Jesus Set His Eyes on You Before You Changed

Introduction

Levi is sitting at his tax booth. No one in his town wants to look him in the eye. He collects taxes for Rome, inflates the rates, and pockets the difference. He's labeled: collaborator, traitor, dirty man. And yet, that day, Jesus goes out on purpose to come to him. He doesn't just glance from a distance: he sets his eyes on Levi, at length, the way you study someone you expect something from. And he calls him.

This sermon by Sugawara, preached at Kobe Christ Glory Church from Luke 5:27-32, wants to wake you up to one thing: Jesus's eyes were set on you before you changed anything at all. It isn't because you finally moved that the Lord noticed you. It's because he looked at you first that you can get up today.

Article Outline

1. Jesus Goes Out With a Clear Purpose: To Find You

Verse 27 says: "After this he went out and saw a tax collector named Levi, sitting at the tax booth." Jesus doesn't go out for a stroll. He isn't out for fresh air. He has a clear goal, and Luke gives it to you in verse 32: "I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance."

The same thing happens with Zacchaeus (Luke 19:10): "For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost." The same thing with the Samaritan woman: Jesus "had to pass through Samaria" (John 4:4). Every time, he goes out with a name in mind. Today, your name is on that list.

2. Jesus "Sets His Eyes" on Levi Just as He Is

The Greek word translated "he saw" doesn't mean "he glanced." It means he fixed his eyes, he looked with attention. When you look at someone at length, it's because you're expecting a reaction, a change, a response.

Here, it's different. Jesus looks at Levi, and Levi doesn't move. He doesn't convert on the spot. He stays seated at his booth, in the middle of collecting. No sign of repentance. No change of attitude. And yet Jesus says to him, "Follow me." He didn't call him because he had changed. He called him so that he could change.

Jesus states this in John 15:16: "You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you." Christ's gaze comes first.

3. Levi Gets Up, Leaves Everything, Follows Jesus

Verse 28: "And leaving everything, he rose and followed him." In the Bible, "rising" is often an image of resurrection, of a fresh start. But Levi's new beginning comes at a price: he leaves everything, his income, his status, his network, his security. He abandons his old identity.

Paul will later say: "If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come" (2 Corinthians 5:17). It isn't just that Levi resigned from his job, it's that he left an old self behind.

4. Levi Puts His House at Jesus's Service

Verse 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." The Greek text literally says: Levi used his house for the Lord. His first move as a saved man is to throw a party to introduce Jesus to his coworkers.

Sugawara carries this forward at Kobe: next week's church fair, the moms' coffee hour, the kids' restaurant, the CCC students' coffee times, the evangelism team coming from Taiwan and then Korea, all of it flows from the same instinct. Everyone has a different role (cooking, prayer, welcoming, invitations), but a single goal: to introduce Jesus. The pastor says it again: if you can't make it on the day, take the prayer part. No one is left out.

5. The Opposition That Comes With God's Work

Verse 30: "And the Pharisees and their scribes grumbled at his disciples, saying, 'Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?'" As soon as God's work moves forward, opposition shows up. It's almost always a pair: Nehemiah, rebuilding the wall, sees the mockers rise up (Nehemiah 4). The sower in Matthew 13:19 sees "the evil one" come and snatch away the seed.

Sugawara recounts a scene from the previous week: two CCC students are sharing the gospel with a young man near Nishinomiya-Kitaguchi station; he's ready to pray the prayer of faith; at that exact moment, a stranger approaches, places her hand on his head, and starts reciting an incantation, before trying to recruit him into another movement. "The seed is sown, the evil one comes to snatch it away." This isn't a theory.

6. Jesus's Mission, Stated Plainly

Faced with the criticism, Jesus doesn't back down. Verses 31 to 32: "Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance." The Pharisees believed that avoiding defiled people was holiness. Jesus flips this: loving people is what matters most. And to his disciples: "You go, and do likewise" (Luke 10:37).

Key Takeaways

• Jesus didn't wait for Levi to change before setting his eyes on him, he looked at him so he could change.
• "Rising" and "following" means leaving behind an old identity, not just an old job.
• The saved person doesn't keep grace to themselves: Levi opens his house, you open what you have.
• The opposition that follows a faithful step isn't a sign of failure, it's a sign the seed has been planted.
• What you do today isn't wasted: Levi kept records for Rome, and God used that to have him write the Gospel of Matthew.

Personal Application

1. What "tax booth" is Jesus looking at in you right now, a place where you feel neither worthy, nor ready, nor changed?
2. What are you still holding onto because it reassures you, when the Lord is telling you "leave it and get up"?
3. What do you already have (a house, a talent, a habit, a notebook, a skill) that you could put at Jesus's service this week?
4. Where have you recently seen opposition slow down the sharing of the gospel, at home, at work, in your family? How do you want to respond: back down or stand firm like Jesus?
5. If you can't be on the front line, what "prayer part" do you want to take for the work underway in your church?

Verses Cited

• Luke 5:27-32 · The call of Levi
• Luke 19:10 · To seek and save the lost
• John 4:4 · Jesus had to pass through Samaria
• John 15:16 · I chose you
• 2 Corinthians 5:17 · The old has passed away
• Isaiah 43:4 · You are precious in my eyes
• Nehemiah 4 · The opposition to the rebuilding
• Matthew 13:19 · The evil one snatches the seed
• Luke 10:37 · You go, and do likewise

FAQ

Do I have to change before Jesus can call me?

No. Levi is sitting at his tax booth (right in the middle of the activity that makes him hated by his community) when Jesus says to him, "Follow me." Jesus's call comes before your transformation, it's that call which makes it possible. You don't fix yourself up to come to him, you come to him to be fixed.

How do I know what I can put at Jesus's service, the way Levi put his house?

Sugawara refuses to hand you a ready-made list. He invites you to ask the Lord, in prayer, what he's already entrusted you with: a home, a talent for cooking, an ability to write, to welcome, to pray, to drive, to translate, to listen. Levi used his records for himself, and God later used them for the Gospel of Matthew. What seems ordinary can become a channel.

What should I do when evangelism gets interrupted or attacked?

Don't back down. Jesus, facing the grumbling Pharisees, doesn't give up his meal with the tax collectors, he restates his mission: "I have come to call sinners to repentance." Attempts to silence you don't get the last word, God's work isn't stopped by opposition. Keep going, praying for the person in front of you.