There are two questions pointed in Christ’s direction in our scripture today.
Verse 11 - And when the Pharisees saw this, they said to His disciples, "Why does your Teacher eat with the tax-gatherers and sinners?"
Verse 14 - Then the disciples of John came to Him, saying, "Why do we and the Pharisees fast, but Your disciples do not fast."
All at once in this passage of Matthew’s gospel masterpiece we see conflicting viewpoints whirling about in a tornado of spiritual drama.
A suffering sinner is brought to Jesus by his friends. Christ forgives the man’s sin and he is healed of his paralysis.
Then Christ calls a tax-gatherer, Matthew, to be one of His apostles. Matthew’s acquiescence is immediate. It all happens so suddenly that we’re not even told what the other apostles thought about having a tax-gatherer on the team.
We ARE told what the religious hypocrites thought about it by their question. They didn’t like it one bit. Jewish tax-gatherers were the lowest of the low in the minds of many of their countrymen. They cooperated with the heathen Romans. They were notorious for living in opulence from the fees exacted for collecting the taxes. Now this upstart Nazarene rabbi adds one of these low-lifes to His personal entourage!
Jesus even attends a dinner in Matthew’s home for the explicit purpose of meeting others like Matthew. [There’s a great idea - inviting people into your home to introduce them to Jesus!] This really got the tongues of the phony Pharisees wagging.
[Can you imagine why the tax-gatherers and sinners felt comfortable around Jesus and not around the judgmental Pharisees? Go figure.]
The disciples of John the Baptist also wade into the discussion about acceptable spiritual behavior.
They noticed that the Pharisees practiced the religious discipline of fasting - as they themselves did. They also noticed the disciples of Jesus DID NOT fast. Who was really spiritual here?
If we’re not careful we too may sometimes get caught up in the vortex of trying to figure out true spirituality by the wrong means and methods. Like the Pharisees and John’s disciples, the litmus test for being truly spiritual is not always what’s on the surface.
Christ’s responses to the questions of the Pharisees and John’s disciples should cause us to re-evaluate our level of spirituality.
Do we really care about bringing others to Christ? Bringing people to Jesus is a truly spiritual trait.
The paralyzed man healed by Jesus could not transport himself to be healed so having his friends bring him to Christ was essential. Chapter two of Mark’s gospel includes a familiar detail not mentioned by Matthew. The man’s friends couldn’t get him to Jesus through the door because the house was so crowded - so they let him down through the roof of the house!
That’s quite a demonstration of faith AND innovation!
How far are we willing to go to get our friends to Jesus?
We give up so easily when we encounter obstacles.
Here’s a gospel statistic we’ve come across before that’s worth repeating:
95% of the people healed by Jesus were brought to Him by others!
People don’t come to Jesus - they are brought!
And they aren’t always brought easily! It takes determination and innovation!
National Football League running back Sherman Smith, the "Sherman Tank", stood six feet four inches tall and packed 225 pounds of solid muscle. His reputation for bowling over defensive lineman raised his celebrity to near-cult status in the Pacific Northwest, where he played for the Seattle Seahawks. Sherman couldn’t cross a Seattle street without being stopped, patted on the back, or asked for an autograph. He was treated like royalty among the gentry.
Without warning, the Seahawks traded their most popular player to the San Diego Chargers. Everything changed for this running back whose Christian faith was as rock-solid as his rib cage. Sherman arrived in a city where nobody knew him and nobody cared. He wasn’t with the Chargers for more than a few weeks when he blew out his knee. While in rehabilitation, he wondered, "Lord, why did you ship me to San Diego?"
While his knee mended, Sherman participated in team meetings and joined the club on road trips. he also spoke boldly about his faith - fellow Chargers knew exactly where he stood.
Once while flying back to San Diego after a game, Sherman stood in the aisle with a Bible the size of the Ten Commandments tablets in one hand while leading a Bible study for several players. A defensive back named Miles McPherson asked Sherman to move so he could use the restroom.
