27 After this he went out and saw a tax collector named Levi, sitting at the tax booth. And he said to him, “Follow me.” 28 And leaving everything, he rose and followed him.
29 And Levi made him a great feast in his house, and there was a large company of tax collectors and others reclining at table with them. 30 And the Pharisees and their scribes grumbled at his disciples, saying, “Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?” 31 And Jesus answered them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. 32 I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance.”
33 And they said to him, “The disciples of John fast often and offer prayers, and so do the disciples of the Pharisees, but yours eat and drink.” 34 And Jesus said to them, “Can you make wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them? 35 The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast in those days.” 36 He also told them a parable: “No one tears a piece from a new garment and puts it on an old garment. If he does, he will tear the new, and the piece from the new will not match the old. 37 And no one puts new wine into old wineskins. If he does, the new wine will burst the skins and it will be spilled, and the skins will be destroyed. 38 But new wine must be put into fresh wineskins. 39 And no one after drinking old wine desires new, for he says, ‘The old is good.’”
(ESV)
STOP! Think a little 🤔 What is God saying to you?
- What is the writer saying?
- How do I apply this to my life?
After this (the healing of the paralytic and the confrontation with the religious leaders) Jesus saw a tax collector named Levi (Matthew, see Matt 9:9-13). Matthew is sitting at his tax collectors booth when Jesus says “Follow me.” He immediately left everything and got up and followed Jesus. This is the correct response to Jesus’ call to discipleship. We must completely forsake our former lives and dedicate everything to following Jesus (Luke 9:57-62).
Matthew immediately gathered his friends in his home and had a feast in Jesus’ honour. While we are called to forsake our former lives in order to follow Jesus, we need not abandon everyone we once knew. Those are the very people we need to introduce to Jesus. Matthew gathered other tax collectors and sinners to come and meet Jesus. the Pharisees took umbrage at this. They thought themselves to be better than others. They considered themselves righteous and would not be seen to mix with sinners. But they didn’t challenge Jesus directly. They asked the disciples, “why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?” Jesus stepped in and answered that it is not the healthy who need a doctor but the sick. Jesus didn’t come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance. Jesus’ answer was a challenge to the religious leaders. He had just shown, through the healing of the paralytic, that He was able to forgive sinners. But the Pharisees saw no need for forgiveness. Instead, they trusted in their own [self] righteousness.
As believers who have trusted in Jesus for His righteousness, we can still behave like the Pharisees and think we are better than others and look down on “sinners”. We can have similar responses like, “why do you eat with drunkards/adulterers/the poor/blacks/whites/homosexuals/etc?” We would all do well to remember that except for the grace of God we were all sinners in need of a saviour. Our mission is not to form a holy huddle but to go out and reach those who are lost with the good news of salvation. We can only reach sinners by hanging out with sinners.
The religious leaders questioned Jesus about the lack of the disciples’ fasting. The Pharisees’ disciples fasted and so did those of John the Baptist, but Jesus’ disciples were happily eating and drinking. The insinuation was that they were righteous but Jesus’ disciples were not. Jesus explained that their old way of doing things was incompatible with His new way. The old covenant was being replaced with the new covenant. Jesus used three examples. First wedding guests don’t fast when the bridegroom is with them because it is a joyous occasion. The time would come when Jesus would ascend to heaven and then fasting would return. Jesus also used two parables. It doesn’t make sense to tear a piece of fabric from a new item of clothing in order to mend an old item of clothing. If you do that, you destroy the new item of clothing and the patch will not match the old item of clothing. Both items of clothing have lost something. It also doesn’t make sense to put new wine into old wineskins. The new wine will burst the old wineskins because they have lost their elasticity, the new wine will spill and the wineskins will be destroyed. Again you’re left with no wine and no wineskins. New wine must go into new wineskins.
It is not possible to mix the legalism of the Pharisees with the New Covenant based on grace. The Pharisees were inflexible in their position and had built a legalistic system that was unable to accept Jesus.
The Pharisees refused to even try the new way because they were adamant that their old way was better.
Legalism can seem attractive because its rules provide a grid with which to judge others and measure ourselves against them. It also gives us boxes we can tick off and prove that we are “righteous” through our actions but without any necessary heart change. But legalism is incompatible with the free grace of Jesus. Don’t try to mix the two. What do you need to do to move from legalism to grace?
Major Stories of the Bible Reading Plan
David Becomes King: 2 Samuel 5