After this, Jesus went out and saw a tax collector by the name of Levi sitting at his tax booth. “Follow me,” Jesus said to him, and Levi got up, left everything and followed him. Then Levi held a great banquet for Jesus at his house, and a large crowd of tax collectors and others were eating with them. But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law who belonged to their sect complained to his disciples, “Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?” Jesus answered them, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.

–Luke 5:27-32 (TNIV)

Imagine you meet one who can heal you of all that ails you, who can give your life meaning and purpose, even in the most daunting of circumstances. He invites you to leave all that is familiar and comfortable to you and follow him. Would you?

Levi was a tax collector, a member of one of the most despised and hated groups of people in Israel in Jesus’ day. He made a living from extortion and exploitation. But Jesus called him to heal him and Levi’s response was immediate and dramatic. Later, Jesus affirmed Levi’s trust in him by telling the Pharisees that he had come to heal the sick.

When we realize that we are just like Levi, suddenly everything changes for us. No longer do we read this story with puzzled bemusement. No longer do we see life as a series of “dos and don’ts.” Rather we see the God of this vast universe reaching out to us in our waywardness and rebellion to offer us forgiveness, healing, and purpose and meaning for our lives, the kind that will never end. We are amazed because we realize just how unlovely we are and how much God wants to change that in us so that we can really begin to live life to its fullest.