March 9, 2026

GOD’S WORD FOR TODAY:

“Once again, Jesus went out beside the lake. A large crowd came to him, and He began to teach them. 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.”

(Mark 2.13-14)

TODAY’S REFLECTION ON GOD’S WORD:

The call of Levi bar Alphaeus, Matthew, provides one of the most dramatic scenes of all with its context. Mark tells us specifically that Levi’s tax collector’s booth as at the waterfront. Most likely it was along a wharf where the fishing boats came to unload their fish for sale in the market. It would have been a convenient location for a tax collector. He could assess taxes on the selling and the buying of fish, fish products and fishing services. It would also lend itself to another storied explanation as reported in Matthew 17. It was there that Matthew shared a story on paying a temple tax. Jesus directed Peter to go and catch a fish. In the mouth of the fish was a gold coin sufficient to pay the tax for both Peter and Jesus. A miracle story? Of course. What is the miracle? That Peter was once again instructed to catch fish. In that catch comes a sufficiency to meet the need. This is usually what happens when Jesus brings about answers and solutions to problems. We saw it in the story of “The Fishes and the Loaves.” We saw it in the healing of the Ten Lepers as nine ungrateful lepers were healed as was one who returned to give thanks. It rains on the just and the unjust. The different would be how the miracle was received and perceived. Was the miracle transformational touching the soul? Was the miracle a conditional blessing satisfying a life need without thought of the future? Isn’t that the message of our salvation? For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. In Christ Jesus, all have been saved. Yet, in the midst of that salvation, who received the true benefit of it? Those who, as the Apostle Paul taught, work out their salvation? Or those who still maintained salvation by works? It would seem that those who pursued the Kingdom of God in a state of salvation received the fullest benefit of it. As for those who did not? Jesus would say “Depart from Me for I never knew you.”

How then does this help us read the story of Levi bar Alphaeus, Matthew, and his answering the call to discipleship? Let’s set his call into context. That context was a healing of a lamb man who was brought by four friends to Jesus. The house where Jesus was staying in and teaching from was filled to overflowing with people. In truth, Luke gives us an even keener insight as to the make-up of that group. For Mark and Matthew, it is a great crowd who has gathered there because Jesus had “come home.” Luke tells us that is a gathering of Pharisees and teachers of the Law who had come from Galilee, Judea and Jerusalem. It was a regular conclave, it would seem. I am sure this would have gotten the attention of a lot of people. We know the story well. Unable to get their friend in to Jesus through the crowd, they made a hole in the roof overhead and lowered the man down to Jesus. We only know of two other situations where “from above” is used in the gospel of Jesus. One situation referred to “manna from Heaven.” The other speaks of “the Holy Spirit descending from Heaven.” The man is presented as a “god send” to Jesus. It was not there intention to give Jesus an “object lesson.” They knew that Jesus could heal their friend. Jesus did. It created a stir among the religious representatives as to who had the authority to “forgive sins.” You can easily imagine then the follow up question of “what is the condition of the one who sins were forgiven by this questionable source.” There was another time such a question was raised. In that story, the blind man who was healed was called in and questioned by the High Priest, the Pharisees and the Teachers of the Law. It did not fare so well for them. This scene was no different. Jesus not only forgave the man his sins (as the religious leaders associated illness with unrighteousness) but healed him so that his righteousness based on the faith of his friends had saved him from the alienation and isolation the religious leaders had fostered as a discerning culture and climate of the day.

This was the lead up to Levi being called to follow Jesus. Tax collectors, especially Jews who decided to serve Rome as a tax collector, were looked down upon more so than Samaritans. Following this miracle moment of healing a man and “confronting” the religious elite, Jesus steps away and finds sees another “lost one of Israel.” It would seem that in Matthew and Luke, it would have been in the marketplace or perhaps at the city gate. In Mark, Jesus returns to the lakeside. Ah, the power of water to transform out of the old and into the new. We do not know much more about Levi than he was a tax collector. We do know that he immediately responded by leaving everything (his livelihood) and followed Jesus. His response was like that of the fishermen who did as well. We also know that Levi brought Jesus into his home (we heard the same with Peter). He not only had a celebration feast with Him but invited other tax collectors to join in and hear what Jesus had to say. The call was apparently like “the Shepherd speaking to sheep who had no shepherd.” These sheep heard their name called by the Great Shepherd and came to Him. Are we hearing the Shepherd’s call? Are we responding in faith for the greatest healing of all which is our salvation and eternal life? Are we are willing to surrender our livelihood to follow Jesus and use our influence to invite others to “come and see and believe”? Is there anyone who will be refused the opportunity? No, there are only those who refuse the opportunity. Woe to them!

TODAY’S PRAYER OF THANKSGIVING:

Father, in these days we are finding the need to believe even more than ever before. We all have known trouble, some in greater ways than others, but You are offering us the assurance that we will not be consumed by it forever. Regardless of the “time” we are in and the “time” we have been given, we ask for Your Holy Spirit which Jesus asked You to share with us, to lead and guide and direct us in the paths we should go. Teach us what we still need to learn. Empower us to put that learning into action. Bless our actions not as a works righteousness but as righteous works of faith, hope and love in Jesus’ name. AMEN.