Follow Me

 

  Mk 2:13-17

Jesus Calls Levi and Eats With Sinners

¹³ Once again Jesus went out beside the lake. A large crowd came to him, and he began to teach them. ¹⁴ As he walked along, he saw Levi son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax collector’s booth. “Follow me,” Jesus told him, and Levi got up and followed him.

¹⁵ While Jesus was having dinner at Levi’s house, many tax collectors and sinners were eating with him and his disciples, for there were many who followed him. ¹⁶ When the teachers of the law who were Pharisees saw him eating with the sinners and tax collectors, they asked his disciples: “Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?”

¹⁷ On hearing this, Jesus said to them, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”

Levi heard the compelling command, "Follow me", and did just that, leaving his post as tax collector, becoming an Apostle and immortalized author of one of the Gospels.  As a young man, a tax collector working for the unpopular Roman conquerors, did he have any idea that his name and writings would still be influential 2000 years later? Of course not, but that's how God works with us, calling us to his plan which far surpasses anything we might dream up. Does Jesus still call today?  Yes, even amidst the din of rampant materialism and massive indifference, he calls. Some follow.others hesitate, and more reject the call. What is Jesus calling me to do? May I have the openness and generosity to respond with the decisiveness and confidence of Levi (Matthew).

Bro. Rene

Dear Jesus, you continue to call us to follow as you called Levi.  May we respond with his courage and readiness to leave all to follow you. Amen.