Unlimited: Jesus Calls Matthew
Feb 21, 2024 1913
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, NIV).
Traditionally, a Jewish teacher would usually call religious people to follow him: people who were set apart by their piety and devotion to the Scriptures. It was shocking that Jesus called rough fishermen instead! What did he do next?
Matthew, also known as Levi, worked in a detested job profession as a tax collector.
In fact, to be a tax collector for the hated Roman oppressors basically meant that you were a despised thief and a traitor to your own nation.
Everyone who was considered decent hated Matthew.
He had made himself rich off the suffering of his people. He seemed to be the worst possible person that Jesus could have called to follow him.
But straightaway, Matthew left his work and followed Jesus.
Why did he do this? What makes a man like Matthew follow Jesus?
Surely it was because in an instant, in the look that Jesus gave him, he caught a glimpse of an authority mingled with a love that he had never experienced in his life.
There was something that filled the emptiness in his life – the emptiness that self and wealth can never fill. And so he got up and followed Jesus.
– Eliezer Gonzalez
Eli’s Reflection: What about you? What most attracts you to Jesus? When he calls you, are you ready to leave what stands in your way to follow him? Do you know what stands in your way? You know, he is calling you today.
JASON ANDREW TOPPIN
Oct 21, 2020
GOD IS WITH US.