Readings for today: Matthew 8:1-14, 9:1-17, 12:1-21, Mark 1:40-45, Mark 2:1-3:21, Luke 5:12-39, 6:1-19
One of the things that always strikes me about Jesus is how much hurting, broken people love Him. He was the kind of person who seemed to love hanging out with the wrong kind of crowd. Prostitutes. Tax collectors. Lepers. Sick and diseased. He hung out with the sexually immoral. The politically corrupt. The outcast from society. The ritually unclean. He loved these people. He met them right where life found them and lifted them up. When challenged by the religious elite to explain his actions, Jesus gives a profoundly missional response…
”Those who are well have no need of a physician but those who are sick. I have not come to call the righteous to repentance but sinners.” (Luke 5:31-32)
Levi is sitting in his tax booth. Most likely alone as tax collectors were some of the most hated people at the time. They were seen as traitors to their nation. Collaborators with Rome. Men who profited off the exploitation of their own people. Most people would have given Levi a wide berth. They would have avoided him like the plague. Jesus does not. Jesus marches right up to him and says, “Follow Me.” I cannot begin to fathom the reaction of the other disciples. Especially Simon the Zealot. Before Simon became a follower of Jesus, he belonged to a group of people who literally would knife guys like Levi in the streets. He had dedicated his entire life to the eradication of such traitors to Israel. Now they would become brothers.
It’s a stunning invitation. One that Levi embraces. Not only that but he wants all his friends and colleagues to know why he’s left his tax booth. Why he’s put aside his wealth and power to follow an itinerant preacher. Why he’s given up his sinful ways. So he throws a feast. It’s a motley group of people to say the least. Tax collectors. Sinners. The dregs of society. Jesus loves it. He reclines at table with them meaning He is making Himself one with them in a sense. Sharing a meal in that culture at that time was incredibly significant. It meant identifying with those who ate with which is why the Pharisees go nuts. They can’t believe a rabbi of Jesus’ stature would lower Himself in such a way.
They simply don’t understand Jesus. And frankly, many Christians today don’t understand Jesus either. Philippians 2:5-11 tells us Jesus emptied Himself in order to become one with us. Emptied Himself of all His divine glory and power to become utterly dependent on His Father. He emptied Himself to become a human being. He emptied Himself further to become a servant of humanity. He emptied Himself completely by dying on a cross for humanity. This kenosis or “divine emptying” remains one of the most glorious yet mysterious aspects of the gospel. And it is the source of our salvation.
So let me ask you a question…how are you emptying yourself in order to follow Jesus? What are you relinquishing? What are you sacrificing? What are you giving up? Do you find yourself more at home with sinners or do you only relate to saints? Do you find your heart broken for the outcasts and marginalized in our society or do you mainly spend time with those who look like you? Act like you? Spend money like you? Would you have gone to Levi’s feast or would you have grumbled like the Pharisees? Are you willing to risk your reputation to build relationships with those who do not believe so that they might find salvation?
Readings for tomorrow: Matthew 5-7, Luke 6:20-49, 11:1-13