5: 27-32 As Jesus was leaving town, he saw Levi, a tax collector, sitting at his booth. He told Levi, “Follow me and be my disciple.” He got up, left everything and followed him. Levi demonstrated the commitment of a true disciple – leaving everything and having faith to walk with Jesus through life’s ups and downs. In this verse, Levi left physical things – he left his toll booth where he sat and collected taxes, thereby leaving any future financial gain from the business he operated.
When I first heard about people leaving everything to follow Christ, I had to wonder – does that mean that if I decided to follow Christ, I would have to give away all that I own and live on the streets in poverty doing some kind of missionary work? I learned that there were several people back when Jesus was living that did that. They left everything and followed Jesus. But what does that look like today?
To me, it looks like leaving my pride behind when I’m talking to others, or faced with a decision to make. It means not getting wrapped up in the material side of life, and depending upon the latest tech items to make me happy. My happiness now comes from learning about and walking with Jesus through life’s ups and downs, which honestly, brings more joy to me now than any material item I have previously purchased. It means learning to listen and having faith to follow that inner voice that always has my best interest at heart – and learning to discern (recognize) whether that inner voice is my pride and ego talking or God talking. It took quite a while to begin to recognize this difference, and is something I’m sure I will always be working on.
Levi later held a banquet at his home and invited Jesus as the guest of honor. Several of Levi’s friends and co-workers were in attendance and ate with them. The Pharisees and other religious leaders heard about this and complained to the disciples of Jesus saying, “Why do you eat and drink with such scum?” Tax collectors were considered ritually unclean by the Pharisees and other religious leaders. As such, they were socially off-limits to devout Jews. Although Levi was a fellow Jew, he was not liked by the Pharisees and other religious leaders because he worked for the Roman government.
Jesus answered, “healthy people don’t need a doctor – sick people do. I have come to call not those who think they are righteous, but those who know they are sinners and need to repent.” The Pharisees and other religious leaders are who Jesus was referring to when he said “those who think they are righteous,: and the tax collectors were who he referred to as sick and sinners. He did not mean that the Pharisees and other religious leaders were actually religious, just that that is how they saw themselves. Those whom the Pharisees and other religious leaders looked down upon as sinners, realized they were spiritually sick and they were looking for someone to walk with them and lead them towards repentance. Jesus had a very high regard for those who were sick and considered themselves sinners and who were looking for forgiveness.