Sinners: Experience God’s Compassion in Your ShameSample

Leaving Your Security Behind to Follow Jesus

My husband, Aaron, sold cars right out of college and into our early years of marriage. When we’d tell our friends and family what we were up to, we got a lot of confused looks in response to Aaron’s profession. But of all the reactions, one stands out the most.

I was working at a marketing firm when a client—a professor—asked me more about myself. I shared that I was a new seminary student and that my husband also had plans to start seminary, which, of course, led to the question of what Aaron was doing in the meantime. I thought the professor would slide out of his chair and melt into the ground, losing consciousness at my answer. He was mortified. And he told me why: Car salesmen are “slick.”

In the first century, tax collectors fell into similarly dehumanizing stereotypes. They were least liked by the religious elite and considered unclean and unrighteous sinners. That’s why Jesus’ invitation to Matthew—to join Jesus’ inner circle as a disciple—is so astonishing. This is the story of a man who likely carried a lot of shame and experienced a lot of rejection because of his job. He was absolutely a religious outsider and viewed as a “sinner.” And yet, he ended up leaving behind the security of extortion and taxation to start a new life.

Right before this scene, Matthew includes a story about Jesus healing a paralytic man on a stretcher. In fact, all the stories between Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount in Matthew chapters 5 through 7 and this moment are accounts of Jesus healing someone who approached him:

• Jesus healed a man with leprosy (Matthew 8:2-4)
• Jesus healed a centurion’s paralyzed servant (Matthew 8:5-13)
• Jesus healed Peter’s mother-in-law (Matthew 8:14-15)
• Jesus healed many demon-possessed people (Matthew 8:16-17)
• Jesus healed two demon-possessed men in the Gadarenes (Matthew 8:28)
• Jesus healed the paralyzed man on the stretcher (Matthew 9:1-8)

Matthew’s making a point. The same Jesus preaching about the Kingdom of God brought heaven to earth through his healing ministry. And Matthew was no exception to this healing. He had no outward ailments, but he needed to heal from shame.

If you need a redo, a total overhaul of your life, you’re in good company with Matthew. The New Testament Gospel shows us that following Jesus will be scary, unpredictable, risky, dangerous, and confusing. But it will always lead to love. Following Jesus will also be fulfilling, joyful, surprising, and encouraging. Best of all, following Jesus means you’ll be close to him. This man never jeers at women, oppresses the weak, or excludes the repentant sinner. This man who gives away his power washes the feet of his loved ones and gives his own life so that we can live. Follow that guy.

Prayer: God of New Starts, Help me to see the ways that Your Son’s life on this earth revealed Your desire to be close to me. Give me the courage to follow you even when it’s risky. Amen.