Luke 5:27-39 tells of the calling of another disciple and incidents about the value of what is new and what is old. The calling of Levi represents a somewhat startling innovation for the Jewish community. At the same time also it recalled and challenged some ancient religious traditions in Israel.
The location of the event would have been a public place - a tax collector’s booth where custom’s duties on trade goods and other tax revenues would have been collected for the Roman government. The new disciple’s name was purely Jewish: Levi was the son of Jacob and Leah (Gen. 29:34) and namesake of one of the twelve tribes. He was best known for the priestly role of his descendants, the Levites. Whether Luke intended the paradox or not, Levi had a strange vocation for someone with his name.
The banquet that followed at Levi’s home included both other tax collectors as well other ordinary citizens. The Pharisees and scribes thought that Jesus was going too far in having table fellowship with such sinners. So they complained to Jesus' disciples. But some of them there too? If so, surely they knew who their host would be when they accepted his invitation to dinner. Strictly religious Jews would never have eaten with such “unclean people.”
Despite the gaps in the story, Luke obviously used it to point out to his own Jewish and Gentile audience many decades after the resurrection that Jesus was the friend of all sinners. That was why he had singled out the tax collectors. There was also superb irony in his words. The Pharisees and scribes did not see themselves in the same light as Jesus did. Luke’s message to his audience was that the Christian community was totally inclusive of both Jews and Gentiles, and of the religious and not so religious. That is a principle with which the church continues to have serious problems.
The next anecdote in Luke’s narrative (5:33-39) brings out other elements of our Christian tradition with which the church still wrestles. What is the “right way” to worship? Who is welcome at our worship services?
In Jesus’ time, Jewish ritual laws were very strict. The Torah laid down exactly how the liturgies of temple and home were to be carried out. The spiritual disciplines of fasting and prayer had to be meticulously followed. Those who did not meet these conditions were excluded. Then as now, however, weddings were family and community celebrations with much feasting and drinking. When the celebration was over, everyone went back to the traditional religious practices.
The twin parables of new cloth patching old garments and new wine stored in old wineskins were just common sense. On the other hand, neither the new or the old is to be wasted. Both are valuable at the appropriate time and place. Jesus’ presence is what is most significant to the church in every age. He can be associated with either ancient traditions or new transitions without violating basic principles of inclusiveness and community.
Showing posts with label Levi. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Levi. Show all posts
Sunday, January 24, 2010
7 - CALLING THE FIRST DISCIPLES
After he had spent a quiet night of prayer in a deserted place near Capernaum, Luke told of Jesus leaving Galilee to proclaim his message in the synagogues of Judea (4:42-44). In the next phase of Luke’s narrative, Jesus was back by in Capernaum once more. He had already visited in Simon’s house and healed Simon’s mother-in-law. Now he walked along the shore of lake of Gennesaret (an earlier name for Lake Galilee). The crowds followed and pressed in on him to hear what he had to say. Seeing some fishermen washing their nets beside their boats, he got into one and asked its owner, Simon, to put out a little from shore. There he sat down and taught the people from the boat.
After that quiet introduction picking up the theme of Jesus continuing his ministry of preaching and teaching, Luke’s narrative spun into an exciting drama. Sharon Hinge calls it, “A Fish Story.”
Jesus instructed Simon to launch his boat into deep water and let down his nets. Did Jesus know where a school of fish could be found? Or was this one of those details Luke used to reflect Jesus’ authority? The latter would seem to have been the case, because Simon immediately called Jesus, "Master." That Greek term Luke reserved for one who had authority. In similar situations in Matthew and Mark, the parallel term was either teacher or rabbi.
More important than the huge catch of fish was the addition of a second name given to Simon, Peter, and his reaction to the incident. The name meant a rock or rocky ground. Bruce Chilton makes something of the name, "Rocky." Perhaps it had a double edge in some respects. Simon Peter was impetuous, but not always the steady one among the twelve. As Luke’s narrative continued, the nickname, if that is what itw as, expressed Simon’s true character. Instead of a respectful response, Simon expressed fear and a desire to separate himself from Jesus. He had quickly recognized that he was in the presence of immense power and authority. In those days, unexpected demonstrations of such great power were often interpreted as demonic rather than divine. Simon’s confession of his own sinfulness pointed to his belief that Jesus indeed possessed divine powers.
