Matthew 10.1-4

Jesus’ twelve disciples are really important, but I don’t think they felt like it.

Almost anyone you would ask about Jesus would pretty quickly also mention the Twelve, and anyone who studies the Bible any further than the Gospels knows that, in Acts, the Disciples are the ones who start the Church.  They are really important.

They were actually friends with Jesus.  I don’t mean friends like we sing, “I am a friend of God…”  I mean really, truly friends.  They knew Him.  They knew what He liked to eat.  They knew what His prayer and devotional habits were like.  They got His sense of humor.  They were discipled (hence the name, disciples) by God Himself!  I think we ought to listen to whatever they have to say.  They are really important.

But I don’t think they felt like it.

In Matthew 10:1-4, King Jesus sends out His disciples to do the same kind of ministry He had been doing, “…to drive out impure spirits and to heal every disease and sickness” (niv 2011).  Jesus has reproduced Himself in these twelve men, and now He is telling them that everything they’ve seen Him to is meant to be done again—by them.  That’s a tall order.

Right after we hear their marching orders, Matthew 10:2-4 gives us a list of twelve names—the first and only time we see all twelve names in Matthew’s Gospel.  

² These are the names of the twelve apostles: first, Simon (who is called Peter) and his brother Andrew; James son of Zebedee, and his brother John; ³ Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas and Matthew the tax collector; James son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus; ⁴ Simon the Zealot and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him (niv 2011).

Okay, so in our text, there are about twice as many words dedicated to naming the disciples than there are describing what Jesus told them to do.  They’re pretty important guys!  But the truth is that Matthew 10:1-4 is actually more about how the disciples are really nothing special than it is about how important they are.

I guess where we should start is back in Matthew 4:18-20.  Jesus calls His first disciples, Peter and Andrew, but what sticks out to me about this narrative is not how great Peter and Andrew are.  It’s not even what amazing talent or ability or charisma they have.  What sticks out to me is verse 20, “At once they left their nets and followed him.”

Look at the next couple of verses—now Jesus calls James and John to follow Him.  But again, nothing sticks out to me about what they bring to the table.  There’s nothing in the text about them being great fishermen or about them being dynamic communicators or leaders.  What sticks out is verse 22, “…and immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him.”

Look at Matthew 9:9.  Now Jesus is going to call Matthew to follow Him.  Remember, Matthew is the one writing this story, so this would be a convenient time to mention something about how Jesus called him because he was a gifted writer or historian, a persuasive communicator who would write to fellow Jews and convince them that Jesus was the Messiah.  Instead, what sticks out to me is the fact that, when Jesus calls, Matthew gets up, leaves his tax-collector’s booth—his good job with good pay and great government connections—and follows Jesus.

What’s the common thread?  Everyone Jesus calls leaves something behind.  All five of these new disciples left great jobs, some left family, some left significant amounts of money, some probably left what they had always known.  But when Jesus called, they answered.  Being a disciple, at least the way Matthew writes about it, has nothing to do with what you bring to the table.  Being a disciple is all about what you’re willing to leave behind.

That’s really important, because that’s where it has to start.  It starts with what you leave behind, but there’s one more thing Matthew’s Gospel teaches us about what it means to be a disciple.

Back in Matthew 10:1, the Bible says, “Jesus called his twelve disciples to him and gave them authority to drive out impure spirits and to heal every disease and sickness” (niv 2011, emphasis mine).  What makes the list of names in verses 2-4 even worth mentioning is the fact that, before they go out to try to do ministry the way Jesus has been doing it for the last nine chapters, Jesus gives them the authority to do so.

We see the Twelve as really important because they were part of Jesus’ ministry, but it really wasn’t much about them.  I don’t think the Twelve joined in Jesus’ ministry because they were amazing people who brought talent or charisma or ability or leadership to the table.  I don’t think it was because they were powerful men who only needed a little nudge from Jesus to do what they had in them in the first place.

The reason Jesus’ disciples are important to us as people who joined in His ministry has nothing to do with all the reasons God should or shouldn’t have used them.  Being a disciple has nothing to do with your ability.  Being a disciple is all about who sends you.

