Day 22: February 18

MATTHEW 9:9-17

SCRIPTURE HIGHLIGHTS:
But when he heard it, he said, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. Go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice.’ For I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.”  9:12-13
 
No one puts a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment, for the patch tears away from the garment, and a worse tear is made.... But new wine is put into fresh wineskins, and so both are preserved.”  9:16-17b
 
OBSERVATIONS:
Jesus called Matthew, a tax collector to follow him. Matthew immediately accepted the invitation to follow Jesus.

The religious leaders (Pharisees) complained that Jesus was eating with people who were known for their sinful conduct. Eating with people who lived immoral lives in open violation of the Jewish law was considered to defile the “righteous” person. Eating together was a sign of unity with and approval of those you were eating with.

Jesus response was that since his purpose was to call sinners to repentance it was necessary for him to spend time with them. What good is a doctor who doesn’t treat sick people?!
Jesus was asked why his disciples did not practice the spiritual discipline of fasting and he responded with three illustrations:

1. The friends of a bridegroom don’t fast when he is with them. That is a time to rejoice. Fasting is a sign of heaviness or sadness so it is not currently appropriate. In Judaism the bridegroom metaphor was associated with the Messiah’s coming
2. No one puts on unshrunk cloth as a patch on a garment with a hole because after it is washed it will shrink and tear the garment again.
3. Old wine skins become rigid and brittle and if you put new wine in them the gases from the fermentation process will explode the wineskins.

 
APPLICATION:
Jesus eating with sinners was for the purpose of showing them the kind of loving acceptance that would earn their ear and their trust and make them more likely to embrace his call to repentance. “Calling sinners” = Calling them to repentance (see Luke 5:32)

Jesus did not shy away from confronting and correcting sin but he did it from a position of sitting down with broken sinners rather than talking down to broken sinners.

Jesus was not suggesting that the Pharisees were “righteous” and did not need his attention. He was communicating that he can only help those who recognize that they are sinners in need of Jesus to be their savior. All have sinned and are in need of “doctor” Jesus. Unfortunately, not everyone is willing to be humble enough to confess their need of a savior and embrace Jesus' offer of salvation.
 
We need to follow Jesus' example. Jesus calls us to be distinct, not distant, from the unbelieving world. He sends us into the world as his witnesses (John 17:14-18; Acts 1:5-8)
 
In the OT, the bridegroom metaphor was applied to Yahweh and in Judaism it was associated with the Messiah’s coming. When Jesus referred to himself as the bridegroom he was identifying himself as the Messiah. Jesus, God’s promised Messiah, can not be patched onto Judaism or made to fit into the structure of the first covenant. He came to establish a New Covenant which would fulfill the Mosaic law and render it obsolete. (Hebrews 8-12)
 
PRAYER:
Dear Lord, Help me to respond to your call without hesitation just as Matthew did. Help me, Holy Spirit, to be free from a self-righteousness that would cause me to have contempt for sinners and think that they are unworthy of my friendship.  Help me to be willing to humble myself and reach out to unbelievers with the same love as Jesus showed the “sinners” he sat down and ate with. Thank you for coming to fulfill the “Law and the Prophets”. Thank you for giving your life as a sacrifice to establish a New Covenant which invites all of us to become children of God through placing our trust in Jesus! The days of the law as the motivating force to produce righteousness in me are over! It’s a new day! I now live by grace and the power of the Holy Spirit!