-saving and decisive for souls.The slavish dread with which our Lords enemies come to attack His disciples.The attempt of His enemies to turn away His disciples from the Lord.The narrative of the gradual boldness of our Lords opponents: 1. The features of its development; 2. its symbolical character.The mission of Christ a Gospel for sinners, who are in evil case: 1. For them with full assurance; 2. for them preminently, and before those who think themselves sound; 3. for them in contradistinction to the others.Jesus come for all, according to the law that He has come only for the sick.The feast of Christ an expression of His Gospel.The feast of a Christian an expression of his Christian vocation.How this history stands in full harmony with Psa 1:1.
Starke, Quesnel:Grace draws Matthew from the love of gold, and makes of him an apostle; the love of gold drew Judas away from Christ and his apostleship.Hedinger:As soon as God is revealed in thee, take no long counsel with flesh and blood.Jesus receiveth sinners.A converted man should bring all his acquaintance to God, and take care for their salvation.Those are shameful enemies of the truth, who put on the guise of godliness but deny its power.Quesnel:He who has not love cannot understand what another may do in care for his neighbors salvation.Be patient, and slow to judgment, 1Co 4:3.That in which the children of God find their joy and blessedness is hateful to the wicked.The more a man thinks himself righteous, the further does he remove himself from Christ.Jesus calls to repentance.We must bring into the pastoral work a heart filled with true sympathy with the wretched, and with Jesus the Physician.
Gerlach:Every invitation to a feast was for Jesus an occasion for issuing His invitation to the heavenly feast.Lisco:Jesus the one Physician for all.Schleiermacher:The Pharisees a pure counterpart of the publicans.The calling to repentance (that is, to change of mind) the essence of the work of Christ.He describes them (the Pharisees) as they described themselves; but in such a manner that they could not but see that He thought quite differently concerning them (irony).We should always, in our friendly social life, have spiritual things in view.
[9]Mar 2:17.The addition is found only in cursive MSS., after Luk 5:32.
Fuente: A Commentary on the Holy Scriptures, Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical by Lange
(13) And he went forth again by the sea side; and all the multitude resorted unto him, and he taught them. (14) (11 And as he passed by, he saw Levi the son of Alpheus sitting at the receipt of custom, and said unto him, Follow me. And he arose and followed him. (15) And it came to pass, that, as Jesus sat at meat in his house, many publicans and sinners sat also together with Jesus and his disciples: for there were many, and they followed him. (16) And when the scribes and Pharisees saw him at with publicans and sinners, they said unto his disciples, How is it that he eateth and drinketh with publicans and sinners? (17) When Jesus heard it, he saith unto them, They that are whole have no need of the physician, but they that are sick: I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.
We had the relation of the call of Levi, or Matthew, in the preceding Gospel, See Mat 9:9 . to which I refer for the observations also. I only again beg the Reader to remark, the wonderful properties of distinguishing grace. Say what men will concerning it, the truth itself stands where it always did, and always will. For, saith the HOLY GHOST, by his servant Paul, in the case of Jacob and Esau, the children being not yet born, and neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose of GOD, according to election, might stand; not of works, but of him that calleth, it was said, the elder shall serve the younger; as it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated. Rom 9:11-13 ; Mal 1:2-3 . Hence Matthew, Mary Magdalene, the Thief on the cross, and multitudes have found CHRIST who sought him not; while Israel hath not obtained that which he seeketh for. Rom 11:7 . What decided testimonies to the doctrine of distinguishing grace?
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
III
PART III
THE TRANSFIGURATION
Harmony, pages 92-94 and Mat 17:1-13
The transfiguration of Jesus is one of the most notable events of his history. The occasion which called forth the event the wonderful facts of the event itself the manifest correlation of these facts with both the near and the remote past, and the near and distant future the primary and multiform design of this event, and the secondary important lessons which may be deduced from it, all conspire to make it notable. The history of the whole case may be gathered from what are called the Synoptic Gospels, that is, Matthew, Mark, and Luke, and from the references to the event by two out of the three witnesses, Peter and John. James, the other eyewitness, was prevented by an early martyrdom from leaving any record. We find an account of his death in Act 12 . He was put to death by Herod. So these are the five historians of the transfiguration. In discussing the subject of the transfiguration, let us consider:
1. The occasion. From the context in Matthew, Mark, and Luke we group in order the following facts, which, taken as a whole, constitute the occasion of the transfiguration:
First fact: While the people generally had vague and conflicting views of the person and mission of Jesus, his immediate disciples had now reached a definite and fixed conclusion that he was the divine Messiah, and had publicly confessed that faith near Caesarea Philippi.
Second fact: On this confession of their faith in his messiahship, he began for the first time to openly and plainly show that the Messiah was to be a suffering Messiah; that he must die; that he must die an ignominious death; that he must die under the condemnation of the supreme court of their nation.
Third fact: At this plain revelation of his death their faith staggers. It is both an inexplicable and abhorrent thing to them. It so deeply stirred them that, through Peter, they present the strongest possible protest. Peter says, “Mercy on thee, Lord, it shall never be.” They, while believing him to be the Messiah, wanted a living, conquering Messiah, with a visible, earthly, triumphant kingdom and jurisdiction.
Fourth fact: He sharply rebukes this protest, as satanic in its origin as coming from the devil, and it had originally come from the devil. Now, one of his own apostles comes as a tempter. As if he had said, “You are a stumbling block to me. You quote the very sentiments of the devil, when you would beguile me from the cross to accept an earthly crown.” He then adds that to take that view of it is to think men’s thoughts and not God’s thoughts. He says, “You are minding the things of men and not the things of God when you present such a view as that to me.”
Fifth fact: Whereupon, after his turning sharply away from Peter, he calls up the whole multitude to hear with his disciples, the great spiritual and universal law of discipleship, and perhaps it will stagger some to hear it, if they take it in. What was it? Absolute self-renunciation the taking up daily of the cross upon which one is appointed to die, and the following of Christ; carrying the cross even unto the death which is appointed. We have such low conceptions of self-denial. We count it self-denial if we want a little thing and do not get it. We count it cross-bearing if some little burden is put on us and we bear it. That is not the thought in this connection at all. “If any man, whether he be an apostle or anybody else if any man would be my disciple, he must have absolute self-renunciation, and he must take up every day the cross upon which he is appointed to die, and he must follow me, bearing that cross even unto the appointed death.” He assured them that a man must not be merely willing to suffer temporal death, if an occasion should arise not at all such a mere contingency but he must actually lose temporal life in order to find eternal life. He must do it. He must lose temporal life to find eternal life, and then puts it to them as a supreme business question of eternal profit and loss. In that very connection he says, “What will it profit a man if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul, and what will a man give in exchange for his soul?” It is the universal law of discipleship, from which there is no exception. No Christian can escape crucifixion. The reference is to our sanctification. We not only die judicially on the cross in Christ our substitute (Col 3:2 ), but we must actually “put to death our members which are upon the earth” (Col 3:5 ). I say this is a universal law: “If ye through the Spirit do mortify [put to death] the deeds of the body ye shall live” (Rom 8:13 ). Our sanctification consists of both death and life. The old man must die. The new man must be developed. Paul died daily. In putting on the new man we put off the old man. Our baptism pledges us both to death and life. ‘ In our progressive sanctification the Holy Spirit reproduces in every Christian the dying of our Lord, as well as his living. In every Christian “a death experience runs parallel with his life experience.” Not only Paul must fill up “that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in his flesh, for his body’s sake, which is the church” (Col 1:24 ), but all of us must have fellowship with his sufferings. We must suffer with him if we would reign with him. The lamented Dr. Gordon quotes this remarkable passage: “The church is Christian no more than as it is the organ of the continuous passion of Christ.” Yes, it is no possible contingency, but a universal fact we must take up the cross. We must lose our life to find it.
Sixth fact: The solemnity of this occasion was deeply intensified by his announcement of his second coming in power and great glory for the final judgment of all mankind according to their decision of that question which he had presented. All this comes just before the transfiguration. After announcing to them his death; after rebuking other conceptions of the messiahship; after presenting the great universal law of discipleship; now he says, “For the Son of man shall come in his glory, with his angels, and shall reward every man according to his doings.”
Seventh, and last, fact: Mark it well. Then follows the startling announcement that some of them standing there should never taste of death until they saw this second coming.
These seven facts, taken as a whole, constitute the occasion of the transfiguration of Jesus Christ. Let us restate them: (1) That while the world had vague and conflicting ideas of his person and missions, his immediate disciples had reached the conclusion that he was the divine Messiah, and had publicly confessed that faith. (2) That upon that public confession he commences for the first time plainly and openly to show that this Messiah must be a sufferer and must die. (3) They indignantly and abhorrently repudiate that conception of the Messiah. (4) He rebukes their protest as coming from the devil. (5) He announces the great law of discipleship, that no man could be a disciple of Jesus Christ without absolute self-renunciation, and without taking up every day the cross upon which he was appointed to die, and following Jesus even unto the appointed death, and that it was simply a question of business a supreme business question of profit and loss, and they had to decide one way or the other. “If you prefer to find your life, you will lose it; if you prefer to lose your life, you will find it; if you want to take this world, you will lose your own soul; if you want to save your soul, you must renounce the world.” Just that, no less and no more. (6) He announces his second coming in power and glory, as a final judge to determine the destiny of men upon this solitary question: “Did you lose your life for my sake?” (7) The still more startling announcement that some people some of those to whom he was speaking would never taste death until they saw his second coming. That these seven facts, considered as a whole, do in some way constitute the occasion of the transfiguration, is to my mind incontrovertible. Some of the most convincing reasons for the conclusion may be stated.
First: In all the histories the account of the transfiguration follows immediately after the record of these events without & break in the connection. No event of the intervening week is allowed to separate the two transactions. Now, that three historians should, without collusion, follow this method, seems to establish a designed connection between these facts and the transfiguration which followed.
Second: The disheartening protest of the disciples against his position and in favor of the common Jewish idea of an earthly kingdom, would naturally so depress the humanity of Jesus that he himself would need some marvelous encouragement from heaven and would seek it in prayer.
Third: From the same sad cause, it would be necessary that some compensating revelation of future glory must be shown to the disciples in order to make them bear up under the hard condition of present discipleship, and under the awful thought of separation from him by death.
Fourth: It cannot be a mere coincident that the transfiguration is calculated to so exactly supply these things the encouragement to Jesus and compensation to the disciples, both for the death of Jesus and for the hard terms of present discipleship.
