Interrupted

I was rereading Matthew 9.9-26 and thinking about how busy Jesus was in a short time. His schedule was pretty packed because His schedule was wrapped up in people. HIs calling wasn’t just to speak to them once a week, but be with them every day. Personally, I would be frustrated to the point I lost sight of what I was doing, and why I was doing it. For the next couple of posts, I plan to explain some principles brought to me in my study that may affect your faith-walk with Him. 

Interruptions are a normal part of life. In fact, the last few weeks have been nothing but interruptions. We have had ice storms, illness, a wedding, the funeral of my father-in-law and many more interruptions and even distractions. This has kept me from posting the last few weeks. Interruptions, much less distractions, always seem to hinder what our normal schedule should dictate. Maybe, just maybe, that is what God is telling us in this passage… that He is working on a different schedule and is interrupting us, on purpose.

As Matthew’s story begins, Jesus, the great physician, and counselor, is busy doing just that… then our story turns into Him doing ‘busy work’ for others. Although it’s not, we would see it as that today. I want you to try and equate what Jesus is doing with people here as what we do with people today (minus the miracles). In our text He is in the process of working with someone about their spiritual condition, then interrupted by a man in need of help for his daughter. Then, on his way to make this emergency house call, a woman touches Him in the crowd and received healing, stopping the Savior in His tracks. Yet through it all Christ seems to handle all of it, finish His tasks, and teach people along the way. This is a normal day in the life of Jesus. In our busy, fearful, wondering lifestyle in North America, maybe we should take some practical notes along with the spiritual…

In our text we have a man that is more hated than anyone of his time… Matthew a taxman. Think about how galling it would be to pay taxes to a foreign government, something just short of blackmail. No one liked this man or his position. Christ was doing what God always does— initiating. Being an initiator, a friend to the friendless, is what He does. Wonder if I should start my day out that way?  

Our first interruption is at Matthew’s job-site. He is at work, interrupted by Jesus. Note the differences in the Gospels where he is referred to as Levi and Matthew. Levi was his name before this encounter with Jesus, from then on he is referred to as Matthew. The old man was changed to the new man (identity change=good interruption). 

Matthew is collecting taxes for Rome, the hated conqueror. As such, he is barred from the synagogue. According to the Jewish Torah he is lumped together with robbers and murderers. So he is someone who is not only loathed, but hated just as much as the conquerors for which he collects the taxes. 

Tax collectors were hated. A man bought the right to collect the taxes within a certain district; he was responsible to the Roman government for an agreed sum; anything he could raise over and above that he was allowed to keep as commission. Obviously this system lent itself to grave abuses. People did not really know how much they ought to pay in those days.  The consequence was that many a tax-collector became a wealthy man through his illegal extortion…

These tax-gatherers were universally hated. They had entered the service of their country’s conquerors, and they amassed their fortunes at the expense of their country’s misfortunes…They were notoriously dishonest. Not only did they fleece their own countrymen, but they also did their best to swindle the government. They made a flourishing income by taking bribes from rich people who wished to avoid taxes which they should have paid. The Jews were fanatical nationalists, but what roused the Jews more than anything else was their religious conviction that God alone was king, and that to pay any taxes to any mortal ruler was an infringement of God’s rights and an insult to His majesty. By Jewish law a tax-gatherer was debarred from the synagogue; he was included with things and beasts unclean, and Leviticus 20.5 was applied to him; he was forbidden to be a witness in any case; “robbers, murderers and tax-gatherers” were classed together. 

When Jesus called Matthew, He called a man whom all men hated. There are some easy principles to learn: 1) Christ loves the hated. Isn’t it nice to know that our savior doesn’t mind if He was as critical as we are about who serves Him, there would be no Matthew, there would be no me! 2) Christ calls the hated. Here we see Christ calling another Disciple, Matthew, but how does He do it… what prerequisites does He make? Simple…follow me. This is simply how He calls and still does today, so first learn to follow.

I think it’s completely crazy how ‘prerequisites’ have become the norm today. The various ‘conditions’ put on people before they can follow is just flat out wrong. Follow first is  Jesus’ invitation.

Today, Christ is trying to interrupt our lives just as he did with Matthew. Unlike Matthew though, we rarely let Him. Our schedule and organization of life has become pinnacle for us, even ‘spiritual’ in nature, so we think. It is the security in our life, it is the reason we are so ‘productive’, it is after all… what God wants. Pause here to reflect on this. Stop what you’re thinking (defending) and ask yourself believer… are you a follower, for real? Our job becomes our life; our family becomes our life; our goals become our life; our plans become our life. Where is Jesus in all of that? Where is our calling to be “ministers of reconciliation” (2 Corinthians 5)? We think that all our life is conducted by our plans and our agenda, when in fact, all of our life is conducted by God.  

Christ is trying to initiate a fulfilling life with Him, that Heaven would applaud. But, I’m afraid we look at our Savior’s ‘meddling’ as an interruption instead of an opportunity to change.