Today’s text focuses on a man named Levi. He was also known as Matthew. Matthew was a publican, or tax collector, for the Roman government. Publicans were fiercely hated by their fellow Jews and were thought of as traitors since they were working for the occupying force, collecting the heavy taxes laid upon the population, and were usually guilty of collecting more than required in order to fill their own pockets. Publicans were not the sort of people that ‘good’ Jews associated with.
Read today’s text in one of the three Gospels. Jesus had just come from healing a paralyzed man. As He was walking along, He passed by the place where Matthew sat in his booth collecting taxes. Jesus said to Matthew, “Follow Me,” and Matthew immediately got up and followed Jesus. This would have been a very unexpected thing to happen. Matthew was a sinner and an outcast among his people. Why would Jesus have chosen this type of person to call as a follower? And why would Matthew leave such a lucrative job and follow Jesus?
We have talked, in a previous lesson, about how the fishermen left everything, their business and their families, to follow Jesus. This would be even more the case for a tax collector. Fishermen could always return to fishing at some point. A tax collector, however, if he were to leave this highly profitable position, could never return to it. Leaving this job was a very permanent choice. Yet we see Matthew doing so without question thus giving up permanently his financial security and becoming a disciple of Jesus. I imagine he must have already heard about Jesus’ reputation.
Matthew was apparently a very devoted follower of Jesus, and he gave a great banquet for Him at his own house. Many tax collectors and sinners were invited to this banquet. I would assume these guests were Matthew’s previously closest associates from when he was working as a publican for the Romans.
The Bible tells us that the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law began to complain to Jesus’ disciples, wanting to know why our Lord was eating with tax collectors and sinners. To the Pharisees, sinners would have been anyone who did not adhere to the Pharisees’ idea of how the Law should be applied.
It is important to understand that, in their culture, eating a meal with someone implied acceptance of them and so the Pharisees assumed that Jesus, by eating with tax collectors and sinners, was saying that He accepted them and their ways. However, we know that throughout Jesus’ Galilean ministry, He made a habit of associating with outsiders (Samaritan woman, man with leprosy, paralyzed man). God’s love and salvation are for everyone (John 3:17).
Jesus then gave His rationale for this practice. He did not come to earth to minister to the righteous (the already faithful). Healthy people do not need doctors. He came to reach sinners (Luke 19:10, 1 Tim 1:15), and to do that, He must go where they are.
Record Luke 19:10 in your journal.
Responding to God: Praise God that He reaches out to sinners. Thank Him that it is ordinary people that He calls to do His work here on earth. Pray for more love to reach out to outsiders and sinners. Commit to telling others about God’s plan of salvation.
Add comment
Comments