By 
I have to laugh because when I saw the title of this parable, I didn’t even know what it was. So I turned my Bible to where the piece of paper said the parable was found. And that has been the preparation of my sermon. If you ever wonder how much preparation I’ve done, it’s been many years of walking with Jesus. Most of these teachings that I’m doing on the parables of Jesus have been preached without reading or commentary or anything, but with life experience and time meditating on the Bible and the parables and the teachings of Jesus and a lifelong relationship with Jesus. . Added to that is when you get to a sermon where you have no preparation that leaves a lot of room for the Holy Spirit to use your mouth. When people see some of my simple teachings and call them deep and rich and profound, all the glory has to go to God, because it’s not Matthew doing it. Mateo is a simple person. If you find it very deep, that is the Holy Spirit in the same way that Jesus was.
I find it interesting to share the parables of Jesus because he used to share parables because they didn’t really give you the meaning. You have to go and seek the knowledge of the meaning. So here we go. It is the great doctor.
Matthew 9:12
“And when the Pharisees saw it, they said to his disciples: “Why does your Master eat with tax collectors and sinners?” When Jesus heard it, he said to them: “Those who are healthy do not need a doctor, but those who are sick. But he sees and learns what this means: ‘I want mercy and not sacrifice’. For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance.”
Have you ever had a tooth that had a big cavity? Some of my teeth, I must confess, are gone. I got an infection in my teeth from a cavity so bad that by the time I got to the dentist my mouth was sore and I couldn’t sleep without painkillers. The dentist said it’s going to be a major root canal that will cost $950, or we have to pull the tooth out. Myself, being a poor person who has lived a life of addiction and a life of poverty, I have always opted to have my tooth pulled. Luckily I’m on government pension now and dental work doesn’t cost me anything. So when my teeth get that bad, I just say, “Pull it out.”
Now let me ask you this question, when you have a rotten tooth and the pain is excruciating, do you go to the dentist when you have the means and opportunity to pay? If you don’t have a pension like me, and it costs you $250 to get your tooth out and you have that $250, would you be willing to pay the dentist to get your tooth out and stop that pain? would you do it? You? And when your head hurts? Looking for a pain reliever to stop your headache? What if you have a migraine? What if you get a rash on your skin? Don’t you buy a skin cream and put it on? When we are sick, we look for a doctor. When we have the solution to our disease, which is cold and flu pills and basic cough medicines and stuff, we don’t go to a doctor because we already have the answers. When our illness reaches a point where we can’t handle it, we look for a doctor. Now, that’s hard sometimes for people in the United States, if they don’t have health insurance because doctors can be expensive and so can medications. But here in Australia you can basically get everything for free, almost, if you’re desperate enough.
So, keeping all this in mind, Jesus said: “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick.”
The Pharisees were people who had an idea, a very, very good idea, of what the Lord said in the Old Testament Law. Then they had a bunch of other rules and regulations in some kind of book that were all the rules that were required to be followed in order to keep the Law. Now, the Pharisees wrote those rules and conditions in such a way that it was very difficult for some people to do those things. stuff. But the Pharisees prided themselves on their own self-righteousness. They fasted. They titled. They sacrificed. That is what Jesus mentions later. Essentially, everyone thought they were nice, clean, holy, just, pure, and clean. They weren’t dirty. They were perfect in the eyes of God. So they felt great.
For Jesus to sit with a true sinner, someone who is blatantly sinning, Jesus, a holy rabbi no less, sitting with the scum of the earth, was just an offense to them. It was a stench in his nostrils. He really annoyed them, so much so that even in the presence of Jesus they complained about his choice. The deed records:
“It came to pass, as Jesus sat at table in the house, behold, many tax collectors and sinners came and sat with him and his disciples.”
So Jesus walks into this house wherever that house is and right away he has a bunch of tax collectors and sinners sitting down to eat with him and enjoying his company.
Let me say this in another way that we could understand in today’s environment. Imagine if Jesus were with us today. Jesus went and sat down in a certain house, wherever the house is. He sat down. Then a bunch of politicians, a bunch of drug dealers, pimps, prostitutes and pedophiles came down and sat down with Jesus and started breaking bread and having dinner with him and telling jokes.
Isn’t that offensive to you? That is offensive?
