Sunday Sermon | The Gospel of Mark: Jesus at the Table

"Jesus at the Table" | Mark 2:13–22 | Pastor Jason Smith FBC Boerne — Gospel of Mark Series

A tax collector in first-century Judea wasn't just unpopular. He was a traitor — a fellow Jew collecting money for Rome, using extortion and power to squeeze his own people. If he walked into your home, it became ceremonially unclean.

Jesus walked up to his booth and said, "Follow me."

In this message from Mark 2:13–22, Pastor Jason Smith traces three scenes that together paint one of the most joyful portraits of Jesus in the Gospels: the calling of Levi, the party that follows, and the confrontation with the Pharisees over fasting. Jesus answers them with two quick illustrations — a patch on old cloth, new wine in old wineskins — that reframe everything. He didn't come to patch dead religion. He brought something entirely new.

The message includes the remarkable story of Dr. Rosaria Butterfield — a tenured professor, committed feminist, and vocal critic of Christianity who encountered a pastor who simply invited her to dinner. Not as a debate. Not as a project. Just dinner. And over two years, the word of God and the warmth of a household that looked like Levi's party changed everything.

The closing question lands quietly but won't let go: are we becoming more like the Pharisees standing outside the feast — or like Jesus at the table?

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Transcript

Welcome And Mark 2 Setup

SPEAKER_00 0:01

All right, good morning, church families. Turn with me in your Bibles to Mark chapter two. Mark chapter two. If you're a guest with us this morning, we are really grateful that you are here. Um let me introduce myself. My name is Jason Smith. I have the awesome privilege of being the pastor here, First Baptist Bernie. If you do not have a Bible, there's a Bible in the Purec in front of you. Please take that Bible and keep it as a gift from us to you. We would love for you to have a copy of God's Word. Okay, this morning, Mark chapter 2. So for years in Florence, Italy, there sat a massive block of marble that nobody wanted. You see, it had been poorly cut, damaged, and it was scarred with imperfections. Several artists examined it and walked away, considered it completely unworthy. One began working with it, but then abandoned it. Another declared that its flaws were too deep to even be used. So for decades the stone just sat there, exposed to the weather, discarded, like a monument to failure, until one young sculptor looked at it, that same stone, and saw something entirely different. Despite its flaws, he saw possibility. He saw something worth redeeming. And so he sat to work on that abandoned block of marble. And he sculpted what many today consider to be the greatest sculpture in the world: Michelangelo's David. As we come to Mark chapter two, Jesus walks past a someone that had also been completely written off and discarded. What the religious people saw was a traitor, someone who was unworthy of being apart, was too far gone for redemption. And Jesus instead saw a disciple. Listen as I read in Mark chapter 2, beginning in verse 13. And he went out, that's Jesus, went out again by the seashore, and all the people were coming to him, and he was teaching them. And 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. And it happened that while he was reclining at the table in his house, that's Levi's house, and many tax collectors and sinners were dining with Jesus and his disciples, for there were many of them, and they were following him. When the scribes of the Pharisees saw that he was eating with sinners and tax collectors, they said to his disciples, Why is he eating and drinking with tax collectors and sinners? And hearing this, Jesus said to them, It is not those who are healthy who need a physician, but those who are sick. I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners. John's disciples and the Pharisees were fasting, and they came and they said to him, Why do John's disciples and the disciples of the Pharisees fast? But your disciples do not fast. And Jesus said to them, While the bridegroom is with them, the attendants of the bridegroom cannot fast, can they? So long as they have the bridegroom with them, they cannot fast. But the days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast in that day. No one sows a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment. Otherwise the patch pulls away from it, the new from the old, and a worse tear results. No one puts new wine into old wineskins, otherwise the wine will burst the skins, and the wine is lost in the skins as well. But one puts new wine into fresh wineskins. Will you pray with me? Heavenly Father, as we've gathered together around your word, God, we want to hear your heartbeat. Father, I pray intently that your spirit would teach us, because truthfully, Father, our perception of you, our perception of you, King Jesus, so often is amiss. I pray that your word would penetrate our souls and allow us to see with clarity who you are, King Jesus, and the way that you pursue sinners. The way that you flat out pursue us. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. All right, so I want you to recall back to chapter one, verse 16, as Jesus walked along the shore in Galilee, and there he called fishermen to come be his disciples. Recall that we learned everything about the scene was completely opposite of culture in those days. First of all, only the elite continued, advanced on in education to actually follow a rabbi. But these were fishermen. They had been discarded long ago. They did not make the cut, and yet Jesus is calling them. But secondly, you see, students pursued a rabbi. They auditioned and put their best foot forward in hopes that a rabbi would choose them. Okay? You see, a rabbi's reputation was on the line to get the very best students. So it was shocking enough to have Jesus come along and call fishermen to be his disciples. But church, there is simply no category for what happens next. Jesus calls a tax collector. 