He Went Out Looking — The Scroll That Unfolds Before Matthew

This morning, as I read Luke 5:27, I stopped.

Not because I haven’t read it before.

Not because the calling of Matthew is unfamiliar.

But because of one phrase I had somehow skimmed past for years:

“Afterward, Jesus went out and looked for a man named Matthew.”

He went out.

And He looked for.

That’s specific.

Luke doesn’t say, “He happened to pass by.”

He doesn’t say, “He noticed.”

He says He went out and looked for a man named Matthew.

And I immediately asked:

What just happened that makes Luke open the next line with “Afterward”?

Because Scripture does not waste transitions. Every “after this” is a hinge. A scroll doesn’t just jump to the next scene; it unfolds.

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What Just Happened Before Matthew

Right before this, in Luke 5:17–26, Yeshua heals the paralytic lowered through the roof.

But not just heals him physically.

He says something scandalous first:

“Man, your sins are forgiven you.”

The Pharisees explode internally.

“Who can forgive sins but God alone?”

Yeshua responds by healing the man physically to demonstrate authority in the unseen realm.

So the order is important:

1. He forgives what is invisible.

2. He heals what is visible.

3. He silences religious opposition.

4. The crowd is left astonished.

And then—

Afterward…

He goes looking for Matthew.

That is not random.

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The Greek Behind “He Looked For”

In the original Greek, Luke writes:

Καὶ μετὰ ταῦτα ἐξῆλθεν καὶ ἐθεάσατο τελώνην ὀνόματι Λευΐν…

Transliterated:

Kai meta tauta exēlthen kai etheasato telōnēn onomati Leuin…

Word by word:

• ἐξῆλθεν (exēlthen) — He went out.

• ἐθεάσατο (etheasato) — He gazed upon, looked intently at, beheld with attention.

• τελώνην (telōnēn) — a tax collector.

• ὀνόματι (onomati) — by name.

• Λευΐν (Leuin) — Levi (Matthew).

Etheasato is not casual seeing. It means to look deliberately, attentively. It is the same root that gives us the word “theater”—to behold something fully.

This was not an accidental glance.

He went out.

He beheld.

He called him by name.

After publicly declaring forgiveness and demonstrating divine authority, the next thing Yeshua does is seek a man who embodied social and spiritual rejection.

Matthew wasn’t just a sinner.

He was a collaborator with Rome.

A financial exploiter.

Religiously defiled.

And Yeshua goes looking for him.

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The Hidden Thread of the Scroll

Luke is building something.

First, Yeshua proves He has authority to forgive sins.

Then He immediately calls someone whose life is defined by sin in the public eye.

It is as if the scroll is saying:

You want proof that I can forgive?

Watch who I choose.

He doesn’t preach a sermon next.

He doesn’t perform another miracle next.

He recruits redemption.

And not privately. Publicly.

Because tax collectors sat in booths in open view. Everyone would have seen it.

Yeshua doesn’t just forgive sinners—He reassigns them.

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The Only Other Time He “Had To” Go

John 4 says He “had to go through Samaria.”

That word in Greek is ἔδει (edei) — it was necessary. It was divinely appointed.

He goes out of His way for the woman at the well.

And here in Luke, He goes out looking for Matthew.

There are moments in Scripture where Yeshua is responding to crowds.

And there are moments where He is moving with surgical precision toward one.

The Shepherd leaves the ninety-nine.

And Luke is showing us that this is not a parable alone—it is practice.

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Why This Applies to Us Today

Here’s what unsettled me in the best way:

Yeshua went looking for Matthew right after demonstrating His authority to forgive.

Which means calling and forgiveness are connected.

He does not clean Matthew up first.

He does not require restitution first.

He does not demand repentance before invitation.

He says:

“Follow Me.”

And Scripture says Matthew left everything.

The calling produced the leaving.

Not the other way around.

In our modern lives, we often think:

Once I fix this…

Once I heal that…

Once I stop struggling with this area…

Then God can use me.

But the scroll reveals the opposite pattern.

He goes looking first.

He calls first.

He redefines identity first.

And the transformation follows.

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The One in the Modern World

Here is where this presses into our lives today.

There are places in you that feel disqualified.

