Week One/Day Two: Luke 5:27-32

LK 5:27 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. LK 5:29 Then Levi held a great banquet for Jesus at his house, and a large crowd of tax collectors and others were eating with them. [30] 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’?” LK 5:31 Jesus answered them, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. [32] I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.”

The first thing I want to say about this passage is I sure wish church growth was as easy for me as it was for Jesus! Jesus says, “follow me”, and Levi follows! (Come to think of it, marriage and parenting would be a whole lot easier as well.)

In an earlier blog I noted that it was Jesus’ custom to attend the synagogue every Sabbath (Luke 4:16), so it should be our custom as well to attend church every Lord’s Day. And I love Sundays! I love to go to church with other like-minded believers to worship God, explore the Bible, and encourage each other. But what about the other six days of the week?  

Jesus spent them seeking out the “sick”.

Levi was a “tax collector”. As Joel Green points out, tax collectors were seen as people who were “given to dishonesty and abuse of authority…persons of low status…(and)despised as snoops, corrupt, (and) the social equivalent of pimps and informants.”

Tax collectors were a group of people whom Jesus could never reach in a synagogue. Why? Tax collectors were excommunicated from Jewish religious life, because their profession was seen as traitorous. Levi was a social outcast in the eyes of the Romans and a religious outcast in the eyes of his own people. He was a “loser”. Yet Jesus spent the majority of his time seeking out these types of people.

What did Jesus see in Levi that others did not? I believe he saw the potential of what God’s grace could do in someones life. I think of so many people I know personally who have gone from “losers” to “players” in God’s kingdom:

•  Juvenile delinquents who are now Sunday School teachers
• Drug addicts who are now pastors
• Gang members who are now raising godly children
• Bartenders who are now serving “living water”

When Levi decided to follow Jesus he invited him over to his house to meet other “losers” and “sickos”. Why? So they also could connect with the physician who could make them well.

Bill Hybels has coined the term “Matthew Party”. This is where believers intentionally connect with non-believers in a non-threatening environment for the purpose of planting spiritual seeds. By simply inviting non-believing friends over  to social events you gain an opportunity to strike up a conversation about matters of faith. Examples of this would be…

• A barbecue in the back yard
• Golfing or fishing outings
• Holiday parties
• Graduation parties
• Shopping

While we have not officially excommunicated non-believers from our churches, we do so informally with our stares, dirty looks, and gossip. Many non-believers would not feel comfortable in a formal church setting, but if we can build a relationship with them outside of the church walls ,we gain an opportunity to introduce them to Jesus and bring them into the family.

Bill Hybels states, “…unconventional approaches that strategically mix the spiritual haves and the have-nots are not merely acceptable, they are essential to God’s redemptive efforts.”

One day to rock with the flock, and six days to run with the pack, equals the best week ever.