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I Have not Come to Call ...
I Have not Come to Call the Righteous, but Sinners Matthew 9:1-13 Key Verses: 9:12-13 "On hearing this, Jesus said, It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. But go and learn what this means: "I desire mercy, not sacrifice." For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.'" Last week we learned about the cost of following Jesus. When we hear Jesus teaching we are amazed because he teaches with the authority of God. Yet if we really want to follow him we must first count the costs. Following Jesus is not easy. Following Jesus requires a lifelong commitment. In order to follow Jesus we must be willing to give up everything in this world, including our close relationships. The decision to follow Jesus is not easy, but the rewards far outweigh the costs. The rewards include healing of our deepest wounds, peace and joy and eternal life together with Jesus in the Kingdom of Heaven. We also saw how Jesus crossed the Sea of Galilee to enter Gentile lands in order to have some quiet time with his disciples and to heal two demon possessed men. The people of that region were not ready to follow Jesus because they were too interested in economic concerns and not interested enough in the wellbeing of their fellow human beings. In today’s passage Jesus continues his healing ministry. First he heals a paralytic, not just physically, but spiritually as well. Then Jesus calls one selfish tax collectors and fills him with so much joy that he immediately left his tax collection booth and followed Jesus. Later, as Jesus was reclining at the table with Matthew and all his tax collector friends, the Pharisees couldn’t understand why Jesus would want to hang out with such terrible sinners. Jesus rebukes them for their self-righteousness and explains God’s heart to them. May God bless our study of this passage so that we can hear his call and follow him. First, Jesus heals a paralytic (1-8). As we studied in the last chapter, Jesus attempted to get away from the crowds and have a quiet retreat with his closest disciples. He did this so that his disciples might have a time to rest and eat and study what they had seen when Jesus was healing the sick. Actually, the retreat was necessary. Mark 6:31 says, "Then, because so many people were coming and going that they did not even have a chance to eat, he said to them, Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place to get some rest.'" However, the disciples could not have a qiet rest due to the stormy sea on the way to the retreat place in Gerasa. They also could not rest, for as soon as they stepped on the soil of Gerasa two demon-possessed men horrified them, yelling and screaming because of their own sin sickness. The next day they had to come back to the Galilean district. Jesus wanted his disciples to have some time to rest. When they had crossed over and came to his own town, they were immediately met by some men who brought him a paralytic, lying on a mat. Jesus saw their faith, so he said to the paralytic, "Take heart, son; your sins are forgiven." At that time, a paralytic was known as a person who was cursed by God. Paralytics are those whose whole bodies or parts of their bodies are paralyzed and they cannot take care of themselves. So they depend on others and burden others endlessly. They are not ashamed, but take it for granted that others should help him. According to John's Gospel, paralytics are men and women of unthankful minds. Once, Jesus saw a man who had been paralyzed for 38 years. Among so many sick people, Jesus picked this most miserably crippled man, the 38-year paralytic. Jesus asked him, "Do you want to get well?" His answer was to complain that people did not help him get into the water when the pool of Bethesda was stirred (Jn 5:6-7). A complaining mind is an unthankful mind. According to the book of Romans, unthankfulness is the worst sin among many sins. Unthankfulness is the root of sin (Ro 1:21). Unthankfulness makes people as miserable as a paralytics. Unthankfulness takes away our joy and makes us focus on our problems rather than all the things we have to be thankful for. We should begin each day by thanking God for everything he has done for us. When we do this, we can face any of our daily challenges knowing that God has gotten this far and he will surely get us to our goal. We can live with hope and with the joy of knowing that God is with us. People who are unthankful often end up as self-righteous as the Pharisees. They think that they have accomplished everything on their own and they continue to struggle just to get by on their own. They lose their joy of living and just struggle through the day. When they live like this they are completely helpless to think of others just like the Pharisees we will see in this passage. Here we learn that when we are going to be healed from paralysis, then