COME PARTY WITH JESUS

Then as JESUS passed on from there, He saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax office. And He said to Him, “FOLLOW ME.” And he arose and followed Him – Matthew 9:9

The Master Jesus was in His own city and had just forgiven and healed a paralytic man, to the chagrin of the scribes and the applause of multitudes: “when the multitudes saw it, they marvelled and glorified God who had given such power to men” (Mt.9:1-8). Whereas the scribes and multitudes differed on this miracle of healing, they viewed tax collectors alike. According to the Jews, tax collectors ranked poorly on the reputation scale. Expectedly, many people must have kept their distance from Matthew the tax collector; virtually everybody except Jesus.

On sighting Matthew, Jesus immediately invited him: “Follow Me…,” “Come, be my disciple…” Matthew got up and followed Him. Luke 5:28 says “he LEFT ALL, rose up, and followed Him”! Today’s social media has popularized the idea of ‘following’ – people crave for followers on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, but none of such followers would ever leave ALL. Yet, what a difference it would make in our world, if all followers of Jesus would be half as passionate as social media or football club followers!

Beyond promptly following the Lord, Mathew organised a dinner for Jesus at his house! Notice, there were two houses in this story. Verse 7 says, “And He (Jesus) arose and departed to His house.” We are not told He dined in His own house, yet He accepted to dine in the house of socially stigmatised Matthew. Luke 5:29 portrays a clearer picture of this party (Matthew is here referred to as Levi): “Then Levi gave Him a GREAT FEAST in his own house. And there were a GREAT NUMBER of tax collectors and others who sat down with them” – a Grand Party with a Large number of Sinners! This tells me: you don’t have to stop liking your friends to follow Jesus. Simply invite them to party with Jesus!

What a party! A party filled with mostly people of vain language, weird attires, and loose morals; but they were Matthew’s friends. But think of it: what a great idea, for Matthew to have invited his friends to meet Jesus! Jesus attended with His disciples! Then, the holier-than-thou Pharisees began to complain to the disciples: “…Why do You eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?” (Lk.5:30). Jesus intervened: “…I have come to call sinners, not those who think they are already good enough” (Mt.9:13 NLT).

The likes of Matthew abound among us. Indeed, there is a ‘Matthew’ in each of us, to whom Jesus is saying “Follow Me.” Have you left ALL to follow Him? Are you inviting your friends to dine with Him? Are you celebrating Jesus in full view of your friends? Beloved, think of all the Lord has done for you, and share Him with your friends, don’t hide him from your friends!