Click - MP3 Audio Message Download

Jesus came to call sinners to repentance

Luke 5:27-39

Key Verse: 5:32

             “I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.”

In last week’s passage, we learned that Jesus has power and authority to forgive all our dirty sins through his miraculous healings. When Jesus healed the leper and the paralytic physically and spiritually, people were “amazed and they gave praise to God. They were filled with awe and said, “We have seen remarkable things today.”” Yes, Jesus’ healing ministry was not just an inspirational story of random disabled people, but a most beautiful story that gives hope to the hopeless, strength to the weak, and most importantly forgiveness to the sinners. I pray that we can decide to humbly come to Jesus as we are, and Jesus will most definitely be willing to touch our wounds and heal us.

In today’s passage, Jesus calls Levi, the tax collector to follow him. Through the calling of Levi, we can see our true shepherd Jesus clearly. He has burning compassion for Levi, he discovers the hope in Levi, and calls him personally. When Levi feels Jesus’ love, he opens his heart, leaves everything, and follows Jesus. And this is the new beginning of Levi’s life. Through the calling of Levi, a public sinner, Jesus declares that he has come to call sinners to repentance. Today, let us thank God that Jesus came to call us, the sinners, praying for us to come to him with our true repentance. He has hope in us, so he calls us to follow him despite of our sins and weaknesses. I pray that we can make a decision with faith to leave everything and follow him.

1. Jesus calls Levi the tax collector (27-28)

Verse 27a says, “After this, Jesus went out and saw a tax collector by the name of Levi sitting at his tax booth.” After Jesus’ miraculous healing of the paralyzed man, he went out and saw who? He saw a tax collector named Levi, sitting at his tax booth alone. Here we should think about who this tax collector was and how Jesus saw this man. In Jewish society, tax collectors were social outcasts, which basically mean that everyone hated him. The tax collectors were separated from the people as public sinners along with the prostitutes and heartless criminals because they were the national traitors, who worked for the Roman officials and filled their bellies with extra money they collected. So whenever people saw Levi in public, they cursed at him, spitted at him, and despised him with all their hearts. And that day, like any other day, he was sitting at his tax booth, feeling so lonely and empty. You might ask why he decided to become a tax collector, a traitor of his nation, when he knew about all the negative consequences after becoming one.

His dream probably was not becoming a tax collector. He must have been bright and talented as a young man like our second generations sitting here, so artistic, athletic, and passionate for our interests. He probably had dream to be somebody great, one who can make difference in the world. But his life did not go the way he wanted it to. Under the Roman oppression, the Israelites could barely survive. They lost their hope and vision for their lives and their nation. Levi probably tried his best to be outstanding among the people so that he could be successful with his life. He pursued for the true happiness in the world. When his plans did not seem to work out, he finally decided to be a tax collector because he firmly believed that earning and spending lots of money would give him the satisfaction he has been eagerly looking for. He knew that his own people would oppose him and abandon him for his decision. But he made such a decision because he believed in the power of money.

We also many times fail to keep our hearts pure before God by making decisions to satisfy our sinful and human desires. We know that they are wrong, and they will only leave us with wounded hearts. However, the Satan makes us believe that it’s all worth it. I also sought for many things to give myself pleasure and happiness. Believing that money and the materials of the world would satisfy me, I stole so much money from everywhere and shoplifted in countless stores until God taught me the lesson in a hard way by letting police give me a free ride. Believing that the romance would fill my empty spot in my heart, I sought for love from the ladies around me, and filled myself with lustful and perverted thoughts and actions. I believed that it all would be worth it. However, the pleasure was instant, and what the Satan left me with were the wounded heart, shame, and guilt. I always felt lost and condemned because of my sins.  Likewise, we constantly make such mistakes to follow the way of the world. And we compromise with the seriousness of our sins, saying “It is okay”. But the truth is that the things of this world cannot satisfy our thirsty souls. They cannot give us true joy and meaning of life. The pleasure the world provides disappoints us every time, leaving us hungrier and thirstier for more.

