It’s Where You’re Headed, Not Where You’ve Been - Levi

Levi held a banquet in his home with Jesus as the guest of honor. Many of Levi’s fellow tax collectors and other guests also ate with them. But the Pharisees and their teachers of religious law complained bitterly to Jesus’ disciples, “Why do you eat and drink with such scum?”

Luke 5:29-30

How would you respond if you saw someone with an unsavory past put in a position of high leadership? What if a man who had served time for a felony was promoted over you at work or a man with a record of drug and alcohol abuse became a youth leader at church? We normally think that only men of proven character and a clean past should get those higher positions, because we believe that such men are trustworthy.

Jesus didn’t always operate by those rules. He often faced questions about his judgment in his choice of friends. After Jesus called Levi (later known as Matthew) to follow him, some Pharisees wondered aloud why he would spend time with such scum as Levi and his villainous friends. Maybe Levi wondered the same thing.

Jews of Levi’s day saw tax collectors as the dregs of the earth. The tax men worked for the hated Roman government, and they were notorious for their corrupt business practices.

Jesus’ response tells us all we need to know about why he chose to fellowship with a sinner such as Levi: “Healthy people don’t need a doctor—sick people do. I have come to call not those who think they are righteous, but those who know they are sinners and need to repent” (Luke 5:31-32).

Levi fit that bill perfectly. He wouldn’t even call himself a righteous man, never mind what his neighbors thought. He knew that he was a sinner who desperately needed the compassion and forgiveness of Jesus Christ. Once he opened his heart to receive Jesus, his past ceased to matter. Jesus set him on a new course of service to God and his countrymen.

As you consider this story, do you most naturally put yourself in Levi’s place or in the place of his accusers? Your answer probably depends on your background. Jesus wants you to know that background means little to him. In his eyes, we are all corrupt, and he loves us anyway.

What counts is where you’re headed, not where you’ve been. Regardless of your past, God wants to use you as a conduit of his love to your family, your coworkers, your church, or anywhere else he might direct you.