Title: The Sinner's Friend / Luke 5:27-39
Contents
sinner's friend
Text: Luke 5:27-39
We believe that our God is with you today with abundant grace.
'Levi' is the name of the Lord's disciple Matthew. However, please do not misunderstand that Matthew belongs to the tribe of Levi. Matthew is the man who sat at the customs office to collect taxes. The name Matthew means a gift, a gift from God. Some scholars say that the name 'Matthew' was given by Jesus when Levi was called to be a disciple of Jesus. It can be said that Jesus, who gave Simon the name Peter, also gave Levi the name Matthew.
Matthew, as his name implies, is a man who has received many gifts from God. There are not many personal sources of Matthew. However, Matthew was the one who wrote the first book of the Gospels, the Gospel of Matthew, and compared to the other disciples, most of whom were fishermen, Matthew was the only official. Let's look at the words recorded in Mark 2:14. "As he was passing by, he saw Levi the son of Alphaeus sitting at the customs office, and he said to him, "Follow me." So he got up and followed him." Luke says, "Follow me." So he left everything and got up and followed. and recorded. (Luke 5:27-28)
How did the Lord do it, like a piece of iron clinging to a fern, how did he leave everything and follow Jesus at the one word of 'Follow me'?
1. Matthew was a publican.
A tax collector is a civil servant. Especially those who handle public money. Not only in Judea, but also in the East and West, publicans were hated. At that time, there were two types of publicans in the Jewish nation. 1) A person who regularly collects taxes. 2) It is a tax collector accepted by customs. People who receive regular taxes are called Cabai, who are regular tax receivers. They are people who are relatively less prone to fraud because they receive regular bills and accept taxes as they are now. The regular taxes paid by the Jews at that time were 1/10 of the grain harvest, 1/5 of wine, fruit and oil, and 1% of other personal income, plus a head tax paid by everyone. The cap tax is 1 denarius per year for men between the ages of 14 and 65 and women between the ages of 12 and 65. One denarius was the daily wage of a healthy adult at the time. Tax collectors who receive money from customs are called Mokhes. They collected a tax ranging from 2.5 to 12.5% on the price of all imports and exports. This income became the main source of financial resources for the Roman government.
In addition to this, there is a tax on buying and selling all goods, crossing rivers and bridges, crossing duty, crossing roads, tax, entering a port, tax, entering markets and cities, tax, animal tax for pulling carts, embarkation tax on ships, wharf Even if you use the tax, you collected taxes in the name of this and that. Therefore, this tax collector has robbed a great deal of illicit gain, and has given them the power to search anyone anywhere. Therefore, their tyranny and injustice were indescribable.
Naturally, people stayed away from these tax collectors. At that time, Judah was a Roman colony, and it would not seem good to collect taxes and bring them to the Roman government. From the point of view of the strict Jews, the offering would be dedicated to God only, and it would not have been a good idea to give it to anyone else. For this reason, from the point of view of faithful Jews, tax collectors were perceived as thieves and robbers.
Therefore, publicans could not stand as judges or witnesses. Also, he could not attend the worship service to God. John, who was baptizing in the Jordan River, told the tax collectors not to accept anything other than the set tax. See also what is recorded in Luke 18. The publican stood far away and did not dare raise his eyes to look up to the sky, but only beating his chest and praying. It was not only in the temple that tax collectors were so hated. Their infidelity, greed, and vicious behavior were known to the whole world.
A Roman official who noticed this fact chose to collect the money himself, but the hatred of the publican still remained in the hearts of the people. When he said that he was a publican, he was seen as a vulture who sells his people to his enemies, an oppressor who deprived his nation of profits, and a person who pays tithes due to God to the Roman government, which is the power of Satan. Therefore, the Jews regarded these tax collectors as sinners. They were regarded as strangers and sinners as those who had been abandoned by God.
Among these tax collectors, Jesus saw Matthew called Levi. At the same time, he was sitting at the customs office and received the Lord's call. Jesus' call did not only call the godly and clean people like the Pharisees, but also tax collectors and sinners. Do you believe that you are here today, not because you have a good job or because of some good deed, but only because of his mercy?