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. Now, as a general rule, nobody likes paying taxes. Can I get an amen? Amen. But the Romans, okay, their tax collection was notoriously corrupt. You see, tax collectors essentially purchased the right to collect taxes within a region. And Rome had their set amount, and whatever you could squeeze out of everyone else, you got to keep. On top of that, you got to keep. And they had enormous power, tax collectors, to do this. I want you to imagine you're walking alongside a road, and the tax collector stops you and searches your bags. And as they comb through it, they begin to decide to charge taxes, sales tax, import tax, road tax, whatever they wanted. They had the power to do it. So naturally, you can understand this uh position attracted corruption, extortion, and thugs who were willing to enforce it. But even worse than being greedy was being viewed as a traitor. A fellow Jew helping the Romans oppress his own people. It would be like a Frenchman collaborating with the Nazis after they had invaded. You see, to the Jewish people, tax collectors ranked right up there with thieves, prostitutes, and criminals. If a tax collector entered your home, it had become ceremonially unclean. So imagine the scene. Jesus walks by Levi's tax booth. Everyone sees a crook, a traitor, an outcast, a man that is disqualified from respectable religious life. And Jesus stops and looks at Levi and says, Follow me. And Luke tells us, leaving everything, he rose and followed him. Levi could hardly believe it. And Jesus was nothing like he imagined. He was warm, approachable, full of joy. Nothing like the cold, self-righteous, religious leaders that he knew. Now within moments, the whole town is buzzing. Levi, the tax collector, is now following Jesus. Could you imagine all the whispers? Him? The traitor? The crook. You see, little did they know that Levi would become Matthew, the writer of the very gospel that bears his name. Because you see, Jesus looked and he saw more than his past. Jesus saw what grace would make of him. So overwhelmed by the invitation, Levi wants to throw a party. In his own home, he throws a massive party. And who is he going to invite? Well, the only people that would associate with him. Tax collectors, sinners, the outcasts. And Levi wants them to meet Jesus too. And it happened that Jesus was reclining at the table in Levi's house, and many tax collectors and sinners were dining with Jesus and his disciples, for there were many of them, and they were following him. Now, church, in your mind, don't picture some quiet, sophisticated dinner party where everyone has their pinkies up. Now, this is loud and crowded and energetic. Okay? This house is packed with rough people. People that respectable society avoided. And right there in the middle of it all is Jesus reclining at the table, laughing, talking, eating. The guest of honor in a sinner's house. Jesus knows exactly what this will do to his reputation. Okay? He knows that the scribes of the Pharisees are watching him. But he only cares about his father's opinion. I'm not sure what you imagine Jesus to be like. But I want you to drink in this scene. Because sinners were clearly not afraid to be around Jesus. You see, he meets people where they are. Now, praise God, he doesn't leave them there. He calls them out of death into life. But notice this: before there is a clear understanding of who Jesus is, before they are cleaned up, they are drawn to Jesus. And did you notice the end of verse 15? Many of them were following him. You see, the kingdom of God is beginning to gather the most unlikely, the most improbable group. And the religious leaders, they can't stand it. When the scribes of the Pharisees saw that he was eating with sinners and tax collectors, they said to the disciples, Why is he eating and drinking with tax collectors and sinners? Now, in order for you and I to understand the tension in this moment, we need to understand something about the Pharisees. See, the Pharisees were not trying to be wicked men. You see, in many ways, uh they had risen up out of a sincere desire to protect holiness. Okay? Recall from the Old Testament, right? The number of times that Israel just constantly drifted into idolatry and culminating even with exile, kicked out of the land before they're brought back. So the Pharisees, just wanting to stay right with God, they're saying, this is not going to happen to us again. So they devoted themselves to ritual purity and strict obedience. They built their lives around avoiding unclean things, avoiding contamination, avoiding sinners. See, in their mind, holiness means separation. And to be fair, the Old Testament did command laws about purity and separation. But the problem was, you see, they reduced people down to external categories, clean and unclean, acceptable and unacceptable. And this made them cold, self-righteous, and judgmental. So when the Pharisees see Jesus reclining with sinners and tax collectors, there he is. He's eating right there with them. They are horrified. Because in their mind, holiness stays as far away from sinners as possible. Now, church, before we're too hard on those Pharisees, we should probably ask ourselves an uncomfortable question. Do we function in the same way? Carefully ordering our lives so that we have as little interaction with the lost world as possible. Always insulated, always separated. But if you look at Jesus, what does he do? He walks straight into the mess. Not to participate in sin, but to rescue sinners. And hearing their criticism, Jesus says, It is not those who are healthy who need a physician, but those who are sick. I did not come to call the righteous but sinners. Now could you imagine a doctor who avoided sick people? Or how about a firefighter who refused to run into burning buildings? You say, well, that would completely miss the mission. Listen, the mission of the Messiah was to clean sinners and restore them to the Father. So listen carefully. Jesus is not saying that the Pharisees are righteous and spiritually healthy. No, he's not saying that at all. In fact, he is exposing the tragedy of self-righteousness. Because everyone at that party is sick. And the tax collectors know it and the sinners know it, Levi knows it. But the Pharisees are blind to their condition. And friend, that is one of the most dangerous spots that the human heart could ever get. So convinced of your goodness that you no longer see your need for grace. In fact, the only people that Jesus came to save are sinners. The prerequisite to coming to Jesus is knowing that you are a sinner. So look at the scene. There they are, sinners flocking to Jesus because they know that they need help. The whole scene is centered around