Matthew couldn't believe he was...
Illustration
Matthew couldn't believe he was here, eating with all these other people, not just others of his profession, but common fishermen and who knew what else, all because of ... "Because of what?" he wondered in silence. "Was it the look in the teacher's eyes?" Matthew asked himself. The man had been walking past Matthew's tax booth. He had stopped for the briefest of moments, and said to Matthew, "Follow me." Without question or hesitation, Matthew had done just that. "Was it the sound of his voice?" Matthew wondered. As he reached for another bunch of grapes, Matthew looked around the room. He knew many of the people here, most of them with reputations as bad as his own, or worse. He knew them, but he'd never before sat down to dinner with them. "Let's face it," he thought, "few people care to share the company of a tax collector -- not even other tax collectors!" But now, here he was, eating dinner with all these folks, at the teacher's invitation. "That's what it was!" Matthew realized. The teacher hadn't commanded him to come; he had invited him. He wanted Matthew with him. This teacher, Jesus, had somehow been able to see past Matthew's profession to the lonely, love-starved man beneath the greed and corruption. Jesus had seen the man who had taken a job for economic reasons and who had succumbed to all the temptations the job offered -- a man who had become what his culture expected a tax collector to be. Jesus had seen who Matthew was beneath all that and invited him to emerge from his self-imposed prison. All of that, with two life-changing words, "Follow me." Matthew might not grow rich monetarily, but he would never again be poor in spirit. -- Fannin
