Grace and Forgiveness (Part 1 of 2)

Devotional

Day 1: When Jesus Says "Follow Me" at the Tax Booth

Jesus’ command cuts through Levi’s routine of exploitation and isolation. A man defined by greed and rejection hears two words that rewrite his identity. This call isn’t an invitation to debate but a summons to abandon old loyalties. Levi’s booth represents every soul’s crossroads: cling to broken systems or rise at the sound of grace. The kingdom advances not through moral resumes but through surrendered yeses. [19:10]

As he passed by, he saw Levi the son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax booth, and he said to him, “Follow me.” And he rose and followed him.
(Mark 2:14, ESV)

Reflection: What “tax booth” have you been sitting at—a habit, identity, or compromise—where Jesus is saying “Follow me” today? How might immediate obedience rewrite your story?

Day 2: Leaving Everything Except the Table of Grace

Levi’s abandoned booth leaves no backdoor for half-heartedness. Yet his empty hands now host a feast for fellow outcasts. Jesus doesn’t call us to isolation but to open tables where grace confronts religious pride. The party in Levi’s home mirrors heaven’s joy: not over the righteous’ performance, but over sinners stepping into light. [20:42]

And Levi made him a great feast in his house, and there was a large company of tax collectors and others reclining at table with them. And the Pharisees and their scribes grumbled at his disciples, saying, “Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?” And Jesus answered them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance.”
(Luke 5:29–32, ESV)

Reflection: Who in your life feels “uninvitable” to your table or church? How can you actively create space for those still wrestling with Jesus’ call?

Day 3: The Doctor’s Radical Prescription for the Sick

Jesus’ mission statement scandalizes the self-sufficient: physicians exist for the sick, not the healthy. Levi’s story proves grace isn’t a reward for moral improvement but medicine for the terminally corrupt. The church risks irrelevance when it caters to the comfortably religious rather than collaborating with the Great Physician in triage. [01:36]

And when Jesus heard it, he said to them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.”
(Mark 2:17, ESV)

Reflection: When have you downplayed your need for Jesus’ healing to appear “healthy”? How does His call to sinners free you from pretending?

Day 4: From Despised Collector to Eternal Witness

Levi’s ledger books fade as he pens Gospel pages. The man barred from testifying in human courts becomes an eternal witness to divine mercy. Jesus specializes in repurposing the disqualified: our worst chapters become His glory stories. The kingdom elevates the unlikely, not the impressive. [12:11]

And as they were coming down the mountain, he charged them to tell no one what they had seen, until the Son of Man had risen from the dead.
(Mark 9:9, ESV)

Reflection: What past failure or shame makes you feel unqualified to share Jesus? How might His call transform your story into a testimony?

Day 5: The Dangerous Comfort of the Huddled Circle

The Pharisees’ huddle critiques Jesus’ messy mission. Churches face the same peril: preferring insiders’ camaraderie over outsiders’ chaos. Levi’s calling challenges us to trade closed circles for risky obedience. True discipleship multiplies when we abandon “us vs. them” to join Jesus in the streets. [03:35]

Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.
(Matthew 28:19–20, ESV)

Reflection: Where has your faith community become overly comfortable? What one step can you take this week to engage someone far from God’s family?

Sermon Summary

Mark presents Jesus as utterly committed not to forming a religious club, but to reaching the most unlikely people and making them followers. The church’s stated desire to see unbelieving people become committed followers of Jesus Christ can become little more than a phrase if comfort in Christian companionship dims the vision for those still outside.

Jesus goes out by the lake, teaches the crowds the good news, and then walks straight into the ordinary setting of Levi’s tax booth. Jesus has come as the teacher of the kingdom, calling people to repent and believe, even as his works of healing and deliverance confirm his authority. Levi’s call shows that the good news does not leave a man or woman where it finds them.

Levi stands as a most unlikely candidate for discipleship. His customs work in Capernaum likely placed him at the border between Herod’s territories, collecting tolls and duties for a system that invited extortion. His position made him a disgrace to his family, unfit to serve as a witness, and excluded from synagogue life. Levi was, in social terms, as much an outcast as the leper Jesus had touched.

