Tag Archives: Levi

THE GOSPELOF MARK – HE SAW LEVI

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HE SAW LEVI

Once again Jesus went out beside the lake. A large crowd came to him, and he began to teach them. 14 As he walked along, he saw Levi son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax collector’s booth. “Follow me,” Jesus told him, and Levi got up and followed him.

15 While Jesus was having dinner at Levi’s house, many tax collectors and sinners were eating with him and his disciples, for there were many who followed him. 16 When the teachers of the law who were Pharisees saw him eating with the sinners and tax collectors, they asked his disciples: “Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?”

17 On hearing this, Jesus said to them, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.” Mark 2:13-17

As Jesus walked along the edge of the lake He saw Levi collecting taxes and Levi saw Him.  What did Jesus value so much in Levi that He called him to follow Him? Did He see a man whose greed had brought everything out of him that was devious and dishonest, now disillusioned with wealth, with a heart yearning for something better? Did He value in him the willingness to leave that all behind to go after God? What did Levi see in Jesus that drew him like magnet?

Why was Jesus comfortable with what the Pharisees called “the riff-raff” – people who made no pretense of being religious; people who didn’t hide their lifestyle but who felt comfortable with Him because He didn’t judge them? He accepted them as they were. The very fact that He ate with them meant that He was at peace with them.

Does that mean that He was comfortable with the way they lived? No, but it was not an issue to Him because He knew that He could offer them a better life and He knew their potential.

He valued the fact that they were who they were. If anything, He was not comfortable with their critics whose lives were equally soiled with sin but it was all hidden under a facade of “holiness”.

What kind of honesty is Jesus looking for? Not the attitude that I am a good-for-nothing worm who is always putting myself down, but an honesty that is willing to own who I am, both good and bad, and place myself in His hands to restore what is broken and clean up what is tamai- unclean – so that I can have transparent fellowship with Him in all circumstances.

As long as our hearts are open with Him and we don’t cover up and pretend, we can journey with Him in the ups and downs because we are going somewhere together and He is leading. He is always with us whether we feel Him or not.

THE GOSPEL OF LUKE – DO YOU KNOW YOU ARE SICK?

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DO YOU KNOW YOU ARE SICK?

“After this He went out and saw a man at his work collecting taxes. Jesus said, ‘Come along with me.’ And he did – walked away from everything and went with Him.

“Levi gave a large dinner at his home for Jesus. Everybody was there, tax men and other disreputable characters as guests at the dinner. The Pharisees and their religion scholars came to His disciples greatly offended. ‘What is He doing eating and drinking with crooks and “sinners”?’ Jesus heard about it and spoke up, ‘Who needs a doctor; the healthy or the sick? I’m here inviting outsiders, not insiders — an invitation to a changed life, changed inside and out.'” Luke 5:27-31.

Levi? A tax man? Jesus called him? And then Levi throws a party and invites all the scum from the underworld? And Jesus goes there?

What was He thinking? And then He actually eats with them? Isn’t that taking things a bit too far? Jesus was the God-man remember, and God was eating with them!

We are so used to reading the story that it doesn’t impact us like it impacted those religious men. How could this Jesus, who said He was God, whom Habakkuk said was of purer eyes than to look at evil, actually sit down and eat a meal with known “sinners” – people who habitually and deliberately broke the law and did nothing about it? They probably never went near the Temple, let alone offered a sacrifice to atone for their wickedness.

To share a meal with someone in that culture had great significance. You never ate with someone with whom you had issues. Eating a meal was a signal to everyone around that you were reconciled. God reconciled? To these people?

By celebrating with the “outsiders”, Jesus was making a profound statement. God and sinners were reconciled! But how could that be? Where was the sacrifice? He was there, with them, right before their eyes – the Lamb of God, slain from before the foundation of the world, taking away the sin of the world. The world? Yes.

