Daily Bible Reading 24th May 2026 // Luke 5:27-32
27 After this he went out and saw a tax collector named Levi, sitting at the tax booth. And he said to him, “Follow me.” 28 And leaving everything, he rose and followed him.
29 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. 30 And the Pharisees and their scribes grumbled at his disciples, saying, “Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?” 31 And Jesus answered them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. 32 I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance.”
Levi's response to Jesus was immediate and decisive. He left all, rose up, and followed Him (28). He entered into life. And the evidence of that new life was not long in showing itself. When we enter into life, there are some things we will want to do. We will want, like Levi, to share this glorious experience with others. We will want our friends to meet this glorious Saviour. Levi gave a feast (he had something to celebrate, after all), at which Jesus was the honoured guest, and to which a great company of tax gatherers and others were invited. That was one evidence of his conversion. Another, as we know, was that he wrote a book, the gospel that bears his name - that is to say, his talents, such as they were, were laid at the disposal of Christ. Not many of us may have talents in this direction, but we all have differing gifts and abilities, and these may be put at Christ's disposal for the gospel's sake, and - when the experience of grace is genuine - will be.
The criticism that Jesus' attitude towards Levi evoked in the Pharisees was marked and significant. It is true that the situation was rapidly becoming such that everything He did was liable to be frowned upon and condemned; but there was in fact a question of Jewish law involved here. The tax gatherers had, by their occupation, associating themselves with the Roman government, put themselves outside the law. They were 'sinners' in this sense particularly; and therefore to associate oneself with them, above all to eat with them, was to defile oneself. But Jesus tells them that this is precisely what He can come to do, to heal the sick, and those who had by their lives put themselves outside the law were most patently the sick. That was why He sat with them. You cannot do this 'by proxy'; communicating the gospel to men necessarily involves communicating with them!