Sunday Service 7th June
- Jun 6
- 9 min read
How do we look at people?
How do we look at ourselves?
7/6/26
Call to worship
Hymn 179(MP): Go, tell it on the mountain
Time for all
Hymn 272(MP): I have decided to follow Jesus
Dedication of Offering
Reading: Luke 5: 27-32 Gil
Prayer (The Lord’s Prayer will be on the screen)
Hymn 500: Lord of creation
Sermon
Prayer
Hymn 502: Take my life
Benediction
Welcome to our meditation for 7th June.
One of my worries is that we don’t read the Bible critically enough. We just accept it as it is without considering just how radical it may be.
I think that is the case with our reading today and the call to Levi the tax collector.
So let’s hear that reading from Gil.
Prayer of Dedication of Offering
Heavenly Father,
You have led us to this place so that we may find hope and guidance. It is in hope and thankfulness that we give back to you a portion of what you have given to us. so we dedicate it to your work, as we dedicate our lives to your vision for the world.
Amen
Sermon
This is going to sound a bit strange, but I ask you to bear with me.
There is a presumption I think we have when we read the Bible.
This presumption is that Jesus is the ‘good guy’ in the narrative.
We just presume that if Jesus is doing something or saying something then it is the right thing. So we don’t look at his actions critically.
Now I am not saying that that is a bad thing to presume.
But I wonder if we might understand the Bible more if we didn’t make that presumption.
And I think today’s passage is a case in point.
Let’s look at this passage the way we would normally look at it.
Jesus goes up to Levi, a tax collector, during his working hours. He is taking taxes on the road. And he says to Levi, ‘Follow me.’
And Levi does.
Levi is so excited about this that he has a party so that he can introduce all his friends to this amazing guy Jesus. At that party the whole village has come to watch.
Let’s be blunt, in those days there was no television, there would be no theatre at that village, the only entertainment would be religious festivals, weddings, market days, maybe a travelling preacher...and the odd argument in the streets.
A party like this where there was potential for something to happen...maybe Jesus healing someone...well that was not to be missed.
And you know what, they get more than they expected, they get a religious fight between the Pharisees and Jesus.
And of course Jesus wins.
That fight then causes confusion with the people and there are lots of questions about fasting.
And you know what insights we get from that?
Nothing.
We don’t see anything wrong with Jesus giving Levi another chance,
we are happy about that because maybe we get another chance...if we need it...which we don’t because we already believe...believe enough to be (watching this message) at this service.
And we don’t really bother much about fasting, it is something we may do but we don’t get all het up about it.
So we read the passage and move on.
No great revelations, no great insights.
And the reason for that is our presumption that Jesus is the ‘good guy’.
And because Jesus is the god guy we never question what he does.
But what if he wasn’t the good guy?
What if Jesus annoys us?
What if Jesus is pushing our buttons?
What if Jesus is doing something that goes against everything we really believe?
What if Jesus is really challenging us?
Let me retell this story.
But not from the perspective of Jesus being the ‘good guy’...
what if I tell the story from the perspective of the Pharisees.
Jesus arrives at a new village.
Outside that village, waiting to take the ‘road and service taxes’ is a table with a few guards and a tax collector.
Now tax collecting isn’t just a job.
It’s a statement of religious belief.
You see tax collecting is what props up the illegal occupation of the Roman Empire of God’s Kingdom.
Deep down in their bones every true Jew knew that God had promised the land to Abraham and his ancestors.
When the people were faithful then that land and its people were blessed.
But when the people were unfaithful God had withdrawn his blessing and the people had been taken into exile and foreign rulers had occupied the land.
Only with repentance, only with a turning back to the faithful ways of God, had God miraculously returned the land to his faithful people.
To a faithful Jew there was nothing more disgusting than a Jew denying that truth.
Denying God’s ability to save his people and restore the land to the rightful descendants of Abraham.
Jews supporting the Roman occupation by becoming tax collectors,
collecting taxes that supported and extended the Roman occupation,
denying the sovereignty of God in his own land by recognising the Roman occupation as legitimate,
and doing that for nothing more than money, money that has the image of an emperor who claims to be a god in defiance of the One True God...
you couldn’t become a lesser human being than that.
In this environment, where hope is lost, the people doubt that anything will ever change, comes a faithful people...the Pharisees.
People dedicated to following the path set out in the scriptures.
They dedicate their lives to following the path of faithfulness and being an example for others to follow.
God has shown his love to his people by giving them laws that keep them true and honest and faithful. These laws set a framework for all people to guide their relationship with God and with others.
Keep the Sabbath holy.
Don’t lie.
Don’t steal.
Stay honest.
Stay faithful within your marriage.
Don’t be jealous or envious of others but be grateful for the blessings God has given you.
They set an example for others to follow.
And if enough people follow then God will see the people’s faithfulness and restore the kingdom.
Then comes John the Baptist with his call to repentance.
John is even stricter than they are, but they can agree with a lot of what he is saying, they can see where he is coming from. They even ask him if he is the Messiah, the one that leads them to a new beginning, the sign that God has forgiven the people and is returning the people to a new dawn of faithfulness.
