Loving the Unlovable

08/03/09

Author: Pastor Derrek Engeler

"As he walked along, Jesus saw Levi, also called Matthew, sitting at his tax-collection booth. 'Come, be my disciple,' Jesus said to him. So Matthew got up and immediately followed him." Mark 2:14-17

Matthew, the shady tax collector, was so impressed with Jesus that he invited Christ and his disciples to be his dinner guests, along with his fellow tax collectors and many other notorious sinners. (There were many people of this kind among the crowds that followed Jesus.) But when some of the teachers of religious law who were Pharisees saw him eating with people like that, they said to his disciples, “Why does he eat with such scum?” When Jesus heard this, he told them, “Healthy people don’t need a doctor—sick people do. I have come to call sinners, not those who think they are already good enough.”

Do you think that God is distant? Do you think that even if you’re far away from Him, He’s not at work in your life? Matthew was as far away from God as you can get. He was one of the most despised people living in Israel—a tax collector working for the Roman government. An outcast, hated by society, he was called a “notorious sinner” in Scripture. And yet, Jesus saw through to the heart of who Matthew could be. And He gave Matthew a chance to become someone new, someone who would eventually change the world.

Jesus gave Matthew a new purpose for his skills. When he followed Jesus, the only tool from his past job that he carried with him was his pen. From the beginning, God had made him a record-keeper. Jesus’s call eventually allowed him to put his skills to their finest work. Matthew was a keen observer, and he undoubtedly recorded what he saw going on around him. The Gospel that bears his name came as a result of what he witnessed and recorded personally. Matthew could not have known that God would use the very skills he had sharpened as a tax collector to record the greatest story ever lived.

 A striking pattern occurs in Mark’s Gospel—every time someone follows Jesus, the word immediately is used. No hesitation, no gray areas. All or nothing every time.

More than any other disciple, Matthew had a clear idea of how much it would cost to follow Jesus. Yet he did not hesitate for a moment. When he left his tax-collecting booth, he guaranteed himself unemployment. For several of the other disciples, there was always fishing to return to. But for Matthew, there was no turning back.

Matthew had a reputation. He followed Jesus, but many of those with him still remembered who he used to be. You can imagine that could not have been easy. But he wanted to follow Jesus more than he wanted to be liked or to be comfortable.

"That night Matthew invited Jesus and His disciples to be his dinner guests, along with his fellow tax collectors and many other notorious sinners." Mark 2:15 (There were many people of this kind among the crowds that followed Jesus.)

The day Matthew met Jesus, he held a dinner at his home in order to introduce his former business associates, colleagues, and friends to Jesus. Matthew didn’t waste any time starting to tell others about Him. Why? Matthew wanted them to experience the forgiveness and acceptance he had found with Jesus.

Matthew’s guests were basically “Israel’s Most Wanted." These “notorious sinners” were the worst elements of society—criminals, outcasts. Jesus called one of these—one of the masses, one of their own—to become a disciple. You don’t have to be a saint to follow Him. Jesus took the lowest of the low, loved them in spite of their past, and made them great.

"But when some of the teachers of religious law who were Pharisees saw him eating with people like that, they said to his disciples, “Why does he eat with such scum?” Mark 2:16

Scum? This is an ugly word, but the Pharisees really felt that way. This shows how high and mighty, how self-righteous they thought they were. They thought that they were totally separate from the “notorious sinners” and acted that way at every opportunity. They thought they were “too good” to be seen with Matthew and his friends.

You see, tax collectors worked for the Roman government, and they were known to take more than they should, even from the poor. The Pharisees, already doubting Jesus’s claim to be the Messiah—the one who would save the Jews from the Romans—couldn’t understand how He would be willing to interact with servants of Rome. They saw His actions as proof that He couldn’t be who He said He was.

"When Jesus heard this, he told them, “Healthy people don’t need a doctor—sick people do. I have come to call sinners, not those who think they are already good enough.” Mark 2:17

Jesus came not to call the righteous, here meaning the self-righteous, but sinners, (i.e. those who are alienated from God). Jesus’ call is for us to recognize our need for Him. A self-righteous person is incapable of understanding grace, but those who see their own inadequacies and their need for Jesus' saving love can receive His free gift of salvation. Jesus paid for that sin in His unselfish act of dying on the cross for our sin. His resurrection proves that He cheated death and promised us we could cheat death also if we place our faith and trust in Him.

Matthew saw firsthand that Jesus didn't care about His past. He offered him a future-an intimacy with God that would last through eternity.

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