What Does Mark 2:15 Mean?
It came to be that as Jesus reclined at table in his house, many tax collectors and those who miss the mark reclined together with Jesus and his disciples, for there were many, and they followed him.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
And it came to pass, that, as Jesus sat at meat in his house, many publicans and sinners sat also together with Jesus and his disciples: for there were many, and they followed him.THE KEY
The people called sinners are already reclining beside Jesus and his disciples, and already following him.
THE MEANING
Jesus shares his house and meal with people publicly named as tax collectors and sinners. They are with him at the table while they follow him; closeness is already present in the scene.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The belief that people must first leave the category “sinner” before coming close to Jesus loosens here: those named by their missing are already eating and following alongside him.
THE ROOT
ἁμαρτωλοί
hamartōloi
GROWS FROM
ἁμαρτ- (hamart-), from ἁμαρτάνω (hamartanō)
To miss or fail to reach; this word family carries the sense of missing the mark.
“those who miss the mark” in this verse is hamartōloi. English “sinners” holds a moral category; the Greek word family also carries the image of missing. Those named by that missing are already at the table with Jesus, not standing outside the scene.
ALSO GROWS
hamartia: Missing, missing the mark
ἁμαρτία
This related noun makes the shared root visible: the people called sinners are described through the language of missing.
hamartanō: To miss, fail to reach
ἁμαρτάνω
The verb beneath the word family keeps the image of a mark or aim not reached within the verse’s label.
κατακεῖσθαι
katakeisthai
GROWS FROM
κεῖμαι
keimai
To lie, be laid, or recline.
“sat at meat / sat together” in this verse is katakeisthai. English says “sat,” but the Greek pictures Jesus reclining and the others reclining alongside him. The repeated posture makes this a shared meal, with the group gathered at the same table.
ALSO GROWS
anakeimai: Recline, especially as a meal guest
ἀνάκειμαι
It illuminates the meal posture shared by Jesus and those with him.
katakeimai: Lie down or recline
κατάκειμαι
This is the verb used for Jesus’ posture in the opening phrase, echoed by the others reclining alongside him.
THE PATTERN
The shared table crosses boundaries drawn around who is welcome among God’s people.
And in this mountain the LORD of hosts will make for all peoples a feast of fat things, a feast of wines kept on their lees, of fat things full of marrow, of wines kept on their lees, well strained.And when they perceived it, all of them grumbled, saying, "He has gone in to lodge with a man who misses the mark."Saying, You went in to men uncircumcised, and ate with them.THE THREAD
When Jesus heard it, he said to them, Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I did not come to call the aligned, but those who miss the mark into turning.The same Greek word family for “sinners” appears in both verses: those marked by missing are the very people Jesus calls. The call is toward turning, so the meal scene holds them in his company as that movement is underway.
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