Twelve
Ordinary Men: The Tax Collector
Pastor Mathew Magera – 3/11/18 – Sermon 276
St. Thomas Lutheran Church, Trufant, MI
To God be the Glory!
Grace and peace to you from
God our Father, from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit.
Amen.
Many of us here are cradle
Christians. We have been a Christian our entire life, going to worship either
every Sunday or fairly regularly. Others of us started off as Christians, faded
away for a time and then came back perhaps many years later. Still others of us
are fairly new to this church thing and may have only come upon Christianity
more recently. No matter which of these categories you fall into, we all tend
to have those periods of life when we fall away from God or deliberately walk
away. As we will see in Matthew's story, it appears that no matter how far from
God you are, he can always reach you.
Matthew may also be known by
his Jewish name, Levi. He wrote the Gospel that bears his own name but he was
never over confident in himself, having only mentioned himself twice in his own
writing. Matthew was a tax collector. This may be the only thing we know about
him. Matthew has what might be the last credential we'd expect to see on the
resume of a disciple of Jesus. Tax collectors were not well liked in society,
even despised by Israel. In fact, tax collectors may have been hated more than
the Roman soldiers that occupied their land.
Tax collectors were people
who "bought tax franchises from the Roman emperor and then extorted money
from the people of Israel to feed the Roman coffers and to pad their own
pockets. They often strong-armed money out of people with the use of thugs.
Most were despicable, vile, unprincipled scoundrels."[1]
There were two categories of
tax collectors. The first category collected property taxes, income taxes, poll
taxes, etc. These taxes were all set amounts and were regulated. These tax
collectors were not liked but certainly not as much as the other group. This
second category of tax collectors collected taxes on imports and exports, goods
for trading and just about anything that was moved by road. These tax
collectors set tolls on roads and bridges, they taxed large animals, axles on
wagons, tariffs on cargo, letters and whatever else they determined could be
taxable. Of course, these type of taxes were not fixed amounts and could vary
at will. Within this group, the chief tax collectors stayed behind the scenes
and hired others to go out and collect these taxes. If you remember the name
Zacchaeus, he was one of these chief tax collectors. The people who were hired
by these chief tax collectors, like Matthew, manned a tax office where they
dealt with people face to face. These were the worst of the worst. Greed paid
well but could the paycheck be worth all the hate you would receive from your
clients?
Being a greedy tax
collector, willingly subjecting himself to sinful behavior, Matthew was
forbidden from entering a synagogue. He was unable to complete any necessary
sacrifices. Matthew, as a tax collector, while also being Jewish by birth, had
essentially cut himself off from his own people, choosing greed. Not only did
he cut himself off from his own people to pursue this greed, he, as a result,
had cut himself off from his own God as well. In a religious sense, he was
worse than a Gentile, someone who wasn't even Jewish.
Matthew had rejected God.
Knowing he could be better off without God, he left his religion and pursued a
life with the low lifes, other tax collectors, prostitutes and drunks. Certainly
he thought this lifestyle was more fulfilling for him than being a poor Jew.
Who needs God anyway especially with his financial future? It probably started
slow too. An few extra coins here and there. But, when the profit started to
grow, he likely became more interested. After that, it is just a slow path
down, always hungry for more.
Jack and Frank had not seen
each other in quite some time. One day they met and sat down for lunch. Jack
looked rather depressed. Frank quickly recognized this and decided to ask about
it. “Hey friend, why do you look like the world is caving in?”
Jack replied, “Let me tell
you. Three weeks ago, I received a phone call saying that one of my uncles died
and he left me $50,000”
“Oh, I’m very sorry to hear
that, but it sounds like he was very generous,” Frank replied.
Jack interrupted, “Hold on,
I’m just getting started. Two weeks ago, I got another phone call letting me
know a cousin of mine, who I haven’t seen in decades, died unexpectedly.”
“That’s awful,” Frank
sighed.
“Yeah, and he left me
$100,000.”
Frank’s eye lit up. “That’s
pretty great. I’d sure like to be in your shoes.”
“Well, I’m not done yet,” Jack
said. “Last week, I got a phone call saying my dear grandfather passed away and
he left me close to a million dollars.” Now Jack was really welling up with
emotion.
Frank replied, “I’m sorry
that you have lost so much but it sounds to me like they left you quite a bit
to live on. Why do you look so sad?”
The tears started rolling and
Jack replied, “This week… I didn’t get a single phone call.”
Matthew chapter 9 represents
just how far into greed one can fall. It shows how far you can walk away from
God. At the same time it also represents just how far God's reach actually is.
All it takes is one verse, just one verse to change everything around. It seems
almost impossible. "As Jesus went on from there, he saw a man named
Matthew sitting in the tax collector's booth. “Follow me,” he told him, and
Matthew got up and followed him."
It's always challenging to
wonder if this interaction was legitimately this quick. Follow me. Okay. If you
were in a situation where you had walked away from God for a time, or maybe you
feel like you are still there, you would probably say this interaction between
Jesus and Matthew is nothing but a fantasy. It would be great if there was a
drastic change of heart that caused for a quick conversion like this but it
just doesn't seem to be our reality. If anything, the conversion away from God
is quick like this, but the return is anything but smooth sailing.
We'll come back to that.
First, after Jesus calls Matthew, Matthew feels the desire to have Jesus over
for dinner, to have a meal in his honor. It says that many tax collectors and
sinners came and ate with Jesus and his disciples. Matthew had invited many
other of his colleagues and scoundrels and social outcasts. His first instinct,
like many of the other disciples, is to bring his closest friends to Jesus.
