Following Jesus to the Levi Party
David W Palmer
Over the last couple of days, we have been looking at gathering people to follow Jesus. We have seen his amazing ability to connect with new people if given the opportunity; all we need to do is bring them to meet him. But we may well ask, “How do we go about this?” The first and most obvious way is to invite people to church; or better still, to be like the Good Samaritan who used his own donkey to bring the needy person to the “inn”—bring people to church. However, many other ways to get new people together with Jesus can be quite effective; and in many cases, more attractive to the invitee.
For example, in the following story Jesus found and called another “sinner” to follow him, Levi. Like Andrew and Philip, he too felt an urgency to bring his friends to meet Jesus. This is how his story begins:
(Mark 2:14 NKJV) As He passed by, He saw Levi the son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax office. And He said to him, “Follow Me.” So he arose and followed Him.
To work for the Romans in the hated occupation of tax collector, Levi had defected from loyalty to his own country. So he probably didn’t feel comfortable inviting his friends to the synagogue (church) to meet Jesus; they wouldn’t think that they would be welcome there. But he did have money, a house, and a large circle of sinner friends. What did he do to connect his friends with Jesus? Probably the only thing he felt comfortable with and qualified for … he hosted a get-together in the style he was confident with; he threw a “Levi” Party:
(Mark 2:15 NKJV) Now it happened, as He was dining in Levi’s house, that many tax collectors and sinners also sat together with Jesus and His disciples; for there were many, and they followed Him.
Levi may have felt un-welcomed by religious society; he may have felt rejected by his own nation for working in his lucrative choice of occupation. But he did have one skill—he could party—so that’s what he used to gather people to meet Jesus.
We note that when Jesus called to him, “Follow me,” that he arose immediately and followed. Luke’s account says: “So he left all, rose up, and followed Him” (Luke 5:28–32 NKJV). Because of leaving his employment, he now had no visible income stream, and was potentially going to lose his “house.” But he probably still had some cash; so, to get his friends and Jesus to meet, he did something he was good at: he had a huge dinner-party.
Levi may not have known theology or how to answer the questions his sinner friends would ask, so he invited Jesus—in other words, he prayed for Jesus’s manifested presence—and he invited a whole lot of Jesus’s genuine followers. He got them all together in his house, and just let it all happen.
In any group of true Jesus-disciples, a mix of gifts will be present: evangelists, hospitality, mercy, teachers, prophet-insights, exhorters (party starters), servers, … the list goes on. Under the prayer covering of Levi and others, all these gifts could operate; each person could fulfill their role in welcoming, explaining, etc.—all serving the sinner friends in one way or another. In the midst, Jesus could busily add them to himself.
As a result of all this, the party was going extremely well; Levi’s sinner mates were meeting Jesus personally, having their questions answered, and being shown love and acceptance … objective achieved! Until, that is …
(Mark 2:16 NKJV) And when the scribes and Pharisees saw Him eating with the tax collectors and sinners, they said to His disciples, “How is it that He eats and drinks with tax collectors and sinners?”
Could there be a worse imaginable scenario for Levi? His outreach strategy was working well until the over-religious Pharisees turned up. They were so set on religious formality, ladder climbing, and power structures that they had lost their heart for sinners.
(Mark 2:17 NKJV)
