Show Don't Tell: Matthew 9:9-13

Instead of saying "Jesus called Matthew the tax collector," smell the money. There sits Matthew at his tax booth—collaborator with Rome, extortionist, traitor to his own people. Everyone avoids his eyes. Jesus walks up and says two words: "Follow me." Matthew gets up and leaves. Just like the fishermen. Then Matthew throws a party—and look who's at the table: tax collectors and sinners, the scum of Galilean society, eating with a rabbi. The Pharisees are scandalized: "Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?" Jesus overhears: "It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. Go and learn what this means: 'I desire mercy, not sacrifice.' For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners." The sick need the physician. The lost need the shepherd. Jesus goes where the need is.