A Supper with Sinners

Well, a couple weeks ago now we heard about how Jesus began to call men to follow him, to be his disciples.

We heard about Peter and the miraculous catch of fish.

And today as we continue the story of Jesus, we're going to hear about someone that we might have thought unlikely to become a follower of Jesus.

We're in Luke chapter 5, and we're picking up the story in Luke chapter 5 verse 27.

Luke 5 · chapter mention Luke 5:27

After this, Jesus went out and saw a tax collector by the name of Levi sitting at his tax booth.

Follow me, Jesus said to him.

So Jesus is out and about, and he sees a tax collector.

And Luke tells us the name of this tax collector is Levi.

And Levi is there sitting at his tax booth.

We might wonder where all this took place.

Mark tells us in his gospel that the location of this encounter was near the lake, the Sea of Galilee.

It's possible that there was a tax booth right out at the lake, set up there in order to monitor the catches of the fishermen,

and to ensure that the taxes were paid on the fish.

Another possibility is that Jesus was at the lake, and he walked along until he entered one of the lakeside fishing villages,

perhaps Capernaum, and that Levi had his tax booth set up there in the little fishing village.

Another important question here is, who was Levi?

The Gospel of Mark says he was the son of Alphaeus.

We don't really know who Alphaeus was, so that doesn't really help us a whole lot.

But the Gospel of Matthew records the same account with the name Matthew used instead of Levi.

And so the traditional view held by Christians for centuries is that Levi, the son of Alphaeus, was Matthew.

This same tax collector became an apostle and later wrote the Gospel of Matthew.

Either he had two names, or perhaps Jesus gave him a name, Matthew, similar to how he gave the name Peter to Simon.

I'm just going to call him Levi this morning, since that's what Luke calls him here.

And finally, what was Levi doing?

Luke says Levi was a tax collector, sitting at his tax booth.

To fully appreciate what's about to happen next, it helps to understand a little about tax collectors back then in their culture.

Let's remember that Israel is under the control of the Roman Empire at this time.

And so with that comes a very different feeling when the tax bill comes due.

These taxes are not going towards your local schools or hospitals or community projects.

They're going to Rome to be used however the emperor decides.

They're going to Herod so that he can use them for his purposes, projects, whatever he wants to do with them.

Actually, it was a very complicated system.

In the northern part of Israel, Herod was the tetrarch of Galilee.

And he functioned as a sort of client ruler, such that there was no Roman governor in the region.

And Herod was obligated to pay taxes to Caesar, whatever the Romans asked for.

And Rome had set amounts on things.

There was the poll tax, which was collected annually on every adult male.

There was a land tax of 10% on grain harvests.

And 20% on wine, fruit, and olive oil.

There were customs and transportation taxes on all the goods and merchants and travelers of about 2% to 5%.

There was an inheritance tax of about 5%.

There was a sales tax on everything of 1%.

And those numbers might not sound too bad if you're thinking about our sales tax

or some of the numbers we have in Canada today.

But here's where it gets really ugly.

These were the amounts that Rome demanded from Herod.

And then what Herod and other Roman governors did was to add their own taxes on top of those.

And then they would go a step further and auction off the rights to collect taxes to the highest bidders.

So let's say that Herod was obligated to pay a million denarii, a million days' wages to Rome for his region.

He would look at that.

He would figure out how much he wanted for himself.

In addition to having to collect that amount, to add to his wealth, to build whatever projects or buildings or monuments he wanted to.

Of course, Herod's greed factored into this.

And so he might say, well, I'm going to aim to collect one and a half million denarii.

And so Herod would add his own taxes on top.

In Galilee, he put a 25% tax on all fishing since it was a big business in his region.

So you can imagine this.

Basically, one out of every four fish that you catch goes to the tax man.

And then this tax farming system worked like this.

Herod would essentially auction off the job of tax collector to the highest bidders.

Let's say that in a local district, the sort of minimum required by Herod to meet his goal was 200,000 denarii.

A guy might bid and say, well, I'll pay you 250,000 denarii to have the rights to collect in that district.

Then another guy might say, well, I think I can do better than that.

I'll bid 300,000.

And up and up it would go.

And the highest bidder would pay his bid in advance to Herod.

So Herod was guaranteed to get the money.

But then this tax collector was now let loose in that area and was able to collect as much as he could to cover his bid and make his own profits.

They could add on their own rates.

They could add on their own fees and surcharges and interest for late payments and penalties.

