Luke 5:27 says, And after these things he went forth, and saw a publican, named Levi, sitting at the receipt of custom: and he said unto him, Follow me. After calling Peter, James and John, who were fishermen, Jesus next called Levi, a tax collector, to follow Him. Fishermen were of low estate in the eyes of people, but tax collectors were held in even lower esteem. Matthew Henry says that since there was no miracle associated with Jesus calling this tax collector that this was simply a showing of God's grace. There may be no earthly miracle in our life associated with Jesus calling us to salvation, but there will always be the miracle of God's grace. Verse twenty-eight adds, And he left all, rose up, and followed him. There was no hesitation on the part of Levi. He immediately left everything and followed Jesus. There should be no hesitation on our part today to leave everything and follow Jesus. Verse twenty-nine continues, And Levi made him a great feast in his own house: and there was a great company of publicans and of others that sat down with them. Levi not only left his job as a tax collector, but he then made a great feast at His house, in the presence of other publicans. When we accept Jesus Christ as our Savior and Lord, we should want to celebrate this fact with everyone. We cannot reach the lost people of the world if we suddenly think we are too morally superior to associate with them. Verse thirty states, But their scribes and Pharisees murmured against his disciples, saying, Why do ye eat and drink with publicans and sinners? The scribes and Pharisees, the religious leaders, murmured against the disciples of Jesus, asking how they could eat with publicans and sinners. They felt that they were morally superior to these people because of their own actions. We may grow up in the church and try to follow all of God's commandments, but until we accept Jesus Christ as our personal Savior and Lord, we are but sinners in need of His salvation, and once we do accept Him, we are simply sinners saved by grace. We cannot look down on anyone as unworthy of salvation. Verse thirty-one declares, And Jesus answering said unto them, They that are whole need not a physician; but they that are sick. Jesus said people who are well don't need a physician, but those who are sick do. We who are made spiritually whole by faith in Jesus Christ need to reach out to those who are sick in sin today. Verse thirty-two adds, I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. Jesus said He didn't come to call the righteous, but the sinners to repentance. Of course, we are all sinners in need of salvation until we accept Jesus Christ as our Savior and Lord, even as the scribes and Pharisees were in that day. Verse thirty-three asks, And they said unto him, Why do the disciples of John fast often, and make prayers, and likewise the disciples of the Pharisees; but thine eat and drink? The religious leaders then asked why Jesus and His disciples couldn't be more like the disciples of John and the Pharisees who fasted often, whereas the disciples of Jesus ate and drank. We cannot be made righteous with God by any earthly ritual, but only by faith in Jesus Christ. Verse thirty-four answers, And he said unto them, Can ye make the children of the bridechamber fast, while the bridegroom is with them? Jesus asked if they would expect the children in the bride chamber to fast while the bridegroom was near. Jesus is the bridegroom of all who follow Him, and there was no call to fast while He was with them. If we fast today as Christians, it is not for salvation or because we are morally superior to others, but it is simply to get spiritually closer to Jesus as we await His return. Verse thirty-five adds, But the days will come, when the bridegroom shall be taken away from them, and then shall they fast in those days. Jesus said the day was coming when the bridegroom, Jesus Himself, would be taken away from them and then they could fast. Ever since Jesus's death, burial and resurrection, this applies to everyone who has lived or ever will live until Jesus returns. Verse thirty-six says, And he spake also a parable unto them; No man putteth a piece of a new garment upon an old; if otherwise, then both the new maketh a rent, and the piece that was taken out of the new agreeth not with the old. Jesus compared true worship to a new piece of cloth being put on an old garment and the fact that it wouldn't work well. Jesus did not come to be applied to the old covenant, but to establish a new covenant. The two cannot exist together. We cannot be saved by trying to follow all of God's laws and never failing, which would be self-righteousness, but must come to Jesus in simple faith that He is the only way to salvation. Verse thirty-seven adds, And no man putteth new wine into old bottles; else the new wine will burst the bottles, and be spilled, and the bottles shall perish. Jesus then spoke of putting new wine in bottles with old wine in them and both the old and new being destroyed. If we attempt to combine following God's law and faith in Jesus as the way to salvation, it will not work. Verse thirty-eight continues, But new wine must be put into new bottles; and both are preserved. Jesus came to bring a new covenant, and just like new wine it needed to be put in a new bottle. We cannot force salvation by grace to fit into salvation by the law. Verse thirty-nine concludes, No man also having drunk old wine straightway desireth new: for he saith, The old is better. Jesus said that just as people preferred old wine to new, many people would prefer the old covenant with God that came through keeping the law to the new covenant of grace. Again, in order to accept salvation through faith in Jesus Christ, the only way to salvation, we must give up all thoughts that we can make ourselves righteous by following the law of God.
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