Levi may well have known something of Jesus already. Capernaum was buzzing with the news of demons cast out, sick people healed, and fishermen who had left boats, nets, fathers, and businesses to follow Jesus. The changed lives of Simon, Andrew, James, and John may have caused Levi to wonder, “What’s that like?” The desire to follow Jesus is never met with refusal, because nobody who truly wants to become his follower is turned away.

Jesus meets Levi in the very place of his dubious business practice. Levi had heard plenty of commands telling him where to go, along with the abuse of people who hated his betrayal and greed. Jesus gives him an altogether different command: “Follow me.” Jesus does not tell him where to go. Jesus tells him where to come.

Jesus’ word is brief, but it carries divine authority. The Bible bears that same authority, speaking into human lives not as a collection of religious suggestions but as the living word of Christ. Levi’s response is immediate, and Luke makes its totality plain: he “left everything” and followed Jesus. Levi cannot follow Jesus while remaining what he was, because Christ’s call demands a decisive turning from the old life.

The claims of Christ must not be diluted into a soft option. Jesus says, “Follow me,” and genuine faith rises, leaves, and follows.

Key Takeaways

1. Christ calls the unlikely and despised Jesus deliberately sets his call upon Levi, a man marked by public shame and moral compromise. Levi’s place at the tax booth does not place him beyond Christ’s reach, nor does it soften the seriousness of the change required. Grace goes directly to the places where human respectability refuses to go. [17:04]
2. Jesus tells outcasts where to come Levi had likely spent his days hearing hatred, scorn, and commands to get out of sight. Jesus stands before him and says, “Follow me,” turning rejection into invitation. Christ does not minimize Levi’s sin, but he summons Levi into a new allegiance and a new life. [18:16]
3. Christ’s call never leaves people unchanged God’s call does not permit spiritual neutrality or a stationary life. Levi gets up, leaves everything, and follows because following Christ requires a break with the former master. Any attempt to remain unchanged while claiming Christ’s call moves in the opposite direction. [20:26]
4. The word of Jesus carries authority Jesus does not bargain with Levi or offer an elaborate sales pitch. His brief command possesses the authority that creates the response it requires. Scripture must therefore be heard as more than religious advice, for Christ still speaks through his authoritative word. [19:10]
5. The gospel is not a soft option Christ’s invitation is wonderfully open, yet it is never casual or trivial. The church distorts the gospel when it lowers Christ’s claims in order to make discipleship seem easy. Levi’s example shows that faith receives Christ’s welcome by leaving behind the old way of life. [21:14]

Youtube Chapters

[00:00] - Welcome
[00:49] - Jesus Calls Levi
[01:52] - The Church’s Purpose and Danger
[03:35] - Jesus Seeks Unlikely Disciples
[05:15] - Levi at the Tax Booth
[07:23] - Why Tax Collectors Were Despised
[12:26] - Levi May Have Heard of Jesus
[16:02] - Wanting to Follow Jesus
[18:16] - “Follow Me”
[19:10] - The Authority of Jesus’ Word
[20:26] - Levi Left Everything
[21:14] - Christ’s Claims Are Not Soft

Bible Study Guide

Bible Reading

Mark 2:13-14
“Once again Jesus went out beside the lake. A large crowd came to him, and he began to teach them. As he walked along, he saw Levi son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax collector’s booth. “Follow me,” Jesus told him, and Levi got up and followed him.” [00:49]

Luke 5:27-28
“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.” [20:20]

Mark 2:17
“And when Jesus heard it, he said to them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.” [01:39]

Observation questions

What does Jesus do as he moves from teaching the crowd by the lake to encountering Levi at the tax booth? [05:15]
What details help explain why Levi’s work as a tax collector made him despised and socially excluded?
How does Mark describe Levi’s response to Jesus’ command, and what additional detail does Luke provide about that response? [20:20]
What objection do the Pharisees raise when Jesus eats with tax collectors and sinners, and how does Jesus answer them?

