Deep Ponderings

I was listening to a friend of mine talking the other day about Jesus. He pointed out something that I found very interesting. Now when I say that he pointed out something that was very interesting, you need to know that what I am really saying (in super-secret Christian code) is that he said something that convicted me. But, of course, being a pastor and all I shouldn’t be convicted because pastors don’t sin and if they do, well they get fired for being a “sinful pastor” and especially in this economy pastors don’t want to go around getting themselves fired just willy-nilly.

So like I was saying, my friend shared something about Jesus that I found very interesting. He was talking about Jesus’ encounter with Levi (Matthew) as recorded in Matthew 9:9-13 and then in Luke 5:27-32. First, we see in Luke the line, “After this he went out and saw a tax collector named Levi sitting at the tax booth. And he said to him, ‘Follow me.’” Jesus saw a tax collector, so says Luke.

Next my friend contrasted Mathew’s version of this encounter from his own perspective. In Matthew 9:9 we read, “As Jesus passed on from there, he saw a man called Matthew sitting at the tax booth, and he said to him, ‘Follow me’”.

And here is where my friend pointed out the “interesting” part. You see, in Luke’s version of the story. Jesus saw “a tax collector”. In Matthew’s account, what stood out to him in his retelling of his own story was that Jesus saw “a man”.

“Yep, that’s Bob. He’s an accountant.” “There’s Sue. She is a nurse.” Okay, an accountant and a nurse are actually in an acceptable crowd of people. Let’s try this. “Yep, there’s Bob. He’s a truck driver. Smells like stale coffee and cigarettes most of the time, at least when it’s not hunting season.” “There’s Sue. She’s actually a thief. Heard she got caught shoplifting just last week down at Macy’s. I actually saw her using a food stamps card at Publix the other day too.”

Why must I see titles? Why must we be relegated to what we do as opposed to who we are? What would it be like when I go out to eat, instead of seeing my “server”, I saw a single mom trying to make extra cash because her husband hasn’t sent a child support payment in five years? What if, instead of seeing the “trouble kid” in the neighborhood we saw the young man that no one has ever given anything but criticism. He feels himself worthless and sees the only way out as numbing the pain with self medication or possibly with suicide? Why must we assign an individuals worth depending on their perceived place in our maddeningly prevalent and completely unbiblical social constructs?

Matthew was an outcast among his people. He collected taxes for the Romans, the occupying forces who ruled over the Jews. He worked as a traitor for the occupiers. It was also common practice for tax collectors of the day to skim off the top to line their own pockets. Not only was he a traitor, but he was also a cheat and a thief. Yet Jesus, passing by along the way looked over and saw a man. And because Jesus saw a man, we see Jesus through the gospel of Matthew, a man changed and used greatly in the kingdom. How have I handicapped the kingdom of God because of my lack of vision? Who have I passed by who could have been used greatly within God’s body?

Yes, I believe in the sovereignty of God and confess that He is firmly in control of everything. He is plenty big enough to make up for my shortcomings. But my correct theology should never be a blanket with which I seek to hide or disguise my sin, err, I mean those things that I find "interesting".