But He’s...'One of Them'
Matthew 9:9 And as Jesus passed forth from thence, he saw a man, named Matthew, sitting at the receipt of custom: and he saith unto him, Follow me. And he arose, and followed him.
In our text today, we find Jesus in his initial encounter with another one of his apostles. From a worldly perspective, Jesus had terrible judgement in promoting followers to key positions. Have you ever looked at the list of apostles?
Matthew wasn’t like the others. He wasn’t just an uneducated, unsophisticated, run-of-the-mill, blue collar type. He was a tax collector!
In the Jewish society, in the days of Jesus, tax collectors were not just representatives of “The Man”. They were viewed as full on traitors. The land of Palestine was ruled by the Roman government at the time, so any taxes that were collected were gathered to support the Roman government. The romans used Jews within their own country to collect the taxes from their own people. Those Jewish taxes collectors were hated for being traitors and supporting their enemies!
And that is who Jesus chose to be one of the leaders of his movement!
While from a worldly standpoint, Jesus had rotten judgement, from a Godly perspective, Jesus knew exactly what he was doing! This kind of choice is why I love serving Jesus! He saw a broken man that wanted to change, and gave him the opportunity to change his life and the life of others. Matthew took full advantage of his opportunity.
Jesus sees potential in you… regardless of how broken you think you are. He has given you the same opportunity of redemption that Matthew had…. Will you Follow Him?
Reflecting the SON,
Dennis Hogan
Questions, comments or further explanation? Contact me at: dennis.hogan@icloud.com
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