Mark 2:13-17 meaning

The parallel Gospel accounts for Mark 2:13-17 are Matthew 9:9-13 and Luke 5:27-32.

After Jesus’s astonishing healing of the paralytic and His confrontation with the nonbelieving scribes which demonstrated to everyone that He had the authority to forgive sins (Mark 2:1-12), Mark tells us:

He went out again by the seashore; and all the people were coming to Him, and He was teaching them (v 13).

The pronoun—He—refers to Jesus. Mark writes that Jesus went out again by the seashore. It is not clear if Jesus went out immediately after He healed the paralytic or if He went out again by the seashore shortly after (a few days or weeks) performing that miracle. In either case, Mark’s inclusion of the word—again—appears to link the healing of the paralytic with the actions described in this passage. Perhaps Levi, the tax collector whom Jesus calls in this passage, witnessed Jesus’s spectacular healing of the paralytic.

Mark also writes that as Jesus went out, He was by the seashore. The seashore likely means a road by the shore of Galilee. The city of Capernaum, where Jesus healed the paralytic (Mark 2:1), was located on the northern shoreline of Galilee.

While Jesus was by the seashore, all the people were coming to Him. In this context, the expression all the people most likely means “large crowds of people” from the city of Capernaum and the surrounding area. They were coming to see and hear from Jesus. And Jesus was teaching them.

After establishing this context, Mark directly states the main event of this passage:

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 (v14).

As Jesus passed by, He saw Levi, a tax collector, sitting in his tax booth. Mark further identifies Levi as the son of Alphaeus. Mark demonstrates that Levi was a tax collector when he writes that he was sitting in the tax collector booth when Jesus passed by.

This Levi is the same tax collector who is referred to in the Gospel of Matthew as “Matthew” (Matthew 9:9). Levi/Matthew is the author of the Gospel of Matthew.

Mark and Luke refer to this tax collector as Levi, which may have been Matthew’s birth name. The Hebraic form of Matthew is “Mattatyahu” which means “gift of the Yahweh (LORD).” Matthew may have been Levi’s post-conversion name—similar to how “Peter” was Simon’s post-conversion name.

If this is the case, Mark and Luke identify the tax collector according to who he was when Jesus encountered him when He passed by, while Matthew identified himself according to who he became when Jesus called him and he received the gift of eternal life and his new identity in Christ.

Tax collecting in Judea was a complicated business. The complicating factors were not necessarily the financial numbers, but rather they were social and political in nature.

As a Roman province, Judea enjoyed certain privileges, such as economic trade, safe passage throughout the empire, and access to Roman luxuries and goods, thanks to the "Pax Romana" (peace of Rome). However, these benefits came with significant costs. The Jews faced the humiliation of being ruled by Gentiles whom they despised. The Jews had to endure offensive pagan worship and practices that threatened their way of life, and were required to comply with Roman laws and customs. Among the most unpopular of these customs was the obligation to pay taxes to Rome.

Rome would hire locals to collect taxes for its Imperial budget. There were two types of tax collectors in the Roman Empire. One type was the income tax collectors, who kept records of funds according to fixed rates. The other type was the toll-tax collectors. While both kinds of tax collectors were despised, the toll collectors were especially loathed.

Levi may have been a toll-collector because he was sitting in his booth as Jesus passed by him on the shoreline road.

Toll collectors, known as "publicani," were individuals or groups to whom the Roman government granted the right to collect tolls and taxes from travelers, merchants, and goods passing through their designated areas. Toll collectors bid for the privilege of collecting tolls, often paying a substantial fee upfront to the government for this right. In return, they were permitted to keep a portion of the collected funds as profit. The position was lucrative.

Tax collectors had the authority to determine the amounts people owed to the empire, and there were no impartial courts for appealing any discrepancies. Tax collectors were expected to over-collect and keep a commission as their pay, but they were notorious for overcharging far beyond what was expected. They taxed their neighbors at exorbitantly high rates, keeping the excess for themselves. The story in Luke 19, where Jesus engages the tax collector Zacchaeus, illustrates these elements.

Zacchaeus was described as "rich" from his tax collecting (Luke 19:2). He stated to Jesus that he would "pay back four times" anyone he had defrauded. Due to their abusive practices, tax collectors were despised throughout the empire.

However, in Judea, tax collectors were hated not just because they were seen as “legal robbers,” they were despised because they were seen as traitors. Tax collectors worked for Rome, the oppressor against Israel. Jews regarded tax collectors, such as Levi, to be a traitor to God, the nation, and their fellow countrymen.

As a tax collector, Jews would have seen Levi as one of the worst sinners a Jew could become. Matthew writes: “As Jesus went on from there, He saw a man called Matthew” (Matthew 9:9a). But Jesus saw Levi, as more than a sinful tax collector. In Levi, Jesus saw a man who would do great things for His kingdom.

And Jesus said to Levi, “Follow Me!” 

