Jesus doesn’t just call sinners from a distance—he steps into their world. He doesn’t keep them at arm’s length—he pulls up a chair at their table.
Sermon Title: MERCY AT THE TAX BOOTH
Sermon Text: MARK 2:13-17 (ESV)
Sermon Series: THE KING HAS COME: THE START OF SOMETHING NEW
By: PTR NESTOR SY
Sermon Notes:
MARK 2:13-17 NIV
13 Once again Jesus went out beside the lake. A large crowd came to him, and he began to teach them.
14 As he walked along, he saw Levi son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax collector’s booth. “Follow me,” Jesus told him, and Levi got up and followed him.
15 While Jesus was having dinner at Levi’s house, many tax collectors and “sinners” were eating with him and his disciples, for there were many who followed him.
16 When the teachers of the law who were Pharisees saw him eating with the “sinners” and tax collectors, they asked his disciples: “Why does he eat with tax collectors and ‘sinners’?”
17 On hearing this, Jesus said to them, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”
I. Jesus Pursues The Broken
LUKE 5:28 NIV
28 and Levi got up, left everything and followed him.
Jesus sees all of us — not just the obviously broken, but also the quietly lost.
The issue isn’t “Am I messed up enough to need Jesus?” The real question is “Do I recognize that without him, I’m lost?”
The world may see what you are; but Jesus sees what you can become.
II. Jesus Provokes the Proud
LUKE 5:29 NIV
29 Then Levi held a great banquet for Jesus at his house, and a large crowd of tax collectors and others were eating with them.
Jesus doesn’t just call sinners from a distance—he steps into their world. He doesn’t keep them at arm’s length—he pulls up a chair at their table.
Sick | Greek: kakós
“badly off, miserable, in a bad condition.”
“The proud person always wants to do the right thing, but they always want to do it their way. Humility means doing it God’s way.”
Pride blinds us to our own need for grace.
III. Jesus Prioritizes the Merciful
MATTHEW 9:12-13 NIV
12 On hearing this, Jesus said, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. 13 But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”
Mercy | Hebrew: checed/hesed
“lovingkindness,” “steadfast love,” or “covenant faithfulness.”
God is not impressed with religious activities if it doesn’t produce a heart of compassion.
Mercy means not letting religion get in the way of love.
Jesus didn’t come for those who think they have it all together; he came for people who know they need him.
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