Letting go of culture

Jesus went out from where He was teaching, and as He walked through the city of Capernaum He called a man to follow Him.

"And as Jesus passed on from there, He saw a man, called Matthew, sitting in the tax office; and He said to him, 'Follow Me!' And he rose, and followed Him." Matthew 9:9

Crowds followed Jesus everywhere; as He walked He was surrounded by people. But Jesus picked this man Matthew, a tax collector for the Roman government, to be a disciple. Jesus called Matthew to follow, and at that simple imperative, he got up from his place and followed Jesus.

Matthew may have listened to Jesus preach and teach; many had. Matthew's account of the Sermon on the Mount indicates that he was there; no one else recorded it in such detail as far as we know. But Jesus found Matthew back at the tax office. Matthew had a job to do, even if everyone hated him for it.

Luke makes it clear that Matthew held a feast for Jesus at his house; many tax-gathers and other sinners came to this feast. These men would have not been allowed in the house of a religious Jew, but Matthew was one of the sinners. So as Jesus and His disciples sat at the table surrounded by the "worldly", the "righteous" asked His disciples why their Teacher ate with sinners. But Jesus overheard their comments, and replied to the Pharisees.

"...It is not those who are healthy who need a physician, but those who are sick. But go and learn what this means, 'I desire compassion, and not sacrifice,' for I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners." Matthew 9:12-13

Jesus answered the Pharisees in a way that spoke to the basic assumptions of their culture. The Pharisees were the best; they were the most righteous, the most careful in keeping the Law. Yet nothing in their culture could offer hope to the weak. Jesus instead said that He would be a physician to the sick; He quoted a portion of Hosea that is about healing the apostasy of Israel. Jesus made the point that God wanted compassion, not empty sacrifice. Jesus implied that their culture was an empty sacrifice.

After that, the disciples of John the Baptist came to Jesus to ask Him why His disciples did not fast. They fasted, and the Pharisees fasted; Jews had always fasted. Jesus replied to them about fasting, and more.

"...The attendants of the bridegroom cannot mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them, can they? But the days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast..." Matthew 9:15

Jesus answered the disciples of John with a picture of the attendants of a bridegroom, who would obviously not fast during a wedding feast. But then Jesus added that they will in a time to come when the bridegroom is not there. Jesus challenged their understanding of the reason to fast. Then He told them using two comparisons that their culture would not work with what He was doing.

"But no one puts a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment; for the patch pulls away from the garment, and a worse tear results. Nor do men put new wine into old wineskins; otherwise the wineskins burst, and the wine pours out, and the wineskins are ruined; but they put new wine into fresh wineskins, and both are preserved." Matthew 10:16-17

There is a common element in these three events around the calling of Matthew. Matthew and his friend saw themselves as "sinners"; these men did not follow the practices their religion. The Pharisees made a point of not associating with "sinners"; they thought it was wrong to eat with them. The disciples of John the Baptist thought it was wrong to not fast. What is common to these three events is a religious culture: the commonly held practices and assumptions.

But Jesus did not follow the forms of their culture; He was more concerned with function. He agreed with the Pharisees that the tax collectors and sinners were sick; but Jesus intended to heal the sick. Jesus agreed with the practice of fasting; He fasted and in time His disciples would fast. But the outward forms need to follow the inward function.

John the Baptist had been making ready the way of the Lord; what he taught his disciples was to prepare for the coming of the Messiah. The disciples of John the Baptist came to the Messiah that they thought they were preparing to meet, and did not recognize Him. The form had superceded function.

The disciples of Jesus watched Jesus deal with the culture of their world. They were probably not pleased themselves with Jesus calling a tax gatherer to join them. They were probably not pleased to go to a feast with tax collectors and sinners; their friends would wonder what they were doing. Yet as they watched Jesus, they would have seen that He was reaching out to these men outside of the religious culture. Function was more important than form.

There would come a time when the disciples of Jesus would fast, but they would do it for a good reason. There would come a time when Jesus would teach His disciples about dealing with a brother who has sinned, but that would be within the church. The forms were good if they followed function.

The same processes are at work in our culture. Many people in our world would not feel comfortable in a church, or around Christians. Many Christians would be uncomfortable around them. Like the disciples of John we want an emphasis on the outward first; new Christians should be intensely devout from the beginning. We need to examine our forms to see if they actually follow function; our culture can be excluding "sinners".

Where can a "sinner" listen to us without pretending to be religious?