Commentary - Mark 2:13-17

Bird's-eye view

In this passage, Mark presents us with a stark and glorious contrast. On the one hand, we have the expansive grace of the Lord Jesus, calling men out of the muck and mire of their sin. On the other, we have the pinched and self-righteous religion of the scribes and Pharisees, who can only stand at a distance and critique. Jesus is on the move, teaching by the sea, and His ministry is magnetic, drawing large crowds. But His focus here narrows to one man, Levi, a tax collector. This is not just a career choice; in that culture, it was a declaration of treachery and compromise. Yet, this is the man Jesus calls. The call is followed by a feast, a picture of gospel fellowship, where the outcasts are brought near. The grumbling of the religious establishment provides the backdrop for one of Jesus' most potent declarations about the nature of His mission: He came not for the spiritually smug, but for the spiritually sick. This is the gospel in miniature.

The scene is a beautiful tableau of what the kingdom of God is like. It is a kingdom of radical inclusion, but not an inclusion that leaves men as they are. It is a call to follow, to leave the old life behind. The feast in Levi's house is a foretaste of the great messianic banquet, where the last will be first, and the first, if they do not repent, will be left outside, grumbling in the dark. The central conflict is not between Jesus and the "sinners," but between Jesus and those who believe they have no need of a physician. This passage forces every reader to ask which group they belong to.

Outline

Clause-by-Clause Commentary

v. 13 And He went out again by the seashore; and the entire crowd was coming to Him, and He was teaching them.

Jesus' ministry is public and open. He does not hide away in a synagogue, though He teaches there also. He goes out to the common places, here the seashore. This is a picture of the gospel going out into all the world. The crowds are drawn to Him, not because of a slick marketing campaign, but because of the authority and grace with which He speaks. He is teaching them. This is the central activity. Jesus is not an entertainer; He is a preacher, a teacher of the truth. The crowds are coming to Him, which is the proper response. But as we will see, simply being part of the crowd is not the same as being a disciple.

v. 14 And as He passed by, He saw Levi the son of Alphaeus sitting in the tax office, and He said to him, “Follow Me!” And he stood up and followed Him.

Here the camera zooms in. Out of the entire crowd, Jesus' gaze falls on one man: Levi. Notice the particulars. Jesus is passing by. This is not a planned interview. This is a sovereign interruption. He saw Levi. In a world that despised tax collectors and looked right through them, Jesus sees him. He is identified as the son of Alphaeus, a detail that grounds this in history. He is sitting in his tax office, the very symbol of his collusion with the Roman oppressors and his separation from the covenant people. A tax collector was a publican, a man who bought a tax franchise from Rome and then squeezed as much as he could from his own people to make a profit. They were notorious for extortion and were considered religious and social pariahs.

And what does Jesus say to this man? He issues a command of two words: "Follow Me!" This is not a suggestion. It is not an invitation to a seminar on self-improvement. It is a royal summons. It is the creative word of the King, calling a man out of one kingdom and into another. And the response is immediate. "And he stood up and followed Him." The old life is abandoned in a moment. The lucrative career, the security of his position, all of it is left behind. This is repentance. This is faith in action. The call of Christ is effectual. When He calls, His sheep hear His voice, and they follow.

v. 15 And it happened that as He was reclining at the table in his house, many tax collectors and sinners were reclining with Jesus and His disciples. For there were many of them, and they were following Him.

The first thing Levi does is throw a party. This is the proper response to grace. Joy erupts in fellowship. And who does he invite? His old friends, "many tax collectors and sinners." These are the only friends he had. This is his mission field. And Jesus is right there in the middle of it, reclining at the table. Table fellowship in the ancient world was a sign of acceptance, of intimacy. Jesus is not afraid to be contaminated by proximity to sinners. In fact, He is the one doing the contaminating, spreading His holiness to them. Notice the phrase, "with Jesus and His disciples." The new community is forming, and it is a strange mix. And then Mark adds a crucial detail: "For there were many of them, and they were following Him." This is not just a one-off dinner. A movement has begun. The outcasts are being drawn in, not just to a meal, but to a new way of life, following Jesus.

v. 16 And when the scribes of the Pharisees saw that He was eating with the sinners and tax collectors, they were saying to His disciples, “He is eating and drinking with tax collectors and sinners!”

The opposition arrives. The scribes of the Pharisees are the religious watchdogs, the guardians of tradition and separation. They see what is happening, and they are scandalized. Their religion was one of boundary-keeping, of maintaining ritual purity by avoiding contact with the "unclean." To them, Jesus is committing a flagrant violation. Notice they do not confront Jesus directly, but go to His disciples. This is a classic tactic of the enemy: sow doubt and division among the followers. Their question is dripping with contempt. "He is eating and drinking with tax collectors and sinners!" The charge is not just that He is present, but that He is participating, celebrating with them. To the Pharisee, your dinner companions define you. If you eat with sinners, you must be one of them.

v. 17 And hearing this, Jesus said to them, “Those who are healthy do not have need for a physician, but only those who are sick; I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”

Jesus overhears their grumbling and responds. He does not deny the charge; He explains it. He uses an analogy that is impossible to argue with. "Those who are healthy do not have need for a physician, but only those who are sick." The Pharisees see themselves as spiritually healthy. They are the well ones. And in a stroke of divine irony, Jesus agrees with them on their own terms. If you are well, then you have no need of Me. The physician does not make house calls to those who are not sick. The tragedy, of course, is that the Pharisees were desperately ill with the terminal disease of self-righteousness, but their pride prevented them from seeing it.

Then He drops the analogy and states His mission plainly: "I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners." This is one of the most foundational statements of the gospel in all of Scripture. Christ's mission is not to affirm the self-righteous but to save the lost. He is not a life coach for the spiritually fit; He is a rescuer for those who are drowning. The "righteous" He speaks of are not truly righteous in God's sight, for none are. He is speaking of those who are righteous in their own eyes. The only people who can be saved are those who know they need saving. The only people who can be healed are those who know they are sick. The call of the gospel goes out to sinners, and that is good news for all of us, because that is all any of us are.

Application

This passage puts a sharp question to every one of us. With which group do we identify? Are we with the Pharisees, standing at a distance, critiquing the company Jesus keeps, confident in our own spiritual health? Or are we with Levi and his friends, knowing full well that we are sick, that we are sinners, and that our only hope is to accept the invitation of the Great Physician?

The gospel is an offense to the proud. It tells us that our best efforts at righteousness are as filthy rags. It tells us that we cannot earn our way into God's favor. The only way in is to admit our bankruptcy and receive the free grace offered in Christ. The door into the feast is low, and you have to stoop to get in. You have to leave your self-righteousness at the door.

And once we are inside, we are called to the same mission. Our churches should be like Levi's house, places where messy people, sinners and outcasts, can come and find fellowship with Jesus. We are not to be sterile environments for the spiritually sanitized. We are to be hospitals for the sick, where the grace of God is applied to the wounds of sin. We must be willing to get our hands dirty, to eat and drink with those the world despises, because that is precisely what our Lord did for us.