Luke 5:27-32 NASB
After that He went out and noticed a tax collector named Levi sitting in the tax booth, and He said to him, "Follow Me." And he left everything behind, and got up and began to follow Him.
And Levi gave a big reception for Him in his house; and there was a great crowd of tax collectors and other people who were reclining at the table with them. The Pharisees and their scribes began grumbling at His disciples, saying, "Why do you eat and drink with the tax collectors and sinners?"
And Jesus answered and said to them, "It is not those who are well who need a physician, but those who are sick.
"I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance."
My thoughts -
Matthew (Levi) was not a "good" religious person. He was a tax collector. Tax collectors were the wrong sort of people. They were liars, thieves, and swindlers. They took your hard earned money and enriched themselves off of it through the power of their office. They were the guys who were looked down on as being the kind of people who would sell out their own people to the state. Tax collectors were, to "good" religious people, sinners of the worst sort.
I imagine, much like lawyer jokes, there were tax collector jokes in Jesus's day. As the son of a lawyer I heard plenty of good lawyer jokes. Probably my favorite on was:
What do you call a thousand lawyers on a sinking ship towards the bottom of the ocean?
A good start.
It is culturally assumed that there are no honest lawyers. Those people would do anything for a buck. They represent crooks and shady politicians. They chase ambulances. They'd sue their own mothers if they thought they could collect.
Tax collectors were, to the "good" religious people of Jesus's day, every bit as bad as the worst caricatures of lawyers in lawyer jokes. They were liars and thieves. They sold out their own people. They valued only money and would do anything for a buck.
So Jesus calls on of these tax collectors to follow him and it's a scandal to the "good" religious people. But then again, we "good" religious people love a scandal. We love to be outraged. It gives us something to talk about.
But look at this horrible, irredeemable, almost sub-human sinner's response to Jesus is. It's one we see all the time in the gospels. He drops everything and follows Jesus. In fact, he's so stoked about following this Jesus fellow that he throws a big party to celebrate and invites all of his friends. All of his tax collector friends. You know, those horrible sinners the "good" religious people look down on.
So the "good" religious people give Jesus some flack for hanging out with "those people". And he responds saying ""It is not those who are well who need a physician, but those who are sick. I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance."
Jesus came to save sinners and to reconcile us, the fallen children of God, to our Heavenly Father.
Have you ever tried to tell something to someone who thinks that they know everything, though? It isn't possible. These "good" religious people knew everything. They knew that they were righteous, so Jesus doesn't confront them with their sin. Not here. Not yet.
Jesus is dealing with the people who know that they need him. He is dealing with people who are desperate for the love of God and for reconciliation. He is dealing with people who know that the things of this world don't satisfy the longing in their heart for this reconciliation. He is dealing with the people that the "good" religious people of our world don't have time for.
I'm sure this answer placated and satisfied the Pharisees. It reaffirmed their belief in themselves and about "those people". Jesus is ministering to those "sinners". Maybe they thought he was weird. Maybe they pitied him wasting his time and energy. Maybe they thought that if Jesus stuck with this ministry thing long enough he'd grow out of that naive way of being and become like them. Give him a little time and he'll learn. Some day he'll know better. He's just wasting his time. Some day he'll understand that some people can't and shouldn't be saved.
Little did they know that they were sinners, too. They followed the law, but not perfectly. No one can followed the law perfectly. No one but Jesus.
These "good" religious people had no love. Jesus established the law of love and they were lost and didn't even know it. Their righteousness depended on believing and saying the right things and performing the right rituals. But God desires that we love Him and love each other. We don't need rituals to love. We need love, and they didn't have any.
Matthew was a sinner. He knew this. Jesus called and he came running. He knew he needed Jesus so badly that he dropped everything to follow him. And he loved his friends so much that he threw this party so they could meet Jesus, too.
There's really no better response to Jesus than this.
After that He went out and noticed a tax collector named Levi sitting in the tax booth, and He said to him, "Follow Me." And he left everything behind, and got up and began to follow Him.
And Levi gave a big reception for Him in his house; and there was a great crowd of tax collectors and other people who were reclining at the table with them. The Pharisees and their scribes began grumbling at His disciples, saying, "Why do you eat and drink with the tax collectors and sinners?"
And Jesus answered and said to them, "It is not those who are well who need a physician, but those who are sick.
"I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance."
My thoughts -
Matthew (Levi) was not a "good" religious person. He was a tax collector. Tax collectors were the wrong sort of people. They were liars, thieves, and swindlers. They took your hard earned money and enriched themselves off of it through the power of their office. They were the guys who were looked down on as being the kind of people who would sell out their own people to the state. Tax collectors were, to "good" religious people, sinners of the worst sort.
I imagine, much like lawyer jokes, there were tax collector jokes in Jesus's day. As the son of a lawyer I heard plenty of good lawyer jokes. Probably my favorite on was:
What do you call a thousand lawyers on a sinking ship towards the bottom of the ocean?
A good start.
It is culturally assumed that there are no honest lawyers. Those people would do anything for a buck. They represent crooks and shady politicians. They chase ambulances. They'd sue their own mothers if they thought they could collect.
Tax collectors were, to the "good" religious people of Jesus's day, every bit as bad as the worst caricatures of lawyers in lawyer jokes. They were liars and thieves. They sold out their own people. They valued only money and would do anything for a buck.
So Jesus calls on of these tax collectors to follow him and it's a scandal to the "good" religious people. But then again, we "good" religious people love a scandal. We love to be outraged. It gives us something to talk about.
But look at this horrible, irredeemable, almost sub-human sinner's response to Jesus is. It's one we see all the time in the gospels. He drops everything and follows Jesus. In fact, he's so stoked about following this Jesus fellow that he throws a big party to celebrate and invites all of his friends. All of his tax collector friends. You know, those horrible sinners the "good" religious people look down on.
So the "good" religious people give Jesus some flack for hanging out with "those people". And he responds saying ""It is not those who are well who need a physician, but those who are sick. I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance."
Jesus came to save sinners and to reconcile us, the fallen children of God, to our Heavenly Father.
Have you ever tried to tell something to someone who thinks that they know everything, though? It isn't possible. These "good" religious people knew everything. They knew that they were righteous, so Jesus doesn't confront them with their sin. Not here. Not yet.
Jesus is dealing with the people who know that they need him. He is dealing with people who are desperate for the love of God and for reconciliation. He is dealing with people who know that the things of this world don't satisfy the longing in their heart for this reconciliation. He is dealing with the people that the "good" religious people of our world don't have time for.
I'm sure this answer placated and satisfied the Pharisees. It reaffirmed their belief in themselves and about "those people". Jesus is ministering to those "sinners". Maybe they thought he was weird. Maybe they pitied him wasting his time and energy. Maybe they thought that if Jesus stuck with this ministry thing long enough he'd grow out of that naive way of being and become like them. Give him a little time and he'll learn. Some day he'll know better. He's just wasting his time. Some day he'll understand that some people can't and shouldn't be saved.
Little did they know that they were sinners, too. They followed the law, but not perfectly. No one can followed the law perfectly. No one but Jesus.
These "good" religious people had no love. Jesus established the law of love and they were lost and didn't even know it. Their righteousness depended on believing and saying the right things and performing the right rituals. But God desires that we love Him and love each other. We don't need rituals to love. We need love, and they didn't have any.
Matthew was a sinner. He knew this. Jesus called and he came running. He knew he needed Jesus so badly that he dropped everything to follow him. And he loved his friends so much that he threw this party so they could meet Jesus, too.
There's really no better response to Jesus than this.
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