i need a spin doctor!
In matt 9, Matthew throws a party for his brand new friend Jesus. He invites all of his friends and it is an absolute blow-out. Matthew’s friends aren’t exactly “good Christian folk” if you catch my drift. This isn’t like your momma’s fondu and parcheesi parties. This party has great food, strong booze and loud music.
Jesus went to that kind of party.
He wasn’t tricked into coming. Matthew didn’t tell him it would be a small get together and then “surprise!” Jesus didn’t find out what would be going on and then debate within Himself whether He should stay or go:
“My youth minister always told me not to sit with these people at lunch in the cafeteria but I did just meet this guy, it would be rude if I just left...”
That never happened.
Jesus was there because He wanted to be there.
The Pharisees find out about this and they get somewhat upset...
“Why does He associate with those kinds of people?”
Does that sound familiar? Does that sound like a standardized religious response to that situation? Does that sound like something you’ve heard before or even something you’ve said yourself?
How does Jesus respond to that accusation?
(It was a question spoken behind Jesus’ back to His disciples but let’s be honest here, accusation was the heart of it through and through.)
Jesus says: “It’s not the healthy that need a physician but the sick.”
Now, I know that this causes people to fidget in their seat. I know that this incites debates over christian liberty and leading people astray. I know that this causes those who are theologically conservative to close up tight and protect what they believe is right and I know that this causes those who are theologically liberal to puff up their chest and offer their opinion on “new ways to interpret things”.... but no matter where you land on that spectrum, the very pressing question still remains...
“What do you do with that text?”
I mean, honestly! It doesn’t matter how conservative you are... you can’t argue that fact that He was there because HE WAS THERE!
It doesn’t matter how liberal you are, you can’t argue that Jesus was okay with their actions because HE DIDN’T SIN! On top of all that, He called them spiritually “sick” and in need of a doctor.
So what do you do with this passage? - I mean in practical “orthopraxy” kind of way?
I recently spoke on this passage in a more conservative church as the final installment of a sunday night series on evangelism. For two months we had great conversations about what the gospel is, why we should share it, how we share and with who Jesus would have us share it. Last sunday night, as I spoke about “Where Jesus Saves” I received some of the dirtiest looks that I have ever received while preaching.
I’ve been teaching long enough that people’s disagreements don’t phase me. If I feel led to proclaim something that I believe is Scriptural then you’re gonna hear it. But God has blessed me with just enough wisdom to understand that I have a lot left to understand. I feel like the text is clear but I see the fidgeting....
If you disagree that Jesus would willingly and purposefully go into those kinds of places and build relationships with those kinds of people, then what do you do with this text? Please, I beg you, spin it for me.
If you disagree that Jesus calls us to repentance and goes into places and builds relationships with people without ever sinning with them, then what do you do with the text? Please, I beg you, spin it for me.
In a blog that discusses the praises and frustrations of the tug-o-war between what I lovingly refer to as the “two ruts” of the church; one of the things that frustrates me beyond all other frustrations is the pendulum swing between these two thoughts. Why are we so engrained with the idea that we have to either be one or the other? To either be ultra conservative or ultra liberal in our theology?
To be honest, I truly believe that this (Matt 9) more than anything else is what drains us of any potency when it comes to trying to share Jesus with the world. The church either forces us to line up with the conservative side and we never actually meet anyone who doesn’t know Jesus or the church forces us to line up with the liberal view and we have active relationships with non-christians that never lead anyone to the gospel because the gospel never changed our own lives.
So again I beg you- spin it...
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