Follow Me

Read Matthew 9:9-17.

When we realize Matthew has grouped all of these healing stories together, even the stories that don't seem to be healings take on a whole new light. These two stories, for instance: the calling of Matthew and the question about fasting. They both center around the main hope for healing: Jesus' call to "follow me."

In the first story, Jesus calls a tax collector to be a part of his merry band of disciples. Tax collectors were, in the first century, the worst of the worst. (Do we consider them any differently today? They just don't sit by the road anymore like Matthew did and collect the tax--probably for good reason!) Notice how, when Jesus goes to dinner at Matthew's house, the Pharisees (the good "church people" of the day) describe tax collectors in the same breath as "sinners." As far as they are concerned, Matthew and his ilk are beyond hope, beyond help. (It says something that they were more concerned about criticizing who Jesus was hanging out with than they were with reaching those folks.) So watch as Jesus uses a healing metaphor to describe what he is doing: "It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick" (9:12). In other words, I can't bring healing if I'm not around sick people. I can't being salvation if I'm not around people who are lost. Healing and salvation are closely linked. In his invitation to followership, Jesus is offering healing to Matthew's soul, to his sin disease. His unspoken/spoken message: you follow me and you will find the answers you seek, the healing for your soul.

Next, Matthew says, Jesus is confronted by some of John's disciples who are confused why they are fasting and Jesus' disciples are not. Every good religious person fasts, they seem to say. (I get their frustration and confusion; they're fasting while Jesus is feasting! Their stomachs grumble while Jesus' digests. Does that seem fair to you?) Jesus' response is a simple yet complex one: fasting is a sign of mourning. While he is here, he tells them, his disciples will feast. There will be plenty of time for fasting (and mourning) later. Again, his unspoken/spoken message: you follow me and you will find the answers you seek, the healing for your soul.

The questions we have for Jesus all find their answers in him. How many times have I (or you) said, "When I get to heaven, I'm going to ask Jesus about..."? I don't say that anymore, because of stories like this. When I'm in his presence, I don't think the questions I have now will matter all that much anymore. I sort of picture Jesus saying, "Wasn't there something you were going to ask me?" And I'll say, "I don't recall. And it doesn't matter anyway. Everything I've ever wanted I've found since I followed you: the healing for my soul."

Healing is found when we follow him.


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