Sherman didn’t know that Miles had a line of cocaine in his pocket and was planning to get high, but he knew his teammate did not have a personal relationship with God. A good-looking party guy, Miles was a single who knew how to mingle.
"Can I get by?" Miles asked.
"What’s up, little brother?" Sherman responded.
"Who are you calling little?"
"You!"
"Okay, okay," Miles laughed. They both knew who the big guy was on the plane.
Before he let Miles pass, Sherman asked him point-blank, "If you were to die today, what would happen to you?"
"I would go to heaven."
"How do you know?"
"Look, man, I went to Catholic school for eight years. I wore a green suit every day. I’m going to heaven for that."
"Nah, you ain’t going to heaven for that."
"Look man, we used to have nuns in our school who were five-foot-two, 260 pounds, and they used to smack us in the head. I’m going to heaven for that."
"Nah, you ain’t going to heaven for that."
"Why not?" Miles asked.
Sherman proceeded to tell Miles about Nicodemus from the third chapter of the Gospel of John. Nicodemus was well-educated in Jewish culture and the Old Testament. He had watched Jesus Christ heal lepers, raise a little girl from the dead, and restore sight to a blind man.
Nicodemus said to Jesus, "Rabbi, we know you are a teacher who came from God. For no one could perform the miraculous signs you are doing if God were not with him."
And Jesus said to him, "I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again."
"How can a man be born when he is old?" Nicodemus asked. "Surely he cannot enter a second time into his mother’s womb to be born!"
Miles thought about Sherman’s message for a long time. On April 12, 1984, after doing cocaine all night, Miles got on his knees and surrendered his life to Christ. He prayed, "Jesus, I ask you to be my Savior today, and I will surrender my whole life to you. I don’t want to live for myself anymore. I will do whatever you want me to do. I will be whatever you want me to be."
When Christ became his Savior, Miles stopped doing cocaine, stopped smoking marijuana, stopped cursing, and stopped picking up girls. He also told Sherman what happened. Sherman and two other players began meeting with Miles to study the Bible, helping him learn the Word of God. When Miles said he wanted to share his faith with others, they said, "Go for it."
Today, Miles McPherson is an outstanding youth communicator who preaches to tens of thousands each year at Miles Ahead crusades.
Miles and Sherman both know now why the "Sherman Tank" was traded from Seattle to San Diego. God had a plan.
God also has a plan, a purpose, for each of who know Jesus. That purpose is to lovingly confront those who don’t yet know Jesus and challenge them to consider their eternal destiny like Sherman Smith did Miles McPherson.
Our friends will not come to Jesus by accident. They must be brought.
A second question our text compels us to answer to gauge our true spirituality is this:
Do we see the relationship between sin and suffering?
Jesus did.
"Take courage, My son, your sins are forgiven."
All suffering in this world is either directly or indirectly related to sin.
Innocent and guilty suffer alike because mankind has corrupted God’s original environment of perfect joy and peace on this planet.
The pious prunes heard what Jesus said to the man and thought he blasphemed. "Who can forgive sins but God alone?" (Mark 2:7)
They weren’t upset this man was suffering. They didn’t even rejoice that Jesus alleviated his pain. They were mad because Christ was upsetting their religious perspective! What good would healing be without forgiveness anyway?
What had the Pharisees done to alleviate the suffering of the man? Their pious plattitudes offered no comfort.
A man was struggling with a large box at back edge of his truck. A passing neighbor saw his plight and came over to help him. He put his shoulder to the box. After a few tiring moments the neighbor exclaimed, "What’s in this box anyway? I don’t think we will ever get it on the truck."
"Get on!" the exasperated man shouted, "I’m trying to get it off!"
Millions of people are struggling with the weight of sin and suffering all around us. Our good intentions are not enough. Our approach must be like that of Jesus. We can’t just preach to them. We need to roll up our sleeves and offer practical assistance. We need to try to heal their hurts, comfort them and love them. That’s precisely what differentiated Jesus from the scribes.
