Jesus, Friend of Sinner

Matthew 9:9-13 “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.””

Matthew:

Matthew was a tax collector. Sounds like the guy is just trying to make a living, so why is everyone up in arms when they see Jesus taking up company with him? Tax collectors were thieves. Who was the man world power in control during Jesus’s life? The Romans. The Romans imposed taxes on their subjects in order to run their government. The Romans had a certain amount of money that they required. Let’s say a certain percentage from each location, such a Galilee where Capernaum is. (What is Capernaum? Jesus’s headquarters.) The problem with tax collectors is that in order to make their living they would add a little bit extra tax to their fellow countrymen on top of their regular tax, and that would be their salary. You could see how human corruption would be tempted to set in and charge people far more than they were required so that the tax collector themselves would be able to live a lavished lifestyle. This is why tax collectors were hated. They squeezed money out of people who were already hurting. Matthew was a man such as this.

Jesus walks by Matthew and simply says “Follow Me.” What I think is very interesting is that Matthew followed without question. I do not know if Matthew had been following Jesus from time to time at afar. Maybe Matthew attended a few of Jesus’s meetings and hung out in the back of the crowd, listening to Jesus’s teachings.

Maybe Matthew had heard of the famed name of Christ and was intrigued with the opportunity to be in His company for a while.

Regardless Matthew left his seat and followed Christ.

Why do you think Jesus called Matthew? Matthew was a crook. Matthew hurt people financial, which would in tern hurt them physically when they could not buy food or other amenities in life. Which would also create stress, anxiety, and strife within a family. But Jesus called Matthew to be one of His closest followers.

Jesus called a man like Matthew to show the world the kind of people that He came to save.

Friend of Sinners:

Jesus is a friend of sinners. When the Pharisees saw this they questioned why Jesus, clearly a man who was Godly or why would they squabble at His choice of companions, would be throwing in His lot with such sinful people. What are religious leaders purpose? They are to enlighten people of the nature of God, in hopes that people will fear (Respect) Him and that they would change their lives in order to align themselves with God’s agenda better. What the religious people had become were people who turned their noses up at people who were seen as less than they were. Sinners were seen as people who were ungodly, and the religious people viewed them as lessers. We all sin. All of us. Romans 3:23 “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,” Not a single one of us, including religious leaders, are sinless. We all make mistakes, and we cannot say that we are good enough to separate ourselves in a way to say we are better as the Pharisees themselves had done.

What is funny is the sly dis that Jesus threw at the Intelligent religious leaders. If you are a know-it-all, and someone tells you to go study what you think you know so well, it is going to burn you up inside. Know-it-alls are usually fairly prideful, and when you kick them in the pride it hurts and angers them. Jesus told the Pharisees “Go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice.’” Jesus told these mean who were scholars in scripture “you might want to go learn scripture.” It is like telling a doctor he needs to go back to medical school, or an engineer to go back to engineering school, or a cop that they need to go back to the academy. It made these Pharisees mad. But Jesus was completely in the right.

Why God desires mercy over sacrifice is this. The sacrifices are no longer special. Used to person would take an innocent animal, place their sins on the animal, and sacrifice that animals blameless life. But it was not the simply the killing of the animals, it was the symbolic action of getting rid of your sins in a remorseful spirit, and an innocent life having to be ended in order to atone for your mistakes. This was to make you clean, yes, but to remind you of the consequences of sin and therefore think twice about committing these sins again. People, though, came to a point where they simply killed the animals and never took consideration as to what they were doing. It was like they were saying “yeah, yeah, yeah. Whatever. Kill the lamb so we can move on.” Catholics, in order to make money, started selling what is called indulgences. An indulgence was a piece of paper that you bought for X amount of dollars and it “allowed” you to sin freely. It was as if you had “paid” for the sin already. Like you gave God money in order that you might go out and do this one sin freely. That is ridiculous, right? Sin if paid for with death. That is the wage of sin, not money. You can see the idea of an indulgence is ludicrous. But that was exactly what sacrifices had become. You killed an animal just so you could go sin again. That is why God said that He wanted mercy over your burnt offerings that are making no petition anymore. Micah 6:6-8 ““With what shall I come before the Lord, and bow myself before God on high? Shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old? Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, with ten thousands of rivers of oil? Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?” He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?”

God does not want the sacrifices. He wants you to place your trust in His Son, and He wants you to walk in a beautiful relationship with Him. To walk humbly with your God!

But you must do one thing before you can have a relationship. You must see the need for one.

The Need for the Great Physician:

If you had cancer, would you go to the doctor? Sure you would. But what if someone told you that you were about to die, and you never went to the hospital? Sounds kind of ignorant on your part. If you had an arrow in your chest you would not go to the grocery store. If you had been run over by a car you would not go to the bank. If you are sick, you go to the doctor. But you must realize that you are sick. Spiritually, you must see your need for Christ. Jesus ate with these men because they were broken, and Jesus was showing them of their failures and the need they have in Him. The Pharisees thought that they were perfect. They, in the presence of Jesus, saw no need for Him. As a matter of fact they could not stand Him. They had the greatest of spiritual needs, and they turned the spiritual healer away. Last week we saw how Jesus viewed spiritual healing far superior to physical healing, because when your physical body is dead, your spiritual life will carry on. They carry on to one of two destinations: Heaven or Hell. The determination of where you go depends on your understanding of the need of a savior, and what you do about that.

Saved is a Christian term, and you need to be saved.

Saved: To keep safe or rescue from harm or danger.

But what are we being saved from? God’s wrath against the sins of our flesh.

What is sin? Sin is disobeying God’s word. Living in rebellion to what God has commanded us, and no one is above sin. Scripture tell us that ALL not some have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and the Bible goes on to tell us that if we say we are without sin we lie deceiving ourselves.

Hobart Mowrer was Research Professor of Psychology at the University of Illinois. In one of his writings he describes the importance of forgiveness as it pertains to guilt and sin: “Just so long as a person lives under the shadow of real, unacknowledged, and unexpiated guilt, he cannot… ‘accept himself’…He will continue to hate himself and to suffer the inevitable consequences of self-hatred. But the moment he…begins to accept his guilt and his sinfulness, the possibility of radical reformation opens up, and with this…a new freedom of self-respect and peace.”

We all commit sins, those who understand their need of a Savior can be saved, but those who do not understand that they need saving see no need to be rescued, like these Pharisees.

Jesus came to save those who were lost. He came to save the sinners, and you and I are sinners. If you have placed your faith in Jesus, and the relationship with God has been started, build that relationship. God is standing there with innumerable measure of ways to grow your relationship with Him if you will only lean in with the desire to have a deeper relationship with Him.

And if you are not saved, if your trust is not placed in Him but you would like to have a relationship with Him but do not know how, or you want some more understanding on the subject, talk to me sometime, I would love to talk with you.

I am here for whatever you need. Talk with me. If you need prayer, take it to God, but I can pray for you as well. If you need answers to life’s troubling questions, talk with me and we will search the scriptures and see what God has to say. If you need help in whatever way that it is, let me know.