we must know what kind of sin sickness we have. Otherwise, we become self-righteous like the Pharisees. The spiritual meaning of Jesus' healing the paralytic is so deep. We cannot fathom it without much prayer and spiritual enlightenment. The teachers of the law said to themselves, "Ah, this fellow is blaspheming!" Knowing their thoughts, Jesus said, "Why do you entertain evil thoughts in your hearts? Which is easier: to say, Your sins are forgiven,' or to say, Get up and walk?' But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins....Then he said to the paralytic, Get up, take your mat and go home.'" (3-6). The Pharisees' first mistake was that they did not know the compassion of God. The paralytic probably gave off a bad odor. He looked like the living dead so the self-righteous Pharisees wanted nothing to do with him. The Pharisees' mistake was that they had no noble humanity, so they could not see the paralytic as a human being like themselves. Jesus was different though. Jesus had great compassion on him. Jesus' heart went out to him. Jesus already decided to heal him so that he could live, achieving what he wanted to achieve. Jesus healed him so that somehow he would become a great man of God. We should not be legalistic like the Pharisees. But we must be like Jesus. Jesus did not just argue. He demonstrated that he has the authority to forgive the paralytic's sin. Look at verses 6b-8. "Then he said to the paralytic, Get up, take your mat and go home.' And the man got up and went home. When the crowds saw this, they were filled with awe; and they praised God, who had given such authority to men." Jesus healed him completely. He didn’t just heal his broken body, Jesus forgave his sins. Here we learn that through Jesus we not only receive physical healing, but he forgives our sins so that we can get up and serve him.. Second, Jesus heals Matthew (9-10). The Bible calls this part the calling of Matthew. But when we read this passage carefully, this is Jesus' healing of Matthew. One day Jesus saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax collector's booth. Who was Matthew? Other gospels do not call him Matthew, but Levi the tax collector. It is very funny that Levi the tax collector calls himself "Matthew." He didn't call himself, "Levi the tax collector," he called himself, "Matthew." "Matthew" means the teacher of mankind. In his self-esteem, Matthew, the author of this gospel, called himself "Matthew," acknowledging that he was no more Levi, but a servant of God. Anyway, as soon as Jesus saw him, he told him, "Follow me." Look at verse 9. "As Jesus went on from there, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax collector's booth. Follow me,' he told him, and Matthew got up and followed him." The narrative is short. But this event is outstanding in Bible history. Matthew had been Levi the tax collector. At that time, tax collectors were known as public sinners. They were hated by their own people because they entered the service of their country's enemies and amassed fortunes at the expense of their own suffering people. To the people, who were fanatically nationalistic, tax collectors were the object of hatred. The Jews called them, "quislings," "renegades," and "traitors" and regarded them as sinners. The tax collectors were called sinners because of their selfishness. These days a selfish person is known as a smart person. They do everything to satisfy their selfishness; if only they can make money, they are ready to betray their consciences and sense of honor. In this individualistic society, selfishness has been largely condoned. But in the Bible, selfishness is comparable to leprosy. A selfish person is dirty like a leper. A selfish person is harmful. Selfish people damage others' welfare intentionally and unintentionally. Mostly selfish people gain money through extortion, stealing, cheating and lying. However, selfish people are usually very unhappy people. How nice it would be if living selfishly, making a lot of money and always do just what they want could make them happy. This just isn’t the case; selfish people are generally the most unhappy people, because there is no one in the world who can buy happiness with money. Biblically speaking, selfish people are the same as unthankful people. Matthew was a selfish person. He was sitting at the tax collector's booth. Jesus knew that he was a public sinner. Jesus also knew that he was an able man. Jesus knew that he was a powerful sinner, while the paralytic was a powerless sinner. Jesus did not see Matthew's human condition. Jesus saw that he was lost in sin. As soon as Jesus saw him, he forgave all his sins. Jesus saw the image of God in this wretched man. Jesus saw in him the possibility of growing to be a great man of God. Jesus did not ask him, "Would you like to follow me?" Jesus ordered him, "Follow me." When Jesus ordered him, "Follow me," Jesus had decided to help this