Matthew 9:9-13
Just in case you haven’t heard, this
is a presidential election year. It
looks like we know who the major candidates will be. Now, we are waiting for them to announce
their choice of running mate, that person whom they wish to serve as
vice-president, that person who will be a heartbeat away from the
presidency. Years ago, when Nelson
Rockefeller was chosen to be Gerald Ford’s VP, reporters asked him if he had
given up on being president. He quipped,
“Well, I’ve never been closer.”
Though we sometimes joke about how
little the Vice-President has to do, we know it is an important position. The choice of a running mate may even
influence who votes for or against the presidential candidate. You can be sure Senators McCain and Obama
will try to find a running mate who is popular in his or her own right, who
brings a kind of balance to the ticket, and, above all, who has no scandalous
baggage, nothing to reflect negatively on the campaign. If that’s important when choosing a potential
Vice-President, how important is it should you be choosing those who will help
you start a spiritual revolution?
If avoiding negative opinion were the
criterion Jesus used in choosing his closest associates, his apostles, Matthew
would have never made anyone’s short list.
Nothing here or in Mark and Luke’s
accounts of the event suggest Jesus had any previous contact with Matthew (also
known as Levi). Jesus appears to have
simply passed by the tax-booth where Matthew was working and said, “Follow
me.” It’s hard to know which is more
amazing, Matthew’s response or Jesus’ invitation.
Maybe we may assume Matthew had heard
something about the remarkable Teacher and Healer who was making such an impact
wherever he went. Perhaps that is why he
was so eager to learn more. Whatever
Matthew’s motives for closing shop and following Jesus, had we been living in
that first century world we would have found Jesus’ invitation the most
shocking.
Though we know they are necessary,
most of us moan at least a little about paying taxes. We may complain that the government too many
of our tax dollars much money studying squirrel dandruff and not enough keeping
schools in repair, but most of us don’t believe the tax-collector is a
reprobate.
It was a different story in
first-century Galilee and Judea.
The word translated as
“tax-collector” in the Gospels can refer to the officials collecting taxes for
Rome or to those collecting custom taxes for Herod. Some Bible scholars believe Zacchaeus, of
tree-climbing fame, worked for the Romans and Matthew worked for Herod. Either way, tax collectors were hated.
· Their methods were little short of
extortion. They bled people dry to please
their masters and enrich themselves.
· Their work financed the extravagant
lifestyles of the elite, lifestyles that often involved immoral behavior.
· They were looked upon as traitors to
the Jewish people, whether they worked for the hated Romans or for the
half-breed usurper Herod.
In Jewish writings of the day, they
were often associated with thieves, notorious sinners, and were considered
“unclean” because of their work.
In short, a tax collector was just
the kind of person you’d expect a religious leader to avoid at all cost.
Jesus doesn’t.
Before we talk more about that, perhaps there’s question we
need to consider. Why would Matthew, who
also bore the unmistakably Jewish name Levi, become a tax collector? One commentator suggests the Jews viewed tax
collectors the same way the French viewed Nazi collaborators during World War
II. Why would he enter such a despised
profession? We can only speculate on an
answer.
· Like most of us, Matthew probably
knew there are some things money can’t buy.
And, like most of us, he probably knew there are some things only money
can buy. A tax collector could become
wealthy. The story suggests Matthew may
have done well in his profession. He
could afford to host a banquet at a moment’s notice.
· Perhaps Matthew sought prestige. The local tax collector was a man of
influence in the community. He
possessed power. Some ancient writers
report that tax collectors could have delinquent clients beaten if they didn’t
pay promptly. That kind of power appeals
to some people.
· Perhaps he liked rubbing shoulders
with the authorities. Though he might
have been a small one, he was, nevertheless, a cog in the machinery of
government. Whenever the Romans or Herod
built a new building, the tax collector could say, “My work helped make that
possible.”
As I said, we’re just speculating. We don’t know what led him to become a tax
collector, to flaunt the traditions of his people. We just know that he seemed content to remain
in that profession until he met a wandering teacher from Galilee.
It’s unlikely Matthew and Jesus had met before but it is also
likely that Matthew had heard something about Jesus. Matthew’s Gospel is not necessarily as
chronological as Mark’s but both agree that Jesus was slowly gaining fame in
the region, fame for his teaching and fame for his miracles. After one such miracle, the people agreed, "We
have never seen anything like this!"
