Matthew
9:9-13 NIV
9 As Jesus went on from there, he saw a
man named Matthew sitting at the tax collector’s booth. “Follow me,” he told him, and
Matthew got up and followed him.
10 While Jesus was having dinner at
Matthew’s house, many tax collectors and sinners came and ate with him and his
disciples. 11 When the Pharisees saw this, they
asked his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and
sinners?”
12 On hearing this, Jesus said, “It is not the healthy who
need a doctor, but the sick. 13 But go and learn what this means: ‘I
desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I have not come to call the righteous,
but sinners.”
Willow
So, in the context
of these past few reflections, we have backed up in time a bit. We are back to
the midst of Jesus ministry. This passage begins with Jesus moving on from
there. Well, where is there? In this case the there is Capernaum. Capernaum is
on the northwestern shore of the Sea of Galilee. This is a place where Jesus
was active in His ministry. It’s the hometown of Peter, Andrew, James, John and
Matthew as well. Here Jesus taught, healed and cast out demons. In some ways
you could say that Capernaum was home base for Jesus’ ministry.
Jesus spots Matthew
at work as a Tax Collector. You can see how Jesus is intentional with
connecting to people. And Jesus connects with those you may not expect Him to
connect with. He doesn’t look at the qualifications for being a disciple as the
world would consider.
Even in Matthew’s
own name is some meaning. Matthew means “gift of God” or “gift of Yahweh.” And
for Jesus, I can see Him seeing Matthew as a gift. Even though considering
Matthew’s occupation, most people would not see Matthew as a gift, let alone a
gift of God. Most people would see Matthew as a nuisance, perhaps a swindler of
money, to gain from taxes that were due for the government, skimming additional
money off the top for himself.
Yet, Jesus calls
Matthew anyway. And Matthew responds!
So, if you think
about your own life as a disciple, especially if I ponder my own; we can be
assured, at some point, Jesus comes even to sinners like me, and calls us to
follow Him. I’ve related my experience in the past of a dream of Jesus coming
to my door and calling me “Out to Play.” I didn’t understand it, at the time,
but my life has wrapped itself around this saying from childhood to today.
Jesus calls all disciples to “Follow Him.” Some calls may be more visual than
others, and other calls may be subtle hints; but the point here is to follow
the example of Matthew and get up and GO! And that in itself, takes trust and
faith in that God IS involved. For some, like Matthew, it’s a quick response,
but I think, for most, it’s a pause for consideration, prayer, thought, and
discernment. But, in the finality of it all, we as disciples, GO and follow
Jesus.
So, just in one
verse, we see the power of Jesus on display, as He comes to sinners, and
sinners respond. There is power in the personal touch of God, in the life of
Matthew, and the life of us as well. So, likewise, as we work in the Kingdom of
God, be bold to reach out in a personal way to ask for help from others, in
Kingdom work here on earth. This personal touch is powerful.
Next is a wonderful
celebration of Matthew’s new call and life change. Jesus gathers at the home of
Matthew with all the sinful people. This wasn’t a dinner to impress the mighty
and holy religious leaders. This was Jesus in communion with sinners and the
common people of the day. This was Jesus, once again, coming to all those for
whom He came to forgive, to save, and to call into the Kingdom of God.
Not only did Matthew
break the common barriers of society, but Jesus, more importantly, broke all
the barriers of, what was believed to be an unclean action, by communing and
breaking bread with sinners. Jesus came to touch the unclean, not to justify
the pious religious people of the day.
Think about it. If
God wants to forgive sinners, He must be with the sinners. SO THAT, me and you,
as well as ALL sinners, can repent and be turned around by Jesus’ presence to
receive God’s forgiveness. Once again, do you see WHO is taking the initiative
to act FIRST? God acts and we respond. How great is that!
Jesus comes into a
relationship with us sinners to build us up into His image, to make us
righteous, through HIM, rather than through our continual failures to be
obedient to God’s will. God acts and we respond, in love to Him, and in love
for one another.
As the Pharisees
observed this dinner with sinners and the unclean folks of the day, they judged
Jesus. How weird is that? Sinners, the Pharisees, judging God. Well, I’m not
sure the Pharisees would think of themselves as sinners, just like many
self-righteous Christians of today, tend to elevate their own moral standards
beyond the common people of society; and judge those outside of their own
particular beliefs or denominations.
We can get caught up
in judging others. This alienates people. This doesn’t work like God would have
it work. Remember, God comes to us. We too, as disciples, must GO… like last
week’s message, TO those God gives to us, to love them and proclaim the Gospel
of God’s forgiveness and salvation and eternal relationship.
That’s a TALL order.
That’s an act that takes a life-time. That’s a call of the Church, here on
earth to GO! And along the way we will be sure to stumble. But we are called to
a change that only God can bring about in us and in His Church, that will be
perfected by God in eternity. That’s a change! That’s a journey! That’s
relationship WITH God!
So, don’t look down
your nose! Rather turn to God and seek His will and His way, with a humble,
joyful, thankful heart, for all that God has done for you.
Now Jesus speaks of
“healthy” and “sick” people. Well, just who are these people?
The healthy people
are those who “Think” they are healthy. People who place themselves above or
beyond other people that, THEY decide, are sick. So, who does this deciding?
The healthy people
decide this about themselves. But guess what? There are really NO healthy
people on this earth. All of us are sin-sick. All of us sin against God AND one
another. So, if you think you are one of the “Healthy,” don’t get ahead of
yourself. It’s NOT your place to decide! We are ALL unclean. Get over it!