Interpretation questions

Why is Levi an especially striking example of the kind of person Jesus calls to follow him? How does his calling help explain Jesus’ statement that he came to call sinners? [17:04]
Jesus meets Levi at the place where he carries out his compromised work. What does this show about Christ’s willingness to seek people in the middle of sinful and broken lives? [18:16]
Jesus gives Levi a short command rather than a long explanation. What does Levi’s immediate response reveal about the authority of Jesus’ word? [19:10]
Luke says that Levi “left everything.” What does this mean in Levi’s situation, and why can following Jesus not simply mean adding religious activity to an unchanged life? [20:37]

Application questions

Who are the people in daily life who may seem least likely to become followers of Jesus—because of their reputation, choices, background, or opposition to faith? How might this passage change the way the group prays for and approaches them? [03:45]
It is easy to enjoy Christian friendships while losing sight of those who do not yet know Christ. Where might comfort, busyness, or fear be dimming concern for unbelieving people in personal relationships? [03:14]
Jesus tells Levi not where to go, but where to come: to himself. Is there an area of life where shame, failure, or a sense of being unacceptable makes it difficult to believe that Christ truly invites sinners to come to him? [18:24]
Levi’s response involved leaving behind a former way of life. What habits, relationships, patterns of speech, financial choices, or hidden compromises may need to change in order to follow Jesus more wholeheartedly? [20:49]
Scripture speaks with the authority of Christ rather than offering merely optional advice. When has a passage of Scripture confronted, corrected, or redirected a specific area of life? What response is needed now? [19:19]
The gospel is wonderfully open to sinners, but it is not a soft option that leaves people unchanged. How can Christians speak about both Christ’s welcome and Christ’s call to repentance without weakening either one? [21:36]

Sermon Clips

“Jesus is absolutely committed not to putting together a religious club but of reaching out to those who are quite frankly the most unlikely people ever to be included in his band of disciples.” [00:03:45]

“Nobody who ever wanted to be a follower of Jesus was turned away. You can never want to be a follower of Jesus and find that he tells you you can't.” [00:16:39]

“He turned his back on his illicit business. He realized that if he was going to follow Jesus, he couldn't follow Jesus and stay the way he was. The command is clear. The response is immediate, and it is total.” [00:20:42]

“When God calls a man or a woman, his callings never leave that person where they found him. If God speaks to you and calls you and you try and stand still, you will not be standing still. You will be going backwards. The callings of God never leave you where they find you.” [00:06:45]

“If the church in endeavoring to win people takes the message of Jesus, dilutes it, minimizes it, compromises it so that people may see it as a soft option, it is no surprise when the people look at it and say, "Who cares?” [00:21:51]

“Jesus is actually issuing to him a command, a different kind of command. It's not get out of here. It is come here. In fact, it is straightforward. Come follow me. Jesus told him. And Levi got up and followed him.” [00:18:29]

“It's hard to imagine a doctor who worked all his way or all her way through medical school and then decided that she didn't ever want to see patients. She just wanted to be a doctor, but no patients. I'd like to be a doctor, but I don't ever want to see sick people. Uh, it would be a very, very strange thing. And for Jesus to refuse to deal with those who are despised and disreputable uh who are the outscoring of society uh would be equally absurd.” [00:04:31]

“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, now here's the phrase, and left everything. And left everything and followed him.” [00:20:24]

“When the teachers of the law, who were Pharisees, saw him eating with the sinners and tax collectors, they asked his disciples, "Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?" On hearing this, Jesus said to them, "It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners."” [00:01:29]

“Now yes, he touches their lives. Yes, he heals their sicknesses. Yes, he relieves them of demonic oppression. But he hasn't come as a miracle worker. He has come as a teacher of this good news.” [00:06:10]

“In other words, we face the risk that after a relatively short period of time, the comfortability of being in the companionable uh relationships with one another may dim our vision, may dent our enthusiasm for seeing unbelieving people become the committed followers of Jesus.” [00:03:14]

“You will either follow on, you will either believe and obey, or you will be making a forlorn attempt to stand still. You will discover that you're going in the opposite direction.” [00:07:03]

“Because you see the word of Jesus is not like the word of any other person. The word of Jesus in this instance is not only marked by brevity. It's also marked by authority.” [00:19:07]

“And we have tried as best we can to keep that before us. Not simply by keeping it in print, but also in approaching all of the opportunities and responsibilities that we have as a church in light of the awareness of the fact that Jesus in leaving his disciples behind promised them the power and authority of the Holy Spirit so that they might go out into the world and proclaim the good news of Jesus, baptizing people, making disciples, and uh establishing uh the work of the kingdom.” [00:02:01]

“going under the table. And Levi, as a result of that, was actually as much an outcast socially as the leper was, whom we saw just a couple of studies ago.” [00:10:59]

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