Levi (Matthew) held a great banquet for Jesus at his house, and a large crowd of tax collectors and others were eating with them. But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law who belonged to their sect complained to his disciples, “Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and ‘sinners’?” Jesus answered them, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.” Luke 5:29-32
Most welcoming Lord Jesus, I cannot read this story without finding my longing for the Banquet of all banquets being profoundly aroused. Who’s going to sit and be served by you at the Wedding Feast of the Lamb? Only those of us who realized we were dead sinners in the morgue needing resurrection, not merely misguided, mistake-prone individuals in need of a few Biblical-band-aids of moral reform. Only those of us who repented of our unrighteousness AND our wanna-be-righteousness, that we might be clothed with the wedding garments of gospel-righteousness.
How I praise you, with my friends-fellow “tax collectors and sinners”, for calling us, healing us and saving us, Lord Jesus. There’s no greater friend of sinners than you. We exalt you for eating and drinking, reclining and dining, fellowshipping and communing with the likes of us!
Because you’re so gracious a Savior, may the gospel of your welcoming heart continue to challenge and change how we “do church.” Oh to be criticized by Pharisees and “elder brothers” (Luke 15) for all the sick people, broken sinners, and cultural misfits that fill our churches for the grace-feast of holy communion. Who doesn’t feel your gracious welcome by us, Lord Jesus? Let us see it, grieve it and deal with it…
Oh to be more like Levi (Matthew)… to be so impacted by your love, Lord Jesus, that I’m constantly throwing mini-banquets for my friends. Turn every one of my lunch appointments into a three-some, with you and a friend. Turn my family gatherings into occasions where you’re always filling the empty seat. Make this ingrown heart of mine far more welcoming… far more friendly to outsiders… far more like your heart, Lord Jesus. So very Amen, I pray, in your name and for your glory.
