Mark 2:13-17
13 Once again Jesus went out beside the lake. A large crowd came to him, and he began to teach them.
14 As he walked along, he saw Levi son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax collector’s booth. “Follow me,” Jesus told him, and Levi got up and followed him.
15 While Jesus was having dinner at Levi’s house, many tax collectors and sinners were eating with him and his disciples, for there were many who followed him.
16 When the teachers of the law who were Pharisees saw him eating with the sinners and tax collectors, they asked his disciples: “Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?”
17 On hearing this, Jesus said to them, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”
13 Once again Jesus went out beside the lake. A large crowd came to him, and he began to teach them.
14 As he walked along, he saw Levi son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax collector’s booth. “Follow me,” Jesus told him, and Levi got up and followed him.
15 While Jesus was having dinner at Levi’s house, many tax collectors and sinners were eating with him and his disciples, for there were many who followed him.
16 When the teachers of the law who were Pharisees saw him eating with the sinners and tax collectors, they asked his disciples: “Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?”
17 On hearing this, Jesus said to them, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”
Reflection
Who is Jesus? There are many different ways to answer that question.
In the Gospel of Matthew (Matthew 16:13-16) Jesus asks the disciples what people were saying about him. And they report back to him that some people think he might be John the Baptist; that is someone who comes to bring Israel back to its true purpose and relationship with God, or maybe, Elijah, one of the great prophets, come back to save Israel. Today, we could easily add a few more to the list: rabbi, teacher, healer, leader, Messiah, saviour.
Some of our answers emphasize Jesus’ humanity, others the special gifts Jesus had, and still other answers highlight his special relationship with God. There are many people who equate Jesus with other religious figures in history and some who think Jesus is merely a literary composite who never really existed at all!
Let’s face it, there are lots of different views of Jesus, lots of opinions, lots of books and articles including the New Testament itself. There is no easy definitive answer; not in history, not in the churches teachings, not even when we compare our personal experiences.
How we answer the question about Jesus’ identity depends somewhat on our theological understanding and faith stance. Basically, how did we even get to know about Jesus in the first place and how did we process additional information about Jesus as it came along.
You know what would really help, if Jesus were right in front of us now and we could ask him about all the stuff we want to know today but they didn’t consider important to the story way back when. After all, what we do know is contained in four gospels, a few more writings found in Nag Hammadi in Egypt, and a few mentions in historical documents; like the writings of Josephus. And all that boils down to: a religious figure lived in the first century in what is now Israel/Palestine and was executed by the Roman government. So ultimately, we face the same question Jesus posed to his disciples: “Who do you say that I am?” Exciting isn’t it?
Diana Butler Bass in “Freeing Jesus” gives us a framework and the opportunity to begin to look at the question in our own lives.
Over the next weeks I invite you to read her book Freeing Jesus which is a memoir type of theology. Each week, except for Sandcastle weekend, I will focus on the topic of her chapters: Jesus as Friend, Teacher, Saviour, Lord, Way and Presence. Hopefully, this will help us to reflect on our own experiences of Jesus in our lives. If you would like to discuss the topic you are also invited to a weekly drop in on Tuesday at1 p.m.. The book is an invitation to take a journey with Diana and the Bible but it’s our journey! And we get to share it with one another if you’d like to come by.
The first chapter talks about Jesus being a friend and when I look at the gospel stories that is exactly what I see:
Jesus claiming friendship. “Come and follow me” he yells out and James and John, Andrew and Simon Peter leave their fishing boats.
In our scripture passage from Mark this morning we heard about Jesus calling another of his disciples: Levi, the tax collector; you might know him better as Matthew!
In our reading Jesus goes to a party later at Levi’s home and the Pharisees who see him accuse him of eating with tax collectors and sinners. There is a similar passage in Luke 7 where we again get a sense of how some people saw Jesus. In the passage the Pharisees accuse Jesus not only of getting in with the wrong crowd but of behaving badly himself, and Jesus knew it. Jesus says to the Pharisees:
“ The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and you say, ‘Here is a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners.’”
Were they wrong? Jesus associates with, eats with, talks to, includes in his closest companions; all kinds of people, people others classify as “tax collectors and sinners”, people they would go out of their way to avoid, people they wouldn’t want to be seen with, never mind, actually enter their houses and sit down at a table with them.
Four smelly fishermen Andrew, Simon Peter, James and John, a demon-possessed now healed Mary from Magdalena, Mary, Martha and their brother Lazarus, sound like pretty ordinary people but why be friends with them, tax collectors plural (remember Zacchaeus from up in a tree), there are even a couple of Pharisees in his followers: Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea and a Zealot or two, - the followers of Jesus are beginning to sound like a rag tag lot to me and I’m going to bet that Jesus called them his friends.
So imagine you are any one of them, doesn’t matter which one and Jesus comes to you and calls to you, talks to you, heals you, sits down and eats with you at the same table and you don’t have to pretend anything- it’s not a case of mistaken identity, Jesus doesn’t think: “Oh, Levi you are just visiting the tax collectors booth, Mary, you don’t really have demons, John and James, Andrew and Simon you aren’t really cut out to be fishermen you’re way too spiritual and smart for that”
My guess is that Jesus sees you, talks with you, accepts you – just as you are- really. What are friends for if not to be the people who know you, the ones who challenge you, the ones who accept you.
So when we talk about Jesus as friend, whatever your experience of Jesus in your life, Jesus is the one who knows you, loves you, and accepts you just like you are.