2. The event. Such being the occasion, then, let us reverently approach the wonderful transaction itself. The scene cannot have been at Mount Tabor in Lower Galilee, as tradition would have us believe. While it is not now necessary to show how insuperable are the objections to Mount Tabor as the place, yet it is important to note, by the way, that little reliance can ever be placed on the exact localities of great events in the New Testament, as indicated by tradition, because the inspired record oftentimes designedly and wisely leaves them indeterminate. It is not small proof of inspiration by him who knew the superstitions of men, and would provide no food to feed it on. Christ left neither autograph nor portrait to be worshiped as relics. None of the historians even/ hint at a personal description of Jesus. We know absolutely nothing of the color of his eyes or hair. Absolutely nothing of his height or size. Worshipers of shrines, relics, and souvenirs derive no sort of help or encouragement from the New Testament. The scene of the transfiguration was evidently near Caesarea Philippi, and on some mountain spur of the Hermon range. It could not have been anywhere else from the circumstances going before and after the event. The time is night, somewhere about seven months before his crucifixion. The object is prayer in some lonely private place. His companions are Peter, James, and John. It must have been an all-night prayer meeting, for they did not come down from the mountain until the next day, and it is stated that the three disciples were heavy with sleep, as on a later and more solemn occasion, these very three men succumbed to the spirit of sleep, through the weakness of the flesh. The original here, however, would lead us to infer that they forced themselves to remain awake, notwithstanding their strong inclination to sleep, and now, late in the night, struggling against an almost irresistible desire to sleep, but yet their gaze fixed upon their Master, who is yet praying, they behold a sight that drives sleep utterly away. What do they see? A wonderful sight indeed; earth never saw a more wonderful one. Mark you, it is no vision or dream. With the use of their natural senses, sight and hearing, being fully awake, they became the wit- nesses of three distinct remarkable supernatural events. These three things are: first, the transfiguration of Jesus; second, the glorified forms of Moses and Elijah; third, the luminous cloud symbol and the voice of the eternal God. Now, let us consider separately each one of these things:
“Transfiguration: what does the word mean? The word means to transform to change the form or appearance. In what respect was the appearance or form of Jesus changed? It was this: It is in the night; it is on that lonely mountaintop; and while they look at him, he begins to shine as from a light within. The light seems to struggle through him. He seems to become translucent, and his whole body becomes luminous, as if it were a human electric jet, and the light is white whiter than any fuller on earth could make it, and his face is brighter than the shining of the sun at midday. Let us carefully collate the several records: Matthew says, “And after six days Jesus taketh with him Peter, and James, and John, his brother, and bringeth them up into a high mountain apart.” Mark says, “They went up into that mountain to pray.” There are the four separating themselves from all the others and going up into that high mountain to hold a prayer meeting. Luke then says, “And as Jesus was praying, the fashion of his countenance altered,” or, as Matthew says, “His face did shine as the sun and his garments became as white as light,” or, as Mark says, “And his garments became glistering, exceeding white, so as no fuller on earth could whiten,” and, as Luke says, “His raiment became white and dazzling.” We notice that two things are referred to, first, the fashion of his countenance, and second, the shining of his garments. Jesus becomes as a pillar of fire to them, as they look at him. That is the first thing they saw that night. Then suddenly there is an interview held with him. Those who come to hold the interview with him are not from hell; they are not from earth. He has gone up on that mountaintop and implored the Father for something. As a result of his prayer, an interview is held with him. Who comes to hold that interview with him? The two most remarkable men of the past: the representative of the law, and the representative of prophecy Moses, the great law-giver, and Elijah, the greatest of the prophets. These three witnesses could instinctively, by spiritual intuition, recognize them. Of course, they had never personally known them, but it was given to them to recognize them. And what do they look like? They are also in glory; they are luminous. There are the three shining bodies together, and they enter into conversation they are talking. What are they talking about? Now, mark the occasion. Jesus had said to his disciples, “I go up to Jerusalem to die. I must die. There is a’ necessity that I should die, and these disciples abhorred the thought that I should die. Oh, Father, show them by some way that I must die. Is there no one in the past whose evidence would avail?” Out from the past comes Moses and says, “Jesus, I came to talk to you about your death.” Out from the land of the prophets comes Elijah and he says, “Jesus, I came to talk to you about your death.” The law says the substitute of the sinner must die. Moses comes from the other world, representing the law, saying to the substitute of the sinner, “You must die.” Elijah says, “You must die.” Every voice from the prophets calls for the death of the Messiah. “And they come to talk to him about his death” his death that should take place at Jerusalem. Suppose Moses had said this: “Jesus, I died on Mount Nebo. No man on earth knows where my bones are resting. Unless you die, that body will never be raised, never, never.” Suppose Elijah had said: “Jesus, I escaped death as to my body. I was translated. I was carried up to heaven, and am now enjoying in both soul and body the blessed glories of the eternal world, upon your promise to die. That promise must be redeemed. I am in heaven on a credit the credit is on your promise to pay. You must die.” “They talked with him concerning his/ death at Jerusalem.”
They are now about to leave. They have had their interview, and they are going back, and just as they are about to depart. Peter is terribly frightened, but they never could put Peter in a place where he would not say something. Peter sees that the guests are about to leave, although trembling with apprehension, and not knowing what he did thinking, however, that he ought to say something, as if he had said, “Lord, they intend to go,” and in the original it does not say, let us build three tabernacles; it says, “Lord, I will build three tabernacles, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.” Now, while Peter said that, there came the third wonderful thing, and the only time that it ever was seen in the New Testament dispensation, though it had often been seen in the earlier days the cloud symbol of God. How did the cloud symbol of God appear? If it was in the daytime, it appeared as a beautiful pillar of cloud; if it was the nighttime, it appeared as a pillar of fire. Now, the old-time drapery of God, the fire cloud, that had not been witnessed since far off Old Testament days that fire cloud came down and wrapped Moses and Elijah and Jesus in its folds of light. As it wrapped them, there leaped from its bosom, as leaps the lightning from the clouds, a voice: “This is my beloved Son: hear ye him.” And they fell as if lightning had struck them. Fear had taken possession of them from the beginning; their apprehensions had grown more and more demoralizing from the very beginning of the supernatural manifestation, but when this voice spoke this voice of God, they fell on their faces; they could not bear to face that burning cloud and to hear that awful voice, and there they lie, as still as if dead, until Jesus comes and stoops over them, and touches them, each one, and says: “Do not be afraid,” and they rise up and the cloud is gone, and Moses and Elijah are gone. Now, these are the things they witnessed three entirely distinct things: The transfiguration of Jesus; the glorified appearance of Moses and Elijah; the fire cloud, which was the symbol of the divine presence, and the audible Voice. Such were the wonderful facts of the event. Now comes the next question:
3. The design What was meant by the transfiguration? We go back and look at it to see if we can gather there the design. We take the testimony of the men who actually witnessed these transaction, in order to get the design. Let’s see what that is. First, he had said that there were some people there that should never taste death until they saw the coming of the Son of man until they saw the second coming of the Son of man until they saw the kingdom of God come with power. Unquestionably that is what he said: that there were some people there that should never taste death until they saw the second coming of Jesus Christ. Let’s see what one of the witnesses says about this. I cite the testimony of Peter: “For we have not followed cunningly devised fables, when we made known unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of his majesty. For he received from God the Father, honor and glory when there came such a voice to him from the excellent glory, This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased. And this voice which came from heaven we heard, when we were with him in the holy mount.” Now mark what Peter says, that in preaching to these people that Christ would come again the second time with power and great glory and as a final judge, he had not followed a cunningly devised fable, but he preached what he had witnessed; that he, on Mount of Transfiguration, had gazed upon the second coming of Christ in some sense, in whatever sense that might be. He had seen it. He was an eyewitness of the power and majesty of that second coming. Let’s see what J John said about it. He was the other witness. In Joh 1:14 , and in the parenthesis of that verse, we have this: “And we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father.” When did John see his glory, as of the only begotten of the Father? The glory of Christ always in the New Testament when spoken of in its fulness, is that glory which shall attend him when he comes the second time. The first time he came without glory; he came in his humiliation. The second time, he comes in glory, as we learn from Mat 24 : “The Son of man shall come in all of his glory, and all of his holy angels with him, and then shall he sit on the throne of his glory.” John says that he, with others witnessed the glory of Jesus Christ, as of the only begotten of the Father. He saw it, and like Peter, he saw it on the Mount of Transfiguration. As a further proof of it, in Joh 12:24 we have an account of Jesus praying, and he says, “Father, glorify me,” and instantly that same voice says, loud as thunder, “I have glorified thee, and will glorify thee.” So that the glory that they witnessed was in some sense the glory of the second Coming of Jesus Christ. It was a miniature representation of the power and glory that would be displayed when he does come an anticipatory scene presenting to the ye on a small scale that great and awful event in the future.
When Jesus does come, every living Christian will instantly be transfigured. He will take on the resurrection body. He will take on a glorified body just as Elijah and Enoch did. As Paul puts it: “Behold I show you a mystery; we shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump; for the trumpet shall sound and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?” Here was Elijah, the type and representation of that work. Here was Elijah, who without death, by the transfiguring power, had been carried up to heaven. Here he was talking to Jesus.
There is another thing that will take place when Jesus comes. The dead will be raised. The bodies that have been buried and turned to dust are to be reanimated and “are to be glorified in one moment of time. Corruption puts on incorruption; mortality puts on immortality; sleep changes to waking; and the dead rise up and are glorified in the twinkling of an eye. As Paul again puts it: “But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord, shall not prevent them which are asleep. For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God; and the dead in Christ shall rise first. Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air, and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words.” Here is Moses representing that thought. Moses died; he did not escape death like Enoch and Elijah. Moses died, and no man has ever been able to tell where he was buried. The devil tried to take possession of his body, but here in this transfiguration scene appears Moses glorified as Elijah is glorified. In type, these represent the two great displays of divine power at the second coming of Jesus Christ, and they are the very two that are needed to be brought to bear on the discouraged heart of the disciples who have been informed that Jesus will die.
They wanted a living Messiah. They wanted an earthly king. To say that he will die means the loss of everything to them. They have not yet looked over the border. Now, how can a revelation be given to them that will compensate them for the awfully disheartening effect of the announcement that their Messiah must die? Why, in order to compensate them, there must be some revelation of the future. They must have an insight into the things which shall be. The curtains must be drawn aside. They must look beyond death. They must see into the spirit world. They must see samples of heavenly glory that are to be brought about by the death of Christ, and as they gaze upon that transfiguration of Jesus, which pledges the resurrection of his body when he dies, they can understand that death; and when they see the forerunner of his death in Moses and Elijah, as types of classes, and can thereby look to the end of time and see all the sleeping bodies brought to life, and the living Christians changed if anything on earth is calculated to remove their depression, that scene is certainly calculated to remove it.
I venture to say that every Christian has become at times disheartened and depressed when he looked at the sacrifices that have to be made in order to be a Christian; when he looked at the stern and unrelenting laws of discipleship absolute self-renunciation absolutely, a man must deny himself. When one denies Christ, what does that mean? “I will not have him to rule over me.” Now, when we deny self, what does that mean? “I absolutely abjure thee, O self, as the ruler of my life. I repudiate thee, self. I have another King.” When we take up these duties and requirements, that is the start only, but every day of our lives requires us to see to it that self is crucified; that the body shall be mortified; that the deeds of the flesh shall be crucified; that they shall be put to death. When we daily take up that cross, and know that this must go on as long as we live, even up to the very time that we die, where is the compensation? It is in this: If I do not renounce self, if I do not follow Christ to crucifixion, I will ultimately lose self. I will lose my soul. This supreme business question comes up before me for decision: Shall I gain the world and lose myself, or shall I save myself and lose the world? Now, to help a man on that; to help him to decide rightly; to take away from him any discouragement, and the disheartening depression, what can do it so forcibly as to bring him up on a mountain and cause him by night, in the loneliness of its solemn hours, to witness an interview with the glorified spirits that have passed out of earth’s sorrows and pains and disappointments, and now in the midst of the blessedness which is theirs forever. It is to bring him where he can see the ordinarily closed doors of the arching heavens open, and down through the opening the light of the eternal world transfigures everyone upon whom it shines, and looking at that he will say, “Oh, self, die; oh, world, you shall not be my master. Jesus, I am coming; I follow; I take up the cross. I carry it to the place where I must die the appointed death on the appointed cross. I accept it for Christ’s sake.” So the transfiguration fits the occasion of it by meeting the needs of the disciples.
Let us now see if that design of the transfiguration met the need of Christ. Oh we must remember that he had humanity, that, he could not help feeling terribly discouraged when these, his chosen disciples, the witnesses of his power, at this late day in his ministry, while they had clearly recognized him as the divine Messiah, yet did not recognize him as a suffering Messiah, and still clung with old Jewish ideas to the thought of an earthly conquering king. How it must have disheartened him! Then, we remember that from the beginning he saw his death, but as he neared it, the shadows on his brow had deepened, and the depressing effect of it weighed him down more and more as he got closer to it, at every approach of it, feeling more and more the anguish of it, and now with these thoughts upon him, he had spent so much time and labor, his loneliness, his solitariness oppresses him, and he wants to pray. He wants to get alone and pray; and on that mountain top he prays: “Oh, Father, nobody down here understands me, nobody, not even my disciples; send me sympathy, send me some revelation that shall cheer and sustain me; let somebody from the upper world come and talk with me here on the edge of the battlefield, where I am breast- ing the tide by myself.” And he prays until the glory of God in him bursts through the opaqueness of the flesh and makes translucent, and he is glorified by his importunate prayer. And the Father comes down from heaven, comes in a drapery of clouds, comes in his drapery of fire, and wraps around with its folds of light the dear Redeemer, and speaks to him. “My Son, my beloved Son, my chosen One on earth, hear him! Hear him! Hear him I Not Moses, not Elijah, hear the Son of God.” That strengthened him, and he went back to his burden with lighter heart. That is what I understand to be the design of the transfiguration.
