Levi was a tax collector. He was seen as 'the bad guy' by his fellow countrymen as he worked for the Rome government and he made his living by collecting extra money from people.
Though knowing all this, in the past I just thought the Pharisees and teachers of the law too narrow minded and unforgiving to challenge Jesus' act to make friend and dine with such group of people.
But when I try to go deeper than that this time, I try to imagine seeing Jesus to dine with a group of people that I most abhor: persons who sexually abuse children, parents who rent out their own children to others for sex, burglars who rob and hurt elderly people... and the most important thing is that there are not yet converted, that they are not necessarily feel sorry for what they do! (I believe that among the many guests that Levi had invited, not all of them repented at the time.)
By substituting the type of people Jesus dined with, I started to see why it was so difficult for the 'establishment' to accept what Jesus did. I could see how much love it required for Jesus to dine with them, to love them, for only with much love could he see beneath their skin the beauty and godly image that was deep, deep down in their soul. For only with great love could Jesus see through the many sins that were burying and tying down and killing the goodness within them, and within us.
And when there was not enough love, I would only see what the Pharisees and the teachers did see, i.e. what I normally see every day, i.e. how disgusting these people are and what horrible things they do - not did, but still doing! It takes great love to see through all these and to see through to the persons that they can be - the persons as God has created, the persons as Jesus see, the persons that they, and we, can be.
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