September 17, 2017 · Luke 5:27–32

Where You're At

After this, Jesus went out and saw a tax collector by the name of Levi sitting at his tax booth. "Follow me," Jesus said to him, 28 and Levi got up, left everything and followed him. Then Levi held a great banquet for Jesus at his house, and a large crowd of tax collectors and others were eating with them.

“Levi, we learn later, is a man named Matthew, (Matthew 9:9) who actually gets to write an entire gospel about who Jesus is. Now, how does Levi respond to this call? The first thing he does is he does it immediately. He's like, I want Jesus. I know this. I need him. Doesn't mess around. He doesn't go, let me take these things with me. He says, I'm with you. Which I think is a really important thing for us to remember: that when we come to Jesus, we are to leave everything. If the job is building a wall between you and Jesus, leave it. If your things are building a wall between you and Jesus, leave it. And so he does this. I mean, he recognized what's happening, and he says, I want Jesus. And then I love what happens with Jesus, because he says, okay, what do I want to do now? I want to have a party. This is exciting. And Levi hasn't learned yet that you only invite your fellow Christian disciples to dinner. "Then Levi had a great banquet for Jesus at his house, and a large crowd of tax collectors and others" — what's the word? "Others" is used here by Luke — "were eating with them." He doesn't just immediately cut out all those old friends. He's like, oh, I love Jesus, therefore I can't love you. It's the opposite. I love Jesus so much, you got to meet this guy. I'm going to have a big barbecue, and you're going to all come over. We're going to have the block party on the patio, and you're going to come, and you're going to get to meet Jesus face to face.”