Becoming Love: If We Start at Finish, Where Do We End? (Part 2)Намуна

Day Eight - Calling Matthew, the Tax Collector

Have you ever looked at someone and thought, "Is there hope for someone like him?"

We are looking at a beautiful story in Matthew 9. Jesus calls Matthew to follow him as one of His disciples, but this man is a tax collector, someone seen as corrupt, greedy, and a traitor to his own people. In that time and culture, Matthew was considered someone who was “too far gone, a betrayer, a person beyond hope”. Yet Jesus doesn’t avoid him. He walks right up to him and says, “Follow me,” and later that same day, He’s at Matthew’s house sharing a meal with other tax collectors and “sinners”.

Do you see what happens here?

Jesus didn’t say “follow me” while standing outside the mess Matthew was in; He entered his mess and walked him out of it. Jesus becomes love for Matthew by entering his home. Jesus walks into his life, the life of rejection, isolation, and shame. Where society saw a cheat, Jesus saw hope, knowing his shame would lead to a life of celebration. Jesus’ invitation was a way out of his mess into a redefined life, one of new identity and fulfilment.

By associating with a tax collector, Jesus puts his own reputation on the line. But his love for Matthew was greater than his need for a good reputation. Jesus knew the most loving thing He could do for Matthew was to associate with him, as Jesus would one day experience what it fully means to be “despised and rejected by many”. This love changes Matthew forever.

And here’s the kicker: Jesus invites us to be love just as He was love for Matthew on that day. We’re called to see beyond people’s reputations and what loving someone back to life would do to our reputation. Jesus invites us to love those labelled “beyond hope,” and to pull up a chair at their table, their lives, their community.

Who in your life has been written off or overlooked because of their history, status, or reputation? How can you move closer to them instead of pushing them away?

Maybe it’s as simple as inviting them for a meal. Or better yet, saying yes to their invitation to grab a seat at their table. Imagine what God could do through that kind of love!