The Hero of Our Story: Jesus the Friend of Sinners
December 18, 2016
When Becky and I lived in Langley, BC, we had Kayla and Courtney go to James Hill Elementary School. One evening at a back to school night, we were standing with a group of other parents who knew I was the pastor of a new Church in the area, when one of the parents asked me, “Why do you have your children in our school? Why didn’t you put your children in the Fundamental School?” As it turns out, The Fundamental School was known as the school where most Christians sent their kids. However, since we didn’t do what the other Christians were doing, this made the parents at our school curious. Now, I don’t know how I answered their question. I may have said something as simple as; “We only live two blocks away and besides we like this school.” But I do know there was another reason. We weren’t planting a Church in Langley, BC to reach Christians; we were there to make friends with irreligious people, people who were far from God, so we could help bring them to faith in God.
Now, you may ask, why would you do such a thing? Well, because that’s what Jesus did. That’s how Jesus lived. Jesus came to befriend people who were far from God. He did not come just for good people, but for people who were not good: the irreligious, the immoral, those with questionable reputations, those who sin sick and in need of a Savior. These were the people Jesus was drawn to. These were the people Jesus hung out with, eat with and made friends with. Jesus lived as a friend of sinners.
Today we want to look at a time when Jesus initiated a new friendship with a guy that made the religious leaders of the day question his motives and his reputation. And in the process we are going to learn not only how Jesus lived as a friend of sinners, but also see the kind of heart God wants us to have toward people who are far from Him.
We are in the midst of a series called The Hero of Our Story. We are taking a time out from looking at Our Place in God’s Story to learn a little more about God’s Son who is at the Center of God’s Story. So we are looking at Who Jesus is, How Jesus Lived, What He Taught and What He Did. After all, if Jesus is the Hero of Our Story, then getting to know how He lived is essential if we are going to know how we are to live in the midst of God’s Story. So today, we’re looking at how Jesus made friends. And the first thing Matthew shows us is that…
1. Jesus pursues the irredeemable 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. Matthew 9:9
Now at first glance, this seems like a simple encounter. Jesus is simply calling another man to come be one of his disciples. But this was no ordinary call. Jesus initiating a discipling relationship with a man that almost everyone hated. Matthew was a tax collector. Let me tell you why this made him universally despised by everyone, including his disciples. Tax collectors were viewed with the deepest disdain in Jewish culture. First of all, they were considered as traitors to their country. Matthew was a publican, a man who served occupying Rome against his own people as a collector of taxes. By the nature of his position, his first loyalty was to Rome. Second, since he had his tax-collecting booth, Matthew was known as the worst kind of tax collector. He was called a “mohkes.” A mohkes collected a wide variety of use taxes – taxes similar to our import duties, toll way fees, boat docking fees, business license fees, etc. And mohkes had almost unlimited freedom in their taxing powers and could attach a tax to virtually any article or activity. They could for instance, levy a tax on a person’s boat; on the fish he caught with it, and on the dock where he unloaded it. They could tax a traveler’s donkey, his slaves and servants and his goods. They had authority to open private letters to see if there was some kind taxable business in the correspondence. So mohkes just robbed you blind. If you were a Jew, you hated them because the Romans had given them a license to steal.
Now being a mohkes made Matthew virtually irredeemable in the Jewish culture. By choosing this profession, he burned every bridge that would connect him to his people. He was now barred from synagogue and forbidden to have any social contact with his fellow Jews. Not only that, but being a mohkes ranked him with the unclean animals, which a devout Jew would not so much as touch. He was in the class of swine, and because he was held to be a traitor and a liar, he was ranked with robbers and murderers and was forbidden to give testimony in court. He was about as repulsive and hated a person as you would find. The equivalent in our culture might be a child-molester. Just think of the most evil person you can imagine – someone you would never be caught dead with, and that’s pretty much how people saw Matthew. He was irredeemable. And yet, Jesus initiates a relationship and commands him to follow Him.
And Matthew leaves everything behind and follows Jesus. Incredible. You don’t just do that. Once a tax collector leaves his booth, he’s finished. Now it’s not just the Jews who hate him, but he’s lost all credibility with the Romans. So, this call of Jesus teaches us a few things. First it teaches us something about Jesus: That Jesus pursues sinners. Jesus pursues the worst of sinners. No one is too sinful; no one is too wicked, no one is too horrible that Jesus cannot redeem. Jesus came to redeem the worst of us and the best of us. There is no difference in his eyes. That’s why there is so much hope in Jesus. He loves us all, no matter what we’ve done; no matter how awful we are; Jesus has come to give us a new start, a new life. That’s the first thing.
Now the second: This comes from Matthew’s response. When a person is converted, he cannot leave his old life fast enough. Matthew may have had it all in the wealth department, but because he’d burned his bridges with his people, there was no going back. There was no chance of forgiveness or hope of reconciliation. He had to live with the consequences of his actions. But when Jesus showed up there was a chance for a new life, and he jumped at the chance. He left his old life behind to follow Jesus. And what I want us to see here is pretty powerful. Jesus didn’t tell him to clean up his act; Jesus didn’t tell him that he first had to pay everyone back. Jesus didn’t place any requirements on Matthew to enter a relationship with Jesus.
