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.
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.
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?
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.
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!
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!
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).
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."
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."
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.
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.
For Thought and Discussion
Link to Teacher's Guide
Lesson 4