Calling The Unlikely

Opening illustration: Health clubs offer many different programs for those who want to lose weight and stay healthy. One fitness center caters only to those who want to lose at least 50 pounds and develop a healthy lifestyle. One member says that she quit her previous fitness club because she felt the slim and fit people were staring at her and judging her out-of-shape body. She now works out 5 days a week and is achieving healthy weight loss in a positive and welcoming environment. [Marvin Williams, ODB, 03/31]

Introduction: Two thousand years ago, Jesus came to call the spiritually unfit to follow Him. Levi was one such person. Jesus saw him sitting in his tax collector’s booth and said, “Follow me” (Mark 2:14). His words captured Levi’s heart, and he followed Jesus. Tax collectors were often greedy and dishonest in their dealings and were considered religiously unclean. When the religious leaders saw Jesus having dinner at Levi’s house with other tax collectors, they asked, “Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?” (2:16). Jesus replied, “I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners” (2:17).

Have you ever wondered if you were good enough for God? There are a lot of people who stay away from God because they figure they are just not good enough for him. And if you are thinking in terms of performance, you are absolutely right. God is perfect. God is holy. None of us measures up to his standards. We all sin and fall short of God’s glory.

But Jesus came to save sinners, which includes all of us. He loves us, welcomes us into His presence, and calls us to follow Him. As we walk with Him, we grow more and more spiritually fit.

Who and Why did Jesus call?

1. Called the UNLIKELY (vs. 13-14)

In the Old Testament, God had given the Promised Land to his people, the Israelites. He told them if they obeyed him, they would prosper and be blessed. But if they disobeyed him, they would be judged and cursed. As it happened, their history was largely one of disobedience and judgment. God judged them by placing them under foreign nations as he had promised. In Jesus’ day, that foreign rule was the Roman Empire. And as all foreign occupations in the Ancient Near East, they wanted some sort of tribute from the conquered peoples under them. The Romans did this through taxes.

The Romans would hire Jewish tax collectors, and would actually give the tax collection rights for a district to the highest bidder. This tax collector would pay the taxes to Rome in advance, and would make his living bringing in the tolls and customs for the area. As you can probably imagine, this system gave a lot of opportunity for dishonesty, abuse, and fraud. As someone traveled through the district, the tax collector had the authority to stop him, assess the value of the goods, and demand what he deemed to be an appropriate portion.

Tax collectors were some of the most despised people in Jesus’ day. They were despised by the religious leaders because their dishonesty meant that they disregarded the Law of God, even though they were Jews. Some people placed them in the same category as robbers, and rabbis of Jesus’ day considered any house entered by a tax collector to be unclean.

But apart from their dishonesty, commoners would despise tax collectors because they were seen as working for the enemy. They were agents of Rome, and every time they demanded a toll or customs tax it was a painful reminder to their Jewish brothers that they had been conquered by a foreign power. Certain people known as zealots considered such submission to the Roman authority to be an act of treason toward God. It is not insignificant that Jesus would call both Levi and Simon the zealot as two of his twelve disciples. Needless to say, tax collectors were despised by the Jewish people, and this is the situation of Levi.

But Levi seems to be even more of an unlikely candidate for a disciple at first glance than the other four men. You can respect fishermen as hard workers making a living. But Levi probably has set up his tax booth beside the sea so that he can collect money both from people on the road and in boats. He has a different position in society than the fishermen; he’s the one getting rich off of all the hard-working people toiling in their trades. And in that sense he may have had more to leave behind when he followed Jesus: his job was secure, and prosperous, and he had guaranteed income. But he responds in the same way as the other four we have seen called. Mark tells us that “he rose and followed him.” Here again we see a picture of discipleship. Discipleship is following Jesus by faith.