By izartirta
As I stated in my previous writing, Matthew had gained a new wonderful life. He must have been very thankful to Jesus as he invited many of his friends to meet Jesus personally in his house. And he obviously wanted to share this rare experience to his friends.
Soon Matthew’s house was crowded by a lot of tax collectors just like him. They seemed to be very happy sitting around the table having dinner together with Jesus among them. Maybe the way Jesus accepted Matthew has encouraged other tax collectors to see their selves in a new different way. They saw a new hope, they saw acceptance, they saw Someone really different and that was all because they finally met Jesus. Everyone need grace deep down in their heart, by doing what He did to Matthew, Jesus has pronounced to other people that He has that grace.
One thing that perhaps we can learn from this situation is that everyone needs to gain acceptance from others. So if we reject someone and treat them as some sort of low level human being, one possibility is that they will begin to see them selves the way we treat them and they will also act accordingly, or the other possibility is that they will fight for the right acceptance and recognition, with violence if necessary.
Sometimes we treat other people in a kind way because we are afraid to see them angry and dishonor us in return. Jesus, on the other side, treats other in a kind and proper way because He loves them. He just treats them in a way it should be. Therefore we too must learn to accept other people, even those who have bad reputation like tax collectors in Jesus’ time. Well, I know this is not an easy thing to do, but since Jesus has given us an example we need to ask Jesus for helping us doing the same thing.
To me personally, the Bible has reported some kind of ironic situation which happened in Matthew’s house. It is written like this: “While Jesus was having dinner at Matthew’s house, many tax collectors and sinners came and ate with him and his disciples.” (Mat 9:10)
In its real language, sinner is Qìáñôùëüò (hamartoôlos)which also means sinful. Tax collectors are considered the same as sinner, those who do evil things.
Jesus is someone recognized as a wise man, a rabbi or a Guru to society. How come this public figure enjoys his dinner with those sinners? Apparently, by visiting Matthew, Jesus hurt his own reputation because as mentioned above, Matthew cheated his own people by becoming a tax collector and now Jesus pictured himself in the middle of many tax collectors. By doing so, was Jesus – as a spiritual leader- legitimating Matthew’s act of evil?
Cynical may see it in that wrong way, but Jesus seemed to be more concern to show the act of forgiving than being a popular Guru which act in some ways people love to see. Cynical like the Pharisees who constantly tried to trap Jesus, took this opportunity to put Jesus on a test. They asked: “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?”
On hearing this, Jesus said: It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. But go and learn what this means; I desire mercy, not sacrifice. For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.
Jesus’ statement clearly teaches us that we are all not healthy, and that’s why we need a doctor. Those Pharisees never seemed to realize that situation because all this long they only concerned with their own appearance of holiness than with helping people, with criticism than encouragement, with outward respectability than practical help. This condition therefore keeps them in sickness. They never realized how sick their condition was. They were too busy judging other people’s outward spiritual appearance like those sinners and tax collectors.
Those who are sure that they are righteous cannot be saved because the first step in following Jesus is admitting our miserable condition and let Jesus come into our life.
At the end, Jesus mentioned about what he desires most; mercy. Mercy is even more important to God than religious ritual like sacrificing animal for human’s sin.
