Jesus Came to Call Sinners

Notes: We must help sinners recognize their need for healing. Don’t just tell them they must repent.

https://www.desiringgod.org/articles/follow-me

Have you ever felt like you never fit in. Or that you were never qualified to join the club.

As a kid did you ever find yourself not good enough to join the cool kids club. Maybe it was the sports club or what ever the kids in the neighborhood were into at the time club. To join the club there were always requirements that had to be met.

Sometimes the requirements were made up on the spot just to keep you out. Were you ever asked how old your were and then told oh, sorry, you have to be one year older or you had to have been born one month before you were born.

There was always some made up requirement to keep you out of the club.

Maybe you were the one making the rules to keep others out.

Even as Adults we have requirements for certain clubs. If you want to be a member of this or that civics club you must meet these requirements. These clubs have requirements for good reason.

All of us, whether we were the ones excluding people or the ones being excluded know the feeling behind being excluded from a group.

In Matthew 9 we encounter a man who knows the feeling of rejection very well. He goes by the name Matthew or Levi. But unfortunately most people probably didn’t know his name or want to know his name because he was a tax collector.

All that most people cared about Matthew was that he was a traitor and a sinner. To the people of his day Sinners and Tax Collectors were one and the same.

As a employee of the Roman government Matthews job was to collect taxes for Rome. Since we see Matthew sitting in a booth collecting taxes in Matthew 9:9 we can assume that he was more of a costumes tax collector that he was a collector of direct taxes.

If you have ever been to the border of a corrupt government you know the feeling that the average person must have felt as they entered the city where Matthew was working.

Going through customs every time we arrived in Haiti or each week when we recieved packages from the states was my least favorite thing to do. If I was able to send one of our employees to retrieve our goods I much preferred to do that.

Just like Matthew would have done the customs agents in Haiti know how much they have to bring in for the government but they also know that it is an opportunity to get a little for themselves as well.

There was no rime or reasons for how much they would charge you for your belongings. Sometime they would look through everything and other times they would simply throw out a random number for you to pay.

Dealing with costumes employees is one of the most frustrating things possible so its no wonder that nobody liked Matthew the tax collector.

Being a tax collector came with a cost.

Those that became tax collectors knew and understood that they were throwing their reputation, social status and friendships out the window in order to gain financial security.

To become a tax collector you understood that you would no longer be invited to join any social club or could not be a part of any synagogue or religious group.

The only group of people you were allowed to be around were your fellow tax collectors and the worst of sinners.

With this background about Matthew let’s pick read the story where he first meets Jesus of Nazarath.

Read Matthew 9:9-13.

Matthew 9:9–13 ESV

As Jesus passed on from there, he saw a man called Matthew sitting at the tax booth, and he said to him, “Follow me.” And he rose and followed him. And as Jesus reclined at table in the house, behold, many tax collectors and sinners came and were reclining with Jesus and his disciples. And when the Pharisees saw this, they said to his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?” But when he heard it, he said, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. Go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice.’ For I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.”

I envision that Matthew had heard about this man called Jesus . He had probably heard about the miracles that he was preforming.

I imagine Matthew sitting in his booth thinking that he would probably never get to meet this the man that the country was buzzing about, Matthew on this occasion experiences the strangest and best day of his life.

Just picture with me Matthew sitting in his booth when he hears and see a large crowd approaching.

Because of past experiences with crowds he knew to look busy and keep his dead down so that this crowd of people who hated him may not recognize him.

I can just imagine his heart beginning to race when the crowd noise begins getting louder and louder and then all of a sudden he looks up and the crowd is standing in front of his booth.

Expecting the worst a you man emerges from the crowd and looks him right in the face.

Matthew, though he had never met him, he knew exactly who he was.

Matthew begins to sweat nervicely expecting Jesus to rebuke him for how he had taken advantage of people for years.

Expecting the worst, Matthew was extremely caught off guard when all Jesus says to him is follow me.

Not only was Matthew caught off guard but the crowd was as well.

What did Jesus mean. Surely he didn’t want a sinner to follow him.

Knowing that Matthew was confused I envision Jesus extending his hand and saying once more, follow me.

Not knowing what to think Matthew began thinking, where are we going, will we be back soon, should I leave my booth. Quickly all these question of uncertainty escaped him once he realized that Jesus was inviting him to be a part of his club.

This was something he had never experienced before. He had never been accepted into any group other than that of sinners.

Not knowing what to expect and realizing that he was leaving his lively hood behind and his financially security he didn’t care.

The joy of being accepted by Jesus out weighed all the unknowns.

So Matthew laid down his pin, left his booth and followed Jesus.

Being thankful for the opportunity Mark’s Gospel tells us that Mathew invited many of his sinner friends the only people who accepted him up until this point, Mathew invited them to meet Jesus.

This dinner party that Matthew threw for Jesus outraged the pharacees, those that were watching Jesus every move.

How could this man who claims to be the Messiah eat with those who are known to be the worst of sinners.

In verse 12-13 of out text we see Jesus response. And it is here that we see another reason why Jesus came to earth.

Jesus says.... Read Matthew 9:12-13.

Matthew 9:12–13 ESV

But when he heard it, he said, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. Go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice.’ For I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.”

Jesus says the reason why I picked Matthew to be a part of my group and the reason why I am eating with his friends is because I came to call sinners not the righteous.

Ater hearing Jesus response to the Pharisees questions what questions do you have? For me the main question is who are the righteous whom Jesus did not come to call?

Because in Romans 3:9-10 Paul reminds the people that no one is righteous.

Paul later in Romans chapter 3:23 says that all have sinned

and fallen short of the glory of God.

If the Gospel is for all and is to be preached to everyone according to Mark 16:15 then who are the righteous whom Jesus is referring to?

It seems that the answer to this question would be that the righteous that Jesus is refering to are those during His earthly ministry and through out time who had no awareness of their need for his message.