Grace and Mercy | Mark 2:13-14
Grace and Mercy | Mark 2:13-14 Mark 2:13-14 Once again Jesus went out beside the lake. A large crowd came to him, and he began to teach them. 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. Who is the last person you want to see in heaven? An ISIS terrorist? The pompous boss who derailed your career? A person who hurt a family member? The ex-spouse who walked away to leave you working two jobs in order to provide for your children? If you were a Jew in Jesus' day, the last person you would want to see in heaven was a tax collector. Those two words would make your blood boil. Tax collectors were collaborators who were in cahoots with Rome. They were thieves, robbers and extortionists who lived the high life with the hard earned money of others. It is difficult for us to imagine the intense emotion of hatred that most Jews had for these traitors who had sol...