Who Does Jesus Call as Disciples?

Introduction

In some children’s games where two teams are involved, two team captains will be assigned and will take turns picking other children for the activity. How humiliating it is to be the last child to be picked. The team captains will try to first pick the talented, the athletic, those who are sure to help the team win. The last child to be picked is the one no one really wants on their team.

Yet, when Jesus picks his disciples, he does not do so in this way. Rather than picking first the religious, the respected, the gifted, the reputable, the strong, the righteous, Jesus comes up to a tax collector, one utterly scorned by Jewish society, and tells him to follow. Matthew not only ends up being one of the twelve, but one of the four Gospel authors, the very author of the book we are reading. In Greek his name is ordered to be unimportant, and in other Gospels he is called Levi, but in Matthew’s account of his own call to follow Jesus we can rightly ask the question, “what kind of people does Jesus call to follow him?” We’ve seen previously that Jesus demands absolute devotion to the call to be a disciple, but to who exactly is this call extended? Today we will see that Jesus calls anyone from any walk of life, that he calls those reproached by the world, he calls those who are ready to receive the call, and he calls those who are needy in their sin since he came to call not the righteous but sinners to repentance.

Jesus Calls Anyone

The opening scene of this conversion story begins in Capernaum where a tax booth was set up likely to tax goods that were being shipped over the lake. In this tax booth Jesus sees a man named Matthew. Jesus approaches this man and simply tells him “follow me”. No other interaction between Jesus and Matthew is mentioned before this, but it is certain that Matthew, being from Capernaum we can assume, had heard of Jesus and perhaps even heard his teaching. Matthew must have known the authority of Jesus call because he obeys promptly, leaving his living and following Christ.

The first answer to our question, “who does Jesus call” is that he calls anyone. Jesus does not call everyone in his sovereignty, but anyone. Not everyone is ready to be a disciple, but a disciple can be anyone from anywhere.

From any background, class, or occupation.

From any sinful lifestyle.

Often defying expectations of who may be called. Think of Paul the Apostle, a persecutor of the church. Think of the fishermen. Think of yourself, called as one most unlikely to receive the call.

Jesus Calls The Reproached

Matthew was a reproached individual, who was seen as defiled because of his interactions with gentiles, and as a traitor because of his role as a tax collector for Roman-established rule.

Jesus calls those who are reproached by society. There is reproach that is caused by sin which Jesus overlooks when he calls. There is repentance from that sin, as Matthew leaves his tax stand to follow immediately, but Jesus often singles out those who are most reproached for his calling to discipleship.

Today this might be the minority, abusers and the abused, sexually deviant individuals, the unfaithful, the criminal, the drug addict, the mentally ill, the racist, the socially awkward, and the list could go on. Jesus calls those that most people want little or nothing to do with.

Jesus does not wait for someone to become holy before he calls them, he calls them that they may become holy.

We must not be ashamed of the reproach that this brings on the church, for it brought reproach on Christ from the religious leaders. We are called to reach out to those that, in our reaching out to them, will cause eyebrows to raise and criticism to abound.

Those who live full of shame have a great hope here. You are especially picked out by the Saviour to be his disciple. You who feel dirty, filthy, sinful, judged, cast away by the world, hopeless, thinking that surely Jesus doesn’t want someone like me. These are those whom Jesus reaches out to. If Jesus could call Matthew to be not only a disciple, but a chronicler of his ministry and of the Gospel, his call surely goes out to you as well.

Jesus Calls the Ready

But this must be balanced with the fact that Matthew immediately responds to Jesus’ call. There’s little reason to believe that the tax booth would be available again once he left it. He leaves his key to worldly riches behind and follows Christ. So who does Christ call to be his disciples? He calls those who are ready to receive the call and act on it.

Compare Matthew to the scribe and disciple in 8:18-22. Matthew does not have any excuses, does not worry about his job, his income, his family, he has no hangups or qualifications. He doesn’t need to do anything before he follows Christ. He simply “rose and followed him.”

It is certainly true that Jesus calls anyone who will answer the call. Consider the parable of the feast where the servants are sent to the highways and byways, but the one who is cast out is the one without wedding garments, the one who was not prepared.

Jesus doesn’t care who you are, where you come from, or what sins you’ve committed. What he cares about is whether you are ready to follow him.

Jesus Calls the Needy

Finally, who does Jesus call? He calls the needy. He calls those who are poor in spirit, who mourn over their sin, who know their lack of righteousness and look to Christ alone for blessing and mercy.

