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.
There are a number of things about this record that are very touching to me. In the first place, Matthew is writing about himself, but he does so in the third person, not putting himself forward. He is just giving the bare facts. However, those facts were earth-shattering for Matthew himself, as well as for the local community. As is widely discussed in relation to Zacchaeus, (Luke 19:1-10) tax collectors were despised by the Jews because they sold out their own country and people, serving the Romans for financial gain and being agents of Roman oppression in the process. On top of that, many were very corrupt, overcharging taxes and generally doing anything to increase their personal wealth. Matthew doesn’t go into any detail as to his personal history, but simply states that he was seated at his workplace when Jesus told him to follow Him. The very next verse implies, though it doesn’t state it explicitly, that they then had a meal at Matthew’s house, since it mentions “many tax collectors and sinners” as participants. Just as with Zacchaeus, the only friends Matthew could count on were others who were likewise despised by “good” people. I think Matthew was overwhelmed by the grace and love of Jesus, that He would reach out to a tax collector and receive him as a disciple, and eventually an apostle, even. For all his cooperation with the Romans, Matthew was intensely Jewish, and modern linguistic analysis indicates that he wrote originally in Aramaic, rather than the Greek that is left to us. A major distinctive of his Gospel is the way he points out repeatedly how Jesus fulfilled all sorts of Old Testament prophecies. As a wealthy man, it’s quite possible that he even owned his own copies of the Torah, probably Isaiah, and maybe other Scriptures as well. He was certainly familiar with them. All of these things fit together to make him a fitting choice as an apostle, and he never forgot his gratitude for God’s grace, love, and mercy.
We tend to forget that God can use anyone, and we sometimes write people off. We also forget that God never wastes anything we go through, if we submit it to Him. My own life hasn’t been much like that of Matthew, but it hasn’t been exactly ordinary, and at the urging of many people over the years, I am currently writing an autobiography as a record of God’s grace. As a pastor, I have encountered many people who have felt their life experiences disqualified them from discipleship, or even salvation. Nothing could be further from the truth! As Jesus Himself said, in this very story of Matthew, “I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.” (Matthew 9:13) If God can use me, with my incredibly stupid pride, then He can use anyone! I encounter examples of that every day, and I am not only to rejoice in being used, I am to lead others to understand that God can use them, too, whatever their life has been like to this point. As the hymn says, God is indeed a “God of grace and God of glory.” I am to rejoice at the privilege of introducing people to Him, for their salvation.
Father, thank You for this amazing reality. Thank You for yesterday, and for the three distinct situations in which You used Cathy and me to touch people with Your grace and blessing. Thank You for being able to talk with my brother by phone this morning. Thank You that I’ll be seeing at least one person today who is being strongly drawn to You. May he have the courage to believe that You can and will save and use him, too. May we all rejoice to be Your children, for Your glory. Thank You. Hallelujah!
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