The Calling Of Levi Series

Levi was a rich person. He acquired much wealth as a tax collector. It was materialism that drove him into such an occupation. But Levi was also a broken and empty man. Like the Leper that was diseased, like the paralytic on the mat, Levi’s sin did not make him inaccessible to Jesus. And so, Jesus comes to him while he’s still sitting in his tax booth and invites Levi to follow him.

This is transformation. We don’t hear the story of Matthew’s faith. Jesus said, “Follow Me,” and he left everything behind and got up and began to follow Him. He became a follower of Jesus, the most wretched sinner in the eyes of that society. When Jesus called him, his response is immediate. Matthew Levi, traitor, extortioner, robber, outcast, crime boss, became the apostle and the evangelist of Jesus Christ who wrote the first gospel.

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Conversion comes only by the choice and calling of God. It is a gift of his grace, which may explain why people started to call this man Matthew, which means “gift of God.” This is what happens in salvation: God turns Levis into Matthews. But of course, Levi still needed to respond to God in repentance and faith, which he did, for Luke tells us that he left everything behind to follow Jesus. Levi had more to lose than most people, but like the other disciples, he left it all behind. He gave up the sinful structures that led to his financial advantage. Once he left, he could never go back. But this is what repentance requires: a definitive break with the old life of sin, no matter what the cost. We must let go of everything that stands in the way of going with Jesus.

The fact that Levi was called by Jesus to follow him would cause a dust-up of the church police. How could Jesus associate with such miserable, filthy people?

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And the Pharisees and their scribes grumbled at his disciples, saying, “Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?” 31 And Jesus answered them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. 32 I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance.” (Luke 5:30–32 ESV)

Notice that immediately the church police started grumbling. Their complaint was that they had friendly relationships with notorious sinners, eating at the same table, attending the same feast with them. The accusation came indirectly against Jesus, through His disciples. People often attack Jesus, in the same way, today, through His disciples.

They were concerned with externals. They were concerned with what people could see. They were moral, but they were not holy. They were the moral majority. But as somebody said, God's not looking for a moral majority. He's looking for a holy minority. “Jesus answers and said to them, ‘It is not those who are well who need a physician, but those who are sick.’” Very simple, obvious analogy: it is not those who are well or think they’re well; those who are sick who need a physician. Jesus came to save sinners from their sin and that is exactly what happened with Matthew.