Matthew, the hated tax collector, is called to be a disciple (Matt 9:9) then Jesus sits down to eat with sinners and is questioned by the Pharisees (Matt 9:10-11).

Jesus famously says, “But go and learn what this means: “I desire mercy and not sacrifice, For I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.” (Matt 9:13).

Jesus is quoting Hosea 5:6, when he says, “Go and learn what this means: “I desire mercy and not sacrifice”. He is basically telling the teachers of the law to go and understand their own teaching. The people in Hosea had divided hearts full of pride, though they were going through religious motion.

They looked pretty on the outside but were full of sin on the inside.

Jesus was loving them all by pointing this out.

Jesus is clearly a true friend to sinners. The best friend we could ever have for He does not leave us in our sin, or merely call us to some rote religion.

He doesn’t just call us to a rule-following, cognitive belief.
He calls us to full heart-change repentance.

He calls us to new life.
He calls us to walk away from our sin and follow Him with all our hearts.

He calls us to one big decision (salvation) and then to lots of daily decisions of surrendering our ways to His better ways.

He calls us to hard things like loving others more than ourselves, and to not repay evil for evil (Rom 12:17). He calls us to forgive those who have hurt us, and give to those who have used us. (Matt 6:14, Luke 6:30).

It’s the moment by moment, one day at a time, trusting God more than we trust ourselves, and following Him ,that we find peace and hope and joy.

Our sweet Savior wants all of us and has more for us than we could ever ask or imagine or come up with in our own! (Eph 3:20)

AND He wants this, too, for those who try to give an appearance of righteousness but have hearts that are truly far from Him.

His arms are open for those exhausted hearts also.

Oh, how He beckons for all to just to let go and fully surrender and fully trust. His burden is easy and His yoke is light (Matt 11:30) and He gives rest for the weary. Soul rest.

What grace! What mercy!

readMatthew

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