4. Its relations See how the facts of that transfiguration correlate themselves with the near and the remote past and with the near and the remote future.
The facts of the transfiguration reached right over and took hold of the scene of that confession at Caesarea Philippi; they go on back until they touch the prophetic days and grasp the hand of Elijah; they go on back to the days of Israel in the wilderness and take the hand of Moses; they go on back until they touch the first promise of mercy in Eden. Then they go forward until they touch the death in Jerusalem. They touch the resurrection after that death; they reach through the silent centuries of the unborn future and take hold of the second coming; they speak of hovering angels and heavenly glory, and open graves, and the white throne of the judgment, correlating with all the past, and correlating with all the future, harmonizing law and prophecy and gospel; showing that in Jesus, they all meet in perfection, and also showing that in Jesus is the redemption of all the world.
Such is the relation of the transfiguration to the past and present and future.
“Say nothing about it; say nothing about ill” Well, why say nothing about it? “Do not tell it now; wait until I am dead; wait until I have risen from the dead; and when I have risen from the dead you may tell this story, and it will fit into the resurrection so that no man will disbelieve it. If you tell it now they cannot understand it, but wait until I have risen and then it will instantly appear to men to be a miniature resurrection scene.”
I have thus presented to you what I conceive to be: (1) the occasion of the transfiguration; (2) the wonderful facts of the event itself; (3) the design of that event; (4) the correlation of that event with the past and with the future, and now what are its lessons for us?
5. Its lessons for us. There is one thing about a pastor that a congregation never can understand never can, and that is his concern that the congregation may get upon a higher plane of Christianity. Sometimes it is like a stroke of death. What kind of Christians are we? What kind of self-denial do we now exhibit? What kind of cross-bearing? What kind of discipleship? What kind of decision of the question of profit and loss? And after intense agony, I pray, “Oh, God, multiply the number that will make a full renunciation of self.” We ourselves know that the majority of church members are walking on the edge only of practical Christianity; just on the edge of it. Oh, the value of the spiritual power that will come upon all who will utterly decide the question who will truly say: “I am God’s all over. He is Lord of all my time, and all my money and all of my life.” Now and then we find a few that will come up to that just a few. In view of the low grade of present Christianity, the very few that attain the gift of the Spirit, what is it that keeps pastors from being discouraged? From being utterly disheartened? What is it that keeps despair from spreading her mantle of gloom over his pulpit and over his heart? What is it that keeps away the howling wolves, and the ill-boding owls and ravens, that creeping or swooping from the plutonian shores of night, croak and howl their prophecies of evil? What is it? It is that every now and then he gets on some mount of transfiguration, where after long prayer; where after reconsecration; where after offering up himself and his soul and his body to God Almighty, the heavens open and show him the glorious future, so beautiful, so shining, so near, so enchanting, so drawing, so thrilling, that he goes back, and says, “Well, I can stand anything now.” And every now and then God comes so to a church. He did to us, once, while I was pastor in Waco. He did rend the heavens and come down. The fire cloud was on the church. Heaven was near to us. We saw it. We felt it. Its glory could be touched, and under the power of that revival, earth seemed little and insignificant, and all of its claims were DO more than thistledown on the breath of the storm.
O that our children some dark night, awfully dark night, should be up on a spiritual mountain and see a fire church, see a translucent church, a church in touch with angels, a church hearing heavenly voices, a church wrapped in the great fire symbol of God, then might they believe and receive in their trusting hearts an impression that would affect forever and forever their life.
Shall we not pray that God may cause us to take a solemn look at that universal and spiritual and absolute law of discipleship? “If any man would be my disciple, let him renounce himself, take up his cross and follow me. He that loses his life for my sake shall find it.” “What shall it profit a man if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul?” O Lord, we are in the valley just now. Its shadows are as the shadows of death. Lead us, we pray thee, for a little while up to the top of the Delectable Mountains, from whose unclouded summits we may catch again the inspiring, transfiguring view of the Heavenly City. Thus reassuring our desponding hearts, and refreshing our weary minds, we may resume our pilgrimage in hope of speedily arriving at our heavenly home.
QUESTIONS
1. What things conspire to make the transfiguration a notable event?
2. What are the sources of its history and import?
3. What facts constitute its occasion?
4. What reasons assigned for the conclusion?
5. What was the scene of this event and what left in doubt by the inspired record? Illustrate.
6. What was the time?
7. What was the object of the going on this mountain?
8. Who were Jesus’ companions?
9. What were the events while on the mountain leading up to the transfiguration?
10. Was what they saw a dream or vision?
11. What were the three distinct, supernatural events which they saw here?
12. What is the meaning of the word “transfiguration”?
13. Describe this transfiguration of Jesus.
14. What two Old Testament characters appear in interview here with Jesus, how were they recognized by Peter, James, and John and what was the bearing on the question of heavenly recognition?
15. What was the subject of their conversation, what were the circumstances which led up to it, what was the bearing of the work of Moses and Elijah on this subject, respectively, and how illustrated in each case?
16. What was Peter’s proposition and why?
17. What Old Testament symbol reappeared here and what was its special significance?
18. What voice did they hear and what was its import?
19. What was the design of this incident?
20. What was Peter’s testimony? What was John’s?
21. What was the significance of the appearance of Elijah here and how does this correlate with the New Testament teaching on this thought?
22. What was the significance of the appearance of Moses here and how does this thought correlate with New Testament teaching?
23. What was their conception of the Messiah and what was the bearing of this incident on that conception?
24. What was the requirement of discipleship and what was the bearing of this incident on it?
25. Show that the design of the transfiguration met the need of Christ just at this time.
26. What was probably Christ’s prayer here on this occasion and how does this fit the idea of his need at this time?
27. How do the facts of the transfiguration correlate themselves with the past and the future?
28. What charge did our Lord give his disciples relative to this incident & why?
29. What are the lessons of the transfiguration for us?
30. What illustration of this transfiguration power from the life of the author?
Fuente: B.H. Carroll’s An Interpretation of the English Bible
13 And he went forth again by the sea side; and all the multitude resorted unto him, and he taught them.
Ver. 13. And he taught them ] To teach us, that nothing can be better and more useful to the Church than wholesome teaching; which therefore our Saviour never neglected. It was grown to a proverb at Constantinople, Better the sun should not shine than Chrysostom not preach.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
13 22. ] THE CALLING OF LEVI. FEAST AT HIS HOUSE: QUESTION CONCERNING FASTING. Mat 9:9-17 . Luk 5:27-39 . I have discussed the question of the identity of Matthew and Levi in the notes on Matt.
The three accounts are in matter nearly identical, and in diction so minutely and unaccountably varied, as to declare here, as elsewhere, their independence of one another, except in having had some common source from which they have more or less deflected. (These remarks do not apply to the diversity of the names Matthew and Levi, which must be accounted for on other grounds. See, as throughout the passage, the notes on Matt.)
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
13. ] See ch. Mar 1:16 . On see notes, Mat 13:55 ; and Mat 10:1 ff.
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
Mar 2:13-17 . Call of Levi, feast following (Mat 9:9-13 ; Luk 5:27-32 ). This incident is not to be conceived as following immediately after that narrated in the foregoing section.
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
Mar 2:13 interrupts the continuity of the history. It states that Jesus went out again ( cf. Mar 1:16 ) alongside ( ) the sea, that the multitude followed Him, and that He taught them. A very vague general notice, serving little other purpose than to place an interval between the foregoing and following incidents.
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
Mark
THE PUBLICANS’ FRIEND
Mar 2:13 – Mar 2:22
By calling a publican, Jesus shocked ‘public opinion and outraged propriety, as the Pharisees and scribes understood it. But He touched the hearts of the outcasts. A gush of sympathy melts souls frozen hard by icy winds of scorn. Levi otherwise Matthew had probably had wistful longings after Jesus which he had not dared to show, and therefore he eagerly and instantly responded to Christ’s call, leaving everything in his custom-house to look after itself. Mark emphasises the effect of this advance towards the disreputable classes by Jesus, in his repeated mention of the numbers of them who followed Him. The meal in Matthew’s house was probably not immediately after his call. The large gathering attracted the notice of Christ’s watchful opponents, who pounced upon His sitting at meat with such ‘shady’ people as betraying His low tastes and disregard of seemly conduct, and, with characteristic Eastern freedom, pushed in as uninvited spectators. They did not carry their objection to Himself, but covertly insinuated it into the disciples’ minds, perhaps in hope of sowing suspicions there. Their sarcasm evoked Christ’s own ‘programme’ of His mission, for which we have to thank them.
I. We have, first, Christ’s vindication of His consorting with the lowest.
But what does He mean by the distinction between sick and sound, righteous and sinners? Surely all need His healing, and there are not two classes of men. Have not all sinned? Yes, but Jesus speaks to the cavillers, for the moment, in their own dialect, saying, in effect, ‘I take you at your own valuation, and therein find My defence. You do not think that you need a physician, and you call yourselves ‘righteous and these outcasts ‘sinners.’ So you should not be surprised if I, being the healer, turn away to them, and prefer their company to yours.’ But there is more than taking them at their own estimate in the great words, for to conceit ourselves ‘whole’ bars us off from getting any good from Jesus. He cannot come to the self-righteous heart. We must feel our sickness before we can see Him in His true character, or be blessed by His presence with us. And the apparent distinction, which seems to limit His work, really vanishes in the fact that we all are sick and sinners, whatever we may think of ourselves, and that, therefore, the errand of the great Physician is to us all. The Pharisee who knows himself a sinner is as welcome as the outcast. The most outwardly respectable, clean-living, orthodoxly religious formalist needs Him as much, and may have Him as healingly, as the grossest criminal, foul with the stench of loathsome disease. That great saying has changed the attitude towards the degraded and unclean, and many a stream of pity and practical work for such has been drawn off from that Nile of yearning love, though all unconscious of its source.
II. We have Christ’s vindication of the disciples from ascetic critics.
First, note that He calls Himself the ‘bridegroom’-a designation which would surely touch some chords in John’s disciples, remembering how their Master had spoken of the ‘bridegroom’ and his ‘friend.’ The name tells us that Jesus claimed the psalms of the ‘bride-groom’ as prophecies of Himself, and claimed the Church that was to be as His bride. It speaks tenderly of His love and of our possible blessedness. Next, we note the sweet suggestion of the joyful life of the disciples in intercourse with Him. We perhaps do not sufficiently regard their experience in that light, but surely they were happy, being ever with Him, though they knew not yet all the wonder and blessedness which His presence involved and brought. They were a glad company, and Christians ought now to be joyous, because the bridegroom is still with them, and the more really so by reason of His ascending up where He was before. We have seen Him again, as He promised, and our hearts should rejoice with a joy which no man can take from us.
Next, we note Christ’s clear prevision of His death, the violence of which is hinted at in the words, ‘Shall be taken away from them.’ Further, we note the great principle that outward forms must follow inward realities, and are genuine only when they are the expression of states of mind and feeling. That is a far-reaching truth, ever being forgotten in the tyranny which the externals of religion exercise. Let the free spirit have its own way, and cut its own channels. Laughter may be as devout as fasting. Joy is to be expressed in religion as well as grief. No outward form is worth anything unless the inner man vitalises it, and such a mere form is not simply valueless, but may quickly become hypocrisy and conscious make-believe.
III. Jesus adds two similes, which are condensed parables, to deal with a wider question rising out of the preceding principles.