Jesus’ ministry was, and is, the example for us.  What He did, what He said, and who He talked to are the model for every Christian.  And the disciples are a big deal to us because they did it; they were the first to follow The Example.  But I think if they were here today, they would tell us that they really don’t feel like a very big deal.

The ministry they did, the Church they started was all because of two things: What they were willing to leave behind, and who gave them the authority to do it.  Here’s why I think they would be so quick to tell us that they’re really not a big deal: we have the same opportunity they did.

What are you willing to leave behind?  Maybe you’ve always wanted a bigger house, but it’s time to leave that dream behind and join in the ministry of Jesus with that savings account.  Maybe you love your job, but it’s time to leave it behind to pursue full-time ministry.  Maybe you feel like your ability to fit in at school is based on being a little bit like everyone else, but it’s time to leave behind your desire for popularity and be a follower of Jesus instead of just another kid.  Maybe you’ve let the boundaries for purity in your marriage expand a little too far—finding an old boyfriend on Facebook, flirting a little at work, letting your eyes wander at the gym, confiding in another man—and it’s time to leave behind the rush of forbidden romance in order to pursue the marriage Jesus intends you to have.  What are you willing to leave behind?

What authority do you have?  Who is sending you?  This might be the easier question to answer, but the harder one to accept.  The truth is that Jesus said it was actually better if He left this world, never to make another disciple.  What?!  How can that be?  Jesus said in John 16:7 that it is actually or our good that He went back to the Father—the Holy Spirit is better.  The Spirit is within every Christian, eager to empower us to do the work that Jesus left for us.  God is actually in you!  He is sending you.

When Jesus sends out the Twelve in Matthew 10, the purpose is that they join in His ministry.  He sends them because they’ve been willing to leave something behind and He sends them with His authority.  In Matthew 28:18-19, when He sends out His disciples for good, He says, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.  Therefore go…” (niv 2011).  He entrusts them again with the authority that He has, and He sends them out into the world.

Jesus’ twelve disciples are really important, but I don’t think they felt like it.  Because what made them so special is simply this: they had answers to the two questions of discipleship.

What are you willing to leave behind?

Who is sending you?

No matter what job you have, no matter how much money you have, no matter how gifted you think you are, no matter how comfortable you are in front of a crowd, no matter how well you know the Bible, if you can answer those two questions Jesus is asking you to be a part of His ministry.

Ben Cross

Second Discourse Intro

As we have seen throughout our study on the book of Matthew, Matthew alternates between narrative and sermons, and the preceding narrative sections lead up to a sermon Jesus preached. At first we saw at the very beginning of Matthew, the first four chapters were all about the PRESENTATION of the King, then in Matthew 5-7, we see the PROCLAMATION of the king, what he has to say about his kingdom.

Over the last few weeks or so, we have been watching Jesus during his Galilean ministry, in which he seems to just kind of be wandering around, doing miracles, talking about discipleship. Yet, as we have kind of seen towards the end of this ministry, there is two main themes that were occurring throughout these chapters. King Jesus' ministry consisted of 1) healing the sick and 2) discipling the disciples. This is also what our ministries should look like.

Now that Matthew has presented the King's ministry, how he lived it out, we get to our second of five sermons in the book of Matthew. And this sermon relates directly to the King's ministry, The sermon on the ministry of the King. This is what chapter 10 is all about.

There is going to be a lot of interesting things that Jesus says when he gathers his twelve disciples together to send them out to do ministry. He says things like:

"Do not go among the Gentiles..."
"Raise the dead" (really!!!????)
"shake the dust off of your feet when you leave..."
"Be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves"
"I tell you the truth, you will not finish going through the cities of Israel before the Son of Man comes"
"Anyone who loves his father and mother more than me is not worthy of me"
And so on.

What do we do with all of these instructions? Do they just apply to the disciples then or do they apply to us today? What are some of Jesus' discipleship strategies that we can learn in order to better disciple others as well? I think this will be a very interesting four days as we really dive in head first to the Jesus' sermon on his ministry. My challenge to you is to read through Matthew 10 and post any questions or comments that you have in relation to this chapter. Below is the chapter in full. Enjoy and have a great day.

