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Jesus went out beside the lake again. The whole crowd came to him, and he began to teach them. 
As he continued along, he saw Levi, Alphaeus' son, sitting at a kiosk for collecting taxes. 
Jesus said to him, "Follow me."
Levi got up and followed him.  
Mark 2:13-14 CEB
Mark makes following Jesus seem so simple. Levi is at work, and he just seems to walk away. 
Alphaseus gets a mention here to locate Levi in a family, a family it seems he is just going to walk away from.
Had Levi heard Jesus teaching before, been in the crowd?
Why pick him? 
Why would Jesus choose to bring into his circle someone who made his living as the instrument of the Empire that was ruling over his people?
He was a tax collector working not for the government, not to provide services for his people, but for Rome. 
If in the New Testament there is one group of people singled out in that culture as undesirable, people to stay away from, people looked down on, it was Tax Collectors.

Jesus said to him, "Follow me."
Levi got up and followed him.

Mark doesn't tell us why Levi ended up working for the enemy, doing what he was doing, but to Jesus it didn't seem to matter. 
"Follow me"
No matter who we are, what our story is, where we are at right now, the invitation is there from Jesus:
"Follow me".
#gospelofMark #GoodNews 
#invitation 
#followme

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