Shelly Dunne

Synoptic Gospels 124-08

April 9, 2010

Exegesis Paper- The Call Of Levi (Matthew to Mark)

The story I selected to analyze for my pericope is number forty four, The Call of Levi (Matthew), because it embodies a good portion of Jesus’ message of loving one’s neighbor. This story is mainly about how Jesus called Matthew (Levi), a tax collector, to join him at his table. What caught my eye about this pericope was what Jesus says in response to the Pharisees when they question why Jesus is eating with sinners, “I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.” This pericope has a lot to do with Jesus’ mission to spread the good news to everyone, especially those who need it the most. By eating with the sinners and tax collectors, Jesus is causing a stir in society and is sending the message that he must give special love and attention to those who need it. Jesus is helping the outcasts in society, which is one example of his undying love for God’s children. It inspires me to give the mercy God always gives me, and hope others will show me the same.

Many scholars agree that the Synoptic Gospels share a similar literary relationship, due to the verbal agreement and order of episodes between the gospels. However, some scholars disagree on the order of which gospel came first and who copied from whom, so there are many different hypotheses. These disagreements and diversity of the order between the different hypotheses is called the Synoptic Problem. Out of the three different hypothesis, I chose to explain Matthew and Mark through is the Two Document Hypothesis for my source criticism. This hypothesis assumes that Matthew and Luke used Mark and a source called “Q” to write the gospels, and never saw each other’s work. In order for this theory to work, we assume that Mark was written before Matthew and Luke and Mark did not use “Q”. This hypothesis is supported by the fact that Matthew and Luke do not agree against Mark in his wording, and when both authors use Q, they place the sayings in a different place relative to Mark. For example, when Matthew relocates an episode or saying in Mark, Luke’s episode or saying will be similar in location to Mark’s. Also, those sayings are not the same relative to Mark’s sequence, but when looked at independently share similar sequence, proving Matthew and Luke used “Q” but not Mark. In contrast to Matthew, Mark does not have any sources to compare to because Mark was written before Matthew and Luke and he did not know of “Q”. Therefore, Mark’s gospel paints a different picture because it was written in an earlier time when the parousia was imminent and the audience was mainly Jewish. The Two Document Hypothesis supports this order of Mark coming first, never using “Q”, and Matthew and Luke using both sources without ever seeing each other work. Also, this unique order allows me to see the features of a gospel like Mark and Matthew.

The pericope of “The Call of Levi” is located fairly early in Mark’s gospel and closer to the middle of Matthew’s gospel. Mark’s gospel does not have an infancy narrative, it begins with an adult Jesus, so “The Call of Levi” appears much earlier. However, in contrast to Mark’s gospel, Matthew’s gospel begins with a genealogy, birth narrative, baby Jesus’s flight to Egypt, and then catches up to Mark with an adult Jesus’s baptism. In the outline of Mark and Matthew’s gospels, this pericope occurs after Jesus’s baptism, during Jesus’ Galilean Ministry and before his journey to Jerusalem. It is between the pericope of “The Cleansing of the Leper” and “The Question About Fasting”, and it seems to transition between a series of miracle stories to Jesus’s instructions to his disciples. It is important to understand where this pericope occurs in relation to each gospel because it reveals the historical context of each gospel as well as the message Jesus attempts to convey. First, the fact that this pericope does not occur later in the gospel of Mark reveals Mark’s focus on a less divine Jesus. This has a lot of to with Mark’s image of Jesus and the fact that his gospel was written in an earlier time when the community was primarily Jewish and there was panic after the fall of the temple. Due to these circumstances, Mark portrays Jesus as a suffering servant, with a Messianic secret, and did not include any divine narratives like Matthew. Matthew’s pericope shows up later because Jesus is portrayed as divine a divine leader, which is why he added the miraculous birth and genealogy connecting Jesus to King David. The context of this pericope was placed in between a miracle story and a question about a common Jewish Law, which sends a message that Jesus can save us if we trust in him above the common rule’s of society. Overall, “The Call of Levi” sends a message to readers that we must not be afraid to follow Jesus, even though it could be dangerous.

Matthew	Mark
	13 He went out again beside the sea; and the crowd gathered around him, and he taught them.
9 As Jesus passed on from there, he saw a man called Matthew sitting at the tax office; and he said to him, “Follow me.” And he rose and followed him	14 And as he passed on, he saw Levi the son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax office, and he said to him, “follow me.” And he rose and followed him.
10 And he sat at table in the house, behold, many tax collectors and sinners came and sat down with Jesus and his disciples.	15 And as he sat at table in his house, many tax collectors and sinners were sitting with Jesus and his disciples; for there were many that followed him.
11 And when the Pharisees saw this, they said to his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?”	16 And the scribes of the Pharisees, when they saw that he was eating with sinners and tax collectors, said to his disciples, “Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?”
12 But when he heard it, he said, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick.	17 And when Jesus heard it, he said to them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, and those who are sick;
13 Go and learn what this means, ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice.’ For I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.”	I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.”

