JESUS CAME TO CALL SINNERS TO REPENTANCE
Luke 5:27-39
Key Verse: 5:32
“I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.”
From last week’s passage, Jesus declared that he has authority on earth to forgive our sins. Jesus is the Son of God who is able to set us free from the bondage of sin and death. We also witnessed the beautiful faith and compassion of four friends who firmly believed that Jesus could and would heal their paralytic friend, overcoming multiple obstacles. Moved by their faith, Jesus first forgave the sins of the paralyzed and then made him walk again. The man who came to Jesus carried went home running, praising God.
In today’s passage, Jesus invites Levi the tax collector with two simple yet powerful words, “Follow me.” Moved by his invitation, Levi decided right there and then to follow Jesus, leaving everything behind. Jesus’ ministry was all about forgiveness of sins, restoration, new life in joy and peace. Many people, including Levi, repented of their sins and received the forgiveness. They began a new life with a new hope and vision. When the religious leaders saw this movement, they were not happy. Instead, they felt threatened and became critical. In response, Jesus clearly stated why he came. Jesus said in verse 32, “I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.” Jesus came to call sinners to repentance. Amen. Let’s listen to Jesus’ words, examine ourselves, repent and become new wineskins.
First, Jesus called Levi as his disciple (27-32).
After proclaiming forgiveness of sins and healing a paralyzed man, Jesus went out (27a). Though Jesus is the Son of God, he did not sit back and wait for people to come to him. Rather, he took the initiative and went out to seek the lost ones with compassion. He saw Levi sitting at his tax booth. Usually, when people saw Levi, they categorized him as a public sinner. This meant that he was the official sinner that everyone approved. They treated him as a national traitor and isolated him. They had no regard for such people and condemned them based on their standard. But Jesus was different. Jesus had compassion upon Levi. Jesus saw that he was dying due to his sins. Jesus saw that he was like a bruised reed that is about to be broken. Jesus understood Levi’s suffering and bore his weaknesses. Jesus knew that healing such a person would take a lot of care, time, and love. So Jesus said to him, “Follow me.”
Jesus saw Levi, not only with the eyes of compassion, but also with the eyes of hope. Jesus saw Levi as a man with great talent and potential. The only problem was that he was going in the wrong direction. He had used all of his abilities for his own benefit and lived for his own pleasure and glory. But Jesus saw that if he just changed his direction from himself to God, he could be a very influential and fruitful man of God. So Jesus said to him, “Follow me.” When we see only the present condition and reality of people, it is hard to have hope. But when we see people with the eyes of Jesus we can find hope for anyone, beyond the present situation.
When Jesus said, “Follow me,” he was inviting Levi to be his disciple, that is, to learn of him and grow to become like him. Jesus was challenging him to change his mind and set a new direction of his life. To follow Jesus or not may not seem to make much difference in the beginning. But as time passes, we come to realize that it is significant. If we pursue our own pleasure and seek our own glory, we become more and more self-indulgent, bear bad fruit, and give a destructive influence to the people involved in our
lives. On the other hand, when we follow Jesus, we can grow to be like him,
bear good fruit and give a good influence to others (Ro 2:6-8). The words
“follow me” imply that if we follow Jesus, he forgives all of our sins and bears all of our weaknesses until we grow to be useful men and women of God.
Who in this world can say, “Follow me”, taking the responsibility for the outcome of the followers? Nobody except Jesus. Jesus is the only one who can say, “Follow me” because he has life. Jesus is the only one who could say to his disciples, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” (John 14:6) When we follow Jesus, our future is guaranteed to be meaningful, fruitful and hopeful. Let’s accept Jesus’ invitation, “Follow me.”
How did Levi respond to the most important invitation of his life? Let us read verses 28. “…Levi got up, left everything, and followed him.” Since Levi had decided to be a tax collector, he seemed stuck in his tax booth with no way out. Although the money was good, when he realized that he was a national traitor to everyone around him, he wasn’t really living the life that he was envisioning. But when he heard Jesus’ words, “Follow me,” he began to see a glimpse of light. He gained new strength in his heart. Though he had lived a terribly selfish life, Jesus was giving him a new chance. Levi knew he didn’t deserve another chance but Jesus’ love and grace were greater than his past sins. He must have been so moved by Jesus. So he could get up,
leave everything and follow Jesus. He could leave his secure job as a tax
collector. He could leave the sinful and self-indulging lifestyle. In a word, he left his old life in order to live a new life in Jesus. Here we see that sincere repentance can be seen in one’s practical actions. In the past, Levi had lost everything—his dignity, honor, friends and nation—in order to get money and enjoy some worldly pleasures. When he did so, he also lost his conscience and God’s image. He felt that he would never regain these things. But when he followed Jesus, he found all that was lost.
