The Sinners and the Saints
27 After this he went out and saw a tax collector named Levi, sitting at the tax booth; and he said to him, "Follow me." 28 And he got up, left everything, and followed him. 29 Then Levi gave a great banquet for him in his house; and there was a large crowd of tax collectors and others sitting at the table with them. 30 The Pharisees and their scribes were complaining to his disciples, saying, "Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?" 31 Jesus answered, "Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick; 32 I have come to call not the righteous but sinners to repentance."
Luke 5:27-32
I suppose that if I were to walk into this scene fresh, without any prior understanding, I too might come away with the same attitude and questions as did the Pharisees and their scribes: "Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?" It can honestly be said that during the years of my youth I hung with a decent crowd. There is nothing I can share about the great sins of my friends and acquaintances (at least that I am aware of), as they were all pretty decent, church-going, boy scout-attending guys. There were even a couple of my friends on the honor roll at school. I never had an occasion to sit down to a table-full of sinners (until I got older, that is, which is a story for another time). So, standing shoulder-to-shoulder with the Pharisees would have been my place, and I am sure I would have stepped away from the dinner table with much the same outlook as they.
Now Jesus, on the other hand, had much more experience at this sort of thing than I. According to the Gospel of John (1:1-5), Jesus was the premier Alpha and Omega guy; around from the get-go, directing this and that (“All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being”), and generally taking in all that was going on. In fact, since we equate Jesus with God, we can say, while stretching the narrative envelope at bit, that Jesus was the first “out-caster”; having “out-cast” Adam and Eve because of all this sin business. He had been watching the "going-on’s" since day one, and so had a pretty good handle on this sin and sinners stuff, and about understanding human nature’s propensity for it; which clearly gave him a leg-up over the Pharisees. A good thing for Levi, and for the rest of us.
The big difference here, I guess, is all in how one keeps the books; about what is checked-off and not, which is something that the Pharisees seemed very meticulous at, just as we have the tendency to be as well. It is easy to walk around with our ledgers and sharpened pencils, running down the checklist filling in each box, and then tabulating the results with which to judge everyone else. Each person – if you could still call them that - is then easily compartmentalized, marked with the appropriate stamp of approval or disapproval, and then simply accepted or discarded from our life and/or community. It’s easy, and is done every hour of every day. Just read the news headlines.
Jesus has a completely different accounting system, however, in which 99% of the measurement criteria are based exclusively upon our inherent human worth. We are worthy, if for no other reason than our coming into being through the divine creative love of our Creator. We are all precious children of God, which means we all start-off with some pretty high scores, including the tax collector, Levi. In such a bookkeeping system it becomes much more difficult, if even possible, to truly judge one person up and against another. In fact, in such a structure we all pretty much end up the same; all of us receiving high value scores, along with scores that aren’t as honorable. Our Lord rejoices in everyone’s – from kings and presidents to thieves and paupers - high grades, and is equally saddened by everyone’s low grade-point averages. It’s not the kind of record-keeping system that you will find in our corporations or governments.
“I suppose that if I were to walk into this scene fresh, without any prior understanding, I too might come away with the same attitude and questions as did the Pharisees and their scribes”. But I do not enter the scene with an innocent eye; for I have seen or heard this act played out much too often in my life already. Too many times, I have seen present day Levi’s shunned by communities and friends because of their indiscretions, or even perceived transgressions. Far too many times, I have witnessed the “out casting” of others, because they do not live up to our complex and detailed checklists or political/religious beliefs, none of which even come close to God’s standards of acceptance, unconditional love and compassion.
And I, for one, give incessant thanks that God’s standard of measurement is not as ours, or else we would all be doomed, and deemed unworthy, in the eyes of our Lord. If we were held to the very same values that we all too often hold our fellow sisters and brothers to, then not one of us would be judged fit to answer the “call” to “follow me.”
But by God’s grace, and God’s grace alone, we are each worthy to answer that call, despite our past, and to step out of our narcissistic world of self-centeredness, and to follow in the footsteps of the One who summons us – who summons you - by name.
I am shocked at your audacity, Almighty Creator. You know my every sin; my every indiscretion; my every act of unfaithfulness. And yet. And yet, you still call me by name; to step out of my despicable past – to follow you – and to journey hand-in-hand with you into a new future – my new future. My most humble of thanks can never express the joy of my spirit, in the extravagant outpouring of your love for me. Praise be unto you, my Lord and my God.
Amen.
Rev. Michael Kirchhoff
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