And they were backed by local authorities to do the collecting.

So if someone refused to pay, tax collectors could report them to Herod's officials.

And the officials had the power to seize property, to enforce fines, and even to imprison people.

So with this sort of a system, tax collection became a lucrative business for the wealthy few.

And the people ended up paying much more than the minimum percentages required by Rome and Herod.

Basically, these tax collectors, they would try to get as much as they could without causing backlash, without causing a revolt.

And as a result of this, tax collectors were utterly despised people.

They were thought of as robbers, bullies, swindlers, immoral scum.

Now with that context in mind, we can imagine the surprise that many would have had when Jesus saw this tax collector named Levi sitting in his booth and walks over to him.

Follow me, Jesus said to him.

And Levi got up, left everything, and followed Jesus.

Now a couple things about this exchange.

First of all, we need to understand what Jesus meant when he said, follow me.

This wasn't just a temporary, for the moment, invitation to come along.

That's often the way we use it when we use these words today.

Follow me, I'll take you there.

Or follow me, I'll show you.

But here, this imperative comes in the context of Jesus deliberately selecting men to be his followers, to travel around with him, to work with him.

This invitation is often spoken about by commentators in terms of a rabbi or teacher calling someone to be a full-time apprentice or pupil.

So that's what we should hear in Jesus' words.

When Jesus says, follow me, both Jesus and Levi know that this is an invitation not just to come with Jesus for the day, but to go with Jesus from now on.

And we can think over what Jesus has been doing.

He's been traveling all over the place.

He's been going town to town.

He's been going through the countryside.

He's making annual trips down to Jerusalem for the festivals.

We heard about how he gave the same call to Peter just before this, not too long before this.

And Peter and his brother Andrew and James and John, the fishermen.

For them, to follow Jesus meant leaving behind their daily, usual work.

Same here for Levi.

When it says that Levi got up, left everything and followed Jesus, it basically means that he's walking away from his job to follow Jesus.

You might be thinking, well, who's going to be sitting in the tax booth tomorrow?

Not Levi.

And notice the word everything.

He left everything and followed him.

The sense this gives us is that Levi was all in.

He wasn't planning to follow Jesus, you know, three days a week and then spend the other three at the tax booth, continuing to collect.

Another thought that I had about this exchange.

You know, it might seem strange to us to hear of Jesus just sort of walking up to Levi and saying, follow me.

And then Levi just leaving everything and following him.

Like, what's going on here?

Why did he do that?

Is this the first time they've met?

Now, I've never heard anyone say or suggest what I'm about to suggest, so take it with a grain of salt.

But it would seem to me that Levi, at the least, already knows who Jesus is.

It would seem that he understands what Jesus means when he says, follow me.

Remember that Jesus has been teaching in this region, all over the place.

News of Jesus has been spreading all over, even down as far as Jerusalem.

And if Levi is here by the lake, and Jesus has spent a fair bit of time out at the lake,

perhaps Levi knows a fair bit of what Jesus has been teaching.

He's been listening to it.

This is where the miracle catch happened recently with Peter.

Who knows?

Maybe Levi even had a professional interest in that haul of fish.

Maybe he was in charge of keeping tabs on the revenues of fishing in the area.

At the least, I think we can kind of see between the lines that Jesus is not a complete stranger to Levi in this moment.

Levi's been hearing things.

He's been seeing things.

He's probably heard a fair bit of Jesus' teaching.

And I would suggest that maybe, there's no way to know this for sure, but just maybe,

Levi was one of the tax collectors who responded to John the baptizer's preaching before Jesus began his public ministry.

If you recall back in Luke chapter 3, John was preaching a message of repentance,

Luke 3 · chapter mention

and that God's judgment is coming for the wicked and disobedient.

And some tax collectors were there, and they asked, well, what should we do?

If we're going to turn from our wicked ways, what should we do?

How does it apply to our profession?

And John told them not to collect any more than they were required to.

Could Levi have been one of those tax collectors?

Again, it doesn't say here, but it makes sense that something was going on in Levi's heart leading up to this moment of decision,

such that now he's just ready to leave everything behind and follow Jesus.

Imagine, if you can, what it might have been like to be Levi.

Levi, a hated individual, despised by most people.

You have the memories of all the ways that you've taken advantage of people through your career.

You maybe never allowed yourself to feel the full weight of the shame and guilt you should have felt

as you took advantage of people, as you watched them suffer at your very hands,

as you pressed them again and again and again for more and more money,

even threatening.

