A Devotional Thought From Matthew 9:9-13
Matthew 9:9–13
9 And as Jesus passed forth from thence, he saw a man, named Matthew, sitting at the receipt of custom: and he saith unto him, Follow me. And he arose, and followed him. 10 And it came to pass, as Jesus sat at meat in the house, behold, many publicans and sinners came and sat down with him and his disciples. 11 And when the Pharisees saw it, they said unto his disciples, Why eateth your Master with publicans and sinners? 12 But when Jesus heard that, he said unto them, They that be whole need not a physician, but they that are sick. 13 But go ye and learn what that meaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice: for I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.
I received a letter in the mail that said for me to call and see if I qualified for an excellent deal.
Guess what?
I did qualify!
Isn’t that just awesome?
I am so blessed!
Ok, it wasn’t actually that great a deal and I think everyone qualifies who calls.
However, I would like to let you in on a truly excellent offer of eternal life. This offer is legitimate.
If you are interested in this outstanding offer then we just have to see if you qualify.
In our reading today we see the story of how a guy named Matthew was saved. He was a hated publican, a representative of the Roman government, a tax collector.
Mark 2:13 tells us the location of his office. He worked on the shores of the Sea of Galilee. Jesus walked by him and simply said “follow me” and he did. That is all it took.
I have always wondered if there was more to this story.
Since Matthew’s office was next to the Sea of Galilee then it surely makes sense that he collected a lot of taxes from local fishermen. It also is a fact that Jesus had pulled quite a few of his disciples from that trade.
Perhaps ole Matthew had been wondering why Simon, Andrew, James and John had not been coming by to pay their taxes. Could it be that after some investigation he discovered that they had left their lucrative fishing business to follow this famous young Rabbi Jesus?
Is it possible that he found that Jesus had changed their life in such a dramatic way that it opened his mind to the possibility of following Jesus himself?
Maybe, that is one of the reasons that all Jesus had to say to him was two words and he forsook all and followed Christ, he had witnessed the life changing abilities of the Lord In others.
Luke 5:29 tells us that after following Christ he threw a big dinner party at his house and invited all his tax collecting friends to introduce them to this newly discovered life changer.
One sure evidence of truly knowing Jesus is you want others to have the privilege of knowing him too.
It was at Matthew’s big bash where some religious snobs criticized Jesus for hanging out with sinners.
I for one am so glad Jesus hangs out with sinners!
Look at what Jesus told those critics,
“They that be whole need not a physician but they that are sick. But go ye and learn what that meaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice: for I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.” Matthew 9:12-13
Here Jesus let’s us know who it is that qualifies for his wonderful, eternal salvation.
His offer is only for those who identify as sinners.
If you are perfect then you do not qualify.
If you are good you can’t go with him.
If you are spiritually healthy without his treatment then of course you have no need of a physician.
If however you are not good enough on your own, he has grace for you!
The self sufficient need not apply for his offer.
He resists the proud but gives grace to those who admit they are sinners in need of a savior (James 4:6).
I qualified for his offer do you?
If you recognize like me that you are sin sick in need of the Great Physician then you do too.