Luke 5:27-32--Jesus Calls Levi

Luke 5:27-32
English Standard Version

Jesus Calls Levi
27 After this he went out and saw a tax collector named Levi, sitting at the tax booth. And he said to him, “Follow me.” 28 And leaving everything, he rose and followed him.

​29 And Levi made him a great feast in his house, and there was a large company of tax collectors and others reclining at table with them. 30 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.”

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Levi is the Greek name for the person many of you know as Matthew.  As this passage, lets us know, he was a tax collector, meaning he was part of the most despicable classes of people in Jewish culture--not simply because people hate paying taxes, but because this was a Jew working for the Romans and collecting taxes and tribute for them, and the Romans encouraged their tax collectors to extort the people and collect more than what was required and pocket the rest for themselves.  Keeping with the theme of Luke so far showing that Jesus came to those who were outcasts and denied access to the Temple (they were considered to be unrepentant sinners if they would not stop and repay what was stolen and extorted--see the story of Zacchaeus in Luke 19).

So, Jesus again shows that He is choosing people and simply calling them to follow Him.  In doing so He also calls them to leave everything behind.  The call is something that both costs nothing and costs everything to respond to, just like it does today.  It is also a call that we are to respond to immediately.  Nowhere when we see Jesus call His disciples do we see them say, "Let me think about it for a few days and I'll get back to you."  A choice to wait is a choice that there is something more important in their lives and is a choice to say "No."  Jesus says as much in Luke 9 when Jesus talks about the cost of following Him.

Levi felt so blessed to be called to follow Jesus that he wanted to throw a party for Jesus and invite all of his friends (who were likewise all outcasts of Jewish society, since no one else would be seen with him), and to the Pharisee's surprise (remember, they are following Jesus around now and trying to dig up dirt on Him), Jesus actually accepted the invitation and went to a party with guests who were "sinners" and "tax collectors."

The Pharisees seem to not want to enter the party to ask Jesus what He was doing--instead they question the disciples (we'll see this as a pattern actually where the Pharisees try to make the disciples answer for Jesus).  But, once again, Jesus knows what is going on and even though they are trying to be secretive in their interrogation of the disciples, it is Jesus who answers them.  Once again, Jesus proves to them that He knows what they are saying and thinking/plotting.

Jesus gives them an answer that is both simple and profound.  He said that it is not the healthy that need to go to the doctor, but the sick.  He had not come for the righteous, but to call sinners to repentance.  In some ways, this might have made the Pharisees feel pretty good about themselves.  Clearly they must be the "righteous," people that Jesus was saying needed no repentance, right?  Wrong! We'll see later in Jesus' confrontations with the Pharisees that He will tell them that they are in need of repentance and just refuse to see it.  They think they are okay, and He's poking fun at them, but they probably don't realize it (though probably everyone else at the party did).  Jesus is commending these "sinners" for coming to the Great Physician for healing and condemning the Pharisees for not realizing that they also need to come to the Great Physician, for "there is none righteous, no not one."  They should already know this though from Psalm 14:1-3 and Psalm 53:1-3 (these psalms are nearly identical).  Jesus is the only one in the room who is righteous and "healthy" who doesn't need a doctor, but everyone else are the sinners that He is calling to repentance.