Sinners and the Son of God

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, and Levi got up, left everything and followed him. Then Levi held a great banquet for Jesus at his house, and a large crowd of tax collectors and others were eating with them. But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law who belonged to their sect complained to his disciples, “Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?” Jesus answered them, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.”

Let’s pray.

We wonder, “What would Jesus want to do with someone broken like me—someone corrupt like me?”

But here we see something amazing.

Jesus went out and saw a tax collector.

Isn’t that something?

Here is the king of the cosmos.

He is perfection.

He is holiness.

His majesty is beyond our comprehension.

Yet, instead of feeling holier than thou, or being inaccessible, he’s the opposite.

Jesus goes to those whom you would think would never meet him.

Jesus went out to meet with Levi. Some have identified him as the Apostle Matthew.

Levi was a tax collector, also known as a publican back in the day.

Tax collectors did not have a good reputation.

They were not like tax collectors of nowadays.

Don’t think of a person who helps you with your taxes in the coming months.

No, tax collectors had a bad rep.

Some of the attacks they received were warranted.

Tax collectors exploited the poor.

Tax collectors were corrupt.

You see, the Roman government had set up tax collectors around the land.

The government would require the tax collectors to round up a certain amount of money depending on the population of the land.

And whatever extra the tax collectors would charge, that would be their profit.

The tax collectors had to fulfill a certain quota, and whatever extra they gathered would be theirs.

So, if tax collector had to collect, say, 1 million dollars, and he told the people that they needed to pay 2 million for taxes, and then the tax collector just made 1 million dollars for himself.

They were scam artists.

They profited on lying and overtaxing fellow countrymen. And they worked for the oppressive rule of Rome.

So, of course, they would have a bad reputation.

Of course people would despise and even hate Levi. You might say, that people believed Levi was unforgivable and a traitor to the people of Israel.

But yet, Jesus sought out Levi.

Jesus went out of his way to meet someone who was corrupt.

We might be reading this and think, no Jesus this is bad for your Public image.

Continue healing, but don’t go to people who are corrupt.

Yet, Jesus did not only go to people who were corrupt, but he called people who were corrupt.

Jesus went to the tax collector booth, looked at Levi, someone who was viewed as corrupt, dishonest, and someone who abuses authority,

Jesus intently looked at him and told him, “Follow me.”

This is the call that we all have to answer. And sometimes it’s quick and sometimes it’s a journey.

But we all have seen Jesus, the Son of God, through the Scriptures.

And he makes the call to us broken people.

He says, “Follow me.”

And there are many people who choose not to follow Jesus.

But in our story, Levi decided to follow Jesus.

This person who was corrupt—Levi, he knew that he couldn’t give up an opportunity to follow this teacher named Jesus.

In fact, Levi left everything.

Levi was sitting as a tax collector, but then he stood up as a follower of Jesus.

He left his corrupt way of living to follow the Son of God.

It is important to note how Levi responded.

Levi did not make a spoken confession of faith in Jesus, as many churches and nominal or so called Christians solely do.

It’s important to confess one’s faith,

But note that the response of Levi was an obedient deed.

Jesus told Levi to follow him, and Levi followed him.

And today Jesus makes a similar call to us.

Yes you believe that Jesus is the Son of God, but will you follow him?

Will you?

The response from the scam artist is admirable.

To leave everything for a rabbi sounds crazy.

But there’s something about Jesus.

Something marvelous about him.

That sometimes, it doesn’t matter what you got going on, you’re just going to leave everything to be with him, to follow him.

It doesn’t matter where Jesus takes you, you just want to be with him.

Jesus is enough to inspire a tax collector to leave his evil doings.

You could tell Levi was so happy that he had met Jesus.

He threw a feast, a party for Jesus.

And instead of immediately cutting off his old friends, Levi invited his tax collector friends and others to his house so that they could meet Jesus.

This was a group of the worst.

And here we have Jesus at a party with the worst, eating with them.

The holiest of holies was with lowest of the low.

Jesus partied with them.

Jesus ate with them.

Not only does Jesus meet with people who are corrupt, not only does he call them to follow him, but Jesus eats with them.

Remember back to when we were talking about the kingdom and hospitality, eating was a way, and it could still be a way, where you show value to a person.

It transcended the hierarchical and social boundaries. Eating together communicated that we are socially equal.