The essential point in both the similes of the raw cloth stitched on to the old, and of the new wine poured into stiff old skins, is the necessary incongruity between old forms and new tendencies. Undressed cloth is sure to shrink when wetted, and, being stronger than the old, to draw its frayed edges away. So, if new truth, or new conceptions of old truth, or new enthusiasms, are patched on to old modes, they will look out of place, and will sooner or later rend the old cloth. But the second simile advances on the first, in that it points not only to harm done to the old by the unnatural marriage, but also to mischief to the new. Put fermenting wine into a hard, unyielding, old wine-skin, and there can be but one result,-the strong effervescence will burst the skin, which may not matter much, and the precious wine will run out and be lost, sucked up by the thirsty soil, which matters more. The attempt to confine the new within the limits of the old, or to express it by the old forms, destroys them and wastes it. The attempt was made to keep Christianity within the limits of Judaism; it failed, but not before much harm had been done to Christianity. Over and over again the effort has been made in the Church, and it has always ended disastrously,-and it always will. It will be a happy day for both the old and the new when we all learn to put new wine into new skins, and remember that ‘God giveth it a body as it hath pleased Him, and to every seed his own body.’
Fuente: Expositions Of Holy Scripture by Alexander MacLaren
NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Mar 2:13-14
13And He went out again by the seashore; and all the people were coming to Him, and He was teaching them. 14 As He passed by, He saw Levi the son of Alphaeus sitting in the tax booth, and He said to him, “Follow Me!” And he got up and followed Him.
Mar 2:13 “all the people were coming to Him, and He was teaching them” These are two Imperfect tense verbs. Jesus always had time to teach the gospel and care for people. This is why the common people loved Him so much. He was so different from the judgmental, exclusivistic, religious leaders.
Mar 2:14 “Levi” The name in Hebrew means “a companion.” It was the name of the priestly tribe of Israel. Jesus may have changed this man’s name to “Matthew,” which means “gift of YHWH” (cf. Mar 3:18; Mat 9:9) or, like Paul, his parents gave him two names at birth.
“sitting in the tax booth” Tax collecting was a profession the Jewish population despised because it was purchased from the Roman authorities. Tax collectors had to levy a certain tax on all goods for Rome. Herod Antipas would also get part of the tax collected. Anything above the set amount which they collected, they kept as their salary. Tax collecting was noted for its high incidence of fraud. Levi was probably collecting the tax on fish exports.
“‘Follow Me'” This is a present active imperative. This was an official call to discipleship (cf. Mar 1:17; Mar 1:20). It must be remembered that the rabbis called disciples to bind themselves to the Law, but Jesus called these men to bind themselves to Him. Jesus, not human performance of Mosaic rules (i.e., the Talmud), is the way of salvation. Repentance is not a turning back to the Mosaic Law, but a turning to Jesus, YHWH’s Messiah. Jesus did not reject the Law, but put Himself in its traditional place and as its only proper interpretation (cf. Mat 5:17-48). Salvation is a person, not just a creed or the performance of a code. This issue is basically the reason Jesus came into purposeful conflict with the religious leaders.
In his book The Method and Message of Jesus’ Teachings, Robert H. Stein makes a good point about this statement:
“Although the term ‘totalitarian’ has many negative connotations, Archibald M. Hunter’s use of this term is an accurate one and describes well the total commitment that Jesus demanded of his followers. On the lips of anyone else the claims of Jesus would appear to be evidence of gross egomania, for Jesus clearly implies that the entire world revolves around himself and that the fate of all men is dependent on their acceptance or rejection of him. . .According to Jesus, the fate of man centers around him. Rejection of him means eternal judgment; acceptance of him means acceptance by God. The pivotal point of history and salvation, Jesus claims, is himself. To obey him is to be wise and escape judgment, but to reject his words is to be foolish and perish, for his words are the only sure foundation upon which to build (Mat 7:24-27)” (p. 118).
Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley
by = beside. Greek. para. App-104.
resorted . . . taught = kept coming . . . kept teaching.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
13-22.] THE CALLING OF LEVI. FEAST AT HIS HOUSE: QUESTION CONCERNING FASTING. Mat 9:9-17. Luk 5:27-39. I have discussed the question of the identity of Matthew and Levi in the notes on Matt.
The three accounts are in matter nearly identical, and in diction so minutely and unaccountably varied, as to declare here, as elsewhere, their independence of one another, except in having had some common source from which they have more or less deflected. (These remarks do not apply to the diversity of the names Matthew and Levi, which must be accounted for on other grounds. See, as throughout the passage, the notes on Matt.)
Fuente: The Greek Testament
Mar 2:13-17
2. JESUS EATS WITH PUBLICANS AND SINNERS
Mar 2:13-17
(Mat 9:9-13; Luk 5:27-32)
13 And he went forth–Jesus goes from Capernaum. Capernaum means “Village of Comfort.” It was one of the chief cities of Galilee. It had a custom station where Matthew collected the taxes (Mat 9:9), a Roman garrison, and a synagogue, built by the Roman centurion. The ruins of a synagogue at Tul Hum, said by McGarvey and other travelers to be the site of Capernaum, show it to have been finer than any other in all Galilee. No city could have enjoyed more exalted privileges. There Jesus not only resided, but taught in the synagogue, in homes, and on the seashore; did many miracles, and there five of his apostles lived. To it, in its wasted opportunities and despised privileges, Jesus said: “I say unto you that it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment, than for thee.” (Mat 11:23-24.)
again by the sea side; and all the multitude resorted unto him, and he taught them.–The Lake of Galilee. The shore of this lake was a favorite resort of Jesus when surrounded by great multitudes. Jesus often taught by the seaside. (Mar 4:1; Luk 5:1.) By taking a position at the water’s edge, or on a boat fastened at the shore, he could prevent the people from surrounding him. As they stood or sat on the shore, he could easily make his voice reach all the multitude. He never lost any time in teaching people. He demonstrates that his followers ought not to wait for an opportunity to speak in fashionable church houses before teaching the people, but that they ought to teach wherever and whenever they can get hearers.
14 And as he passed by, he saw Levi the son of Alphaeus–Luke (Luk 5:27) speaks of him as Levi. But in Matthew (Mat 9:9) we have the name of Matthew instead of Levi. The three narratives clearly relate the same circumstances, and point to Levi as identical with Matthew. He probably had two names as Peter and Paul.
sitting at the place of toll,–He was a tax collector and was sitting at his place of business in the customhouse. The revenues which the Roman government derived from conquered countries consisted chiefly of tolls, tithes, and harbor duties, taxes on public pasture lands, and duties on mines and saltworks. Customs were the taxes imposed by the government on both imported and exported goods. The Romans taxed almost everything–fish, trees, houses, doors, columns, and all property, real and personal. All human governments take this course and the burden of taxation grows heavier and heavier. This is the history of all human governments and the cause of their overthrow. Increased taxes become so burdensome, people rebel, rise up and overthrow the government. Christians cannot participate in such rebellions against civil government.
and he saith unto him, Follow me. And he arose and followed him.–Like Peter and Andrew (Mar 1:16-20; Joh 1:40-42), he did not delay his obedience but arose immediately and followed Jesus. He was not here called to be an apostle, though later he was made one. He was called as a disciple (learner) and a constant associate of Jesus. He, like those previously called, had to be schooled and trained before becoming an apostle. The apostles were chosen later. (Mar 3:13-14; Luk 6:13.) Luke (5:28) says: “He forsook all,” which shows the great interest he had in Jesus from the start. He was called to a higher life, a nobler work–to gather no longer perishable money for the Roman treasury, but to gather souls for heaven.
15 And it came to pass, that he was sitting at meat in his house–Jesus and the guests were eating in the house of Matthew. Matthew made Jesus a great feast in his own house. “A great multitude” was present. (Luk 5:29.) The guests consisted of Jesus and his disciples, publicans and sinners.
disciples:–Levi, being a publican or tax collector, had been excommunicated by loyal Jews, and hence forced to associate with the outcast, such as publicans and sinners. In making this feast in honor of Jesus, he invited his old associates, publicans and sinners, to enjoy his hospitality.
for there were many, and they followed him.–Probably it was a farewell feast, preparatory to leaving all and following Jesus.
16 And the scribes of the Pharisees,–These were learned men who copied, preserved, and explained the law of Moses and the traditions of the elders. (Ezr 7:6; Ezr 7:12; Neh 8:1; Mat 15:1-6.) They were called doctors of the law (Luke 5 17, 21) and lawyers (Mat 12:35). Mark (1:22) suggests that the scribes were teachers as well as copyists and conservators of the law. They occupied the seat of Moses, but their teaching was very defective. (Mat 23:2; Mat 23:13; Mat 23:23.) They taught with authority, but it was of tradition. They enforced the letter of the law. The Pharisees sprang up about one hundred and fifty years before the birth of Christ. They were a religious sect. The name “Pharisee” means separatist. They separated from Levitical and traditional purity, and were doubtless the most numerous sect among the Jews. They would neither eat nor associate with publicans and sinners, for as excommunicated persons they regarded them as heathen. (Mat 18:17.) They held closely to the traditions of the elders (Mar 7:3) and attached more importance to them than even to the written law of Moses (Mat 15:1-6).
when they saw that he was eating with the sinners and publicans,–Since Pharisees would hardly be found in the house of a publican, we are not to conclude that they were in the house where the feast was spread. They may have seen Jesus eating through an open hall, window or some other opening.
said unto his disciples,–Doubtless the conversation here mentioned took place with the disciples while they were going in and out from the feast, or probably when they were leaving for home.
How is it that he eateth and drinketh with publicans and sinners?–The complaint of the scribes is here put in the form of a question. To eat in the first clause and to eat and drink in the second are equivalent expressions, both conveying the same general ideas of food and participation in it. The scribes and Pharisees were on the watch to trap Jesus, and felt confident that they had succeeded.
17 And when Jesus heard it, he saith unto them, They that are whole have no need of a physician,–He either overheard the scribes and Pharisees when they asked the question, or through the disciples who went to him with it. The very idea of a healer or physician presupposes sickness–they that are whole–in good health–need no such help as rendered by physicians.
but they that are sick:–The sick man, not the well one, is in need of the doctor and is the party who sends for him. The physician attends the sick, not the well. Jesus was a spiritual physician and his great mission in the world was to heal the diseases of sin. If any were really righteous as the scribes and Pharisees imagined they were, then they did not need the healing power of Jesus. The fact that these publicans and sinners were notoriously depraved and wicked showed how sick they were, and how much they were in need of the best physician. The more complicated the disease, the more need there is for a skilled physician. Jesus was that physician.
I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.–Luke (Luk 5:32) says: “I am not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance.” While Jesus made the application to the scribes and Pharisees, as to their own self-righteousness, yet he in-cluded all mankind for the reason “there is none righteous, no, not one.” (Rom 3:10.) He came not to call righteous men, for there were really none. His mission was to sinners, and therefore no one should criticize him for trying to save them. The man who is sound physically does not need the physician; the spiritually whole, the righteous, do not need to repent. If these scribes and Pharisees were all they claimed for themselves–spiritually whole, strong and healthy morally –then they needed not the physician;but, from their own view-point, these publicans and sinners were in great need of relief and of repentance. These souls were sick. Jesus was the great soul physician. Hence, he went to the sinsick–to those who felt their need of healing. The self-righteous Pharisees did not realize their own sinful condition, and, therefore, felt no need of Christ. There is but little hope for the self-righteous. Before one can be spiritually healed he must first realize his lost and ruined condition and feel the need of a Savior. There is more hope for sinners, however deep in sin and depravity they may be, who realize their unworthiness of Jesus and their lost condition without him, than for the self-righteous. There is none for them until they humble themselves and desire mercy. The objection was addressed to the disciples, but replied to by Jesus, and as usual in an unexpected way. His reply put them in their own snare. He presented the true question at issue, and stated the true principle or method of solution. Their reproach implied a false view of Christ’s whole work and mission which was that of a spiritual physician.
