I have to laugh because when I saw the title of this parable, I didn’t even know what it was. So I turned my Bible to where the piece of paper said the parable was found. And that has been the preparation of my sermon. If you ever wonder how much preparation I’ve done, it’s been many years of walking with Jesus. Most of these teachings that I am doing on the parables of Jesus have been preached without reading or commentary or anything, but with life experience and time meditating on the Bible and the parables and the teachings of Jesus and a lifelong relationship with Jesus . Added to that is when you come to a sermon where you have no preparation that leaves a lot of room for the Holy Spirit to use your mouth. When people see some of my simple teachings and call them deep, rich, and profound, all the glory has to go to God, because it’s not Matthew doing it. Mateo is a simple person. If you find it very deep, that is the Holy Spirit in the same way that Jesus was.
I find it interesting to share the parables of Jesus because he used to share parables because they didn’t really give you the meaning. You have to go and seek the knowledge of the meaning. So here we go. This is the great doctor.
Matthew 9:12
“And when the Pharisees saw him, they said to his disciples: “Why does your Master eat with publicans and sinners?” Jesus hearing him said to them: “The healthy do not need a doctor, but those who are sick. But he sees and learns what this means: ‘I want mercy and not sacrifice’. For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance.”
Have you ever had a tooth that had a large cavity? Some of my teeth, I must confess, are gone. I got an infection in my teeth due to a cavity so bad that by the time I got to the dentist my mouth was sore and I couldn’t sleep without painkillers. The dentist said it’s going to be a major root canal that’s going to cost $950, or we have to pull the tooth out. Myself, being a poor person who has lived a life of addiction and a life of poverty, I have always opted to have my tooth pulled. Fortunately, I am on government pension now and dental work costs me nothing. So when my teeth get this bad, I just say, “Get it out.”
Now let me ask you this question, when you have a rotten tooth and the pain is excruciating, do you go to the dentist when you have the means and opportunity to pay? If you don’t have a pension like I do, and it costs you $250 to get your tooth out and you have that $250, would you be willing to pay the dentist to pull out your tooth and stop that pain? would you do it? You? And when your head hurts? Looking for a pain reliever to stop a headache? What if you have a migraine? What if you get a skin rash? Don’t you buy a skin cream and put it on? When we are sick, we look for a doctor. When we have the solution to our illness, which is cold and flu pills and basic cough medicine and stuff, we don’t go to a doctor because we already have the answers. When our illness reaches a point where we can’t manage it, we seek out a doctor. Now, that’s hard sometimes for people in the United States, if they don’t have health insurance because doctors can be expensive and so can medications. But here in Australia, you can basically get everything for free, almost, if you’re desperate enough.
So, keeping all that in mind, Jesus said, “The healthy have no need of a doctor, but the sick do.”
The Pharisees were people who had an idea, a very, very good idea, of what the Lord said in the Old Testament Law. Then they had a bunch of other rules and regulations in a kind of book that were all the rules that were required to be followed in order to comply with the Law. Now, the Pharisees wrote those rules and conditions in such a way that it was very difficult for some people to do those things. stuff. But the Pharisees prided themselves on their own self-righteousness. They fasted. They titled. They sacrificed. That is what Jesus mentions later. Essentially, everyone thought they were nice, clean, holy, righteous, pure, and clean. They were not dirty. They were perfect in God’s eyes. So they felt really good.
For Jesus to sit with a true sinner, someone who is shamelessly sinning, Jesus, a holy rabbi no less, sitting with the scum of the earth, was just an offense to them. It was a stench in his nostrils. He really bothered them, so much so that even in Jesus’ presence they complained about his choice. The writing records:
“And it came to pass, while Jesus was reclining at table in the house, behold, many publicans and sinners came and sat down with him and his disciples.”
So Jesus walks into this house wherever that house is and right away he has a bunch of tax collectors and sinners sitting down to eat with him and enjoying his company.
Let me say this in another way that we might understand in today’s environment. Imagine that Jesus was with us today. Jesus went and sat in a certain house, wherever the house is. He sat down. So a bunch of politicians, a bunch of drug dealers, pimps, prostitutes and pederasts come down and sit down with Jesus and start breaking bread and eating with him and telling jokes.
Isn’t that offensive to you? That is offensive?