How about I come by your house? You are having an outdoor barbecue. I just sat down. Imagine that I am an international public speaker. I am an international speaker of the Gospel. I have 250 speaking engagements each year. I am in your city. I have been invited to your house for a barbecue to meet you and spend some time with you. And when I get there, all the pimps, prostitutes, gays, homosexuals, drug addicts and drug lords, and known pedophiles, child molesters and slave traders arrive to greet me and join me for their barbecue. They all walk into the party and sit down and say, “Hey Matthew, we saw you on YouTube. You’re great, man. Can we sit here and have lunch?”
What if the door crashed at your party? How would you feel? Maybe you are not like the Pharisees. Maybe you are a beautiful Christian. In your daily life, you are mixing with prostitutes and drug dealers and homosexuals and street kids and mentally ill people and you should deal with these kind of people at your party.
I live in a community. My church is a community of such people. These are not offensive people to me. In fact, sometimes I find it difficult to get along with Christians. It is much easier to get along with sinners. Jesus was the same way.
Imagine if Jesus had said to the Pharisees that day, “These people are sick. They have a spiritual toothache. Do they need someone to do a root canal or do they need someone to pull this tooth out of the case? They are the ones who need it.” help. You don’t care. They’re written off as sinners and tax collectors. They’re the scum of the earth to you. You won’t lift a finger to help them with their sin or make them more righteous or help them obey the Law. They just flatly reject them. No I’m going to turn you down. You need the truth. You’ve got a toothache, don’t you see? You’re a mess. You need some answers. You’re the guys who have all the answers. You obey the law perfectly. You’re not sick. But they need a doctor.
So, go and learn what this means. Mercy desire not sacrifice. I don’t want your fasting 2 days a week. I don’t want you to throw your coins in the poor box and make a big buzz.”
The poor box used to have a big circle and you could place your hand in the poor box like this very quietly and drop the coin in the bottom. Or he could flip his coin and he’d make a big “Clang! Clang! Clang!”
The Pharisees, the righteous and the religious are people of that day. people linked to religion and self-righteousness; They used to take out their coins and bang and make a metallic sound. And they’d all turn around and be like, “Oh, he just gave some money.”
Jesus said, when you give your alms, don’t blow the trumpet. Don’t make that big metallic sound called trumpeting. Do not do that. Don’t let your right arm know what your left arm is doing.
So the Pharisees used to sacrifice their money. They used to sacrifice their herbs. They used to do all the sacrifices. They used to give all their lambs. They used to pay their herbal titles. They used to make the offerings of the first fruits. They used to make everything perfect. They would fast. They would make all these sacrifices to be fair. But they are all works. They are all works of the flesh.
But Jesus said: “Mercy and compassion I desire.”
You see dear reader. The people of Australia come across a heroin addict, someone sticking a needle in their arm, and they don’t take pity on them. Do you know that 82% of Australians who have a heroin addiction have been sexually abused as children? They need help. I’m not sure you understand what it’s like to be picked on by someone 20 years older than you. I understand how that is. He seriously messes with his head.
When you are:
Living in bisexual relationships; Living in addictions to prostitutes; Living in addictions to pornography; Living in alcohol addictions; It seriously messes with your head.
It takes a lot of work, a lot of help, a lot of counseling, a lot of understanding to heal you and put you in the condition I am in now. And I still have pain and wounds that need to be fixed and treated.
Jesus says have mercy on people like Matthew. Don’t condemn them and don’t write them off as sinners. This is the first time I have been so candid about this collection of parables that I am doing on video and as a series of articles to be published in a book. But it serves this parable well that you know that I have used the services of prostitutes for 20 years in the past. How many times did I sin then? I have slept with men. I’ve done all kinds of bad things. And here I am, sharing that I’m out of it. I’m not doing that anymore.
And yet God is still using me. That’s because Jesus had mercy on me. That’s because Jesus had mercy on me. He is still the same. He is still lying in love with him. He is still loving all the hurt and broken in the world. He wants you to do that. He doesn’t want you to condemn all those sinners.
We look at this parable and think about how bad the Pharisees were in condemning Jesus, and yet if we are honest, truly honest with ourselves, we don’t believe that people who practice addictions and sexual sins should have fellowship with everyone. we parishioners clean and just.
We spend time in the Bible, we spend time in church and Bible studies and we spend our money giving to the work of the Lord. We make all these sacrifices and we think that we please God. But God calls all these things living under his own righteousness. Jesus wants us to be merciful to the broken and wounded, in addition to sacrificing ourselves in the aforementioned ways. He wants us to be the doctors for people in pain and suffering and heal their emotional and spiritual lives through the power of the Holy Spirit and his wisdom.
To be hurt.