Levi (also known as Matthew, see Matthew 9:9) was a tax collector. In Jesus' day, tax collectors worked for Rome and often charged more than they were owed, keeping the difference. To their neighbors, they were traitors who got rich off their own people. Religious people kept their distance.
Jesus walked straight up to Levi's tax booth and called him to follow. Luke says Levi got up, left everything and followed him. Then he threw a big party at his house and invited the only friends he had: other tax collectors and people with bad reputations.
The religious leaders were offended and asked why Jesus would eat with people like that. His answer is one of the clearest pictures of why he came.
“It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick.”
Luke 5:31 NIV
“I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.”
Luke 5:32 NIV
What this means for you
Jesus didn't wait for Levi to quit his job, pay people back or clean up his reputation. He called him first. The change came after the call.
Notice what Levi did next. The first thing a brand new follower of Jesus did was throw a party so his friends could meet him. He didn't leave his world behind. He brought Jesus into it. Not from here. Sent here.
Most of us fall into one of two traps. Some think, I'm too far gone for God. Others think, I'm doing fine, I don't really need him. Jesus answers both: he came for people who know they're sick.
Ask yourself
Where have you assumed you're too far gone, or too put together, to need Jesus?
Pray
Tell Jesus honestly where you are today. No cleanup first.
One step
Read the passage again slowly and write down one phrase that sticks with you.
Read the first two verses of Luke 15 before this story. Tax collectors and sinners were gathering around Jesus, and the religious leaders were muttering that he welcomed sinners and ate with them. So Jesus told three stories: a lost sheep, a lost coin and a lost son.
The younger son asked for his inheritance early, moved far away and wasted all of it. When a famine hit, he ended up feeding pigs, an animal his people considered unclean, and he was hungry enough to want their food. Then he came to his senses. He rehearsed a speech: I've sinned, I'm not worthy to be your son, just hire me as a servant.
“But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him.”
Luke 15:20 NIV
He planned to beg for a job. He got a robe, a ring, and a party. The Father ran before he heard a word.
Then the story turns to the older brother, who never left home. He was so angry about the party that he refused to go in. So the father went out to him too and pleaded with him. Jesus ends the story there. We never find out if the older brother went in.
What this means for you
Jesus was talking to both kinds of people in that crowd. Some had run far from God. Others had stayed close to religion but far from God's heart.
If you're the younger son, the door is open and the Father is already running. If you're the older brother, the question is whether you'll join a party for people you think don't deserve it. The story is still open. Your part of it isn't written yet.
Ask yourself
Are you more like the son who ran away, or the brother who stayed close to home but far from his father?
Pray
Thank the Father that he runs toward people who come home. Tell him what coming home looks like for you.
One step
If there's one thing you know you need to turn from, name it today: to God, and to one person you trust.
Luke tells us exactly who this story was for: people who were confident in their own goodness and looked down on everyone else.
Two men went up to the temple to pray. The first was a Pharisee, a respected religious leader. He stood by himself and thanked God that he was not like other people: not a robber, not an adulterer, not like that tax collector. He fasted twice a week and gave a tenth of everything.
The second man was a tax collector. He stood at a distance. He wouldn't even look up. He beat his chest, an old sign of grief, and prayed seven words.
“God, have mercy on me, a sinner.”
Luke 18:13 NIV
“I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God.”
Luke 18:14 NIV
What this means for you
Justified means declared right with God. The man with the better record went home the same way he came. The man with nothing to offer but honesty went home forgiven.
Here's the trap. It's easy to read this and think, God, I thank you that I'm not like that Pharisee. The moment we do that, we've become him. God isn't impressed by our résumé, and he isn't impressed by our humility either. He responds to people who stop pretending.
Ask yourself
What do you lean on to feel okay with God: your record, or his mercy?
Pray
Pray the tax collector's prayer slowly. Then sit quietly for one minute.
One step
Write down one thing you've been hiding from God, and give it to him in prayer.
Jericho was a wealthy city on a major trade route, and Zacchaeus was its chief tax collector. That means he was rich, and everyone knew how he got that way.
When Jesus came through town, Zacchaeus couldn't see over the crowd because he was short. So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore-fig tree, which was not a dignified thing for a rich man to do. Jesus stopped right under the tree, called him by name and told him to come down, because he was staying at his house today.