How about I stop by your house? You are having an outdoor barbecue. I just sat down. Imagine that I am an international public speaker. I am an international Gospel speaker. I have 250 speaking engagements each year. I am in your city. I have been invited to your house for a barbecue to meet you and spend some time with you. And when I get there, all the pimps, prostitutes, gays, homosexuals, drug addicts and drug lords, and known pedophiles, child sex abusers and slave traders arrive to greet me and join me for their barbecue. They all walk into the party and sit down and say, “Hey Matthew, we saw you on YouTube. You’re great, man. Can we sit here and have lunch?”
What if the door crashed at your party? How would you feel? Maybe you are not like the Pharisees. Maybe you are a beautiful Christian. In your daily life, you are mixing with prostitutes and drug dealers and homosexuals and street kids and mentally ill people and you should deal with these kind of people at your party.
I live in a community. My church is a community of people like that. These are not offensive people to me. In fact, sometimes I find it hard to get along with Christians. It is much easier to get along with sinners. Jesus was the same way.
Imagine if Jesus had said to the Pharisees that day, “These people are sick. They have a spiritual toothache. Do they need someone to do a root canal or do they need someone to pull this tooth? You don’t care. They’re written off as sinners and tax collectors. They’re the scum of the earth to you. You won’t lift a finger to help them with their sin or make them more righteous or help them obey the Law. They just reject them outright. No I’m going to turn you down. You need the truth. You got a toothache, don’t you see? You’re all messed up. You need some answers. You guys have all the answers. You obey the law perfectly. You’re not sick. But they need a doctor.
So, go and learn what this means. Mercy desire not sacrifice. I don’t want your fast 2 days a week. I don’t want you to throw your coins in the poor box and make a big bell.”
The poor box used to have a big circle and you could place your hand in the poor box like this very quietly and drop the coin to the bottom. Or he could flip his coin and make a big “Clang! Clang! Clang!”
The Pharisees, the righteous and the religious are people of that day. people linked to religion and self-righteousness; They used to take out their coins and go bang and make a metallic sound. And everybody would turn around and say, “Oh, he just gave some money.”
Jesus said, when you give your alms, don’t blow the trumpet. Don’t make that big metallic sound called blowing the trumpet. Do not do that. Don’t let your right arm know what your left arm is doing.
So the Pharisees used to sacrifice their money. They used to sacrifice their herbs. They used to make all the sacrifices. They used to give all their lambs. They used to pay their herb titles. They used to make the offerings of the first fruits. They used to make everything perfect. They would fast. They would make all these sacrifices to be fair. But they are all works. They are all works of the flesh.
But Jesus said, “Mercy and compassion I desire.”
You see dear reader. People in Australia come across a heroin addict, someone who is sticking a needle in their arm, and they have no mercy for them. Do you know that 82% of Australians who have heroin addiction have been sexually abused as children? They need help. I’m not sure you understand what it feels like to be teased by someone 20 years older than you. I understand how that is. He seriously messes with his head.
When you are:
Living in bisexual relationships; Living in addictions to prostitutes; Living in porn addictions; Living in alcohol addictions; It seriously messes with your head.
It takes a lot of work, a lot of help, a lot of counseling, a lot of understanding to heal you and put you in the condition that I am in now. And I still have pain and injuries that need to be fixed and treated.
Jesus says have mercy on people like Matthew. Do not condemn them and do not dismiss them as sinners. This is the first time I have been so outspoken in this collection of parables that I am doing on video and as a series of articles that will be published in a book. But it serves this parable well for you to know that I have used the services of prostitutes for 20 years in the past. How many times did I sin then? I’ve slept with men. I’ve done all kinds of bad things. And here I am, sharing that I’m out of it. I’m not doing that anymore.
And yet God is still using me. That’s because Jesus had mercy on me. That’s because Jesus had mercy on me. He is still the same. He is still lying in love with him. He is still loving all the wounded and broken in the world. He wants you to do that. He doesn’t want you to condemn all those sinners.
We look at this parable and think about how bad the Pharisees were in condemning Jesus, and yet if we are honest, truly honest with ourselves, we don’t believe that people who practice addictions and sexual sins should have fellowship with everyone. we parishioners clean and righteous.
We spend time in the Bible, we spend time in church and Bible studies, and we spend our money giving to the Lord’s work. We make all these sacrifices and think that we please God. But God calls all these things living under his own righteousness. Jesus wants us to be merciful to the broken and wounded, in addition to sacrificing ourselves in the aforementioned way. He wants us to be the doctors of people with pain and suffering and heal their emotional and spiritual lives through the power of the Holy Spirit and the wisdom of him.
To be hurt.
