Boats, Booths, Banquets

A guest blog by Next Gen Pastor, Rebecca DeLucia

This past Sunday we looked together at Luke 5:1-11 in which Jesus calls Simon Peter alongside James and John; his co-workers who also left behind that miraculous catch to follow Jesus. Last Wednesday evening during our first Central Youth Bible Discussion of the summer we looked just a few verses later at Luke 5:27-32 in which Jesus calls Levi. 

At first glance, the two stories feel very different. Peter, James, and John are fishermen. Levi sits in a tax booth. One scene unfolds on the shoreline and the other in the middle of town. Yet Luke places these stories nearly side by side for a reason. In both accounts, Jesus interrupts ordinary life, calls unlikely people, and invites them into something entirely new.

The first thing we discussed was Levi’s response. Luke tells us that Jesus approached him and simply said, “Follow me.” Levi’s reaction is startling in its simplicity: “And leaving everything, he rose and followed him.”

It is tempting to imagine that this was the first interaction Levi had ever had with Jesus, but remember, by this point in Luke’s Gospel, Jesus has already healed the sick, taught in the synagogues, and attracted large crowds. News traveled quickly in small towns. Levi may not have spoken with Jesus personally before this moment, but he almost certainly had seen him around town or heard stories about him. Just like in his interaction with Simon Peter, Jesus’ reputation preceded him. He was not stepping into the complete unknown. He had watched Jesus from a distance. Perhaps, something about Jesus’ words and actions had already begun stirring in Levi’s heart long before Jesus ever stopped at his booth. Levi left his booth (boat) because Jesus had already captured his attention.

The second thing we spent time discussing was the banquet Levi hosted after becoming a follower of Jesus. Luke tells us that Levi “made him a great feast in his house,” and that a large crowd of tax collectors and others were reclining at the table with them.

This meal would have raised eyebrows in any generation, but in first-century Israel it was truly scandalous. Tax collectors were viewed as collaborators with Rome and were widely despised. The category Luke simply labels “sinners” likely included people whose reputations had excluded them from respectable religious society. If someone was trying to build influence, gain approval, or cultivate a righteous image, this was not the guest list they would choose. But this is exactly the sort of scene in which we repeatedly find Jesus.

And the religious leaders certainly noticed. Luke records that the Pharisees and their scribes “grumbled at his disciples, saying, ‘Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?’” One detail from the passage stood out to our group: they complained to the disciples rather than directly to Jesus. Perhaps they assumed the disciples would be easier to sway. Perhaps they were testing them. Or perhaps they simply could not understand why anyone who claimed to follow God would willingly associate with such people.

That conversation led us to ask some uncomfortable questions of ourselves.

• Who would we be shocked to see sitting at our table?
• Who would make us uneasy if they walked into our church or youth group?
• Who would we never think to invite into our homes?

Because that is the striking reality of this story: these people did not accidentally end up at Levi’s banquet. Levi invited them. The people at the table were his friends, neighbors, coworkers, and acquaintances. They were the people already present in his life. Following Jesus did not cause Levi to immediately distance himself from everyone he knew. Instead, his first instinct was to gather those people together and bring Jesus into their midst.

It is worth considering whether we do the same. Do we only spend time with people who look like us, think like us, and share our values? We can unintentionally create tables with invisible barriers around them. Yet Jesus consistently moved toward those on the margins, and Levi’s banquet reminds us that hospitality has always been one of the ways God’s kingdom expands.

The final part of our discussion centered on Jesus’ response to the religious leaders: “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance.”

At first, Jesus’ statement seems straightforward. Sick people need doctors; sinners need a Savior. A person who knows they are sick will seek help. A person convinced they are healthy will never call the doctor. We do not earn our place at Jesus’ table by proving our worthiness. We come because we know we need mercy.

Only a few verses earlier, Peter had stepped out of his boat and left behind the greatest catch of his career. Levi left his booth and hosted a feast. Both men discovered that following Jesus always involves leaving something behind and moving toward something greater. 

 So this week let us live by faith, getting out of the boat,  leaving behind the tax booth and following Jesus into the ordinary places of your life and inviting others to join you.
Cast your nets wide.
Open your table.
Bring people to the great banquet of God’s kingdom, where the weary find rest, sinners find mercy, and ordinary people discover their calling to follow Christ.