Matthew 9:10-13“While Jesus was having dinner at Matthew’s house, many tax collectors and ‘sinners’ came and ate with him and his disciples. When the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples, ‘Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and ‘sinners’? “On hearing this Jesus said, ‘It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. But go and learn what this means: I desire mercy, not sacrifice. For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.’”

            Matthew doesn’t give us the details on the people at his party, just that they were publicly known as “sinners.” Maybe there were prostitutes, or at least home-wreckers, at the table. Thieves, dishonest merchants, people who drank too much–all kinds of people could possibly have attended. Missing were the people you saw at the synagogue every Saturday, anyone who valued their reputation.

The Pharisees can’t figure out why Jesus would spend time with people like this, and his answer teaches us a couple of lessons about those he invites to follow him.

Sometimes people have said to me, “Pastor, I have a friend who is a great guy. He’s a great family man. He works hard. He does some great volunteer work. I should try to get him to come to church with me.” Or “Pastor, I work with a woman who is one of the most caring and faithful people I have ever met. She is always doing something for other people. I’m going to invite her some Sunday.” By all means, invite your well-behaved friend. But don’t introduce them to Jesus as though Jesus were running a club for people with better-than average morals.

Invite them because underneath the pious and upright exterior they suffer from spiritual terminal illness, and Jesus is the only one who can heal their sin-sick souls. Invite them to find forgiveness for their sins and life that never ends. While you are at it, don’t forget the people you know whose behavior is a questionable, whose morals are a suspect, the obnoxious ones who rub you the wrong way and are frankly hard to like. They need Doctor Jesus, too. He wants to show them mercy. He came to call them to follow him.

Then let’s not miss the lesson Jesus is teaching us about ourselves. If we have been invited to follow him (and we have), then we are the sinners, the sick, the unrighteous Jesus has come to save and heal. Do you suppose that Peter, John, or one of the other disciples at Matthew’s house that day might have heard Jesus say these words and thought to himself, “Hey! Wait a minute! Jesus called me. What’s he saying…that I’m not righteous?”

Exactly! Not in and of ourselves! Near the beginning of our church’s Sunday services the whole congregation says together, “I confess that I am by nature sinful, and that I have disobeyed you in my thoughts, words, and actions. I have done what is evil and failed to do what is good.” What does a first-time visitor think at that point? “What kind of people are these? What have I gotten myself into?” These aren’t theoretical sins we confess that need a theoretical Savior. They are real sins that need a real Savior. That is exactly what we have: a real Savior who takes our sins away. That is exactly the reason Jesus has given us the invitation: Follow me.

So here we go, with Jesus just ahead. Have a nice trip.