Leapin’ Levi
Did you see the musical Annie? It is about a red-haired orphan who lived in an orphanage during the Depression. She is a mischievous little girl with a heart of gold. Surrounded by a dismal existence, she can still sing, The Sun Will Come Out Tomorrow. One day she is picked out of everyone in the orphanage to go to a millionaire’s home for the week. Whenever something amazing happens, this little girl would say, “Leapin’ Lizards!” I do not know if lizards leap. I do not usually try to get too close to them. I am still traumatized by the time when I was a child and I caught a lizard in my hand. It jumped out yet I still felt something moving. I looked down to see its tail moving, as if alive, in my palm. I screamed. I got sick. I am not feeling very well at the moment. Let’s talk about something else. But I have to make one more point. If there were any profession that could be considered as slimy, as low, as creepy as a lizard, then Levi’s job would be the first to qualify.
After this, Jesus went out and saw a tax collector by the name of Levi sitting at his tax booth. “Follow Me,” Jesus said to him, and Levi got up, left everything and followed Him. Then Levi held a great banquet for Jesus at his house, and a large crowd of tax collectors and others were eating with them. (Luke 5:27-29)
Leapin’ Lizards, Levi was a tax collector! This was the most hated profession in all of Israel. These men exhorted taxes on behalf of the oppressive Roman government and usually raised the price to line their own pockets. Creepy.
One of the many things I love about Jesus is that the creepiness of us does not keep Him away. He came right up to Levi.
After this, Jesus went out and saw a tax collector by the name of Levi sitting at his tax booth. (Luke 5:27a)
It reads that “After this” Jesus went out. After what? It was after the healing of the paralytic that we studied during the last chapter. Jesus had just done an amazing miracle. People were filled with awe. Everyone was giving God praise. Men and women alike were rejoicing at the power of God. This was a high point in the ministry of Jesus. You would think He would want to keep the good times rolling. You want to keep people happy so they can learn more about the Lord, right? That makes sense.
But what does Jesus do? He goes and does something offensive. He calls the lowest of Jewish society to be His follower. A person that “holy” people would never be caught associating with is commanded by the Holy One of Israel to follow Him. A man who was mocked and despised by the religious is the one who God accepts and invites to join Him.
Does this give you hope? It does for me. I look at who I was when God called me and still have to laugh. If you only knew what I was like, you would question the choice of the Lord. I was lower than Levi. More on a snake level than a lizard. I still feel slimy sometimes. But my gracious God reminds me that it was His choice to summon me, not mine.
I do not know your past. It really doesn’t matter. We have all fallen short of the glory of God. You, me, and the people you think have it all together (they don’t). We are just a bunch of sinners, tax collectors, lowly lizards who can barely crawl. Suddenly, we see a face above us. He is looking down on us with love. Surely He made a mistake. He is looking at us in the middle of our sin. We cannot hide the tax collecting sign now. He knows what we are. We are so ashamed. Look at us. Look at where we are. He is probably going to condemn us. We deserve it. We put ourselves down all the time. We hear what others say about us. We cannot deny their remarks; they are speaking truth, even if it is said with such hatred. Our eyes meet His. He is smiling. He is getting ready to speak. The words will change our lives.
“Follow Me,” Jesus said to him… (Luke 5:27b)
I wonder how the crowd reacted. Were they shocked? Jesus just called the lowliest sinner to his service. Jesus was unconcerned about their responses; there was only one man he was waiting on to answer His command.
…and Levi got up, left everything and followed Him. (Luke 5:28)
Thus the title, Leapin’ Levi. He just jumped right up and followed Jesus. He left everything behind. The money lying on his table no longer held any value for him. The profession that he had risked everything to be a part of, even though it led to him being despised by society, was now worthless. He knew he had to follow the One who had called him.
What I most like about Levi is how he did not share with Jesus that he did not deserve to follow him. To tell him, “Look at what I am, You could never use someone like me.” I guess I respect that so much because that is the exact opposite of what I did. When the Lord called me to vocational ministry, I began to tell Him all the reasons why He should not use me. I am more like Moses whining to God in the burning bush about his speech problems. But Levi did not do this, even though he could have pointed to much sin, rejection of religion, mistreating his fellow Jews, and much more. Instead, he just got up and believed the One who called could also equip Him to follow.
Is there something God is telling you to do but you are refusing because you feel unusable? Will you quit pointing to yourself and your shortcomings? God knew all about you before He commanded you to join His work. Instead of looking at yourself, place your eyes on Jesus and
…being confident of this, that He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. (Philippians 1:6)
He will complete the good work in you. Only He is able to do the supernatural in you. There is no way you can do anything good. You are evil. Sorry to tell you this if you didn’t realize it. The truth is, God is able to do something through causing you to say, “That wasn’t me.” You are right. It was Him all along.
