An unlikely call, an eager follower, an example for all of us today

By Dean Collins

Whether you have a lot of money or just a little, you don’t like people taking it away from you. Most people do not like paying taxes, either. If you think the tax system is unfair now, imagine paying taxes to the Romans in Jesus’ day.

The tax collectors in the Gospels were not liked by anyone. The government pretty much allowed the tax collectors to get whatever amount they could and tax most anything they wanted. Rome got its share, but the tax collector was accumulating much more than anyone thought he should, except the tax collector, that is!

From the perspective of the Pharisees, a tax collector was unclean. There wasn’t any middle ground. But in fairness to the Pharisees, the general person of faith didn’t really feel much differently.

“Follow me”

We don’t know when Matthew (Levi) first saw Jesus. In Luke’s Gospel, we meet Matthew sitting at his tax booth right after Jesus forgave the sins of the paralyzed man who had been lowered from the roof. When the man received forgiveness, he also was given a gift of healthy legs. Jesus walked away from his miracle and looked at Levi and said, “Follow me.”

Jesus has a way of getting people walking, just like the paralyzed man packed up his bed and walked into his new life. Levi simply hung a “Closed” shingle on the tax booth and walked away from his questionable business. I’m sure the other disciples looked over their shoulders and wondered if Jesus knew who he had asked to follow him. Fishermen weren’t very high on the ladder of success, but I’m sure they believed they were a couple of rungs further along than tax collectors.

Matthew called his buddies and planned a big party. Matthew’s attendees were likely all the other tax collectors from around the region. Some of the Pharisees likely had watched Matthew setting up for the party and smelled the food on the grill. And since they were already watching Jesus closely, they noticed when Matthew eagerly welcomed Jesus to the courtyard of his home.

“Why this crowd?”

Some of the Pharisees started grumbling to each other, and when they saw some of the disciples of Jesus showing up, they grumbled at them as well. “Why is Jesus hanging out with this crowd?“ Jesus heard the question and intercepted it before the disciples answered. Maybe he knew the newly converted fishermen would stumble on the answer. Maybe he knew their answers might be a little salty. Peter had a quick mouth and a quick temper.

Jesus told the Pharisees he didn’t come to call the righteous but rather sinners. His example was that doctors are needed by the sick, not the well. It wasn’t the first and it wouldn’t be the last answer Jesus gave that had a little sting in it. The self-righteous are often quick to be offended.

Eager to share

There’s a lot to think about in this brief story. It’s convicting to consider how eager Matthew was to share his new friend Jesus with his old friends. It does seem the longer we follow Jesus the more often we have fewer and fewer friends who don’t know him. We probably ought to get out more and meet some new friends who don’t know Jesus.

It’s also convicting to see how quickly the religious crowd, the Pharisees, were to evaluate and judge Jesus for doing a good thing. How many times have we jumped to a conclusion about what another believer is doing and with whom they are doing it? We can clean up much of this attitude by focusing more on getting to know and loving those who don’t know Jesus instead of always hanging out with those who do. Yes, we need both kinds of relationships, but I think we often get out of balance.

And finally, this story has me wondering about my speed to follow Jesus when he calls me. I’m pretty sure Jesus is calling us to follow him every day. If the Holy Spirit gives a prompt today, let’s both agree to be ready to act more like Matthew and just go and do what Jesus asks of us.

Your time with God’s Word
‭‭Luke‬ ‭5:27-32‬ ‭ESV

Photo by Jon Tyson on Unsplash

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