Tax collectors in Jesus’ day were those who had crossed over to work for the oppressive Roman empire. They were seen as unclean because their job required that they entire the homes of non-Jews in order to collect taxes, and their income was generated by over-taxing. So, to call Levi as a disciple was, in and of itself, a counter-cultural and incredibly subversive decision. This was someone, regardless of his piety or devotion, that others would not have accepted as working to inaugurate God’s kingdom. Yet, when called, Levi drops everything in order to pursue life with Jesus.
The presence of Levi among the disciples had to cause some internal grumbling. There’s reason to think that Levi might have been the person collecting taxes from James, John and Andrew. Even in the calling of disciples, Jesus is working on putting back together the fragmented society in which these men live.
After calling Levi, Jesus goes and eats dinner at his house, socializing and putting himself on equal terms with “sinners”. Those in religious power, the teachers of the law and Pharisees, saw this happening, they asked Jesus’ disciples why Jesus ate and drank with sinners. It’s interesting that they religious elites didn’t ask the disciples why they ate with sinners. Possibly the Pharisees and teachers regarded Jesus’ disciples as part of the group of “sinners” with whom Jesus was dining.
Unable, or unwilling, to answer for themselves, Jesus speaks up and tells the leaders that he has come to be with those in need of grace, not those whose access to God is used to create barriers to prevent others from accessing it.
How do churches or Christian organizations respond to this text? Aren’t they the ones who are ‘righteous’? How do I respond to this text as someone from the perspective of the pharisees and teachers of the law than the “sinners”?
Any ministry taken up by the church must keep in mind that is mission, as given by Jesus, is to reach those on the margins. Jesus made those who were part of the religious establishment uncomfortable by calling those on the outside to be his disciples. Jesus’ ministry was directed to those on the outside, and those on the inside grasp and complain because their position of power has been ignored.
What’s most surprising and subversive about this text is that Jesus puts himself on the same social platform as those the pharisees decry as “sinners”, and suggests that his ministry that the Kingdom of God has come near is about calling those you wouldn’t expect to champions of his Kingdom message.
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