When Jesus Called Levi-Matthew Series

When Jesus Called Levi-Matthew, Luke 5

(This message is based on a sermon I preached at New Hope Baptist Church near Fulton, MO, on February 9, 2025 but is not an exact transcription.)

Introduction: The Lord Jesus Christ picked 12 men to be His followers. We know the occupations of four (James, John, Andrew, and Simon Peter) were fishermen, but except for one, we don’t know what the others did for a living. That other man was Matthew, or Levi, and he was probably one disciple different from the rest.

1 The meeting

Text: Luke 5:27-28, KJV: 27 And after these things he went forth, and saw a publican, named Levi, sitting at the receipt of custom: and he said unto him, Follow me. 28 And he left all, rose up, and followed him.

Luke says that “after these things”, namely the healing of the paralytic and a leper before this, Jesus “went forth, and saw a publican, named Levi” who was sitting “at the receipt of custom.” First, most if not all people resent paying taxes of any kind (that includes me, to be honest!) Of course, taxes do have a useful purpose such as paying for fire fighters, police officers, other first responders and so on. No disagreement there. But when money taken from citizens (or, subjects, as the case may be) is wasted on frivolous, corrupt, or otherwise less than honorable expenses, then we might well question what the government does with OUR money.

The people, through most of history, didn’t really have much of a say when it came to being taxed. In so many words the message was, “Pay us what we demand or we’ll take it from you by force.” A college friend once remembered sadly how a relative lost every square inch of the land his relative owned during the Great Depression of the 1930’s because the relative couldn’t pay the taxes. The land was sold at a foreclosure sale. Years after the fact, my friend felt sorrow for his relative, and who wouldn’t feel some compassion at least for those who had it so rough then.

Now here comes Jesus, heading straight for Levi (also called Matthew in Matthew’s gospel) at the “receipt of custom” or tax booth. Something similar might be the various toll booths on roads called “turnpikes”, like the West Virginia turnpike or the Kansas Turnpike between Topeka and Lawrence (https://biblehub.com/greek/5058.htm). After Jesus saw Levi, Luke used a word that seemed to not be used very often but meant someone made a definite gaze or would observe intently (per https://biblehub.com/greek/2300.htm). We could say that Jesus saw the total package, or the whole of Levi, and not just what was on the outside.

Nobody can say for sure what Levi might have been thinking when he saw Jesus walking up to his tax booth! Word had probably reached most of Capernaum how Simon Peter and the others who helped him what that miraculous catch of fish, but left all of it (boats, nets, fish, all!) at the lakeside. These fishermen had nothing, Jesus had nothing, but they’re still coming towards Matthew’s tax booth.

But the fishermen and Jesus didn’t come to pay. They had something very different in mind.

Jesus, I think, looked Levi straight in the eye and uttered two of the most life-changing words ever spoken: “Follow Me”.

And that’s exactly what Levi did. Luke says Levi “left all, rose up, and followed Him” We need to remember that publicans, tax-collectors, were not only hated, they were mostly rich. For Levi to walk away from a lucrative, profitable business (!) such as this—I’ve always had a hard time trying to figure it out. Even so, Levi did, and when he answered with his feet, to quote a radio Bible teacher I heard many years ago, his life was changed.

Forever!

But Levi knew something that some of us forget. Even though he had decided to follow Jesus, Levi knew there were a lot of others, just like him, who had not and did not.

How could he, one man, reach them? He decided to, as we might say, throw a farewell party!

2 The feasting

Text: Luke 5:29, KJV: 29 And Levi made him a great feast in his own house: and there was a great company of publicans and of others that sat down with them.

Anyone who’s thrown a party or organized a dinner for a large amount of guests knows there are a lot of things needed before this feast begins! From hints of other meals in the Gospels, it seems there was bread, maybe vegetables (a salad?), and finally the main meal which could be a roast, mutton, or any kind of meat from a clean animal. Of course there would be liquid refreshments and servants who would wash the feet of the arriving guests.