“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. So Levi (Matthew) got up, left everything, and followed Him.” (Luke 5:27-29)
Matthew knew his society well. He understood the cost of following Jesus. He would completely lose his business. Unemployed would be his new title. Other disciples could return to fishing, but not Matthew. The Romans would never receive him again if he walked away from the tax collector’s booth. The Jews would never receive him because of what he did for the Romans in their eyes as a traitor to his own people. The decision to follow Jesus would bring his career and his livelihood to an end. He would abandon everything to follow Jesus. Yet, he chose to follow Jesus anyway.
He lived with the rejection of his own people. By following Jesus, he received the rejection of the Jewish religious leaders. He would eventually see that his decision would lead to his own death. Yet, he followed Jesus anyway.
The only ones with whom Matthew could have fellowship were fellow tax collectors and the “scum” of the Jewish society. Those are the ones he invited to his house to dine with Jesus. The “tax collectors and sinners” (Matthew 5:29) were those who by vocation, morality, and life choices were rejected by the society of God’s chosen people. Rather than being received with mercy and grace to be restored and taught the ways of God, they were rejected, cast out of fellowship (out of the synagogue), and declared unclean.
These are the ones Matthew identified with. By doing so, he identified with the One who was despised and rejected of men. He chose to follow Jesus.
It is very possible that Matthew began his journey with Jesus as a social outcast even among Jesus’ disciples. He and Simon the Zealot just did not fit in. They were on the outside, on the fringes of the movement. But Jesus saw something in Matthew, and Matthew chose to follow Jesus despite any rejection he would continue to endure.
The Pharisees and religious leaders, always looking for something to criticize and a way to condemn Jesus and exalt themselves, questioned Jesus, “Why do you eat and drink with such scum?”(Luke 5:30).
Jesus answered them, “Healthy people don’t need a doctor—sick people do” (Luke 5:31).
Jesus is making this very clear: It would be absurd for a doctor to treat the healthy and refuse to treat the sick. It would be likewise absurd for Jesus to not help, heal, and set free the broken and the hopeless!
His answer to the Pharisees spoke this truth but also slapped them in the face:
“I have come to call not those who think they are righteous, but those who know they are sinners and need to repent.” (Luke 5:31).
Let me quote this again with some emphasis:
“I have come to call not those who THINK they are righteous, but those who KNOW they are sinners and need to repent.”
The Pharisees thought they were righteous. They were wrong. The so-called “scum” knew they were sinners, so Jesus invited them to His table. This begs us to question: Who do we fellowship with? Those who think they are righteous, or those who know they need Jesus?
A deeper question is this: Am I one who thinks I am righteous or one who knows I need Jesus?
When Jesus called Matthew, Matthew left everything to follow Jesus, but he carried with him one tool from his former life – his pen. God put that skill to work, calling and anointing Matthew to write his gospel.
Matthew was not just called and anointed to write a gospel record of the story of Jesus. He was called and anointed to write his gospel to the very people who had rejected him and cast him out. Despite suffering the hatred, rejection, and ridicule of his own people, he wrote his gospel to those very people so that they could see what he saw and clearly understood – that Jesus is the Light of the World, the hope the Jews had been yearning for.
When you come to Christ, your sins are washed away and the Lordship of your life changes radically. Someone else is seated on the throne of your heart. But God does not throw away the talents he gave you in your mother’s womb or the abilities you have developed in your life. Rather, He uses them for His own glory. Matthew left the tax collector’s booth but he took his pen, and his pen is still inspiring us today.
What is in your life waiting for God to receive into his hands and use for His eternal purpose, and for His glory?
Jesus saw a tax collector named Matthew sitting at his tax collector’s booth and said, “Follow Me and be My disciple.” So Matthew got up, left everything, and followed Jesus.
I pray that we will all do the same.
