This week we are talking about the reality that there is
something within us that yearns to party. There is something within us that
yearns to celebrate something that is significant in our lives with the people
who are significant in our lives. And that yearning was wired in us by God.
When we read the letters that make up the Bible, we discover that God loves a
good party. And when we read the accounts of Jesus life that are recorded for
us in the Bible, we see that Jesus loved a good party. Jesus loved to celebrate that things that He viewed a significant with
the people He viewed as being significant.
But if that is the case; when did Jesus throw a party?
When did Jesus celebrate? What did Jesus believe was significant enough to be worthy
of celebration? To answer that question, we are looking at a section of one of
the accounts of Jesus life that are recorded for us in the Bible, called the
gospel of Matthew.
Matthew, who was writing to Jewish people to explain and
to show that Jesus was the Messiah that God had promised would come to rescue
and restore the Jewish nation as His chosen people, started his account of
Jesus life was with a genealogy that displayed Jesus family tree. For Matthew,
it made sense to write his account of Jesus life this way because Matthew knew
something that they did not know and that we often do not recognize. Matthew
wrote the story of Jesus life this way because Matthew knew his story.
And it is in Matthew’s story we find a timeless truth about what would cause Jesus to party and celebrate
something that He viewed as being significant and worthy of celebration. We
find Matthew’s story in Matthew 9:9. Let’s look at it together:
As Jesus went
on from there, He saw a man called Matthew, sitting in the tax collector's
booth;
As we jump into this section of the account of Jesus life
that was written by Matthew, Jesus had just performed a miracle in the city in
which he lived in, which was Capernaum. In this miracle, which we read in
greater detail in another account of Jesus life in the Bible called the gospel
of Mark, Jesus healed a man who was paralyzed after his friends lowered him
through a hole that they had made in the roof of a house where Jesus was
speaking.
After healing this paralyzed man, Jesus and his disciples
left the house and began walking down the street, where they came to a booth
where Jewish people were required to pay taxes. Matthew, who was manning the
tax booth along with others, was a Jewish man who was a tax collector that
worked for the Roman Government.
Now Jews who were tax collectors were hated by their
fellow countrymen for two reasons. First, these tax collectors were hated
because they would often charge higher taxes than necessary in order to make a
profit. Since the Romans did not care what these tax collectors charged as long
as they received what was due them, many tax collectors became wealthy by
charging over and above what the Romans asked for.
Second, Jewish tax collectors were hated and were viewed
as traitors because they were working for the enemy. I mean, imagine how you
would feel if Mexico invaded and conquered the United States and began to
charge large taxes that you would have to pay to the Mexican government. And
imagine if your neighbor began to work for the conquering Mexican government as
a tax collector. Imagine giving your money to you neighbor, who gave part of
that money to the Mexican government and kept part of it for himself. Now, if
that were the case, how would you feel toward your neighbor? That is how Jewish
people felt toward people like Matthew.
Jewish people so despised tax collectors that they had a
separate category for them. There were sinners and there were tax collectors.
There were those who sinned and then there were tax collectors. With this
background in mind, we see Jesus approach Matthew, this tax collector and
sinner, who would later write the letter the bears his name in the Bible and
say the following in the second half of Matthew 9:9:
and He said to
him, "Follow Me!" And he got up and followed Him.
Matthew explained that when Jesus saw him sitting at the
tax collector booth, He said to him “Follow Me”. Now, in the Jewish culture of
the first century, when a teacher asked someone to follow him, this was a call
to follow Him as his disciple. So Jesus here is calling this tax collector, who
was so despised that they had a separate category for him, to follow Him. Can
you imagine what the rest of the disciple’s response to Jesus invitation to
Matthew would be?
Can you imagine Peter, for example “Jesus, I don’t think
that is a good idea; I mean he is a tax collector; he is the enemy”? What is
just as hard to understand, however, is how Matthew responded. Matthew responded
to Jesus invitation by leaving his tax booth and job to follow Jesus. I mean at
first glance that seems odd, doesn’t it? I mean, to just get up and leave your
job because a teacher asked you to follow him seems strange, doesn’t it?
While it may seem strange at first glance, it would not
have seemed strange to the crowds at Capernaum. You see, such teachers were the
most respected members of Jewish society. So to be asked to follow someone who
was viewed as a teacher was a great honor. But Jesus was no ordinary teacher;
he was performing miraculous signs that people had never seen. Jesus, at this
point in His life, had an almost rock star or celebrity status. If there would
have been TMZ in Jesus day, TMZ would have been following Him around.
In addition, this was probably not the first time that
Matthew had seen or heard about Jesus, as they both lived in the same small
town. Plus, Jesus wanted him: Jesus wanted a tax collector and sinner to follow
Him. Jesus invitation would have been unheard of by any other teacher to call
such a man like Matthew to follow him as a student. What would be viewed as
strange or odd would be why Jesus would want a person like Matthew around Him
as His disciple. We see the reaction of others to Jesus seemingly strange
behavior as this event from history continues in Matthew 9:10:
Then it
happened that as Jesus was reclining at
the table in the house, behold, many tax collectors and sinners came and
were dining with Jesus and His disciples.
Matthew tells us that after receiving the invitation to
follow Jesus as His disciple, he not only responded by leaving his tax
collector booth to follow Him. In addition, Matthew responded by inviting all
of his tax collector and sinner friends over to his house for a dinner party to
meet and hang out with Jesus. Matthew responded to Jesus invitation to follow
Him by throwing a party so that He could invite all of his tax collector and
sinner friends to meet and hang out with Jesus.
And what is interesting is that all of Matthew's tax
collector and sinner friend actually accepted the invitation to the party. You
see, there was something about Jesus that made people who were far from God feel
comfortable enough to want to hang out with Son of God. While Jesus never lived
a life that was marked by selfishness and sin, people who were far from God
felt comfortable enough to engage and interact with Him. If you are a follower
of Jesus, could the same be said of you?
Now I want us to take a minute
and imagine the scene that was occurring at the party at Matthew’s house.
Imagine watching as Matthew’s house began to fill up with all his tax collector
and sinner friends and their girlfriends. Imagine the sounds of salty language
and music filling the room as Matthew’s tax collector and sinner friends began
to engage in conversations. Imagine the smells of food and drink wafting
through the home. Imagine Jesus engaging in conversation with Matthew and his
friends. Can you picture the scene?
Matthew then explains that as his
house began to fill with all of his tax collector and sinner friends who were
far from God, others were attracted to what was happening. Tomorrow, we will
meet these people and discover their response to Jesus being at such a party…
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