Mark 2:13-17
(Use the link below to
read the verses.)
When
was the last time you ate with a bunch of “sinners”? Jesus’ ministry model was
to spend time with “sinners” that nice, religious people wouldn’t want to
associate with. Jesus looked at people differently.
In
Matthew 20, Jesus told the parable of the vineyard keeper who paid the men who
worked 1 hour the exact same wage as the men who worked 11 hours! It was an
illustration of what the Kingdom of Heaven is like. A friend of mine referred
to it as “shocking grace”. But that’s what grace is like; it’s shocking!
Tax
collectors were considered to be the scum of the earth by Pharisees and other
righteous Jews. They were thought of as traitors who turned on their own people
because they collected taxes on behalf of the Romans. Levi recognizes that he
is the recipient of shocking grace.
27 Later, as Jesus left the town, he saw a tax collector named
Levi sitting at his
tax collector’s booth. “Follow me and be my disciple,”
Jesus said to him. 28 So Levi got up, left everything, and
followed him. Luke 5:27-28 NLT
Following
the pattern of Peter, James and John, who left their fishing business to follow
Jesus, Levi left everything to become a disciple of Jesus. And Levi wanted his
friends, who also happened to be “sinners”, to hear about this shocking grace;
to meet Jesus face to face; to find out what it meant to be a disciple of Jesus.
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. Luke 5:29 NIV
How
can we duplicate Levi’s example? With whom has God brought into your life?
Placed on your heart? A co-worker or neighbor or friend or someone on the periphery
of church life? Jesus was always reaching out to sinners; and those sinners
reached out to their friends.
That’s
called discipleship.
That’s called “shocking grace”.
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