1. When have you ever felt left out, judged, or “rejected”? How might that experience help you understand the people Jesus went to and calls us to go to?
2. What does Jesus’ call to fishermen and tax collectors tell us about what kind of people God uses to build his Kingdom?
3. If Jesus moved toward people that everyone else avoided, what would it look like for you to do the same this week?
4. Why do you think religious people in Jesus’ time (and today) struggle to accept that God’s grace includes sinners and outcasts?
5. Jesus invited people to follow him before they proved themselves. What would change in your faith, if anything, if you truly believed you belong to Jesus before you get it all right?
6. How can our youth group be a place where rejected people feel seen, welcomed, and loved? What can we do as a small group to do our part in this?
7. Who is one person in your life that others overlook – and what’s one way you could “move toward” them this week?

THE MAIN POINT

Jesus’ call of the rejected reveals how he relates to us. Jesus relates to the rejected and overlooked.

THE BIBLE

Luke 5:1-11; 27-32

THE CONTEXT

In these stories, Jesus calls his first disciples. They also highlight how Jesus reversed the social and religious expectations of the time. He completely redefines what holiness means.

Fishermen were ordinary laborers – hardworking, often poor, and not part of the educated or religious elite. They were not considered “holy” men or Torah scholars. Rabbis in that time typically chose students who were well-trained in the Law. Jesus, instead, goes to the lake shore and calls some ordinary fishermen. Instead of students seeking out a rabbi, the rabbi seeks out and calls ordinary people. His kingdom begins, not with the powerful or the religious elite, but with the overlooked.

Tax collectors were despised as collaborators with Rome, the occupying force, and known for corruption. They were labeled sinners, ritually unclean, and excluded from synagogue (religious) life. In first-century Judea, tax collectors were franchisees of the Roman system. They literally bought the right to collect customs, tolls, and indirect taxes. They were free to charge however much they desired and would keep any extra as their personal income. As a result, tax collectors were often rich.

The “chief tax collectors” (like Zacchaeus in Luke 19) often hired Jewish men to do the actual collecting, men like Levi. Levi was likely a low-level tax collector, sitting at a toll booth on a trade route, charging fees for goods transported through the area. Jews who collected taxes were seen as traitors. They worked for Rome, the pagan empire occupying God’s land. To most Jews, that meant collaboration with the enemy – helping oppress your own people for personal gain. They were seen as betraying national loyalty and covenant faithfulness to God.

Levi throws a banquet, and Jesus eats with tax collectors and sinners. Table fellowship was a sign of acceptance and friendship. Pharisees and Scribes criticize Jesus. However, Jesus’ response outlines his mission of sharing life with sinners. Eating with the impure meant sharing life with them – a shocking act to those who defined holiness by separation. Rabbis didn’t associate with men like Levi; religious leaders separated themselves from “sinners” to maintain purity. Jesus, on the other hand, draws close to the sinners and the broken and invites them to be part of his kingdom.

THE CORE

As you prepare the core of the message using personal story and questions keep in mind these points:

• Jesus knew exactly what he was doing. He was aware that his actions would contradict the social and religious boundaries of his time. What does this reveal about the way we are called to live in the world as followers of Jesus?
• The call to “follow me” is strikingly authoritative and relational. Jesus does not demand that they first purify themselves, study Torah, or prove their worth. His call implies belonging before behaving – a radical reversal of religious expectations. The religious system of the time was built on separation – clean vs unclean; righteous vs unrighteous. Jesus’ call tears those boundaries down. Instead of status, it is grace that is the basis for belonging.
• Jesus redefines holiness as compassionate proximity rather than ritual distance. Rather than separation from sinners (to keep one holy and pure), holiness moved toward sinners to transform them.
• By calling Levi, Jesus is deliberately reaching out to someone seen as morally and spiritually unclean. Our sins, our lack of training, or whatever else is going on in life, does not disqualify us from the love and calling of Jesus.

THE APPLICATION

As you prepare the application, challenge and/or encouragement, keep in mind these points:

• If Jesus ate, took an interest in, and shared life with sinners, with those excluded from worship, with those who were completely rejected from social and spiritual life, how can we as his followers follow his example and do the same? Who are the people in your life who are rejected and with whom you should share life?
• This new definition of holiness as compassionate proximity is also true today. As we move towards Jesus, remember that our sin does not separate us from him. Regardless of how “unclean” we are, Jesus is still reaching out to us and wanting to share life with us. As we move closer and closer to him, we should also move towards the sinners, the rejected, the social outcasts, and seek to share life with them. If we separate ourselves from them, we are hindering the mission of Jesus to “seek and save the lost” (Luke 19:10).
• We belong to the family of Jesus. Our belonging does not rest upon our actions, our obedience, or disobedience. Our belonging is not a result of our work, but a result of Jesus’ call and grace. All we have to do is say, “Yes, Lord, I will follow you.” Levi and the fishermen outline this response perfectly in today’s scripture.