eFollowingJesusFeb3 - call of Matthew (read Matthew 9:9-13 - printed below)
In Capernaum, if you said "tax collector," you paused to spit in disgust. Tax collectors were the unethical henchmen of an evil empire, forcibly overcharging the poor to line their own pockets while funding Rome's wars and buildings. For Jesus even to speak to such a corrupt, hated person as Matthew was scandalous.
Jesus not only welcomes him into his movement; he makes him a disciple, one of his inner circle. Want to discredit yourself and arouse fierce critique? Include a tax collector? You might as well include a prostitute.
But Jesus isn't trying to please anybody; he isn't guarding against criticism. He is the vanguard of a new world, where everyone finds a home, where both the horrifically behaved and the smugly pious are on the same footing.
How do Jesus' followers adjust? How does Matthew adjust? Imagine: giving up a profitable life to hang with the people who've spat at you? What about us? Who is despised? Who is horrifically behaved? Somebody out there I need to include? Somebody inside me I haven't acknowledged? Who needs a physician?
Lord, I am sick, needing You, the great Physician; help me see every other person as a patient on whom You have immense compassion.
James
james@mpumc.org
To see Caravaggio's marvelous "Call of St. Matthew" click here.
Here is the full text of Matthew 9:1-17 - 1: And getting into a boat he crossed over and came to his own city. 2: And behold, they brought to him a paralytic, lying on his bed; and when Jesus saw their faith he said to the paralytic, "Take heart, my son; your sins are forgiven." 3: And behold, some of the scribes said to themselves, "This man is blaspheming." 4: But Jesus, knowing their thoughts, said, "Why do you think evil in your hearts? 5: For which is easier, to say, `Your sins are forgiven,' or to say, `Rise and walk'? 6: But that you may know that the Son of man has authority on earth to forgive sins" -- he then said to the paralytic -- "Rise, take up your bed and go home." 7: And he rose and went home. 8: When the crowds saw it, they were afraid, and they glorified God, who had given such authority to men. 9: As Jesus passed on from there, he saw a man called Matthew sitting at the tax office; and he said to him, "Follow me." And he rose and followed him. 10: And as he sat at table in the house, behold, many tax collectors and sinners came and sat down with Jesus and his disciples. 11: And when the Pharisees saw this, they said to his disciples, "Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?" 12: But when he heard it, he said, "Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. 13: Go and learn what this means, `I desire mercy, and not sacrifice.' For I came not to call the righteous, but sinners." 14: Then the disciples of John came to him, saying, "Why do we and the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast?" 15: And Jesus said to them, "Can the wedding guests mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them? The days will come, when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast. 16: And no one puts a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment, for the patch tears away from the garment, and a worse tear is made. 17: Neither is new wine put into old wineskins; if it is, the skins burst, and the wine is spilled, and the skins are destroyed; but new wine is put into fresh wineskins, and so both are preserved."
The full eFollowingJesus series (thus far!) may be found on our web site.
