It’s hard to overstate the stigma attached to Levi here as a tax collector of the occupying government. Not only were they seen as traitors for working for the Romans, but they also functioned like loan sharks or moon enforcers. Rabbis writing at the time categorized them along with thieves and murderers. Being with them could leave you ceremonially unclean – an outcast like a leper, but made an outcast by their own sin rather than disease.
But Jesus saw past that social status and even past the sin that drove that status, into the imago Dei that made Levi worthy of love.
It is possible that Levi had heard of Jesus before this, but when presented with the direct call of Christ, he responded by leaving behind his wealth and stability. Following Jesus does cost. Anything that hinders us from following Jesus, that must be left behind.
We see this new way of life play out in verse 29, as Matthew holds a feast for Jesus, but one that pulled in his fellow tax collectors and friends from the outskirts of society. He literally changed his table from the self-focused tax collector’s booth to the table of grace and hospitality.
Importantly, Levi did not cut ties with his previous community – instead, he imitates the work of Christ and brings these other sinners into the presence of Christ. Consider also that fishermen would have been among those abused by these tax collectors, and so the table here also serves as a table of community and reconciliation, as well as a table of mission and grace.
This kind of act is not without consequence – we see here the grumbling and complaining of the Pharisees here. But ultimately, we must be willing for the world, even the religious world, to misunderstand us and judge us. Self-righteousness keeps people out of God’s kingdom in a way that “gross sins” do not. True Christianity is explicitly for the weak, just like Nietzsche accused it of – what he missed was just how weak all of us are.
These themes of feasting and fellowship are found all throughout the Bible, beginning in the Garden of Eden where Adam and Eve feasted and fellowshipped with God before choosing the wrong table. We see it in the story of the Exodus as the Passover meal becomes a central illustration of God’s mercy. We see this throughout Christ’s ministry in earth, and then beyond as the early church begins built around feasts and fellowship. And we see this coming to pass in the future as well, at the Wedding Feast of the Lamb, a picture of the eternal joy and fellowship we are promised in the world to come.
Let us today consider how our tables can be used in the service of this feast and fellowship that Christ calls us to.
– Sermon Notes, Andrew Arthur, Hallows Church, Edmonds, WA, March 13, 2022