Not only does HE eat with such scum, like me, but HE calls scum, like me, to follow HIM, to be HIS disciple and to minister in HIS name. I don't know about you, but this is very encouraging to me! Question...who should we eat with?
Mark 2:13-17
13 Then Jesus went out to the lakeshore again and taught the crowds that were coming to him. 14 As he walked along, he saw Levi son of Alphaeus sitting at his tax collector’s booth. “Follow me and be my disciple,” Jesus said to him. So Levi got up and followed him.
15 Later, Levi invited Jesus and his disciples to his home as dinner guests, along with many tax collectors and other disreputable sinners. (There were many people of this kind among Jesus’ followers.) 16 But when the teachers of religious law who were Pharisees saw him eating with tax collectors and other sinners, they asked his disciples, “Why does he eat with such scum?”
17 When Jesus heard this, he told them, “Healthy people don’t need a doctor—sick people do. I have come to call not those who think they are righteous, but those who know they are sinners.”
As I read through Leviticus again, I am amazed again at how much detail there is in the Levitical law and how they must follow it exactly. How easy it would have been to commit an unintentional sin and then because of that unintentional sin you must take something you cherish and sacrifice it and burn it up. Not just something you cherish, it is a living creature, you must lay your hands on its head, you must slit its throat to symbolize that it is taking your sin, it is taking your place.
Lev 4:2--“Speak to the sons of Israel, saying, ‘If a person sins unintentionally in any of the things which the Lord has commanded not to be done, and commits any of them,
Lev 4:13--‘Now if the whole congregation of Israel commits error and the matter escapes the notice of the assembly, and they commit any of the things which the Lord has commanded not to be done, and they become guilty;
Lev 4:22--‘When a leader sins and unintentionally does any one of all the things which the Lord his God has commanded not to be done, and he becomes guilty,
Lev 4:27--‘Now if anyone of the common people sins unintentionally in doing any of the things which the Lord has commanded not to be done, and becomes guilty,
Lev 5:15--“If a person acts unfaithfully and sins unintentionally against the Lord’s holy things, then he shall bring his guilt offering to the Lord: a ram without defect from the flock, according to your valuation in silver by shekels, in terms of the shekel of the sanctuary, for a guilt offering.
Lev 5:17--“Now if a person sins and does any of the things which the Lord has commanded not to be done, though he was unaware, still he is guilty and shall bear his punishment.
I am going to jump ahead in Mark several days, but it applies to our reading in Leviticus. There is an amazing exchange between Jesus and a scribe. The scribe asked which commandment is the most important...take a look.
Mark 12:29-34
29 “This is the most important,” Jesus answered: Listen, Israel! The Lord our God, The Lord is One. 30 Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength. 31 “The second is: Love your neighbor as yourself. There is no other commandment greater than these.”
32 Then the scribe said to Him, “You are right, Teacher! You have correctly said that He is One, and there is no one else except Him. 33 And to love Him with all your heart, with all your understanding, and with all your strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself, is far more ⌊important⌋ than all the burnt offerings and sacrifices.”
34 When Jesus saw that he answered intelligently, He said to him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.” And no one dared to question Him any longer.
Now remember Jesus said in Matt 5:17 that HE did not come to abolish the law, but to fulfill the law. We see here Jesus in agreement with a scribe that absolute love for God and love for others is far more important that all the burnt offerings and sacrifices.
In the light of this consider again Hebrews 10:1-18...as we continue through Leviticus I would encourage you to keep Hebrews chapters 7-10 in heart and mind. This truly is incredible!
Hebrews 10:1-18
The Perfect Sacrifice
10 Since the law has ⌊only⌋ a shadow of the good things to come, and not the actual form of those realities, it can never perfect the worshipers by the same sacrifices they continually offer year after year. 2 Otherwise, wouldn’t they have stopped being offered, since the worshipers, once purified, would no longer have any consciousness of sins? 3 But in the sacrifices there is a reminder of sins every year. 4 For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.
5 Therefore, as He was coming into the world, He said:
You did not want sacrifice and offering,
but You prepared a body for Me.
6 You did not delight
in whole burnt offerings and sin offerings.
7 Then I said, “See, I have come—
it is written about Me
in the volume of the scroll—
to do Your will, O God!”
8 After He says above, You did not desire or delight in sacrifices and offerings, whole burnt offerings and sin offerings, (which are offered according to the law ), 9 He then says, See, I have come to do Your will. He takes away the first to establish the second. 10 By this will, we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once and for all.
11 Now every priest stands day after day ministering and offering time after time the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. 12 But this man, after offering one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God. 13 He is now waiting until His enemies are made His footstool. 14 For by one offering He has perfected forever those who are sanctified. 15 The Holy Spirit also testifies to us about this. For after He had said:
16 This is the covenant that I will make with them
after those days, says the Lord:
I will put My laws on their hearts,
and I will write them on their minds,
17 ⌊He adds⌋:
I will never again remember
their sins and their lawless acts.
18 Now where there is forgiveness of these, there is no longer an offering for sin.
Glory! Praise be to God in the highest [Ps 36:5-10] Lord, Your faithful love ⌊reaches⌋ to heaven, Your faithfulness to the skies. 6 Your righteousness is like the highest mountain; Your judgments, like the deepest sea. Lord, You preserve man and beast. 7 God, Your faithful love is so valuable that people take refuge in the shadow of Your wings. They are filled from the abundance of Your house; You let them drink from Your refreshing stream, 9 for with You is life’s fountain. In Your light we will see light. 10 Spread Your faithful love over those who know You, and Your righteousness over the upright in heart. Father in heaven, grant us the wisdom to look to YOU and YOU alone for our satisfaction, to YOU and YOU alone for our joy and security and significance. Please work this in a way that YOU get all the glory and we are filled with YOUR joy, the joy of our Master, Lord, Savior and God.
Before Jesus there was a pain-staking process, the process POINTED TO JESUS AND TO THE CROSS, but the process still had to be followed to the letter. Through this process, the priest will purify the people from their sin, making them right with the Lord, and they will be forgiven. Leviticus 4:32
One sin is horrific, one sin caused the fall, one sin is enough to condemn you and I to eternity in HELL, that would be fair, that is what you and I deserve...that would be right and just!
So we rejoice in Christ, knowing that our sins are forgiven, but we keep a very short account with our LORD. 1 Jn 1:9-10 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we say, “We have not sinned,” we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us. We still must confess, we still must repent, we must TURN TO JESUS AND BEHOLD HIM, BEHOLDING IS BECOMING! As you behold HIM, HE invites you to drink deeply of the living water and live!
Job 20:17 He will not enjoy the streams, the rivers flowing with honey and cream.
Ps 46:4 ⌊There is⌋ a river— its streams delight the city of God, the holy dwelling place of the Most High.
Re 22:1 Then he showed me the river of living water, sparkling like crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb
Jeremiah 2:13 For My people have committed a double evil: They have abandoned Me, the fountain of living water, and dug cisterns for themselves, cracked cisterns that cannot hold water.