Large crowds followed him, and he healed them there. Matthew 19:2 NCV
Then Jesus went out to the lakeshore again and taught the crowds that were coming to him. As he walked along, he saw Levi son of Alphaeus sitting at his tax collector’s booth. “Follow me and be my disciple,” Jesus said to him. Mark 2:13-14 NLT
The large crowds who followed Jesus had their own style of following. They followed Him because they heard He healed and performed miracles. So, when they had the time to be entertained and tell people they heard the famous Rabbi, they took the day and followed Him. Or, when they had a desperate need for themselves or someone they loved to be healed, they followed Him. It was about their need, desire, and convenience. It didn’t require much from them.
But Levi’s following (otherwise known as Matthew), required everything. It required daily action, daily choices. Jesus initiated it, and it was a costly invitation. He was wealthy, a part of the Roman financial setup, but His collections from the Jews made him unwanted and disrespected. Tax collectors made their money by adding to the taxes the Romans charged and keeping the money for themselves. They were considered traitors to their own people, and unclean, unable to attend synagogue.
Levi knew about Jesus. Jesus’ name and reputation were everywhere. Likely Levi had gone out in the crowds to see it a few times. But he didn’t realize Jesus knew him. While the crowds saw him as an outcast, Jesus saw him as exactly the kind of person He had come to save. When He saw Matthew sitting at his table, he didn’t avert His eyes or scowl disapproval: He called, “Follow me. Be my disciple.”
Levi closed up shop and immediately followed. We aren’t told the details he had to handle to follow up his decision, but he left completely and followed fully the rest of his life. He wrote one of the four accounts of the life and ministry of Jesus selected to be in the Bible. He followed so completely that after having preached the gospel everywhere to his own countrymen, he traveled to share Jesus in Africa.
About thirty years after Jesus returned to heaven, Matthew met Jesus face to face again! In Ethiopia, he was martyred by the spear for his faith. He breathed his last breath there and, in that moment, he was greeted by Jesus, His Savior and Lord. He had followed Jesus faithfully and Jesus kept every promise to him. The cost of following was great, but the reward was greater.
- There is a cost to following Jesus 100%. But the reward will always far exceed the cost. Leave everything and follow.