Into The Depths

Matthew 9:9-13

I have come to call not those who think they are righteous, but those who know they are sinners. (Matthew 9:13)

JESUS ACCEPTED AN INVITATION to dinner, and the guest list included a lot of unsavory characters—“disreputable sinners,” the text calls them (Matthew 9:10). The Pharisees, like most well-behaved people, had been taught for most of their lives to avoid bad company, and Jesus’ casual disregard for his associations and his own reputation irked them. “Why does your teacher eat with such scum?” they asked his disciples (9:11). We don’t know how the disciples answered, but Jesus’ response is recorded for us. He pointed out that healthy people don’t need a doctor and that the Good News is for those who have fallen short and recognize their need.

That focus has compelled many believers to go into the unsavory places of this world—brothels, bars, drug-infested tenements and alleys—to rescue those who know their need. The work is hard and dangerous, and not always fruitful. But sometimes it results in remarkable testimonies of deliverance and restoration, of addictions that are broken and painful lives that get a fresh start. Many Christians advise against such work—usually not with the same objections the Pharisees had toward Jesus, but out of concern for the well-being of the one who ministers there. But for those who do not struggle with or have overcome the temptations of a particular environment, the calling is worthwhile. It takes the power of the gospel into the places where it is needed most.

Don’t be afraid to go into challenging places with the power of the Good News. Avoid situations that are a temptation for you, of course; don’t expose your weaknesses to unnecessary pressures. But don’t stand back, either. Far too many Christians wait for the world to come to their churches like a hospital stands ready for the sick. In a society that assumes the church will judge and reject—or that doesn’t even understand its own sickness—that approach won’t work. Go where you are needed; serve wherever you can; take God’s grace on the road to reach a grace-hungry world.

{Jesus, you saw the hurts and needs behind people’s sins while the “righteous” around you focused on self-preservation. Give me a heart like yours. Let me carry grace far outside the walls of the church to bless those who need it most. Amen.