David Bahn – Reflections

Mark 2:13-14

He went out again beside the sea, and all the crowd was coming to him, and he was teaching them. ¹⁴ And as he passed by, he saw Levi the son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax booth, and he said to him, “Follow me.” And he rose and followed him.

What if it were that simple?  If Jesus came by your place of business and said, “Follow me,” would you rise and follow him – just like that? As I consider Levi’s (apparently the same person named as Matthew, the writer of the first gospel), response so many things run through my mind. What about future provision and income? How long is this stint? Am I on an errand, or is this more than that? What about my family? Who will take care of them?

In fact Jesus does call us to follow him. It’s more than an errand. It will have implications for our future provisions and income. It is a life-long stint. It is far more than an errand. Our families are well in God’s care and will continue to be there. And while sometimes we are called to leave house and home, family and friends, that is seldom the call. The implications are profound, and the invitation is challenging. But the promises are even greater for those who follow Jesus.

Matthew must have thought of these things, for he is very careful to record Jesus’ teachings early in and throughout his gospel account. He tells us that Jesus says that if we seek God’s kingdom first we will be provided with all we need. He tells us that we will be clothed better than the lilies of the field, and have more food than the birds of air (Matthew 6). He promises that those who have left family and home will receive even more than they have left behind (Matthew 19:29).

Following Jesus is simple: “And he rose and followed him.” But it is not easy (“enter through the narrow gate”). But it is the blessed life to which we are called. And though it is not easy to love our neighbor, pray for our enemies and forgive our brothers and sisters, that is his calling. Let us rise and follow him.

Mark 2:13-28

He went out again beside the sea, and all the crowd was coming to him, and he was teaching them. ¹⁴ And as he passed by, he saw Levi the son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax booth, and he said to him, “Follow me.” And he rose and followed him.

¹⁵ And as he reclined at table in his house, many tax collectors and sinners were reclining with Jesus and his disciples, for there were many who followed him. ¹⁶ And the scribes of the Pharisees, when they saw that he was eating with sinners and tax collectors, said to his disciples, “Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?” ¹⁷ And when Jesus heard it, he said to them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I came not to call the righteous,but sinners.”

¹⁸ Now John’s disciples and the Pharisees were fasting. And people came and said to him, “Why do John’s disciples andthe disciples of the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast?” ¹⁹ And Jesus said to them, “Can the wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them? As long as they have the bridegroom with them, they cannot fast. ²⁰ The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast in that day. ²¹ No one sews a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment. If he does, the patch tears away from it, the new from the old, and a worse tear is made. ²² And no one puts new wine into old wineskins. If he does, the wine will burst the skins—and the wine is destroyed, and so are the skins. But new wine is for fresh wineskins.”

²³ One Sabbath he was going through the grainfields, and as they made their way, his disciples began to pluck heads of grain. ²⁴ And the Pharisees were saying to him, “Look, why are they doing what is not lawful on the Sabbath?” ²⁵ And he said to them, “Have you never read what David did, when he was in need and was hungry, he and those who were with him: ²⁶ how he entered the house of God, in the time of Abiathar the high priest, and ate the bread of the Presence, which it is not lawful for any but the priests to eat, and also gave it to those who were with him?” ²⁷ And he said to them,“The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. ²⁸ So the Son of Man is lord even of the Sabbath.”