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.’[a] For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”
Ever wonder why Matthew just got up and followed? No questions? No conditions?
And, how do you think Matthew felt when Jesus responded to the Pharisees by saying ““it is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick…for I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”?
So, Matthew is obedient to a fault, yet…Jesus calls him a sick sinner, in front of his friends! Dale Carnegie (How to win Friends and Influence People) would probably have a comment or two on this technique.
Mind you, the theology of what happened is perfectly consistent with the whole of scripture. We are told “God commended his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us (Rom 5:8)”.
It would have taken deep humility for Matthew to simply walk away from his lucrative (although dishonest) business and follow Jesus. It would have taken deep humility to listen while he heard Jesus refer to him as a sick sinner.
But, then, perhaps Matthew already knew the truth about himself. We call this repentance and it is the first step in reconciling our relationship with God. In its simplest definition, repentance means “agreement with God”. Matthew agreed he should eschew his lifestyle and follow Jesus. Matthew agreed he was a sick sinner. Matthew was an amazing man.
Is there anything keeping us from closing up shop and following Jesus today?
Live boldly out there today…
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