JP17: LEAVE EVERYTHING. GAIN EVERYTHING

According to recent media reports from an arranged marriage culture, a man refused to marry his bride because her family failed to prepare his favorite dish for the wedding feast.  He married another woman later that day.  Similarly, a bride refused to marry her groom on their wedding day upon discovering he needed glasses to read.

In both cases, one saw the other’s imperfections as weaknesses.  By contrast, Jesus sees our flaws as opportunities, just like when he met a most unlikely disciple on the way out of town.

Luke reveals the telling scene in his Gospel:

After this he (Jesus) went out and saw a tax collector named Levi, sitting at the tax booth. And he said to him, “Follow me.” And leaving everything, he rose and followed him. And Levi made him a great feast in his house, and there was a large company of tax collectors and others reclining at the table with them. And the Pharisees and their scribes grumbled at his disciples, saying, “Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?” And Jesus answered them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance.”  Luke 5:27–32

Jesus’ searching eyes most frequently fell on people who were despised, rejected, and maligned.  He saw the most isolated, spiritually needy people in society and gave them his attention—a person just like Levi, sitting in the tax collector’s booth at the city’s edge.  If you’re feeling like Levi, Jesus sees you too.

I am pretty sure that when Levi began his day, he did not expect to become a member of the kingdom of God, but that was about to change as he saw the crowd approaching and found himself in the gaze of Jesus.  

Following

Not one for small talk, Jesus poses to Levi a costly but straightforward invitation - “Follow me.”  "Follow me" is both a command and a tremendous opportunity to leave one's old life for faith-filled service to Jesus and His kingdom.  For Levi, following Jesus involved an all-or-nothing faith choice.  Because, unlike other disciples who could return to fishing for their livelihood, there was no going back to service as a tax collector after quitting.

Wholehearted in his response,  Levi transferred ownership of his life to Jesus, choosing the riches of God's kingdom and the value of people over job security and service to self.  By leaving everything, Levi gained everything that God’s perfect will provides. He then prepares a massive feast for Jesus and invites all of his tax collector friends and associates in celebration.  

Loving

Hosting this reception signaled full acceptance of all who entered the house, disturbing the self-righteous onlookers.  A party-with-sinners way of living did not sit well with religious people because such overt acceptance and proximity were violations of their contrived religious traditions.

Our neighbors will believe that we love them when they know that we like them.  Sharing a meal is one way to say, “We like you, accept you, and want to know you.”  Jesus' full acceptance of Levi instantly changed his life, and it can change those around you too.  

One often hears the familiar principle that God doesn’t call the equipped; he equips the called, and such is the case with Levi.  Also known as Matthew, we have an entire Gospel account written by Levi - a tax collector who celebrated his new life with Jesus by hosting a dinner for outcasts.

Leaving

Do you feel like past choices and present circumstances have sidetracked your life?  The eyes of Jesus look past all of that to our hearts.  What you can do for God does not determine your potential. Instead, potential for a fruitful life flows through what God can do through your yielded heart.  We open the door to these promises, just like Levi, when we decide to leave everything behind to follow Jesus.

Levi’s response is not unique to a special kind of spiritual person.  The same invitation that Jesus offered to Levi is ours today.  That invitation is to leave everything to follow Jesus, making his kingdom plans our daily schedule by the grace that God supplies.  Just as there was no way for Levi to remain part tax collector, there is no way for us to follow Jesus halfway.

Let us follow Jesus with our whole hearts by transferring ownership of our lives to our King while taking specific steps to offer full acceptance to our neighbors, coworkers, and friends.  

Can you Imagine Jesus meeting Levi/Matthew in heaven and the conversation they had?  I wonder if they talked about that day when Jesus saw Levi at the tax booth.  It might sound something like this, “Jesus, that day you saw me at the tax booth changed my life.  Yes, Levi, I remember seeing you and how you responded so quickly.  Yes, Lord, I left everything that day, but then I gained everything!”

Prayer:

Lord Jesus, I am glad that your eyes fell on me when I was far away from you.  Thank you for leading me out of darkness and into the light of your love and presence.  Like Levi, I leave everything to follow you.  Teach me how to take steps of faith that bring heaven’s full acceptance to the people you have placed around me.  In this way, I know that I will be following your example and loving my neighbors as you have loved me.  Amen.

Leaving Everything to Gain Everything:

1. Remember that your inherent worth flows from your identity as a human being, created by God in his image.

For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place, when I was woven together in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be. Psalms 139:13-16

2. Trust Jesus to transform that part of your nature corrupted by Adam’s sin.

Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man (Adam), and death through sin, and in this way death came to all people, because all sinned … For if, by the trespass of the one man, death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive God’s abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ! Romans 5:12, 17

3. Move toward people who are the farthest away from the Kingdom of God, offering love, acceptance, and an invitation to join up with you.

Jesus replied, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” Matthew 22:37-40

4. Leave your future in the capable hands of Jesus.

Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it. What good will it be for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul? For the Son of Man is going to come in his Father’s glory with his angels, and then he will reward each person according to what they have done.” Matthew 16:24-27