Matthew 9:9–13 (ESV) — 9 As Jesus passed on from there, he saw a man called
Matthew sitting at the tax booth, and he said to him, “Follow me.” And he rose
and followed him.
10 And as Jesus reclined at table in the house, behold, many tax
collectors and sinners came and were reclining with Jesus and his disciples. 11 And when the Pharisees saw this, they said to his disciples, “Why does
your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?” 12 But when he heard it, he said, “Those who are well have no need of a
physician, but those who are sick. 13 Go and learn what
this means: ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice.’ For I came not to call the
righteous, but sinners.”
NOTE: This section
continues a section on Jesus' authority. And one has to ask, if that is the
author's intent, what authority is on display? We have already seen his
authority over people. I think this goes much deeper than people but to
culture. In the Jewish culture, the religious people and the extreme patriots
would avoid the tax collectors. They made money off the people by working for
the controlling power. Hence, they were considered the worst of sinners because
they worked for the enemy. Jesus does not endorse Matthew's occupation and he
may even be condemning it by saying that those who are "sick" need a
physician. Jesus goes against the religious culture and eats with tax
collectors and sinners. Jesus reaches out to society's shamed. Jesus breaks the
cultural rules of social etiquette by loving all people, independent of who
they are or what they do. I could see Jesus reaching out to the homosexual or
the transvestite of today, not endorsing their sin, but making contact and
friendship with them as people made in the image of God. Jesus was not
constrained by religious or societal culture. He has authority over all. Do we
love all people, or do we let religious culture dictate our society?
No comments:
Post a Comment