I am reading from Matthew's Gospel and resting in the ninth chapter. I love this story about Jesus, for it shows His and the Father's heart towards those who don't know Him - Matthew 9:9-13 NIV:
[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.' For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”
The theme of these verses fits in well with my meditations of late on sin, self-righteousness and the Kingdom. If we look closely at the last sentence, we find a very interesting correlation that Jesus makes - mercy with sinners, righteous with sacrifice. He is welcoming the first pair and rejecting the second pair.
Again, we must put this in the context of comments towards the self-righteous Pharisees. He was trying to break them, and those who believed like them, out of their existing paradigm. He was communicating the heart of the Father and helping them to understand that the Father had a completely different approach then they thought.
Back to the last line - "I desire mercy, not sacrifice" and "I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners". If I ask myself what does Jesus want? The answer is mercy and sinners. As I was thinking about this I realized that there is a certain cause and effect in play here as well. Sinners, who are called to relationship with the Lord, in spite of their sin, are very conscious of the mercy that has been extended to them. They recognize this mercy is not what they deserve, and they are grateful. When they encounter other sinners, rather than judging them in their sin, they introduce them to the one who has had mercy on them. They don't apply requirements for righteousness, for none were applied to them. If this is what Jesus wants, and who He came for, and who He came to call, then this is likely where He is, and where He wants us! In other words, if Jesus had an option He would rather hang out with sinners than with those who thought they were righteous, and He would want the same for us.
Following this thinking, Jesus (and thus His Father who He was representing) does not desire sacrifice and did not come to call the righteous. The original language is quite clear that this is exactly what Jesus said - sacrifice pertaining to the Law, and the sacrifices required to appease guilt, and righteous pertaining to the same - righteous within the context of the law. Again, we must look back at the message of righteousness through faith, not works as described by Paul in his letter to the Romans. Jesus is addressing the Pharisees who saw themselves as righteous and required others to fulfill the sacrifices of the law to attain their level of righteousness. Again, Jesus plainly is saying this is not what He or the Father desires.
So today my encouragement is to remember that He called me, extended mercy to me when I did not deserve it, and has given me His righteousness, not because of something I did, but because of His love and mercy. He desires this same attitude of me, to extend mercy and call sinners. Lastly, if He came to call sinners I am pretty sure that is where He is, and where He expects us to be. Personally I want to be where He is! Amen!
No comments:
Post a Comment