Why Jesus Calls Sinners

Why would Jesus choose a man like Levi to be His disciple? As a tax collector, Levi had baggage. Wasn’t it obvious that a man like this, who was known for his corruption and collaboration with Rome, would be a liability?

The Pharisees grumbled, “Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?” (Luke 5:30). The disciples were probably asking the same question. “Jesus, why don’t you stick with fishermen like us? We may not have a fancy education like Levi, but at least we are known to be hardworking people who earn an honest living.”

Why did Jesus call Levi? Jesus said, “I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance” (Luke 5:32). The call of Levi is a marvellous example of grace.

Jesus calls the least likely and the least deserving. To Levi, who practiced extortion in his seedy little tax booth, Jesus said, “Follow me.” To the thief on the cross, a violent man who had hurled abuse at Jesus, He said, “Today you will be with me in paradise” (Luke 23:43).

And who would have imagined that Jesus would call Saul of Tarsus, who hated Christians and everything they stood for? Saul, who became known as Paul, confessed, “Even though I was once a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent man, I was shown mercy” (1 Tim. 1:13, NIV). Why? Because “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners” (1:15). That is grace!

God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God. (1 Cor. 1:27-29)

If there is hope for Levi and Saul of Tarsus, then there is hope in Jesus for you.

Which one of these characters—Levi, Saul, or the thief—is it hardest for you to imagine Jesus choosing? Why?

Written by Colin Smith
Read by Sue McLeish www.openthebible.org.uk