Jesus is a wonderful physician. He makes no charges for his service. Salvation is without money and without price. His invitation is universal. (Mat 11:28.) Our spiritual physician increases the happiness of the patient by giving unto him, instead of enriching his estate by charging for his services. Physicians of the human body bleed the patient, but Jesus bled and died to heal the patient.
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
CHAPTER 8
New Wine in Old Bottles
And he went forth again by the sea side; and all the multitude resorted unto him, and he taught them. And as he passed by, he saw Levi the son of Alphaeus sitting at the receipt of custom, and said unto him, Follow me. And he arose and followed him. And it came to pass, that, as Jesus sat at meat in his house, many publicans and sinners sat also together with Jesus and his disciples: for there were many, and they followed him. And when the scribes and Pharisees saw him eat with publicans and sinners, they said unto his disciples, How is it that he eateth and drinketh with publicans and sinners? When Jesus heard it, he saith unto them, They that are whole have no need of the physician, but they that are sick: I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. And the disciples of John and of the Pharisees used to fast: and they come and say unto him, Why do the disciples of John and of the Pharisees fast, but thy disciples fast not? And Jesus said unto them, Can the children of the bridechamber fast, while the bridegroom is with them? as long as they have the bridegroom with them, they cannot fast. But the days will come, when the bridegroom shall be taken away from them, and then shall they fast in those days. No man also seweth a piece of new cloth on an old garment: else the new piece that filled it up taketh away from the old, and the rent is made worse. And no man putteth new wine into old bottles: else the new wine doth burst the bottles, and the wine is spilled, and the bottles will be marred: but new wine must be put into new bottles.
Mar 2:13-22
This passage is almost identical with the account given by Matthew in Mat 9:9-17. Yet, there are slight differences in the two accounts of these events. The differences are no more accidental than the similarities. Though there are no contradictions between Matthew and Mark, the differences in these accounts, light as they are, are instruments by which unbelievers are tripped up and stumble because God has made Christ a stone of stumbling to them. When rebels will not bow to Christ, when they will not believe the Word of God, God gives them that which in their minds justifies their rebellion and unbelief.
The slight differences between the way Matthew tells a thing and the way Mark, or Luke, or John tell the same thing demonstrates the sovereignty and wisdom of God the Holy Spirit. He used these men as instruments in his hand, as a man would use a pen or a typewriter, to write the very words he inspired, exactly as he wanted them written. Yet, he allows the contrasting personalities of those men to shine through their writings.
You have probably read this passage many times, just as I have, passing over the things recorded here very casually. When reading the Word of God, that is always a mistake. The things written here were written by Divine inspiration and written specifically for our edification, consolation, and instruction in the things of God. This brief narrative of a brief segment of our Lords earthly life contains five important, spiritual lessons we need to learn and lay to heart. May God the Holy Spirit, who inspired these words, apply them to our hearts by his grace and power, for Christs sake.
Unlikely Servants
The first lesson set before us is the fact that the Lord Jesus Christ often calls the most unlikely men to be his servants.
And he went forth again by the sea side; and all the multitude resorted unto him, and he taught them. And as he passed by, he saw Levi the son of Alphaeus sitting at the receipt of custom, and said unto him, Follow me. And he arose and followed him (Mar 2:13-14).
The man called Levi here, and in Lukes account, is the same person who is called Matthew in the gospel narrative bearing his name. What we have before us is the early history and remarkable conversion and transformation by the grace of God of a base publican named Matthew. This man was transformed in an instant by the almighty, irresistible call of the Son of God. The publican became a disciple, then an Apostle, and an Evangelist, because the Son of God passed his way one day and said, Levi, Follow me. Three things should be obvious as we read these two verses.
1.Matthew was called at a specific time. The Lord Jesus called him as he passed by. Salvation comes to chosen redeemed sinners at the appointed time of love, when he comes to them in grace (Eze 16:6-8).
2.This was the call of a specific person. Levi, Matthew, a publican, a tax collector. This is one of the many illustrations of our Saviors sovereign, distinguishing grace. He passed by the Scribes and Pharisees, leaving them to themselves, and called Matthew. Matthew was not seeking the Lord. He was sought of the Lord.
3.The call of Christ to Matthew was an irresistible, effectual call. The Master said, Follow meAnd he arose and followed him! So it is that the purpose of God, according to election, might stand; not of works, but of him that calleth So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy (Rom 9:11-16).
Matthew, Mary Magdalene, the thief on the cross, and multitudes of others have found Christ who sought him not (Isa 65:1), while Israel hath not obtained that which he seeketh for; but the election hath obtained it, and the rest were blinded (Rom 11:7). Every saved sinner, like Matthew, is a trophy of Gods distinguishing grace. We should never despair of anyones salvation. Our Lord can take a money loving CPA, like Matthew, and make him a saint and an evangelist by the mere call of his almighty, irresistible grace. We never know who is elected, until they are called. And once they are called, Gods elect are usually surprising (1Co 1:26-29).
Great Physician
Next, in Mar 2:15-17 we see that our Lord Jesus Christ is the Great Physician of sin-sick souls.
And it came to pass, that, as Jesus sat at meat in his house, many publicans and sinners sat also together with Jesus and his disciples: for there were many, and they followed him. And when the scribes and Pharisees saw him eat with publicans and sinners, they said unto his disciples, How is it that he eateth and drinketh with publicans and sinners? When Jesus heard it, he saith unto them, They that are whole have no need of the physician, but they that are sick: I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.
The Scribes and Pharisees were highly offended by the fact that the Lord Jesus was comfortable in the company of publicans and sinners, and that they were comfortable in his company. The murmuring of the Pharisees is exactly what we might expect from them. It is the identifying mark of Pharisees in all ages. When the Lord Jesus heard the report of their insinuating gossip, he told them plainly that he had come into the world specifically to save sinners (1Ti 1:15; Mat 1:21). Robert Hawker wrote
As Jesus opened Matthews heart to receive him, Matthew opens his house to welcome Jesus. Neither is this all. For as this one Publican had found mercy from the Lord, Matthew invited other Publicans to come and find mercy also. There is enough in Christ for all. What a lovely view to behold the Great Redeemer, encircled at Matthews table, with Publicans and Sinners!
The very character of Christ, the Great Physician, led him to the place where sin-sick souls were found, that he might exercise his healing power upon them. Our Saviors name is Jehovah-rophe, the Lord that healeth thee (Exo 15:26).
Our Lord Jesus performed many mighty miracles on the bodies of men. And I have no doubt that he still does. I know what it is to experience his marvelous intervention, when medical help seems futile. Yet, his miracles of mercy, love, and grace were and still are indescribably more glorious. The bodies he healed were soon to sicken again and die. But the souls he heals are healed forever. The physical healings were intended only to demonstrate that he has the right and the power to heal the soul and save his people.
Our great and glorious Savior saves sinners by three mighty acts of free and sovereign grace, which he alone can perform: by blood redemption, by sovereign regeneration, and, ultimately, by glorious resurrection. And he heals every sin-sick soul that comes to him for healing (Luk 9:11). No sinner ever came to the Son of God for mercy who did not obtain mercy. How encouraging that ought to be to poor, lost sinners!
Confused Believers
The question of John the Baptists disciples (Mar 2:18) about fasting illustrates a third lesson we need to learn. Sometimes true believers become sidetracked and confused by meaningless things and fall under the influence of religious hypocrites. And the disciples of John and of the Pharisees used to fast: and they come and say unto him, Why do the disciples of John and of the Pharisees fast, but thy disciples fast not?
Christs sheep will not follow a stranger (Joh 10:5). Gods saints have an unction from the Holy One and cannot be deceived with regard to the gospel (1Jn 2:17; 1Jn 2:27). Still Gods saints in this world are only frail, fickle, sinful men and women of flesh and blood. They often fall under the influence of wicked men, thinking that they are doing good. Sometimes by bad influence from people they think are sincere, they get sidetracked by meaningless issues. That is exactly what happened here with Johns disciples. They got to listening to the Pharisees, with whom they had in common the practice of religious, ceremonial fasting. Ignoring the indescribably greater issues of redemption, grace, and forgiveness, they joined the Pharisees, carping and criticizing the Lord Jesus and his disciples because they did not fast.
Let no one be mistaken. Johns disciples were true believers (Joh 1:29-37). They are called Johns disciples simply because it was John the Baptist who had instructed them in the gospel of Christ. Yet, these true disciples, men who were taught by a faithful man, fell under the influence of the Pharisees and erred greatly, both in doctrine and in practice. These believing men fell into the horribly evil tendency of our proud nature. They set themselves up as the judges of others, making themselves the standard of righteousness and true godliness. The fasts they kept were fasts of their own appointing. Yet, they considered them acts of godliness, and looked upon our Lords disciples as behaving in an ungodly way because they did not observe their fasts. How sad. Yet, how common such behavior is among true believers. The 14th chapter of Romans was written specifically for such believers.
How sad it is to see brethren fighting against brethren, as though they are enemies. God save us from such evil.
Our Bridegroom
The fourth thing set before us in Mar 2:19-20 is the blessed fact that the Lord Jesus Christ is our Bridegroom and we are his chosen bride.
And Jesus said unto them, Can the children of the bridechamber fast, while the bridegroom is with them? as long as they have the bridegroom with them, they cannot fast. But the days will come, when the bridegroom shall be taken away from them, and then shall they fast in those days.
How sweet it is to see the Lord Jesus taking up the cause of his disciples, defending his beloved bride from the accusations raised against her. That is exactly what he does for us still at the Fathers right hand as our Advocate in heaven (1Jn 2:1-2).
As I have shown, Johns disciples were his disciples, too. They were as much a part of the bride (the church) as the others. In their weakness, and without the guidance of their pastor who had been imprisoned, they were seduced with the leaven of the Pharisees. And in their weakness and fault, the Lord Jesus here deals with them gently, giving us an example to follow. At the same time, he defends those who were accused by them.
What the bridegroom is to the bride, Christ is to his people. He loves us with an everlasting love. He has taken us into union with himself. We are one with him, For we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones (Eph 5:30). He paid all our debt. He supplies all our needs. He sympathizes with us in all our troubles. He bears all our infirmities, forgives all our sins, and supplies us with grace sufficient to make up for all our weaknesses. The glory he has received from his Father, he has given to us. And where he is, there we shall soon be. These are the privileges of all believers. We are the Lambs wife (Rev 19:7). God has joined our poor, sinful souls to Christ as our precious Husband. And those whom God has joined together with his Son shall never be put asunder.
The disciples of John the Baptist, like their leader, were ascetics. Like the Pharisees, they kept many religious fasts. Apparently, they had been scandalized by their association with Christ and his disciples, who were seen at the feast in Matthews house and did not fast. Therefore, they raised the question, with the Pharisees, Why do thy disciples fast not?
The Lord Jesus gently answers by declaring that he is the Bridegroom who had come to his bride. He said, As long as I am with my bride she cannot fast. He is the Bridegroom of whom Solomon sang. Why should we fast while he is near? The marriage of the bride and Bridegroom is a time for feasting and rejoicing. John had taught his disciples this (Joh 3:29). The Bridegroom rejoices over the bride (Isa 62:5), and his rejoicing over her causes her to rejoice in him.
But the Lord Jesus would soon be separated from his bride. He said, The Bridegroom shall be taken away from them. No doubt, he was talking about his death. When their Beloved was gone, then his disciples would fast. And that is exactly what happened. What sorrows fell upon them after the Saviors crucifixion! C. H. Spurgeon wrote, It is the same with us. Our Lord is our joy: his presence makes our banquet, his absence is our fast, black and bitter. All ritualistic, ceremonial fasting is the husk that swine eat.
Our Lord Jesus is not teaching us here that we ought to practice fasting. The reality of fasting is known only to the children of the bridechamber when their Lords presence is not known. Religious people, like the Pharisees, talk a good bit about fasting, though they know nothing about it. Our Lord Jesus intends for us to understand the mere abstinence from food is not a fasting of the soul before God. The kingdom of God is not meat and drink, but righteousness and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost (Rom 14:17). Meat commendeth us not to God, for neither if we eat are we the better, neither if we eat not are we the worse (1Co 8:8).