Christ’s words and deeds pose another question.
Do we see what people can become?
When Jesus looked at Matthew he didn’t just see a Jewish traitor to his countrymen. He saw an apostle. He saw a man who would pen the gospel to the Jews.
Jesus didn’t just see "sinners". He saw individuals with struggles, worries and fears. He looked underneath the veneer and saw what people really needed.
His answer to the critical question of His enemies is classic heavenly wisdom!
Who would criticize a doctor for being in the midst of sick people?
Who would criticize a physician for being found in a hospital?
Only calloused fools.
Jesus ate with tax-gatherers and sinners because He knew and understood their needs and He wanted to help them become sons and daughters of God.
Eric "The Swimmer" Moussambani of Equatorial Guinea was an unlikely hero of the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games. The 22-year-old African had only learned to swim six months before the games began! He had only practiced in a 20 meter pool without lane markers, and had never raced more than 50 meters. By special invitation of the International Olympic Committee, under a special program that permits poorer countries to participate even though their athletes don’t meet customary standards, he had been entered in the 100 meter men’s freestyle.
When the other two swimmers in his heat were disqualified because of false starts, Moussambani was forced to swim alone. Eric Moussambani was, to use the words of an Associated Press story about his race, "charmingly inept." He never put his head under the water’s surface and flailed wildly to stay afloat. With ten meters left to the wall, he virtually came to a stop. Some spectators actually thought he might drown! Even though his time was over a minute slower than what qualified for the next level of competition, the capacity crowd at the Olympic Aquatic Center stood to their feet and cheered the swimmer on.
After what seemed like an eternity, the African reached the wall and hung on for dear life. When he had caught his breath and regained his composure, the French-speaking Moussambani said through an interpreter, "I want to send hugs and kisses to the crowd. It was their cheering that kept me going."
How many Eric Moussambani’s cross our paths every day? People who are struggling just to stay afloat. People making an effort to compete in a world they in which they feel overwhelmed?
They don’t need someone telling them how badly they’re doing. They don’t need religious hypocrites criticizing them. They need people like Jesus cheering them on. People seeing their potential to cross the finish line.
Are we spiritual enough to look past what people are and see what they can become in Christ?
Our text suggests one final question to gauge our Christlikeness.
Is our salvation based on faith or works?
"Why do we and the Pharisees fast, but Your disciples do not fast?"
Last week we looked at a question from John the Baptist and you’ll remember we saw how John was a little bit more on the Old Testament side of the fence than the New Testament side. His associates seemed to suffer from the same malady.
Fasting is a perfectly worthwhile spiritual discipline. It just seems from Christ’s answer that there is more to the question than fasting alone.
They’re fasting and Jesus is at a tax-gatherer’s house eating and drinking. What gives?
The misconception that the Old Testament law could make one righteous is the "old garment" and "old wineskin" in Christ’s answer. (Verses 16-17)
Fasting as a means of drawing closer to God is great. But fasting as a way of earning righteousness is impossible.
There’s nothing any human being can do to "earn" righteousness. It’s useless to try.
The only thing we can do is trust in Christ and the work He did on the cross.
The tax-gatherers and sinners were coming to Jesus in droves because they understood what the religious hypocrites did not - it takes a personal relationship with God through His Son Jesus Christ to be forgiven!
All the spiritual disciplines have their place: fasting, praying, giving, worshipping, doing good deeds...but none of them put a person in a right standing with a holy God.
They’re all things we ought to do because we have a right standing with God.
Early in his career, Matt Redman, the popular Christian musician in Britain, was singing in his church’s praise band when his pastor confronted them.
They were proud of their musical performance, he said, but they were neglecting true worship.
Insulted by the charge, the members of the band left the church - all, that is, except Redman.
Shortly afterward, he wrote his hit song, "The Heart of Worship", which includes these words: "I’m coming back to the heart of worship, and it’s all about you Jesus."
It’s not about what we do. It’s about what He has already done.
