in Daniel to whom was given “dominion, glory and kingship.”(See Daniel 7: 13–14). Jesus evidently wants people’s ears to perk up when he uses this title. He wants them to know that for sure that something big is happening.
Jesus later turns this apocalyptic image on its head by the way he lives out the role. Many people do not like this change. The people in Jesus day are weary of waiting for deliverance. They want an angel-like, conquering figure to come in and vaporize the Romans, use a magic wand to alter the hearts of the religious leaders, and cut Caesar’s throat. This Son of Man fails on all counts.
Jesus is at home in Capernaum because he forgives sins and releases a man from the bondage of infirmity. Home is where the heart is and Jesus’ heart is wrapped around forgiving sins and freeing people for a new life. The scribes cannot see the forest for the trees nor can they see the big picture for the tiles. All they can see is a popular upstart who does not have the proper credentials to be messing with the forgiveness of sins.
Forgiving sins is a monopoly, and the established religion as it is practiced at that time, with its specific Temple rituals and sacrifices, has a market on the product. The Temple is rather like the old U.S. telephone system, Ma Bell. It does not want the break-up of what it considers to be a good thing.
Jesus is not interested in monopolies and knows that it is time for a change. Mark’s telling of the story is built around a threatened break-up of the religious monopoly. The solution to keeping the monopoly in place is handled in a late night negotiation resulting in a crucifixion. The seeds for a “final solution” are planted in this chapter.
The first twelve verses of Mark chapter two can be seen as a parallel of the entire Gospel of Mark: A new kingdom is being initiated that will not be tolerated by the old kingdom. Mark knows the end of the story and wants the reader to already begin seeing the handwriting on the wall.
On one level, the healing of the man affected by paralysis can be understood as an allegory. Sin binds us. Faith can free us from our bindings. We can walk into a new life if we believe. Does this mean that the story does not literally happen?
If I see a butterfly and tell a child that the butterfly is like resurrection, it does not mean the butterfly is not a butterfly. Jesus heals a man who is brought to him by people who believe that Jesus has power to set people free. Their efforts are rewarded by a healing story that we now have forever. Jesus heals the man’s legs and then frees his soul from the burden of the heavy chains of shame. He does the latter at no extra charge since the first liberation is also free. Unlike the professional scribes who murmur to themselves about this release, Jesus does not charge for his services of forgiveness.
You can leave your turtle doves and money at home. They are marketable in the old kingdom but their value is undermined in the new kingdom that Jesus brings. Freedom is in the air, and it is dangerous.
Mark 2:13–17 The Call of Levi/Eating with Tax Collectors
I love Mark’s geography. It is both picturesque and theological. Here we find Jesus “out again beside the sea,” with “the whole crowd gathered around him.” I have been privileged to walk beside this sea. I experienced why Jesus must have loved it so. His life was so crowded and this sea is so inviting and expansive.
I imagine Jesus rising early before his disciples and simply looking out over this sea. In actuality it is a lake compared to many of the seas on our planet. But to the people of Jesus’ day, and to Jesus I imagine, it is indeed a sea of possibilities. Out of it comes industry. Out if it come a good number of Jesus’ disciples. He plucks Peter, James, John and Andrew from their nets with remnants of this sea still dripping from the webbing.
It is beside this sea that Mark places Jesus for a series of controversy stories. One must remember that, as Mark shared these stories, his audience was involved in their own set of controversies. Mark’s audience was the early church. They were embroiled in arguments over who might sit at the table with them, and who was allowed inside the community of believers. There were very definite standards of who was in and who was out. Against such a backdrop, Mark retold the stories of chapter two.
Levi is unknown after this story. He is not mentioned again. Early tradition equates him with Matthew the tax collector, but no such connection is made by Mark. Levi is simply a tax collector who has his table set up somewhere by the sea. This is rather like a first-century lemonade stand, except that the lemonade on offer to the people is really more just a bitter taste in their mouths—but they have to pay the price anyway.
The tax collectors are hated by the people and by the Jewish establishment. Tax collectors are usually Jewish locals who are under contract by the government. They siphon off some money for themselves when they collect the taxes, and siphon it off again before they pay their Roman bosses.
Who knows why Levi responds so quickly to Jesus’ request to “follow me”? Mark is a master at leaving it to the imagination. Can it be that Levi simply follows out of curiosity? Maybe he is tired of his way of making it. Is Levi so surprised that someone like Jesus makes such an offer that Levi simply goes along for the ride? Or is Levi, like others whom Jesus encounters, just ripe for the picking? Perhaps one of Jesus’ divine attributes is a kind of radar that can target those who are ready, as in the familiar saying, “When you are ready to learn the teacher will come.”
Mark uses this story of Levi to make a point. Jesus ends up in Levi’s house. The place is as full of sinners as a barroom is full of smoke. If you have ever been in such a barroom, and are not a smoker, then you remember that when you come out, you reek of smoke. If you get this picture, you will understand what the scribes of the Pharisees say next.
According to them, because Jesus lowers himself to eat with tax collectors and those sinners who do not keep the Jewish law, Jesus reeks with the smell of the company he keeps. He renders himself “unclean.”
The law-abiding scribes of the Pharisees point this out to Jesus. Jesus waves his hand just enough to clear the smoke from in front of his face and informs the non-smoking clergy that those who do not need to quit smoking are unlikely to need a patch. (For those of you who have lost my imagery, a nicotine patch is a smoking cessation aid. This is a good example of the maxim that if you have to explain an image it begins to lose something. This is why Mark does so little explaining in his gospel.)
Jesus responds to the scribes that “those who are well have no need of a physician.” Jesus is making it clear that he has come for people who are aware that they need help. Jesus also breaks the crystal vase that the religious establishment has been keeping on the shelf. The crystal container is meant to hold something very precious, but it has become a museum piece whose main purpose is to collect the dust of the ages.
Jesus breaks the container like the glass that is broken at a Jewish wedding. He announces to the keepers of the crystal that fine crystal is out and the cheap glass is in. He wants to offer water to the thirsty and he knows that the folks by the sea will not drink anything from crystal containers.
Jesus may as well have kicked in the door to Levi’s house and let everybody in. Jesus loves to kick in doors. When he kicks in the door on this particular night, smoke comes pouring out. After all, to continue with the smoking analogy, these are smokers. What did the Pharisees expect to see?
Although Jesus does not smoke, he smells like smoke his whole ministry. He never lights up but he still loves the people who do. Jesus ends up hanging out with them a lot, and many of them end up kicking the habit. Jesus has a keen sense of smell. He can smell the smoke on the Pharisees’ robes even when others cannot. He guesses that they are the kind who preach sermons about the evils of smoking only to light up late at night when no one is looking. Needless to say, the Pharisees do not like anyone blowing their cover or smelling their clothes.
The
