A GREAT SUPPER
In the name of Jesus, fellow redeemed – forgiven – sinners: I bring you grace and peace from God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
God called Abraham, out of a false religion of worshipping idols, to go to the place where He would show Him. Abraham just went. It’s all of a sudden.
Then in Genesis 18, as he’s living in Canaan, one day the God who called Abram, now appears in the form of a man (along with two angels) at dinner time. Abraham isn’t actually hosting the meal; the Lord is. He’s made it His home, His table, His supper. At this supper He gives Abraham joy, He gives Sarah laughter, as He gives the promise of a son, Isaac, from whom will come the Savior.
We now hear how Jesus called His seventh disciple, called him out of a life of worshipping the idol of money, and gave a great supper of joy.
Sermon Text, St. Mark 2:13-17. Then He went out again by the sea; and all the multitude came to Him, and He taught them. As He passed by, He saw Levi the son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax office. And He said to him, “Follow Me.” So he arose and followed Him. Now it happened, as He was dining in Levi’s house, that many tax collectors and sinners also sat together with Jesus and His disciples; for there were many, and they followed Him. And when the scribes and Pharisees saw Him eating with the tax collectors and sinners, they said to His disciples, “How is it that He eats and drinks with tax collectors and sinners?” When Jesus heard it, He said to them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance.”
Lord, this is Your Word and these are Your words. Sanctify us by the truth. Your Word is truth. By these words of truth, call us by faith into Your life of joy. Amen.
They knew what Matthew – excuse me, Levi – was like, the dirty tax collector who wouldn’t give anyone a break. They knew what Jesus was like. That’s why it was so confusing when Jesus just “passed by Levi the son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax office. And He said to him, ‘Follow Me.’ ”
That’s all anyone saw. Nobody understood it. It was just that quick.
It could only be understood at the “great supper” that happened “in Levi’s house,” at the supper where “many tax collectors and sinners sat together with Jesus and His disciples,” who now include Levi, or rather, Matthew.
This great supper is the only way to understand what happened at the tax office. Because Jesus didn’t just call him all of a sudden, despite appearances.
Since before time began, the Lord knew him. He loved him from before time began. Even as Levi was cheating people, held in the clutches of greed, the Lord saw him sitting at the feast of salvation. He belonged there despite his sins, not by His own merit but for Jesus’ sake. Even his sins were preparing him to treasure the forgiving love of God. Now Christ had come down, all was ready, not only for all people, not only to “invite many,” but specifically him.
This wasn’t even the first time Jesus invited him; it’s just the most direct. Jesus had been preaching and healing in Capernaum. Every time Levi heard about another Jesus miracle or strained his ears to hear Jesus preaching, what was Jesus doing? – Pointing him to his place at the table. Inviting him.
And not only him. Mark says: “For there were many [tax collectors], and they were following Him [Jesus].” Only Mark has this. He is surely quoting the disciples, probably Peter: “There are many! And they’re following Jesus!” The disciples are learning this is what Jesus’ kingdom looks like – and they marvel at it. Matthew is just the 7th disciple Jesus called (after Andrew, James, John, Peter, Philip and Bartholomew). The tax collectors – who each lived as dishonestly, materialistically and unlovingly as Matthew had– they outnumber the disciples!
These tax collectors aren’t there at Matthew’s house as his guests. Jesus has done a peaceful takeover of Matthew’s house. Matthew isn’t hosting the meal, Jesus is. He’s made it His home, Histable, His great supper. They’re Jesus’ guests!
And not just guests: they belong at the table where Jesus passes out all this joy. Where He eats with them, His disciples do too, and there’s no difference, they eat “together,” in joy and contentment, without greed or selfishness.
This picture of God’s kingdom being a great supper of joy seems unreal, we think it might be like that in heaven but it isn’t like that here. That’s not my life. Sometimes we think of our Christian life as a long hard slog, that it’s really hard, mostly serious, we have all these duties, we’re tired of not triumphing over sin.
We find that we’re really a lot like Matthew and his tax collector friends. We have a past. We know what others would think of us, if they knew everything.
While we hide our worst faults, what the tax collectors were and did was right out there; everyone knew it. Of all the disciples, it wasn’t Judas who was most likely to be greedy and worshiping money – it was Matthew. As he came into the disciples he could have self-consciously said: “Well, I’m not really like all of you.” He and his tax collector friends could have feared what people would bring up.
We carry baggage too. New people coming into the church are self-conscious, thinking they’re not like the rest of us. Even lifelong churchgoing Christians can develop this feeling too, being self-conscious of what you are. We’re so aware of the baggage we bring. If you do or say something you’re ashamed of, you think you can’t face people. You worry about each misstep.
But see this supper at Matthew’s house. Unlike the tax-collector world, here there’s no giving account or saying what’s owed. Only forgiving of debts. Only a feeling of relief. Only joy and gladness. No shadow of anything that was owed or done wrong. It isn’t even in the room, that’s how completely Jesus has cleared it away, how pure and complete the laughter, joy and gladness of heart is.
That’s what it’s like with Jesus. You don’t follow Him to a task list. You follow Him to where all you do is receive. He gives you things to do, but not as a task list. There’s no counting here. Only joy in doing what He gives you to do.
But where the issue is being saved, how you are in His kingdom, He does it all. He does all the giving. He doesn’t even make sure that you’re aware that He’s giving it to you, as if He needs to be repaid. No, just like all these tax collectors you eat together with Him, as a joint heir, someone who belongs at His table.
And not only with you. You find that you’re surrounded by everyone who is just the same as you. Nobody deserving to belong there, but everyone is there purely by grace, nobody better than others. Just like Matthew, everyone wants to stop taking and just give what He’s given, stop hoarding and share all this.
That’s what it’s like in His kingdom. It’s no accident that He pictures this as a great supper, and it’s no accident that He leaves His love on earth to be given to you in a supper that He instituted. At the Lord’s Supper you see what His Church really looks like. There is only the forgiving of debts here.
From this story of a great supper at Matthew’s house, we can learn that when we go to the Lord’s Supper, Christ promises to give us joy, to create joy. And so we should come expecting joy, praying to be given joy. Not only joy in Christ for ourselves – the tax collectors were learning that life was no longer about self – but to have joy in those we are communing with, to pray for them to be given joy, and to be made into joyful Christians not only at church but in our daily vocation, to be made into a joy-filled church. In His body and blood your Savior dwells within you now, so joy dwells within you now when you leave the altar.
What we see in the early church and the martyrs – one of whom was Matthew – is joy. It was an eruption of joy. When they were told to deny Christ or be killed, they went to their death “rejoicingthat they were counted worthy to suffer [and die] for the name of Christ” (Ac 5:41). Where did they get this joy? It’s no coincidence that (as we’re told in Acts) they had the Lord’s Supper every Sunday, even daily. It gave them this joy, which in turn made them bold, confident, free.
This is the joy of the Gospel, the joy that only Jesus gives. It’s a release that this joy gives: that there’s no more counting, that you can face people unashamed, that you do belong at Jesus’ table, you are His disciple now, all He does is give, to you! If you lack joy, come to His Supper where He’ll fill you with it. Amen!