31.1.25 Luke 5:27-32

31 January

Prepare

Hello again. Let's prepare to meet with God. Heavenly father, as I come before you today, I lay down all my cares, knowing and trusting that all things are in your hands. Lord, help me to take captive every anxious thought, releasing it now into your loving care. Calm my mind, still my heart. And show me how to rest in your presence.

And now as I open your precious word, send your Holy Spirit. Speak. Help me to hear your still small voice. And help me to obey. In Jesus name, Amen.

Read Luke 5:27-32

Our reading is taken from the gospel according to Saint Luke, chapter five, starting at verse 27.

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. But 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.

Reflection

Tax collectors are rarely the most popular members of society. In Jewish society they were despised, seen as traitors who worked for the Roman occupiers and often collected more than necessary to line their own pockets. 

Yet, Jesus doesn’t avoid Levi. He calls Levi to follow him, a powerful reminder that Jesus sees potential in people that others might overlook. He sees beyond their past, beyond their social status, beyond their mistakes. He calls them into a new life.

I wonder what Levi’s equivalent might be in today’s Britain, perhaps an ex-offender.  Jesus didn’t come to improve society’s best; He came to redeem the lost, the broken, and the outcast. His grace knows no limits.

Levi’s response to Jesus’ call is to throw a great banquet, inviting his friends to meet Jesus. The Pharisees are appalled but Jesus makes clear that he has not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. He came for the broken, the needy, the ones who know they need healing.

I wonder if we are at risk of doing what the world does, and judging people based on their lifestyle, choices, or mistakes. Many ex-offenders tell dreadful stories of being shunned at churches. Those seeking asylum are too often condemned, even by some churchgoers. Let us be a community that reflects Jesus’ radical love, inviting all, no matter what their past, to experience the hope only to be found in Him.

Be

Do you sometimes feel unworthy of Jesus’ love?

In a moment of silence, reflect on Jesus boundless grace as he welcomes Levi probably into his most trusted inner circle, for Levi is assumed to be the apostle Matthew.

Give thanks for this wonderful gift of grace and allow the Holy Spirit to assure you of the depth of God’s love.

Become

As we seek to become more like Jesus, Let's now invite the Holy Spirit to bring to mind anyone that we might be unconsciously judging, judging in the way that the world judges on their background, behaviour, education, perhaps even the way they dress or speak. 

Lord, please share this where we are judging like the world judges and help us to see those that we now bring to mind as you see them, of infinite value, made in the image of the living God and with limitless potential which we perhaps could help unlock.

Do

I wonder if you, like me, perhaps spend too much time in church circles. Where and how could you engage with those outside our cosy family?

Perhaps you might be called to minister to those too often condemned by society, by becoming a prison visitor with Prison Fellowship. Or you could help restore the self esteem of those who condemn themselves because they are in debt, by becoming a CAP befriender? 

Practice

As for a practice to take forward into our lives, perhaps we need to constantly to test whether we are judging people like the world does, and asking Jesus to help us to see them as he sees them.

Or perhaps the Lord is calling you to go beyond your comfort zone. If we tell him we are willing, he will lead us into new places to meet new people, and we may even get the odd invitation to a banquet.