Matthew 9:9-13
Key verse 13:
“But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”Good afternoon! For the past few months, we have been studying the gospel of Matthew. Last week, Jesus forgave the sins of a paralysed man and healed him, both spiritually and physically. Now, in today’s passage, Jesus meets a tax collector named Mathew. Matthew was the most despised person in his community, but Jesus blessed him with a new, happy, blessed life in God. This beautiful story reveals why Jesus came into this world: not to call the righteous but sinners. Not to bless those who are outwardly good, but to bless sinful people, like Matthew and like us. Are you content with your life as it is? Are you happy as you are? Or do you want to be blessed? Through today’s passage, Jesus wants to bless you by transforming your inner person and giving you a new life. Let’s listen to Jesus’ words and come to him for his blessing.
I. “Follow me” (9-10)
The background of today’s passage is this: Jesus is in his hometown. It is the height of his healing ministry. Many people have come to him for healing, including a paralysed man. After Jesus healed him, the crowd was filled with awe and they all praised God. The whole community was rejoicing! Probably little children clapped their hands and danced, while old men threw up their hats. When Jesus started walking, the whole community followed him. The crowd and celebration must have been really noisy! Now let’s look at verse 9: “As Jesus went on from there, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax collector’s booth. Jesus said to him, “Follow me,” and Matthew got up and followed him.” Off by himself, cut off from the crowd and not a part of their celebration, there sat a tax collector in his booth. Apparently, he was isolated and alone, excluded from the community. Why? He was a tax collector named Matthew. Other gospels call him Levi, which was his original name; he didn’t become
Matthew until after he met Jesus. Tax collectors made up the very bottom of Jewish
society, below even the prostitutes and slaves. They were the most despised people
in Israel. Tax collectors took money from the people and gave it to the Romans. To
make a profit, they charged extra and kept some for themselves. The Romans used the
money to finance the army to oppress the people further. So tax collectors were seen
as traitors. Even though they were rich, they were universally despised.
Maybe Matthew grew up in a poor family, never having enough to eat. He suffered a
lot because of his poverty. As a young man, he made a vow, “No matter what it takes,
I’m not going to be poor ever again.” When he looked around, it seemed that the only
possibility was becoming a tax collector. Man’s basic desires is to receive recognition
and honour from others. Moreover, everyone needs self-esteem. But Matthew ignored
these things. He turned his back on his own people and pursued money as if it was
everything. He chased down old ladies and forced them to pay their taxes. He forced
his old friends to pay, even his own family. He became rich, but in the process, he
lost his honour and people’s respect. He forfeited his identity as one of God’s chosen
people. In today’s culture, we may compare Matthew to a wealthy banking executive
who makes a huge profit by foreclosing on poor people’s houses, or a corporate
executive who gives himself a multi-million dollar bonus after most workers were
downsized, or a drug dealer—someone who completely turns his back on others
for his own selfishness. Someone who is universally despised. Matthew could not
buy happiness with his money. He could not buy peace, righteousness, or joy with
his money. Whenever he closed his eyes, he wondered, “What if I never became a
tax collector?” It seemed there was no way to erase his past mistakes. His life was
ruined, messed up. He desperately wanted to leave his empty, miserable life, but he
couldn’t. He wanted to start again, but he couldn’t. No one understood him. Everyone
condemned him without knowing his pain. He was totally shunned and excluded from
the community. That is why, on this joyous day when the whole town was celebrating,
Matthew sat alone, despairing and dejected, in his tax collector’s booth.
But then something totally unexpected happened: Let’s read verse 9 again: “As Jesus
went on from there, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax collector’s
booth. Jesus said to him, “Follow me,” and Matthew got up and followed him.”
Even though Jesus was surrounded by so many people, he focused on Matthew in
his booth and went towards him. Everyone else despised Matthew and labelled him
a “public sinner” and “traitor,” but Jesus went straight towards him, and said, “Follow
me.” As soon as Jesus saw him, he forgave all his sins. Jesus saw the image of God in
this wretched man. Jesus saw the possibility for Matthew to be a great man of God.
Jesus understood Matthew’s serious wounds of his sin. He didn’t judge him; he wanted
to bless him. So Jesus simply said, “Follow me.”
What does “Follow me” mean? Simply speaking, it means to be Jesus’ disciple. It
was an invitation to a new life. Jesus’ words gave Matthew new hope and direction.
Matthew looked at Jesus. Perhaps he thought to himself, “Why would Jesus want me
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to follow him? Doesn’t he know how sinful I am?” Maybe Matthew hesitated for a
minute. But Jesus’ words echoed in his heart: “Follow me.” Jesus’ words were full of
hope, love, and acceptance. It was something that Matthew hadn’t tasted in years—
such wonderful grace of Jesus melted Matthew’s heart. He accepted Jesus’ calling, got
up from his tax booth, left everything behind, and followed Jesus.
Matthew’s act of getting up and following Jesus was a clear declaration of his decision
to leave his old life behind and begin a new life of following Jesus. Why would
Matthew leave everything behind—even his money? It is because Matthew realized
that money only made him miserable. He didn’t want to continue in his hopeless,
miserable life. He wanted a life that was meaningful. In Jesus’ calling, Matthew found
new hope to be changed. As soon as Matthew got up to follow Jesus, his despair,
guilt and shame vanished. New joy and peace began to flow from his heart. Jesus was
blessing Matthew with a new life in Christ!
