Luke 5:27 says, “After this he went out and saw a tax collector named Levi, sitting at the tax booth. And he said to him, ‘Follow me.’ And leaving everything, he rose and followed him.”
Tax collectors in the gospels were hated people. They were Jews working for the Romans collecting taxes from their fellow brothers and sisters. Many times, they would collect more taxes than were needed, to enrich themselves. They were seen as thieves, liars, and traitors.
In his painting above, Pieter Brueghel captures well how tax collectors enriched themselves at the expense of others. You will notice that one woman is paying with eggs, another person with a paper slip, most likely a deed to his land. Another man is paying with a bag of money, which is contrasted with the multiple bags of money hanging on the walls. When we look at the faces of the people, we can see frustration, anxiety, and grief.
I imagine that this was not too far off from what it was like in the gospels. And yet, it's a Levi, a tax collector, who Jesus invites to follow him. As I reflect on this story, and this painting, I am reminded that the invitation and welcome of Jesus is wider than I expected. This story reminds me that if there’s room for Levi, there’s room for me. There’s room for you. There’s room for us all in the kingdom of God.[1]
-Pastor Evan Davies
[1] I have adapted this devotional from https://christian.art/daily-gospel-reading/luke-5-27-32-2022/.
