Are you ready to learn even more about the Gospels?

Tune in to Not Just Sunday, TNBT's companion podcast, to hear Keith and Patrick answer your

questions about Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. You'll pick up practical tips for how you

can get the most out of your time in God's Word. You can find Not Just Sunday at the link in our show notes.

Now, here's today's 10-minute Bible Talks devotional.

Welcome to 10-minute Bible Talks, where we connect the Bible to life. And the time it takes to get to work.

I'm Jensen Holt McNair. Have you ever felt like an outcast? Have you ever wondered if the

promises and things that you read in scripture are for you? Could Jesus really be talking to you?

Well, if you've ever felt those kinds of things, then today's passage, it's for you.

We're going to just go ahead and jump right into scripture. Jesus has begun his teaching

ministry. He's started to call his disciples. He's a respected rabbi. But he's now also begun to clash heads with the Pharisees, the spiritual

leaders of his day. And that's where we're going to pick up today. Jesus is traveling and calling

a new and unexpected disciple. Mark 2, verse 13. 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 Alpheus, sitting at the

tax collector's booth. Follow me, Jesus told him, and Levi got up and followed him. Okay, I want to know a few

things about this exchange. First, Levi is most likely just another name that the disciple Matthew went by.

Two names for the same person. Okay. Second, notice that Jesus is not alone. He's surrounded by people, and he is not shy about what he does. Third, Levi is a tax collector. That means that he's employed by the Romans, the oppressors of the Jewish people,

but he himself would be Jewish. See, tax collectors were hated, both because they sided and

worked for the Romans, but also because it was just well known that they used their position of

authority to cheat the Jewish population

out of more money than was necessary. They were greedy, traitors, sinful, despised, outcasts.

Now fourth, let's notice that surrounded by a large crowd, Jesus boldly invites a despised outcast to follow him in the exact

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