¹ He called his twelve disciples to him and gave them authority to drive out evil^[a] spirits and to heal every disease and sickness.
 ² These are the names of the twelve apostles: first, Simon (who is called Peter) and his brother Andrew; James son of Zebedee, and his brother John; ³ Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas and Matthew the tax collector; James son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus; ⁴ Simon the Zealot and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him.
 ⁵ These twelve Jesus sent out with the following instructions: “Do not go among the Gentiles or enter any town of the Samaritans. ⁶ Go rather to the lost sheep of Israel. ⁷ As you go, preach this message: ‘The kingdom of heaven is near.’ ⁸Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy,^[b] drive out demons. Freely you have received, freely give.⁹ Do not take along any gold or silver or copper in your belts; ¹⁰ take no bag for the journey, or extra tunic, or sandals or a staff; for the worker is worth his keep.
   ¹¹ “Whatever town or village you enter, search for some worthy person there and stay at his house until you leave. ¹² As you enter the home, give it your greeting. ¹³ If the home is deserving, let your peace rest on it; if it is not, let your peace return to you. ¹⁴ If anyone will not welcome you or listen to your words, shake the dust off your feet when you leave that home or town. ¹⁵ I tell you the truth, it will be more bearable for Sodom and Gomorrah on the day of judgment than for that town. ¹⁶ I am sending you out like sheep among wolves. Therefore be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves.
   ¹⁷ “Be on your guard against men; they will hand you over to the local councils and flog you in their synagogues. ¹⁸ On my account you will be brought before governors and kings as witnesses to them and to the Gentiles. ¹⁹ But when they arrest you, do not worry about what to say or how to say it. At that time you will be given what to say, ²⁰ for it will not be you speaking, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you.
   ²¹ “Brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child; children will rebel against their parents and have them put to death. ²² All men will hate you because of me, but he who stands firm to the end will be saved. ²³ When you are persecuted in one place, flee to another. I tell you the truth, you will not finish going through the cities of Israel before the Son of Man comes.
   ²⁴ “A student is not above his teacher, nor a servant above his master. ²⁵ It is enough for the student to be like his teacher, and the servant like his master. If the head of the house has been called Beelzebub,^[c] how much more the members of his household!
   ²⁶ “So do not be afraid of them. There is nothing concealed that will not be disclosed, or hidden that will not be made known. ²⁷ What I tell you in the dark, speak in the daylight; what is whispered in your ear, proclaim from the roofs. ²⁸ Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell. ²⁹ Are not two sparrows sold for a penny^[d]? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from the will of your Father. ³⁰ And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. ³¹ So don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.
   ³² “Whoever acknowledges me before men, I will also acknowledge him before my Father in heaven. ³³ But whoever disowns me before men, I will disown him before my Father in heaven.
   ³⁴ “Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. ³⁵ For I have come to turn
   “‘a man against his father,
   a daughter against her mother,
a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law—
   ³⁶ a man’s enemies will be the members of his own household.’^[e]
   37 “Anyone who loves his father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves his son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me; ³⁸ and anyone who does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. ³⁹Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.
   ⁴⁰ “He who receives you receives me, and he who receives me receives the one who sent me. ⁴¹ Anyone who receives a prophet because he is a prophet will receive a prophet’s reward, and anyone who receives a righteous man because he is a righteous man will receive a righteous man’s reward. ⁴² And if anyone gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones because he is my disciple, I tell you the truth, he will certainly not lose his reward.”

Matthew 9.35-38

The God Who Is Never Too Busy

Matthew 9:35-38

By: Lindsey Bell

I’m busy. My guess is, you are too. Sometimes, we just don’t have time to help other people. At least, that’s what Satan wants us to believe.

Let’s dig into our text for today: 

³⁵ “Jesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness. ³⁶ When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. ³⁷ Then he said to his disciples, ‘The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. ³⁸ Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field’” (Matthew 9:35-38, NIV). 

There are a couple of things from this text I want to draw your attention to. First, I want you to see Jesus as he really was: a busy man who had way more stuff to do than time to do it. Jesus was only actively involved in ministry for three years. In that amount of time, he needed to teach twelve men how to disciple the world. Twelve men, I’d like to add, who were not in the business of disciple-making. These men were misfits and sinners, not Bible College graduates. 

Jesus clearly had his work cut out for him. He was a busy man. And yet, as this text shows us, he wasn’t too busy to see the hearts of those he came to serve: “When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.” 

