Editor’s Note: This is part two of an article submitted by Rev. Dr. James Barnes.

Luke 5:28 says he forsook everything. Why does Luke tell us that interesting fact? Because if you were a fisherman and followed Jesus and it didn’t work out you could always go back to fishing. But once you walk away from a tax franchise, there is no turning back, someone else would have taken over your tax booth and there would be nothing to go back to.

So when Luke says he forsook all, he meant it. There was no return. Levi abandons everything which had been everything. That is the kind of man Levi is. He knew he was a sinner, knew there was nothing in himself to commend himself to God. He was hopeless, doomed, damned and he believed in Jesus and wanted forgiveness and Jesus knew it. So when Jesus said follow me Levi got out of that tool box so fast and left it behind. He had a new heart, a new mind, new longings, and new desires and never looked back. Levi, the traitor, the extortioner, the robber, the outcast, the greedy, abusive sinner became an apostle and a writer of the history of Jesus. He lost a career but gained eternal glory. He lost material possessions but gained heaven. He lost earthly security but gained a heavenly inheritance. He knew Jesus had come to give him salvation.

Secondly, we see the Community of sinners in v.15. Matthew is filled with gratitude. He is thrilled with what Jesus has done in his life so he has a banquet. Luke 5:29 must have had a large house because he had a crowd at the banquet. They were reclining. That is hard for me to envision because I eat sitting up. But it was a lavish feast as they must have listened to Levi Matthew gives his testimony to all his friends. Who were his friends? All the dishonorable, rejected, despised tax collectors because they were the only people he knew to associate with. He invited them all and it is a revival. All these tax collectors, thieves, thugs, enforcers, drunkards, prostitutes, and all the dregs of society. Jews would call them the people of the dirt, people who would never get to heaven, never could get to heaven and through Jesus they did. Jesus was there with his disciples. The common denominator was they were following Jesus because he was the friend of sinners.

That leads us to the Contempt of the self-righteous. The scribes of the Pharisees saw that Jesus was eating with tax collectors and sinners, they were shocked beyond words, stunned, couldn’t believe it. Eating symbolized acceptance, even more, friendship. How can Jesus do this? How could one who claimed to be the Messiah, the Son of God, the Lord of heaven, the Savior do this? Luke says they began to grumble and in rhetorical fashion as a stinging rebuke say, why is he eating with tax collectors and sinners? It was to be a stinging rebuke, a bitter vindictive, outrageous indictment of Jesus. The gospel is a conflict between grace and all other religions; between faith and works; between divine accomplishments and human achievement. So, true to their religion, they registered their vindictive outrage.

So you have the call of Matthew, the community of sinners, the contempt of the religious leaders, and finally, the condemnation of Jesus in v.17. Hearing what the scribes said, Jesus responded, “It is not those who are healthy who need a Physician, but those who are sick.” His answer is twofold. First an analogy: Doctors go to sick people. Jesus is the spiritual doctor. He is the physician, the healer and he needs to go to the people who need to be healed. You scribes have already labeled these people as sinners, doesn’t it make sense that if a Savior comes, he goes to sinners? That was a strong indictment of their cold hearts. The first response of Jesus is from an analogy, the second is from authority. I didn’t come to call the righteous, but sinners. Luke adds ‘to repentance.’ He is saying to the scribes, I didn’t come to call you. As long as you continue to think you are righteous, you will die in your sins, and where I go, you will never come. I accept your diagnosis. I accept your delusion. You don’t need me so I have nothing to offer you. They were so far off from God, they could identify people as sinners and instead of wanting to be the source of their healing and bringing them spiritual well-being, they had no mercy on them. Thus they hated Jesus. So it is today.

The church of Jesus Christ is not made up of good people; it’s made up of bad people. It is not made up of people who think they are righteous; it’s made up of people who know they are not. It’s not made up of people who have attained a certain acceptable degree with God; it’s made up of people who know they could never attain to an acceptable place before God. It’s not made up of people who think they’re good, it’s made up of people who know they are wicked. It’s not made up of people who have achieved righteousness on their own; it’s made up of people who have received righteousness from God as a gift.

Yes, Jesus has the authority to forgive sin, but the only sin he can forgive is the sin of those who know their wretchedness, acknowledge it, and put their trust in him.

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The Rev. Dr. James Barnes is currently the pastor of White Memorial Church in Milroy.