No one stays the same

By izartirta

There is no doubt that Jesus Christ has a changing power to everyone who came to Him. Continuing my discussion about Matthew, as it was stated in my previous posting, we see that Jesus also worked something out to change Matthew.

Some of those changes I observed are:

Matthew gained a new life

Before he followed Jesus, Matthew was being despised by his own fellow countrymen. Jews hated tax collectors and considered them nothing but traitors. Matthew was appointed by the Romans to be the area’s tax collector. So he collected taxes from the citizens as well as from merchants passing through town. According to the tradition, tax collectors were expected to take a commission on the taxes they collected, but most of them overcharged and kept the profits. That’s why tax collectors were hated by the Jews for cheating and their support to Rome.

However, ever since Matthew responded to Jesus’ calling he was changed to be an accepted person. For someone who had been living as a rejected person, this changing was obviously so wonderful to him. He was not just accepted by a group of people but most important thing was that he belonged to the Son of God afterward.

Can you imagine the feeling of it? As a believer, just like Matthew, we may embrace this fact without being so moved by the actual reality. We just see our situation in an ordinary way, sometimes even dull and boring. To me, this situation is caused by our own ignorance. We don’t really realize how far we have fallen so that we don’t realize how high Jesus has uplifted us either. And I think this is the right reason why we should keep reading the Bible so that we will always remember our situation.

Matthew gained a new purpose of his life

As a tax collector, many of his days were filled by writing and making notes. After he followed Jesus, God has changed Matthew to be one of His writers. Matthew recorded everything that he knew about Jesus and His relationship with the Old Testament. He was one of the eyewitnesses of Jesus’ life and because of Matthew, we, in our age, may know who Jesus is. God has made Matthew a record-keeper as a way to put his skill to its finest work. And it is proven that Matthew was a keen observer and undoubtedly recorded what he saw going on around him, even though sometime his record could humiliate his own countrymen. (Matthew was a Jew who honestly reported how cruel the people of Jew were, as they cunningly and brutally killed Jesus while shielding themselves under the law of Roman Empire. This quality of Matthew however, was one of many good reasons to believe that the Bible has been fairly and honestly recorded). As the result of all this, our first Gospel in the New Testament (doesn’t have to be understood as the first Gospel written) was named after him.

It is clear to me that Jesus has already had a plan for Matthew’s life. And I believe that He also has something in His mind for me and for everyone He has chosen, including you. Learning from the life event of Matthew, I think we should prepare ourselves for Jesus’ calling. Maybe he has called you to become one of His followers sometime in the past, but that was not the end of our journey. Instead, that was the beginning of our life in Jesus. We still should be ready for His next plan and calling in our own daily life. No one stays the same if they put their life in Jesus’ hand. God bless you.