Matthew 9:9-13-As Jesus passed on from there, He saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax office. And He said to him, “Follow Me.” So he arose and followed Him.
Now it happened, as Jesus sat at the table in the house, that behold, many tax collectors and sinners came and sat down with Him and His disciples.
And when the Pharisees saw it, they said to His disciples, “Why does your Teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?”
When Jesus heard that, He said to them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick.
But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy and not sacrifice.’ For I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance.”
Who do you think God can use?
Those who have education?
Those who have religious background?
Those whose family have been raised in Church?
Those who can give the most?
Yes, truly he can use such people, but He thank goodness, He can use the rest of us!!
Matthew is not what you would have called, to be suitable for the ministry!
He would not had been on the top ten list of qualified applicants!
He had not only turned his back on his kinsmen, but was taking money from them to give to Roman.
Tax collectors was famous for not only putting money in Roman’s pockets, but also in there pockets, and Roman didn‘t care, as long as they got their money!!
So if the tax collector is cheating you, who are you going to tell, who is going to help you, who is going to be on your side, no wonder they where so hated!!!
Publican-A Jewish citizen collecting taxes for Roman
Follow Me-This is the call, not only for this man, but for all of us!!!
Follow Him where ever He leads us!
Sometimes it’s a easy path, sometimes it’s a rocky road!
Sometimes there would be great miracles from God…Lazarus walking out of tomb!
And sometimes great silence from God…As Jesus hung on the cross!
Sometimes there would be full bellies and rest…Feeding of the five thousand!
And sometimes there would be stormy waters and fears….Jesus walking on the water!
So He Arose And Followed Him-What statement! What a proclamation!
Just a simple act of obedience!
No, where are you going, what are we going to be doing, who’s going to take care of me?
You see, we want all the answers before we follow Jesus!
We don’t want no surprises! We want security, and comfort, and peace, but the truth is if we don’t follow Him we won’t have none of those things!!
Many Tax Collectors And Sinners Came And Sat Down With-I’m sure Matthew invited the people he knew to the meal
He didn’t know he wasn’t suppose to that, he didn’t know he was breaking so unwritten rule, he was just doing what came natural!
In our Christian walk, we should be accessible to people around us, those we work with, those we interact with, God can use us to be His tool to bring them to Christ!
Now some people are going to walk way from you because of your Christian walk, some people are going to not like you because of your Christian walk.
But you should always if you can, leave the door of communication open to them, because somewhere down the road, God may still use you to reach them.
Why Does Your Teacher Eat With Tax Collectors And Sinners-Some people are not going to be happy with the people you associate with.
But we all don’t have the same friends, and the reason for that is this, I believe!
There are people in your life that I could never reach, but you can, and there is people in my life, that you could not reach, but I can!!
Those Who Are Well Have No Need Of A Physician, But Those Who Are Sick.
I remember shaving one day, and all of these little spots of blood started flowing not real bad, but bad enough I knew I couldn’t go to the association like that, so I stuck all these little pieces of toilet paper all of my face, trying desperately to get the bleeding to stop, so I could go, that was in January, and in February or March, I found out I had cancer, little did I know that my platelets where down and that was why I was bleeding.
It was one of the signs, of having cancer, there were others signs, as I begin to read about the kind of cancer I have, but I knew something was wrong, but would have never guessed it was cancer.
The reason I’m telling you this is, there is a lot of people out there that know something is wrong in there life, they just don’t know what it is.
So they need someone to introduce them to the Great Physician!!
Then there are others who are sick and dying, and they don’t even realize it!!
There are people who are physical sick (They die all of sudden, no warning) and there are people who are spiritual sick (They are as good as ole so and so, and they die and await judgment).
I Desire Mercy And Not Sacrifice-He wants us to have the same capacity to love others like He does!
We can give things without any feelings at all, we can sacrifice, without it costing us much at all!!!
For I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance.-Jesus came to earth and died on the cross, for those who recognizes their need for Him and for those who don’t!!