And that’s still how Jesus works today. Jesus takes you as you are and makes you his friend. He pursues us. He loves us. All He asks of us is to respond to His call. And that’s what Matthew did. He heard Jesus’s call and followed. He turned away from his empty life to a new life with Jesus. Jesus redeems the irredeemable. And that’s what Jesus does for anyone who answers His call. He gives us a fresh start, a new life – with Him. That’s why He is our Hero. Is He yours?
Matthew now has a new friend. But for Jesus, this new friendship with Matthew is about to send shock waves through the religious community. Because by calling Matthew to follow him, it signaled to them that…
2. Jesus identifies with the irreligious While Jesus was having dinner at Matthew’s house, many tax collectors and sinners came and ate with him and his disciples. When the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?” Matthew 9:10-11
Isn’t this great? The first thing Jesus does with Matthew is share a meal with him. This is one of the things I so love about Jesus. There’s just nothing better for building relationship then sharing a meal together. Not only does Jesus break bread with Matthew, but also he does so on his turf. But that’s not all, now he’s hanging out with Matthew’s questionable friends. And Jesus isn’t there by himself. He’s there with his disciples. This is quite a party. People who would never attend the synagogue now got to be up close and personal with Jesus. They got to hear him laugh, listen to his teaching, experience his acceptance for themselves.
But we see very quickly that his association with Matthew and his friends sparks a bit of controversy with the religious police. They see Jesus cavorting with tax collectors and sinners and start to come a bit unglued. A good rabbi doesn’t do this! A good Jew doesn’t associate with “sinners.” Now a word about this term “sinners.” This was a term used for immoral people but also for common people who did not abide by the rigid rules of the Pharisees. They regarded these people as wicked and opposed to the will of God because they did not observe the rituals for purity which enabled them to eat with others. How dare Jesus eat with people like these! But what I love about Jesus, he not worried about tarnishing his reputation by the company he keeps.
Here’s where we can struggle a bit. Our human tendency is to avoid people who are not like us. We find ourselves worrying what others will think of us if we make friends with someone of questionable character. But what we see here is that Jesus was not just willing to hang with questionable characters, he was actually drawn to them. And his behavior rankled the religious police. How dare he put himself in a position to make himself unclean. So they turned to his disciples and asked them: “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?” There question wasn’t a question, it was really more of an accusation. They were dumbfounded that Jesus would risk his reputation by identifying with the despicables of society.
I don’t know about you, but I think our world could use more friends like Jesus. This is a challenge to me. I hope that the way Jesus loves sinners also challenges you. But I don’t think Jesus wants to simply challenge us. He wants to change us. He wants us to have same heart for sinners that he has. And that leads us now to our final observation and that is…
3. Jesus educates the experts Or should I say, here’s where Jesus educates us. Yes, us. Here’s where Jesus shows us how we can love the same kind of people Jesus loves. So let’s read the text: 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.” Matthew 9:12-13
Jesus has heard their accusation, and immediately uses their ignorance as an opportunity to teach about God’s heart for sinners. First, he says, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick.” This is a common proverb. Those who are well do not seek out a physician; but the doctor’s waiting room is filled with the sick. They knew they were sick and came to one who could make them well. When Jesus says he’s speaking right to the Pharisees self-righteous: The Self-Righteous don’t recognize their sinfulness. Sinners see their need – and readily welcome Jesus.
Then Jesus tells them to go and learn what this means, implying that they did not understand their own Scriptures. Rabbi’s said, “Go and learn,” to students who did not understand or apply God’s Word correctly and needed to go back and study more. Well, the Pharisees thought they knew Scripture perfectly. But Jesus says go back and study what God said through Hosea, “I desire mercy and not sacrifice” (Hosea 6:6).
What was Jesus wanting them to learn? What does he want us to learn? Simple: God does not want our religious acts; He wants our hearts. Here is the crux of the whole passage. Here is why Jesus loved sinners and made them his friends, and how we can do the same. We need a change of heart: a change of heart that starts by understanding God’s heart. God desires mercy not sacrifice. God is not all that interested in your religious acts: your church attendance, your giving, your praying, taking communion… as much as He is interested in your heart. And the kind of heart God’s looking for is a heart that doesn’t judge sinners but welcomes sinners and makes them friends: a heart like Jesus’.
So here’s the good news. We all have the potential do have a heart like Jesus. We all have the potential to love questionable characters – to make friends like Jesus. How? By embracing the gospel. By understanding that Jesus did this for you. By realizing that Jesus made you His friend. That Jesus initiated a relationship with you while you were still sinful and far from God.
Listen to what God’s Word says about everyone who comes to faith in Jesus: It says, Once you were alienated from God (you didn’t have a relationship with God, you were far from God) and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior. (You didn’t want anything to do with God, you went your own way, lived your own life, made your own rules) But now he has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation. Colossians 1:21-22
Jesus went to the cross for you so you He could make you His friend for eternity. That’s what’s at heart of God’s love for you. Greater love has no one than this: then to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. John 15:13
This is the heart of mercy our world is looking for. It’s that uncommon love that embraces questionable characters – that uncommon mercy that pursues and includes them when everyone else has rejects and excludes them. It’s the kind of love that makes an enemy your friend. Jesus said it this way in the Sermon on the Mount: “You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven.” Matthew 5:43-45
If you call yourself a child of God today, then His Son Jesus dwells in your heart by faith. And that means, your heart carries the DNA of your Father in heaven. You have a heart of mercy just like Jesus. And Jesus lived as a friend of sinners. Can we do no less?
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