As tax collector, for me to make a profit I need to tax the area more than $20,000. Rome takes the $20,000 and they are happy because it exceeds their price of $15,000. I bid on the taxing rights of Capernaum for $20,000. To use our currency as an example (the numbers I propose are for illustration and are inaccurate), let’s say Rome determines whoever is the tax collector for Capernaum must pay Rome $15,000 per year. For example, the taxation rights of Capernaum can be purchased by the highest bidder. In the time of the Roman occupation, the taxation of geographic areas is bought for a price. It is likely Simon and the other fishermen know him as they probably had to pay him taxes from their fishing business. Levi is a tax collector sitting in a tax booth in Capernaum. We also know him as Matthew, the writer of the Gospel of Matthew. Luke introduces yet another man whose life is drastically impacted. People who read Luke’s gospel are faced with the reality that Jesus changes lives. These are astounding truths we may not ignore.
A leper is cleansed, and a paralytic walks. A entire village is healed.įishermen, Simon Peter, Andrew, James, and John, leave their nets to follow Jesus. A mother-in-law is sick one moment, and busily hosting guests the next.
Jesus effects the lives of Zacharias, Elizabeth, Mary, Joseph, and common shepherds watching their sheep in the fields of Bethlehem. His account reveals there are hundreds more lives touched by Jesus. It’s not just Luke, who's life is impacted. The impact upon his life leads him to spend years researching the facts about Jesus, and to write them down in an orderly fashion. He hears about Jesus, and what he hears rocks his world. Around 2000 years ago, a man named Luke had a life-changing experience.
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