It is an astonishing indication of the pride and corruption of our sinful hearts and vile nature that inclines us (as is so constantly the case) to substitute physical acts in the place of vital godliness and heart worship. This inclination is strong among all the fallen sons and daughters of Adam, because that which we do gratifies the flesh. Our proud flesh will bring anything to God but Christ, trust anything but Christ, and find consolation and hope in anything but Christ. To trust the person, work, and finished salvation of the Lord Jesus none will ever do, except those who are taught of God the Holy Spirit and made willing to do so by the power of his grace. All outward shows of godliness, devotion, and spirituality the Spirit of God declares are nothing but a show of wisdom in will-worship, and humility, and neglecting the body (Col 2:23). Instead of directing us to Christ, they lead us away from him into everlasting ruin (Col 2:16-23).
In times of great strain and trial, Moses, Elijah, and the Lord Jesus all fasted. But with the Pharisees fasting had become a common, publicly advertised ceremony. It was an outward show of holiness, piety, and devotion. Johns disciples seem to have placed great emphasis upon this religious custom. But our Lord always dealt with it as an insignificant thing and insisted that when men do fast they must do so in utter privacy (Mat 6:16-18). We are never to make a show of religion!
No Mixture
The fifth lesson is found in the parable given by our Lord in Mar 2:21-22. In spiritual matters we must never attempt to mix things that differ. We must never put new wine in old bottles.
No man also seweth a piece of new cloth on an old garment: else the new piece that filled it up taketh away from the old, and the rent is made worse. And no man putteth new wine into old bottles: else the new wine doth burst the bottles, and the wine is spilled, and the bottles will be marred: but new wine must be put into new bottles.
Our Savior delivered this parable in response to the question raised by Johns disciples and the Pharisees about fasting. It may have been proper, our Lord says to Johns disciples, for the friend of the Bridegroom and his disciples to fast. But to require the Bridegroom and his disciples to fast was as ludicrous as sewing a piece of new cloth in an old garment, or putting new wine into old bottles or wineskins.
Actually the parables here given were simply proverbial sayings that may be applied to many things. But essentially their meaning is simply this: We must never try to mix things that do not mix. Many great evils that have arisen in the church could have been avoided if the lesson of these parables had simply been heeded. And many of the evils exiting in the church today could be corrected if this lesson was followed.
In spiritual matters we must never attempt to mix things that differ. Just as under the Mosaic law the mixture of linen and wool and the plowing of an ox and an ass together were prohibited, so in this age, we cannot mix and must never try to mix law and grace, flesh and spirit, Christ and the world, or carnal ordinances with spiritual worship.
The problem at Galatia was that they tried to put the old wine of Mosaic laws and ceremonies into the new bottle of grace. The Judaizers at Galatia tried to mix Judaism and Christianity. They tried to hold both to the law and the gospel. They wanted both Moses and Christ. They tried to mix physical circumcision with spiritual circumcision. Such mixture can never take place. Either we are under the law, or we are free from the law. It cannot be both (Gal 5:1-2; Gal 5:4).
In the early church many tried to mix the philosophies and religious customs of a pagan world with the gospel of Christ, just as they do today. Nothing is new under the sun. In the earliest days after the apostles, and even while the apostles were living there were those who attempted to make the gospel palatable to the world by mixing the religious customs, traditions, and opinions of paganism with the gospel of Christ. The result was disastrous then and shall be now. In those days compromise paved the road to Romanism. Today men are laying the road back to Romanism as fast as possible. We simply cannot mix flesh and spirit or works and grace in the worship and service of our God. For we are the circumcision, which worship God in the spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh (Php 3:3). We cannot worship God in the Spirit while kneeling before crosses and pieces of idolatry. We cannot rest in Christ as our Sabbath while observing sabbath days.
Many professing Christians today constantly attempt to stitch Christ and the world together. How many there are who seem determined to prove our Lord wrong, who try to serve both God and mammon. They wear the name of Christ in profession, but serve the world. They want to enjoy the new wine of Christ, but they want to drink it from the old bottle of the world. They will not utterly despise the new garment of discipleship, but they want it without cost or cross. So they try to sew it to the old garments of pleasures, covetousness, and love of the world. They will find one day soon that they have attempted that which cannot be done.
How fond fallen humanity is of carnal religion and religious rituals! Fallen man will substitute anything for Christ. He prefers anything to real godliness. Ceremonial fasts, benevolent alms for the poor, and costly religious ceremonies are things dearly loved by our fallen nature. Man looks to them, performs them, and vigorously defends them, because these are the things trusted by men for pardon, peace, and acceptance with God. But they are all as damning to those who trust them as the blasphemies of the most abominable reprobate.
Religious ceremony is nothing but the dressing of the old creature in a new piece of cloth, not the renewing of the Holy Ghost. Our Savior used these two parabolic statements to show the folly of such. You may sew new cloth into an old garment, but the two will never become one. The new will soon rip away from the old, and the rip will be an obvious gaping whole. If (as in the days when wine was stored in bottles made from animal skins) you put new wine into an old wineskin, the fermenting wine will soon burst the old wineskin.
In cases where the outward ministry of the word is heard and received into the old unrenewed heart of the Adam-nature, as the fermentation of new wine burst the old dried skins into which it is put, so men, unrenewed by the Holy Ghost, will burst with hatred, both against Christ and his people. Perhaps no hatred is equal to that which the carnal mind fosters against the people of God. And not simply the carnal, but the professor, in whose heart no saving work of grace hath been wrought. It is painful to flesh and blood, sometimes, to meet the malice of the ungodly and openly avowed profane. But the professors of godliness, in the Pharisees and self-righteous, under the cover of sanctity, comes with deeper malignity. (Robert Hawker)
Our Lords doctrine is just this. The new robe of Christs perfect righteousness cannot be patched to our filthy rags; and the new wine of the gospel cannot be held in the old wineskin of our fallen nature. But when God the Holy Spirit makes us new creatures in regeneration, when he makes all things new in the experience of saving grace, Christs righteousness is made to us a completely new robe of salvation; and the blood of Christ poured into our souls as the new wine of grace makes glad the heart of man (Psa 104:15; Isa 61:10).
Fuente: Discovering Christ In Selected Books of the Bible
by: Mat 9:9, Mat 13:1
and all: Mar 2:2, Mar 3:7, Mar 3:8, Mar 3:20, Mar 3:21, Mar 4:1, Pro 1:20-22, Luk 19:48, Luk 21:38
Reciprocal: Mar 1:45 – could Luk 5:27 – and saw
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
A WALK BY THE SEA
And He went forth again by the sea side.
Mar 2:13
The paralytic healed, our Lord left the house and, no longer surrounded by sceptical scribes, walked by the seaside. But the crowd would not leave Him. All the multitude resorted unto Him, and He taught them. Think of this walk of Christs by the seaside.
I. It was not a walk of absent reverie.Some men when walking amidst the most beautiful scenes of nature are lost in a reverie, in which they are oblivious of all around. They are lost in the contemplations of their own soul. They are great thinkers. They are good men. But they are not awed and inspired by the glories of the material universe. To such men the world is subjective rather than objective; they live more in the realm of thought than in the region of action. But Christ, Who was a great thinker, and was engaged in a mission calculated to absorb His attention, was never so lost in thought upon self as to be unmoved by the grandeur of external things, or by the call of present duty. When walking by the sea He was not so enchained by reverie as to be unmindful of those who were seeking instruction from Him.
II. It was not a walk of sentimental admiration.There are many who admire everything they see. They can give no reason for their admiration of any one object, but they indulge the enthusiastic impulse of the moment. Their travels are not turned to any practical account; they instruct no soul throughout their journey. Christ thoroughly enjoyed the glories of nature, admired them fully, estimated them rightly, yet He was never so drawn away by them as to forget or neglect the imperative mission of His life, or the great need of men.
III. It was a walk hallowed by sacred teaching.So far from being lost in absent reverie or in sentimental admiration, our Lord, during this walk by the sea, taught the multitude that resorted to Him. He might justly have excused Himself from such an intrusion. It was a time of needed rest and recreation after continuous effort, but He never pleaded fatigue as an excuse for toil. Nor did He hesitate on ecclesiastical grounds. He taught the multitude by the seaside. The world was to Him a temple for worship, its every scene sacred to the interests of truth. Some ecclesiastical personages will only teach in the consecrated church; let us find our rebuke in the simple conduct of the Lord. Where there are souls to listen, there the truth should be preached in all sincerity.
Illustration
For some years in succession the Bishop of Manchester (Dr. Knox) has held Church services on the sands at Blackpool. He succeeded, he said, in describing the mission, in reaching great crowds of people on Sundays and weekdays. Although at first it was treated as a novelty and excited great interest, the prevailing attitude towards the mission was one of reverent attention and quiet sympathy. All our meetings were earnest religious services, not religious entertainments.
Fuente: Church Pulpit Commentary
3
The sea side was that of Galilee where Jesus spent a great part of his time. The crowds were generally interested in his teaching and followed after him for that and also for the physical benefits obtained by his hands.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
THE person who is called Levi, at the beginning of this passage, is the same person who is called Matthew in the first of the four Gospels. Let us not forget this. It is no less than an apostle and an evangelist, whose early history is now before our eyes.
We learn from these verses the power of Christ to call men out from the world, and make them His disciples. We read that he said to Levi, when “sitting at the receipt of custom, Follow me.” And at once “he arose and followed him.” From a publican he became an apostle, and a writer of the first book in the New Testament, which is now known all over the world.
This is a truth of deep importance. Without a divine call no one can be saved. We are all so sunk in sin, and so wedded to the world, that we should never turn to God and seek salvation, unless He first called us by His grace. God must speak to our hearts by His Spirit, before we shall ever speak to Him. Those who are sons of God, says the 17th Article, are “called according to God’s purpose by His Spirit working in due season.” Now how blessed is the thought that this calling of sinners is committed to so gracious a Savior as Christ!
When the Lord Jesus calls a sinner to be His servant, He acts as a Sovereign; but He acts with infinite mercy. He often chooses those who seem most unlikely to do His will, and furthest off from His kingdom. He draws them to Himself with almighty power, breaks the chains of old habits and customs, and makes them new creatures. As the loadstone attracts the iron, and the south wind softens the frozen ground, so does Christ’s calling draw sinners out from the world, and melt the hardest heart. “The voice of the Lord is mighty in operation.” Blessed are they, who, when they hear it, harden not their hearts!
We ought never to despair entirely of any one’s salvation, when we read this passage of Scripture. He who called Levi, still lives and still works. The age of miracles is not yet past. The love of money is a powerful principle, but the call of Christ is more powerful. Let us not despair even about those who “sit at the receipt of custom,” and enjoy abundance of this world’s good things. The voice which said to Levi, “Follow me,” may yet reach their hearts. We may yet see them arise, and take up their cross, and follow Christ. Let us hope continually, and pray for others. Who can tell what God may be going to do for any one around us? No one is too bad for Christ to call. Let us pray for all.
We learn, for another thing, from these verses, that one of Christ’s principal offices is that of a Physician. The Scribes and Pharisees found fault with Him for eating and drinking with publicans and sinners. But “when Jesus heard it, He saith unto them, They that are whole have no need of a physician, but they that are sick.”
The Lord Jesus did not come into the world, as some suppose, to be nothing more than a law-giver, a king, a teacher, and an example. Had this been all the purpose of His coming, there would have been small comfort for man. Diet-tables and rules of health are all very well for the convalescent, but not suitable to the man laboring under a mortal disease. A teacher and an example might be sufficient for an unfallen being like Adam in the garden of Eden. But fallen sinners like ourselves want healing first, before we can value rules.
