MORNING SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 6/3/2026
11:06 AM
My
Worship Time Focus: “Calling
A Wretched Sinner”
Bible
Reading & Meditation Reference:
Luke
5:27-29
Message
of the verses: “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.” (ESV)
The first thing I want to say is
that this SD will not be too long this morning as I am needed to help care for
my wife this morning. Next this section
will probably take a number of days to complete as it is very long.
Now after healing the
paralytic found in 5:17-26, Jesus went out of the house where He had
been teaching. Then the Lord was
followed by a huge crowd that dogged His steps in fascination and wonder, and
He continued to teach them as He was walking along a road near the shore of the
Sea of Galilee as seen in Mark 2:13. But
Jesus had a divine appointment to keep, and He noticed (lit., gazed
intently at’) a tax collector named Levi sitting in the tax booth. Levi is better known as Matthew, who is
the author of the Gospel that bears his name.
Now since Capernaum was the largest city on the lake and was a crossroad
for the east-west and the north-south trade, he likely had a flourishing
enterprise.
Matthew’s occupation as a tax
collector made him one of the most hated and despised men in Israel. Tax collectors were the dregs of Jewish
society; that were the lowest of the low on the social scale, and symbolized
the worth sinners. (cf. v. 30; 7:34;
18:11; Matt. 18:17; 21:31) That Jesus
would save a tax collector, and then make him an apostle, was utterly
inconceivable to the scribes and Pharisees.
I will not quote a paragraph from
MacArthur’s commentary to end this morning’s SD.
The Roman occupation of Israel
involved more than just a military presence; the nation was also subject to
Roman taxation. The taxes in Galilee,
for example, were forwarded by tax collectors to Herod Antipass, and by him to
Rome. Antipas sold tax franchises to the
highest bidder, and such franchises were a lucrative business. Tax collectors had a certain amount that they
were required to collect, and whatever they collected beyond that they were
permitted to keep (cf. Luke 3:12-13). In
addition to the pool tax (on everyone, including slaves), income tax(about 1
percent), and land tax (one tenth of all grain, and one fifth of all wine and
fruit), there were taxes on the transport of goods, letters, produce, using
roads, crossing bridges, and almost anything else the rapacious greedy minds of
the tax collectors could think of. All
of that left plenty of room for larceny, extortion, exploitation, and even loan
sharking, as tax collectors loaned money
at exorbitant interest to those who were unable to pay their taxes. Tax collectors also employed thugs to
physically intimidate people into paying, and to beat up those who refused.”
6/3/2026
11:28 AM
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