I can’t help but wonder, do we take time to see the hearts of those we interact with? Or do we just walk on by, ignoring the genuine needs of those around us? Sure, we’re busy. But so was Jesus. If he can make time in his busy schedule to have compassion on those around him, we surely can too.

The second thing I want to draw your attention to is the fact that Jesus told his disciples to pray for more workers. What I have to wonder, though, is this: why didn’t the disciples recognize the need themselves? Couldn’t they see the need with their own eyes? They were, after all, right there with Jesus and the crowds. Surely they noticed the urgency of the situation. 

Then again, maybe they didn’t.  I know we often don’t. We look at Robin and the church staff and assume they’ve got it covered, when in reality, they need help. What Jesus said before is still true today: “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few.” 

My question to you, then, is this: are you praying for more workers? Or are you too busy? 

Because believe me, the need is there. Just this week I heard about the following situations: 

1. A man admitted to his wife that he was having an affair.
2. A pregnant woman with two small children was diagnosed with colon cancer. 
3. A four-month-old baby boy was found dead in his crib.
4. Another young child was abducted from his home and is still missing.

Marriages are failing, loved ones are dying, and people are broken. 

The question is, do we see them? And maybe more importantly, do we care? 

Matthew 9.27-34

Last Friday, we saw the first of two miracle stories, concluding this entire section revealing the ministry of the King, what Jesus' ministry consists of. The first of these two picks up the theme that Jesus heals the social outcasts. This was the dead girl and the bleeding woman. Now we come to the last miracle story that helps conclude this entire section before Jesus talks one last time about discipleship. Let's read the story:

²⁷ As Jesus went on from there, two blind men followed him, calling out, “Have mercy on us, Son of David!”
 ²⁸ When he had gone indoors, the blind men came to him, and he asked them, “Do you believe that I am able to do this?”
   “Yes, Lord,” they replied.
 ²⁹ Then he touched their eyes and said, “According to your faith will it be done to you”; ³⁰ and their sight was restored. Jesus warned them sternly, “See that no one knows about this.” ³¹ But they went out and spread the news about him all over that region.
 ³² While they were going out, a man who was demon-possessed and could not talk was brought to Jesus. ³³ And when the demon was driven out, the man who had been mute spoke. The crowd was amazed and said, “Nothing like this has ever been seen in Israel.”
 ³⁴ But the Pharisees said, “It is by the prince of demons that he drives out demons.”


The first thing I want you to do is read back over this passage and pick out all the characters in the story. 


Can you name the five different characters in this story?


These are the five I got:

1. Jesus
2. Blind men
3. Demon Possessed man
4. Crowd
5. Pharisees

Now out of this story, who comes out looking good besides Jesus?

Who would you have thought should have looked good?

Who ended up being the enemy, or looking bad in the story?

Look at what the blind men said in vs. 27, “Have mercy on us, Son of David!”

They called him "Son of David". Can you believe that!! 

But what did the Pharisees say about Jesus in vs. 34?

“It is by the prince of demons that he drives out demons.”

Consistently throughout the Gospels, men who can't see end up seeing better than the people who can. 

The blind guys saw what Jesus truly was, the Son of David, King of the Jews. And the Pharisees called him demonic. 

These two miracle stories at the end of this section on the ministry of Jesus reveal two aspects of ministry. The first is that Jesus' ministry consists of meeting the needs of people. This means all people, not just the cool people or easy to get along with people, but the dirty, the unclean, the annoying, the social outcasts. The second aspect of Jesus' ministry is that those who you think are in, who should get it, don't and those who shouldn't get it or shouldn't be in, well they are. Jesus' ministry is so backwards to the way the world works that the most unlikely people seem to be the ones that become a part of his ministry.

You ever look around at church and think, "Wow, what a crazy group of people."

I know I do. 

Yet that is what is so great about it. The ministry of Jesus is for everyone, no matter how nerdy, athletic, smart, trendy, or poor you are. Jesus serves everyone, and to transition into the next passage for tomorrow, Jesus calls everyone to serve. 

This whole section on the ministry of Jesus has this underlying theme of discipleship, that this is the kind of ministry that Jesus is calling his disciples to. And tomorrow, we will see the conclusion of this entire section on the ministry of Jesus. 

