This week in my devotions I have been reading through the Gospel of Luke. Yesterday I read the story of Jesus calling Levi to be one of his disciples. I love this story because of the way Levi responded to the call from Jesus. Here is the passage from Luke chapter 5 (ESV)…
27 After this he went out and saw a tax collector named Levi, sitting at the tax booth. And he said to him, ”Follow me.” 28And leaving everything, he rose and followed him.
29And Levi made him a great feast in his house, and there was a large company of tax collectors and others reclining at table with them. 30And the Pharisees and their scribes grumbled at his disciples, saying, ”Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?”31And Jesus answered them, ”Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick.
First, as we always talk about with the calling of the disciples, is that “[Levi] left everything and followed him (NIV)”. His response was immediate. He didn’t sit around and think about it, he just left, and left everything behind. Levi was a tax collector and likely was gouging people on their taxes and keeping the extra for himself. Levi might have been loaded. So he likely left a lot behind.
What I like most about this passage is that Levi, after leaving everything, threw a party at his house. Not only did he throw a party but he invited all his tax collector and sinner buddies to come meet Jesus! Levi had been a Christian for like ten minutes and immediately called all the sinners he knew and threw a party at his house so they could meet Jesus too! This is very similar to the story of the woman at the well (John 4) where Jesus tells her things about herself that he couldn’t possibly have known ahead of time and she immediately runs through her town screaming “Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did!” She couldn’t help but tell everyone.
My question from these passages is…what is our response to Jesus? When we first met Jesus was our response to tell everyone we knew about this life changing experience? When we have experiences somewhere where Jesus overwhelms us do we call all of our friends and tell them they have to experience this too?
I think it is interesting how we will instantly run out and tell everyone we know about our favorite band, restaurant, bar, movie etc., but when it comes to our faith we try not to talk about it. We act like faith is some taboo topic we just aren’t supposed to talk about. Not even just faith, but church as a whole.
How often would you invite someone to your favorite restaurant compared to how often you would invite someone to your favorite church service/event? Do we ever react like Levi, or the woman at the well? I know I don’t react that way nearly enough.
My challenge for myself and anyone reading this is this…When/Where/How have you had a meaningful experience with Jesus lately? Invite someone to join you in that experience this week.
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