Jesus sees Matthew sitting in the tax booth, and the Lord goes up to him with purpose. Matthew was part of a group known for dishonesty. They are known for pilfering the wallets of their fellow citizens in a “legal” manner. They are considered traitors—often working for the Roman government (or its puppets like the Herods).

As Jesus approaches Matthew, He does something shocking and scandalous. He calls out to the unrighteous fellow, “Follow me; [be one of my disciples].” Matthew stops what he’s doing and follows Jesus. The Lord has called this man of contemptable profession to be an apostle (a stunning move on Jesus’ part).

The Pharisees are really, really confused about Jesus. On the one hand, Jesus preaches much sterner Law than even they do. They preach against physical murder, but Jesus says that if you hate someone in your heart—not just your hands, not just your words, not just your thoughts but—in the very core of your being, then you are guilty of murder. Jesus preaches the Law in such away that nobody walks away without being condemned by His Word.

Yet, on the other hand, the Pharisees are super-duper confused because this strict Law-preacher keeps hanging out with the tax collectors and sinners—the so-called dregs of society. Jesus doesn’t ignore those of ill repute. Today we might think of (well, still tax collectors, yes, but also) maybe lawyers who are sleazy, mechanics who are dishonest, politicians who are corrupt, gang members, drivers who road rage, abusive persons, and so on and so forth. If Jesus were to be physically walking among us and eating supper with these folks, then we well might be tempted to question His motives. Why is He doing that? Why does He waste time with them?

There’s a little part in every person, that wants to think that we are good. There’s at least a little bit of each one of us that likes to think we are less sinful than others. There’s a side of each of us that wants to believe that we are holy, righteous, and pure before God. We want to think that our sins really aren’t all that bad.

Except James tells us, “Whoever keeps the whole Law but fails in one point has become accountable for all of it.” Scripture says if you break just one commandment, you break it all. We all have broken just one commandment. And we all do it every day. Anyone who would deny this, deceives him (or her) self and tries to deceive the Lord.

We are all guilty before the Lord. The tax collectors are guilty. The sinners are guilty. Those of ill repute in our day are guilty. The Pharisees are guilty. And we are guilty. Every man, woman, and child… every senior citizen, middle aged person, twenty-something-year-old, teenager, young child, and infant (born and unborn) are guilty of sin. We all have a sinful nature through which we produce unrighteousness. We are all sinners before God.

The Pharisees were just as sinful as the tax collectors and sinners. The sins may have manifested differently, the sins may have been damaging in this life differently than the sins of a tax collector, but the sins of the Pharisees were still damning. I have heard it said, “Not all sin is equally damaging, but all sin is equally damning.”

This is a warning to us, anytime our sinful hearts might want to think that we are better than others in our standing before God. We must remember that any one of our sins is as equally deserving of hell as the worst of the worst, because any one sin reveals a desire to be godless. We, bluntly speaking, severely deserve every bit of God’s present and eternal punishment.

But the Lord doesn’t rain down fire and brimstone on us as much as we deserve it. He comes to “tax collectors and sinners” like you and me and He eats with us. In fact, He feeds you Himself in Word and Sacrament. He feeds you Himself in His body and blood given and shed for you for the forgiveness of your sins. He is with us in His Supper every bit as much as He was with the “tax collectors and sinners” gathered inside Matthew’s house.

Jesus eats with us “tax collectors and sinners” not because we deserve it, but precisely because we don’t deserve it. “Tax collectors and sinners” know that we don’t deserve it, and we are so very, very thankful that He dines with us. We are very, very thankful that He doesn’t reject us, but that He comes to us. He’s not ashamed to be with us. Jesus eats with us “tax collectors and sinners” in mercy.

Sin is a spiritual illness—a fatal illness. Scripture says that the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately sick. Jesus says, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick.” Jesus is the spiritual Healer. Jesus is the Great Physician. Jesus is the Doctor of the soul. He has come to heal the heart of sin, through the forgiving mercy of His precious blood, shed in sacrifice on the cross for the sins of the whole world. No one need be excluded.

Anyone (any sinner no matter how “bad”) can receive the mercy of the doctor. There’s really only one way not to receive the Lord’s healing. Only those who reject His diagnosis and treatment miss out on His merciful healing. For those who think they are well—those who think they are without sin, those who think they don’t need Jesus, those who think they can get better with a different medicine (though there is no other medicine)—they will unfortunately miss out on the Lord’s healing. We don’t want that, but it is the unfortunate reality for those who reject Christ Jesus.

And yet, the Lord comes for sinners. He comes for sinners like you and me. He eats with sinners. He dies for sinners. He rises for sinners. He preaches the Gospel to sinners. He baptizes sinners. He gives His very Body and Blood to sinners. The body and blood of Christ Jesus is, as one early Church father called Him, the medicine of immortality.

This doesn’t mean that He enjoys sin. Paul reminds us, “How can we who died to sin [through Baptism into Christ’s death and resurrection] still live in it?” Christ doesn’t approve of sin. But our Triune God loves the creatures that He made in His image to the point that the Son of God would offer Himself as a ransom for them, to redeem them—to redeem us—from sin, death, and hell.

And so, we strive (like Matthew) to leave our old ways of sin behind and follow Christ Jesus. It’s not an easy thing, but by the power of the Holy Spirit within us, through the renewing Word of Christ, it’s possible. The Lord doesn’t just love people for who they are, but He loves all of us so much that He desires to see us become better men and women of God in Him.

Many so-called Christians do emphasize the mercy of Christ, but they downplay the transformative power of His love. They think that because Christ is merciful, certain sins no longer matter in this life—that we can keep on sinning. Yet, the Lord, by the power of God, does desire that we grow in godliness, virtue, and love. The Lord does desire that we mature in the fruit of the spirit that the Lord gives to all His people. We just ought never assume any kind of spiritual growth means that we have become better than others. We are all always beggars before our merciful and gracious Lord God.

IN MERCY JESUS HEALS SINNERS LIKE US AND CALLS US TO FOLLOW HIM