Perhaps, in the aftermath of the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew
had heard one of the little stories Jesus had told. It went something like this:
24 “Everyone who hears my words and obeys them is like a
wise man who built his house on rock. 25 It
rained hard, the floods came, and the winds blew and hit that house. But it did
not fall, because it was built on rock. 26 Everyone
who hears my words and does not obey them is like a foolish man who built his
house on sand. 27 It rained hard, the floods came, and the winds blew and
hit that house, and it fell with a big crash.”[1]
That’s just speculation, but maybe Matthew had been asking
himself about the foundation on which he was building his life. We never know when a person may be open to
considering a change, when a person may realize that making a u-turn is
preferred to pursuing the path that is no longer fulfilling, when a person may
yearn for a greater purpose.
We don’t know what thoughts may have been in Matthew’s mind,
but we know that, when the opportunity came, he left his well paying position
and followed Jesus.
He took Jesus to his home and called some his friends
over. We see this same behavior mirrored
in those new Christians who can’t wait to tell their friends about Jesus. Many other “tax collectors and sinner” came
to this party and ate with Jesus and his disciples. It must have been quite a party. Peter, Andrew, James, and John were already
following Jesus when Matthew joined their ranks. Though these fishermen were not among the
religious elite, I doubt they had ever been around people like these. Older commentaries used to suggest that the
term “sinners” meant Matthew’s friends were common people who didn’t follow all
the elaborate hand-washing rituals and other practices the scribes and
Pharisees thought were so important. If
that were so, the disciples themselves might sometimes fall under that indictment. More recent commentators believe “sinners”
refers to “sinners in a more blatant sense.”
Jesus’ disciples eventually may have learned to relax in this
situation, but the Pharisees were incensed by what was going on. The Pharisees didn’t eat with this crew, but
they seemed to have been able to watch the proceedings. It may have been in an outdoor setting of
some kind. Anyway they saw the
camaraderie between Jesus and these outcasts and didn’t like it. In their view, Jesus was sullying his reputation
just by sharing a meal with such people.
The Pharisees knew it was important to call people to faith,
but they seem to have preferred pursuing the better sort of sinner.
Rather than complain to Jesus directly, the Pharisees
complained to his disciples, in effect, “What kind of example is this from your
Teacher, acting cozy with crooks and riff-raff?” Jesus, no doubt as the Pharisees intended,
overheard this and recognized it for what it was, a challenge which demanded a
verbal response. Jesus played along.
First, he quoted a proverb popular in that day: “Those who are well have no need of a
physician, but those who are sick.” A
cardiologist friend of me once told me that pathologists wanted the prestige of
being doctors but didn’t want to be around sick people. Jesus didn’t mind being around “sick
people.” In fact, Jesus seemed to be
saying the only way to heal the sickest of people is to be willing to be with
them. The Pharisees (and those in their
tradition) believed it best to keep their distance so the “sinners” wouldn’t
influence them. Jesus believed he needed
to be near the sinners so he could influence them.
Second, Jesus quoted the Scripture. He quoted the Old Testament book of Hosea, “I
desire mercy and not sacrifice.” Hosea’s
message was about the depth and breadth of God’s love. His own life dramatically reflected how God
loved his people. Hosea’s wife left him
to become a prostitute. In an act of
gracious love, Hosea took her back.
Jesus’ words imply that these “Bible scholars” knew nothing about the
prophet’s message of love and his insistence that a relationship with God is
more important than ritual. The people
Jesus pursued might never learn the right time and way to wash their hands, but
they could have a relationship with God.
In the end, this is not a story about Matthew, it is a story
about Jesus.
Jesus can give new potential to a life that has been poorly invested.
Matthew’s life before meeting Jesus seems to have been
invested in making money and pursuing the prestige and power his position gave
him. In the end, it wasn’t enough.
Jesus changed that.
Matthew became one of Jesus’ apostles, one of his closest
followers. His life was no longer about
making money; it was about changing
lives. The man who had disdained Jewish
tradition would eventually write the most Jewish of the Gospels.
Jesus saw value in those others had devalued.
We don’t like to admit we ever think like the Pharisees, but
sometimes we assume some people are beyond redemption. We discount them. Jesus never thought that way. A. B. Bruce described Jesus’ approach to
others. He said, Jesus “was entirely
indifferent to men’s antecedents.” A
person’s past would never stop Jesus from seeing a person’s worth.
That view of people fits with Jesus’ understanding of his
mission: “I came not to call the
righteous, but sinners."
Conclusion
This year’s presidential candidates are going to try hard to
pick running mates untouched by scandal.
Those of us who are sinners can be grateful that Jesus didn’t
mind moving from one scandal to another.
We can thank God he was willing to be a friend of sinners.
[1] The
Holy Bible : New Century Version , Containing the Old and New Testaments.
Dallas, TX : Word Bibles, 1991, S. Mt 7:24
