Matthew 9:9-13 - by Don Neuendorf
Today I'm starting to work on this text for my sermon this coming weekend. I find the hardest Scriptures to preach about are those that seem the simplest and most straightforward. After all, what's left to say?
Jesus tells Matthew to follow him. Matthew does. Some people don't like it because Matthew is a tax collector. Jesus tells them that he came for people like that, for sinners, which is something we already know, right?
But...
I find it interesting that when Jesus called Matthew he didn't lead him directly into some enormous challenge. The call is so dramatic. Matthew's courage is so evident, to leave his business, to acknowledge by his action his need of forgiveness. And yet, to what does Jesus call him?
A dinner party in his own home.
Many Christians don't really think of themselves as being "called" - and yet we confess in our Small Catechism that we have been "called, gathered, enlightened, and sanctified" by the Holy Spirit. God has summoned us... but to what?
Could it be that he has called you to the very place you are now? And that there are opportunities before you to testify to Jesus' mercy?