Introduction
Today’s reading is rather short and abrupt and we gain the impression that Jesus was wandering past Levi’s tax collecting booth, looked up, called him, and he followed. However, it probably didn’t happen quite like that but we need to explore this passage a bit further before its meaning for us becomes clearer.
Tax Collectors
Tax collectors in the gospel get a very bad press and I always feel a bit sorry for them, but there again I almost became one – I just failed the maths exam but that is another story.
Mark Twain once said that there were just two certainties in life – death and taxes. All societies need to raise money in order to run the government and provide the various services that we want to see in our world. We pay taxes and know they go to fund schools and hospitals, to look after those who are too ill to work or those who are looking for work. Our taxes pay for the defence of our country and to help developing countries. We get a chance, every four years or so, to vote on who will spend our taxes the most wisely. Tax is a condition of living in a society where various things are done for us and on our behalf.
We are used to modern tax collectors who very rarely interact with us. If we work the chances are we pay our tax as we earn – indeed we very rarely look at the top of the payslip but at the bottom to see what has been sent to our bank after deductions. It is only really those of us who are self employed who have any dealings with tax collectors. And we don’t normally see them as evil!
However, tax collectors in the time of Jesus were not seen as nice people. Firstly, the taxes were collected in the name, mainly, of an occupying power. The Jewish people paid some of their taxes to the Romans who were hated as they oppressed the Jewish people and ran their country for them. Those who collected taxes, therefore, were seen as working for an occupying power. Being a tax collector was a lucrative and politically important occupation that started in Israel during Greek rule and was continued by the Romans. Tax collectors were contracted by civic officials to collect various taxes. Jews were subject to religious taxes, temple taxes, and tithes of produce as well as taxes to the Roman occupying power.
But it gets worse! Apart from collecting taxes on behalf of a hated occupying power, tax collectors were also dishonest. Tax collectors collected more money than the Romans wanted and kept the profit for themselves. This was because the Romans franchised out the trade and expected a certain amount of money. The Romans had very vague rules on how much should be collected and it was up to each local tax collector to interpret the rules himself. The tax collectors saw any profit, therefore, as the legitimate rewards of the trade. Of course the poor who paid the tax were unhappy with being cheated. This meant that, in general, the people who worked in this trade were dishonest and had no scruples.
The Jewish people hated tax collectors. They were despised because they worked for the Roman occupying power and because they collected more money than they should have done. Because of their compliance with Rome they were usually excommunicated from their Synagogues.
Levi
So having learnt a little bit about tax collectors at the time of Jesus what do we know about Levi? The first thing to note is his name. It would appear he was a Levite – if this is so he would have been part of the priestly caste who should have served at the Temple – hardly a good start for a tax collector!
We know Levi was rich, because he was able to hold a feast in his home. It is likely that Levi’s tax booth was in a good location to collect tariffs from merchant goods in transit by the sea.
We do know that Jesus has been in the region of Capernaum for some weeks teaching and healing and preaching. Maybe Levi had been coming to some of Jesus’ meetings, maybe they had already chatted, maybe Levi had seen some miracles and had really got Jesus under his skin. No matter what happened, on the day we read of in our reading today, Jesus calls and Levi gets up and follows. Not the most likely disciple but, there again, nor are we!
Discipleship
Levi’s getting up and leaving his booth to follow Jesus was radical. We know from other tax collectors who came to Jesus that he asked them to repay back the money they had cheated from people so it is likely that Levi had to do the same.
The religious authorities were shocked that Jesus had such a disciple, they were shocked with the people he associated with. Religion, they thought had to be pure and clean and wholesome. Jesus made it dirty by mixing with prostitutes and tax collectors and allowing them to follow him.
