January 28, 2025 | Be God's Family
The Call of Matthew
Scripture: Matthew 9:9-17(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.”
14 Then John’s disciples came and asked him, “How is it that we and the Pharisees fast often, but your disciples do not fast?”
15 Jesus answered, “How can the guests of the bridegroom mourn while he is with them? The time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them; then they will fast.
16 “No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment, for the patch will pull away from the garment, making the tear worse. 17 Neither do people pour new wine into old wineskins. If they do, the skins will burst; the wine will run out and the wineskins will be ruined. No, they pour new wine into new wineskins, and both are preserved.”
Devotional
Discipleship is sometimes unpredictable. Usually surprising. Always amazing. Who would expect that one of the most despised and hated persons in Capernaum would have been chosen by Jesus as a disciple?
In the passage, Matthew was sitting in his normal place – the tax collector’s booth. This was probably on the outskirts of Capernaum where Matthew could collect tolls and custom fees from those traveling through the area, among other taxes assessed on the people. This was a profession that Matthew chose. Tax collectors, generally local men, collaborated with Rome who then gave them the privilege to collect taxes in the area.
The kicker was that anything they collected over and above the required amount could be pocketed by the tax collector, leading to all kinds of abuses – and additional wealth for the tax collector. For all these reasons, Matthew would have been despised and hated by his fellow Jewish citizens. He was considered a traitor and shunned by the community as well as his family. He was unable to attend synagogue and considered unclean. Matthew was not welcomed by anyone in Capernaum.
We can’t tell from scripture if Matthew knew Jesus prior to this encounter. But I would like to imagine that Matthew had witnessed the miracles, teaching, healing, and exorcisms Jesus had been performing in and around Capernaum. It would have been hard for him not to have been aware of who Jesus was. And I would also like to imagine that he was moved by the message of love and forgiveness. Was he feeling guilty and remorseful for his life as a tax collector? But two simple words from Jesus were enough for Matthew to leave everything behind – “Follow me”.
Love and forgiveness. Love for every human being. And forgiveness for all who ask – no matter what they have done or who they might have harmed. This is exhibited by Jesus’ next act – visiting Matthew’s home and dining with “tax collectors and sinners”. The NIV Application Commentary says this: “(Jesus) breaks down barriers between social classes, overturns religious conceptions of well-being, and abolishes slavish adherence to religious cultural traditions.”
And we see the personal forgiveness of Matthew. One could say that Matthew had the most to lose of all the disciples by his decision to follow Jesus. He gave up a lucrative business that could have had him set for life. And he certainly could not go back to his position once he left. There was no turning back. But what did he gain? A new life in Jesus Christ. He gained love, acceptance and forgiveness for his past life. Jesus was offering Matthew a new beginning.
What might you have to lose to gain new life in Jesus?
Poem
Waiting And Waiting
Psalm 40
Waiting and waiting and waiting some more
God’s silence
Waiting and waiting and waiting some more
Impatience
Waiting and waiting and waiting some more
Mocked voices
Waiting and waiting and waiting some more
Wrong choices
Waiting and waiting and waiting some more
God’s deafness?
Waiting and waiting and waiting some more
Me, restless
Waiting and waiting and waiting some more
Downtrodden
Waiting and waiting and waiting some more
Forgotten?
Waiting and waiting and waiting some more
Wheel running
Waiting and waiting and waiting some more
Kin shunning
Waiting and waiting and waiting some more
Days burdened
Waiting and waiting and waiting some more
Heart hardened
Waiting and waiting and waiting some more
Call whispered
Waiting and waiting and waiting some more
Heart simper
Waiting and waiting and waiting some more
Eyes piercing
Waiting and waiting and waiting some more
Soul hearing
Waiting and waiting and waiting some more
Now bawling
Waiting and waiting and waiting some more
New calling
