There is something very gratifying about being accepted by people of high social status. If I am ever with someone with high social standing or if they have lots of clout, I am right away taken in. If my friends could see me now, I am thinking. I am easily starstruck by anyone with even a little bit of fame.
It is all too easy to relish mixing with the social elite who will boost our own status and so we try to be accepted by them. But Jesus did not pursue the social elite. It did not bother Jesus if he was overlooked to a society event.
Jesus did not seek after status or position. As a matter of fact, Jesus spent his time with social outcasts. His friends included shady characters like Zacchaeus who was despised by many. There were a lot of people muttering under their breath when they saw that Jesus spent time with this kind of people.
Jesus showed mercy to lepers, prostitutes, adulterers and associated with people society treated as people to be avoided. Jesus sought out those who were down and out. When they met Jesus, their lives were transformed. Those who have reached a low point in life often are the ones who recognize their need for God.
He went out again beside the sea, and all the crowd was coming to him, and he was teaching them. 14 And as he passed by, he saw Levi the son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax booth, and he said to him, “Follow me.” And he rose and followed him. 15 And as he reclined at table in his house, many tax collectors and sinners were reclining with Jesus and his disciples, for there were many who followed him. 16 And the scribes of the Pharisees, when they saw that he was eating with sinners and tax collectors, said to his disciples, “Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?” 17 And when Jesus heard it, he said to them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.” (Mark 2:13-17)
Jesus left Capernaum for one of his favorite activities, teaching to the crowds along the sea of Galilee. As Jesus walked along, he saw Levi the son of Alpheaus in the tax collector’s booth. Jesus simply said, “follow me.”
We know Levi by his more common name, Matthew. We know him as one of the twelve disciples. We know him as the author of the first book we find in the New Testament, the gospel of Matthew.
When Jesus met Matthew here at the Sea of Galilee, he was a social outcast. He was a despised tax collector. It was not just that people hate to pay taxes. There was much more to it than that. The Jews viewed the tax collectors as traitors because they were selling out to the Roman government for personal gain. They collected taxes on a commission bases from their own fellow Jewish people to pay to the Roman government.
There was Levi, (Matthew) in a tax collector booth. He was a disliked man in a reviled profession. Jesus said to this despised tax collector, follow me. Jesus called men and women from every walk of life.
Jesus called Matthew and transforms him from a despised social outcast into an apostle, evangelist, and writer of the most read gospel. He will become a hero of the faith. Jesus was not concerned about how this would play out in terms of public relations.
Jesus turns away respectable men like Nicodemus and the Rich Young ruler, and he calls the publicans to follow him. We see Jesus’ attitude toward sinners. He loves them. He hates the sin, and he loves the sinner.
In Luke chapter 7 there is the story of Jesus being anointed by a sinful woman. People begin to talk that he is associated with a woman of bad reputation. There is the story he told of the money lender. One owed 50 pieces of silver and the other owed 500 pieces of silver and neither could pay back their debt. Both debts are cancelled, and he asks which one would love him more. It is the one with the bigger debt cancelled.
Matthew had a large debt of sin cancelled and his love for Jesus was great. He was so grateful to Jesus that he threw a banquet in his honor.
Then Levi held a great banquet for Jesus at his house, and a large crowd of tax collectors and others were eating with them. (Luke 5:29).
Matthew invited all his friends who were tax collectors and sinners. He wanted all of them to meet Jesus. That is why new believers are more likely to start movements. New believers can share so effectively with all their friends. Their friends are sinners, and they have a new joy and transformed life that has the attention of their friends and family.
This is how Matthew himself tells us what Jesus said, Go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice.’ For I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.” (Matthew 9:13)
Guess who was watching all of this and were not approving at all? It was the Pharisees and the scribes who saw this. They asked Jesus disciples why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?
Their charge was true that Jesus received sinners. He did and he still does. I’m thankful for that. According to the Pharisees there was no hope for these social renegades. But Jesus calls sinners who do not rely on their own righteousness. God is holy and pure like the snow on the Himalayan mountains. We are all sinful and impure like the mud on the mud puddle on the road. We never become good enough to reach God. He reached us. That is why Jesus has come.
Jesus calls the sinners who cannot rely on their own righteousness for salvation. They have a massive moral debt, and they know they need salvation. Everyone who ever sinned is alienated from God. For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. (Romans 3:23)
Salvation is for all. It is for the social elite and the social outcast. It is more often the social outcast that recognizes their need.
The banquet that Matthew held was not attended by people who follow the accepted religious practices. The Pharisees who thought they were on the moral high ground needed to recognize they are sinners too. The true definition of a sinner is not an outcast. It is anyone alienated from God who falls short of the Glory of God. In short all of them and all of us.
You can’t escape the influence of sin. Wherever you go there you are. Just coming to church does not change you. What does change you? It is recognizing your spiritual need and putting your faith in Christ.
When Jesus heard the conversation he said, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.” Jesus clearly states his mission and his purpose. He came to call sinners, show mercy to sinners and offer salvation to sinners.
Jesus was not at this banquet because he admired their respectable professions. It was because he was offering the hope of a transformed life. We know that Matthew was transformed. We know that later another tax collector Zacchaeus was transformed. We know the others too have the invitation to follow Jesus.
This invitation to follow Jesus is for the sinners, like us, like the publicans and Matthew’s banquet that Jesus endured the cross. It is why he died the just for the unjust to bring us to God.
A doctor does not hang around the hospital because he enjoys sickness. You find a doctor at the hospital because he wants to use medical knowledge to bring healing. It is the sick who need a doctor not the well.
The Pharisees would have you believe as a sinner there is no hope for you. But there is good news of great joy. Is your life a mess? Have you lived your life full of regret about what you have done. You are just the person Jesus loves and cares for. Jesus loves you. Jesus died for you.
Jesus’ mission was to go to the sinners. That is why evangelism is so urgent. We need to reach out to the sinners. The ones we need to reach are out there in a tax collectors booth somewhere. They need to know that they can turn to Christ and be forgiven of dishonesty and Ill repute and put that behind them.
They will be forgiven a big debt like Matthew was. They are the ones who become the greatest servant. They know they have been forgiven a great debt. You have sunk really low? This is the time for you to recognize a need for Christ.
Jesus said he did not call the righteous but the sinners. The Pharisees were not righteous, but they thought they were. They did not see a need for Jesus and Matthew the tax collector and sinner did. A high social standing can dull our spiritual sensitivity.
As a sinner we can receive God’s mercy. Jesus came to call the sinners to repentance. Jesus is the great physician who desires to heal the spiritually sick. Come to Christ and let Jesus transform your life.
