Author : T.O.D. Johnston
Luke 5:27-32. The Call of Levi - Life-changing moment.Levi - also called Matthew - who also wrote the First Gospel. He was a tax collector - serving Herod Antipas who was in charge of that area. Between Acre on the Mediterranean Sea and Damascus, to the north, the road went past Capernaum. There a custom station was situated to collect taxes on goods transported on that road. All publicans were well-paid. They were considered hirelings of the hated foreigners - and considered as collaborators and outrageous sinners.Matthew must have heard and seen a great deal of the results of Jesus' ministry in that vicinity. It had an obvious effect. Jesus knew his heart and when He walked past him, He told him to follow Him as His disciple.Verses 28,29. Levi immediately followed Him, leaving everything behind. He wanted to celebrate and also make it possible for his fellow-publicans and acquaintances to see and hear Jesus. He prepared a great feast for Jesus at his house, and invited them.Verses 30-32. During the banquet some of the scribes and Pharisees come - probably uninvited - to watch Jesus. They object to His eating with such notorious sinners. Jesus replies that this is why He came - to reach sinners to call them to repentance. As a physician, He has come to make whole those that are sick. The righteous (or self-righteous) have no need of a physician. This is the opposite of the attitude of these people - who are above any association with such obvious outcasts.The highest calling of the Church also is the reaching out to outcasts, to sinners to repentance and forgiveness. Not to only offer an invitation to respectable or righteous people. The Pharisees' idea was salvation by separation, Jesus' is salvation by association.Verses 33-39. What Fasting Means. Luke now shows us how the ways of Jesus were different from those of John the Baptist and the Pharisees.Verse 33. From John 3:26 we see that some of John's disciples did not accept John's declarations about Jesus and actually became critical about Him and his disciples. They ask why Jesus and His disciples don't fast often and make supplications.Verses 34,35. Jesus replies asking if the friends of the bridegroom should fast while the bridegroom is with them. He tells them the time will come when the bridegroom will be taken away (Jesus' first hint of His coming death), and then they will fast from grief. After His resurrection and the giving of the Holy Spirit there would never again be a reason for grief or fasting in the sense of loss, because Jesus promises to be with every believer even unto the end of the world. Therefore peace and joy should be the spiritual attitude of a follower of Jesus.The author taught from the Gospel of Luke at Paran Baptist Church on Highway 341 / Johnsonville Hwy in Lake City, South Carolina. This commentary is based on the notes he took in preparation for the lessons. He now enjoys spending his time with his family, and at his art studio on 118 Sauls St., Lake City, South Carolina. The above lesson was excerpted from his online Holy Bible Commentaries.
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