Matthew 9:9 – “As Jesus passed on from there, He saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax office. And He said to him, ‘Follow Me.’ So he arose and followed Him.”
The calling of Matthew is sandwiched between two interesting stories. The first is about four friends (as told in the gospel of Mark chapter 2) of a paralytic man who bring him to Jesus. Mark says that these four friends let him down on a mat through the roof of the dwelling where Jesus was teaching. Matthew 9:2 says, “When Jesus saw their faith…” (emphasis added). We have no record of these guys saying anything to Jesus. Although Jesus heard nothing from them, He saw something…and what He saw equated to faith on their part. Faith is not only something you say, it’s also something you do. What are we doing that says we have faith?
Then Jesus says something remarkable to the guy who is laying paralyzed on the mat, “Son, be of good cheer; your sins are forgiven you.” That’s different. If I’m the guy on the mat or one of the four friends I would be like, “Uh, that’s not what we came here for.” But as we read the story it’s obvious He didn’t say it for them. Don’t get me wrong. The guy obviously needed forgiveness more than a healing. After all, God knows far better what we need than what we want. But He said it so that the scribes would learn who He really is. When they said negative things within themselves about Jesus it was at that moment Jesus dropped the bomb on them. In essence He said to them, “I said this so that you would know I have authority on earth to forgive sins…” then he turns to the paralyzed guy on the mat and says, “Get up and go home” (my paraphrase).
He then leaves and sees Matthew sitting at the tax booth collecting taxes from people and calls Matthew to follow Him. That’s different.
After that he goes with His disciples to have dinner…a well-deserved meal after a busy day. It’s not just any dinner. It’s a meal with many tax collectors and sinners. The Pharisees are really disturbed by this (as most religious spirits would be) and ask the disciples why Jesus would dine with “such people.” Jesus responded by saying He didn’t come to call people who are “well;” He came to call people who are sick. That’s different.
He ended today’s One Year Bible reading with a teaching about putting new wine into new wineskins. The word “new” means “fresh.” The wine represents the Holy Spirit. If we are going to see real kingdom power operating in the earth today it won’t be through old ways of doing things. It will be through people who embrace a fresh kingdom expression through anointed biblical apostolic new wineskins that are wide open to the Holy Spirit…and That’s Different.