These despised outcasts were just as much sons of God as the scribes and Pharisees who thought they had exclusive rights to God because of their “performance”. In Jesus’ story of the “prodigal son”, both sons were in the far country, the younger one in body and the older one in attitude. For the father, it was more difficult to win his older son back than the younger because he was so convinced that he was right.

Jesus not only taught but He showed that God is far less concerned about what people do as He is about who they are. On the basis of the atoning sacrifice of His Son, the Father receives whoever is willing to come home because they are sons and daughters – wayward yes, but nevertheless His children.

“‘For in Him we live and move and have our being.’ As some of your poets have said, ‘We are His offspring.'” Acts 17:28 (NIV).

That was something the Pharisees could not understand because they based everything on their performance, especially what they did for public scrutiny. What was in their hearts was unseen and therefore irrelevant, so they thought.

Jesus’ little barb must have hit home because they had nothing more to say. ‘It’s the sick who need healing, not those who think they are well.’ The greatest of all tragedies was that they were blissfully unaware of how sick they really were. It’s those who think they are okay who need the healing the most.

It’s better to be honest than to be fooled. The riff-raff of society in Jesus’ day welcomed Him because they knew how sick they were. There was a connection because He responded to their honesty. He could not connect with the religious people because they had built a wall of pretence they were not willing to demolish and only they could break it down.

What about you? Draw near to God and He will draw near to you.

A Shocking Invitation!

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A SHOCKING INVITATION!

Once again Jesus went out beside the lake. A large crowd came to Him, and He began to teach them. As He walked along, He saw Levi son of Alpheus sitting at the tax collector’s booth. ‘Follow me,’ Jesus told him, and Levi got up and followed Him. (Mark 2:13-14).

What a shock for Matthew alias Levi to hear the words of Jesus, ‘Follow me’! Rabbis just didn’t invite tax collectors to become disciples. That was for the ‘holy’ ones who spent their lives studying and debating all the thorny issues of the Torah, not for tax collectors who spent their time fleecing the local inhabitants for their Roman overlords, and a bit for themselves on the side. Tax collectors definitely did not fit into that category.

What was Jesus thinking? After all, wasn’t He a rabbi with authority? He should have known that the place to go to look for disciples was not the lake where men fished for a living or the tax collector’s booth where “crooked” guys did the dirty work for the Romans. He should have gone for the “respectable” ones who didn’t dirty their hands with dead fish or money.

What Jesus did put a whole new slant on who was eligible to be a disciple. The “acceptable” ones were the ones who gave themselves to the study of the sacred writings. They were supported financially from the offerings of the people. The really shrewd ones got in with the Romans and were paid handsomely for keeping the people in check. It was a good life, particularly because they were held in honour by the common people.

Jesus broke the mould – He coloured in outside the lines. He chose people from the working class who had no qualification to be disciples. He chose a man of questionable character and reputation. Levi! Everyone in the neighbourhood knew where his wealth and his grand home came from. Imagine the contempt of the religious boffins when this motley crew trailed after Him.

What was Jesus doing? Firstly, He was making a bold statement. He was not looking for “worthy” ones but willing ones. He could work with them. Secondly, He was not looking for educated ones but for ignorant ones. He could teach them. Thirdly, He was looking not looking for the “righteous” who didn’t need Him.  He was looking for those who were lost and broken. He could make them new and then send them out with the message of mercy and grace to the rest of the world that was lost and broken.

Just as surprising as Jesus’ invitation was to a despised tax collector, so surprising was his response. It’s almost as though he were waiting for this moment. Nothing stopped him from walking away from his old life without looking back and joining the fishermen who were already attached to Jesus.

When we look at the situation from Jesus’ point of view, how could He be so sure that He was choosing the right guys? These men had to live with each other as well as with Him. How could a tax collector jell with fishermen? And there were still others who had to join the group. And they didn’t have a say about who was in and who was out. It was Jesus’ decision, not theirs. They had to put up with each other, like it or not.