Matthew 9.18-26

Here we come to the first story after two sets of three-miracle-series in this section on Jesus' ministry. Let me explain what I said so it will make more sense.

In Matthew 8-9, there are two sets of three miracle stories in a row. The first set was the man with Leprosy (8.1-4), the Centurion's servant (8.5-13) and Simon's mother-in-law/the whole town (8.14-17). Before the next set of three, we have Jesus talk about discipleship and then we move on to the second set of three: The calming of the storm (8.23-27), The demon possessed men (8.28-34) and the paralytic (9.1-8). What happens after these headings? Jesus then talks about discipleship, he calls Matthew, the tax collector, to follow him (9.9-17). This entire section is now being concluded, and the first part of his conclusion is telling two stories where two people get healed, and then he talks about discipleship one more time (9.35-38).

Here is our story for today:

¹⁸ While he was saying this, a ruler came and knelt before him and said, “My daughter has just died. But come and put your hand on her, and she will live.” ¹⁹ Jesus got up and went with him, and so did his disciples.
 ²⁰ Just then a woman who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years came up behind him and touched the edge of his cloak. ²¹ She said to herself, “If I only touch his cloak, I will be healed.”
 ²² Jesus turned and saw her. “Take heart, daughter,” he said, “your faith has healed you.” And the woman was healed from that moment.
 ²³ When Jesus entered the ruler’s house and saw the flute players and the noisy crowd, ²⁴ he said, “Go away. The girl is not dead but asleep.” But they laughed at him. ²⁵ After the crowd had been put outside, he went in and took the girl by the hand, and she got up. ²⁶ News of this spread through all that region.


Jesus is carrying on a theme that he started in the very first miracle in this entire section. This was the story of the healing of the man with Leprosy, and remember what Jesus did? He touched him, someone who was unclean, and instead of Jesus becoming unclean, the leper became clean. This theme was picked up again in the story of the demon possessed guys. They would have been unclean as well, yet Jesus makes them clean. Now we come to a dead girl and a woman that was suffering from perpetual bleeding (awkward). They were both considered unclean as well. 


So what does Jesus do when he comes face to face with someone who is socially an outcast? What does he do when he is interrupted by someone who is literally filthy and probably smells because of her bleeding? 


He stops, focuses all of his attention on those people, and meets their needs. 


This story is concluding this entire section on Jesus' ministry, and it is showing us first and foremost that Jesus meets the needs of the social outcasts. And each one of these headings are interruptions that occur to Jesus in his day to day life. The key is, he doesn't see them as interruptions but divine opportunities. 


And all of these miracles occur in the midst of three passages about Discipleship, about following Jesus. 


Are you getting the hint? 


If not, think about it today, and we will try to develop it more Monday. 

Matthew 9.14-17

One of the greatest disillusions I’ve ever experienced occurred while I was engaged.  My wife and I started dating in high school, but when we were in college, it was like someone flipped a switch and billboard sign lit up that said, “Get engaged!  Get married!  Live happily ever after!”  So naturally, throughout college, we talked about marriage and engagement and looked forward to that day when I would get down on one knee and propose.

But no one told us how absolutely difficult the engagement is.  It wasn’t like we had a bad engagement, but we were blindsided by the stress and tensions of living in a more serious but not quite married yet relationship.  Then finally that wedding day came and we threw a party and celebrated our lives coming together.

Have you noticed that Jesus was a celebratory kind of guy?  Yesterday’s passaged showed him feasting with sinners and tax collectors.  This obviously got the eye of some of the religious folks because in today’s scripture, they come up to him with some questions and concerns.  

Take a look at Matthew 9.14-17:

¹⁴ Then John’s disciples came and asked him, “How is it that we and the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast?” 

¹⁵ Jesus answered, “How can the guests of the bridegroom mourn while he is with them? The time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them; then they will fast. 

¹⁶ “No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment, for the patch will pull away from the garment, making the tear worse. ¹⁷ Neither do men pour new wine into old wineskins. If they do, the skins will burst, the wine will run out and the wineskins will be ruined. No, they pour new wine into new wineskins, and both are preserved.”