And one of the first things Jesus wants us to do is to tell others about Him. We do not need to have a seminary degree to tell others about Jesus. Levi would not count as a spiritual leader. He is one you may fear sharing his testimony in church because it may be too graphic. He was so excited; he wanted to share with his friends the new decision he made. In his background, the best way to celebrate was to throw a big party!
Then Levi held a great banquet for Jesus at his house, and a large crowd of tax collectors and others were eating with them. (Luke 5:27-29)
The Holy God has come to your house. You want to honor Him with a big meal and have other guests join the two of you. Who would you invite? Or maybe a better question would be, who would not receive an invitation? Would you be embarrassed to have certain people around? They dress inappropriately, or their humor is coarse, or they are caught in a terrible sin. Would they be cut from the list?
Levi invites everyone he knows. Who does he hang out with? The other lowly lizards of town. They all come to his party. They did not “clean up their act” to be there I am sure. They would be drinking, talking freely, acting like they always did at a banquet. Some of them probably did not care who this Jesus guy was. They just wanted to enjoy the free food.
Was Jesus out of place? Not at all. All of us are lowly lizards. He saw the sins of the religious as well as the tax collector. He came to redeem them all. He sits back and enjoys a meal with the dredge of society, loving every minute of it.
Jesus does not come into our lives and say “Give up this and that and do this and that and then I will associate with you.” He pulls us close and says, “I love you. Not only that, I like you. And I already see you as my perfect child. Slowly, my image of you will become reality. But for now, let’s just celebrate our relationship. We are family!”
Not everyone believes this God of Grace. The image of Christ at a party, eating with sinners is beyond them. They believe Jesus should be sitting in a church pew, dressed in white, with a halo over His head, while He looks up to heaven. But that is not Jesus. And for those who have boxed God in, they continue to get offended as the “sinners” are chosen over the “church goers”. They have the same complaint as other “religious people”.
But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law who belonged to their sect complained to his disciples, “Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and ‘sinners’?” (Luke 5:30)
While the Pharisees were complaining about the choice of Jesus’ company, the “sinners” were able to hang out with God Himself, reclining at the banqueting table of a tax collector. Do not miss out on the Lord because you have your ideas of whom He should choose to call to Himself. I believe many churches missed a great work of God during the Jesus Movement of the 1960’s. The Lord was pulling many hippies out of drugs, open sex, and other sins and into a vibrant, growing relationship with Him. Yet, churches would not allow these “tax collectors” of their day into their doors because the men’s hair was too long, or they only wore sandals, or their dress style was too strange. And yet I believe Jesus was hanging out at the communes, changing lives, showing grace, while the church was questioning the work of ministers in this place.
I know a man of God who began a ministry to hippies. Sometimes, he was called to the prison because the hippies who knew the “preacher” had been busted for drugs and wanted someone to talk to. He watched with heartbreak as some of the kids refused Jesus and ended up dying to their addiction of drugs. Yet, he was able to rejoice with others who chose Christ. Many were led to the Lord. He even began a Bible study for them at their commune. The pastor of the church he was serving at the time began preaching against this man and his ministry to the hippies. In the vein of Pharisees, he spoke about how it was not right for a minister to be at a commune. I guess he did not know that Jesus was there.
I want to be where Jesus is, don’t you? Listen to His call. Follow Him. He may lead you to some strange places. Others may tell you that you should not go. They may put you down as well as the people you are trying to reach. Ignore them. For God called a man rejected by the religious order, and made him one of the founders of the Church. He asked a social reject to help change society! The world was never the same. And neither was Levi. And neither am I. And neither are you.
Healed Hand
I like object lessons. I believe they are more on my intellectual level. At one church I worked at, I was asked to present a children’s sermon each week. I did my best to make them relate to the minister’s sermons. Sometimes it was easy to do. Other times I had difficulty understanding where he was going in his message, much less present it on a level children could understand. One day a woman in the church came up and said, “Thank you so much for doing those object lessons. It helps me to know what the minister is trying to tell us!”
All of us have a hard time grasping some concepts. I believe that is why the Dummie books have done so well. We need for someone to present a difficult idea to us on a simple level. Then, we can grasp thoughts and tasks beyond us. Jesus could have written one of those books. He may have titled it, The Purpose of Healing for Dummies. In order to illustrate His point, He actually made a person the object lesson.
On another Sabbath He went into the synagogue and was teaching, and a man was there whose right hand was shriveled. The Pharisees and the teachers of the law were looking for a reason to accuse Jesus, so they watched Him closely to see if He would heal on the Sabbath. But Jesus knew what they were thinking and said to the man with the shriveled hand, “Get up and stand in front of everyone.” So he got up and stood there. Then Jesus said to them, “I ask you, which is lawful on the Sabbath: to do good or to do evil, to save life or to destroy it?” He looked around at them all, and then said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” He did so, and his hand was completely restored. (Luke 6:6-10)
Picture this scene with me. Jesus is teaching in the synagogue. People are sitting all around listening to Him. There is one man in the crowd whose hand was shriveled. Apparently, he was in a position where everyone could see him. For both the Pharisees and Jesus knew this man was there and what his need was. And the religious men were up to their favorite pastime: watching Jesus with the hopes to trap Him.
