FOLLOWING JESUS CHRIST
MATTHEW 9:9
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.
Tim Hansel, in his book “Eating Problems for Breakfast,” has a humorous, and should I stress (?) fictional letter to Jesus in his search for the twelve apostles. Imagining that Jesus hired a management consultant firm to do the picking and choosing of the Twelve, this letter serves to qualify the one who is the best candidate to be a follower of Jesus. The letter reads:
To: Jesus, Son of Joseph
Woodcrafter's Carpenter Shop
Nazareth 25922
From: Jordan Management Consultants
Dear Sir:
Thank you for submitting the resumes of the twelve men you have picked for managerial positions in your new organization. All of them have now taken our battery of tests; and we have not only run the results through our computer, but also arranged personal interviews for each of them with our psychologist and vocational aptitude consultant.
The profiles of all tests are included, and you will want to study each of them carefully.
As part of our service, we make some general comments for your guidance, much as an auditor will include some general statements. This is given as a result of staff consultation, and comes without any additional fee.
It is the staff opinion that most of your nominees are lacking in background, education and vocational aptitude for the type of enterprise you are undertaking. They do not have the team concept. We would recommend that you continue your search for persons of experience in managerial ability and proven capability.
Simon Peter is emotionally unstable and given to fits of temper. Andrew has absolutely no qualities of leadership. The two brothers, James and John, the sons of Zebedee, place personal interest above company loyalty. Thomas demonstrates a questioning attitude that would tend to undermine morale. We feel that it is our duty to tell you that Matthew had been blacklisted by the Greater Jerusalem Better Business Bureau; James, the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus definitely have radical leanings, and they both registered a high score on the manic-depressive scale.
One of the candidates, however, shows great potential. He is a man of ability and resourcefulness, meets people well, has a keen business mind, and has contacts in high places. He is highly motivated, ambitious, and responsible. We recommend Judas Iscariot as your controller and right-hand man. All of the other profiles are self-explanatory.
We wish you every success in your new venture.
Sincerely,
Jordan Management Consultants (pg 194-195).
So, what is wrong with this picture, only that Judas, in spite of his qualifications served to betray Jesus, then ended his own life by hanging himself in despair! This fictitious letter only helps to show that Jesus’ call to follow Him is not based on potential or promise, nor is it based in any human quality; it is based on something else, namely, God’s love for all in Jesus Christ.
Imagine, for a moment, that you are a blind person. You have no eyesight; your very existence depends upon someone else. Seeing that you can not see, your very existence depends upon your hearing the voice of someone else. If you are going to travel, you can use a cane to assist you, but you need to rely on someone else to do your seeing, someone else to lead and guide you, someone else to feed you, someone else to speak those words upon which your very existence depends.
Spiritually speaking, you have been born blind and you are blind. Life is supposed to be a walk with God, however, we cannot see God, so we do not know who He is, much less what He has to say to us. Certainly we can see a visible world around us, but there is an unseen world out there that we do not know anything about. Oh, we see the forces of good and evil, we see some blessings in life but we all see much darkness, despair, and death. What we need is a Friend who will come to us, who has traveled the Way we wish to go, who can see for us, speak to us, and lead us on the path to life eternal with God. Seeing that we are blind, we can not visualize this for ourselves, we need Someone to come to us, to be our Friend, who will love us as we are, Someone who is trustworthy and will call us to follow where he has gone, so that we can not only know His voice, but follow Him on the road which leads to eternal life.
A British publication once offered a prize for the best definition of a friend. Among the thousands of answers received were the following:
"One who multiplies joys, divides grief, and whose honesty is inviolable."
"One who understands our silence."
"A volume of sympathy bound in cloth."
"A watch that beats true for all time and never runs down."
The winning definition read: "A friend is the one who comes in when the whole world has gone out."
In our text for today, Matthew is called by Jesus to follow Him. Matthew needs a Friend like Jesus, because Matthew feels as if the whole world has gone out and left him, that is, Matthew.
