Set Free
Matthew 9:9-13 As
Jesus went on from there, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax
collector’s booth. “Follow me,” he told him, and Matthew got up and followed
him. 10 While Jesus was having dinner at Matthew’s house, many tax collectors
and “sinners” came and ate with him and his disciples. 11 When the Pharisees
saw this, they asked his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax
collectors and ‘sinners’?” 12 On hearing this, Jesus said, “It is not the
healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. 13 But go and learn what this means: ‘I
desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I have not come to call the righteous, but
sinners.”
WHO do you see when your eyes are focused on someone in
obvious sin? Do you see a “sinner”, or do you see one weighed down with the
burden of sin? There is a huge difference between the two views. With the
former, you are ready to judge, label and dismiss the person. The Pharisees and
the average Jew regarded Matthew, the tax collector, as a “sinner”, and they
judged him an unworthy citizen of Israel.
Jesus, on the
other hand, saw Matthew as a man weighed down in his sin. He understood there
was an oppressed man within this “sinner” framework, and he spoke to release
Matthew from that sin. “Follow me.” he says to Matthew. In the authority of the
Word of God, Matthew went with the Master, and Jesus transformed his life.
Matthew’s home
quickly became a sanctuary for other “sinners”. While the Pharisees labeled,
Jesus healed the men and women oppressed sin. He knows they are made in his
image, so he speaks to set them free.
LIFE Link: Praise Jesus he has come “to release the
oppressed” (Luke 4:18).
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