2. Matthew gave a feast.
It was not for him that Matthew made a feast in his house. What kind of feast can you hold in a position where people are glaring at you? But since Matthew was born, there was no joy like today. Because to him, whom no one knows, only Jesus said, 'Follow me!' because you asked for it. At the feast, Levi invited not only Jesus, but also people like himself, many tax collectors. Many others were also invited. The reason is not elsewhere. It was because he wanted to show off to many people the Jesus who called him.
Our life can be seen as a series of eating and drinking. The first chapter of the Bible introduces a woman who was tempted by eating at the beginning of mankind. Eve fell and Adam stumbled because of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Salome, the daughter of Herodias, captured Herod's heart at a banquet and hunted down John the Baptist's head. Sometimes a feast serves to accelerate the life of the righteous. It is not uncommon for celebrities who rule a country to lose their fame at a feast. You don't know how many lives are conquered for what they eat. Haman, who hated Mordecai, was also very happy that he was invited to the banquet prepared by Esther, but he never dreamed that it would be the last supper to end his life. Like this, some feasts decorate the end of one's life.
But here is another feast. It is a feast in heaven. This feast is the feast of salvation. Usually the banquet house is bustling. If you look at a house that is also a restaurant, it is crowded and noisy. When you see Koreans making mistakes when they go abroad, it is called restaurant etiquette. The voice is loud. The sound of the bowl is loud. Shake knives and forks while talking. This is an example of a foreign country. It is a courtesy that needs to be corrected while living in the era of globalization. However, one thing is clear: the banquet house must have many guests. A banquet house without guests is not suitable.
Jesus also talked about a banquet house (Luke 14: ).
Someone made a big feast and made plans to have special guests. But even when the appointed time came, no one came. How embarrassed was the owner? I quickly sent people to find out, and there was a reason.
1) Forgive me because I have to buy a field and go out to see it.
2) I bought five yoke of oxen, and I am going to test it. Please forgive me.
3) I am married, therefore I cannot go.
The owner was very angry. The master sent his servants to the streets and alleys of the city to bring people in. What kind of people did the owner specifically designate? The poor, the sick, the blind and the lame. However, when he reported that there was still space left, the master said to the servant, 'Go out into the road and along the hillside, and compel people to take them and fill my house.' commanded. But no one who was previously invited shall taste my banquet. There is a great secret in this parable.
As those who were invited to the kingdom of heaven first refused the invitation, the glory was filled with others, the poor, the sick, the blind and the lame. The way we live in this world is just poor, sick, and lame people like tax collectors and despised and despised. If you say no, you're just a little better than others. It's just acorn sizing. Don't despise others for something a little better. That doesn't mean we go before God. When we come before God, we must come before God with the emotion of this grace that He has called despite our shortcomings. Therefore, the church should be like a banquet house. There should be a buzzing heat like customers coming into a restaurant. The atmosphere of worship and the movement of those who serve in it should be enjoyable. This movement is a movement that comes out of a zeal to love and save souls. It is distinct from worldly pleasures.
The Pharisees did not know this. They accused Jesus of being 'a friend of tax collectors and sinners'. A glutton and wine drinker, a friend of tax collectors and sinners. But Jesus' purpose is not different. It's just a thought to save souls. Jesus rebuked the Pharisees who called but did not come. 'Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for you travel between sea and land to get one church member, and when you do, you make them twice as many children of hell as you are. (Mt 23:15)
3. Jesus is the sinner's friend.
Jesus said this at a feast. 'Is not the doctor for the healthy? I did not come to call the righteous. I have come to call sinners to repentance.' These words have a very important meaning. At that time, the Pharisees questioned Jesus. 'The disciples of John fast and pray often, and so do the disciples of the Pharisees, but your disciples eat and drink.'
The accusation is that your disciples are perhaps so engrossed in eating and drinking, just like the feast Matthew arranged. Matthew's idea is to make Jesus known to many of his friends through a feast. All we can do is throw a feast, invite people, and make Jesus known to them. Matthew's enthusiasm did not end at the feast. He wrote the Gospels. He is the only disciple who wrote the Gospel among the disciples of the Lord. Matthew contains many of Jesus' teachings in his Gospel.
Disciple who was despised, Matthew who was despised, but the Lord made him a disciple and made him his co-worker. He has transformed a worthless being into the most valuable person. The Lord, who is the friend of the publican Matthew, wants to be our friend today. As long as we respond to His call, we too become friends.