I don’t know why this touched me so much, but Jesus finds Levi alongside a tax collector’s booth and asks him to follow him.  Levi “left everything and followed him.”  And then the first thing Levi did was invite all his friends and throw Jesus a party.

The first thing I notice is that ‘leaving everything’ didn’t necessarily mean Levi’s house, it more meant he left his job, his lifestyle, his reputation (be it a good one or bad).  Levi still had a home.  And the first thing he wanted to do to celebrate his new master was to throw a party for him.  He obviously was very affluent, but he had just walked away from his job.  Instead of thinking “be conservative,” he honors Jesus with a large banquet.  I like that.   And he was proud of Jesus, he invited all his friends.  I like that even more.  No wonder Jesus defended him when the Pharisees went on the attack.