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Jesus’ Unconditional Call

The first point that we need to see if we want to understand who Jesus is, is that Jesus’ Call is Unconditional

Look at verse 9,

Matthew 9:9 CSB

As Jesus went on from there, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the toll booth, and he said to him, “Follow me,” and he got up and followed him.

Matthew 9:9

The first point that wants us to understand about the Jesus way is that His Calling is Unconditional.

Look at what Matthew tells us in verse 9, “As Jesus went

We dont know much about this Matthew character at this point in the story, all we know about him is that he is called by Jesus while sitting at the toll booth.

Luke and Mark tell this same story but they use the name “Levi.” It was common for people in this time period to have multiple names. Saul was renamed Paul after he encountered Jesus on the road to Damascus, Thomas also went by the name Didymus, and Peter had three names: Peter, Simon, and Cephas.

Both Luke and Mark give us more detail about who Matthew is, but Matthew’s Gospel doesnt probably because he didnt want to draw much attention to himself in the story. He wants us to understand that he isnt the main character here, Jesus is.

But the one detail that he does give us is where he is when Jesus calls him. Matthew says that he was “sitting at the toll booth.”

Matthew wants us to know that there couldnt have been a more unlikely candidate for Jesus to call to become one of His disciples than himself. Matthew was a tax collector, and as a tax collector he was totally unfit to be a disciple of a Jewish Rabbi.

Why is that important? It is important because of who tax collectors wer

Tax collectors were despised in this culture because they were seen as friends of the enemy of God. They worked for Rome, and good Jewish people hated the Romans. The Romans were Pagans. They worshiped weird gods and had weird customs. 400 or so years prior to the time of Jesus, the Romans had invaded their land. And this wasnt just any land, this was the Promised Land of Israel, this was God’s Kingdom the land he had given them to prosper in, or so they thought.

Tax collectors were despised in this culture because they were seen as friends of the enemy of God. They worked for Rome, and good Jewish people hated the Romans. The Romans were Pagans. 400 or so years prior the time of Jesus, the Romans had invaded their land. And this wasnt just any land, this was the Promised Land of Israel, this was God’s Kingdom on that He had promised them.

Jesus had called fisherman to follow him, and that would have been unconventional, Jewish Rabbi’s typically only discipled people who had good religious resumes to be, and fisherman were dirty, uneducated, and probably smoked Camel cigarettes. Fishermen were bad enough, but a Tax Collector? Calling a tax collector wasnt just frowned upon, it was a slap to the face of any good Jew, it was scandalous.

Tax collectors were

What makes Jesus

The scandal of the calling of Matthew is that he was totally unfit and unqualified to be considered the type of person to be discipled by a Rabbi....and that is the point.

And if I founder, or am marooned, if I am swallowed by a wave and become bride to the sea, it will be better for me. I will find rest on the cool floors of the ocean.”

Not too long ago I read a children’s book to my son that summarized my spiritual history, it is called the Runaway Bunny. It’s this story about a little Bunny who wants to runaway from his mother

Once there was a little bunny who wanted to run away. So he said to his mother, “I am running away.” This was his first mistake.

“If you run away,” said his mother, “I will run after you. I would swallow my own heart before I let you escape.”

“If you run after me,” said the little bunny, “I will become a fish in a trout stream and I will swim away from you.” The little bunny had a small and a desperate magic.

“If you become a fish in a trout stream,” said his mother, “I will become a fisherman and I will fish for you. I will always be bigger than you. I will always be stronger than you. Your magic is no match for my magic.”

“If you become a fisherman,” said the little bunny, “I will become a rock on the mountain, high above you. Better to be a stone and insensible to all things than to stay here with you. Better to be a stone.”

“If you become a rock on the mountain high above me,” said his mother, “I will become a mountain climber, and I will climb to where you are. I will wake you from your stone-sleep and I will make you open your eyes to me.”

“If you become a mountain climber,” said the little bunny, “I will be a crocus in a hidden garden. I will grow, I will grow, I will grow. I will grow without you. I will feel the sun on my face and I will thrive.”

