Discipleship and Sinners (Matthew 9:9-13)

Jesus calls Matthew, the traditionally accepted author of this Gospel, to follow Him as a disciple. This is perhaps shocking because Matthew is a tax collector, one of the groups most reviled in Jewish society along with prostitutes and criminals. That Jesus would call a sinner, and not a religious person is a little strange from the religious, Jewish perspective. He then goes on to hang out with a bunch of tax collectors and sinners. The religious leaders don’t understand why a religious teacher would do such a thing.

Jesus answers their concerns by clarifying His ministry and His definition of discipleship. He came to call sinners, not the righteous. Of course, the Biblical message shows us that there are no righteous people, so Jesus did come to call all people to Himself, but the truth is that there are “righteous” people in the world who cannot respond to Jesus’ call: those who are righteous in their own eyes. If you do not see your need for Jesus, if you do not see your own sin, then Jesus didn’t come into the world for you…