When you eat with someone, this was especially true in Jesus’ day, when you ate with someone, you’re telling them that they are worth your time and your affirming their dignity.

It would’ve spoken volumes to Levi and his friends that the Son of God ate with them.

Levi and his friends were demonized, and here is Jesus, eating with them, showing them love and care. Showing that he didn’t think he was too good to hang out with them.

Jesus could’ve talked about showing kindness to the marginalized—he was a master teacher,

but Jesus didn’t just teach about it, he did it. He ate with the corrupt.

Jesus unified himself to these people who were unrepentant, unclean.

This is crazy.

It would’ve been crazy enough to hear about a rabbi eating with criminals.

But here, we have the Son of God eating with sinners—sinners who had broken the guidelines of God.

Of course, this would cause some sort of uproar, especially with the leaders of the cultures, the “gatekeepers”.

We haven’t spoken about these characters, but they have appeared within the book of Luke already.

They are known as pharisees and teachers of the law.

And to be honest, if we grew up during Jesus’ time, we would be under these teachers and follow them.

Pharisees were expecting the Messiah but didn’t like that Jesus was the Messiah.

They didn’t like how Jesus was the Messiah.

They didn’t like how the Messiah, how Jesus was eating and drinking with tax collectors and sinners.

Sinners and tax collectors, in the perspective of the Pharisees, were outside the boundaries, beyond the margins. Too far from God.

The Messiah shouldn’t be eating with sinners and tax collectors.

No, the Messiah should be eating and drinking with them, the religious leader and those who are allegedly pious.

But Jesus didn't care what the religious leaders said.

Instead, he cared more about spending time with sinners. He cared about proclaiming the good news to the poor, the tax collector, and the sinner.

Jesus didn’t care about people saying that he was guilty by association just by eating and drinking with sinners.

I wonder,

If Jesus was physically present with us, would he care about what the religious church leaders are saying?

Or would he spend time caring about those who are corrupt and broken?

The early church believed that Jesus would care for sinners; thus, the early church was known for how inclusive it was at its table of fellowship.

As D. L. Bock wrote,

New Dictionary of Biblical Theology Key Themes

The people of God are called to reach out to those who previously were thought to be excluded from the hope of salvation (Luke 3:8–14; 5:32; Acts 3:19; 5:31; 26:18)

It really puts things into perspective.

It’s interesting to see that Jesus got out of his way to meet those whom people thought were outside the boundaries of companionship.

Jesus wants to include those who have been excluded.

But why does Jesus do this?

Why does Jesus eat with tax collectors and sinners?

Why does he drink with them?

Jesus said, the healthy have no need for a physician but the ill do.

That’s true

We typically don’t go to the doctors unless we are sick.

We have doctors because people have sicknesses.

If everyone was healthy, there would be no need for doctors.

But there are sick people, and that’s why we have doctors.

And how ridiculous would it sound if a doctor never went to those who are sick, if a doctor only went to those who were healthy.

That’s ridiculous

In Jesus’ case, he came, not to the righteous, but to the sinners.

If everyone was righteous and perfect, just like we would have no need for doctors, we would have no need for the savior of the world.

We would have no need for Jesus.

But the fact is that sin corrupts the hearts of people.

And that is why Jesus has come.

He has not come to those who have it all together, or rather, who appear to have it all together.

It would be ridiculous if Jesus only stayed with those who had whole hearts. There no need for Jesus to heal the brokenhearted there.

But the reality is that Jesus came to heal the hearts that have been corrupted by sin, to change the lives of the broken.

Sinners are the special targets of the gospel.

That is why Jesus came to this earth.

Cyril of Alexandria wrote on the interaction between Jesus and the Pharisees,

New Testament III: Luke Envy and Fault Finding Motivate the Pharisees

But for what reason do the Pharisees blame the Savior for eating with sinners? Because it was the law to distinguish between the holy and the profane, that is, holy things were not to be brought into contact with things profane. They made the accusation therefore as if they were vindicating the law. Yet it really was envy against the Lord and readiness to find fault. But he shows them that he is present now, not as a judge but as a physician. He performs a proper function of the physician’s office, being in the company of those in need to be healed.

Jesus came to be with sinners, to love them and to heal their hearts.

Jesus said that he calls sinners to repentance.

Jesus saw Levi, approached him, and ate with him.

And while Jesus was always Jesus, Levi began to change.

That’s what repentance is.