This is clearly seen in the second scene of this story when Jesus is dining with Matthew and a company of other tax collectors and known sinners. These are people who are not only sinners, but because of their interactions with gentiles they are considered unclean. When the Pharisees see this, they talk to the disciples, probably after the feast because it’s unlikely they willingly went into the house themselves.

The Pharisees use this opportunity to put doubt into the hearts of the disciples. How often does Satan and his minions do this. Instead of confronting Jesus personally, they are like the serpent in the garden coming to Eve away from the presence of God. Jesus overhears it and responds for his disciples. When Satan challenges your faith, let Christ answer for you. Go to the Word of God and let it answer for itself. Lean upon Christ when doubt appears, for Jesus himself will answer the challenge.

Jesus’ compares himself to a doctor visiting the sick. Is it the healthy that need a doctor? Now of course we know that the Pharisees were just as sinful as the tax collectors, but the difference is they are hard-hearted to the Gospel.

Jesus eating with sinners is not the same as Jesus endorsing sin. He doesn’t do this. But those who recognize their sin and listen to the message of salvation willingly and with faith, Christ abides with such people. He calls the needy and sinful so that they may be drawn out of that need and exalted in righteousness.

In order to see a doctor, you first need to recognize that you are sick. The symptoms are everywhere, the sins you struggle with, the guilt that you feel, the shame that follows you. Recognize that you are needy, for it is the needy that will be made full. Present yourself before God as a sinner in need of saving. To these Jesus gives his calling. Recognize how poor your life is without Christ, and be needy towards him.

Verse 13. Jesus reveals the heart with which he approaches the world. Jesus quotes Hosea 6:6

Hosea 6:6 ESV

For I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice, the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.

Jesus pits ceremonial worship against the mercy and love that God truly desires. The ceremony is not what is important to God, love is. Jesus exemplifies this and justifies his feast with the tax collectors by revealing the true desire of God, the reason for which Christ was sent. He, the doctor, did not come for those who claim they are healthy, for they will not submit themselves to the doctor’s hand, but he came for the sinners. He came for the poor in spirit, the mourning, the hungry and thirsty for righteousness that they themselves do not have apart from Christ.

Are you poor and needy today? Do you recognize your need of Christ? Do you see yourself, in yourself, as sick? If you do, there is a Saviour who has come to call you to a better life, an eternal one. One free from sin, free from shame, free from neediness. He raises those like you up to be with him in glory in the end, just as he himself raised from the dead. He took a tax collector and made him both Apostle and Gospel author and he was not ashamed to be with him and his company of sinners. Come now, come quickly, come again and again to the Throne of Grace that you may receive mercy and find help in time of need.

Conclusion

In this text, we have seen the kind of people Jesus calls to come and follow him, to be his disciples. He calls anyone, not everyone, but anyone. From any walk of life, any ethnicity, creed, lifestyle, he calls the thief, the liar, the homosexual, the porn addict, the violent, the cruel and he bids them leave their life behind and come follow him. However, this call must be responded to. Just as Matthew gets up and leaves the tax booth, true disciples of Christ leave all behind and come to follow Christ. They leave their sins, their ambitions, even their livelihood to follow the call. Jesus calls those who are ready to receive that call. When Jesus calls a man, as Bonhoeffer says, he bids him come die. Die to self, to sin, to lies, to selfishness. He bids them follow him wherever he goes; into persecution, into homelessness, into poverty of spirit, into repentance, and ultimately, into eternal life and heavenly reward.

Those who are ready to receive this call are those who are needy and know it. They know they are sinners against a holy God, they know that they deserve damnation, they know that they are helpless without the healing power of Christ. From this humble state, they recognize the authority of Christ and, rather than bidding Christ leave as those in country of the Gadarenes did, they follow with no thought to what they are leaving behind.

Consider the call of discipleship. Are you ready to heed that call? Are you a sinner, needy and helpless to overcome your sin? Are you spiritually sick? Do you realize it? Are you humbled before God? Then you are ready to heed this call. It is a call for the sinner, not the self-righteous. Do not be discouraged by your sin, for it was for sin that Christ died. Let your weeping not be hopeless, for those who mourn will be comforted. Jesus is a compassionate and gracious King to his servants, and he chooses the least to be his. Let go of any pride that may keep you from accepting that call. Are you ready to stand up, leave your life behind, and follow Christ? Will you heed the call? If you do, Christ will come into your sinful life just as he came into Matthew’s house, and he will dwell with you, he will make you holy, he will give you graces that make sin no longer worth pursuing. May we humble ourselves before him today, that we may enjoy the presence of Christ as we walk with him, our gracious Saviour.