Perhaps this was part of Jesus’ strategy. After all, these men were the beginnings of the church, and no one got to choose who would be part of the group of people who made up this new society. All colours, cultures, languages and ethnic groups would be blended together to become one in a mix that had no explanation outside of the grace of God.

Many people can’t even live together in harmony in their own families. How could this variegated group ever hope to live together as one big family? This was part of the miraculous outcome of the gospel – the “good news” that the kingdom of God was among them. It was through the gospel that people’s hearts and focus were changed from self-centredness and greed to selfless service and sacrifice. The Holy Spirit did that.

All the believers were together and had everything in common. They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need (Acts 2: 44-45).

Really! They did that? Amazing!

Scripture taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

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Do You Know You Are Sick?

Bible Study, , , ,

DO YOU KNOW YOU ARE SICK?

“After this He went out and saw a man at his work collecting taxes. Jesus said, ‘Come along with me.’ And he did — walked away from everything and went with Him.

“Levi gave a large dinner at his home for Jesus. Everybody was there, tax men and other disreputable characters as guests at the dinner. The Pharisees and their religion scholars came to His disciples greatly offended. ‘What is He doing eating and drinking with crooks and “sinners”?’ Jesus heard about it and spoke up, ‘Who needs a doctor; the healthy or the sick? I’m here inviting outsiders, not insiders — an invitation to a changed life, changed inside and out.'” Luke 5:27-31 (The Message).

Levi? A tax man? Jesus called him? And then Levi throws a party and invites all the scum from the underworld? And Jesus goes there?

What was He thinking? And then He actually eats with them? Isn’t that taking things a bit too far? Jesus was the God-man remember, and God was eating with them!

We are so used to reading the story that it doesn’t impact us like it impacted those religious men. How could this Jesus, who said He was God, whom Habakkuk said was of purer eyes than to look at evil, actually sit down and eat a meal with known “sinners” — people who habitually and deliberately broke the law and did nothing about it? They probably never went near the Temple, let alone offered a sacrifice to atone for their wickedness.

To share a meal with someone in that culture had great significance. You never ate with someone with whom you had issues. Eating a meal was a signal to everyone around that you were reconciled. God reconciled? To these people?

By celebrating with the “outsiders”, Jesus was making a profound statement. God and sinners were reconciled! But how could that be? Where was the sacrifice? He was there, with them, right before their eyes — the Lamb of God, slain from before the foundation of the world, taking away the sin of the world. The world? Yes.

These despised outcasts were just as much sons of God as the scribes and Pharisees who thought they had exclusive rights to God because of their “performance”. In Jesus’ story of the “prodigal son”, both sons were in the far country, the younger one in body and the older one in attitude. For the father, it was more difficult to win his older son back than the younger because he was so convinced that he was right.

Jesus not only taught but He showed that God is far less concerned about what people do as He is about who they are. On the basis of the atoning sacrifice of His Son, the Father receives whoever is willing to come home because they are sons and daughters — wayward yes, but nevertheless His children. “‘For in Him we live and move and have our being.’ As some of your poets have said, ‘We are His offspring.'” Acts 17:28 (NIV).

That was something the Pharisees could not understand because they based everything on their performance, especially what they did for public scrutiny. What was in their hearts was unseen and therefore irrelevant, so they thought.

Jesus’ little barb must have hit home because they had nothing more to say. ‘It’s the sick who need healing, not those who think they are well.’ The greatest of all tragedies was that they were blissfully unaware of how sick they really were. It’s those who think they are okay who need the healing the most.

It’s better to be honest than to be fooled. The riff-raff of society in Jesus’ day welcomed Him because they knew how sick they were. There was a connection because He responded to their honesty. He could not connect with the religious people because they had built a wall of pretence they were not willing to demolish and only they could break it down.

What about you? Draw near to God and He will draw near to you.