27 After this he went out, and saw a tax collector, named Levi, sitting at the tax office; and he said to him, “Follow me.”
28 And he left everything, and rose and followed him.
Jesus has just demonstrated his authority to forgive sins with a miraculous sign of healing the man let through the roof by his companions. Then Luke narrates Matthew’s calling by Jesus. “After this he went out, and saw a tax collector, named Levi”. We can assume this is still in Capernaum which did have it’s own Roman tax office where the Rome took her taxes from the Jews. We are told his name is Levi but elsewhere he is called Matthew. Some assume simply that Matthew was his Greek name and Levi his Hebrew name but it might be a little more complex than that.
Matthew appears to be his Greek name originally Matthaios and Levi, his Hebrew name. Levi means “Joined” or “attached” and is the name of one of the Tribes but Mattaios is actually a Greek version of the Hebrew name Mattityahu which means “Gift of Yahweh”. Considering Levi was a tribal name, his full name was likely Mattityahu of the Tribe of Levi, he Greco-fide his first name to sound more Greek because he was typically working with Romans who spoke that language. If he was of the tribe of Levi that would have meant he was of priestly lineage, this means his occupation as a tax collector was even more of a betrayal than it was perceived to be.
Jesus simply tells him to follow him and he simply does. He drops everything he is doing in order to do so.
29 And Levi made him a great feast in his house; and there was a large company of tax collectors and others sitting at table with them.
Levi despite his ostracization from polite Jewish society, he was well accepted and richly rewarded by the gentile one. He has a house large enough to host feasts with “a large company of tax collectors and others”. Although his apparent distance from Jewish covenantal practices, he does make this great feast for Jesus. In Jewish culture, to eat with someone was to say “this is my family”. Levi dropped everything to follow Jesus and now he shows just how far he accepts him, by bring him into the meal. Everything in Jewish life was religious, we might see a list of do’s and dont’s and purity laws but the reason why was that everything essentially was liturgical because everything comes from God. A meal meant a lot more then than now.
30 And the Pharisees and their scribes murmured against his disciples, saying, “Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?”
The Pharisees, the dominant sect of Second Temple Judaism and occupiers of Moses’ seat of teaching, along with their scribes see this feast going on. They “murmured” against his disciples, this should take us back to the Exodus where the people murmured against Moses. Ironic, those who now occupy Moses’ seat murmur against the New Moses. It might seem odd in how they saw this going on so we should probably explain some ancient activities that were common then and unheard of now.
There was a lack of entertainment in ancient days but something rather common in both the Greco-Roman and Judaic world was a type of meal where the public were onlookers. This still might sound weird but it was common especially among Greek philosophers, you’d have an impressive meal, talk about all your big brain ideas and the public could watch and listen. They weren’t involved in the meal but could watch. Considering the Greco-fied Matthew, this might be what’s happening and would explain how passers by could know what was happening, because anybody could.
The Pharisees with their purity legalism and tunnel vision observations cannot understand why you would ever eat with such people, as the Jewish notion we’ve explained already means you’re incorporating these people into your family in a sense by doing this.
31 And Jesus answered them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick;
32 I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.”
Jesus makes it incredibly clear, he is here to help and those who are broken are the ones who need him. He refers to himself as a physician, once you perceive sinners as people who are sick instead of people who are stains on purity your obligations shift. Jesus is not here for those who are righteous but those who need to repent of their sins.
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