This type of pericope is a controversy story because of the social statement Jesus makes about ignoring the purity rules set up by society. It is also a pronouncement story because a saying from Jesus is included. Jesus answered the question that those who are considered sinners should be shown love and empathy, especially by those calling themselves men of God. The saying of Jesus supports this when he says, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, and those who are sick; I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.” What is unique about Matthew’s version of this story is his redaction, he adds in a “behold” and omits details about crowds following Jesus. Catchwords like “behold” are mentioned 62 times in Matthew’s gospel, they are important to his emphasis on Jesus’s divinity. By emphasizing Jesus’s power with words like “behold” and toning down his humanly position as a teacher, Matthew’s gospel contains higher Christology than Mark’s. Other catchwords like “follow me”, used in Matthew 25 times and Mark 18, and “righteous”, Matthew used it 22 times and Mark only 2, also add emphasis to Jesus’s authority. Also, Matthew changes “Levi” to “Matthew” because Matthew had an audience that was later then Mark, and probably more familiar with who Matthew was. Finally, Pharisees are much more important to Matthew’s gospel, he mentions them 29 times, because he uses them as an example for instruction to community on what to do and what not to do.

Here is a chart of Matthew’s redaction and narrative features...

Word	How many times used
righteous	twenty- two
behold	sixty-two
mercy	three
sacrifice	two
follow me	twenty-five
tax collector	eight
Pharisees	twenty-nine

Now I will locate the narrative features of Matthew version of the “Call of Levi”,

Action: As Jesus passed on from there, he saw a man called Matthew

Setting: sitting at the tax office;

Command: and he said to him, “Follow me.”

Response: And he rose and followed him

Setting:And he sat at table in the house,

Action: behold, many tax collectors and sinners came and sat down with Jesus and his disciples.

Problem: And when the Pharisees saw this, they said to his disciples,

Question: “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?”

Response: But when he heard it, he said,

Saying: “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick.

Command: Go and learn what this means, ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice.’

Saying: For I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.”

Mark:

Setting: He went out again beside the sea;

Action: and the crowd gathered around him,

Result: and he taught them.

Action: And as he passed on, he saw Levi the son of Alphaeus

Setting: sitting at the tax office,

Command: and he said to him, “follow me.”

Result: And he rose and followed him.

Setting: And as he sat at table in his house, many tax collectors and sinners were sitting with Jesus and his disciples;

Explanation: for there were many that followed him.

Problem: And the scribes of the Pharisees, when they saw that he was eating with sinners and tax collectors, said to his disciples,

Question: “Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?”

Response: And when Jesus heard it, he said to them,

Saying: “Those who are well have no need of a physician, and those who are sick; I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.”

Now I am going to take the bare bones of first Matthew, which is the story of Levi without the years of embellishments that oral tradition usually adds on.

9 As Jesus saw Matthew sitting at the tax office he said, “Follow me.” And he followed him.

10 tax collectors and sinners sat down with Jesus and his disciples.

11 the Pharisees said to his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?”

12 he said, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick.

13 learn what this means, ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice.’ For I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.”

The historical-critical method helped me break down how Jesus was considered to be different to each community he was presented it, each author portrayed Jesus in a different light. For a lot of my life I thought all the gospels portrayed Jesus the same and basically contained the same stories. By breaking down catchwords, omission, etc. I understand the way in which Jesus was altered to speak to the author’s community. I realize that Jesus was a suffering messiah in Mark’s gospel, and he is a true Messiah of Israel in Matthew’s gospel. It helped me expand my idea of who Jesus is and what he taught, because it is not the same in every gospel. Mark chose to focus on Jesus’s suffering, while Matthew wanted to portray Jesus as the True Messiah of Israel. I now know that these details can alter the focus on Jesus greatly, when I focus on things like redaction of each gospel. Overall, I learned how to combine all the things I was taught and read about source criticism, redaction, and Matthew and Mark’s gospel to understand historical-critical context. Jesus may have been portrayed differently in each gospel, however I noticed that his message of patience, loving ones neighbor, following God, and not getting caught up in social pressure is the same. That is something that stands out in each gospel, even if they are written differently.