Places sitting at a “tax booth”—public, exposed, maybe compromised, maybe misunderstood.

And Yeshua is not waiting for you to move.

He goes out looking.

He sees you intentionally.

Not scanning the crowd.

Not randomly noticing.

Looking.

And calling.

You may not feel like the ninety-nine.

You may feel like the one who stepped outside covenant norms, the one who made decisions you regret, the one who sits in a space that feels spiritually messy.

But Luke’s wording makes something unmistakable:

The Messiah who forgives sins

is the Messiah who seeks the sinner

and calls him into discipleship.

Not after perfection.

At the booth.

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The Scroll Is Still Unfolding

The same One who went looking for Matthew is still going out.

The question is not whether He sees you.

It’s whether you recognize the gaze.

Because when He says, “Follow Me,” it is not a suggestion.

It is a redefinition.

And sometimes the greatest miracle in the room

is not the healing of the paralyzed man—

but the calling of the one everyone else wrote off.

Afterward…

He went looking.

And He still does.

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I Hear the Spirit Say

“Beloved, I do not pass by accidentally. I do not stumble upon you in the crowd. I come looking.

You think I found you because you happened to be in the right place at the right time—but I went out. I stepped into the noise, into the marketplace of your compromises, into the very booth where you thought your story had stalled, and I beheld you.

I did not glance. I gazed.

I saw the part of you that felt disqualified. I saw the part that believed it had gone too far, chosen poorly, lingered too long in places it should have left. And I did not turn away.

I called you there.

I did not wait for you to leave the booth before I spoke. I did not require you to clean yourself before I invited you. I did not demand that you undo your past before I declared your future.

I said, ‘Follow Me.’

And in that invitation was forgiveness.

In that invitation was redefinition.

In that invitation was authority transferred.

You are not the one I reluctantly tolerate.

You are the one I intentionally sought.

The same authority that forgave the paralytic before the crowd is the authority that calls you before your shame can speak. I am not intimidated by your history. I am not negotiating with your regret. I am not confused by your complexity.

I see you by name.

And when I call you, I am not merely inviting you to walk behind Me—I am inviting you into who you were always meant to be.

Do not wait to feel worthy.

Do not delay until you feel ready.

Do not assume I have mistaken you for someone else.

I went out looking for you.

And I am still calling.”

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Final Thought

What if the most radical part of this story isn’t that Matthew followed?

What if it’s that Yeshua went looking?

We preach about surrender.

We preach about repentance.

We preach about leaving everything.

But before Matthew ever stood up… before he ever walked away from the booth… before he ever hosted a dinner full of sinners…

Yeshua had already made the decision.

He went out.

He looked.

He called.

Which means this:

The shift in Matthew’s life did not begin with Matthew.

It began with a gaze.

A deliberate, intentional, divine gaze that cut through reputation, failure, compromise, and public opinion—and saw destiny sitting behind a tax booth.

And here is the part that unsettles me in the best way:

Matthew did not audition.

He did not explain himself.

He did not defend his résumé.

He did not promise to do better.

He stood up because something in the way he was seen made staying seated impossible.

Maybe transformation is not first about trying harder.

Maybe it begins with realizing you have been intentionally found.

The Shepherd does not lose the one.

He searches.

The Messiah does not stumble upon the unlikely.

He seeks.

And what if the places in your life that feel most exposed, most compromised, most “tax booth” are not the areas God is avoiding—but the exact coordinates He is walking toward?

The scroll did not pause at forgiveness.

It moved to calling.

Because forgiveness restores relationship.

But calling restores purpose.

And the same authority that said, “Your sins are forgiven,” is the authority that says, “Follow Me.”

Not when you’re ready.

Not when you’re impressive.

Not when you’ve cleaned up the optics.

Now.

So here is the radical truth that lands heavier than comfort:

You were not accidentally saved.

You were sought.

And the same eyes that looked at Matthew are still scanning crowded rooms, crowded minds, crowded histories—looking for one who will recognize the gaze and rise.

The question is not whether He is coming toward you.

The question is whether you are willing to leave the booth when He does.

Because when He calls your name, it is not just invitation.

It is interruption.

And sometimes the most holy thing you can do…

is stand up.