Levi was in this situation. Although he accomplished his goal to be a rich man that he could anything and everything the money could do. He could wear designer clothes everyday, he could enjoy the best food in Israel, He could live in the fanciest house in the town. He could have bowling lanes and karaoke built in his house. But he still was not happy. Something was missing in his heart. He was lonely. He needed somebody to reach out his hands to him. But the reality did was a cruel one. People despised him daily and publically. They said, “You are such a disgrace. You are a dirty pig. You deserve to go to hell.” In such a hopeless situation, when nobody wanted to be even near him, Jesus’ heart was broken for him.

When Jesus saw him, sitting at his tax booth, he understood him. Jesus saw him with a broken shepherd heart. To Jesus, Levi was not a heartless traitor or disgrace to the nation but a lost sheep who needed a shepherd. What’s more, Jesus saw him with hope; the hope that he can be forgiven of all his sins, and start growing as a disciple of Jesus. So finally, Jesus calls him, “Follow me,” “Follow me” was Jesus’ personal invitation and a challenge to become his friend and his disciple. Jesus was about to be involved in Levi’s life, and Levi was about to renew and restart his life once again. Likewise, when Jesus sees us, he does not condemn us or criticize us, but sees us with the hope of God. Do you see yourself with hope? And look around. Do you see the people around you with the hope of God? Can you see them as lost sheep without a shepherd who need Jesus’ love and mercy? Can you see any hope in them? Or only their mistakes and faults?

Let us give thanks to Jesus for He has hope in me and you even though we feel hopeless ourselves. Jesus has great plan and vision for us. Jesus has hope for us to repent our sins before him, and be healed in our hearts. He hopes that we may be found in him, and even grow as his disciples who can see our friends with the hope of God, too. Let us pray that we may start seeing ourselves and others with the hope of God.

Now, how did Levi respond to Jesus’ calling. Let us read verse 28, “and Levi got up, left everything and followed him.” Levi’s response sounds similar to how the paralyzed man responded to Jesus’ miraculous healing. In last week’s passage, Jesus said to the paralyzed man, "I tell you, get up, take your mat and go home." ²⁵Immediately he stood up in front of them, took what he had been lying on and went home praising God.” Levi had been paralyzed by his sins. He was like a prisoner who was locked up in the condemnation and hatred of the world. And when Jesus called him, “Follow me”, he knew that this was a calling of his life. Jesus’ calling healed his paralyzed heart, and set him free from guilt and shame. He now knew where to go because he decided to follow Jesus. Jesus came to his heart, and Levi was the happiest man on earth. He finally felt the happiness that he had been looking for all his life. And he made a brave decision to leave everything behind to follow Jesus wherever he may go.

Jesus is also calling us, who are paralyzed by our sins saying, “follow me,” Jesus surely knows everything about us, and everything that we are going through; He is our true friend and our savior. He calls us because he knows the way in and way out. He wants to be involved in our life. He wants to help us to find the meaning of our life, and most of all, he wants to us to find the true rest in him. Jesus said in Matthew 11:28, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened and I will give you rest.” Amen. Let us pray that we may hear Jesus’ calling today. He is calling each of us, “Follow me, come to me.” Then how can we follow Jesus? First, we must leave everything behind. We should leave our sinful and worldly desires before Jesus, decide to struggle with our sins with the word of God, and wash ourselves everyday with the blood of Jesus. We cannot serve two masters at the same time. And Jesus wants our whole heart. I pray that we may make a small effort to come to him as we are. Jesus will surely bless our hearts as we do so. And Jesus will show us the way, and give us new life.

2. I have come to call sinners to repentance (29-32)

Now Levi felt like he was born again. He was filled with thanks and hope that he could start his life all over again. And now, he was not afraid of the people since Jesus became his best friend forever. Looking at verse 29, “(Then) Levi held a great banquet for Jesus at his house, and a large crowd of tax collectors and others were eating with them.” Levi had prepared a great banquet, not just a dinner for Jesus at his house. He prepared the best food and wine, and invited his fellow tax collectors to celebrate the new beginning of his life. Everyone was happy in the great banquet, congratulating Levi for his brave decision. And probably Jesus was the happiest among them because He rejoices when a lost sinner becomes found in him, and be born again.

