Justin Appel

‘I have not come to call the just but sinners’

Dear Friends,

The gospel lesson for today tells the story of Jesus calling Levi. In this story, Jesus eats with Levi, the tax collector, at his own house, drawing criticism from the Pharisees and their scribes.

Read the lesson here.

This action reminds us that Jesus’ ministry was characterized by a tendency to associate with ‘the worst of sinners’ (Cyril of Alexandria). Certainly, tax collectors would have been viewed as working directly against the redemption of the Jewish nation, as real traitors to the covenant that folks like the Pharisees were so keen to protect. Levi was a real creep, a traitor.

If you are like me, you might read such a passage and immediately think of some kind of theological point, namely, that Jesus came ‘to save sinners’, in the sense of providing payment for a debt. Or perhaps, you think that Jesus was interested in down-and-out individuals, the poor, those shunned by society because of their ethnicity (think of the Samaritan woman) or because of their anti-social behavior (like the thief on the cross). Jesus, we might think, was the essential purveyor of egalitarian ideals or of a first-century liberation theology. Perhaps we picture Jesus as the ultimate social worker.

Certainly, all of these pictures include something true about Jesus, and I would not want to discount any of them. Jesus subjected himself to death, after all, for the salvation of individuals, who put their faith in him. Jesus did care for those in the margins of society, and he never failed to cause a stir amongst ‘proper’ Jews who observed his actions. After all, Jesus engaged with foreigners, he ate with tax collectors, and he appeared first in his resurrected body to Mary Magdalene in the garden (recalling that women were not allowed to serve as witnesses in court at the time).

But this story (and others like it) teaches us a reality that comprehends and includes these other notions. Jesus spoke to individuals who recognized him, who believed in him, and who followed him. These people had humility, because they were able to recognize themselves as sinners – not just people who needed their debts paid, but people crippled with an ongoing and mortifying sense of their sinfulness. People whose egos were smashed enough for them to see who Jesus was, and who they were.

The meetings of these people with Jesus is endlessly fascinating to us: they often did crazy, inappropriate things. They simply left what they were doing, and followed Jesus. They pushed through crowds and yelled out to Jesus on the roadside. They were humble, yes, but that humility and faith led to powerful and memorable action.

So, perhaps another way to phrase this idea, is that Jesus came to save the humble, the repentant, those who embrace faith in him: in short, disciples! And because of Christ's life, death, and resurrection, we are all called to be disciples -- thanks be to God!

Yours in Christ,
Justin