And then comes Jesus.
And Jesus goes to a tax collector, someone who denies in his existence the sovereignty of God, and tells him to follow.
He doesn’t ask Levi to repent.
He doesn’t demand that Levi change his ways.
He just asks Levi to follow.
Levi then has a party where he invites all his other corrupt friends.
And Jesus goes along to this party...and has great time.
Jesus doesn’t use this as a platform to condemn them and their lifestyle.
Jesus doesn’t give a sermon on the ways of religious truth.
Jesus seems to think Levi and his friends are fine...his presence seems to be an acknowledgement that Levi and his friends are good people on a good path and should just carry on doing what they are doing because there is nothing morally wrong with their lives.
That is what the Pharisees are questioning.
I want you to imagine how some people think about President Trump.
The way he has treated women in the past.
The type of people he has had friendships with and what that may say about his moral compass.
The things he has been in court for and been found guilty of.
The things he has said about other people and they way he has treated other people.
It would be like Jesus appearing in America and turning up to the Oval Office and saying to Donald trump, ‘Follow me.’
And Donald follows him.
And in celebration Donald has a party, a fancy dress party at Mar-a-lago, like all the other ones he has had in the past...with all his elite friends,
with scantily clad girls sitting in giant cocktail glasses having campaign poured over them.
And Jesus says...nothing.
Jesus doesn’t condemn their excesses while millions of people starve.
Jesus doesn’t comment on how everyone there has access to the very best health care when they don’t need it,
while children are dying in Africa of an Ebola outbreak caused in part by the withdrawal of overseas aide to fund tax cuts to the very people at that party.
Jesus just floats around the party making small talk.
Now what do you think about that Jesus?
What would you say to that Jesus?
Would it be, ‘Why are you hanging about with these undeserving people when there are so many other people that need your help?’
Or to put it another way...
‘Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and other outcasts?’
There are two very different points to this passage.
The first is a direct challenge to us.
Who are we to look at others and write them off?
Who are we to think that before the eyes of God our wrongs are any less dark than anyone else’s?
Who are we to think that we are closer to God because in our eyes
our sins, our acts of selfishness, our moments of indifference to the plight of others, are not as serious as the people we look down on?
If our souls are a perfectly white wedding dress...are we better people because our wedding dress has a bit less mud on it?
Surely in the eyes of a perfect God, tainted is tainted.
The challenge that Jesus gives to the Pharisees is the same one that he gives to us.
It is not our place to write people off.
No matter who they are, no matter what they have done, or allegedly done.
No matter what they wear, no matter how they act, no matter what mistakes they have made.
It is not our place to write people off...no matter how low in the moral scale we put them...
Jesus didn’t write them off, and neither should we.
That’s the challenge of this passage...but this is the hope of this passage.
No matter what other people see in us, Jesus sees potential.
Jesus, not only didn’t write people off, he saw potential in people.
There is a good chance that everyone wrote Levi off.
And I include Levi in that.
Having made his choice at some point to be a tax collector,
whether that was because he couldn’t get another job and it was the only way in his eyes to make a living and support his family,
or whether it was because he was a truly selfish and greedy man...
having made that choice he was stuck...no one else would ever employ him, no one of any respectability would ever be his friend.
The only future that Levi had was the one he had created for himself and he was stuck with that.
That is what Levi would have believed...until Jesus showed him a different path, offered him a different path.
And that truth for Levi...is the same truth for us.
No matter what we have done,
no matter how stupid or selfish our actions of the past,
no matter how dark or hurtful our thoughts...
Jesus sees our potential, and offers us a path with him.
Our response?
I think Jesus’ hope would be that with time,
that we see others the way Jesus does, the way he sees us,
and that we treat others the same way that Jesus treats us.
Let us pray
Heavenly Father
we bring prayers to you today from a place of thanksgiving.
We have grateful, hopeful hearts, because Your Son Jesus has come into our lives and said, “Follow me”.
Despite our past, despite our follies, despite our mistakes, he said, ‘Follow me.’
We are here today because we long to follow.
We hear the prophet challenge us to
seek to share your bread with the hungry,
to bring the homeless poor into your house
to commit to covering the naked.
Help us to see our true gift.
We are the ones hungry for meaning.
We are the ones naked and ashamed of what we have done.
We are the ones who feel vulnerable in your presence.
Because we know who we are, and we are unsure of whether you accept us as we are.
And we have heard your voice.
For you have come to us where we are.
And without condition, without judgement, you have said, ‘Follow me.’
With thankfulness we then plead for others like us, others that need to hear your words...
those who are feeling trauma,
who are sick in spirit, who are mourning,
who feel regret,
who do not want to be the people they have become.
As you have become our Saviour, be their Saviour.
We pray for your Church in this community,
for each person seated beside us,
and for the person who would like to be here but is unable.
Make us aware of your movement in this place,
and prevent us from being a stumbling block for those in our community who need to feel your presence in their lives.
Gracious God,
you promise that when we call, you will answer.
In our calling, let us be open to the answering; always praying and believing: ‘Your will be done’.
Amen.
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