If Jesus was known for being a celebratory, feasting kind of guy, John the Baptist and the Pharisees were known for their ascetic practices.  They fasted at least twice a week.  So they were disgruntled to see that Jesus is out having a good time while they’re denying themselves.

Jesus’ answer to them is illuminating on many levels.  First, he calls himself the bridegroom which is playing off Old Testament passages that call Yahweh the bridegroom (Isaiah 62:5; Hosea 2:19-20).  In a subtle way, Jesus is making an identity statement.  Second, if what he is saying about his identity is true, then the proper response is not one of fasting, but one of celebration.  Who goes to a wedding and mourns?  I don’t know about you, but I go to weddings, especially receptions, to have a good time!  This is an image that Jesus uses to communicate what the reality of heaven is like (Matthew 22:1-14, 25:1-13).  

Third, Jesus foreshadows a time when he, the bridegroom, will no longer be present.  That will be the time that his followers fast.  In fact, the word for “taken” in verse 15 has some violent connotations.  Jesus recognizes that after his death and ascension that his followers will fast to mourn his absence (and express longing for his return), and Christians did do that.  They began to fast twice a week like their Jewish predecessors.   

This would have been somewhat startling to John’s disciples, but Jesus gives them two quick pictures to help them get the point:  with his arrival, something new is happening, something that doesn’t quite fit with the old ways of doing things—that something is the Kingdom.  Jesus says that you don’t sew old and new cloth together because the new cloth will shrink and make a tear; in other words, the new and old don’t go together.  Then he says that new wine in old wineskins is a disaster waiting to happen because the new wine will ferment, releasing gasses that will cause the old, brittle wineskin to crack.  Jesus’ point:  everything is different now that my Kingdom and I are here.

What difference does all this make for us today?  Everything is different, that’s for sure.  The Kingdom of heaven is breaking in all around us and in our lives.  God is at work unlike ever before.  But I still miss the bridegroom.

It’s like being engaged; I can see the wedding day ahead.  I can see the banquet prepared for his beautiful bride and I know there is a party waiting to happen.  I long for that reunion with our Lord and I anxiously await the day our lives are joined together in the new heavens and new earth.  I live in the reality of the now, that the kingdom is at hand, and the not yet, that the wedding day is still to come. 

How does Jesus expect me to respond?  Well this passage shows that he at least expects us to fast.  He knows that we’ll so desperately long for him that we’ll fast to express our desire, to anticipate that joyous reunion, and to plead for him to come.  We’ll fast because we miss our bridegroom.

If you’ve never fasted, maybe it’s time for you to give it a shot.  Start off small, maybe skipping a meal or two, and work your way up to a full day fast (from sundown to sundown).  Don’t do it out of legalism or because you have to.  Do it because you miss your bridegroom so much that it’s the only way you can properly respond to his absence.  

But don’t lose heart.  As I learned while I was engaged, the wedding is well worth the wait.  

And our wedding day is coming.


Jeremy Hyde

Matthew 9.9-13

Yesterday we saw a shocking event, that Jesus equated himself with God. He said, "your sins are forgiven" and the Jews who were present saw it as blasphemous because he was basically saying, "you know the thing that only God can do, yeah, I can do that too." And it is blasphemous, unless you are God, and that is what Jesus is.

Today, we see Jesus do something that would have been very shocking to the Jews as well. Let's read this passage:

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. ¹⁰ While Jesus was having dinner at Matthew’s house, many tax collectors and “sinners” came and ate with him and his disciples. ¹¹ When the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and ‘sinners’?”
 ¹² On hearing this, Jesus said, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. ¹³ But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’^[a] For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”


I like to say that we have the Call, the Ball and the Brawl. 


In verse 9, we see Jesus call someone to follow him. The shocking thing is who he called, a tax-collector. Tax-collectors were Benedict Arnolds, traitors, people who deserted and sold out to the Romans to carry out Rome's oppression against the Jews. It is like a Jew during World War II leaving his people to fight for the Nazis. They were despicable people. 


They were despicable because they collected taxes? 


Yes.