Nothing changes it seems. Many Christians are convinced that it is wrong for people like us to claim to be Christian, to claim to be followers of Jesus. Somehow we make the religion unclean, somehow we drag the faith into the dirt and that would never do. It has been unseemly to see the rush of the religious right in America to condemn the Mayor of San Francisco who has, in defiance of State Law, instructed his officials to issue marriage licences to lesbian and gay couples. So far over 3,000 couples have got married, legally. Those same people who condemn lesbian and gay people for wanton promiscuity are now condemning them for daring to get married and to make a lifelong commitment to each other. And they condemn these folks in the name of God and religion. Nothing changes it seems.
But Levi’s call to be a disciple wasn’t easy. He would have had to give up a profitable career. No doubt Jesus would have told him to repay the money he had cheated from people. He would have lost his friends and social circle and we don’t know if he had a wife and family, but they may not have been too pleased to see their standard of living fall dramatically because of Levi’s conversion. Discipleship for Levi wasn’t easy, but there again, it isn’t for us.
Modern Discipleship
One of the faults of some forms of modern Christianity is that we fail to see discipleship as something that is difficult. We are used to Christianity being easy – and modern Christianity has got much easier. I was reading a Roman Catholic weekly on Saturday and they have a “from the archives” section. They printed the following from 100 years ago and it concerns the old rules for fasting in Lent:
All the weekdays of Lent are days of fasting an abstinence, and all the Sundays of Lent are days of abstinence. A day of fasting means eating just one meal a day with an evening “collation” of less than 8oz of food and a “morning morsel” of just two ounces. A day of abstinence means abstaining from meat, eggs, milk, butter, and cheese.”
Catholics were advised in the paper to consult their confessors if they found any of this difficult!
Now I think such rules are odd and don’t work well for people today – but they do show that there was something radical about being a Christian 100 years ago. I don’t recommend returning to such legalistic rules, but I do think we loose sight of the radical nature of Christian discipleship.
At the start of the year we used the Covenant Service from the Methodist Church and we said to God: "I am no longer my own, but yours".
This means we realise that Jesus is the Lord, or driving force, in our lives and that we have to put ourselves second. We said: "Put me to what you will, rank me with whom you will, put me to doing, put me to suffering, let me be employed for you or laid aside for you, exalted for you, or brought low for you, let me full, let me empty".
This is a radical commitment to accepting that God comes first and we are here to do what God asks of us. It is not comfortable, just as Levi’s call would not have been too comfortable for him. We said: "Let me have all things, let me have nothing; I freely and wholeheartedly yield all things to your pleasure and disposal".
Of course this means being a living sacrifice and resisting the temptation to crawl off the altar!
Discipleship is always more than we first think it is.
Discipleship is always more than simply coming to church. Discipleship is more than singing a few songs on Sunday and enjoying a worship experience – as important as those things are. Discipleship is about turning our lives around. It’s about changing direction, changing our values and changing our lives.
We may say we are disciples because we made a commitment to follow Jesus, but do we really treat other people with love?
We may say we are disciples because we come to church most weeks, but do we try to put into practice what we learn here?
We may say we are disciples because we can sing with gusto, but do we exemplify positive faith in our lives?
Discipleship is always more than we think it is. This Lent I encourage you to renew your discipleship of the Lord Jesus. I suggest three ways you can do this:
1: Make a commitment to be in church each week and to come to the Ash Wednesday service. We only gain the strength we need to become true disciples if we experience God’s loving kindness. We experience this most profoundly in worship.
2: Use the devotionals we prepare each day. This gives us a chance to read the scriptures and to think about the reading for each day as well as to pray for our church and our world. During Lent the devotionals follow the theme of working our God given purpose.
3: Use the Smartie Tubes as a way of giving a little extra. You may want to give something up for Lent – if so donate the money saved to church. You may want to collect your loose change and give that to church . This all adds up and this year we want to use our Lenten money to buy a publicity banner to advertise ourselves more effectively at Pride.
This Lent, I encourage you to reflect on your own journey of discipleship and ask Jesus to show you how you can become more effective as a follower.
This sermon was first preached in the Metropolitan Community Church of Manchester. Click here for further information.