Loving Matthew.  Matthew 9

Good Day.  

Imagine that you were inside the house listening to Jesus teach, when you suddenly hear heavy footsteps on the roof above, and then dust and dried mud begins falling as you realize a hole is being cut.  ‘What is going on?’  You look closely at Jesus, and while he stops talking, he does not seem the least bit irritated at the interruption.  Why, he really does not even seem surprised!  When we place ourselves into the stories of the Gospel, and think what it would have been like to be an on-looker, we are able to see the richness of the stories and interactions with Jesus.  The Bible ceases to be just words on a page; it becomes real to us.

Oh, coming to understand the brilliance of the mind of Jesus is riveting, like how he knew the paralytic had to have his sins forgiven first, so that healing could be realized.  Observing Jesus’ heart and plan for calling people to himself is so moving.  He called the unlikely, in many cases, the unlovely—such as Matthew, a despised tax collector.  Jesus was not attracted, in any fashion, to the religiosity of the church (temple) leaders. 

Religion is a manmade construct that often messes up pure faith and close relationship with a loving God and sacrificial Savior.

I have been loving Matthew chapter Nine.  Stories that we can skim right through, thinking they have little or no application to us, suddenly spill over with meaning as we step a little closer to the gospel, and even consider what it might have been like to have been present, experiencing firsthand what the gospel writers have recorded.

Jesus still beckons us today to ‘Follow him’.  But there was a difference in Jesus’ call to Matthew to follow him, than his invitation to us today.  Matthew’s call was to follow Jesus—literally—Jesus who was not just fully God, but also fully man.  Jesus was saying, ‘Come, Matthew, be with me.’  Matthew knew what he was leaving behind to be with Jesus, and he was willing because he knew that Jesus offered him real life—a life of meaning, a life of purpose. Staggering.

Many times when we say ‘yes’ to God, we do not know the places he will take us; it certainly is a life of great adventure!  Matthew became a part of the twelve disciples, and of course, had no idea how God would use him to change millions of people through his writing of his account of Jesus’ life and ministry.  Starting with the genealogy in the first chapter, Matthew was a bold writer:  ‘Scandalous from the Start’:  http://pastorwoman.com/ReadArchive.aspx?id=1450  He painstakingly wove in 68 Old Testament prophecies, (which observant Jews would recognize), and how Jesus was the exact fulfillment of those scriptures, particularly because he wanted his people, the Jewish people, to know that Jesus was indeed their Messiah.  Matthew cited details, many of them direct quotations from the prophets, that had been said of Jesus 700 years before—totally remarkable, and yet another element that shores up the historicity of Jesus Christ. 

-Matthew had no idea that he would be with Jesus only about 3 years, and that his Rabbi and Lord would be arrested, falsely tried, tortured, and crucified at the hands of men who could not handle the truth of Jesus, or the threat of Grace to their Law.

-Or that Jesus would once again do what he said he would do—that he would rise from the grave on the third day because neither death nor a tomb could hold him.  But Matthew saw Jesus after his resurrection, and that is what made him a sold-out believer in the Messiah, even willing to die for him.  

Before I get to the conclusion—specifically why Matthew and the disciples’ callings to follow Jesus were different than ours.

Jesus yet says to you and me, ‘Follow me’~

I would like to challenge you to think about how saying 

~>yes to the invitation 

   ~>yes to open doors to risk things for God, 

      ~> yes to obeying God,

        ~> yes to listening to the still, small voice that woos you,

           ~> yes to the voice inside that prompts you to do something good

             ~> yes to God … even though you do not have all the answers

                ~> yes to asking God’s forgiveness for the wrong you have done

                  ~> yes to then forgiving yourself

                    ~>yes to forgiving others who have hurt and wronged you.

For then you will be on to the loving adventure of doing life with God; you will discover what it means to never be alone again, and strike out toward your God-ordained purpose!