Matthew's closest friends were the outliers in society. His only contacts were
those who were also rejects or drop outs. He had no other friendships but
these. Who else would associate with a tax collector?
Of course this makes the
Pharisees unhappy. Why would Jesus, this prophet they heard about, be eating
with tax collectors and sinners? As Jesus then says, "It is not the
healthy who need a doctor but the sick." He continues to say, "For I
have come not to call the righteous, but sinners." Jesus can't do anything
for the Pharisees. As long as they insisted upon being pious and hypocritical, there
was no hope for them. Only when you are prepared to confess sin are you
prepared for the coming forgiveness. This is the point we need to remember. Only
when you are prepared to confess sin are you prepared for the coming
forgiveness. Matthew's quick conversion from tax collector to follower of Jesus
shows us not just that it was a quick one two punch but that Matthew was
prepared to confess his sin. Something wasn't quite right with Matthew when
Jesus came to his office. Matthew was hungry for something his money couldn't
buy. He was yearning for a freedom that could not be purchased with his
fortunes.
It must have stunned Matthew
to have been chosen by Jesus like this. Why would a Jew, a rumored prophet and
Messiah, go anywhere near him who was publicly rejecting the faith he was
brought up in? Matthew was a lost cause, a soiled diaper, a dirty glass. Surely
Matthew knew the implications of following Jesus too. There would be no going
back to this profession. With the greed that was overpowering Israel, there
would have been a long line of succession following Matthew if he got up and
walked out of his career. Yet, Jesus calls and Matthew follows. Matthew had
discovered something that was more life-giving than money. Matthew had
rediscovered his benevolent God once again. The only thing we can attribute to
Matthew getting up so quickly to follow Jesus is that he was spiritually
hungry. Something was missing in his life and he wanted to get it back again.
Jesus must've been pretty convincing to show that he held within himself that
missing piece Matthew was seeking.
Matthew knows the Old
Testament too. In his own Gospel, he quotes it 99 times. This is more than
Mark, Luke and John combined. Matthew must have been feeling this spiritual
emptiness for quite some time but felt there was no advantage to returning to
the faith he had once rejected. Would they even let him back in? What would
they say if he purged himself of sin and tried to walk back into the synagogue
on the Sabbath? What would the greeters say? "Well, look who it is. We
haven't seen you darken the church doors in quite some time." What if he
sat in somebody's seat? What if someone told him to move because he was sitting
in somebody's seat? Perhaps it wasn't worth the risk for Matthew to get up and
leave his post wondering how his return to faith might go.
This is what goes through
the minds of those who aren't regular church goers. They would rather stay home
than face the remarks made to them if they were to come. They don't want the
added conviction and so they stay home, confused as to what to do. Maybe that
was you too if you were away for quite some time, even a few weeks. People
seriously wonder about these questions and it plagues them.
Matthew must have decided to
start studying the Old Testament on his own since he knew he wouldn't get the
opportunity to hear it read in worship. This must've been the best he could do
to fill that spiritual void in his life, until Jesus came, that is. Only when
Jesus would walk into his life, into his circumstances, into his sin, only when
Jesus would come to him specifically and say "follow me" would
Matthew then get up and leave his past behind him and follow.
Matthew felt the call to
forgiveness. Matthew felt the call to freedom and he took Jesus' hand and he
got up and he followed him, gave a banquet in his honor for being the one who
would take a chance on a lowly sinful scoundrel like himself.
Forgiveness is a theme that runs
deep here. Matthew knew his sin, greed and betrayal of the faith. He was guilty
of extortion, oppression and abuse. But, he knew there was a promise of
forgiveness in Jesus' words, "follow me." This same forgiveness
should be a theme that runs deep in our congregation and in our community. We
have heard that call from Jesus and we are here. No matter what our
circumstances were this morning when we woke up, we are here. The pain may have
been too great for you. Perhaps there was no money for you to put in the
offering plate. Maybe you weren't sure you were worthy to be here. But, here
you are. Jesus called you to this place of worship this morning and you rose up
and followed him. Thanks be to God for that call and for his promise of
forgiveness that is for you. No matter how far you walk away from God, you are
not out of his reach. No matter how far you walk away from God, Jesus' calling
of Matthew confirms that you are not without hope of being brought back.
This is Matthew's story.
"He knew the Old Testament, he believed in God, he looked for the Messiah,
he dropped everything immediately when he met Jesus, and in the joy of his
new-found relationship, he embraced the outcasts of his world and introduced
them to Jesus."[2]
About 20 years after the
resurrection, Matthew wrote his Gospel with a Jewish audience in mind, the same
audience he once rejected. He taught and ministered to Jews for many years
before being supposedly burned at the stake as a martyr, though there is no
clear evidence of his method of execution.
What is clear is that his
faith was restored by Jesus. The promise overtook him and it became part of his
life. Jesus restores our faith as well and we can be sure that that same
promise of hope, salvation and forgiveness surrounds us, so that like Matthew,
when we are hungry for something more that this life cannot give us, we can
rise up at his calling and we can follow him into the way of everlasting life.
To God be the glory, now and always. Amen.[3]
[1]
MacArthur, John. Twelve Ordinary Men. Nashville,
TN: Thomas Nelson, 2002. Pg. 152.
[2]
MacArthur, John. Twelve Ordinary Men. Nashville,
TN: Thomas Nelson, 2002. Pg. 156.
[3]
Some content from: MacArthur, John. Twelve
Ordinary Men. Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2002.