Monday Thought – September 21, 2015

Good Morning Friends,

"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, 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. The Pharisees and the teachers of the law who belonged to their sect complained to his disciples, 'Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and 'sinners'?' Jesus answered them, '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 5:27-32)

Levi left everything to follow Jesus. Peter, Andrew, James and John had done the same thing earlier in this chapter of Luke. All of these men, and others, saw in Jesus Someone worth following, Someone worth giving their lives to, Someone worth making great sacrifices for. They wanted to be with Jesus. They wanted to learn from Him. They wanted to serve Him and serve with Him. They left everything to follow Jesus!

Jesus allowed Levi to follow Him, even though Levi was not a perfect man. Levi's reputation among his own people was no good at all. He was a tax collector, a traitor to his people lumped in with others known as "sinners."

When Levi held a banquet to introduce Jesus to his friends, those who were gathered in his home were men like him -- tax collectors and sinners. That kind of crowd didn't bother Jesus. Those were the very kind of people Jesus came to call to Himself. It's not that Jesus won't accept "good" people, it's just that there are no "good" people. There are only two kinds of people: "sinners" who know they are sinners and "sinners" who are too proud or too blind to admit it. It's the first kind of "sinners" that are ready to hear the call of Jesus.

Jesus can only reach and only use the kind of people who know they need Him. "Sinners," like you and me.

His, by Grace, Steve