The Pharisees and the teachers of the law were looking for a reason to accuse Jesus, so they watched Him closely to see if He would heal on the Sabbath. (Luke 6:7)
Whenever you are doing what is right, there are people around who are waiting to catch you in their opinion of what is wrong. Jesus, in all His perfection, offended the religious people because He did what was right and holy not what was religious. These men did not like that. They wanted Jesus to uphold their religious traditions, instead of the Word of God. This still happens today. I recall a time at a former church a woman told a young adult, who was a recent believer, that she should not enter the sanctuary since she was wearing shorts. That young girl has never stepped foot in the church again. Who cares what people wear? The Pharisees do. I know a pastor who refused to dedicate a baby of an unwed mom who just recently turned back to God. Who holds someone to their past? The Pharisees do. Unfortunately, the Pharisees are alive and kickin’ today. They are so determined to keep God and others in a box they refuse to understand that Jesus came to set people free. And it doesn’t matter what day of the week it happens!
But Jesus knew what they were thinking and said to the man with the shriveled hand, “Get up and stand in front of everyone.” So he got up and stood there. (Luke 6:8)
You cannot hide your thoughts from Jesus. He knew they were trying to ensnare Him. To heal or not to heal, that is the question. Jesus decides to answer this one in front of everyone. He figured the best way to teach dummies was to get on their level. It was time for an object lesson. He looked at the man and told him to stand up. I would suppose that many people in the crowd were sitting down. This man is obviously sticking out. Everyone in the room would have noticed his hand. The poor guy is just standing there. This would be a junior high kid’s ultimate nightmare: to be standing alone, with a roomful of eyes watching and waiting to see what would happen next. But you have to hand it to the guy (sorry about that pun), he showed faith by standing. He did not refuse the request of Jesus to stand. And even though he was all alone, he got up and let what would happen to happen.
Then Jesus said to them, “I ask you, which is lawful on the Sabbath: to do good or to do evil, to save life or to destroy it?” (Luke 6:9)
Is this a trick question? I would think the answers would be to do good and save life. I mean, come on now, they are in the synagogue. I would think they would want to give the “religious” answer. Children do this every week when they answer “Jesus” to every question in Sunday School. They know somehow He must relate. Why does Jesus ask such a simple question? Because sometimes you have to put concepts on an easy level so all can grasp them.
This object lesson was for the most difficult students of all. They were so focused on their rules about Sabbath-keeping that they were willing to allow someone to continue suffering with a handicap. They looked so hard at keeping regulations that they missed the entire heart of God. He is good. He desires to save lives. Jesus came to show us this. He wants us to do the same. When we are more concerned about keeping traditions than we are about reaching those in pain, we have joined the ranks of the Pharisees. We hear sermons about them all the time but are we keeping their ways with our modern traditions? When your opinion somehow becomes a mandate for others, you are living the life of a Pharisee. Confess it. Repent. You can change. The Father loves you and wants you to love others with His heart. He is giving you an opportunity right now to change. He gave the Pharisees in the synagogue the same invitation.
He looked around at them all… (Luke 6:10a)
How unnerving is that? Imagine your teacher just staring at you, waiting for an answer. Can you imagine the tension in the air? Jesus asked a question with an obvious answer, but to reply would mean that He was right and they were wrong. So they stayed silent. All the while, the eyes of God are bearing down at them. But they say nothing, hardening their hearts even more. They even become angry that their evil intent had been exposed to the entire crowd. For Jesus did not rebuke them in private, this is in front of everyone. I wonder if the people had tennis match eyes, as they looked at Jesus and then the Pharisees, and then looked back at Jesus, and then the Pharisees, and then…
In between the match, one man stands alone. His fate caught in the balance. At this moment, he still has a shriveled hand. Would Jesus ask Him to sit back down? He did not know. But suddenly, Jesus broke the silence.
and then said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” He did so, and his hand was completely restored. (Luke 6:10b)
In an act of faith, the man stretches his hand at the command of Jesus. He is healed. Everyone is a witness to the restoration, even the Pharisees who wanted to prevent it. When Jesus is ready to do something, He does not care about the religious traditions of those who are watching. He is good. He has come to save lives. He will complete His mission. No one is going to stop Him.
But they were furious and began to discuss with one another what they might do to Jesus. (Luke 6:11)
Pharisees get mad when God does not stay in their box. They do not like seeing Him work in unorthodox ways! They do not care that lives are changed. Pharisees only desire for the rules to be followed. If you are serving Christ, realize at some time or another Pharisees will come against you. But do not let their anger, their complaints, their traps keep you from doing good and saving lives. Let God deal with them. You just keep following the ways of Jesus, not of men.
Next time you are in a store, and you see one of those Dummie books, have your own object lesson. Let it remind you to confess any Pharisee-like tendencies in your heart. Then ask God to help you to be more like Jesus. And He will!