Long-Haul Faith, Pt 2: Matthew

The following is adapted from a sermon I preached on June 7, 2020.

Last week, I launched a series of blog posts entitled “Long-Haul Faith.” The objective of this series is to examine key biblical figures to discover the characteristics which enabled their faith to endure for a lifetime. Check out the first installment, about Elisha, here.

Matthew 9:9-13 was still relatively early in Jesus’ ministry, but perhaps not as early as we might think. For several chapters, Jesus was already actively ministering in and around his adopted hometown of Capernaum. Located just a few miles from his actual hometown of Nazareth, Capernaum was the equivalent of the nearest McDonalds or Walmart. Between a thriving fishing industry and the major trade route that ran through town, it was the ideal location for a tax collector.

Enter St. Matthew. A private citizen contracted by the Romans to collect taxes on the goods and services in town, Matthew was expected to keep a percentage of the taxes for his work, but like most tax collectors, he skimmed a little more than was right. So also, like most tax collectors, he lived a pretty rotten life. These two things, of course, were enough to make most tax collectors unpopular, but Matthew was a special case: he was a Jewish tax collector. As such, he was seen by his neighbors and childhood friends as a traitor who was spiritually unclean. No self-respecting Jew would have anything to do with him, and he was certainly not allowed to participate in the synagogue or any other aspect of respectable society.

It may be difficult, therefore, for modern readers to imagine why Matthew chose to be a tax collector, but there were several perks to the job. While the Jewish people had been under someone’s thumb for more than 500 years, the local tax collector had his own escort of Roman troops. While most people in northern Palestine lived in poverty, the tax collector never had to worry about money, and while his head had been filled from a young age with rules and regulations, things that he could not do, the tax collector was doing them all. Matthew, then, was a real-life prodigal, having traded his family and friends for the enchanting power, wealth, and freedom of the tax collector’s life.

When Jesus began teaching and healing, however, Matthew began to question his decision. Every day, he overheard the crowd going on about Jesus’ latest teaching or healing. Every day, he saw the throng following Jesus to somewhere new. And every day, he sat at his tax booth, keenly aware that he was unwelcome and unwanted.

In Matthew 9:9, though, all of that changed:

As Jesus went on from there, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax office, and he said to him, “Follow me,” and he got up and followed him.

10 While he was reclining at the table in the house, many tax collectors and sinners came to eat with Jesus and his disciples. 11 When the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?”

12 Now when he heard this, he said, “It is not those who are well who need a doctor, but those who are sick. 13 Go and learn what this means: I desire mercy and not sacrifice. For I didn’t come to call the righteous, but sinners.”

Matthew 9:9-13 CSB

We must abandon sin.

Matthew’s calling shares key characteristics with the calling of Elisha, Abraham, Moses, Jesus’ first disciples, and even the apostle Paul. Matthew, however, is distinguished from these because he was a tax collector. As we have seen, tax collectors were known for their sin. In particular, they were usually guilty of greed, extortion, sexual immorality, and more. In short, there was a reason why tax collectors were lumped with sinners.

Jesus, however, spent the previous several chapters demonstrating that he could meet Matthew’s need. His first disciples were socially acceptable, but as fishermen and such, they were far from the religious elite. In the Sermon on the Mount, he announced that the poor in spirit are blessed because they recognize their need for the Lord. He then launched a campaign to heal people physically, and just before he approached Matthew’s tax booth that day, he demonstrated that his healing ability extended also to sin. No doubt, Matthew heard all of this with building anticipation, and when Jesus approached, he had only to say, “Follow me.”

In an instant, Matthew was out of his tax booth, his life of sin in the rearview, and if we are going to have a long-haul faith, we must do the same. We must abandon sin, ejecting from our life anything which is wrong or even not quite right. As enticing as these things are, they are simply incompatible with a long-haul faith in Jesus. We must abandon sin.

We must never abandon sinners.

Notice, though, at least one parallel between the accounts of Elisha and Matthew: food. After accepting the call to follow Elijah, Elisha sacrificed his oxen and threw a feast for his whole community, and in verse 10, after he abandoned the tax booth to follow Christ, Matthew invited all of his tax collector and sinner friends to eat with Jesus and his disciples.

This is interesting because, as we abandon our sin to follow Jesus, we are inclined to abandon also the people that we were sinning with. This tendency is understandable; we all know that bad company corrupts good character. And certainly, these relationships will need to change as we install safeguards to prevent ourselves from falling back into the same sinful patterns as before. Yet, if Jesus could meet Matthew’s need for forgiveness and deliverance from sin, then Matthew wanted nothing more than to share Jesus with his friends who were still mired in sin.

We must never abandon sinners. Indeed, we each know people who are keenly aware of their own sin. They struggle to overcome it, but every time they claw a step or two up, they slide right back in. Many of these, like Matthew’s friends, are hoping desperately for someone to invite them to Jesus, but if we abandon them the moment that Jesus calls us, then where does that leave them? Matthew insisted on giving his friends the same opportunity that Jesus had offered him, and we should, too.

We must remember our need.

There was, however, more to Matthew’s party. In verse 11, as the music and laughter rolled from Matthew’s house, the Pharisees demanded to know why Jesus would eat with those people. Jesus’ response was poignant:

It is not those who are well who need a doctor, but those who are sick. 13 Go and learn what this means: I desire mercy and not sacrifice. For I didn’t come to call the righteous, but sinners.

Matthew 9:12-13 CSB

The Pharisees spent all of their free time studying the Law and meticulously observing even its finest points. Unfortunately, the better they were at obeying the Law, the more they thought of themselves, and the more they thought of themselves, the less they thought of everyone else.

Because he came to call people who were keenly aware of their sin, though, Jesus did not have time for people who thought themselves to be righteous. Instead, he would spend his time with people who were aware of their sin and, by extension, their need for him.

Too often, we embrace faith and begin to grow, but as the rough edges of overt sin are knocked off, we begin to think pretty highly of ourselves. Jesus, however, quoted Hosea 6:6 to explain why he was at Matthew’s house that day: he desired mercy and not sacrifice. Put another way, Jesus was not nearly as interested in the religious regulations, rites, and rituals that the Pharisees had mastered as he was in the heart that was sensitive to the needs of others. And why was Matthew’s heart sensitive to others’ needs? Because he knew all too well his own need.

Jesus invited Matthew to follow him and then went to Matthew’s house because Matthew knew his friends needed a Savior. Because Matthew knew he needed a Savior. And if we are going to have a long-haul faith, then we also must remember our need.

This remembrance of sin, however, should not be confused with continuing in sin. That is, we must not continue sinning so that we will continue needing Jesus. Rather, we must recognize that we each have enough sin about us that Jesus will be cleaning us up for the rest of our lives!

Remembering our need for a Savior will make us sensitive and compassionate toward the needs of others. More, because Jesus only hangs out with people who know that they need him, remembering our need will ensure that we are always in his presence. And rest assured, that makes all the difference in the world!

Conclusion

We must abandon sin. We must never abandon sinners. We must always remember our need for a Savior. These are three tremendous keys to ensure that we have a faith that endures for the long haul. Indeed, they served Matthew well. Although we know few details of his life or ministry, we do know that twenty years after Jesus’ death and resurrection, Matthew would take it upon himself to write the gospel that today bears his name. The fragmented reports we have of the balance of his life suggest that he became a great evangelist, bringing the gospel to the region south of the Caspian Sea in modern Iran and several other areas before being martyred for his faith.

Matthew’s faith endured for the long haul, and if we will abandon sin, never abandon sinners, and always remember our own need for a Savior, our faith will endure, too.