I think that each of us can relate to Matthew. In a sense, we are all sitting in our own
tax collector’s booths. Each one of us has a wound, or a regret, or a sin problem that
we want to change but can’t. We need Jesus to come to us and transform us from the
inside. I know a young lady whose parents divorced when she was a child. For a long
time afterwards, she was bitter and couldn’t forgive her parents. She felt that, “If only
this hadn’t happened to me, my life would be better.” Life became meaningless and
hopeless for her, so she wasted her great potential on drugs and punk rock concerts.
But as she studied the Bible deeply as a university student, Jesus visited her and
healed her from all her despair and bitterness and unforgiveness. Jesus blessed her
with a new life in him and made her truly happy and useful to God. Now Jesus is using
her as a Bible teacher and servant of God.
When I was 14 years old, my friend showed my pornography on the internet. After
that, pornography addiction consumed me and led me into all kinds of sins, eventually
even into homosexuality. I wanted to change my life and stop sinning, but I couldn’t.
I was powerless to get out, like Matthew. I became so ashamed of my sins and full
of self-condemnation that, when I was 19, I almost committed suicide. But Jesus
had mercy on me. He saw me in my tax collector’s booth and brought me to Bible
study. Through Bible study, Jesus helped me to accept that he died on the cross for
my sins and shed his blood so that I may be forgiven. I repented of my sins, and Jesus’
blood washed over me and purified me from all my sins! Jesus said, “Follow me,”
and I began to follow him as his disciple. He changed me into a Bible teacher. He
has helped me to stop following my old life of sin and blessed me with a new life of
following him.
What happened to Matthew after he began following Jesus? Let’s look at verse
10: “While Jesus was having dinner at Matthew’s house, many tax collectors
and “sinners” came and ate with him and his disciples.” Before following Jesus,
Matthew was too selfish to even invite one person over for dinner, but now he opened
his home and invited many tax collectors and sinners to a dinner party with Jesus.
Each one had their own wounds and pain and sin problems in their life. Jesus listened
to all of their agonies and wiped every tear from their eyes, one by one. Each one
found new hope in Jesus, just like Matthew had. It was so joyful, with people laughing
and eating!
II.
I Have Come to Call Sinners (11-13)
As Matthew and Jesus and the other “sinners” were eating toghether, everyone seemed
to be so happy. However, when the Pharisees saw this, they were most unhappy. They
were offended that Jesus would even associate with them. They asked Jesus’ disciples,
“Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?” The religious
leaders had no shepherd heart. They thought the best way to deal with sinners was to
cast them out of their community. So they segregated all kinds of sinners and refused
to even eat with them.
How did Jesus respond to the religious leaders? Let’s look at verse 12: “On hearing
this, Jesus said, ‘It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick.’” Jesus
didn’t have any sense of segregation. He loved sinners and wanted to be with them
to make them whole. Jesus views sinners like a spiritual doctor. When a doctor sees
a sick person, she does not think that the person is useless or despise him because of
his disease. No, a doctor sees a sick person with compassion and wants to help him
be healed. It is not the person, but the disease that is the problem. Likewise, Jesus
distinguishes between sin and sin-sick people. Jesus sees that if only the sin can
be cured, the person can be restored. So Jesus treats sinners with great hope, deep
understanding and tender care, like a doctor trying to heal her patient.
Jesus’ view of sinners comes from God’s heart and from Scripture. Let’s look at verse
13: “But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I have
not come to call the righteous, but sinners.” Based on Hosea 6:6, Jesus taught that
God desires mercy. God wants men to acknowledge him as God and acknowledge
themselves as sinners and receive his mercy. God delights in giving mercy to helpless
sinners. God doesn’t delight in crushing sinners whenever they make a mistake. If he
did, all mankind would be judged and condemned. Instead, God so loved the world
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that He sent his one and only Son Jesus into the world to save sinners.
Let’s read verse 13 again: “But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, not
sacrifice.’ For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.” In this verse,
who are the righteous? The righteous are the ones who think they are healthy. They
say, “I’m not a sinner. I’m a good person.” They think their healthy, so they don’t
want to see a doctor. Such people will never be healed. Then who are the sinners?
The sinners are like sick people who acknowledge that they’re sick and then go to
the doctor to be healed. Jesus is the spiritual doctor. He came for all kinds of sin-sick
sinners. He sees our spiritual disease and wants to heal us. Anyone who comes to
Jesus will be healed. Jesus will give him forgiveness, salvation, and a new life. Amen.
In summary, this passage shows how Jesus came to Matthew and transformed him
from a selfish tax collector into a disciple of Jesus. Matthew’s life direction was
wrong. He thought that seeking money and material success was the way to go, but
it only brought emptiness and despair. We also need to know the right direction to
follow in our lives. Many of you are starting university. What will you do with your
life? What direction will you head? How will you know the right way? Just as Jesus
blessed Matthew, he wants to come to you and bless you. He wants to set you on the
right direction and give your life purpose and meaning through following him. He
wants to heal all your wounds and make you into a new creation in him. The way to be
blessed is to accept that I’m sick, I need to be healed, and go to Jesus for His healing.
He is ready to forgive you and restore you back to God and give you a wonderful
new life in Christ! Let’s accept Jesus as our spiritual doctor and come to him with our
sickness of sin and be blessed.
Let’s read verse 13 together: “But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy,
not sacrifice.’ For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”