In Luke's narrative, Simon Peter was certainly afraid in this instance. So had been Zechariah, Mary and the shepherds when the Angel Gabriel spoke to them. Jesus responded to this fear with the same words: “Do not be afraid.” (Luke 1:13, 30; 2:10). In Luke’s style, this signaled that Jesus spoke with the same divine authority as had the angel. Although James and John, the sons of Zebedee, were also amazed, Jesus spoke to Simon alone. However, after bring their boats ashore, they all left everything and followed Jesus.
In those days, fishing was for food, not sport. That meant death for the fish, but life for people, especially in Capernaum, an important fishing village in Galilee.
There is a story, imaginative but probably legendary, that Zebedee had a contract to supply the temple priesthood with salted fish from Galilee. It is difficult to believe that even salted fish could remain edible after a journey of 100 miles from Capernaum to Jerusalem.
The fishermen’s task in following Jesus, as Sharon Hinge puts it, was to gather people for life in a new community. This would be an entirely new trade for these men, but also for all who chose to follow him as disciples. Some who followed, like Levi (5:28), did not become apostles, but remained ordinary citizens. In Luke’s time, being a Christian did mean leaving everything behind. Most of us are like Levi, disciples in ordinary walks of life.
After that quiet introduction picking up the theme of Jesus continuing his ministry of preaching and teaching, Luke’s narrative spun into an exciting drama. Sharon Hinge calls it, “A Fish Story.”
Jesus instructed Simon to launch his boat into deep water and let down his nets. Did Jesus know where a school of fish could be found? Or was this one of those details Luke used to reflect Jesus’ authority? The latter would seem to have been the case, because Simon immediately called Jesus, "Master." That Greek term Luke reserved for one who had authority. In similar situations in Matthew and Mark, the parallel term was either teacher or rabbi.
More important than the huge catch of fish was the addition of a second name given to Simon, Peter, and his reaction to the incident. The name meant a rock or rocky ground. Bruce Chilton makes something of the name, "Rocky." Perhaps it had a double edge in some respects. Simon Peter was impetuous, but not always the steady one among the twelve. As Luke’s narrative continued, the nickname, if that is what itw as, expressed Simon’s true character. Instead of a respectful response, Simon expressed fear and a desire to separate himself from Jesus. He had quickly recognized that he was in the presence of immense power and authority. In those days, unexpected demonstrations of such great power were often interpreted as demonic rather than divine. Simon’s confession of his own sinfulness pointed to his belief that Jesus indeed possessed divine powers.
In Luke's narrative, Simon Peter was certainly afraid in this instance. So had been Zechariah, Mary and the shepherds when the Angel Gabriel spoke to them. Jesus responded to this fear with the same words: “Do not be afraid.” (Luke 1:13, 30; 2:10). In Luke’s style, this signaled that Jesus spoke with the same divine authority as had the angel. Although James and John, the sons of Zebedee, were also amazed, Jesus spoke to Simon alone. However, after bring their boats ashore, they all left everything and followed Jesus.
In those days, fishing was for food, not sport. That meant death for the fish, but life for people, especially in Capernaum, an important fishing village in Galilee.
There is a story, imaginative but probably legendary, that Zebedee had a contract to supply the temple priesthood with salted fish from Galilee. It is difficult to believe that even salted fish could remain edible after a journey of 100 miles from Capernaum to Jerusalem.
The fishermen’s task in following Jesus, as Sharon Hinge puts it, was to gather people for life in a new community. This would be an entirely new trade for these men, but also for all who chose to follow him as disciples. Some who followed, like Levi (5:28), did not become apostles, but remained ordinary citizens. In Luke’s time, being a Christian did mean leaving everything behind. Most of us are like Levi, disciples in ordinary walks of life.
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