But then all of a sudden, God begins to work in your heart.

Perhaps, as I said, through the preaching of John the Baptizer,

and your attitude is beginning to change.

Your heart's beginning to wake up to all the ways that you've hurt people.

You're beginning to see why they despise you.

And you don't blame them.

And then suddenly this man, Jesus, comes to your town.

Everybody goes to the synagogue to hear him.

You don't even dare to try and go see him at the synagogue

because the people don't even let you come in the door there.

But out at the docks where the fishermen are working,

you see him.

There on the shore of the lake, you hear him preaching.

And the words that he speaks are beginning to soften your heart.

You hear him speaking about righteousness and about love

and about the heart that we should have towards God

and the heart that he has towards us.

And Jesus is not like the Pharisees and the teachers of the law

with their hypocrisy and pride.

And you hear of Jesus calling people to follow him.

And many are going around with him everywhere that he goes.

And most of them are the very people who hate you.

And maybe you wonder,

could I ever be a follower of Jesus?

Would he even accept me

with who I am?

A tax collector.

And with the things that I've done to people.

Can you imagine what this moment must have been like

when Jesus locked eyes with Levi

sitting in the tax booth.

And instead of doing in that moment

what everybody else did and quickly looking away,

he begins to walk

right toward you.

He sees you like nobody else

has ever seen you

while you're in that booth

as a human being.

He's actually coming to you

to initiate with you.

And maybe you wonder,

what's he going to say?

Is he going to rebuke me

for how I've wronged so many people?

And it's none of that.

He simply says,

follow me.

And you can hardly believe your ears.

Like, me?

You're calling me?

It doesn't say what Levi was thinking or feeling,

but I imagine two things.

First, a sense of deep unworthiness.

And second, a realization

that this is the most amazing

and gracious opportunity ever.

And I don't want to miss out on this

for anything.

Levi gets up,

leaves it all behind,

and follows Jesus.

Verse 29.

Then Levi held a great banquet

for Jesus at his house,

and a large crowd of tax collectors

and others were eating with them.

You get the sense that Levi was happy.

So happy to have been called by Jesus.

Like, we've got to celebrate.

Let's have a feast.

Let's throw a big banquet.

Let's do it at my house.

Jesus, you'll be the guest of honor.

I'm going to invite all my friends.

Who are the friends of the tax collector?

Other tax collectors

and other scoundrels

and sinners.

Luke says,

a large crowd of tax collectors

and others were eating with them.

Matthew and Mark

both say that it was

many tax collectors

and sinners.

And we'll see why they use that term

in a moment.

So the moral people,

the religious people,

they aren't even friends

with tax collectors like Levi.

But we also remember

that Levi was probably very wealthy.

and wealth attracts

all sorts of people.

Sinners was kind of a label

given to Levi

and his buddies

by the self-righteous Pharisees.

But there was also probably

some truth to that as well.

The kind of people

that would be friends

with a guy like Levi

were probably other greedy men

of means.

Swindlers.

Men and women

who were obviously immoral,

corrupt,

maybe collaborators,

traitors,

self-indulgent people,

given to drunkenness.

I mean,

the list could go on.

We notice

the adjectives.

Levi held a great banquet

and a large crowd

of tax collectors

and others

were eating with them.

So Levi doesn't just

kill the fattened calf,

he slaughters

half the herd.

He pulls out

all the stops,

a massive banquet,

massive feast.

And notice

who the banquet is for.

For Jesus.

To honor

and celebrate

Jesus.

And as you can imagine,

this kind of banquet

or party

is the last place

that some

would expect

Jesus to be.

Held by a tax collector

in his own mansion

with a large crowd

of other wealthy

tax collectors

and sinners,

would a holy man

like Jesus

even darken the door

of such a gathering?

Well,

he did.

And it was

met with criticism

from the Pharisees

and the teachers

and the teachers

of the law.

Verse 30.

But the Pharisees

and the teachers

of the law

who belong

to their sect

complained

to his disciples,

why do you eat

and drink

with tax collectors

and sinners?

In other words,

if you're a righteous

and holy,

devout man,

Jesus,

you would not

keep company

with immoral

and greedy men

like them.

But unbeknownst

to the Pharisees,

Levi's purpose

in this great feast

was noble.

It was a banquet

given for Jesus

to honor

and celebrate Jesus

who had just

called him

whom he has now

become a follower of.

