House Call from the Soul Doctor

Luke 5:27-32
Ash Wednesday
March 5, 2025
William G. Carter

This is the overture for a Lenten series on “Coming Home – With Luke.”

After this Jesus went out and saw a tax collector named Levi, sitting at the tax booth; and he said to him, “Follow me.” And he got up, left everything, and followed him. Then Levi gave a great banquet for him in his house; and there was a large crowd of tax collectors and others sitting at the table with them. The Pharisees and their scribes were complaining to his disciples, saying, “Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?” Jesus answered, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick; I have come to call not the righteous but sinners to repentance.” 

There are a few twists and turns in that brief vignette. More than a few surprises! The first surprise is that a two-word invitation released Levi from his tax booth. Jesus did not plead with him. He did not encourage a career move. No, just two words: “Follow me.” Levi dropped everything and went. That’s all it took.

If we know about first century tax collectors in Palestine, we can understand his motivation. Jewish tax collectors collected for Rome. They agreed to get enough funding for Rome to house their occupying army and keep whatever more they could get. It was lucrative work. And difficult.

People like Levi got rich at the expense of their neighbors. They were cursed for it. They hunkered down in little shacks, protected by an ancient form of chicken wire, and made as much money as they could. Was it worth it? Outside of the tax booth, they were unprotected. At home, they were prisoners behind locked doors. I will bet Levi was ready to go when Jesus said, “Follow me.” No surprise.

Righteous people complained about this. They grumbled to the followers of Jesus, “Why do you eat with people like that?” We never hear their answer, Instead, Jesus interrupts on his own behalf, “I have come to call sinners to repentance.”

Those righteous Pharisees and scribes were grinding their teeth. They worked so hard to keep themselves pure, always guarding their associations, minding their habits, obsessing over the Torah and how to keep it. They would cross the street in silence if someone of questionable character came their way.

For their world was parsed in two camps: sinners and righteous. Sinners like those people, righteous like themselves. Outsiders and insiders. Cursed and blessed. Dirty and pure. Everybody knew tax collectors were cheats, infidels, and Collaborators with the Evil Empire. Those who presumed they were righteous avoided those deemed sinful. No surprise about that.

Levi filled his house for a dinner party, Jesus as his guest of honor. The isolated man reached out just like himself – fellow tax collectors and those described as “others.” It was a free meal in a big house. The invitation was simple: “Come and eat, come and drink, come and hang out with Jesus. He invited me out of my tax shack, so I invited him to my table.” This is no surprise.

And then comes the biggest surprise: the room was full. Luke describes it as a “mega feast” – a full table. The house was jammed with a “multitude.” And why were they there? Because Jesus reached out to Levi. Levi, in turn, wanted to honor him. He invited all these other questionable people. They wanted to be with Jesus, too.

It is a brief story and astonishing. Jesus never says to that crowd, “You must clean up your act before you can eat with me.” He never says, “Let’s get all the tax collectors together to turn the Roman Domination System upside down.” He never says, “Let me hear your confessions.” Doesn’t even say, “Let us pray.”

No, I think what he said was, “Pass the hummus. That matzah ball soup smells delicious. And folks, how was your day?” That is how he calls them. It is the same way he calls us. Never wagging his finger – but with the invitation, “Follow me.” Come with me. Sit with me. Eat with me. Because, no matter what you have done, you matter to me. You have a place by my side.

When somebody loves us, it is the best motivation to change our ways. Some folks cannot understand this. They exert so much energy to keep themselves pure that they will not admit their own impurities. They will not step over their fine reputations long enough to invite Jesus to their own tables. Sad to say, that is their spiritual illness. If only they would invite the Lord to sit with them!

Over the next weeks, we are going to chew on the word that keeps coming up in the Gospel of Luke. The word is repentance. In Greek, it is pronounced “metanoia.” It’s a turning around, a stepping in a new direction. I regard it as the invitation to come home to God, to keep company with Jesus, to welcome his loving, cleansing Spirit that heals us into health.

As Jesus puts it, “I did not come for the righteous (or those who think they are righteous). I came for those who admit they have they are not well.” To tap into that healing power, we must let down our defenses, give up our pretenses, and abandon all attempts to be spiritually self-sufficient. Jesus comes to help us. His first move, always the first move, is to say, “You are loved, even in your imperfections.”

Is that hard to hear? Maybe. If we sit with him long enough, we discover he is telling the truth.

Jesus has not come for those who are perfect. No, he comes for you and me. Tonight, we are honest enough to mark our own limited mortality. It is our opportunity to welcome Christ’s infinite love. This is the first move of repentance. Nobody ever gets through this life on the strength of their own perfection. But we do get through with a whole lot of help from the Christ who comes to love and heal. The Soul Doctor is here.

(c) William G. Carter. All rights reserved.