Jesus’ call changes lives. - Luke 5:27-32
As Levi looked out from his booth, the shimmering silver and blue water of the nearby Sea of Galilee caught the sunlight. Fishing boats moved across the surface, some close to shore, others farther out where the lake opened wide. Along the shoreline boats were pulled up on the beach and nets dried in the sun. In front of Levi’s booth, the road stretched out in both directions, worn smooth by sandals, carts, animals, and years of travel. It was not a quiet place. It was a crossroads of work, trade, travel, and business, the kind of place where sooner or later everyone passed by. The sounds of commerce filled the air as beasts of burden pulled carts laden with goods and merchants negotiated for a profitable exchange.
Under different circumstances, it would have been an ideal place to spend the day engaged the activity of people watching. However, as Levi watched the people who passed in front of his booth, he saw how their expressions changed when they caught sight of him. Mothers pulled their children tight, as if he were a threat. Young men and women looked away, as if the sight of him sickened them. The elders glared at him with disgust and disdain.
Levi knew why he caused such revulsion from the passersby. Levi was a tax collector. He was employed by the Romans, the very empire that was occupying and oppressing his people. It was Levi’s job to extract from the people what Ceasar considered to be his. However, like most men of his ilk, Levi was not content to merely extract taxes from his fellow man on behalf of Caesar, he also extorted a little extra for himself. Levi knew when people wanted to insult someone and disparage their character they would call them a tax collector; he knew his testimony wasn’t trusted in the court of law, he knew his presence in the temple was unwanted. But the money was good and with the might of Rome protecting him, Levi knew he was untouchable… completely untouchable. Untouchable by his enemies. Untouchable by his neighbors. Untouchable by the people he had betrayed. Untouchable Levi sat in his tax collector’s booth Isolated and alone looking out at a sea of people who despised him.
One day, as Levi looked out of his booth, he noticed a man was looking back at him. The man had not looked away in disgust, nor gazed upon him with disdain, as so many others had done. The man was looking at Levi like no man had ever looked at him before. Levi recognized the man. His name was Jesus. Levi had overheard Jesus teaching along the seashore and he, like everyone else agreed Jesus spoke and taught like one who had authority. Levi had heard that Jesus could drive out demons and heal people of their diseases, he had even heard that Jesus claimed the authority to forgive sins. Levi, like everyone else along the Sea of Galilee was eager to see Jesus, but now Levi was being seen by Him. Seen in a way that looks past appearances and penetrates beneath persona. Many of Levi’s sins were on display for everyone to see, and yet it felt like Jesus saw even the secret sins in the dark recesses of Levi’s soul.
““27 Follow me”, Jesus said to him.” The words were as simple as they were profound. Jesus did not tell Levi that he must first demonstrated his worth to Jesus by doing good to make up for the bad he had done. Jesus did not tell Levi that he must first display his sincerity and commitment to Jesus by taking a vow of poverty or engaging in flogging or fasting. Jesus did not tell Levi to go and make himself honorable and respectable. Jesus looked at Levi, saw him for who and what he was and simply said “Follow me”.
From the pages of Scripture, Jesus says the same thing to you. Jesus sees you; he sees you like no man has ever seen you. Jesus sees your sins which are on display for all to see. He sees the cold and callous way you treat each other. He sees how you take advantage of other people for your own gain, He sees how you insult and demean others in an attempt to make yourself look better, He sees how you push others down so that you by comparison might be puffed up. When Jesus looks at you, He sees what people saw when they looked at Levi. Jesus sees your sins, all your sins. The ones that are on display for all to see and the ones you think you have hidden away in the dark recesses of your soul. If all people saw you the way Jesus sees you, they would clutch their children as they passed by, be sickened by the sight of you and look at you with disgust and disdain.
Jesus sees you for who and what you are, yet says to you, “Follow me”. No demonstration of worth, no display of sincerity, no requirement of respectability is first required of you. Just simply and profoundly, “Follow me”.
Jesus’ call was unlike anything Levi had experienced. It was not merely an invitation. It was a call that carried with it the power to do what it commanded. Jesus’ call did not come to take something from Levi, but to give everything to Levi. It was unearned. It was undeserved. It was extended simply because of Jesus’ great love and rich mercy. The call that Jesus extended to Levi changed his life in at least three notable ways.
First, Jesus’ call changed Levi’s relationship with sin. Having received Jesus’ call, Levi “got up, [and] left everything”. Jesus had called Levi while he was lost in his sin. But now that he had been called, Levi could not knowingly and willfully stay in his sin. Levi could no longer treat people the way he had been treating them; he could no longer take advantage of them for his own personal gain. He could no longer excuse the greed, dishonesty, and selfishness that had defined his life. Now that he had been called by Jesus, Levi both needed and wanted to walk away from his life of sin.
