Mark 2:13-17

Matt Summerfield

One of my favourite stories in the New Testament is where Jesus invites the Tax Collector, Matthew Levi, to follow Him. The story is found in Mark 2:13-17.

Jesus is walking alongside the lake talking to the crowds who eagerly surround Him, until He comes to a tax collector's booth where a Jewish man called Levi Matthew is working. Now Tax Collectors are not popular people at the very best of times...I've never seen anyone drive around in their car sporting a sticky with the words 'I love my tax collector' written into a love heart...but in New Testament times they were totally despised by everybody. Why? Two reasons.

• Firstly, they worked for Rome - The Jewish people felt heavily oppressed by the might of the Romans and therefore a Jew working for the Romans would be seen as the worst form of treachery and disloyalty.
• Secondly, they were greedy and deceitful - Tax Collectors were not paid a salary by the Roman Empire. It was assumed that they would collect more than the amount Rome required and would keep the rest. They were therefore getting rich by 'ripping off' their own people.

For these reasons they were considered the lowest of the low. All Jewish Tax Collectors were ex-communicated from the synagogue (the church) and were a huge source of shame to their family and friends. They were looked down on by the whole of the community because it seemed they valued money more than anything else.

Yet knowing all this Jesus stops by Levis' booth. You can imagine that the crowd are probably thinking to themselves that Jesus is about to let this tax collector 'have it' with 'both barrels'. They're expecting Jesus to berate the man - to warn the gathering of people that they must never become like Levi, that there is no hope for him, no grace and forgiveness.

But as always Jesus blows their minds with what He does next. Remember, you can't put Jesus in a box. He's radical and unpredictable. Jesus looks at this Tax Collector and says to Him 'Follow me and be my disciple'.

Levi Matthew is living in a time when people think he is scum but Jesus looks at this 'scum' and says "Come and be part of my team, I'm going to change this world, come and change it with me".

And in responding to Levi Matthew like this we discover something fantastic about God - revealed in Jesus. That God is an inclusive God. God doesn't ex-communicate anybody but He reaches out to everybody.

God looks beyond our fallenness and brokenness - He looks at what we can become. He is willing to take risks with us. He puts His faith in us. To work with Him to do great things. He looks at Levi and knows that this is a guy who will be part of the team who will birth the early church. This is the guy who will write the life of Jesus which we know today as the Gospel of Matthew. Jesus includes Levi in His Kingdom work, not because of who he is, but because of who he will become - with God.

And so it is with us. Jesus invites everyone of us into His Kingdom adventure. He's looking out for broken people who are willing to admit they need His help - not people who think they've got their lives sorted. I know I qualify. What about you?