So, Jesus is coming
to ALL of us, especially the “Sick” among us. And we’re all SICK! But if you
don’t believe you are SICK, then you don’t think you need to be healed. Or
maybe another way to put it is, you don’t think you need to be healed to become
healthy.
This is the place
that Jesus makes plain the LAW. We all fall short of fulfilling the LAW of God.
In fact, the only one that was able to fulfill the LAW completely was Jesus.
And Jesus makes it plain that He IS God. So, it’s only through Jesus, the
Physician, that we can be healed. All others, that make this claim as our
Healing Physician, are imposters.
So, as the Church,
we are sent to reach out to the “Sick.” And that includes everyone. But reach
out with what? Well, this is where Jesus teaches through Word and example.
Jesus reaches out to the “Sick” by making the sick know they are sick, and He
reaches out in active love for the “Sick” by communing with them, teaching
them, healing them and bringing each of the “Sick” into communion with Him into
eternity, SO THAT, the “Sick” may be turned around and away from sinfulness to
a new life with God.
And yea, the “Sick”
include the Pharisees, and all those pious Christians who claim to be so much
better than the rest of this world, only through their own decision, that they
are better, or above the other.
Now, the end of this
passage, Jesus sends us all back to dig into God’s Word. To dig and discover
true meaning. To dig into the Word and attempt to understand the message. This
is a tall order. One, that for me, takes a lifetime of digging, and still, I don’t
always “get it.”
Listen to just a
couple of Old Testament prophets:
Hosea
6:6 NIV
6 For I (God) desire mercy,
not sacrifice,
and acknowledgment of
God rather than burnt offerings.
Micah 6:8 NIV
8 He has shown you, O
mortal, what is good.
And what does the Lord require of you?
To act justly and to love mercy
and to walk humbly with your God.
Just as Jesus has come to
the sinners, then and today; we learn, by His examples, that He is showing us
mercy and compassion and love. Not because we deserve such a response from God,
but because God can do what He wants, and He does do, what He wants.
So, likewise, when we
receive such a great gift from Jesus, what is our response?
It’s NOT to overpower or
over-lord other people. It’s to show one another mercy and compassion and love,
no matter how filthy, or sinful, or hateful that other person is, or that other
group of people are. We aren’t called to “Rule Over” one another. We are called
to an obedience to God to love one another with mercy and compassion. Even
those we hate. Whew! Lord, teach us and guide us and correct us along the way
as we respond to Your call to love you, and one another!
Sometimes God
catches us off guard when He calls us to do something in His Kingdom. Sometimes
when we hear the call from God; God is the farthest thing from our minds.
Sometimes He calls us right when we are in the midst of our sinfulness, even in
the act of sinning. But God sees something different in us. God has the power
to initiate and carry out significant life changes. And I think it’s important
to be humble in His presence and fully acknowledge His power to change us into
something we couldn’t imagine. And this is when trust and faith play out
through what God calls us to do.
When I think of
Abraham’s response to God’s call to GO, I think of how it wasn’t about how
Abraham had any more fortitude than the rest of mankind. Rather Abraham, decided
to place his trust in God’s call. Abraham wasn’t any better than any one else. Yet,
God still called him to GO. And Abraham, or his descendants, for that matter,
are no better than anyone else. But Abraham did recognize that trusting God, in
God’s actions, rather than his own actions, would lead him to a better place. A
place that God wanted him to go to. Abraham accepted God’s call with hope and
faith that God would take care of him all along the way. So, Abraham didn’t go,
or accept God’s call because he felt he was better than anyone else. I think
Abraham accepted God’s call through trust, hope and faith that God gave him to
go and follow God’s lead in his life.
Help me, Lord Jesus,
as I listen to your word and your command. Teach me Your ways and set my heart
straight.
When I think back on
this past week, for myself; there was a knock on the door of my daughter Sarah’s
house, early one morning. Two females from a horse farm across the road were at
the door. They were looking for Willow, a horse that was in the pasture the
previous night that went missing. I looked at all three of the cameras at the
house, and could find no evidence showing what had taken place. The female
ranch hands figured that Willow was stolen during the night.
Of course, the local
authorities were notified. As the day went on the ranch hands continued to
search. Then someone had the idea to search from the other side of the fence
around the pasture. And yes, they found Willow, stuck in a creek by where the
creek passes under the nearby road.
So, what happened? The fence was never compromised, but due to recent rains a sinkhole next to the creek had developed. Since Willow wandered close to the fence, she fell through the sink hole and crawled through a small cave like feature, and became stuck in the creek.
With this, I thought
of how Jesus comes to us to call us. Even in the midst of our sinfulness, as we
fall into sink holes and get stuck in our sin, Jesus hunts us down to find us
where we are.
That’s just like my
life with Jesus. Jesus comes to me and finds me. Jesus finds me, a sinner, and
rescues me, but not only does He rescue me, He calls me into a relationship
with Him and changes me. He calls me to tell the story of His rescue, to ALL
those around me, and with me, in my life. He pulls me out of the mud of my life
and the waters of my “creek,” to teach me His ways, to show me His love, and to
send me out in His grace.
So, yea, you and I,
likewise, like Willow, respond with joy and thanksgiving for all God does for
us in our lives to bring us from the brink of death to new life, in, and with,
Him.
And yes, that’s for
today… tomorrow… and forever. Thanks be to God!
I leave you with a
couple of videos…
First is the “Willow”
rescue… (You may need Facebook to see this)
https://www.facebook.com/share/v/1EAneaF5kn/
Finally, this
YouTube Music Video that spoke to me this week…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7rAbbdEGwq4&list=RD7rAbbdEGwq4&start_radio=1
