Bring Them Along

Author: Joseph

Date: April 5, 2020

Matthew was sitting in a tax collector’s booth when Yeshua called him, saying, “Follow Me!” (Matthew 9:9). Matthew was a tax collector. Tax collectors were considered evil men, not only because taxes were a cause of financial annoyance, but because tax collectors often falsely demanded more taxes than what were actually being demanded by the governing authority. The price-up in taxes they would keep for themselves and this was well-known among the people. The people were left with no choice but to heed the tax collector since only they knew what amount was required.

We do not know if Matthew acted righteously or not as a tax collector, but he immediately left his post and followed after Yeshua. He was forever changed in that moment. The Messiah Himself had called Matthew to join Him in His work and he was thankful because of it.

"...delight in the call to God’s kingdom..."

When Matthew got up from his tax booth and followed Yeshua, he then brought Yeshua and His disciples into his own home, giving “a big reception for Him… [among] a great crowd of tax collectors and other people” (Luke 5:29). Matthew wanted to show hospitality to Yeshua and His disciples and, at the same time, bring people he knew to meet them and hear the message of God’s kingdom that Yeshua was proclaiming.

Matthew understood and practiced two things after he encountered Yeshua. The first is that the kingdom of God was worth clinging to and contributing to. The disciples carried the good news of God’s kingdom and new life to be found in following Him. Yeshua asked Matthew to follow Him and become like them, doing the same, and living the same way. Surely Matthew was a wealthy man, but being wealthy did not hinder him from seeing something of greater worth: the kingdom of God. He was willing to set aside his wealthy position to come alongside Yeshua. Matthew may have enjoyed his wealth and position while it lasted, but he knew it would not last forever even if he tried to hold onto it. The kingdom of God, on the contrary, is eternal. None of Matthew’s loyalty or generosity to the kingdom of God would go to waste.

The second thing Matthew understood and practiced after His calling was that the kingdom of God was worth sharing with others, even if they rejected it. Matthew did not sit alone at home with Yeshua and His disciples. Matthew invited everyone he knew to his home to hear Yeshua’s message and to commune among the disciples, hoping that they, too, would seek the kingdom of God and follow after Yeshua. Matthew invited tax collectors and a variety of others from all sorts of backgrounds, even causing Yeshua and His disciples to receive criticism from the Pharisees for the type of people in his home (Matthew 9:11; Mark 2:16; Luke 5:30). Yeshua was steadfast in his defense of Matthew and the others that he invited, telling the Pharisees that it was the spiritually ill (the sinners, the lost) who needed to hear the news of the kingdom of God and receive healing (Matthew 9:12).

Yeshua called Matthew and brought him along with Him. Matthew, taking delight in the call to God’s kingdom, invited others to hear as well. Bring others along with you, the disciple of Yeshua, and member of God’s kingdom. The kingdom of God will last forever, but the things of this world will fade away, along with all those who are not in God’s kingdom. Have mercy on those around you, just as Yeshua did with Matthew and his guests, and tell them about the kingdom of God and the new life they can find in it.

Matthew 9:9-13

Scripture quotations taken from the New American Standard Bible® (NASB). www.lockman.org