The crowd grumbled that Jesus had gone to be the guest of a sinner. But before any lecture, Zacchaeus stood up and made a promise: half of everything he owned to the poor, and four times back to anyone he had cheated. The law asked for what was taken plus a fifth (Numbers 5:7). Zacchaeus went far beyond it.
“For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”
Luke 19:10 NIV
What this means for you
Jesus didn't say, change first and then I'll come over. He came over, and Zacchaeus changed. Grace came first. Generosity followed.
Real change usually shows up in the most practical places: money, time and relationships. Zacchaeus didn't just feel different. He paid people back. And notice who was looking for whom. Zacchaeus climbed a tree to see Jesus, but Jesus was the one who came to seek and to save.
Ask yourself
What would change in your money, time or relationships if you believed Jesus came looking for you?
Pray
Ask Jesus to show you one area of your life his grace wants to change.
One step
Make one thing right this week: an apology, a debt, or a phone call you have been avoiding.
Crucifixion was the most shameful death Rome had. It was public on purpose. Jesus was crucified between two criminals while soldiers gambled for his clothes and religious leaders sneered that he had saved others, so let him save himself.
In the middle of that, Jesus prayed for the people killing him.
“Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.”
Luke 23:34 NIV
One criminal joined the mocking. The other told him to stop. They were getting what they deserved, he said, but this man had done nothing wrong. Then he turned to Jesus.
“Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.”
Luke 23:42 NIV
“Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.”
Luke 23:43 NIV
Darkness covered the land from about noon until three in the afternoon. The curtain in the temple, which separated people from the most holy place, was torn in two. Jesus committed his spirit to the Father and died. A Roman officer who watched it all praised God and said this was a righteous man.
What this means for you
The criminal had nothing to offer. No time left to fix his life, no good deeds to point to. He simply asked Jesus to remember him, and Jesus promised him paradise that same day.
On the cross, Jesus took the punishment our sin deserved, so we could be forgiven (2 Corinthians 5:21). The torn curtain means the way to God is open. Not because we earned it, but because he paid for it.
Ask yourself
Which criminal's words sound more like yours right now?
Very early on Sunday morning, a group of women went to the tomb with spices. They were going to finish preparing a dead body. Nobody was expecting a resurrection.
The stone was rolled away and the body was gone. Two men in clothes that gleamed like lightning stood beside them.
“Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here; he has risen!”
Luke 24:5-6 NIV
The women remembered that Jesus had told them this would happen, and they ran to tell the apostles. The apostles thought it sounded like nonsense. Peter ran to the tomb anyway, saw the strips of linen lying by themselves, and went home wondering what had happened.
Here's a detail worth noticing. In that culture, a woman's word often counted for less than a man's. If someone were inventing this story, they would not have made women the first witnesses. Luke records it because that's what happened.
What this means for you
Everything rests on this morning. Paul said that if Christ has not been raised, our faith is futile (1 Corinthians 15:17). He didn't hide that. He pointed to the witnesses.
If Jesus rose, death is not the end, every promise he made holds, and nothing in your life is too dead for him. The disciples weren't gullible people ready to believe anything. They doubted too. Then they met him.
Ask yourself
If Jesus really rose from the dead, what does that change about how you face this week?
Pray
Bring the thing you've given up on to the One who walked out of a grave.
About fifty days after the resurrection, on the feast of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit came on the followers of Jesus. Peter, the same man who had denied knowing Jesus weeks earlier, stood up in front of a huge crowd in Jerusalem and preached about Jesus. The people were cut to the heart and asked a simple question.
“Brothers, what shall we do?”
Acts 2:37 NIV
“Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.”
Acts 2:38 NIV
About three thousand people responded that day. Then they didn't scatter. Look at what they did next.
“They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.”
Acts 2:42 NIV
They shared what they had with anyone in need. They met at the temple and in each other's homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts. And people kept joining them every day.
What this means for you
Peter's answer has three parts: turn from your sin, be baptized, and receive the Holy Spirit. And then the new believers did what Christians have always done. They learned together, ate together and prayed together.
Following Jesus was never meant to be a solo project. The world noticed the early church because of how they lived together. A local church is where you get known, taught and sent.
Ask yourself
What is your next step: turning from sin, being baptized, or finding a church family?
Pray
Ask the Holy Spirit to fill you and to lead you to the right church family.
One step
Look up one church near you and plan to visit this Sunday.
What now?
If you've never told Jesus you want to follow him, start here. If you're ready to find a church family, here's how. And if you want the PDF and one short email a week to keep going, sign up here.
