“Something absolutely brand-new”
By Rev. Michael Stonhouse
Meditation – Wednesday, July 19, 2023
Mark 2:13-22 (Forward, p. 82) CEV p. 1028
Myriads of advertisers and product designers flout their products as ‘new and improved’, but scarcely has there been anything ‘new and improved’ the likes of what Jesus had to offer.
We see this in today’s passage firstly with the call of the tax-collector, Levi, there in Capernaum. Capernaum back then was truly a cosmopolitan centre, perched as it was both on the Sea of Galilee and at the juncture of several important thoroughfares. As such, it was an important, crucial and somewhere lucrative location for the collection of taxes on both the transit of goods and on the goods themselves. However, given the tax structure of the times, we cannot be sure just how much actually stayed in Levi’s pockets. Certainly, his overseer, his superior—the likes of Zacchaeus down in Jericho, for instance—would have made sure that he got ‘his cut’ of the profits!
So, I imagine that there would have been all ‘sweetness and light’ for Levi. There would have been immense pressure on Levi, pressure from his superiors to ‘produce’ more tax revenue, discomfort from his ever-present Roman soldier assigned to guard his tawdry enterprise, and ridicule, shame and ostracization from his fellow Jews. This, he would have constantly been aware of, was hardly a respectable job for a proper ‘son of Israel’. No wonder, then, that his best—and perhaps only—friends were his fellow tax collectors and other people on the fringe of society. One has to wonder what dire turn of circumstances, what calamity in his life, led him to taking up this most disreputable occupation in the first place. So, maybe he saw taking up with Jesus as being a fresh start, a chance to be and do something different, an opportunity for a new way of life.
Even so, it was not without risk: he was giving up a settled, predictable, financially comfortable way of life. And, by leaving, neglecting, his tax collection booth or station, he was probably doing something irresponsible. I mean, who would tend to or safeguard the taxes already collected that day or from previous days? And who would take care of the records? And who would ensure that his superiors got their portion? So, there could well have been some repercussions in Levi just walking away from it all. Even so, it might have come as a great relief to be rid of all this. And, to be
valued and accepted for once—by Jesus, no less. No wonder, then, that he felt a need to rejoice, along with others ‘of his ilk.
And, indeed, that rejoicing, that new lease on life, was what Jesus was talking about when He responded to the criticisms from the teachers of the Law and the Pharisees. His followers had no reason to fast, to be sorrowful, because they were in the presence of something great and new and wonderful. It was like the followers of a bridegroom just luxuriating in his presence and enjoying it while it lasted.
Indeed, Jesus said, sticking to the old and familiar, the old way of life of Levi, and indeed of all His critics as well, was like putting new wine into old, stiff, brittle containers that could never accommodate them but would burst under the pressure of what was new and exciting and effervescent. That, He was alleging was what He was offering them.
So, what about us? Are we, you and I, stuck in the old wineskins of what is ‘tried and true’, what is comfortable and familiar, the way it ‘has always been done’? Or, are we willing to try something new, to trust Jesus in leading us into things and ways that might not be so comfortable or familiar or easy? That, I’m afraid, is a challenge for pretty well all of us. In spite of the attractiveness of the ‘new and improved’, we are not always ready to try it, much less embrace it. Amen.
Forward notes: “When Jesus heard this, he said to them, ‘Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick; I have come to call not the righteous but sinners’” (verse 17).
“I was chatting with some colleagues. One of them said something rude, got up, and left. Another colleague, who is a Christian, looked at me and said, dismissively: ‘Oh well—she is worldly, and you know what those people are like.’
“A third colleague intervened: ‘Why do you say that? I too am what you call ‘worldly.’ I am also ‘one of those people.’ If that’s what ‘your people’ are like, I don’t want to be around you or ‘your people’ who judge others.’
“I felt the third colleague was right. We Christians do not live in a shimmering bubble. We live in the world; we are part of it. If God looked on us with love when we were lost, then we should also look with the same
love on those who do not know God. We should not turn our backs on them or look down on them. Even when I refrain myself from putting rude words in my mouth, the truth is that they are often still in my heart. Am I any better?”
Moving Forward: “Have there been times when church members made you feel judged? How did you resolve those feelings?”