When Levi began his new life of following Jesus, heavenly joy and peace filled his heart, which he had never experienced before. He could not keep his joy all to himself; he had to share it with others. Verse 29 said that he held a great banquet for Jesus at his house, inviting all of his tax collector friends and many others. He hired the best chefs from the best restaurants in town and ordered the best catering of life. Steak, seafood, sushi, everything that you could imagine and love, they were there. Levi must have spent a lot of money, but now he had no sense of loss because it was for Jesus. For the first time ever, his large house was full of people. Those who
attended the banquet were amazed at the change in Levi’s life and wanted to meet Jesus. When they met Jesus, they also shared their life struggles, laughed, talked, and prayed freely while enjoying some delicious food. It was like a picture of the heavenly banquet.
However, there was one group of people who were not so happy; they were the Pharisees and the teachers of the law (30). Why? Was it because they didn’t get invited and they were getting hungry? No. It was because they believed that Jesus and his disciples were breaking the law of Moses, the law of God by eating with sinners. So they complained to his disciples, “Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?” (30) During the time of Ezra, they struggled hard to keep their identity as God’s people while living in an idol worshiping culture. So Ezra taught the word of God very diligently and cared for his people with a heart of a shepherd. It led to a spiritual revival and movement. And the Pharisees were descendants of this movement. They were respected by the people. But in Jesus’ time, they had lost the spirit of Ezra while merely hanging onto a religious tradition and system. They made a box and wanted to put everyone in the box. If someone did not fit into their box, they were treated as sinners without understanding or mercy. In other words, the Pharisees became self-righteous. To them, people like tax collectors were incurable sinners whom they never wanted to associate with.
When Jesus heard their complaining, he did not get upset with them. Rather, he wanted to help them to see these people with God’s eyes. What did Jesus say in verse 31? Let us read verse 31 together. “Jesus
answered them, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick”.
Jesus explained that God sees sinners like a doctor sees the sick. The doctor is absolutely on the side of the patient. The doctor gives full attention and understands everything. A good doctor does not allow any threatening elements near the patient. The doctor gains the patient’s full trust. The patient can rest and fully cooperate in the healing process. While being absolutely on the side of the patient, the doctor is absolutely determined to cure the sickness, using any and every available skills, knowledge, and resource. The doctor does not see the patient as one of many sick people without hope but envisions the patient as fully restored and healthy. A good doctor works with full dedication to realize that vision, spending time, energy, and whatever is necessary. This is just a slight glimpse of how Jesus our Savior cares for us, sinners, the spiritually sick. To Luke who was also a medical doctor, it was amazing to see Jesus’ compassion, skill, power, and authority to heal any kind of sick and sin-sick people.
Then Jesus said in verse 32, our key verse for today. Let us read it together. “I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.” What does this mean? Here “the righteous” do not actually apply to those who are right in the sight of God, but to the “self-righteous” the people who consider themselves righteous. They are not aware of their sins and do not think they need a spiritual doctor. They are too proud to come to Jesus. Jesus did not come down to this world to establish a high society of self-righteous people. Jesus came to call sinners to repentance; sinners who know that they have sinned against God and they need God’s forgiveness. Calling to “repentance” does not mean pointing out our sins, rebuking us sharply. It means helping us realize that we indeed have done wrong against God because of our sins, and this made God grieve. It means helping us to change our mindset and lifestyle from self-centered to God-centered. In the process of helping us, Jesus accepts us as we are and humbly serves us. Jesus comforts us, encourages us, and teaches us the word of God. In this way, Jesus heals our sin-sickness until we become fully well.
Through this key verse, we can know the very reason that Jesus came to the world, to us, and to me. Jesus came to call me to repentance. In fact, Jesus came to me when I was lost in the darkness of my sins. Jesus came to me when I was so desperate for true peace and joy. My savior Jesus came to me and rescued me from the deepest pit of my sins of lust and pride. I am so glad that Jesus came for the sick like me. I am so glad that Jesus came to help and serve sinners like me so that I could repent and be forgiven, and be able to live a new life in him. With new life in Jesus, he wants me to learn from him. Jesus eagerly wants us to imitate him in embracing and understanding others with his mindset. There are so many sick people like Levi in this world, in the campus, in our work places, and even in our family. Outwardly they seem just fine. But inwardly their souls are dying in loneliness, despair, and fatalism, and they are searching for someone or something that can fill their hearts. No one can fully understand and heal them but Jesus. They desperately need Jesus, the spiritual doctor. And we, as Jesus’ servants, have mission to bring the people to Jesus. Jesus is willing to heal us, forgive us, restore us to the original image of God. Amen! This is why Jesus came.
Second, new wine must be poured into new wineskins (33-39).
Jesus wanted to help the religious leaders to have God’s mind and heart toward sinners. But they seemed to have ignored his teaching. They continued to attack him by bringing up another issue. Let’s read 33. They said to him, “John’s disciples often fast and pray, and so do the disciples of the Pharisees, but yours go on eating and drinking”. Jesus
and his disciples enjoyed the celebration banquet that Levi held for Jesus. And this was not the last time that Jesus and the twelve were invited to have food and drink. Jesus continually went to people’s, especially sinners’ homes for eating fellowship. So the religious leaders criticized Jesus as being a glutton and a drunkard. In the law, fasting was required only once a year, on the Day of Atonement (Lev 16:29), and voluntary fasts were encouraged according to the need for prayer. But the religious leaders developed their own rules that required fasting twice a week (Lk 18:12). Those who did this were regarded as righteous, while those who did not were regarded as self-indulgent sinners. By implication, the religious leaders were condemning Jesus’ disciples as self-indulgent sinners.
How does Jesus reply? Jesus answered, “Can you make the friends of the bridegroom fast while he is with them?” (34) Jesus compared himself to a bridegroom and his disciples to the friends. While the disciples were with Jesus, they should not mourn or be grumpy by fasting. Rather, they should celebrate by eating and drinking joyfully. But Jesus did not discredit fasting. Rather, he taught them that in regards to fasting, time is important. The time would come when the bridegroom would be taken away from them. This refers to his death on the cross. At that time, they would fast (35). Figuratively speaking, when Jesus is not in our hearts due to our sins and complacency, it is the time for us to fast and pray that Jesus may come into
our hearts and rule over our lives again.
Jesus went on with his teaching that his ministry was not compatible with corrupted Judaism through two short parables—one about garments and the other about wine and wineskins. In two different ways, Jesus taught the same principle. Pieces of new garments cannot be patches for old garments. If you do that, both the new and the old garments will be ruined (36). Similarly new wine cannot be poured into old wineskins. If it is, both the wine and the skins are ruined (37). So in verse 38, Jesus declares, “No, new wine must be poured into new wineskins.” Through these parables, Jesus teaches the nature of gospel ministry in comparison to Judaism of the teachers of the law. The gospel Jesus brings is new and dynamic. It has explosive power. The gospel gives us forgiveness of sins, eternal life, and living hope in the kingdom of God. It can transform any kind of person into a new creation. The gospel heals sin-sick people and makes them useful, powerful, and fruitful. The gospel empowers people to break free from lifeless and meaningless traditions and enables them to serve the living God in holiness and righteousness. In order to accept the gospel and live it out, we should be humble and flexible like new wineskins. The problem of the religious leaders was that they were fixed in their traditions while missing God’s purpose and intention. They refused to change, saying “The old is better” (39). They insisted on following their own system and stubborn ideas as their way of righteousness, thinking that they were most devout. The brutal reality was that they became legalistic, judgmental, and condemning in order to only defend their system.
How can we become like new wineskins that can take Jesus and his teachings into ourselves? Simply speaking, we need to examine ourselves, sincerely repent, and accept Jesus newly as our Lord and Savior. After Jesus’ resurrection, Peter delivered this gospel message to the people of
Israel and challenged them: “Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord…” (Ac 3:19). If we repent, God will surely forgive our sins and refresh our souls. Then the judgmental, critical, and complaining spirit will vanish and we will become humble, flexible, and gracious. We can even embrace any kinds of sinners, serve them with a delicious food, share the gospel message with them, and pray with them.
To Levi, Jesus said, “Follow me”. Today, Jesus also calls us to follow him in repentance, joy, and new spirit. May God lead us as we decide to follow him, getting up from our laziness and leaving our old and sinful life by faith.