The purpose

of this banquet

is not to engage

in gluttony

and drunkenness

nor is it to impress

all his wealthy friends.

It would seem

that Levi

is attempting

to bring his colleagues

and friends

together

so that they can

meet Jesus

personally.

To introduce them

to Jesus.

And there are

the Pharisees

and the teachers

of the law

sitting on the sidelines

judging Jesus

and his disciples

for even attending.

Because of who's

at the party.

Why do you eat

and drink

with tax collectors

and sinners?

Jesus answered them,

It is not the healthy

who need a doctor

but the sick.

What an answer.

These words of Jesus

are loaded.

we notice Jesus

likens himself

to a doctor.

This is an amazing

analogy.

I was thinking about

this a lot this week.

Have you ever been

to a walk-in clinic

in the city?

Sometimes if it's busy

you're waiting

in the waiting area

with all kinds of people

and you see

and you hear them

coughing all around you

and sniffling

and you know

you're starting to worry

am I going to catch

something from them?

And you're trying

to keep your distance

and maybe you know

are these arms

on my chair?

Who was sitting here last?

Did they wipe their snot

all over this?

And you start to kind of

you know

curl up in a ball.

But then you get in

to see the doctor

and if you've ever seen

a good doctor

he cares about you.

He listens to you.

He examines you carefully.

He tries to figure out

what's the matter?

What are your symptoms?

What's the solution?

And he offers

his best advice

and solutions.

And you feel better

and then you walk out

and you see all the people

still waiting

in the waiting area

coughing

and sniffling.

Have you ever wondered

in those moments

just how the doctor

how often the doctor

gets sick

just from meeting

face to face

with sick people

all day long?

Have you ever felt

admiration

for the doctor

whose job it is

to get close

to every other person

in that waiting room?

The same people

that you were

moving away from

curling up

shielding yourself from.

Isn't the doctor

worried about getting sick

too?

What about his health?

What about his well-being?

It's an amazing analogy.

It highlights

how Jesus

is not concerned

so much about himself

like the Pharisees

and the teachers

of the law.

His focus

is on others

and how he can help

them to get well.

He has compassion

on Levi's friends.

He cares about

each one of them

just like he cared

about Levi

the tax collector.

Like a doctor

Jesus moves

towards these people

who are spiritually

sick

in an effort

to see them

restored.

He wants to see

them made well

again

with God.

That's why

he goes to the banquet

because he loves

them

because he has

compassion on them.

He sees their need.

In fact

Jesus goes even

further in the next

statement

he says

this is his

very purpose

and mission

to call sinners

to repentance.

How can you do that

if you avoid

all contact

with them

and never

associate with them?

How can you do that

if you're always

trying to keep

your distance

from them?

And notice

what Jesus

the doctor does.

He says

I've come to

call the sick

the sinners

to repentance.

To repent

means to

acknowledge

and confess

your sins

to God

and to turn

away from

those sinful

attitudes and

behaviors

and to turn

to God

to seek to be

restored in

your relationship

with him.

So Jesus

doesn't condone

any of the

sinful attitudes

or behaviors

of the people

that he's

eating and

drinking

with at the

table.

He's there

to call

them to

repent.

He's there

to call

their evil

deeds and

attitudes what

they are

and turn

from those.

Turn back

to God.

Jesus

preached

repentance

just like

John the

Baptist,

John the

Baptizer

did.

This last

statement of

Jesus may

have had

some nuance

to it and

sometimes it

might be

difficult to

unpack it a

little bit.

I have not

come to

call the

righteous

but sinners

to repentance.

What does

Jesus mean by

this?

Is he

agreeing with

the Pharisees

and the

teachers of

the law

that yeah

they're

righteous and

they really

don't need

Jesus but

these sinners

well they

really need

me.

They're sick.

You guys

are well.

Well the

Pharisees they

certainly

thought of

themselves as

being

righteous.

We follow

the law

right down

to the

letter.

We're

experts in

the law.

We take

it seriously.

We take

it literally.

Not like

the Sadducees

and others.

And so

these words

are really

striking aren't

they?

I have not

come to

call the

righteous

to repentance.

Why not?

Is it

because they

don't need

to?

Or is

Jesus saying

something else

here?

I think

what Jesus

means to

say is

not that

they're

actually

righteous and

don't need

to repent.

We'll see

later on in

the gospel

Jesus has a

lot more

to say about

these people

and what

they've been

up to

that's not

righteous.

