Luke 5:27-32 Matthew the Tax Collector
“After these things He went out and saw a tax collector named Levi, sitting at the tax office. And He said to him, “Follow Me.” So he left all, rose up, and followed Him.
Then Levi gave Him a great feast in his own house. And there were a great number of tax collectors and others who sat down with them. And their scribes and the Pharisees complained against His disciples, saying, “Why do You eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?”
Jesus answered and said to them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance.”
Jesus is having a day of it. After ministering forgiveness and healing to Eli, Jesus leaves that houses and walks down the street toward the tax office. A huge crowd follows Jesus-after all, he’s just healed a paralyzed man. What might Jesus do next? This is the most entertainment these folks have had in years, not to mention the fact that they are awed by the power of God.
Tax officers are feared, hated, and regarded as turncoats, spies, and traitors who serve the Romans as they extort more than their due from the suffering public. When tax collectors come to be baptized by John the Baptist, he tells them not to collect more than is due them. Although tax collectors generally are wealthy, they are also hated and feared by their fellow citizens. Given the horrible reputation of tax collectors, religious authorities assume that Jesus will never call someone like that to become a disciple…..but they’re wrong!
Following the leading of the Holy Spirit, Jesus walks down to Levi’s tax office and issues a simple invitation, “Follow me.” What’s amazing is that Levi does exactly that; Levi rolls up his scrolls, hands his money box over to one of his fellow tax collectors, and walks out of the office and down the street with Jesus. Levi and Jesus go to Levi’s house, where Levi swiftly organizes a sumptuous banquet, inviting other tax collectors and their friends to come meet Jesus. The guests at this banquet are some of the richest and most hated men in town. Many of the religious authorities have followed Jesus at a distance, watching to see if he will make a mistake so they can criticize him or even have him arrested. Now the banquet is going on and the scribes and Pharisees are gathered outside Levi’s house, talking with Jesus’ disciples and shooting angry looks toward Jesus, whom they can see through the open door. When Jesus looks out the door at the Pharisees and lifts a goblet of wine in their honor, they are scandalized!
“Why do You eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?”the Pharisees demand. “Jesus answers them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance.” The religious authorities are fuming! How dare Jesus call these SINNERS to repentance. If these men want to repent, let them do it on their own. If they don’t choose to repent, let them go to Gehenna, to hell. These men have free will and can choose to do what’s right, so why coddle them?
Meanwhile, inside Levi’s banquet hall, Levi and his guests are hanging on every word Jesus utters. After years of scorn and verbal abuse, these tax collectors and money lenders are thrilled as Jesus speaks to them lovingly. Hard hearts are melting, the Holy Spirit is moving, and none of these men will ever be the same again. The longer Jesus speaks to these men, the softer their hearts become until all of them are reduced to tears of repentance. Jesus waits, giving them time to consider their wrong-doing and to confess it. Then Jesus says to these men the same thing he has already told Eli the former paralytic, “Your sins are forgiven you.” For the rest of their lives, the guests at Levi’s banquet will be Jesus followers, and Jesus will welcome them into heaven when they die.
Reading the account of this banquet, we might feel a bit smug. After all, we have never cheated anyone or extorted money from them. But have we gossiped? Have we criticized? Have we misjudged others without knowing their motives? Have we over eaten or gone on shopping sprees or gotten drunk or gambled? Do our children fear us because we criticize them so severely? Romans 3:23 tells us that “All have sinned and have fallen short of the glory of God.”
No matter how we might try to explain our shortcomings and failures at righteousness, the fact remains that each one of us is a sinner. Romans 6:23 says, “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” The ground is level at the foot of the cross. To a Holy God, all sins are equal, and none of us in and of ourselves is righteous. All of us need a Savior just as much as did the tax collectors and money lenders at Levi’s banquet.
The tragic part of this story is that while tax collectors and money lenders were repenting and entering the Kingdom of God, many of the religious authorities were trusting in their own righteousness and their rigid observation of minute rules. These men had hardened their hearts against all those around them who had neither the time nor the finances to observe such rules. When Jesus lifted that goblet in salute to the religious leaders, he was silently inviting them to enter the banquet hall, to join the tax collectors and money lenders inside, and to repent as they were doing. But the religious leaders firmly believed they were far superior to these men and spurned Jesus’ invitation.
None of us is superior. All of us have sinned and have fallen short of the glory of God. The question for us is simple: Jesus stands at the doors of our lives, inviting us to abandon our own efforts at justification and to receive his free gifts of forgiveness and salvation. The choice is ours. Will we freely choose to confess our sins and to abandon our own efforts, or will we insist on persisting in futile efforts to earn our way into heaven? Choose rightly, for you are choosing for eternity!
PRAYER: Father God, thank You for loving us and for caring for us. Lord, we confess that we are sinners and nothing we do is sufficient to blot out our sins and to earn our way into heaven. Please forgive us our sins, cleanse our hearts, and help us to trust in the blood sacrifice You made for us on Calvary. In the mighty and precious Name of King Jesus. Amen.
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