Jesus’ call has the same effect on you. Jesus’ call changes your relationship with sin. Like Levi, Jesus calls us while we are still sinners, but He does not call us to stay comfortable in our sin. We cannot knowingly and willfully stay in our sins now that we have been called. We cannot and will not seek to take advantage of others. We cannot and will not demean and degrade others to make ourselves look better. We cannot and will not push them down so that we might be puffed up. We cannot excuse the sins Jesus came to forgive. We cannot defend the sins Jesus calls us to leave. We cannot knowingly and willfully cling to the sins that once controlled us. These are the sorts of sins that defined us before we were called. They are not who Jesus called us to be. Therefore, Dear Jesus, give us the strength to get up and leave them behind!
Second, Jesus’ call changed Levi’s relationship with his Savior. After he got up and left everything, Levi then “followed” Jesus. Levi did not just walk away from his life of sin. He walked with his Savior. Literally Levi walked with Jesus. Levi was with Jesus as He healed the sick, cast out demons, and raised the dead. But more than that, Jesus taught Levi about loving his enemies and warned him about judging others. Jesus taught Levi how to forgive and love others in the same way Jesus had forgiven and loved him. Jesus taught Levi how to serve and sacrifice for others by turning the other cheek, going the extra mile, and giving them the shirt off his back. Having been called by Jesus, Levi didn’t just walk away from his sin, he walked with his Savior.
Again, Jesus’ call has the same effect on you. We cannot physically walk with Jesus in the same way Levi walked with Jesus. But thanks to the Holy Spirit we have a written record of Levi’s walk with Jesus. Levi is better known to us as Matthew. He is the author of the first of four gospels. In the book of Matthew as well as Mark and Luke and John and all the other books of the bible we learn from Jesus what it means to walk with our Savior. The lessons are the same for us as they were for Levi. In the pages of Scripture, we learn how to love our enemies, forgive others, and serve and sacrifice for our fellow man. Like Levi we don’t just walk away from sin, we walk with our Savior. Dear Jesus, help us to walk with You.
Third, Jesus’ call changed Levi’s relationship with people. Having walked away from his life of sin to walk with his Savior, Levi was filled with a desire to share God’s grace with others. So “29 Levi held a great banquet for Jesus at his house, and a large crowd of tax collectors and others were eating with them.” To walk with his Savior, Levi had walked away from a life of gratifying his sinful nature and indulging his flesh. Some would say Levi walked away from a lot to walk with Jesus. But Levi knew he had gained far more than he had lost. Levi had been set free from his slavery to sin, guilt and shame no longer weighed down upon him. Levi’s sins had been forgiven, and his salvation had been secured and as a result Levi was at peace with his God; Levi had what we call a peace which transcended all understanding. Levi knew what it was like to live without that peace and, more than anything, Levi wanted to share what he had been given with others.
Once more, Jesus’ call has the same effect on you. There are people all around us whose sins have made them outcast from both their fellow man and from their God. On the surface they may look successful, confident, comfortable, and in control. You know what sin does to a person, you know how a life of sin leaves a person isolated and alone. But you also know how the grace of God has set you free from sin, released you from the burden of guilt, and given you a peace that transcends all understanding. There are people you work with and go to school with, people who live next door to you and socialize with you, people who are your friends and members of your own family who still don’t know what you know. They don’t know about Jesus who has called them to walk away from their sin so that they might walk with their Savior. Therefore, Dear Jesus, give us the courage to share your grace with them.
Jesus’ call changed Levi’s life. But not everyone accepted Levi’s new life. “30 the Pharisees and the teachers of the law who belonged to their sect complained to his [Jesus’] disciples, “Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and ‘sinners’?” Levi and his fellow sinners would have felt the sting of these words. But Jesus’ reply reassured them. “31 Jesus answered them, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. 32 I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.” Jesus did not come to this world looking for people worthy of His love, He did not come looking for people who could display the sincerity of their commitment, He did not come looking for people who had made themselves honorable and respectable. Jesus came to this world looking for sinners like Levi; Jesus came to this world looking for you. Jesus became also human, Jesus was tempted in every way just as we are, Jesus satisfied the righteous requirements of the law, Jesus paid for the sins of the world, Jesus rose victorious from the dead for sinners like Levi, Jesus did all of this for you.
Therefore, my fellow sinners who have been called by grace through the gospel of Jesus Christ, let us leave behind our life of sin, follow our Savior, and share the grace of God with others. Amen? Amen!