Jesus appears to have looked at Levi and made eye contact with Him when He issued this opportunity. This invitation seems to have been in public with crowds looking on. It also appears to have been a surprise to everyone (except Jesus). Was Jesus, the Jewish Messiah, really inviting a Jewish traitor to follow Him? The person who was the most taken aback by this may have been Levi. Jesus’s invitation “Follow Me!” was akin to Jesus’s invitation to Andrew and Peter to likewise “Follow Me” (Mark 1:17).

Mark writes Levi’s response:

And he (Levi, the former tax collector) got up and followed Him (v14).

Levi/Matthew describes his own response as the dramatic conversion that it was in his own autobiographical account.

Like Mark, Matthew says he was "literally sitting in the tax collector's booth" when Jesus saw and "called out" for him to "Follow Me" (Matthew 9:9). And though Matthew's response was immediate, as Mark and Luke record, Matthew says "he got up and followed Him" (Matthew 9:9), Matthew uses interesting vocabulary to describe this action. He uses the Greek word for resurrection.

The Greek verb that is translated as “he got up” (Matthew 9:9) is the same verb that is also translated as “resurrection.” This word is ἀνίστημι (G450—pronounced: "an-is'-táy-mee"). It means "raised up." In using "Anistáymee" to describe his getting up, Matthew implied that he not only physically "got up" from sitting in the tax collector's booth, but he also was spiritually raised and resurrected from death to life when he responded to Jesus's invitation. This is quite the conversion story.

Mark tells us what happened next.

And it happened that He was reclining at the table in his 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 (v 15).

After being called, Levi/Matthew seems to have celebrated his new life and purpose with Jesus by hosting a party. The expression reclining at the table in his house indicates a type of banquet. In wealthy households of the time, dining tables were surrounded by cushions and elevated slightly off the floor, allowing guests to recline comfortably while eating and conversing.

Levi/Matthew invited his friends, which included other tax collectors and sinners. Because Levi likely had a poor reputation among the ordinary Jews, most of his friendly associates were social outcasts—tax collectors and sinners—the kind of people more respectable Jews had written off as irredeemable. These so-called social lowlifes were dining with Jesus and His disciples.

Mark states that Jesus was reclining at the table with these guests. The word translated reclining probably means that the group was gathered around a triclinium, a three-sided table only a few feet off the ground commonly used for formal dining during that era. The described engagement infers that this is an intimate or festive gathering.

This meant that He chose to be with these tax collectors and sinners and enter fellowship with them. The Bible uses dining together to picture intimate fellowship (Revelation 3:20). Jesus appeared comfortable and at ease amidst their company. In Jewish culture, which valued external displays of righteousness, this was scandalous company for Jesus to keep. It appears Jesus actually liked these people. Such people as these heeded His words.

Mark says there were many of them (tax collectors and sinners), and they were following Jesus. They found His message compelling. Jesus’s main message at this time was “the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel” (Mark 1:15). These tax collectors and sinners were repenting of their wickedness, believing in Jesus as the Messiah, and turning their lives over to God to enter His kingdom. This was good news indeed!

But when the scribes of the Pharisees saw that He was eating with the sinners and tax collectors, they (v 16a) were appalled.

The scribes were religious lawyers who interpreted the Law of Moses and proliferated many additional laws about the Law. The scribes were close associates with the Pharisees. The Pharisees were teachers in the local synagogues and consequently were regarded as knowledgeable, moral role models, and the defenders of Jewish culture. Both the scribes and Pharisees highly valued external displays of righteousness according to the rules they projected onto the people.

Both groups prioritized their religious traditions and self-righteous moral standards. And they found Jesus’s present choice of company consisting of many tax collectors and sinners especially troubling.

Jesus was admired by the crowds and seen by them to represent God. If Jesus blatantly disregarded the scribes and Pharisees’ rules like this, then others would follow His example. This would make it more difficult for the Pharisees and scribes to maintain control and credibility with the crowds.

When the Pharisees and their scribes saw Jesus at Levi’s party, they expressed their disapproval to His disciples. Mark does not tell us why they said what they said to His disciples instead of directly to Jesus. Perhaps they wanted to avoid a similar embarrassment that the unbelieving scribes and Pharisees had recently received when He healed the paralytic (Mark 2:8-11).

Or maybe they thought it more effective to undermine Jesus by sowing doubt and projecting shame among His disciples instead of confronting Him directly. His disciples might have been having second thoughts about the effect on their own reputation from letting a tax collector join their ranks.

They said to His disciples, “Why is He eating and drinking with tax collectors and sinners?” (v 16b).

Their words were judgmental. It seemed to be as much an accusation as a question. Why would a self-respecting rabbi willingly be seen with them. No self-respecting rabbi would do such a thing.

But Jesus was no self-respecting rabbi. Jesus was the Messiah and Son of God. And Jesus did not come to elevate Himself. He came to serve the least of these (Mark 10:45). He came not do His own will. He came to do God’s will (Mark 8:33, 14:36).

