Walking through town, Jesus did the one thing no one expected (again).
The teacher and his swarm of followers passed by Matthew sitting at his tax collector’s desk. Then; as if he was asking for a cup of water, Jesus looked at him and said, “Follow me!” Matthew got straight up, left everything sitting there, and followed him. Craziest thing you ever saw. He just got up, and left everything.
Jesus’ swarm had turned into a ruckus possie by dinner time at Matthew’s house.
It seemed like every misfit in town was there, and… what a party! With all that going on around him, Jesus seemed perfectly content to sit – kicking back at the table in the house with joy and love pouring out of him.
People groups who are forced to live subjugated to an outside authority know that the only thing worse than that foreign enemy’s rule – is the guy next door who profits from enforcing the oppressor’s rule. Tax collectors were those people.
There seemed to be a separate gathering building up, outside of Matthew’s place (made up of those whose power Jesus threatened). These powerful leaders were mumbling and murmuring about how they caught Jesus breaking the law. They knew that they had him!
With that gut-wrenching annoyance of self-exalting superiority… they spoke up to some of us there – asking what Jesus thought he was doing?
Jesus overheard them, and answered, “Those who are healthy don’t need a doctor. However; those who are sick – do.
Then, as if he was quoting a children’s lesson from his favorite home state’s prophet, he explained, “Here; you go and figure out what this means, ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice.’ And as they were calculating what theological track would help them win this exchange, brought it home with, “Because.. I have not come to call those who see themselves as having it all together, but for those who know that they do wrong – to turn away from knowingly doing wrong.”
With another debate ending silence, the party had morphed into side conversations of identifying with one side or the other; joy, or pain.
________
It did not take too many days until that murmur grew into a scheme.
Like children crying “NOT FAIR” at playtime, John’s followers and the religious elite were fasting (like they did all the time), and Jesus’ crew was eating and drinking… and even allowing the outcast to follow with the godly.
Jesus said to them, “Can you make the wedding party fast and mourn, as long as the groom is with them? As long as they have the groom with them, they can’t fast!
We could already start to see the crowd’s faces separate into those who hoped in God, and those whose certainty in themselves was being threatened; as he continued, “But, the days will come when the groom will be taken away from them… and then they will fast – in those days.” Breaking into parable, he taught,
- “No one sews a piece of new cloth onto old clothes, or else the patch shrinks and the new tears away from the old, and a worse hole is made.”
- “No one puts new wine into old wineskins, or else the new wine will bust the skins… and the wine will be spilled… and the skins ruined. No one, having drunk old wine, immediately desires new. Rather he says, ‘The old is better.’ No, new wine must be put into fresh wine skins, and both are preserved.”
The party eventually wound down, and (as incredible as that night was) the second of the four main yearly holidays was just around the corner.
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Jesus Words 11
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This post includes all Jesus’ words from:
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Bible Dictionary: a list of Bible words and phrases (typically Jesus’ words) which don’t have clear meaning when used in daily talk, and are simplified / culturally paraphrased in this story – in pursuit of understanding.
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