Time for a Feast 1
Scripture - Luke 5: 27-35
Dan Joseph
Food plays an
important part in all of our lives, not just as fuel, but many of the key
moments and celebrations in our lives are punctuated with meals and our
experience of food. We socialise over meals, we spend romantic evenings in
restaurants with our loved ones; even just sitting with our dinner on a tray
with our families can be one of the points where we unwind and connect again
with them. Food has always been a part of our lives in this way, and so in the
bible we see many instances where food becomes a central part of the story; over
the next few weeks in church we’ll be looking at readings where the food forms a
key part of the backdrop to the events we hear.
In our reading
today we meet Levi. The events seem to have little detail about them; we are
told that Jesus sees Levi sitting in his tax collecting booth and says to him
“Follow Me”. A pretty to-the-point instruction or request (- my boss at work
loves everything to be bullet-pointed, he’d love the idea of something so
life-changing being summarised in just two short
words!).
And we’re told
that that is precisely what Levi did. Now, Levi was not a popular guy, he worked
collecting taxes. If he was typical, then he would have been crooked on top of
it as well; so most of his work and his means of living were based on taking
money off of people who could ill afford it. Chances are that Levi must have
known about Jesus, who he was, the type of message he was preaching, maybe he’d
listened to his sermons before, maybe he hoped that this Jesus really could make
him happier.
Now, we’re
told that Levi, got up, left everything and followed Jesus. But what does that
really mean, sometimes we read this phrase in the bible and can be made to feel
uncomfortable, because however spiritual and faithful we like to think we are,
or try to be, well most of us still have mortgages don’t we, still have that
car? Does following Jesus really mean we have to give up everything literally,
all of our material possessions?
Well, when you
look at what happens next, I think there’s a clue to what Jesus had really done.
Levi throws an enormous party at his house and invites all of his friends. So he
didn’t give up his house, didn’t give up his friends. What Levi had given up was
far more important to leave behind.
Levi had been
given an opportunity to leave behind his life of corruption: instead of making
himself rich off of the misery and misfortune of others he had been offered
another chance. I think that Levi was a desperately unhappy person - he
knew the effect his work had on people and this ate away at him. I think he
disliked the person he was, but saw no way out - until he met
Jesus.
The reason why
I think inside he was so unhappy? Because of the way he responded.
His first act is to throw a party – a real cause to celebrate, he
throws a feast in honour of the man who has offered him liberty and a chance to
look at himself in the mirror for the first time. And Jesus is invited as the
guest of honour.
Meals can be
great for socialising and getting to know people. I find one of the things I
enjoy the most is being able to cook for the people I love; so this meal became
an opportunity to spend some time with Jesus, to get to know him. Levi’s act is
positively evangelical, because he invites all his friends along, maybe in the
hope that they will get to know Jesus and hear his message. Dinner parties can
be a good way to spend time with your friends, I know I’ve been invited to many.
I have to say that there are different types of shared
meal.
There are the
ones where humour is key, where you seem to laugh the night away, and even
though you can’t remember much of what was said, you feel so much closer to the
people afterwards.
And there are
those which I find quite painful - sterile conversation where folk spend
hours discussing the hand painted Mexican tiles in the bathroom; the ones where
you get the impression it’s all about reinforcing the host’s social status
(Hyacinth Bucket).
For me at
least, I rather like a meal where there’s a bit of passion in the conversation.
Folk often avoid discussing issues like politics, morality and religion: myself,
I don’t mind it. And I think, this is the sort of night that Levi and his
friends had, because Jesus wasn’t taking the night off from his
ministry.
In going to
the house and breaking bread with them, Jesus was dining with some of the most
hated and outcast people of his time. This was a cause for celebration and Levi
knew it.
Jesus was
there because he cared about Levi as an individual He cared more about this man
than he did about the reputation it might get him among the religious leaders of
the time.
The Pharisees
applied the logic that if they didn’t dine with bad people then they must be
good people. Now the Pharisees funnily enough weren’t invited to Levi’s big
bash, but they were loitering around, obviously very keen to have someone new to
be disapproving of.
Jesus is
having none of it though. The dinner party conversation changes from fun and
laughter as he makes a serious point to the Pharisees, that those who are most
in need of God’s love are the ones who will celebrate the most when they receive
it. Jesus showed his love, both by his calling him and by dining with
him.
Jesus calls
the people to see that every person has value in the eyes of God and that they
are precious to Him. Jesus is calling Levi because He sees the potential he has
with God’s grace and love.
Levi’s house,
which had been built on the profits of his hated profession, was now being used
as a place where folk could get to know Jesus – it was being used as a place of
worship. And the guest list, or congregation, was a group of people who
certainly would not have been made welcome by the
Pharisees.
Jesus takes
advantage of the situation to teach the Pharisees a lesson about the love of
God. He uses the calling of Levi to demonstrate the love of God in action. He
shares His love on the basis of who needs it.
Jesus was
prepared to call unlikely people to ministry, and he found them in unlikely
places – Levi is proof of that! We too have
the opportunities to reach out and let Jesus meet more people in unlikely
places. When the conversation moves away from small talk, or the décor in the
bathroom, when it starts to have a bit of passion, do we veer it back into the
safety zone, or are we prepared to say to others what our faith means to us? Are
we prepared to tell folk about how our faith can make us feel like throwing our
own party?
When we
interact with other people, we have the opportunity to be Jesus’ hands and feet
in this world - maybe just a couple of words can plant a seed that changes
someone’s life, that moves them from a place where they are unhappy, to a place
where they feel valued, special and loved.
Jesus, in
being with these other kind of folk, is acting in such a way that reveals God’s
love for all humanity; a love that would reach out and embrace us all. Jesus
sought out all, and invited them to participate in the good news of God’s
reign.
Calling Levi
and these others was to deliberately cross the social divide and invite to
discipleship persons who were considered unclean, social and religious outcasts.
And just as we find that sharing a meal with somebody is special, in Jesus’
social world it represented mutual acceptance.
The card we
hand out at Pride, the invitation we offer to our friends, the generosity folk
show in helping folk get to church, - these are all ways in which we can reach
out Jesus’ continuing love to the world.
If you look
around you, you’ll see that we are a very different congregation. We come from
so many different backgrounds with different life experiences, and we come
together each week to share a meal – a meal to which Jesus is invited, and
through which he blesses our lives.
Is there a
Levi in your life who needs to hear that
invitation?
(Dan Joseph)