Called to the Table
Notes
Transcript
Illustration 108: Writing Him Off
The article recounts a personal experience of evangelism where the author, John Ortberg, meets a man named Steve, who initially seems far from faith. Despite his challenging background, Steve attends church, reads the Bible, and ultimately decides to embrace Christianity, highlighting the importance of not giving up on others' spiritual journeys.
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1001 Illustrations that Connect, p 71
Since Levi is not listed among the apostles in Mark 3:16–19; Luke 6:13–16; and Acts 1:13, but Matthew is included in each of these lists, it is reasonable to conclude that the Matthew of the apostle lists is Levi from the tax-collector story.
J. G. Bashaw, “Matthew the Apostle,” in The Lexham Bible Dictionary, ed. John D. Barry et al. (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2016).
13 Once again Jesus went out beside the lake. A large crowd came to him, and he began to teach them.
14 As he walked along, he saw Levi son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax collector’s booth. “Follow me,” Jesus told him, and Levi got up and followed him.
15 While Jesus was having dinner at Levi’s house, many tax collectors and sinners were eating with him and his disciples, for there were many who followed him.
16 When the teachers of the law who were Pharisees saw him eating with the sinners and tax collectors, they asked his disciples: “Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?”
17 On hearing this, Jesus said to them, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”
Who is at the Table
Jesus
Levi (you and me)
Other Disciples
Other Sinners
Jesus
Jesus is the One who initiates the invitation. He walks toward the tax booth, not away from it, showing that God’s grace moves toward people others avoid. At the table, He is not merely present — He is a healer and friend.
Levi (you and me)
Levi represents every one of us who has been called out of an old life and into a new story. His immediate response — rising and following — mirrors the transformation Jesus still works in ordinary, unlikely people today.
Other Disciples
The disciples remind us that following Jesus means sharing His heart for the outsider. They are learning, sometimes uncomfortably, that Jesus’ mission includes people they never expected to sit beside.
Other Sinners
The table is filled with people society labeled as unworthy, yet Jesus welcomes them without hesitation. Their presence shows that no one is beyond the reach of grace, and the kingdom is built from the margins inward.
Why at the Table
Healing
Reconciliation
Break Barriers
God’s Presence
Healing
Jesus uses the image of a physician because He knows our deepest sickness is spiritual.
At His table, broken lives are restored, shame is lifted, and hearts are made whole.
Reconciliation
The table becomes a place where God and sinners meet — not in judgment, but in mercy.
“Truth in Love”
Jesus bridges the gap between who we are and who God calls us to be.
Breaking Barriers
Every seat at the table defies religious, social, and cultural expectations. Jesus tears down walls of exclusion and invites us to join Him in welcoming those the world pushes away.
God’s Presence
Where Jesus sits, God is present. The table is not just a meal — it is a moment where heaven touches earth, where sinners encounter the living God and can discover a new identity in Jesus.
Matthew’s gospel adds these words of Jesus ...
13 But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”
Hosea 6:6 “6 For I desire mercy, not sacrifice, and acknowledgment of God rather than burnt offerings.”
Jesus walks up to a tax booth and calls a man no one else would have chosen. Levi doesn’t clean himself up first. He doesn’t negotiate terms. He simply gets up and follows — and suddenly the table is filled with people who never imagined they’d be invited.
That’s the story that changes everything.
A Savior who comes not for the polished, but for the broken.
Not for the righteous, but for sinners.
Not to reinforce barriers, but to break them down with mercy.
And when Jesus sits at the table, everything changes —
who’s welcome,
what’s possible,
and what a life can become.
The same voice that called Levi is still calling us today: “Follow Me.” And the same table that welcomed tax collectors and sinners is still open, still wide, still full of grace.
This is the story that changes everything.
Closing Prayer
Lord Jesus, thank You for being the God who comes to us, who walks into our ordinary places and calls us by name. Thank You for seeing us the way You saw Levi — not as we were, but as we could be in Your grace.
As we come to Your table, heal what is broken in us. Reconcile what is distant. Tear down the barriers we’ve built in our hearts, and make us people of mercy, not sacrifice. Let Your presence reshape our lives so that others can see You through us.
In Your Name, we pray, Amen
