Matthew 9:9-13 – We need Jesus

The Kingdom Jesus came to introduce is different from what people had experienced thus far. In Him, things were moving in quite the opposite direction from the norm of His day. Who would want to associate with the outcasts of society? Tax collectors, as we have discovered, were cronies of the Romans. They collected tax on behalf of the Romans. It was their practice to collect more than what the authority required of the people to pay, and keep the excess they had collected. Hence they were intensely disliked by the people and were deemed as scums of society. Everyone would shun them.

 There was one such person hailed from Capernaum. He is none other than Matthew, the author of this Gospel. Mark 2:14 and Luke 5:27 reveal that his other name is Levi. From Matthew 9:9, we are told that Matthew was seated in his collector’s booth and presumably collecting tolls from the people who passed by. Nobody would want to be near him, much less invite him to be a follower. But Jesus did. He literary commanded Matthew to follow Him. Amazingly, he arose and followed Jesus.

 

Here we are told Jesus did what no true-blooded Jew in His day would do. He was found in the house of a tax collector, presumably Matthew’s. While Jesus was reclining at the table there, many other tax collectors and sinners came and dined with Him and His disciples.  Just imagine, at other times Matthew would be dinning alone. He must have felt elated to have the Lord in the house and more than that, to be reclining at the table and eating with Him and his friends. The posture adopted by the Lord was usually the pose that was commonly adopted when dinning. It suggests to us that Jesus was making Himself comfortable, much to the dislike of the Pharisees. So they quizzed the disciples of Jesus, asking, “Why is your Teacher eating with the tax collectors and sinners?”

 

Why? Because He is different from all others. Like a doctor, He came to heal the sick. It makes no sense for a doctor to keep away from people who need his service most. How else could Jesus fulfill His mission if He didn’t go to the people who needed Him most? In Christ Jesus, God is demonstrating His compassion. Jesus did not come to set aside the Old Testament requirement of a sacrifice for the cleansing of sin. He came to show God’s compassion to people who need it most. He came to be that sacrifice demanded by the law.

 

Truly, we all need Jesus! As Kim Walker says in her song:

I need you Lord, more than yesterday

I need you Lord, more than words can say

I need you Lord, more than ever before

I need you Lord, I need you Lord.