The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.
So begins the Gospel that opens the New Testament of the Bible. Eighteen verses in, “Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way…” By the end of the first chapter, the baby boy named Jesus is born, and so on the first book of the New Testament continues for another twenty-seven chapters.
Could I encourage you to pause for a moment and think about another name? We don’t read this name in Chapter 1, 2, or 3. In fact, it doesn’t show up until Chapter 9, a third of the way through the story. But it is the name attached to this first book of the New Testament. The Gospel of Matthew.
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.” (9:9-13)
The author of the Gospel that opens the New Testament of the Bible was a tax collector, and if you know anything about the tax collectors of first-century Judea, you know they weren’t popular. Many of them were Jews, serving as representatives of the Roman Empire, extorting their own people to the tune of great personal financial gain. Tax collectors were despised, hated by their own, regarded as traitors, and routinely spoken of in terms of “the worst.” When Jesus himself wanted to make a point in his most famous sermon, he asked, “Do not even tax collectors do the same?” (Matt 5:46). Even tax collectors. When some wanted to paint Jesus in the worst possible light, they described him as “a friend of tax collectors and sinners” (11:19). When teaching his disciples how to relate to an unrepentant brother, Jesus described a point where such a one may have to be regarded “as a Gentile and a tax collector” (18:17), but he also told unbelieving chief priests and elders of the people that some tax collectors and prostitutes would “go into the kingdom of God before” them (21:31-32) because they were willing to listen, believe, and turn. That wasn’t just a theoretical illustration.
One very real, ordinary day in Capernaum, a tax collector named Matthew saw Jesus. For some reason, Jesus turned to him, looked him in the eye, and said, “Follow me.” And Matthew did. His life would never be the same. Much more than that, the Lord would use his life–his heart, talents, background, education, connections, time, potential, and faith–to change the lives of … how many over the next 2,000 years? Jesus called Matthew, Matthew followed, and eventually compiled a book of the Bible we can read today to be introduced to, hear, and follow the same Jesus who said in Matthew’s house, “I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.”
The Lord Jesus can change anyone’s life, and he can subsequently use that life to impact an untold numbers of lives. The living proof is all around us.
Over the next seven weeks, we’ll read Matthew’s Gospel. As we do, by all means, let’s watch, listen carefully to, and learn from Jesus. But let’s also remember whose eyes we’re watching through. At one point, he was just another traitor. Unworthy. An outsider. Uninvited. The worst. But Jesus invited, Matthew followed, and the rest is God-shaped history.
What an immeasurable gift to be able to carry the beginning of the good news as shared by Matthew in your heart today!
Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. And her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly. But as he considered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet:
“Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son,
and they shall call his name Immanuel”
(which means, God with us). When Joseph woke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him: he took his wife, but knew her not until she had given birth to a son. And he called his name Jesus. (1:18-25)