But there appears a group of people who were not happy at all. Look at verse 30. “³⁰But 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'?" To their way of thinking, public sinners should be separated from the people for the good of the community. To them, it was such a disgrace and shame to even eat with the sinners. They were blinded by their self-righteousness that they failed to see their own sins of pride and selfishness, and only condemned the public sinners. They thought they were right to criticize Jesus' disciples. And Jesus responds to them with a powerful message. Let us read verses 31 and 32. ³¹Jesus answered them, "It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. ³²I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance." When the religious leaders looked at the sinners as hopeless and useless people, Jesus saw them as patients who needed a doctor. Just as he had compassion on the man with leprosy and the paralytic, he had compassion on spiritually sick people. Although Jesus was a holy man of God with no sins, he took the responsibility to heal them as a spiritual doctor.

Here we can learn Jesus' heart. It is like that of a passionate doctor for his patients. When we come to Jesus with our wounds and sicknesses, he does not criticize us for our mistakes and send us away empty-handed. Rather He accepts us and heals us with his precious blood. This time, let us ask ourselves, are we sick? Are we wounded by the world, are we wounded by our sins? We are wounded by the hatred and jealousy?

I was very much wounded in my heart because of my lustful sins and love of money. As sins were building up, my heart became numb to sin, and I was totally paralyzed with no hope, no direction, and no life. I was in great need of a doctor who could humbly come to dirty sinner like me, and reach out his hands and touch my shame and guilt. And Jesus says to us today, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous but the sinners to repentance.”

Let us give thanks to Jesus who came to call sinners like us, to repentance. Dear Father, please help us to see Jesus who came down to the earth to forgive us in our sins. Please grant us the heart of repentance to deeply repent of our mistakes and sins. Amen. Jesus is calling us today. Let us listen to his voice and come and follow him. Amen.

3. New wine into new wineskin (37-39)

In the last verses of today’s passage, Jesus tells us a parable of wine and wineskins as a response to the religious leaders’ spiritual blindness and arrogance. Let us read verses 37 and 38. ^“And no one pours new wine into old wineskins. If he does, the new wine will burst the skins, the wine will run out and the wineskins will be ruined. ³⁸No, new wine must be poured into new wineskins.” Here the new wine represents Jesus’ word himself and the wineskins represent our heart and attitude towards Jesus.

Jesus' disciples were like new wineskins. They were eagerly willing to learn from Jesus. They were very humble and flexible to Jesus’ teaching. They had just tasted his grace of forgiveness of sins and had committed their lives to him. They decided to follow him anywhere and do whatever he told them to do.

On the other hand, the religious leaders were like the old wineskins. They were hardened; not being able to expand themselves to learn from Jesus, but only became proud of their spiritual experience and long life as God’s chosen people. The worship they did every week was missing their passion, heart, and love for God. Their praise were habitual and nothing more than lip service before the crowd. The word of God was filled in their head, but failed to go down to their deep hearts.

Here we want to think about what wineskins we are. Are we the new one that is burnding with passion to listen and follow Jesus? Or are we the old one that cannot expand anymore for Jesus’ love and grace? Let us reflect ourselves with Jesus’ word, and repent for being old wineskins that say, “I am okay.” Let us repent of our habitual worship and lip service before God. Let us come to Jesus with new wineskins, so that we can humbly learn from Jesus, accept his teachings, and follow him by faith. God sees our hearts more than the actions displayed. May God grant us new and pure hearts.

             Today, Jesus says to us, “it is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. So, follow me.” This makes us so happy and full of hope. I pray that we can open our ears and hearts to hear Jesus’ calling, and decide to leave useless things of the world behind, and follow him. This is not going to be easy decision to make because we might think that we are losing so much. But what is more important and worthier than gaining our new life. May God help us and bless us with this word.