“If you become a crocus in a hidden garden,” said his mother, “I will be a gardener. And I will find you. And I will tear you up by the roots. The soil is not a mother to you like I am a mother to you. You will find no purchase there. I will not let you grow without me. I will see you rootless first.”

“If you are a gardener and find me,” said the little bunny, “I will be a bird and fly away from you.” It was a lie and they both knew it. He had no such power.

“If you become a bird and fly away from me,” said his mother, who had already won and who was never kind in victory, never soft to the defeated. “I will be a tree that you come home to. I will become every tree in the forest. I will be everything that looks like escape, every branch that carries with it the hope of rest. You will look for freedom and find only me. I will always be bigger than you. I will always be stronger than you. Your magic is no match for my magic.”

“If you become a tree,” said the little bunny, “I will become a little sailboat, and I will sail away from you. And if I founder, or am marooned, if I am swallowed by a wave and become bride to the sea, it will be better for me. I will find rest on the cool floors of the ocean.”

“If you become a sailboat and sail away from me,” said his mother, “I will become the wind and blow you where I want you to go. I will give you no rest. I will never relent. I will be trade winds and doldrums alike, and I will pursue you with torments and storms From the top of the world to the bottom, and you will never know a moment’s peace. I would swallow my own heart before I let you escape.”

“If you become the wind and blow me,” said the little bunny, “I will join a circus and fly away on a flying trapeze.”

“If you go flying on a flying trapeze,” said his mother, “I will be a tightrope walker, and I will walk across the air to you. I will hunt you wherever you go, and I will tear you down from the sky and bring you here.”

“If you become a tightrope walker and walk across the air,” said the bunny, “I will become a little boy and run into a house. I will give up all my magic, and become human, and grow old, and die, to be gone from you.”

“If you become a little boy and run into a house,” said the mother bunny, “I will become your mother and catch you in my arms.”

“You are not a true mother to me,” said the bunny.

“I am your only mother,” said his mother.

“Ahhh,” said the bunny, “I might just as well stay where I am.”

And so he did.

“Have a carrot,” said the mother bunny.

He did not want it, but there was no one else who would feed him, so he took what she had to offer and he ate it.

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Jesus’ call to follow him is unconditional.

My senior year of high school I started to feel like God might be calling me to be a pastor one day. It wasnt something that was on my radar, I had recieved a scholarship offer to Duke to play football and at the time I was seriously considering going there to study medicine. I wanted to be an orthopedic surgeon. Sometimes I imagine what my life would be like if I would have went that route. Like i would be the worst doctor ever because Im just sort of an indecisive person. Someone would walk in there with an obviously broken arm and I would just be like, “Well would you look at that....its probably broken…but I dont know man…what do you think?”

My plan was to be a doctor, but my senior year of high school I started to feel like God might be calling me to be a pastor. The problem with this was that I knew me really well. By the time I was a senior I had tried to run away from God multiple times, I went to my first kegger when I was in the 8th grade, I had already gone to multiple senior parties before I was even a freshman in highschool. I STOPPED drinking what I was in the first day of class my junior year of high school. I was washing my truck in the middle of the afternoon, I had one Bud Heavy left over from a weekend party that I went to and I was just like “One last time...”

Through a series of different events, God was running me down throughout that entire year. And during the summer between my junior and senior year of High School, I began to experience God calling me to surrender my life to Him. Totally, go all in. And Ill never forget some of the conversations that I had with friends when this was happening. See none of my friends thought I was serious about following Jesus. I remember telling one of them, and he literally said to me, “Okay bud, see you in a week.”

I wish I could say it was a instant 180 experience, but for me it was more a process. God would run me down, I would decide that I was going to follow him, and then I would fail, finally come to the end of myself, and then immediately I would hear God whispering to me again, “Follow Me...”

But here is what I know, God’s chasing after me, calling me to follow him, calling me into a relationship with Him had nothing to do with my faithfulness—because I was an absolute failure for years when it came to spirituality. But through all my failures, through all my rebellion God never stopped chasing after me

Jesus calls people to follow him unconditionally.

