Jesus Through The Eyes of a Fisherman

Mark 2:13-14 (NLT)
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.
1. Jesus called the four fishermen while they were working a respectable trade.
But Jesus called Matthew while he was working his disgraceful occupation.
-v14 he saw Levi son of Alphaeus sitting at his tax collector’s booth. The tax
collectors were legalized thieves, operating for the occupying Romans, and in
turn overtaxing their own people for personal financial gain.
During the Nazi occupation of France in WW2, there were French traitors:
The Vichy Regime was a puppet government in the unoccupied zone of France
that actively assisted the Nazis, including participating in the deportation of
Jewish people to concentration camps.
The Milice were the French equivalent of the Gestapo and fought fiercely
alongside the Nazis against the French Resistance.
Collabos was the derogatory slang term used by the French public to describe
anyone who willingly cooperated with the Nazi occupation forces
2. World religions teach people to clean up and do religious things to appease
the gods. Jesus, however, comes and rescues us right in the filth of our sin.

Luke 15:1-7 (NLT)
Tax collectors and other notorious sinners often came to listen to Jesus teach. 2
This made the Pharisees and teachers of religious law complain that he was
associating with such sinful people—even eating with them!
3 So Jesus told them this story: 4 “If a man has a hundred sheep and one of
them gets lost, what will he do? Won’t he leave the ninety-nine others in the
wilderness and go to search for the one that is lost until he finds it? 5 And when
he has found it, he will joyfully carry it home on his shoulders. 6 When he arrives,
he will call together his friends and neighbors, saying, ‘Rejoice with me because I
have found my lost sheep.’ 7 In the same way, there is more joy in heaven over
one lost sinner who repents and returns to God than over ninety-nine others who
are righteous and haven’t strayed away!

Romans 5:6-11 (NLT)
When we were utterly helpless, Christ came at just the right time and died for us
sinners. 7 Now, most people would not be willing to die for an upright person,
though someone might perhaps be willing to die for a person who is especially
good. 8 But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us
while we were still sinners. 9 And since we have been made right in God’s sight
by the blood of Christ, he will certainly save us from God’s condemnation. 10 For
since our friendship with God was restored by the death of his Son while we were
still his enemies, we will certainly be saved through the life of his Son. 11 So now
we can rejoice in our wonderful new relationship with God because our Lord
Jesus Christ has made us friends of God.
3. When the love of Jesus changes you, you can’t keep it to yourself.

Mark 2:15 (NLT)
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.)

1 Timothy 1:15-16 (NLT)
This is a trustworthy saying, and everyone should accept it: “Christ Jesus came
into the world to save sinners”—and I am the worst of them all. 16 But God had
mercy on me so that Christ Jesus could use me as a prime example of his great
patience with even the worst sinners. Then others will realize that they, too, can
believe in him and receive eternal life.

Mark 2:16-17 NLT
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.”

Matthew 9:13 (NLT)
Then he added, “Now go and learn the meaning of this Scripture: ‘I want you to
show mercy, not offer sacrifices.’ For I have come to call not those who think they
are righteous, but those who know they are sinners.”

Luke 5:32 (NLT)
I have come to call not those who think they are righteous, but those who know
they are sinners and need to repent.”