“And Levi made him a great feast in his own house: and there was a great company of publicans and of others that sat down with them.”
My Notes
What Does Luke 5:29 Mean?
"Levi made him a great feast in his own house: and there was a great company of publicans and of others that sat down with them." Levi (Matthew) responds to his calling by throwing a party — and the guest list is entirely composed of tax collectors and sinners. His first act as a disciple is to gather his pre-conversion social network around Jesus.
The phrase "in his own house" means Levi opens his personal space — his home, his property, his private domain — to Jesus and to his disreputable friends. The feast happens on Levi's turf, not in the synagogue. The uncomfortable mixture of Jesus and sinners occurs in a domestic setting.
The Pharisees' complaint (verse 30) reveals their theology of contamination: righteous people shouldn't eat with sinners because contact defiles. Jesus' theology is the opposite: His presence purifies rather than being contaminated. The holy doesn't retreat from the unholy; it transforms it.
Reflection Questions
- 1.If you threw a party for Jesus and your friends, who would be at the table?
- 2.Is your view of holiness more like the Pharisees' (fragile, must be protected) or Jesus' (contagious, should be shared)?
- 3.What's the most natural way for you to introduce people you know to Jesus?
- 4.Are you willing to open your home to the kind of mixing that makes religious people uncomfortable?
Devotional
Levi throws a party. At his house. For his friends. And his friends are all tax collectors and sinners. His first act as a follower of Jesus is to introduce Jesus to the people the religious establishment won't touch.
This is evangelism at its most natural: a new believer gathering the people they know and putting them in the same room as Jesus. Levi doesn't go to seminary first. He doesn't clean up his friend group. He doesn't wait until his friends become presentable. He throws open his doors and lets the mixing happen.
The Pharisees are horrified. Why would a teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners? Their assumption: contact with sinners contaminates the righteous. Jesus' assumption: contact with the righteous transforms the sinners. Same table, opposite theologies. One says holiness is fragile and must be protected. The other says holiness is contagious and should be shared.
Levi's feast is the model for how the gospel spreads: through relationships, in homes, over meals, with the people you already know. The most effective evangelism isn't a program — it's a party. An open door. A full table. The people you love meeting the Person who loves them more.
Who would be at your feast? If you threw open your doors and invited your pre-conversion (or current) social network to meet Jesus — who would come? And are you willing to let the mixing happen?
Commentary
Trusted original commentary from respected historical Bible scholars and theologians.
And Levi made him a great feast in his own house,.... At Capernaum, which, very likely, was made some time after his…
See the notes at Mat 9:9-13. Luk 5:29 Made him a great feast - This circumstance “Matthew,” or “Levi” as he is here…
A great feast - Δοχην μεγαλην, A splendid entertainment. The word refers more properly to the number of the guests, and…
All this, except the last verse, we had before in Matthew and Mark; it is not the story of any miracle in nature wrought…
made him a great feast This shews that Matthew had something to sacrifice when he "left all." The word rendered -feast"…
Cross References
Related passages throughout Scripture