This was one of the ways that Rome kept its subjects under its power. More than 90% of the Ancient world lived on what they made daily to provide food for that day. They didn't have saving accounts, IRA's, or salary's, If they worked, they got enough food for them to feed their family for that day. And on top of this, Rome was taxing up to 40% of what they were making!!! And when the tax-collector's would collect taxes, they would have to collect their own salary over and above what they were collecting for Rome. So if Rome required you to pay 5 dollars, the tax collector would charge you 7 and pocket two for himself. 


They were despicable people. And because of them betraying their own people, they were hated by the Jews. The Romans didn't like tax-collector's either because they abandoned their own people and they weren't Romans, so tax-collector's were hated by everyone. Yet Jesus, seeing Matthew, called the guy to follow him. And he did. This was shocking!!!!


Not only was the call shocking, but a Ball occurred that was equally shocking. 


In vs. 10-11 we see Jesus going to a Ball, a party. It is at Matthew's house and Matthew invites all the other outcasts, the tax-collector's and sinners. 


What are sinners?


This could refer to two types of people. Moral sinners or social sinners. When we hear the term, "sinners" we think of someone who lives a sinful life. Like a prostitute or drug cartel, or gossip girl, people who do bad things (like root against the Dallas Cowboys, you sinners). This is possibly what this word is referring to, but most likely it is the second choice, the social sinners. 


In the ancient world, sinners could refer to people who were not in your group, especially if your group was the religious elite. Since all the different political groups, Pharisees, Sadducees, Essenes and Zealots, were all trying to do what they thought would make them the true people of God, if you didn't agree with them, they called you a sinner. It is like Republicans or Democrats thinking the other party is so bad and evil. It is just a difference in viewpoints. This is what is going on here. The tax-collectors associated with other people who were not a part of the religious elite, who didn't do what they thought you had to do to be Jewish, and they called them sinners. 


And Jesus eats with them!!!


As Robin talked about Sunday, the people you eat with defines what you believe and who you are. So if you eat with Pharisees, that is the group you are a part of. If you eat with Zealots or Democrats or Sadducees or Republicans, this is the group you are a part of. 


Jesus ate with tax-collectors and sinners, this was shocking to the Jewish elite of that day. 


So the result was, a brawl. 


In vs. 12, Jesus responds to their question, "Why does your teacher eat with tax-collector's and sinners?". 
He says: “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. ¹³ But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”


Jesus' defense for why he is eating with tax-collector's and sinners, the social outcasts, is found in a verse that he quotes from Hosea 6.6, "I desire mercy not sacrifice." 


Do you know the story of Hosea?


Talk about shocking! It is the most shocking story of the whole Bible. 


God commands a prophet Hosea to marry a prostitute named Gomer. The Holy Man and the Harlot. And homer has three kids, the first is definitely Hosea's, but the other two are results of her night life. A preacher has once said that Hosea would turn over in bed in the middle of the night to find an empty pillow. He knew where she was at, back on the street corner, selling herself. She ends up on the auction block, all the men bidding on her. Hosea goes to win her back. He buys her back for the price of a damaged slave, because that's how everyone else saw her. But not Hosea. He wanted her to be his wife! 


Although she was unfaithful, he was faithful. He showed her mercy when he could have demanded restitution. 


And this is all a picture of God and his people. They act like prostitutes, adulterating themselves to the world around them, to idols, drugs, sexual immorality, pride, anything that takes the place of ruler over our lives. And when we are unfaithful, God is always faithful. He shows mercy. 


And in this small story about Jesus calling a tax-collector, he justifies his actions by referencing this story. Matthew is Gomer, the prostitute, the unfaithful one prostituting himself to the world and all it has to offer. 


And you know what, this is the situation that all of the world is in. And what does God do? He comes to this earth and dies on a cross for all of the rebellion and unfaithfulness.


He shows mercy. 


And as followers of Jesus, we are also called to show mercy to the unfaithful, the outcasts, to the hurting and sinners. And you will never imagine what these people might end up doing. 


This story about a tax-collector actually ends up effecting you right now. 


When he was shown mercy and called by Jesus to follow him, when the broken and the unfaithful and the sinners are shown mercy, they do incredible things. This tax-collector ended up writing the book of Matthew we have been studying for three months now, impacting billions of people throughout the history of the world. 


When people are shown mercy, the nations are blessed. 


So bless somebody today.