The Lord Jesus came into the world to be a physician as well as a teacher. He knew the necessities of human nature. He saw us all sick of a mortal disease, stricken with the plague of sin, and dying daily. He pitied us, and came down to bring divine medicine for our relief. He came to give health and cure to the dying, to heal the broken hearted, and to offer strength to the weak. No sin-sick soul is too far gone for Him. It is His glory to heal and restore to life the most desperate cases. For unfailing skill, for unwearied tenderness, for long experience of man’s spiritual ailments, the great Physician of souls stands alone. There is none like Him.
But what do we know ourselves of this special office of Christ? Have we ever felt our spiritual sickness and applied to him for relief? We are never right in the sight of God until we do. We know nothing aright in religion, if we think the sense of sin should keep us back from Christ. To feel our sins, and know our sickness is the beginning of real Christianity. To be sensible of our corruption and abhor our own transgressions, is the first symptom of spiritual health. Happy indeed are they who have found out their soul’s disease! Let them know that Christ is the very Physician they require, and let them apply to Him without delay.
We learn, in the last place, from these verses, that in religion it is worse than useless to attempt to mix things which essentially differ. “No man,” He tells the Pharisees, “seweth a piece of new cloth on an old garment.” “No man putteth new wine into old bottles.”
These words, we must of course see, were a parable. They were spoken with a special reference to the question which the Pharisees had just raised: “Why do the disciples of John fast, but thy disciples fast not?” Our Lord’s reply evidently means, that to enforce fasting among His disciples would be inexpedient and unseasonable. His little flock was as yet young in grace, and weak in faith, knowledge, and experience. They must be led on softly, and not burdened at this early stage with requirements which they were not able to bear. Fasting, moreover, might, be suitable to the disciples of him who was only the Bridegroom’s friend, who lived in the wilderness, preached the baptism of repentance, was clothed in camel’s hair, and ate locusts and wild honey. But fasting was not equally suitable to the disciples of Him, who was the Bridegroom Himself, brought glad tidings to sinners, and came living like other men. In short, to require fasting of his disciples at present, would be putting “new wine into old bottles.” It would be trying to mingle and amalgamate things that essentially differed.
The principle laid down in these little parables is one of great importance. It is a kind of proverbial saying, and admits of a wide application. Forgetfulness of it has frequently done great harm in the Church. The evils that have arisen from trying to sew the new patch on the old garment, and put the new wine into old bottles, have neither been few nor small.
How was it with the Galatian Church? It is recorded in Paul’s epistle. Men wished in that Church to reconcile Judaism with Christianity, and to circumcise as well as baptize. They endeavored to keep alive the law of ceremonies and ordinances, and to place it side by side with the Gospel of Christ. In fact they would fain have put the “new wine into old bottles.” And in so doing they greatly erred.
How was it with the early Christian Church, after the apostles were dead? We have it recorded in the pages of Church history. Some tried to make the Gospel more acceptable by mingling it with Platonic philosophy. Some labored to recommend it to the heathen by borrowing forms, processions, and vestments from the temples of heathen gods. In short, they “sewed the new patch on the old garment.” And in so doing they scattered broadcast the seeds of enormous evil. They paved the way for the whole Romish apostasy.
How is it with many professing Christians in the present day? We have only to look around us and see. There are thousands who are trying to reconcile the service of Christ and the service of the world, to have the name of Christian and yet live the life of the ungodly-to keep in with the servants of pleasure and sin, and yet be the followers of the crucified Jesus at the same time. In a word, they are trying to enjoy the “new wine,” and yet to cling to the “old bottles.” They will find one day that they have attempted that which cannot be done.
Let us leave the passage in a spirit of serious self-inquiry. It is one that ought to raise great searchings of heart in the present day. Have we never read what the Scripture says? “No man can serve two masters.” “Ye cannot serve God and mammon.” Let us place side by side with these texts the concluding words of our Lord in this passage, “New wine must be put into new bottles.” [Footnote: It must always be remembered that the “bottle” here spoken of was not a bottle of glass or of earthenware, but of leather. Unless this is kept in view, the parable is unintelligible to an English mind. A similar remark applies to David’s words, “I am become like a bottle in the smoke.” (Psa 119:83.)]
Fuente: Ryle’s Expository Thoughts on the Gospels
Mar 2:13-14. The call of Levi. Undoubtedly the same as Matthew the Apostle and Evangelist. See on Mat 9:9. The three accounts agree in matter, but with the usual variation in words. Mar 2:13 is more specific than the parallel passages.
Went forth again. Either with a reference to Mar 2:1 (He entered again), or possibly in allusion to the previous call of four disciples by the sea-side (chap. Mar 1:16, etc.).
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
CALL OF LEVI, TEACHING CROWDS
The events are:
The Call of Levi (Mar 2:13-20) Parables of the Cloth and the Bottles (2:21-22) In the Cornfields on the Sabbath (2:23-28) Healing the Withered Hand (Mar 3:1-5) Healing the Multitudes (3:6-12) Choosing the TwelveMark (Mar 3:13-21) The Unpardonable Sin (Mar 3:22-30) New Relationship (Mar 3:31-35) We will not in every case name the parallel passage in Matthew, which can be learned by the marginal references in ones Bible. It is assumed that every reader or student has a Bible of this character which he consults. We will look for the comment desired under our treatment of Matthew in that place, while in Mark we will limit ourselves to what is peculiar to that writer.
The Levi of Mar 2:13 is identical with Matthew. He took toll, or collected the taxes for the Roman government, which made him an object of hatred to his own people and one who was despised as an apostate. Mark mentions the fact omitted by Matthew, that the feast of Mar 2:15 was in Levis house.
In the incident of the withered hand also, there is an addition not found elsewhere, indicating that Mark was a close observer of his Masters actions and interpreter of His feelings (Mar 3:5).
The choosing of the twelve (Mar 3:13-21) has quite a different context in Mark from Matthew. Christ is on the mountain, but the Sermon on the Mount is not given. Notice, too, that the surnames of James and John are found here only (Mar 3:17). And do not pass over Mar 2:21, which is peculiar to Mark. Friends there means kinsmen.
A very important addition is that under the head of the unpardonable sin (Mar 3:29). Danger of eternal damnation is rendered in the Revised Version guilty of an eternal sin, which teaches us the awful nature of ascribing the work of the Holy Spirit to Satan, and also the certainty of eternal punishment. If there is such a thing as eternal sin, there must be eternal punishment to accompany it.
QUESTIONS
1. What are the leading incidents of this lesson?
2. Who was Levi?
3. What is characteristic of Mark as a reporter?
4. Name the things peculiar to Marks record.
5. What two great doctrinal truths are here emphasized?
Fuente: James Gray’s Concise Bible Commentary
Observe here, 1. The unwearied pains and diligence which our Saviour used in the execution of his ministerial office and calling; no sooner had he done preaching in Capernaum, and healing the sick of the palsy; but he goeth out thence to the sea-side to preach there.
O blessed Saviour! How perpetually wert thou employed in the labours of thy calling, in the service of thy Father, and for the good of mankind! Thou wentest about doing good, setting a pattern for all thy ministers to follow. How doth the example of thy laborious diligence at once instruct and shame us!
Observe, 2. The number of our Lord’s disciples not being filled up, observe what a free and gracious, unexpected and undeserved, choice he makes. Levi, that is, Matthew, (for he hath both names,) a grinding publican, who gathered the taxes for the Romans, and was probably guilty, as others were, of the sins of covetousness, extortion, and oppression; yet he is called to follow Christ as a special disciple.
Learn thence, That such is the freeness of God’s grace, that it calls and converts sinners unto Christ when they think not of him, nor seek unto him. Little did Levi now think of a Saviour, much less seek after him, yet he is at this time called by him.
Matthew, a publican, Zaccheus, an extortioner, Saul, a persecutor, all these are brought home to God, as instances and evidences of the mighty power of converting grace.
Observe, 3. Matthew’s ready compliance with Christ’s call; he arose, and followed him. When the inward call of the Holy Spirit accompanieth the outward call of the word, the soul readily complies, and presently yields obedience to the voice of Christ. Christ oft-times speaks by his word to our ears, and we hear not, we stir not; but when he speaks by his Spirit efficaciously to our hearts, Satan shall not hold us down, the world shall not keep us back, but we shall with Levi instantly arise and follow our Saviour.
Observe, 4. Levi, or Matthew, to show his thankfulness to Christ, makes him a great feast. Christ invited Matthew to a discipleship, Matthew invites Christ to a dinner. The servant invites his Master, a sinner invites his Saviour. We do not find, that when Christ was invited to any table, that he ever refused to go: if a publican, if a Pharisee invited him, he constantly went; not so much for the pleasure of eating, as for the opportunity of conversing and doing good. Christ feasts us when we feast him.
Learn hence, That new converts are full of affection towards Christ, and very expressive in their love unto him. Matthew, touched with a sense of Christ’s rich love, makes him a royal feast.
Observe, 5. The cavil and exception which the scribes and Pharisees made at our Lord’s free conversation. They censure him for conversing with sinners; he justifies himself, telling them, that he conversed with them as their physician, not as their companion. They that are whole need no physician, says Christ, but they that are sick.
As if our Lord had said, “With whom should a physician converse, but with his sick patients? Now I am come into the world to do the office of a kind physician unto men, surely then I am to take all opportunities of conversing with them, that I may help and heal them, for they that are sick need the physician: but as for you scribes and Pharisees, who are well and whole in your own opinion and conceit, I have no hopes of doing good upon you: for such as think themselves whole desire no physician’s help.”
From this assertion of our Saviour these truths are suggested to us,
1. That sin is the soul’s malady, its spiritual disease and sickness.
2. That Christ is the Physician appointed by God for the cure and healing of this disease.
3. That there are multitudes of sinners spiritually sick, whole yet think themselves sound and whole.
4. That such, and only such, as find and feel themselves spiritually sick, are the subjects capable of Christ’s healing.
They that are whole need not the physician, but they that are sick. I came not to call the (opiniatively) righteous, but the (sensible) sinner to repentance.
Fuente: Expository Notes with Practical Observations on the New Testament
Mar 2:13-17. And all the multitude resorted unto him Namely, by the sea-side. And he taught them As readily there as if he had been in a synagogue. And as he passed by he saw Levi, that is, Matthew, sitting, &c. See on Mat 9:9-13. Many publicans and sinners sat with Jesus Some of them, doubtless, invited by Matthew, moved with compassion for his old companions in sin. But the next words, For they were many, and they followed him, seem to imply that the greater part, encouraged by his gracious words and the tenderness of his behaviour, and impatient to hear more, stayed for no invitation, but pressed in after him, and kept as close to him as they could. And the scribes and the Pharisees said So now the wise men, being joined by the saints of the world, went a little further in raising prejudices against our Lord. In his answer he uses, as yet, no harshness, but only calm, dispassionate reasoning. I came not to call the righteous Therefore if these were righteous, I should not call them. But now they are the very persons I came to save.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
CONVERSION OF MATTHEW
Mat 20:9; Mar 2:13-14; & Luk 5:27-28. Mark: And He went out again by the sea; and all the multitude came to Him, and He continued to teach them. And passing along He saw Levi, the son of Alpheus, sitting at the toll; and He says to Him, Follow Me. And rising, he followed Him. Luke: And leaving all things, rising, he followed Him. Matthew: Jesus, going on from thence, saw a man sitting at the toll called Matthew, and says to him, Follow Me, and rising up, he followed Him. This took place in the city of Capernaum, the home of Jesus, Peter, Andrew, James, John, and Matthew, who is also called Levi. Here we have the very brief account of the conversion and call to the apostleship of Matthew, one of the writers of our Lord’s Gospel. He and John were apostles among the original Twelve, Mark serving as Peter’s amanuensis and Luke that of Paul. Matthew’s conversion, here so briefly given, is quite remarkable. He is not only in the bloom of youth, bat the incumbent of a lucrative office. He is no poor man, but he is rich, living in affluence, with the broadest possibilities of worldly aggrandizement spread out before him. He suddenly and unhesitatingly leaves all for a life of toil, poverty, and persecution, and a cruel death to wind up. Suddenly converted, we never afterward hear of his wavering. In the distribution of the world among the apostles, pursuant to the Commission, receiving Ethiopia as his field of labor, he faithfully went, and preached heroically till he sealed his faith with his blood, and flew up to join his Master in celestial glory.