Levi was no longer going to exploit people.

He realized that he cannot follow his greed and follow Christ at the same time, so he turned away from greed and riches to follow Jesus.

Jesus removed the mark the devil had left.

Cyril of Alexandria said,

New Testament III: Luke Levi the Publican Called to Follow Jesus

Levi was a publican, a man greedy for dirty money, filled with an uncontrolled desire to possess, careless of justice in his eagerness to have what did not belong to him. Such was the character of the publicans. Yet he was snatched from the workshop of sin itself and saved when there was no hope for him, at the call of Christ the Savior of us all. For Jesus said to him, “ ‘Follow me.’ And he left all and followed him.” What most wise Paul says is true: “that Christ came to save sinners.” Do you see how the only-begotten Word of God, having taken upon him the flesh, transferred to himself the devil’s goods?

Jesus himself came to set free people who belonged to satan.

He came to heal not only those who have been sick physically, but also those who are sick spiritually, sick because of the serpent’s poison.

And Jesus, he welcomes you as you are, he takes you in as a doctor, but he won’t leave you where, or as you are.

And this is a good thing. Imagine if a doctor left you as you are.

She welcomed you, talked about your problem, and nothing changes in you. That would be a bad experience.

And Jesus is not a bad physician.

I think we need to be honest with ourselves.

There are some horrible stuff within us.

And God needs to clean that.

Today, know this:

Jesus has come to this world not to save the perfect, but to save the imperfect.

And let’s all be honest, we are all the imperfect.

We are the broken.

We act out on greed, on self.

This has happened since the very beginning with the first humans.

But Jesus has come to this world for you.

To heal you.

His healing is not just physical but it’s also spiritual.

And he wants to heal you so much so that he came to world.

In fact, as C.S Lewis has said,

“When He died in the Wounded World He died not for men, but for each man. If each man had been the only man made, He would have done no less.”

If you were the only one in this world, Jesus would come to this earth and die for you, because he so loves you.

He cares about you.

He wants to eat with you.

And I think the best response to his love is to repent, just like Levi did.

Leave all the old things behind, and follow him.

I pray that you would do that.

I pray that you would know Jesus and his loving power.

I pray that you would see that Jesus wants you as part of his community.

I pray that you would recognize that you are broken and in need of healing, but I also pray that you may recognize and go to the one who has come to heal the brokenhearted.

Come to Jesus just as you are.

He accepts you, as you are.

The Pharisees they don’t accept you as you are.

The Pharisees say, “You must repent first and then be accepted in the kingdom and into kingdom fellowship.”

Jesus, however, was saying, as E. P. Sanders wrote… Jesus’ fundamental message was,

“You are accepted. Now repent and believe.”

Jesus accepts you.

And He forgives you.

There’s a story of this man who was very sad because he believed that he could never receive forgiveness.

But one morning, he went to church.

And there was this old sea captain who was praying with such a great passion.

The man thought that he had seen the captain somewhere before.

When the captain stopped praying, the man recognized and said to himself, “This is the captain who I heard cursing up a storm. I have never heard a man swear as he did, and now, I have never head a man pray as he did.”

And the man concluded, “If God can save a man like the captain, who was a great sinner, I am sure he can save me, a person who has also sinned.”

We have seen Levi receive salvation, receive freedom.

He was a tax collector.

He was a lier.

He was a scam artist.

He profited from his dishonesty and abuse of authority.

But

If God can save someone like him, he can save someone like you.

You can follow Jesus and experience freedom.

Give your life to Jesus.

When you go to the doctors, you put your life in the hands of the doctors.

Likewise, put your life in the hands of Jesus.

It’s not too late.

It’s never too late.

If you are alive today, you can approach God’s mercy and healing power.

Pray

After the death of Jesus, something the church did to express their allegiance to Jesus was that they were baptized. Please let me know or anyone know here at the church that you would like to be baptized.

And those who are baptized, consider how you representing Christ. Are you representing Christ to all, or just a select few?

We believe as a church that we are called to follow Christ’s example, so I pray that you would follow Christ’s example on how we fulfill our mission. That we would eat and love sinners.

Think of the marginalized, maybe those who have been marginalized by the church, and eat with them, love them this week.

Follow Levi’s example.

Be like Levi, who invited his friends, after he met Jesus, to show them the love of Jesus.

I pray that you might go in peace.