But, it doesn’t stop there, because if you are friends with Jesus there is always more; more to learn, more to discuss, more questions than answers, more insights, more to the journey than we expected, more joy than we expected, more disappointments than we want, more depth to this relationship than we can fathom. Friends are like that. It’s a journey and everyone is driving and everyone is along for the ride.
The book is a journey too, I hope you enjoy it. I hope the book frees you to think about your own lives. I hope the book helps you to think about Jesus in ways you maybe haven’t before. I like to think that freeing Jesus means that we can let Jesus do what Jesus does best in the gospels; bring the Good News into our lives! Open to us the possibility of peace, and healing and compassion in our lives and in the world.
May it be so. Amen
Who is Jesus? There are many different ways to answer that question.
In the Gospel of Matthew (Matthew 16:13-16) Jesus asks the disciples what people were saying about him. And they report back to him that some people think he might be John the Baptist; that is someone who comes to bring Israel back to its true purpose and relationship with God, or maybe, Elijah, one of the great prophets, come back to save Israel. Today, we could easily add a few more to the list: rabbi, teacher, healer, leader, Messiah, saviour.
Some of our answers emphasize Jesus’ humanity, others the special gifts Jesus had, and still other answers highlight his special relationship with God. There are many people who equate Jesus with other religious figures in history and some who think Jesus is merely a literary composite who never really existed at all!
Let’s face it, there are lots of different views of Jesus, lots of opinions, lots of books and articles including the New Testament itself. There is no easy definitive answer; not in history, not in the churches teachings, not even when we compare our personal experiences.
How we answer the question about Jesus’ identity depends somewhat on our theological understanding and faith stance. Basically, how did we even get to know about Jesus in the first place and how did we process additional information about Jesus as it came along.
You know what would really help, if Jesus were right in front of us now and we could ask him about all the stuff we want to know today but they didn’t consider important to the story way back when. After all, what we do know is contained in four gospels, a few more writings found in Nag Hammadi in Egypt, and a few mentions in historical documents; like the writings of Josephus. And all that boils down to: a religious figure lived in the first century in what is now Israel/Palestine and was executed by the Roman government. So ultimately, we face the same question Jesus posed to his disciples: “Who do you say that I am?” Exciting isn’t it?
Diana Butler Bass in “Freeing Jesus” gives us a framework and the opportunity to begin to look at the question in our own lives.
Over the next weeks I invite you to read her book Freeing Jesus which is a memoir type of theology. Each week, except for Sandcastle weekend, I will focus on the topic of her chapters: Jesus as Friend, Teacher, Saviour, Lord, Way and Presence. Hopefully, this will help us to reflect on our own experiences of Jesus in our lives. If you would like to discuss the topic you are also invited to a weekly drop in on Tuesday at1 p.m.. The book is an invitation to take a journey with Diana and the Bible but it’s our journey! And we get to share it with one another if you’d like to come by.
The first chapter talks about Jesus being a friend and when I look at the gospel stories that is exactly what I see:
Jesus claiming friendship. “Come and follow me” he yells out and James and John, Andrew and Simon Peter leave their fishing boats.
In our scripture passage from Mark this morning we heard about Jesus calling another of his disciples: Levi, the tax collector; you might know him better as Matthew!
In our reading Jesus goes to a party later at Levi’s home and the Pharisees who see him accuse him of eating with tax collectors and sinners. There is a similar passage in Luke 7 where we again get a sense of how some people saw Jesus. In the passage the Pharisees accuse Jesus not only of getting in with the wrong crowd but of behaving badly himself, and Jesus knew it. Jesus says to the Pharisees:
“ The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and you say, ‘Here is a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners.’”
Were they wrong? Jesus associates with, eats with, talks to, includes in his closest companions; all kinds of people, people others classify as “tax collectors and sinners”, people they would go out of their way to avoid, people they wouldn’t want to be seen with, never mind, actually enter their houses and sit down at a table with them.
Four smelly fishermen Andrew, Simon Peter, James and John, a demon-possessed now healed Mary from Magdalena, Mary, Martha and their brother Lazarus, sound like pretty ordinary people but why be friends with them, tax collectors plural (remember Zacchaeus from up in a tree), there are even a couple of Pharisees in his followers: Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea and a Zealot or two, - the followers of Jesus are beginning to sound like a rag tag lot to me and I’m going to bet that Jesus called them his friends.
So imagine you are any one of them, doesn’t matter which one and Jesus comes to you and calls to you, talks to you, heals you, sits down and eats with you at the same table and you don’t have to pretend anything- it’s not a case of mistaken identity, Jesus doesn’t think: “Oh, Levi you are just visiting the tax collectors booth, Mary, you don’t really have demons, John and James, Andrew and Simon you aren’t really cut out to be fishermen you’re way too spiritual and smart for that”
My guess is that Jesus sees you, talks with you, accepts you – just as you are- really. What are friends for if not to be the people who know you, the ones who challenge you, the ones who accept you.
So when we talk about Jesus as friend, whatever your experience of Jesus in your life, Jesus is the one who knows you, loves you, and accepts you just like you are.
But, it doesn’t stop there, because if you are friends with Jesus there is always more; more to learn, more to discuss, more questions than answers, more insights, more to the journey than we expected, more joy than we expected, more disappointments than we want, more depth to this relationship than we can fathom. Friends are like that. It’s a journey and everyone is driving and everyone is along for the ride.
The book is a journey too, I hope you enjoy it. I hope the book frees you to think about your own lives. I hope the book helps you to think about Jesus in ways you maybe haven’t before. I like to think that freeing Jesus means that we can let Jesus do what Jesus does best in the gospels; bring the Good News into our lives! Open to us the possibility of peace, and healing and compassion in our lives and in the world.
May it be so. Amen