I think

what he's

saying is

that they

are self

righteous

because of

their

self

righteousness

they are

deaf to

his call.

They are

blind to

their need

for Jesus.

They won't

ever come

to see

Jesus the

doctor because

they don't

see themselves

as being

sick with

sin.

They see

themselves as

being well,

as being

healthy,

being right

with God

by their

own good

works,

by their

careful

keeping of

the law,

by their

own avoiding

contact with

sinners like

Levi and

his buddies.

This should

make us

think and

ask the

question,

what about

me?

How do

you see

yourself in

relationship

to Jesus?

Do you

see yourself

as healthy

or as

one who

is sick?

Jesus has

come as

a doctor.

Do you

need his

care?

Do you

need his

help?

Or are

you good

to go

without him?

Been doing

pretty good

on your

own.

Do you

see yourself

as a

sinner?

Or do

you see

yourself as

being

righteous?

A pretty

good person.

Do you

hear Jesus

calling to

you to

repent?

Have you

done that?

God makes

it very

clear in

other places

in his

word.

Romans

Romans 3 · chapter mention

chapter 3.

There is

no one

righteous,

not even

one.

There is

no one

who

understands,

there is

no one

who seeks

God.

All have

turned away.

They have

together

become

worthless.

There is

no one

who does

good,

not even

one.

sin.

That's

our

condition.

He goes

on to say

a little

more.

Therefore,

no one

will be

declared

righteous

in God's

sight by

the works

of the

law.

Rather,

through the

law,

we become

conscious

of our

sin.

sin.

And just

down the

page a

little in

Romans 3.

There's

no difference

between Jew

and Gentile,

for all

have sinned

and fall

short of

the glory

of God.

So we've

all blown

it.

Every one

of us

is a

sinner.

And no

amount of

good works

on our

part can

make up

the

difference.

Our

guiltiness

cannot

just be

undone.

It can't

be wiped

away by

simply doing

more good

things than

the bad

things that

we've done.

We've still

done those

bad things.

We've still

sinned in

countless ways.

All of us

have.

None of us

are righteous.

We are all

sinners.

But here's

the good

news.

Hear these

words of

Jesus again.

I have

not come

to call

the righteous

but sinners

to repentance.

Jesus has

come to

call us

back into

a restored

relationship

with God.

Do you

hear that

call to

repent?

He's like

the doctor

that we

all need

to save

us from

sin's

deadly

effects in

us.

Let me

read the

rest of

this verse.

For all

have sinned

and fall

short of

the glory

of God

and all

are justified

freely

by his

grace

through the

redemption

that came

by Christ

Jesus.

I love

these words.

We can

all

be justified

made right

with God

by his

grace.

his gift.

His gift.

It's a

gift that

comes

by Christ

Jesus.

It's a

redemption

that comes

through Christ

Jesus.

How does

it work

we might

wonder.

How can

sinners

be justified?

How can

we be

made to

have this

right standing

with God?

Paul just

goes on

and tells

us

God

presented

Christ

as a

sacrifice

of

atonement

through the shedding of his blood

to be received by faith.

The Apostle Paul is talking about Jesus' death on the cross.

As we'll hear later in Luke,

Jesus will go on to offer himself as a sacrifice to God

to atone for our sins.

What that means is that Jesus freely, as a gift of grace,

will put himself forward on our behalf

and willingly take upon himself

the punishment that we deserve for our sins.

And God will accept this as payment in full

such that justice is done for the wrongs we've committed

and we can be let off the hook completely,

forgiven, spared what we deserve.

This is what happened when Jesus died on the cross.

We're getting close to that time of the year

when we turn our hearts towards that

with Easter coming or Resurrection Sunday, I should say.

But each month also we take time to remember

this amazing gift of God's love and grace.

His body, which is what the loaf of bread represents,

was broken.

His blood, which is what the cup represents,

ran out of his body as he hung there

and died on the cross.

We eat the bread and we drink from the cup

to remember his sacrifice of atonement for us.

The thing that he did to make us sinners well.

And so if you have repented,

if you have believed in Jesus,

then I want to invite you to partake with us this morning.

And if not, please just let the elements pass you by.

We'll take some time now to quietly reflect and pray.

And then we'll have Charles and Dave come

and pass out the elements.

Once you've received them,

I encourage you just to hold on to them

until everybody's been served.

And then we'll give thanks

and we'll eat and drink together.