Calling All Sinners
TRANSLATION
(27) After this Jesus went out and saw a tax collector named Levi sitting at his tax booth. He said to him, “Follow me,” (28) and, leaving everything, he arose and followed him. (29) Then Levi held a great banquet for him in his house, and there were many tax collectors and others eating with them. (30) And the Pharisees and the teachers of the law complained to his disciples, “Why are you eating and drinking with tax collectors and sinners?” (31) And Jesus answered them, “Those who are healthy have no need of a physician, but those who are sick (do). (32) I did not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance.”
(33) And they said to him, “John’s disciples often fast and pray, and so also do the disciples of the Pharisees. But your (disciples) eat and drink.” (34) And Jesus said to them, “Can you expect the friends of the bridegroom to fast while he is with them? (35) Indeed, the days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them, and then they will fast in those days.” (36) And he also told them a parable. “No one tears a piece from a new garment to patch an old garment. Otherwise, he will ruin the new, and the piece from the new will not match the old. (37) And no one pours new wine into old wineskins lest the new wine burst the skins, the wine is spilled, and the skins are destroyed. (38) Instead, new wine must be poured into new wineskins. (39) And no one after drinking old wine wants new, for they’ll say. ‘The old is better.’”
OBSERVATIONS
What happened after Jesus called a tax collector to become his disciple was the focus of this segment. These verses contained many important repetitions that help us understand the message Luke wanted to convey. In the first paragraph, “tax collector(s)” occurred three times (vss. 27, 28, & 30) along with “tax booth” (vs. 27). “Levi” is found twice (vss. 27 & 29) as is “follow/followed” (vss. 27 & 28) and “sinners” (vss. 30 & 32).
In the second paragraph “disciples” was used twice (vs. 33), picking up a previous occurrence (vs. 30). Twice the words “fast” (vss. 33 & 35) and “bridegroom” (vss. 34 & 35) occurred along with two uses of “piece,” two of “garment,” and of the adjectives, “new” and “old,” referring to garment (all in vs. 36). In verse 37 Jesus shifted from “garment” to “wineskins” (vss. 37 & 38) and “wine” (vss. 38 & 39). Again, “new” and “old” were used several times pointing to the need to pour new wine into new wineskins, not into old ones (vss. 37-39).
OUTLINE
I. Jesus defended himself against those who criticized him for associating with sinners. (27-32)
II. Jesus defended his disciples against those who criticized them for failing to fast. (33-39)
IDEA STATEMENT
Jesus’ ministry of seeking the lost and making God’s forgiveness freely available to repentant sinners offended the legalists and traditionalists.
APPLICATION
While Jesus was defending himself and his disciples against the criticisms of the legalists, he uttered two memorable declarations that succinctly summarized the thrust of his ministry. The first he gave while taking part in the feast Levi gave for all his friends regarding his associating with sinners: “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance” (vs. 31).
The second came in the middle of his two parables about the difficulty of mixing the “old” with the “new:” “No one pours new wine into old wineskins.” In essence, using old wineskins to contain new wine was like trying to force Jesus’ “new” ministry of grace into the “old” wineskins of legalism, an approach that simply would not work. His skillful use of imagery left the Pharisees and teachers of the law no doubt that he was directing his comments toward their criticism.