Matthew happens to be sitting and doing what he was supposed to be doing, namely, collecting taxes. Tax collectors were unpopular in Jesus’ day, much like those who happen to work for the IRS today. No one wants to be contacted by the IRS. We would be content if the tax man would just leave us alone. So too would the people of Matthew’s day, just leave us alone Matthew, they would say, but he would position himself outside the Temple to collect the monies owed by the populace.
Matthew was detested, absolutely despised, by the average Jew. The Jews detested the tax collectors because they represented Rome, the dominance of a foreign power in their country. The tax collector was considered traitors to the Jews; and they often took more tax money than they were supposed to. What the Romans would do would be to auction off certain areas and people would then purchase the right to collect taxes in that area, kind of like the concept of franchising today. Matthew would be responsible to collect the taxes in the district, and would be responsible to the Roman government for the agreed sum of money, and anything over that agreed sum to the government would be kept by the tax collector as profit. This would tend to lend itself to abuse within the system, as people really didn’t know how much they were paying in taxes, and the tax collector could raise taxes and it would be pure profit. It would become a way to extort money from honest people, the tax collector would get rich, and there was no way to appeal. On top of that, the tax collector would cheat the government to accumulate even more money in his personal account. Once you add these factors to the fact that no one likes to pay taxes and you get the idea that Matthew was not just one unpopular fellow, he was the focus on anger and outright hatred.
So in our text for today, Jesus calls Matthew. Unpopular, hated, Matthew. That is how God works; He invites sinners to follow Him. No matter whom they are or where they are. God calls to you, seeking you out in your spiritual blindness, to listen to His Son and follow Him. As the Psalmist writes: Where can I go from your spirit? Or where can I flee from your presence? If I ascend to heaven, you are there; If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there. If I take the wings of the morning and settle at the farthest limits of the sea, even there your hand shall lead me, and your right hand shall hold me fast (Psalm 139:7-10).
God calls you, no matter who you are, no matter what you have done, to hear His voice, the voice of Jesus, calling you to follow Him. The Father sent His Son into this world to be the Light of the world. Christ came to teach about God and lead us to God. The Father proclaimed of His Son: “this is my Son, listen to Him.” Jesus said of Himself: I am the Way, Truth, and Life, no one comes to the Father, but by Me.
So our path to God, our path to life with God goes through Jesus. Jesus is the way to God, He tells us the truth about God, and in Him there is eternal life. Jesus tells us that the way to God is not through our own efforts or good works; these mean nothing to God because we are sinful human beings. The wages of sin bring death. Jesus, however, came to bring life, and Jesus gives life, by forgiving sin. Sin separates from God, so Jesus took our sin upon Himself, He is the sin bearer, so that by believing in Him we are no longer estranged from God, but rather God calls us His friends For He, Jesus, who knew no sin, became sin for us that we would know God’s love for us in Christ.
Jesus is your Greatest Friend, for He has given His life so that you might live. Jesus says that greater love no one knows than this love that a man lay down his life for His friends. Jesus considers you His friend because He gave his life for you; shed His blood on the cross for you, to guarantee a forever relationship and life with God.
So, being spiritually blind, Jesus calls to you, and me, to follow Him. He speaks to us in his Word. He offers to us new life in the waters of Baptism. He gives us a new identity in Baptism, and by the power of His Spirit, Jesus calls you today to follow Him.
Following Jesus is never easy. Jesus says that if anyone wants to be His disciples, let that person then deny himself, take up his cross, and follow Him. We all have crosses to bear, trials we face, tribulations we endure. And so Jesus calls to us to follow Him. Understanding that life is not easy, Jesus says He will be there for you. Just listen to Him. Listen to Him speak to you in His Word. Receive His strength in your daily devotions. Feed upon Him in the Lord’s Supper.
God has given to you new life in Christ. This new life is not based on any criteria that you may posses; it isn’t dependant upon what you have done or what you can do. It is given out of love for you by God; it is a free gift of God. All on account of Jesus Christ. So like Matthew, heed Jesus’ invitation, hear His voice, believe in Him as your Savior, and follow Him all the days of your life.
Amen