Jesus shocked religious leaders, ate with Matthew’s friends
Daily Scripture
Matthew 9:10-11, Luke 5:28-30
Matthew 9:10-11
10 As Jesus sat down to eat in Matthew’s house, many tax collectors and sinners joined Jesus and his disciples at the table. 11 But when the Pharisees saw this, they said to his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?”
Luke 5
28 Levi got up, left everything behind, and followed him. 29 Then Levi threw a great banquet for Jesus in his home. A large number of tax collectors and others sat down to eat with them. 30 The Pharisees and their legal experts grumbled against his disciples. They said, “Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?”
Daily Reflection & Prayer
After calling Matthew to follow him, Jesus further shocked the religious leaders by going to dinner at Matthew’s house with many other tax collectors and “sinners.” In Judean culture, sharing a table meant accepting and embracing others as equals. The religious leaders couldn’t understand why Jesus would associate with people they saw as corrupt traitors. But Jesus showed that God’s love reaches across social barriers. For him, genuine spiritual leadership meant engaging with people society rejects.
- The religious leaders criticized Jesus for eating with tax collectors and “sinners.” They thought mixing with such people would make him spiritually unclean. Jesus’ view was utterly different. “While many religious leaders saw their task as being to keep themselves in quarantine, away from possible sources of moral and spiritual infection, Jesus saw himself as a doctor who’d come to heal the sick. There’s no point in a doctor staying in quarantine.” * Who do people in your life or community tend to avoid? How might Jesus be calling you to reach out to them?
- Matthew responded to Jesus’ acceptance by hosting a dinner where his friends could meet Jesus too. He didn’t keep his transformative encounter with Jesus private but immediately created opportunities for others to experience Jesus’ love. When you experience God’s acceptance and grace, how do you share that gift with others? How can you introduce people to Jesus?
Prayer
Lord Jesus, Matthew invited his disreputable friends. You happily joined them for a meal. Help me to learn from both examples how you wish me to carry myself as one of your followers. Amen.
GPS Insights
Brandon Gregory
Brandon Gregory is a volunteer for the worship and missions teams at Church of the Resurrection. He helps lead worship at Leawood's modern worship services, as well as at the West and Downtown services, and is involved with the Malawi missions team at home.
In a certain mindset, I view stories like Jesus eating with Matthew and the tax collectors as being about me. If you read regularly, you know I talk a lot here about disenfranchised and underrepresented groups, groups I am not a part of.
For instance, I am not LGBTQ or a person of color. I often think these people are in trouble and waiting for me to dash in heroically and save the day. They’re waiting for my words of encouragement, telling them to hang on because help is on the way. In my head, I am the hero of that story.
So when I read today’s Scripture, I wonder, “would I accept the tax collectors even while everyone sneered at me and judged me for my tolerance?” Well, of course—I’m the hero. Matthew and the tax collectors would be eternally grateful that I gave up one evening to selflessly eat their food.
The true test of my acceptance of the people my peers look down on is how much I would step back and let the story be about them? In Luke’s recollection of the event, he does not mention himself once. Jesus didn’t simply make a statement with one night of acceptance—he invited a tax collector to be one of his representatives and closest advisors. Though the gospel story is about Jesus, the gospel writers were happy to let Matthew be a main character rather than a small side part. Matthew wrote one of the four gospels—a high honor for someone most Jewish people of the time didn’t like.
There’s a difference between how often I want to talk about these issues and how often I’m willing to listen and support the people going through them. No matter how much reading and listening I do, I will never know what it’s like to be gay, trans, black, or Hispanic right now. I can take a break from everything for my mental health because I have space to retreat. I can approach these issues as a philosophical thought experiment rather than an existential threat. Because of my distance from the issues, no matter how much thinking I do, I will always have to listen.
With my talk-to-the-manager energy, it’s hard to imagine a story where people are in trouble, and I’m not the hero. However, the people who deal with these issues every day have much more insight into what to do about these problems. There will always be times when I have more of a voice than disenfranchised people and need to use that voice for good, but there are many times when I don’t need to be a hero—I need to be a supporter. The true measure of my support is how willing I am to be a background character and invite others not just for a moment of acceptance but for a seat at the table where they have a voice equal to mine (or more prominent).
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Scripture quotations are taken from The Common English Bible ©2011. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
References
* Wright, N. T., Matthew for Everyone, Part 1: Chapters 1-15 (The New Testament for Everyone) (p. 101). Westminster John Knox Press. Kindle Edition.
