Follow Jesus

I have been a bit quiet again as I am currently preoccupied for the whole of November see www.nanowrimo.org - but I have broken off for some moments to cast my mind back to this passage.

I have been thinking of how Jesus called Matthew out of his tax booth. See Matthew 9: 9-13 (link)

Matthew left his job to follow Jesus. He didn't work out a period of notice. His encounter with Jesus was enough to knock him off the normal course of his life. Bless him, he was a tax collector, in those days fairly despised individuals known for their corruption and for taking an extra cut from those that they were collecting from. It says in the JB translation that he was by the 'Customs House'. This is a mistranslation. He was by his tax collectors booth! This was a portable construction that was set up where he was collecting his tax. All a bit more vulnerable than we at first think. He must have been challenged by Jesus to leave this and also torn. Do I hang on to the money or follow the Holy Man? Well he became one of the twelve - so he must have opted for the life changing option to follow Jesus. What would we do I wonder? What would I do - if the messiah came walking by?

To encounter Jesus at that time was something that knocked people off the normal course of their lives. I believe this was because Jesus personality was so arresting that you had to stop in your tracks and say to yourself. Who is he? Is he for real? What is he offering?

Well what Jesus offers is something that is contrary to the material world's values. The Good News is something for our spirit, something for the inner man or woman. That lifts us up and alters our lives and changes them for the better. To live outside Christianity is to live a life without hope. To live as a Christian implies a commitment to change.

Yes, Jesus comes to sinners, tax collectors and prostitutes to the shock and dismay of the Pharisees, but it is so that he can bring the healing power of God's love. As he says he comes as a doctor into their lives. He doesn't feast with the Matthews of this world to pick up tax collecting hints. He doesn't feast with prostitutes in order to pimp. He is at the feast because he has something of real value to give he is offering rescue. REAL RESCUE..

To the Pharisees he says 'Go and learn the meaning of the words what I want is mercy, not sacrifice.'

The irony is that the Pharisees were sinners too. The difference between them and the others were that they didn't know it. They were too busy looking at other peoples lives to assess their own.

If you look at the passage again you will see that Jesus is ministering to everyone including the Pharisees.

This is why his ministry is so effecting. It speaks to everyone and to us - even now across time. The quote he offers the Pharisees is from the Bible. From the book of Hosea.  Which says 'What I want is love, not sacrifice; knowledge of God, not holocausts.'

That is interesting isn't it? In OT times they used to try and appease God by killing and burning animals as a sin offering in the hope that this would put them right with God. Hosea says that God doesn't want this kind of material response. He wants us to change so that we love more. This requires a change of heart - are we ready?

Here is a quote from Rick Warren
"No matter what I say, what I believe, and what I do, I'm bankrupt without love."

Dear Lord, help me to leave the things I do that are the old way of living. Allow me to follow you. Please give me the spiritual strength in order to do so. Amen