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Speaker 1: Life Audio. Thank you for listening to your Daily Bible Verse,

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Speaker 1: the podcast that examines one verse each day to learn

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Speaker 1: more about God and his will for our lives. I'm

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Speaker 1: your host, Kyle Mormon. After a brief message from one

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Speaker 1: of our sponsors, we will continue with today's verse. Today's

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Speaker 1: verse can be found in Matthew nine, Verse ten. While

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Speaker 1: Jesus was having dinner at Matthew's house, many task collectors

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Speaker 1: and sinners came and ate with him and his disciples.

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Speaker 1: The biggest celebrity that I've ever come across is a

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Speaker 1: British comedian named Ellen Carr. This was last January when

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Speaker 1: my wife and I were vacationing in Mexico. We were

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Speaker 1: sitting at the entrance to the resort spot when Alan

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Speaker 1: came walking out. He walked right past us as he

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Speaker 1: exited the building. I kicked myself for not having taken

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Speaker 1: the opportunity to meet him. This was the moment I

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Speaker 1: could say hi. This was the moment I could shake

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Speaker 1: his hand and say that I met Alan Carr. A

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Speaker 1: few minutes later, I saw Alan standing outside the resort.

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Speaker 1: Now I could do it. Now the opportunity was arisen again.

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Speaker 1: Now I could go and greet him, and now I

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Speaker 1: could have a conversation with him. But did I do it? No?

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Speaker 1: Alan remained at a distance he and then he walked

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Speaker 1: away into his famous obscurity. I wonder if that is

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Speaker 1: how sometimes we treat Jesus. Do we ever treat Jesus

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Speaker 1: like a celebrity, someone we want to see, someone we

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Speaker 1: want to meet, but someone who we actually just keep

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Speaker 1: at a distance. Do we withhold certain parts of our

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Speaker 1: lives from him? If we keep Jesus at a distance

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Speaker 1: and fail to go out to him and embrace him,

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Speaker 1: can we actually say that we follow him? Follow me

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Speaker 1: is the most common invitation that Jesus makes to people.

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Speaker 1: Follow me, and I will make you, fishers of men,

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Speaker 1: follow me and let the dead bury their own dead.

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Speaker 1: Those who want to be my disciple must take up

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Speaker 1: their cross and follow me. Follow me, he says to

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Speaker 1: Matthew as he sits at a tax booth, and by

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Speaker 1: inviting Matthew to follow him, Jesus welcomes him into his presence.

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Speaker 1: Those task collectors were not liked in the ancient world.

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Speaker 1: In the ancient world, task collectors they were local citizens

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Speaker 1: who were hired by the Roman Empire to collect the

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Speaker 1: prescribed tax from other citizens. So Matthew, also known as Levi,

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Speaker 1: was a Jewish man taking money from other Jewish people

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Speaker 1: and giving that money to their Roman occupiers. Many task

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Speaker 1: collectors charged extra and so they would line their pockets

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Speaker 1: and become rich. So not only were task collectors seen

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Speaker 1: as collaborators and traders to Israel, they were also seen

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Speaker 1: as thieves. And in a world that contained a stark

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Speaker 1: separation between the righteous and the unrighteous, to clean versus

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Speaker 1: the unclean, the sacred versus the secular, a tax collector

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Speaker 1: was pretty much on the side of the unrighteous. But

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Speaker 1: Jesus calls Matthew to follow, and follow Matthew does. But

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Speaker 1: for Matthew, following Jesus wasn't just this tertiary nod in

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Speaker 1: Jesus direction. It wasn't saying that he agreed with some

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Speaker 1: of the things that Jesus taught, that he liked Jesus

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Speaker 1: from Afar. No, Matthew invites Jesus into his world. Matthew

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Speaker 1: throws a party. While Jesus was having dinner at Matthew's house,

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Speaker 1: many tax collectors and sinners came and ate with him

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Speaker 1: in his disciples. The implication here is that Matthew opens

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Speaker 1: his life to Jesus. He invites Jesus into his world,

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Speaker 1: the clean, unrighteous, wrong side of the Tracts. Matthew obviously

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Speaker 1: had relationships with other unclean, unrighteous wrong side of the

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Speaker 1: Tracts people. These were the people that Matthew hang out with,

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Speaker 1: and into that place Matthew invites Jesus. He opens his

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Speaker 1: home and his friends to the Lord's presence. You know,

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Speaker 1: it was easy to talk about following Jesus as simply

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Speaker 1: saying that we agree with him, we give quaint acknowledgment

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Speaker 1: to Jesus' presence in our lives. But if we think

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Speaker 1: that following Jesus, or quote, being a Christian is just

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Speaker 1: about the doctrines we believe in or the prayers that

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Speaker 1: we pray, then it becomes easy just to say those

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Speaker 1: things then leave our life unchanged. But Matthew doesn't do that.

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Speaker 1: Matthew models for us a willingness to expose his life,

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Speaker 1: regardless of how good or hungly it might be. From

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Speaker 1: the very start, Matthew opens his entire world to the

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Speaker 1: presence and the impact of Jesus. Because the invitation follow

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Speaker 1: me is never the end. To follow Jesus is also

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Speaker 1: to invite Jesus into the intricacy of our lives. That's

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Speaker 1: the stance of a disciple. This is what it truly

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Speaker 1: means to follow him. Jesus isn't turned off by our needs.

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Speaker 1: Jesus accepted Matthew just as he was. He accepted Zechias

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Speaker 1: in the same way. Peter, Paul, Mary Magdalen. All of

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Speaker 1: them were accepted and called to walk with Jesus. And

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Speaker 1: each of those people embraced the fullness of Jesus by

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Speaker 1: the fullness of their own life. They embraced him and

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Speaker 1: they lived with him. You know, to the snide remarks

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Speaker 1: of the pharisees, Jesus says, it's not the healthy who

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Speaker 1: need a doctor, but the sick. And that's not a

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Speaker 1: statement of condemnation or judgment. Jesus is simply talking about

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Speaker 1: our implicit humanity, a humanity that naturally involves a need

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Speaker 1: and wounds and frailty of life. The fact of the

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Speaker 1: matter is all of us need Jesus, and so all

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Speaker 1: of us need to embrace him. This is why Jesus comes.

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Speaker 1: This is why Jesus invites us to himself, so that

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Speaker 1: we might experience his mercy, his grace, his forgiven and

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Speaker 1: his love. But it's an invitation that we have to

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Speaker 1: respond to, that we have to open ourselves to receive. So,

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Speaker 1: where can you invite Jesus into your life today? In

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Speaker 1: what ways are you called to open yourself to his

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Speaker 1: presence and his impact as an expression of your desire

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Speaker 1: to follow him