Hello, my ‘Walking with Jesus’ friends,
Are you one of many people who has a legal name, a name most people call you, and maybe even a ‘nickname’? Depending on how your name is spoken can you normally discern the relationship you have with the person who is using your name?
Join me again today as we watch Jesus invite a very special person to leave his ugly business and follow Jesus. Three of the Gospels give us this story: Matt. 9:9-13; Mark 2:13-17; Luke 5:27-32.
The main difference between these three accounts is the NAME of the person Jesus invited. Luke and Mark both refer to him as “Levi son of Alphaeus” whereas Matthew calls himself “Matthew”. So, who is this guy and why did Jesus invite him?
As we have seen, very often in the Bible Jewish men were identified by their name AND the name of their father, sometimes even also their grandfather. Lineage was very important in Jewish culture. Interestingly in the listing of the 12 men Jesus called to be His disciples, there is a certain man “James, son of Alphaeus”, (Matt. 10:3; Mark 3:18; Luke 6:15), not to be confused with “James, son of Zebedee and his brother John.” (Mark 3:17)
But we have no indication James and Matthew were sons of the same father Alphaeus. We conclude that their fathers happened to have the same name and of course those Alphaeus’s would then be distinguished from each other by the names of their fathers or grandfathers.
“Levi” was of course a special name in Jewish history for Levi was one of the 12 sons of Jacob and therefore head of the tribe of Levi, remember? The “Levites”, you may recall, were the family of Moses and Aaron, and those special men devoted to the priesthood. (Numbers 3) Their role initially was the care of the Tabernacle and later the Temple.
They were viewed as spiritual men who should be role models for all Jewish men in God honoring lifestyle. Unlike the other tribes of Israel, the tribe of Levi was NOT given a specific section of land when Joshua divided the Land of God’s Promise, but rather the Levites lived scattered throughout Israel in specific towns. (Joshua 21)
We don’t know why this man, whom Jesus called, was named “Levi” nor if his lineage was a Levite family, but we can assume there were expectations of him, from the time he was a little boy. What expectations? That he’d be a God honoring man like a good ‘Levite’. “Matthew” is a name that means “gift of YHWH”, thus we presume Alphaeus and his wife viewed their son as a gift from God and probably had very high expectations of the impeccable life their son would live. Can we imagine the family pain and humiliation, therefore, when Levi/Matthew agreed to serve the Roman government as a tax-collector based in Capernaum, his home region of Galilee?
“Traitor” would be an appropriate word for how Levi/Matthew would be viewed by all Jews who had any contact with him. Why? Because these men were responsible to collect taxes for Rome, from their own people, but also permitted to add their own surcharge, of any amount, and keep that surcharge for themselves.
It was an ugly, deceitful, despicable vocation. Tax collectors were hated by the people and protected by Roman soldiers who sometimes also received a bonus for helping the tax collector collect the taxes no matter how unfair.
Similar to the shock when Jesus went to Sychar the Samaritan town; spoke with a Samaritan woman; and stayed with the Samaritans for two days, (John 4:1-38) so was the shock when Jesus sat at the tax collector’s booth in Capernaum talking with Levi/Matthew, the hated tax collector.
Pause for a moment. As you think about the people you see in your normal journey of life are there some people you simply can’t imagine God actually loves and cares about? Are there some despicable people in your world that if God asked you to extend HIS love to them it would be very, very difficult for you to do?
It’s safe to assume for all those who were already following Jesus, like Peter and Andrew, James and John. Philip and Nathaniel, as they watched Jesus speak with Levi/Matthew it made their stomach churn and perhaps their skin crawl, do you know what I mean?
And then the unthinkable happened when Jesus, perhaps reaching across the counter and extending His hand to Matthew, said: “Follow Me!” (Mark 2:14) All eyes watched as Matthew looked around, closed his tax books, closed the shutters on his tax booth, locked the door behind him and walked toward Jesus!!!
A despicable, traitor of a man, was experiencing life transformation in full view of everyone. Evidently Levi/Matthew the tax collector invited Jesus to his home and threw a dinner party and invited his friends. Of course, the only friends Levi/Matthew had were other tax collectors and their kind. Amazingly at least some of His disciples also sat and ate with Jesus, and Matthew, and Matthew’s friends, but I doubt they had much of an appetite. (Mark 2:15)
All three Gospel writers tell us the religious teachers and Pharisees couldn’t handle this, and they peppered Jesus’ disciples with questions including: “Why does He eat with tax collectors and sinners?” (Mark 2:16)
I find no response from the disciples and maybe it’s because Jesus jumped in and answered the rude question for Himself saying: “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance.” (Luke 5:31)
The story closes abruptly, leaving that statement hanging in the air. What do you think Jesus meant? The Bible makes it clear there are NO righteous people (Romans 3:23), but of course we know there are many people who THINK they don’t need God’s help and are good enough. Likely we also each know someone who was shocked when their doctor gave them a frightening report that they had a terrible illness, but they felt perfectly normal! I was one of those people 10 years ago!
Jesus was using Levi/Matthew as a remarkable example of people who know they need God’s help and are ready to respond, while around them are so many who have no need for God yet are dying in their sinfulness.
Yes, Matthew became one of Jesus’ disciples, a radically transformed man, and the author of the first book of the New Testament. And Jesus stands ready right now, reaching to every person in the world who’s willing to see their need for God’s help. Are you one of those people, my friend? If so, tell Jesus you’re ready to hear and respond to His call to follow Him!
Further helpful reflection notes are at the “Grand Narrative” link below, as is a glorious worship song for this story, and I’ll be waiting here for you tomorrow. How will you let Levi/Matthew’s story affect you today?
Today’s Scripture: Mark 2:13-17.
Choose below to read or listen.
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Bible images provided with attribution to www.LumoProject.com.
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Pastor Doug Anderson
“Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, with our eyes fixed on Jesus…” (Heb. 12:1,2)
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