The clear implication of their question was that if Jesus were truly holy and righteous, He wouldn't be mingling with these morally questionable individuals. The scribes and Pharisees, feeling that they embodied the expected standards of holiness and righteousness, might have further implied that Jesus should be associating with them instead. Of course we know from other passages that these religious leaders did not actually practice what they preached (Matthew 23:1-3).

Upon hearing the scribes and Pharisees’ criticism, Jesus responded with a brief parable.

He 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.” (v 17).

The literal meaning of this statement describes the typical pattern that, generally, it is the sick who seek medical attention from doctors and physicians, while those who are well do not need a doctor or medication.

Jesus’s parable can be understood on several levels, each offering different insights into its meaning.

On a basic level, Jesus compares Himself to a spiritual doctor who heals wicked hearts, corrupt minds, and lives ravaged by the disease of sin. The tax collectors and sinners, visibly afflicted by their sin, represent the sick who need His help. By dining with them, Jesus is offering them spiritual healing and transformation.

The scribes and Pharisees, who consider themselves to be spiritually healthy, might have found Jesus’s actions puzzling. His argument, however, is straightforward: “I am associating with those you recognize as needing spiritual healing because I am a healer for the spiritually unwell.”

While the tax collectors may be aware of their need for spiritual help or are simply enjoying a meal at Matthew’s invitation, Jesus is deliberately choosing to dine with them to fulfill His mission of offering spiritual restoration.

On a deeper level, everyone is spiritually ill, including the self-righteous scribes and Pharisees. The Apostle Paul acknowledged this, including himself as someone who has a sinful nature. After severely criticizing a competing group of Jewish authorities and proclaiming “Their condemnation is just,” he asked the question “What then? Are we better than they?” Paul answers “Not at all.” Then Paul quotes from the Old Testament “There is none righteous” (Romans 3:8-10).

While they may appear to follow the law outwardly, the religious leaders are guilty of breaking it either internally or secretly. They are sinners just as much as the tax collectors are, though their spiritual sickness is less visible to themselves and perhaps others.

The Bible portrays everyone as needing spiritual healing. One verse from Romans makes this clear:

"For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God."
(Romans 3:23)

Further, the book of James illustrates that perfection in the law is unattainable, and even one lapse reveals the need for comprehensive spiritual healing:

"If, however, you are fulfilling the royal law according to the Scripture, 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself,' you are doing well. But if you show partiality, you are committing sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors. For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles in one point, he has become guilty of all."
(James 2:8-10)

The scribes and Pharisees considered themselves among those who are healthy due to their role as teachers and upholders of God's Law. They believed their adherence to the Law (at least externally) marked them as spiritually fit. However, their true condition was masked by this pretense, revealing their hypocrisy.

Jesus, acting as the spiritual physician, challenged them to acknowledge their own need for healing and to receive the same spiritual restoration He offers to the tax collectors and other sinners.

Through this brief parable about sick people needing a physician, Jesus offered a gentle rebuke to the scribes and Pharisees, who are well-versed in Scripture. With their deep biblical knowledge, they should also act as spiritual healers, offering compassion rather than condemnation to those in need. They are called to be the ones providing aid and understanding, not judgment.

Jesus concluded His response to the scribes and Pharisees with a decisive statement: “I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”

His mission was not to mingle with those who believe they are righteous or to seek personal acclaim. Instead, Jesus came to offer compassion and spiritual healing to those who recognize their need—sinners who are aware of their condition. This included healing for the scribes and Pharisees, but through their own pride and self-righteousness they rejected Jesus and His mercy. They excluded themselves from the healing the true Physician came to offer them because they were blind to their own sickness.

In Revelation, Jesus said something similar to His own people in the Laodicean church. He lamented:

“Because you say, ‘I am rich, and have become wealthy, and have need of nothing,’ and you do not know that you are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked”
(Revelation 3:17)

Jesus went on to give those same believers who had distanced themselves from Jesus an incredible offer.

“Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and will dine with him, and he with Me. He who overcomes, I will grant to him to sit down with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne.”
(Revelation 3:20-21)

Jesus asserts that the reason He admonished the Laodicean church was because He chastises those whom He loves (Revelation 3:19). Similarly, Jesus’s rebuke to these religious leaders could be viewed as an act of love.

Jesus offered to celebrate with repentant believers, much like how He was reclining at the table and sharing a celebratory meal with the repentant Levi and other tax collectors and sinners who were following Him. And Jesus offers all believers an incredible reward, namely to sit on His throne by overcoming sin and self and living in dependence upon Him (Revelation 3:21).

Levi’s remarkable conversion aligns with the Beatitude about being poor in spirit: “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 5:3; see also Luke 6:20).

While the esteemed religious leaders—the scribes and Pharisees—remain in spiritual darkness, failing to recognize their own need for spiritual healing, these humble sinners who are poor in spirit are receiving the blessings of God’s kingdom through repentance.