selfish tax collector, who was a traitor to his own people. Jesus wanted him to be changed into a sacrificial man of God. When Jesus ordered him, "Follow me," he decided to make him one of his disciples so he might be a shepherd for all selfish people in the world. We must raise many Levi the tax collector type of people as shepherds for the glory of God. How did Matthew respond to his calling? As soon as Matthew heard the voice of God through Jesus, he abandoned everything and followed him (9). To Matthew the things of the world were no longer treasures to him. To Matthew Jesus was the source of joy in his life. At the moment Matthew met Jesus, due to Jesus' messianic compassion, his spiritual eyes were opened; his value system was changed. He was so happy that he had new life overflowing in him. In the past, Matthew's life had been full of troubles and the devil's torment (Ro 2:7-9). But since Jesus came into his heart, he could find the direction of life, and joy was overflowing. In the past Matthew was a penny-pincher, but after meeting Jesus personally money didn't matter. He did not think about it, he just prepared a great banquet for Jesus. First, he invited Jesus and his disciples. Next he wanted to invite many noble people, but he didn’t know, so he invited all his tax collectors. It seems that all the people he invited were branded as public sinners by people. It wasn’t a great crowd, but the joy of the feast was great. The taste of the food was great. Everything was so great that the feast was like a jubilant heavenly banquet. Jesus and his disciples finally had time to relax and recline at a table. From Jesus point of view, from Matthew’s point of view and from the point of view of all the guests everything was great. Jesus had called a selfish sinner, healed him and Mathew threw a splendid party in Jesus honor. Praise Jesus! Third, I have come to call sinners (11-13). Everything seemed great, but there were some very unhappy fellows around. They were the Pharisees, who said, "Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners'?" (11) The hypocritical Pharisees could not tolerate Jesus' fellowship with sinners. Moreover, they could not tolerate seeing that sinners were joyful, eating deliciously and really enjoying themselves. The Pharisees were so busy keeping up their public appearance, they could never just relax, enjoy themselves and enjoy delicious food with their fun-loving friends. I think inwardly the Pharisees envied Jesus and his disciples because they were eating so deliciously and having such a good time. The religious leaders were in called to be the shepherds of God's people. They were supposed to take care people who were lost in sin, but they had no shepherd heart of God. They thought they were righteous and God's sheep were unrighteous sinners because they didn’t live good lives like the Pharisees. They couldn’t enjoy the feast because there were sinners there and they weren’t invited, so they criticized Jesus for eating with sinners. The Pharisees separated themselves from people like Matthew and his friends, but Jesus welcomed them and ate together with them. Jesus didn’t care about outward appearances, he only cared about what was in a person’s heart. In Matthew’s heart there was joy because he had met Jesus and Jesus had not only accepted him, but Jesus healed him and invited to live a life of mission with Jesus. What did Jesus say in response to their criticism? Look at verses 12-13. "On hearing this, Jesus said, It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. But go and learn what this means: "I desire mercy, not sacrifice." For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners."'" These two verses are very famous and well quoted by many people in history, but what is the main point of these verses? The main point of these verses is that Jesus came to this world to save sinners from their sins. This reminds us of John 3:16. It says, "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life." Here we learn something about Jesus. Jesus knew why he came to this world. He came to be a shepherd for God’s lost and broken sheep. He had a broken shepherd heart to embrace all the sick people of the world. He came to heal them spiritually and save them. Jesus came to call and heal us. We are all sick with sin and only Jesus can heal us. Jesus wants to heal us and he calling to us just like he called to Matthew, “Follow me!” As Christians, we must learn from Jesus. We must learn how to accept others and welcome them with God’s shepherd’s heart. We must learn that Jesus desires mercy, not sacrifice. Many humans have mercy for others, but human mercy is very limited. With human mercy we can only sympathize with others who are suffering. Jesus' mercy is different. Jesus' mercy has hope that the people suffering from sin sickness may be changed and used for the glory of God. |
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