Learning DAILY

 

Matthew 9:12-13, When Jesus heard that, He said to them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick.  But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy and not sacrifice.’  For I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance.”

 

I have been doing a comparative study of the four Gospels.  Today I studied what Matthew, Mark, and Luke had to say about the calling of Matthew.  Each account added just a small bit to when Jesus told Matthew to “Follow Me”.  It was interesting to me that Matthew immediately got up from his tax collecting table and answered the call by Jesus to follow Him.  He did not take time to consider the ramifications of doing so; He simply got up and followed Jesus.  For Matthew to do this, it meant leaving everything behind.  John, Peter, Andrew were fisherman who always had the opportunity to go back to fishing if things did not work out following Jesus.  Matthew collected taxes for the hated Romans; he would not be able to go back to doing this. So, he was making a great sacrifice to follow Jesus; in return he received eternal gain!

 

After Matthew answered the call, he had a meal prepared for Jesus, His disciples, other tax collectors and sinners.  Matthew had invited these people to meet Jesus.  I would have liked one of the writers to expand the calling of Matthew to include what his friends decided about Jesus.  The Pharisees, who seemed to be always following Jesus in order to accuse Him (Some might call that a desire to impeach Him) right away saw who He was eating with and the accusations began.  In this passage tax collectors and sinners are spoken of together because both groups were detested by the pious Jewish society.  Understand that Jesus was breaking barriers of prejudice and divisions that had been set up due to status and privilege.

 

In response to the comments about who He ate with, Jesus responded that those who are well did not need a physician – those that were sick did.  He was using physical health to represent spiritual health.  The Pharisees thought themselves as well and told them He came to call those who were sick, those who realized their sinfulness.  Because tax collectors and sinners realized they were sinners, Jesus was able to heal or save them (I hope I am not adding to Scripture by believing at least some of them got saved!). 

 

The Pharisees did not believe they were “sick” because they strictly followed their set of 600+ manmade laws.  They thought that following these laws made them righteous.  Unfortunately, God had already judged their sacrifices as worthless because they did not extend mercy to those in need.  He does not want sacrifice such as they were making; He expects us to show mercy to those who need mercy.

 

I believe that too often Christians shy away from those who are “sick”.  Showing kindness and love, does not mean that we endorse the behavior or thoughts of others.  Jesus was showing them the love and compassion of God.  We need to do the same.  If we turn our noses up and ignore the needs of the “sick” – those who need spiritual help – then we become like doctors or hospitals that ignore those who need to be treated.  There are many who need to hear the Gospel of Jesus Christ; someone needs to be willing to share it with them.  Are you willing to be the one the Lord uses to extend mercy to another who needs the love of Jesus to meet their spiritual condition?

 

 

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