The objective of this lesson: To stress that Jesus' call to individuals to discipleship often included the unusual.
To most students of scripture Levi and Matthew is the same person. To a few they are two different persons. The lessons you are encouraged to focus on today are unaffected by that question.
Acknowledge this issue exists, but do not pursue it. All you wish to do is make your students aware that the disagreement exists.
To us, the call of Levi is not unusual. When Luke was written, that call among Jewish listeners was most unusual. Many conclude the gospel of Luke was intended primarily for a non-Jewish readership. If that is correct, the point of this incident may have been to assure people that gentiles were as acceptable to Jesus as were Jews.
A situation that would not catch our attention today would quickly catch attention then. Many did not regard tax collectors as just or considerate people.
The invitation from Jesus to Levi to be a disciple would have caught a first century reader's or listener's attention quickly just as Jesus' invitation to discipleship would catch our attention today if extended to an illegal drug dealer, a pimp, or a child molester. Typically, tax collectors were people Jewish religious movements and leaders shunned. Why?
This invitation to discipleship involved one of those "emotional issues" wherein many people felt so strongly that they refused to think. This was one of the matters better left alone.
The Roman system for collecting taxes encouraged massive exploitation and injustice on every level of the system. At the lowest level were the local people who did the actual collecting. Just as today, there were different kinds of collecting. There were the individual taxes adults had to pay; there were transportation of sales goods requiring tax payments; and there were vendor taxes. It is possible that Levi was helping collect taxes from people who were transporting goods.
The key thought is "exploitation and unjust." It is difficult to address a money situation if it is a just matter. It quickly enters the impossible zone when the money situation is obviously unjust.
A tax collector had authority and could use power. Many in Jewish society considered such a person a traitor to his own people because he collected taxes to benefit Roman rule. Tax collectors were often considered opportunistic people who stole from the helpless by imposing unjust financial demands. Typically, tax collectors worked on a quota system. What they gathered above their quota was to their personal benefit. It takes little imagination to understand (a) why they were so despised and (b) why the Jewish people regarded Jewish tax collectors as social outcasts. For a popular religious figure in Jewish society to personally invite a Jewish tax collector to high profile discipleship was newsworthy! Yet, that is exactly what Jesus did!
To have someone from your society exploit people for the sake of personal gain quickly becomes a detested matter. Typically, "acceptable" society wants nothing to do with these individuals.
Immediately upon receiving Jesus' invitation to discipleship, Levi accepted it. He literally left his job immediately! He actually left everything behind and began following Jesus. I would assume he had heard about Jesus' deeds, seen Jesus, and heard Jesus previously. I would also assume he was familiar with common Jewish expectations. [None of those assumptions are unusual.] The point: he regarded following Jesus to be superior to collecting taxes. Following Jesus presented him a superior opportunity! That opportunity was not financial! Financially he left a secure, lucrative opportunity for a questionable, uncertain opportunity. It was a conscience and commitment opportunity versus a money-making opportunity. He actually chose conscience/commitment over money/security. There actually is a difference between what you are internally and the pleasures money can buy! What you are is more important than what you have!
A primary motivation for changing human behavior involves (a) one's definition of opportunity and (b) the ability of the person to recognize opportunity when it appears.
What happened next defies "good sense" if you wish to be successful in a society [in any age!]! Never does a person defy social norms and succeed! Such is taboo politically and "the kiss of death" religiously! This man who was a recent tax collector gave Jesus a "big" reception [occasion for honor and eating] in his home. That indicates he had a home large enough to accommodate a banquet and that he could pay for the occasion. His guest list included a "great crowd" of tax collectors and others who would associate with tax collectors. In a religious society [which first century Jewish society was] this would not be a gathering of prominent "who's who" in the Jewish community! Religiously, one would NOT wish to be a part of or seen in that group! However, Jesus was there! Perhaps this was an opportunity for tax collectors and other "social misfits" to see and hear Jesus "up close and personally" instead of on the fringes of the crowd (see Luke 3:12; 15:1; 19:2-4).
Stress Jesus did the socially unacceptable to have meaningful contact with socially unacceptable people. Jesus was interested in influencing all people, not just the people approved of by society. We often do not see opportunity if we only look for people "just like us." Jesus' acts did not meet with everyone's approval, but it was effective in contacting what society saw as misfits.
What Jesus did was unpopular in a religious society! That is evident in the reaction. The Pharisees and their scribes [who witnessed this event] complained to Jesus' disciples, not to Jesus, that Jesus associated with the wrong group of people--tax collectors and sinners. The implication was "if he associates with them he cannot associate with us." This is the ancient tactic of seeking to destroy a person's reputation because he has open contact with "the wrong people."
Note that the people who complained first were the people who society regarded as (a) conservative and (b) highly religious. There is irony in the fact that Jesus had some of his greatest difficulties with those who were religious leaders of religious conservatism.
Though Jesus was not addressed, he heard the complaint and responded. "The people who need the doctor are the people who are sick. By your own acknowledgment, these are the people who are sick. I did not come to call the righteous. I came to call those controlled by sin to repentance."
Jesus did not look at one's role in society but at spiritual need. He addressed the needs of all people from Nicodemus [high in Jewish society] to the thief on the cross [a menace to Jewish society]. Too often, our Savior is more flexible than is his church.
Those who follow Christ seek to invite those who do not follow Christ to discipleship. That is tough! We do not exist to build walls around ourselves and barriers to Jesus Christ. We do not exist to perpetuate closed communities. We do not exist to designate our "tax collectors and sinners," and refuse contact with them. We exist to bring such people to the Teacher so that they, too, may be his disciples. One of the principle reasons for us to exist is this: to bring the sick to the doctor. We refuse to allow our fears be bigger than our faith.
Too often we are more concerned with protecting our interest than we are with sharing our Savior. We need to (a) understand our role in physical existence and (b) be more concerned about sharing than about acquiring or feeling comfortable.
Lessons: (a) Jesus does not ignore those society ignores. (b) Anyone who is willing to follow Jesus can be Jesus' disciple. (c) Jesus is not ashamed to associate with us because of our past. (d) Jesus is willing to go among people that the religious shun. (e) Jesus came to save those who are willing to repent; he did not come to punish them.
Emphasize the lessons you feel are most appropriate to your group. Remember, you want your group to think rather than react. Thinking challenges understanding. Reacting often is stirred emotions. Too often stirred emotions do not produce understanding.
For Thought and Discussion
Tax collectors were often considered unjust exploiters of the helpless.
The Roman system for tax collection encouraged exploitation and injustice.
Tax collectors had authority and power.
He left his work immediately to follow Jesus. He viewed discipleship under Jesus as a greater opportunity than that provided by his money-making position.
One never defies social norms and succeeds by society's definition.
He had a home big enough to accommodate the "large crowd," and he could pay for the occasion.
It included fellow tax collectors, and those who would associate with tax collectors.
They sharply criticized Jesus for his association with the group Levi invited.
It is the sick who need a doctor. He came to call sinners to repentance, not the righteous.
Link to Student Guide
Lesson 4