In The Word
Read: Luke 5:27-6:11
Call of Levi (Matthew)
27 After that He went out and looked at a tax collector named Levi sitting in the tax office, and He said to him, “Follow Me.” 28 And he left everything behind, and got up and began following Him.
29 And Levi gave a big reception for Him in his house; and there was a large crowd of tax collectors and other people who were reclining at the table with them. 30 The Pharisees and their scribes began grumbling to His disciples, saying, “Why do you eat and drink with the tax collectors and sinners?” 31 And Jesus answered and said to them, “It is not those who are healthy who need a physician, but those who are sick. 32 I have not come to call the righteous to repentance, but sinners.”
33 And they said to Him, “The disciples of John often fast and offer prayers, the disciples of the Pharisees also do the same, but Yours eat and drink.” 34 And Jesus said to them, “You cannot make the attendants of the groom fast while the groom is with them, can you?35 But the days will come; and when the groom is taken away from them, then they will fast in those days.” 36 And He was also telling them a parable: “No one tears a piece of cloth from a new garment and puts it on an old garment; otherwise he will both tear the new, and the patch from the new garment will not match the old. 37 And no one pours new wine into old wineskins; otherwise the new wine will burst the skins and it will be spilled out, and the skins will be ruined. 38 But new wine must be put into fresh wineskins. 39 And no one, after drinking old winewants new; for he says, ‘The old is fine.’”
Jesus Is Lord of the Sabbath
6 Now it happened that Jesus was passing through some grainfields on a Sabbath, and His disciples were picking the heads of grain, rubbing them in their hands, and eating them. 2 But some of the Pharisees said, “Why are you doing what is not lawful on the Sabbath?”3 And Jesus, answering them, said, “Have you not even read what David did when he was hungry, he and those who were with him, 4 how he entered the house of God, and took and ate the consecrated bread, which is not lawful for anyone to eat except the priests alone, and gave it to his companions?” 5 And He was saying to them, “The Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath.”
6 On another Sabbath He entered the synagogue and taught; and a man was there whose right hand was withered. 7 Now the scribes and the Pharisees were watching Him closely to see if He healed on the Sabbath, so that they might find a reason to accuse Him. 8 But He knew what they were thinking, and He said to the man with the withered hand, “Get up and come forward!” And he got up and came forward.9 And Jesus said to them, “I ask you whether it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath or to do harm, to save a life or to destroy it?” 10 And after looking around at them all, He said to him, “Stretch out your hand!” And he did so; and his hand was restored. 11 But they themselves were filled with senseless rage, and began discussing together what they might do to Jesus.
New American Standard Bible (NASB) Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation
Walking In The Word
If you want to hear a commotion, just mention the salvation of someone so despised that no one would believe it. Maybe you know someone like that who is going to hell and deep down you wonder if he will ever serve the Lord? That’s probably how everyone felt when Jesus stopped to talk to the tax collector named Levi. Tax collectors were probably hated more than anyone else in that day, except maybe centurions, which we’ll speak of another day. Most tax collectors were seen as cheats, traitors doing the Romans dirty work, and, if they were considered good at their work, unmerciful. It caused quite a ruckus when Levi invited Jesus to his home and Jesus accepted. How could Jesus do that?
Paul addressed this same issue in 1 Corinthians 9:22 when he spoke of being whomever he needs to be to see someone come to Christ. “I have become all things to all men that I may by all means save some”; Paul could be a Roman or a Jew, whatever the circumstance, so that he could make an argument for Christ. In Luke 5:31, Jesus said, “I’ve come to help the sick; the healthy don’t need a doctor!” Most of us enter these worlds every day: our workplace, sporting events, family gatherings. It is there where we share what Jesus Christ has done in our life. Our lives should consistently be that light that draws people in. In Levi’s case, the Lord spoke to him, but today will you be the voice of God to someone lost?