Knowing The Word in Luke 5:27-32

Jesus Calls Levi

5:27 After this he went out and saw a tax collector named Levi, sitting at the tax booth. And he said to him, “Follow me.” 28 And leaving everything, he rose and followed him.

29 And Levi made him a great feast in his house, and there was a large company of tax collectors and others reclining at table with them. 30 And the Pharisees and their scribes grumbled at his disciples, saying, “Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?” 31 And Jesus answered them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. 32 I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance.”

Comments

The tax collector called Levi in this passage is known later in Luke as Matthew, but in Matthew’s Gospel he is always known as Matthew. He collected toll or customs duties from those passing through Capernaum. As a tax collector, Matthew was most likely the wealthiest of Jesus’ apostles and perhaps the best educated. There is a degree of heroism involved in his response to follow Jesus. If the future did not work out for the fishermen disciples, they could always return to their jobs. But Matthew lost his Roman employed job permanently by walking away. He was committed.

Levi, however, does not go quietly but with great fanfare and a public announcement of a feast in his home. He must have found it so exhilarating to forsake wealth for Jesus that he introduced his associates to Jesus. As J.C. Ryle commented, “A converted man will not want to go to heaven alone.” The Pharisees, who were not at the dinner party, complained. With their strict purity rules, they would never have eaten with tax collectors who they considered ceremonially unclean. They asked, “How could Jesus and his followers be religious if they accept sinners like these?” Jesus’ response is that he came for those who were sick. Or as Robert Munger wrote, “The church is the only fellowship in the world where the one requirement for membership is the unworthiness of the candidate.”

Application

Many Christians look down upon others because of their sinful lives. Consider how Jesus would respond to them. Consider how you should respond to them?

Prayer

Lord Jesus, give me eyes to look at others the way you look at them. Help me to see the Levis in my life who appear as traitors but are simply lost people who do not know you and need to. Give me a spirit of openness and empathy such as yours, and not one of judgement like the Pharisees.