After this he went
out and saw a tax-collector named
Levi, sitting at
the tax booth;
and he said to him, ‘Follow me.’ And he got up, left everything, and followed him.
out and saw a tax-collector named
Levi, sitting at
the tax booth;
and he said to him, ‘Follow me.’ And he got up, left everything, and followed him.
Then Levi gave a great banquet for
him in his house;
and there was a large crowd of tax-collectors and others sitting at
the table with them. The Pharisees and their scribes were complaining
to his disciples, saying, ‘Why do you eat and drink with tax-collectors
and sinners?’ Jesus answered, ‘Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick; I have come to call not the
righteous but sinners to repentance.’
him in his house;
and there was a large crowd of tax-collectors and others sitting at
the table with them. The Pharisees and their scribes were complaining
to his disciples, saying, ‘Why do you eat and drink with tax-collectors
and sinners?’ Jesus answered, ‘Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick; I have come to call not the
righteous but sinners to repentance.’
Then they said to him, ‘John’s disciples, like the disciples of the Pharisees, frequently fast and pray, but your disciples eat and drink.’
Jesus said to them, ‘You cannot make wedding-guests fast while the bridegroom is with them, can you?
The days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them, and then they will fast in
those days.’ He also told them a parable: ‘No one tears a piece from
a new garment and sews it on an old garment; otherwise the new
will be torn, and the piece from the new will not match the old. And
no one puts new wine into old wineskins; otherwise the new wine
will burst the skins and will be spilled, and the skins will be
destroyed. But new wine must be put into fresh wineskins.
And no one after drinking old wine desires new wine, but says,
“The old is good.” ’ Luke 5:27-39
those days.’ He also told them a parable: ‘No one tears a piece from
a new garment and sews it on an old garment; otherwise the new
will be torn, and the piece from the new will not match the old. And
no one puts new wine into old wineskins; otherwise the new wine
will burst the skins and will be spilled, and the skins will be
destroyed. But new wine must be put into fresh wineskins.
And no one after drinking old wine desires new wine, but says,
“The old is good.” ’ Luke 5:27-39
The grubby, backwater places are filled with local, hard working laborers who live hardscrabble lives in tough times. These places are not vacation spots, but the everyday pizza parlors, diners and bars, where people gather to gossip and tell their tales. We don't often find the ritzy people, the privileged in these locations. We find real, salt of the earth folks. And this is where we are called, away from the spotlight and into the streets.
Jesus calls the tax collector and is then invited to his home for a banquet. Levi pulls out all the stops for him and invites his crowd, the people the religious leaders from on. Jesus is found among the undesirables, the outcasts and the people who do the hardscrabble work. Jesus doesn't check his credentials as he knows his heart, a heart that knows genuine love when seen, a heart that responds to authentic goodness. Jesus, carrying the love of God, is found in the places many people will not go. We are invited by God to go to those rough places, carrying God's love as well.
Today, I ask God to help me live today as a bearer of good news and love in the darkest places. May we be among the one's who Jesus loves, and find ourselves reborn in the process.
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