Great Feast Wrong Crowd
Luke 5:27-32 NKJ
27 After these things He went out and saw a tax collector named Levi, sitting at the tax office. And He said to him, “Follow Me.” 28 So he left all, rose up, and followed Him.
29 Then Levi gave Him a great feast in his own house. And there were a great number of tax collectors and others who sat down with them. 30 And their scribes and the Pharisees complained against His disciples, saying, “Why do You eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?”
31 Jesus answered and said to 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 refers to the tax collector Matthew by the name Levi. Some biblical scholars believe that Matthew may have had two names. Or Matthew represented the new man and Levi the old. Some believe there may have been two different people that Luke was referring to. In any case, Levi was a tax collector, and it sounds as if he was a wealthy one. He was able to give a great feast in his own house. You don’t give great feasts without the funds to pull it off. And you don’t have a great number of tax collectors, and sinners come if you don’t have room for them.
The event was large enough to capture the attention of the Pharisees and scribes. The religious leaders were not complaining about the feast, just who was attending and why would Jesus and His disciples eat with sinners and tax collectors. Remember, the tax collectors worked for the Romans and collected taxes from their fellow Jews. Many times, these guys would present a higher-than-required tax bill, give Rome what they required, and pocket the difference. Tax collectors were often wealthy and often at their neighbors' expense. So as a group, to say they were not appreciated would be an understatement. And of course, the sinners were those living on the outside of Jewish society. These were another group that was despised by the scribes and Pharisees.
That was their question, or more accurately, their accusation against Jesus. Why are you eating and drinking with tax collectors and sinners? I don’t think they were really looking for an answer, but Jesus gave them one anyway. Jesus told them that these were the people He was trying to reach. The ones that religion rejected. The ones far away from God. The ones that had genuine needs. The sad thing was that the very ones asking this question of Jesus were the ones in need of God. Their adherence to their religious form had caused them to be in bad shape spiritually and in need of help. It seemed as if the tax collectors and sinners were more willing to admit their spiritual deficiency.
Application
We always have to be careful to remember where we came from spiritually. I have observed that too often we forget how we were before we came to Christ. In the church world, if we are not diligent, we can want to separate ourselves from the very people who need Jesus the most. We should not forget that many of us were “those people.”
I believe it is part of my job as a pastor to keep before the church that reaching the lost, and those who have fallen away are a big part of our reason for having church. Church is not a place to promote perfect people, but rather a place where forgiven people rejoice as we remember what Jesus has done for us. None of us did the Lord a favor by receiving Him. We are the grateful recipients of God’s great mercy and love.
Prayer
Thank You, Lord, for Your gift of salvation to me when I did not earn or deserve it. Thank You for coming for mankind when we were still sinners. May I always be appreciative of Your great love and represent You as one of Your ambassadors of grace.