St Matthew, Chapter 9, verse:12, Matthew, the Publicans, and the sinners.

Our paragraph topic is: (The call of Matthew) Part 3.  

Christ is at the party and he overhears the select guest talking about the party crashers.  He hears the pretty people asking why the honored guest socializes with sinners and publicans, with drug addicts and hustlers, with pornographers and prostitutes, with robbers and murderers, with all the unsavory characters that have crashed the party.  Christ says to the Pharisees, "It is not the healthy who need a physician, but they who are sick."   

Here is an important distinction to be made.  Christ says, "Who need!"  The healthy do not need.  The wealthy do not need.  The athletes do not need.  The soldiers do not need.  The politicians do not need.  The lawyers do not need.  Only those who are sick need.  Only those who are on the edge need.  Only those who are down trodden need.  Only those who have no hope or any knowledge of where to find hope, need.  Christ's metaphor spoke to the heart of the issue as to why he socialized with sinners and publicans.  It speaks to the heart of the problem as to why we face issues today in our society.  It speaks to the problem of poverty.  It speaks to the problem of why we have prostitution.  It speaks to the problem as to why we have robbers, and gang bangers, and thiefs, and homelessness, and drunkenness, and abuse, and so many social issues.  Christ socialized.  Christ walked among them.  Christ touched the retched.  Christ healed the sick.  Christ loved the homeless.  Christ saw the need and did not turn from it.

The society that we live in today is such that people are dropping off the cliff and we are pushing them off.  We, in our selfish needs, are so busy climbing over others for our own needs that we do not have time, energy, effort, or desire to help others.  Imagine a sea of people climbing up a cliff and everybody is climbing over everybody else to get to the top.  Those at the edge are being pushed off the cliff into the abyss so that we can get a little further ahead.  We do not stop to see the nature of our actions.  We do not pause to take stock of what we are doing.  We collectively march towards the carrot so that we can get our own, regardless of who we step on or walk over.  And this is the society that we live in. 

Sure there are organizations and agencies that tackle the issues that we are blind to.  Sure there are good physicians and loving hearts that work to clean up the flood of victims with a few paper towels.  They work with a tireless energy knowing that their efforts do not begin to deal with the enormity of the issue.  Christ walked among them.  Christ socialized with them.  Christ healed them.  Christ was them.  We are apart from them.  We do not socialize with them.  We do not see them.  We do not understand them. We do not love them.  Christ saw the need.  He came to meet the need of the sick.  He came to meet the need of the poor.  He came to provide for the hungry.  He came to give hope.  He came to say to us what was needed, just as he said to the Pharisees,  
"It is not the healthy who need a physician, but they who are sick." 
  

St Matthew, Chapter 9, verses: 10-11, Matthew, the Publicans and the sinners.

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St Matthew, Chapter 9, verse: 9, Matthew, the Publicans and the sinners.

Our paragraph topic is:  (The call of Matthew) Part 1.  

St Matthew in telling us the Gospel, places a note in this verse on how he was called to follow Christ.  Matthew was a tax collector.  And one day Christ came by his station and said to him,  "Follow me."   This is a modest entry for a modest man.  There was nothing pretentious about his calling.  Christ called him and he followed.  He was a publican.  He was a commoner, with no ties or claims to nobility.  And being such, he more than likely collected more than what was owed, some of which he kept.  But Christ called him one day and he left it all and followed.

What was his motivation to follow?  What moved him to take this bold action?  What was it about this man Christ that caused him to leave all and follow?  Did Christ have such a charisma that when the people saw him they had to follow?  Was Christ such a renowned figure in his time that those who heard him speak were compelled to listen and to follow his commands?  Jesus knew something about Matthew that must have led him to call Matthew.  Jesus choose Matthew.  Matthew did not choose him.

This simple command, follow me, is such a compelling command that it makes one wonder why.  If Christ came to collect disciples today, would we follow him?  If Christ stood before us and said, follow me, would we leave everything and follow him.  Would we leave job, home, friends, money, family, activities, fun, football, parties, fine clothes, everything, to follow him?  Would we hesitate to follow?  Would we have excuses to follow?  Would we need time to think about following?  What would be our response, today?

The harvest is great but the workers are few.  In our troubled economic times Christ is hiring today.  He needs workers.  He needs laborers in the field.  He needs believers.  He needs doctors, lawyers, tax collectors, construction workers, waiters, school teachers, administrators, clerks, supervisors, trash collectors, he needs all.  If he called would you follow?  He he asked you to lead would you lead?  If he asked you to give up all, would you leave all behind?  Like Uncle Sam, Christ needs you.  If he called today would you hear the call?  Would you follow?