Matthew 9:9-13 - 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 he rose and followed Him. And as Jesus reclined at table in the house, behold, many tax collectors and sinners came and were reclining with Jesus and His disciples. And when the Pharisees saw this, they said to His disciples, "Why does your Teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?" But when He heard it, He said, "Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. Go and learn what this means: 'I desire mercy, and not sacrifice.' For I came not to call the righteous, but sinners."

I really think one of the problems that we have in evangelism today is that we are afraid to get dirty. We want our non-Christian friends and family to come to faith in Jesus—but to do it on our terms. We want them to ask, "Could I visit your church sometime?" And we say yes, and they show up on time in their good clothes, and then they tell us how impressed they were by the sermon, and a couple weeks later they get baptized. All very clean and comfortable.

But that's not what happens when Jesus calls Matthew to follow Him. To start with, Matthew is sitting at his tax collector's booth—in exactly the place where he does his dirty work all the time. Tax collectors cheated people, and they were also collaborators with the Roman government.

Okay, fine. At least Matthew is going to leave that yucky stuff behind, right? Um, no. Because the first thing he does is to invite Jesus home for a party—and who else is at that party? Exactly who you'd expect—notorious sinners like other tax collectors, prostitutes, and shady businessmen, crooked cops, maybe even a Gentile or two! And the "good people" of Jesus' day are shocked.

But Jesus has a perfectly logical response: "Go and learn what this means: 'I desire mercy, and not sacrifice.' For I came not to call the righteous, but sinners." If you want to bring sinners to faith, you have to go where the sinners are. You need to be with them and love them, just as Jesus did. And if that means staying close to them while they deal with uncomfortable situations like addiction, divorce, job losses, or sickness and death, then that's the way you love them.

Because that's the way Jesus loved us—and still loves us, every day of our lives. He came into our broken world as a tiny baby and slept in an animal's feeding box. He grew up to care for broken people—the sick, the hurting, the outcasts, the unwanted. He died for them and for us on a cross outside the city—out where the rejects go. And He rose from the dead to give us new life forever—no longer rejected, unwanted people, but as God's beloved children, welcome to Him forever.

WE PRAY: Lord, live in me and welcome people through me—especially the ones I would rather reject. Amen.

This Daily Devotion was written by Dr. Kari Vo.

Reflection Questions:

1. What kind of people make you automatically go "Eww, yuck!" when you have to deal with them?

2. What is the difference between being close to sinners (as Jesus was) and taking part in their sins?

3. How do you avoid sinning while loving and welcoming people in a way that they themselves will recognize as love?

Today's Bible Readings: Psalms 143-145    John 18:1-18

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