Jesus doesnt ask us for our religious resume, he doesnt ask us to prove that we are worth of following him, He calls us to follow him right where we are, just as we are.

Matthew says that Jesus called him while he was sitting at the toll booth…

You see, just like Matthew, Jesus is calling us to follow him tonight right where we are. He doesnt ask us to prove ourselves, he isnt asking us for our qualifications, He is calling us to follow him just as we are, right where we are.

Right now, some of you are saying to yourself. “Man, if you knew what I did last night, last week, last month…you would never say that Jesus would call me to follow him.”

You feel like you aren't good enough to follow Jesus? You aren't, but He is calling for you…because Jesus calls us unconditionally. Not on our merits, not by our religious performance, but solely by his sovereign grace.

You know what, you’re right, I dont know what you have done in your past. But I know that Jesus does, He knows all of your failures, He sees all your sin…and tonight he whispers to you…even you…and says, “Follow me.”

His call is unconditional. In spite of our failures, our sin, our shame, our guilt, Jesus is calling to us tonight and he is bidding us to enter into Not on our merits, not by our religious performance, but solely by his sovereign grace.

Jesus’ Unconditional Calling was scandalous, but He doesnt stop there.

We second way we see that Jesus was a scandalous savior by looking at the people he associated with—Jesus’ Unlikely Community

Jesus’ Unlikely Community

Look with me at verses 10 & 11.

Matthew 9:10–11 CSB

While he was reclining at the table in the house, many tax collectors and sinners came to eat with Jesus and his disciples. When the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?”

Christian Standard Bible Chapter 9

10 While he was reclining at the table in the house, many tax collectors and sinners came to eat with Jesus and his disciples.s 11 When the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?”t

Let’s set the scene up here.

10 And as Jesus2 reclined at table in the house, behold, many gtax collectors and sinners came and were reclining with Jesus and his disciples. 11 And when the Pharisees saw this, they said to his disciples, h“Why does your teacher eat with gtax collectors and sinners?”

2 Greek he

g ch. 11:19; See ch. 5:46

Let’s set the scene up here.

h []

g [See ver. 10 above]

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton: Standard Bible Society, 2016), .Let’s set the scene up here.

John the Baptist, the man that Jesus Himself said was the best man that had ever lived, had been proclaiming to everyone who could hear that Jesus was the Messiah. He was the long awaited anointed one that God had sent to bring liberty to the Jewish people. He was supposed to be making all wrongs, right.

Then he preaches the sermon on the mount, telling everyone that he speaks the Words of God.

Jesus had been performing miracles, showing he has the power of God.

He’d declared a man to be forgiven of his sin, showing that he had the authority of God

People are amazed by what he’s been doing.

Jesus is beginning to

They are beginning to see that Jesus has the power of God, and starting to really wonder if Jesus really is their savior.

Then he declares that he can forgive sins…something that only God can do.

From that moment, people began to take interest in him. Then Jesus starts performing all these miraculous things

Then in the next scene Jesus has called a tax collector to follow him

Now he is fellowshipping with a bunch of tax collectors and sinners

Jesus had been doing all of these miracles throughout Jerusalem and Judea.

Jesus put his repuation on the line

From that moment, people began to take interest in him. Then Jesus starts performing all these miraculous things

Jesus’ Unlimited Compassion

Matthew 9:12–13 CSB

Now when he heard this, he said, “It is not those who are well who need a doctor, but those who are sick. Go and learn what this means: I desire mercy and not sacrifice. For I didn’t come to call the righteous, but sinners.”

Christian Standard Bible Chapter 9

12 Now when he heard this, he said, “It is not those who are well who need a doctor, but those who are sick.u 13 Go and learn what this means: I desire mercy and not sacrifice.H,v For I didn’t come to call the righteous, but sinners.”I

Romans 3:23 CSB

For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.

Romans 5:8 CSB

But God proves his own love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.