Every Saint Has A Past And Every Sinner A Future Series

4. FRIENDS IN LOWLY PLACES (LUKE 5:27-32)

On his trip to Hawaii, a hungry Tony Campolo unwittingly made his way at 3:30 in the morning to a seedy part of town for a snack, to be surrounded by eight or nine prostitutes who had just taken the night off. He overheard a prostitute saying to her girlfriend, “Tomorrow is my birthday.” Her friend rebutted, “So what do you want from me? You want me to get you a cake and sing, 'Happy Birthday?'“ The birthday girl protested, “Why do you have to be so mean? I was just telling you, that's all. Why do you have to put me down? Why should you give me a birthday party now when I've never had a birthday party in my whole life?”

When the prostitutes left, Campolo decided to decorate the place the next night and give the birthday girl a surprise party with the help of the bartender, who happily chipped in the cake. The next day, the stunned girl was so taken back when the crowd sang a birthday song to her. She first refused to cut the cake, then asked if she could keep the cake a little longer, and finally, for some unknown reason, dashed home with the cake after promising to return with it later.

Campolo offered to say a prayer for the woman before the surprised crowd, and after prayer, the bartender remarked, “Hey! You never told me you were a preacher. What kind of church do you belong to?” Campolo replied, “I belong to a church that throws birthday parties for whores at 3:30 in the morning.” The bartender then sneered, “No you don't. There's no church like that. If there was, I'd join it.” (The Kingdom of God is a Party 3-8, Tony Campolo, Dallas: Word Publishing, 1990).

The story of Levi, whose other name was Matthew, was about a tax collector who contracted with the Roman government to collect taxes from fellow Jews, pocketed the gain for himself, and was excluded from any form of community life, restricted to social life with peers within his profession, and often shunned and hated by countrymen, neighbors, and even relatives. His transformation occurred when he met Jesus Christ, later becoming an apostle and writing the first and longest book of the New Testament. When Levi excitedly gathered his colleagues for a feast with Jesus, the Pharisees and the teachers of the law were offended and scandalized by Jesus’ association with Levi and others like him and posed this question to the disciples, “Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?”

Does a man’s past doom him to his future? Is repentance and change possible for a sinner? Is salvation a momentary experience or an abiding decision?

Let Jesus Deliver You from Condemnation

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, 28 and Levi got up, left everything and followed him. (Luke 5:27-28)

Jesus set out to look for Levi. After Jesus had called Simon, James and John (Luke 5:10), he saw Levi the tax collector sitting by himself, stopped by his booth, and commanded him with a Greek imperative: “Follow me.” In all gospels where Levi’s calling was mentioned, Jesus used the forceful imperative: “Follow Me” (Matt 9:9, Mark 2:14). Following Jesus means He is at the front and you are at the back, He is at the top and center and you are bottom down, and He must increase and you must decrease.

What was amazing about Jesus’ call to Levi was that Matthew, Mark, and Luke (Matt 9:9, Mark 2:14) all recorded Jesus’ two brief words to Levi in the gospels with equal passion, in the same way and at the exact length. Only Peter (John 21:19) and Philip (Jn 1:43) were given the same directive and command in Greek, but their response was captured just once in one of the gospels, not three. Nothing was special about the conversion or calling of Peter and Philip, because they were ordinary people, with normal jobs and regular pay. Remarkably, the three gospels recorded, covered, and highlighted Jesus’ outreach to the most tainted member of the apostolic band, Levi the tax-collector, the running dog, the social leper, and the national outcast. And it was a rare, intentional, and meaningful recording. The news of Jesus’ reception of another apostle or citizen’s conversion did not quite grab the headlines like that of sinner Levi. Not like this, before this, or after this. Jesus’ evangelistic target, his success and turnaround were the toast of the gospels, the talk of town, and the task of all tasks.

Jesus “saw” Levi (Luke 5:27) the same way and word to describe his looking at John and Andrew (Jn 1:38), the 5,000 he fed (John 6:5), or the woman the scribes and Pharisees incited the crowd to stone (Jn 8:10). Jesus did not consider him any different from others who needed salvation, forgiveness, or hope. Levi was wretched, misguided, and desperate, a demonized, a reviled, and an unloving, unlovable and unloved man, but Jesus spotted him, sought him, and saved Levi. Unlike other apostles such as Andrew and Peter (John 1:40), Philip and Nathaniel (John 1:43-45), John and James (Luke 5:10), who followed Jesus in pairs or group, Levi lived a life of painful and lonely existence. Previously, Levi sat by himself, kept to himself, and lived for himself. So Levi appreciated the visit, the opportunity, and the challenge to start all over again. The Greek word used for “leave” (v 28) is not aphiemi or “to leave,” but kataleipo or “to leave behind,” saying goodbye, bidding farewell and leaving behind the past, no turning back or U-turn, not turn for the worse. He is the only person to “leave all” in the Bible.