Here's what I imagine: Jesus is walking along a path, and sees someone at their daily job, trying to make ends meet. Matthew would have most certainly been an 'outsider' from other first century Jews, seen lower than even the unclean because of his status as a traitor who collected taxes for those stinky Romans. Perhaps Matthew is thinking about what it would be like had he never taken his position; perhaps he is simply looking up at the sky; the text really doesn't say...perhaps it doesn't matter. I'd like to think that Matthew was thinking about God in that moment.
Suddenly, Jesus calls to him: "Follow me!" I wonder what that would be like. I've thought of it many times before, and maybe you have too. What does it look like for Jesus to call us in the midst of our everyday experience? Working at Wal-mart, working as a call-center person, working as a pastor, or in an office...those are experiences I relate to. Imagine your job, your experiences, the middle of your life. Then, imagine Jesus simply whispering, "Follow me."
Did you know this very thing happens all the time? Everyday? Let me tell you it's not with flashing neon signs, or a bolt of lightening. It doesn't come from a super-model with an entourage and a limo, nor with a million dollar cash check ready to be presented to you. Instead, it's very ordinary. It's everyday life. But it's Jesus calling, "come, follow me." And the task? It's ordinary too.
The task Matthew had to follow Jesus too was....dinner. Pretty normal right? And in fact, it was a dinner that he was able to invite other people whom he knew, friends perhaps, to come join him. In the midst of this dinner, Jesus brings together his disciples, Matthew, tax collectors and sinners, and some big brothers like the Pharisees as well. Perhaps it's more like a dinner party, but it's still dinner.
Right after this passage, the Pharisees ask the disciples the party-break up question, ready to slam home their theological inquiries to blow up the moment and make the beautiful union shatter and disintegrate. The disciples...they don't even know how to answer! But in verse twelve they take the situation to Jesus - who without missing a beat lets them know what's up. Jesus handles the questions, the heartache, the pain, the healing. All Matthew did? Follow Jesus to dinner from his work.
This...comforts me. In means that Jesus can and does speak to us during very ordinary events - our jobs. He invites us to follow him to places where we sort of go anyway - to dinner. And Jesus does the hard work at the dinner - all we have to do is talk and eat. Yet, Jesus changes this very ordinary activity into something extraordinary: Good News. "Go and learn what this means, 'I desire mercy, not sacrifice.' For I have come to call not the righteous but sinners" (Mt 9:13 NRSV).
Are you on the look out for Jesus calling you? What good news is he looking to speak and do through you this week?