We have now followed our Lord through the first year of His ministry, all of which He spent in Galilee, His home and favorite field, except about two months at the beginning. The Feast of the Passover, instituted and perpetuated to commemorate the Divine mercy shown to Israel the last night of their sojourn in Egypt, when the destroying angel came down and slew the firstborn in every house in all the land, but in mercy passing over the houses of Israel besprinkled with the blood of the slain lamb, symbolic of the Lamb of God, that taketh away the sin of the world. Our Savior gave special attention and peculiar honor to this institution, beginning His ministry at a Passover, and winding it up at another three years subsequently, two Passovers intervening in the interim. Now, the first year of His ministry having passed away, the fame of His mighty works having filled Palestine and mightily stirred the Gentile world, till all eyes are turned toward Him, most momentous inquiries are everywhere ringing from the popular lip, Is not this the Shiloh of prophecy, the Christ of God, the Savior of the world, and the Redeemer of Israel? If He is not truly the Messiah who is to come, He is certainly the greatest prophet whom God has ever given to Israel.
Fuente: William Godbey’s Commentary on the New Testament
Mar 2:13-17. The Call of Levi. Jesus Eats with Tax-Collectors.These two incidents are only loosely connected with each other and with what precedes. The notes of time are of the vaguest. The call of Levi, who is collecting tolls for the Tetrarch of Galilee on the highroad (p. 615), closely resembles the call of the first four disciples. There is nothing to suggest that the meal is a thanksgiving feast. In the large company of guests, some Pharisees (pp. 624, 666f.) mingle. They appear here in the gospel for the first time. The idea of holiness through separation is involved in their very name. Tax-collectors had a bad reputation in ancient society. A passage in Lucian classes them with adulterers and sycophants. The sinners seem to be people who were careless of the Law and perhaps even loose livers. It is very strange that Jesus the prophet chooses such company. Jesus meets the Pharisaic suggestion with a proverbial saying and a statement of His own aim in evangelizing. He did not avoid sinners, but sought them out: this was a new and sublime contribution to the development of religion and morality (Montefiore, i. 86).
Mar 2:15. The concluding words are taken by Swete and Wellhausen with the next verse. And there followed also scribes of the Pharisaic party. This is attractive.
Mar 2:16. Scribes of the Pharisees an unusual and awkward phrase, as, according to Well-hausen, there were no scribes of the Sadducees.
Mar 2:17. Loisy (p. 93) and J. Weiss attribute the last sentence to the evangelist, as the reference to His mission is theological, and if genuine the saying involves ironical use of Pharisaic terms. These objections are not final. Jesus was certainly conscious of a Divine mission, and may well have defined it in such terms.
Fuente: Peake’s Commentary on the Bible
Mar 2:13 And he went forth again by the sea side; and all the multitude resorted unto him, and he taught them.
It would seem that he could not get away from the people. They knew He had a message they wanted to hear and they wanted to be sure they did.
The term “resorted” is normally translated “come” or to come from one place to another. I do not know why they picked a three dollar word for a thirty cent term but it just mentions that the people came to Him. It also simply makes the statement that He “taught them.”
We might suggest that the application might run along the line of anyone that is ministering the Word of God will find people coming to them to hear. Pastor, when you are tired and someone shows up on your doorstep, just minister. Teacher, when you are tired and someone shows a need for learning, teach. Helper, when you are tired and someone needs a hand, just help away.
Today a teacher in many churches just cannot teach a full month of Sunday school without a break. Many Sunday schools have “team” teaching where one person teaches for a week or two then the other so they don’t get tired. Christ ministered as long as people were there to listen. We ought to have the thought that we will do the same. We are not in this life to rest we are here to work for our Lord – not that you would know that from all the people sitting idle in the pews in our churches.
Fuente: Mr. D’s Notes on Selected New Testament Books by Stanley Derickson
2:13 {2} And he went forth again by the sea side; and all the multitude resorted unto him, and he taught them.
(2) The gospel offends the proud and saves the humble.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
2. The call of Levi and his feast 2:13-17 (cf. Matthew 9:13; Luke 5:27-32)
The call of Levi as one of Jesus’ disciples was the setting for the second instance of opposition from the religious leaders that Mark recorded in this section.
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
"Again" (Gr. palin) identifies this incident as a different occasion (cf. Mar 1:16). Jesus had been in Capernaum, which was very close to the Sea of Galilee, but now He returned to the water’s edge where He could teach the large crowds that followed Him (cf. Mar 1:45; Mar 2:13; Mar 3:7; Mar 3:13; Mar 4:1; Mar 5:21; et al.).
"This action becomes meaningful when it is seen as part of a recurring pattern in Mark’s Gospel. After a demonstration of the saving power of God, Jesus withdraws from the populace to a lonely region, whether the wilderness, the mountain or the sea. . . . Like the return to the wilderness, the move to the sea entails a deliberate entrance into the sphere of forces which manifest their hostility to God." [Note: Lane, p. 100.]
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
CHAPTER 2:13-17 (Mar 2:13-17)
THE CALL AND FEAST OF LEVI
“And He went forth again by the seaside; and all the multitude resorted unto Him, and He taught them. And as He passed by, He saw Levi the son of Alphaeus sitting at the place of toll, and He saith unto him, Follow Me. And he arose and followed Him. And it came to pass, that He was sitting at meat in his house, and many publicans and sinners sat down with Jesus and His disciples: for there were many, and they followed Him. And the scribes of the Pharisees, when they saw that He was eating with the sinners and publicans, said unto His disciples, He eateth and drinketh with publicans and sinners. And when Jesus heard it, He saith unto them, They that are whole have no need of a physician, but they that are sick: I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.” Mar 2:13-17 (R.V.)
JESUS loved the open air. His custom when teaching was to point to the sower, the lily, and the bird. He is no pale recluse emerging from a library to instruct, in the dim religious light of cloisters, a world unknown except by books. Accordingly we find Him “again by the seaside.” And however the scribes and Pharisees may have continued to murmur, the multitudes resorted to Him, confiding in the evidence of their experience, which never saw it on this fashion.
That argument was perfectly logical; it was an induction, yet it led them to a result curiously the reverse of theirs who reject miracles for being contrary to experience. “Yes,” they said, “we appeal to experience, but the conclusion is that good deeds which it cannot parallel must come directly from the Giver of all good.”
Such good deeds continue. The creed of Christ has reformed Europe, it is awakening Asia, it has transformed morality, and imposed new virtues on the conscience. It is the one religion for the masses, the lapsed, and indeed for the sick in body as truly as in soul; for while science discourses with enthusiasm upon progress by the rejection of the less fit, our faith cherishes these in hospitals, asylums, and retreats, and prospers by lavishing care upon the outcast and rejected of the world. Now this transcends experience: we never saw it on this fashion; it is supernatural. Or else let scientific atheism produce its reformed magdalens, and its homes for the hopelessly diseased and imbecile, and all “the weakest” who go, as she tenderly assures us, “to the wall.”
Jesus now gave a signal proof of His independence of human judgment, His care for the despised and rejected. For such a one He completed the rupture between Himself and the rulers of the people.
Sitting at the receipt of toll, in the act of levying from his own nation the dues of the conqueror, Levi the publican received the call to become an Apostle and Evangelist. It was a resolute defiance of the pharisaic judgment. It was a memorable rebuke for those timid slaves of expediency who nurse their influence, refuse to give offense, fear to “mar their usefulness” by “compromising themselves,” and so make their whole life one abject compromise, and let all emphatic usefulness go by.
Here is one upon whom the bigot scowls more darkly still than upon Jesus Himself, by whom the Roman yoke is pressed upon Hebrew necks, and apostate in men’s judgment from the national faith and hope. And such judgments sadly verify themselves; a despised man easily becomes despicable.
But however Levi came by so strange and hateful an office, Jesus saw in him no slavish earner of vile bread by doing the foreigner’s hateful work. He was more willing than they who scorned him to follow the true King of Israel. It is even possible that the national humiliations to which his very office testified led him to other aspirations, longings after a spiritual kingdom beyond reach of the sword or the exactions of Rome. For his Gospel is full of the true kingdom of heaven, the spiritual fulfillments of prophecy, and the relations between the Old Testament and the Messiah.
Here then is an opportunity to show the sneering scribe and carping Pharisee how little their cynical criticism weighs with Jesus. He calls the despised agent of the heathen to His side, and is obeyed. And now the name of the publican is engraved upon one of the foundations of the city of God.
Nor did Jesus refuse to carry such condescension to its utmost limit, eating and drinking in Levi’s house with many publicans and sinners, who were already attracted by His teaching, and now rejoiced in His familiarity. Just in proportion as He offended the pharisaic scribes, so did He inspire with new hope the unhappy classes who were taught to consider themselves castaway. His very presence was medicinal, a rebuke to foul words and thoughts, an outward and visible sign of grace. It brought pure air and sunshine into a fever-stricken chamber.
And this was His justification when assailed. He had borne healing to the sick. He had called sinners to repentance. And therefore His example has a double message. It rebukes those who look curiously on the intercourse of religious people with the world, who are plainly of opinion that the leaven should be hid anywhere but in the meal, who can never fairly understand St. Paul’s permission to go to an idolater’s feast. But it gives no license to go where we cannot be a healing influence, where the light must be kept in a dark lantern if not under a bushel, where, instead of drawing men upward, we shall only confirm their indolent self-satisfaction.
Christ’s reason for seeking out the sick, the lost, is ominous indeed for the self-satisfied. The whole have no need of a physician; He came not to call the righteous. Such persons, whatever else they be, are not Christians until they come to a different mind.
In calling Himself the Physician of sick souls, Jesus made a startling claim, which becomes more emphatic when we observe that He also quoted the words of Hosea, “I will have mercy and not sacrifice” (Mat 9:13; Hos 6:6). For this expression occurs in that chapter which tells how the Lord Himself hath smitten and will bind us up. And the complaint is just before it that when Ephraim saw his sickness and Judah saw his wound, then went Ephraim to Assyria and sent to king Jareb, but he is not able to heal you, neither shall he cure you of your wound (Hos 5:13-15; Hos 6:1). As the Lord Himself hath torn, so He must heal.
Now Jesus comes to that part of Israel which the Pharisees despise for being wounded and diseased, and justifies Himself by words which must, from their context, have reminded every Jew of the declaration that God is the physician, and it is vain to seek healing elsewhere. And immediately afterwards, he claims to be the Bridegroom, whom also Hosea spoke of as divine. Yet men profess that only in St. John does He advance such claims that we should ask, Whom makest Thou Thyself? Let them try the experiment, then, of putting such words into the lips of any mortal.
The choice of the apostles, and most of all that of Levi, illustrates the power of the cross to elevate obscure and commonplace lives. He was born, to all appearance, to an uneventful, unobserved existence. We read no remarkable action of the Apostle Matthew; as an Evangelist he is simple, orderly and accurate, as becomes a man of business, but the graphic energy of St. Mark, the pathos of St. Luke, the profundity of St. John are absent. Yet his greatness will outlive the world.
Now as Christ provided nobility and a career for this man of the people, so He does for all. “Are all apostles?” Nay, but all may become pillars in the temple of eternity. The gospel finds men plunged in monotony, in the routine of callings which machinery and the subdivision of labor make ever more colorless, spiritless, and dull. It is a small thing that it introduces them to a literature more sublime than Milton, more sincere and direct than Shakespeare. It brings their little lives into relationship with eternity. It braces them for a vast struggle, watched by a great cloud of witnesses. It gives meaning and beauty to the sordid present, and to the future a hope full of immortality. It brings the Christ of God nearer to the humblest than when of old He ate and drank with publicans and sinners.