Encounters with Jesus #2b
Matthew’s encounter with Jesus is too important for us to leave just yet; we have something more to learn from him.
Later, Matthew invited Jesus and his disciples to his home as dinner guests, along with many tax collectors and other disreputable sinners. But when the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with such scum?”
When Jesus heard this, he said, “Healthy people don’t need a doctor—sick people do.” (Matt 9:10-12 NLT)
Matthew’s response to Jesus had an immediate impact. Despite nothing having happened in his life since deciding to follow Jesus (nothing miraculous I mean like a healing or something), everything had changed. Something had been fixed in his ‘sorted’ life. What is more he knew there were many others in his ‘little black book’ of contacts who needed to experience the same release.
He didn’t wait around either. Matthew knew people who needed to know Jesus, and he knew where Jesus was. This was the first co-ordinated evangelistic drive the area had seen but Matthew did not target to influential, those who people were likely to listen to and respect; instead his guest list sent shockwaves through the town since he had invited the ‘who’s who’ of the Galilean underworld!
Undoubtedly this banquet did not have the congenial atmosphere of an Alpha supper. I’m sure you’ve seen Mafia get togethers in movies and so you can imagine the tension there must have been around Matthew’s table. And then in walks Jesus, a carpenter’s son who now captivated them; once they were in charge but now things were about to change – about to be fixed.
Why should Jesus mix with people who could harm his reputation? Because they needed help.
Matthew knew exactly what these people needed, it wasn’t a miraculous healing, it wasn’t a helping hand, it was an encounter with Jesus. He knew that these people who thought they were in charge needed to meet with the man who was in charge. The power that they each jealously protected entrapped them rather than liberating them but now they had encountered the Liberator. They were free of themselves and the sin and rebellion and selfishness that consumed their lives.
Similarly this provides us with an important but overlooked principal; give people what they need.
What would Jesus do? He never gave a hungry man a coat, or the lonely money, and he never preached at the jobless. Instead Jesus demonstrated the Gospel by meeting people’s needs; he healed the sick, fed the hungry, valued the dispossessed and visited the lonely. It is in these moments when we hear the voice of the Gospel ringing out with deafening clarity, not when we angrily berate the confused at the top of our voice.
"Then he will turn to the 'goats,' the ones on his left, and say, 'Get out, worthless goats! You're good for nothing but the fires of hell. And why? Because I was hungry and you gave me no meal, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink, I was homeless and you gave me no bed, I was shivering and you gave me no clothes, sick and in prison, and you never visited.'
"Then those 'goats' are going to say, 'Master, what are you talking about? When did we ever see you hungry or thirsty or homeless or shivering or sick or in prison and didn't help?'
"He will answer them, 'I'm telling the solemn truth: Whenever you failed to do one of these things to someone who was being overlooked or ignored, that was me—you failed to do it to me.'” (Matt 25:41-45 MSG)
Something massive was happening in town that much is clear. Where Jesus had once been ignored he was now being pursued passionately, desperately and wholeheartedly. On his last visit he said that a prophet has no honour in his home town, something we too can fall foul of in our response to Christ’s call; our true response to Christ is shown in our response to others.
Later, Matthew invited Jesus and his disciples to his home as dinner guests, along with many tax collectors and other disreputable sinners. But when the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with such scum?”
When Jesus heard this, he said, “Healthy people don’t need a doctor—sick people do.” (Matt 9:10-12 NLT)
Matthew’s response to Jesus had an immediate impact. Despite nothing having happened in his life since deciding to follow Jesus (nothing miraculous I mean like a healing or something), everything had changed. Something had been fixed in his ‘sorted’ life. What is more he knew there were many others in his ‘little black book’ of contacts who needed to experience the same release.
He didn’t wait around either. Matthew knew people who needed to know Jesus, and he knew where Jesus was. This was the first co-ordinated evangelistic drive the area had seen but Matthew did not target to influential, those who people were likely to listen to and respect; instead his guest list sent shockwaves through the town since he had invited the ‘who’s who’ of the Galilean underworld!Undoubtedly this banquet did not have the congenial atmosphere of an Alpha supper. I’m sure you’ve seen Mafia get togethers in movies and so you can imagine the tension there must have been around Matthew’s table. And then in walks Jesus, a carpenter’s son who now captivated them; once they were in charge but now things were about to change – about to be fixed.
Why should Jesus mix with people who could harm his reputation? Because they needed help.
Matthew knew exactly what these people needed, it wasn’t a miraculous healing, it wasn’t a helping hand, it was an encounter with Jesus. He knew that these people who thought they were in charge needed to meet with the man who was in charge. The power that they each jealously protected entrapped them rather than liberating them but now they had encountered the Liberator. They were free of themselves and the sin and rebellion and selfishness that consumed their lives.
Similarly this provides us with an important but overlooked principal; give people what they need.
What would Jesus do? He never gave a hungry man a coat, or the lonely money, and he never preached at the jobless. Instead Jesus demonstrated the Gospel by meeting people’s needs; he healed the sick, fed the hungry, valued the dispossessed and visited the lonely. It is in these moments when we hear the voice of the Gospel ringing out with deafening clarity, not when we angrily berate the confused at the top of our voice.
"Then he will turn to the 'goats,' the ones on his left, and say, 'Get out, worthless goats! You're good for nothing but the fires of hell. And why? Because I was hungry and you gave me no meal, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink, I was homeless and you gave me no bed, I was shivering and you gave me no clothes, sick and in prison, and you never visited.'
"Then those 'goats' are going to say, 'Master, what are you talking about? When did we ever see you hungry or thirsty or homeless or shivering or sick or in prison and didn't help?'
"He will answer them, 'I'm telling the solemn truth: Whenever you failed to do one of these things to someone who was being overlooked or ignored, that was me—you failed to do it to me.'” (Matt 25:41-45 MSG)
Something massive was happening in town that much is clear. Where Jesus had once been ignored he was now being pursued passionately, desperately and wholeheartedly. On his last visit he said that a prophet has no honour in his home town, something we too can fall foul of in our response to Christ’s call; our true response to Christ is shown in our response to others.
-Andrew Carey
posted by Andrew at 7:29 am
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