A Love Greater Than Taxation
“He went out again beside the sea, and all the crowd was coming to him, and he was teaching them. And 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 2:13-14)
Instead of passing with the cheers and jeers of exultation, April 15th is a holiday which passes with the moans and groans of weary citizens under the tyranny of American taxation. No grills are hot, no steaks are sizzling, nor are any children scampering about outside, for the tax collector has robbed us of those luxuries. In all of my life, I have only met one man who worked for the Department of Revenue, and he admitted this with the timidity of a man expecting a punch right in the kisser.
Should it be of any surprise to us that Levi the son of Alphaeus sits alone at his tax booth while the crowd passes by? Chained to his booth by a chain of gold and kept at arm’s length by hatred and disdain of the respectable parts of town, Levi sits alone at his tax booth. When Levi finds some sort of solace in the company of others, it is only in the arms of “sinners.” Walking in the counsel of the wicked, standing in the way of sinners, sitting in the seat of scoffers, Levi is at home with “friends in low places.”
And yet, Jesus calls Levi to Himself. Levi was hated by men, yet Christ called him. Levi was bound with golden chains, yet Jesus called him. Levi was sick with sin, yet Jesus called him. Christ’s love flows most powerfully to those pressed under the great weight of sin, His pity to those hard-pressed by sin’s afflictions. As Andrew Bonar said: “God pardons according to the greatness of His mercy, not according to the smallness of our sins.” “Follow me” were two words most lovely, dispelling the hatred of men; most powerful, breaking the chains of greed; most pure, washing away sin. Christ’s love was greater than the hatred, more beautiful than the gold, more righteous than the sin. Christ’s call went to the least of these in order to make the most of His love.
My friends, do you see the splendor of this love? If the love of Christ only to the well-to-do and the respectable, then we have failed to grasp the magnitude and direction of His love. His love flows down from heaven and gathers most sweetly at the lowest point – the prodigal, the tax collector, the sick and dying, the chief of sinners. The love of Christ should send us beyond the crowds, to the outliers and the outcasts, to the wallflowers and the wayward. Where is the love of Christ sending you?
