Many people express support or enthusiasm for a particular cause. Until, that is, they are asked to give up something for it. To put it another way, we can measure the extent of our dedication to something by what we are willing to sacrifice for it. Simon, Andrew, James and John proved their commitment to Jesus by giving up their fishing business in order to follow and learn from Him. They were not the only ones. Luke tells us of another man who left everything to follow Jesus. This incident took place after Jesus demonstrated His divine nature by forgiving the sins of, and then healing a paralyzed man.
In chapter 5, verses 27 through 32 of his inspired Gospel, Luke writes, “After these things he went out, and saw a tax collector named Levi sitting at the tax office, and said to him, “Follow me!” He left everything, and rose up and followed him. Levi made a great feast for him in his house. There was a great crowd of tax collectors and others who were reclining with them. Their scribes and the Pharisees murmured against his disciples, saying, “Why do you eat and drink with the tax collectors and sinners?” Jesus answered them, “Those who are healthy have no need for a physician, but those who are sick do. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.””
After witnessing Jesus’ healing of the paralytic, the religious leaders praised God. They apparently accepted the healing as proof that Jesus had divine authority. They were willing to reconsider or revise their initial thought that Jesus had committed blasphemy when He forgave the paralyzed man’s sins. But when Jesus called Levi to follow Him, it again raised doubts in the minds of the religious leaders. According to Jewish thought, tax collectors were traitors. They had betrayed their own people by serving their Roman conquerors. The Jews considered tax collectors the equivalent of prostitutes, murderers and robbers and would not associate with them. Tax collectors could not serve as witnesses or judges in legal proceedings. Tax collectors were even denied entrance to Jewish places of worship. This is why Jesus described a tax collector in one of His parables as standing “at a distance” while he prayed (Luke 18:13).
But the Jews may have had a special reason to hate Levi. Based on his name, it is likely that Levi belonged to one of the families who were chosen by God to serve in the Temple at Jerusalem. If this is the case, Levi had turned his back on one of the most highly respected professions a Jewish man could have and chosen the most despised occupation. He truly was an outcast in the eyes of society, his religion and, probably, even his own family. Regardless of the circumstances which turned Levi into a pariah among his own people, he must have had a love for truth. When Jesus called him, he did not hesitate, but left everything and became His disciple. Perhaps one of the reasons he did so is that Jesus did not hold his profession against him. Jesus could look beyond what Levi was and see what Levi could become.
To show his appreciation for Jesus, Levi gave a banquet in His honor. Since respectable people would be unwilling to be seen at the house of a tax collector, Levi invited those who shared his own reputation – fellow tax collectors and others deemed disreputable by society.
That Jesus would accept an invitation to the feast and associate with such despised people dismayed and puzzled the religious leaders. Surely, someone sent by God would not fellowship with sinners and tax collectors! Can’t we know what kind of person someone is by looking at the people he associates with? If Jesus associated with sinners, didn’t that make Him one of them?
Jesus answered the objections of the religious leaders by pointing out that it is only the ill who need a doctor. Earlier, at the town of Nazareth, Jesus quoted from the prophet Isaiah to explain that one of the purposes for His coming was to heal those who are spiritually sick. Now He stated that He hadn’t come to call the righteous, but sinners. Jesus didn’t associate with sinners because He was one of them, but in order to cure them of their spiritual diseases.
Levi is a good illustration of Jesus’ ability to heal the spiritually ill. We know Levi much better by the name of Matthew, which means ‘Gift of God.’ It is he who wrote one of the four accounts we have of Jesus’ life and ministry. Jesus transformed him from an outcast to God’s gift to the church. In addition, we know that at least one of Jesus’ disciples belonged to the Zealot political party. The Zealots were extreme nationalists who often assassinated Jews like Levi who cooperated with Rome. Yet, Jesus transformed these former enemies into loving co-workers. We also know that Levi’s brother, James was another of Jesus’ disciples. It was Jesus’ influence which reconciled these estranged brothers. Just as Jesus changed Levi, He can change us as well.
Since the religious leaders could not argue with what Jesus said, they chose something else to criticize. In verses 33 through 35 Luke writes, “They said to him, “John’s disciples often fast and pray, and so do the disciples of the Pharisees, but yours go on eating and drinking.” Jesus answered, “Can you make the guests of the bridegroom fast while he is with them? But the time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them; in those days they will fast.”
The leaders seem to be saying that if Jesus’ disciples were truly religious, they would fast instead of feasting. Indirectly, the leaders were criticizing Jesus for permitting or encouraging a lack of piety in His followers. Jesus pointed out that there is an appropriate time for both feasting and fasting. To put it differently, there is a time for reverent contemplation, but there is also a time to express joy. Should Jesus and His disciples not have been glad about the change in Levi’s life?
The religious leaders judged whether a person was righteous by the religious rituals he performed. Jesus went on to illustrate why the leaders needed to change their whole way of thinking. In verses 36 through 39 Luke writes, “They said to him, “Why do John’s disciples often fast and pray, likewise also the disciples of the Pharisees, but yours eat and drink?” He said to them, “Can you make the friends of the bridegroom fast while the bridegroom is with them? But the days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them. Then they will fast in those days.” He also told a parable to them. “No one puts a piece from a new garment on an old garment, or else he will tear the new, and also the piece from the new will not match the old. No one puts new wine into old wine skins, or else the new wine will burst the skins, and it will be spilled, and the skins will be destroyed. But new wine must be put into fresh wine skins, and both are preserved. No man having drunk old wine immediately desires new, for he says, ‘The old is better.’””
Jesus challenged the thinking of the religious leaders on another occasion as well. If you would like to know about it, please listen to our next program.