it. One group celebrating the fact that sinners can find grace in Jesus, and the other group is offended at the celebration itself. And that tension only grows in our next scene. Because now the religious leaders, you see, they have another question. Verse 18 Why do John's disciples and the disciples of the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast? Now in the Old Testament, there's only one occasion that fasting is required. That's Yom Kippur, the celebration of Yom Kippur. But many serious religious people in Jesus' time had developed the practice of fasting regularly. The Pharisees fasted twice a week. John's disciples fasted. So underneath this question is really the accusation. All right, Jesus, you and your disciples, why aren't you guys as religious and holy as the rest of us? I want you to listen carefully to Jesus' answer. Because he's about to make an astounding claim. First of all, though, notice that Jesus does not say fasting is wrong. In fact, in verse 20, he says, when the bridegroom leaves, there will be a time when his followers fast. So this is not a rejection of fasting. Jesus offers a temporary exemption. Why? Because of who he is. And Jesus said to them, While the bridegroom is with them, the attendants of the bridegroom cannot fast, can they? So as long as the bridegroom is with them, they cannot fast. Do you hear what Jesus is saying? My coming is like a wedding feast. Okay? It's not a funeral, it's not time for mourning. This is time for celebration because the groom has arrived. And no one fasts at a wedding. You celebrate, you feast, you rejoice. Church, do you see that this entire section is overflowing with joy? Levi throws a party. Sinners are drawn to Jesus. The physician is healing the sick. And now Jesus says, My coming is like a wedding. The groom is here. It is time to celebrate because I'm here. Now in verse 20, Jesus does foreshadow his coming death. But the days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them. And then they will fast in that day. See, the bridegroom will be taken away. At that time there will be sorrow, there will be grief, but not yet. Right now is time for celebration. And then Jesus gives two quick illustrations to explain why his coming cannot fit with the old religious framework. First, he says no one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment. Second, he says no one puts new wine into old wineskins. Now, both illustrations work the same way with expanding or contracting cloths, okay? A new cloth shrinks and tears away the old fabric. New wine expands and bursts old wineskins. So listen to what Jesus is saying. He said, I did not come to merely patch up old dead religion. Okay? And I did not come to just add a few things, a few new teachings to the old system. Instead, he says, I have brought something entirely new. And that's not because God has changed, but because everything that the old systems were pointing to has now arrived. Jesus has come. The kingdom has come. Celebrate because the bridegroom is near. The old categories cannot contain his joy and the life and the transforming power that he brings because the new has come. And friend, what is the new like? Jesus pursuing sinners. He meets them where they are. And he calls them into the grace of God. He is not pretentious or arrogant or cold. He is filled with joy. And he sees them. And he likes them. And he calls them out of their sin into life. Church, does the lost world see this Jesus in us? Because if I could count the number of times I have had to apologize on behalf of Christians for their self-righteousness to those who have been hurt and put off by other Christians. You see, it is no wonder that Jesus said, the harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Dr. Rosaria Butterfield was once the kind of person that Christians would assume wanted nothing to do with Jesus. She was a tenured English professor at Syracuse University. She was a committed feminist. She was openly lesbian, and she deeply opposed Christianity. In fact, she was working on a book, and so she wrote an article published in the paper criticizing promise keepers and conservative Christians. Now, after that article was published, as you can imagine, she received lots of responses. And most of them are exactly what you would expect: angry letters, condemnation attacks. But one response was different. A local pastor named Ken Smith wrote her a kind letter and simply invited her to dinner with him and his wife. Not to debate, not as a project, but to enjoy a meal together and to talk. And over time, Rosaria kept coming back. She would later say that she was shocked, not by his theology, but by the warmth of his home. And the joy and the hospitality, and the fact that Christians seemed genuinely unafraid of her. She expected cold religious people standing at a distance. But instead, she encountered something a whole lot like Jesus at Levi's house. And over the course of a two-year friendship through the Word of God, the Spirit of God transformed her life. And she would come to faith in Jesus Christ. Now, church, listen carefully. Jesus never compromised holiness. Not once. But sinners were drawn to him. And one of the questions this text forces us to ask is: Are we becoming more like the Pharisees standing outside the feast? Or are we like Jesus at the table? Because the kingdom of God is still drawing broken people with the joy and the grace of Jesus Christ. Will you pray with me? Jesus, there is no one like you. Your kindness and your grace, they have captured our soul. And we praise you. We praise you for your nearness, for your accessibility. The fact that you would draw near to us, sinners. You are holy and you are magnificent, and you spoke the entire universe into being and you sustain it, and everything is from you and through you and to you, and still you draw near to us. Jesus, help us to be like you. Jesus, we do confess that so often we get overwhelmed by this situation or we don't know what to say, and we feel uncomfortable. And we need you. We need you to help us love people. We need security in you to not be drawn into sin and compromise. But we need you to love people with a passion. Father, if there's anyone here today that does not know you, I pray that they would sense your nearness. I pray that they would hear from your word how you are, Jesus. It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen.