Saturday 12 March 2011

Background

Tax collectors not only collected the required taxes but oftenprofited from charging people extra. The post was associated withcorruption and tax collectors were despised as collaborators andcheats. Contact with Gentiles (non-Jews) made them 'unclean'. ForJesus to call a tax collector to be his disciple would be regardedas outrageous by the Pharisees.

The call of Levi from his tax booth here and in Mark2:13-17 is paralleled by the call of Matthew (Matthew 9:9-13). This has led to the suggestionthat Matthew and Levi are the same person who is given a secondname just as Simon was called Peter (from the Greek meaning'rock'). If so, what better name to show acceptance than Matthew,meaning 'gift of God'?

In Jewish society it was essential, socially and spiritually, toeat with the right people. By sharing food you accepted your tablecompanions as equals. It was also important to maintain ritualpurity at mealtimes. Sharing a bread basket with someone 'unclean',a known sinner or a Gentile could contaminate you spiritually,entailing a lengthy purification process before you could re-enterthe worshipping community. In the Pharisees' minds Jesus, byassociating with sinners, was making himself into a sinner.

Jesus eating with the tax collectors would have had a similarsocial impact to when Princess Diana first sat on the bed of a mandying from HIV/AIDS, held his hand and chatted to him. Jesus wasdemonstrating in a tangible way that no-one is beyond the reach ofgrace, that even those who were regarded as outcasts from societycould play a role in the kingdom of God and that they were includedwithin the love of God.

I wonder about the conversation over the meal. Whatever Jesus saidwas a cause for celebration, so it's unlikely that he stressedtheir sinfulness or God's wrath. His dinner companions would haveheard that often enough already from the Pharisees. It seemsequally improbable he told them they must believe in events thathadn't happened yet. More likely is that he offered them freedom,healing and reconciliation, and gave them a vision of what theymight become.

To Ponder

What do you think Jesus said to the tax gatherersand sinners?

Who are the 'spiritually sick' and the 'sociallyundesirable' in our society? How can you show your acceptance ofthose whose lives still need to change?

Many people today are trapped within walls oftheir own making - guilt, anger, regret, or bitterness; they lacktrust and hope. What can we learn from this passage about how bestto encourage them to seek God's help to free themselves?