Dear Friends,
I wonder how much sleep Matthew really got those first few months he was with Jesus. Did he try to stay awake all night long? Did he insist on sleeping beside Jesus each night, but not just beside Jesus on the side opposite of Simon? Did he struggle to never fall asleep before Simon or allow Simon to wake-up before him? What about when they walked along the path together traveling between cities? Did Matthew always stay in Jesus’ line of site and never allow Simon to get behind him? When they would come to a section of road that was filled with twists and turns amongst the rocks did Matthew close up his distance to be sure he was right next to Jesus as they went around the blind corners? Why do I wonder about Matthew’s behaviors? Because he was a tax collector and Simon was a Zealot.
Matthew was a traitor to his people and his faith. He had turned his back on it all instead choosing to go for a life supporting the occupying nation. Simon was a devout man of faith. A fundamentalist who had sworn an oath to kill people like Matthew, if a chance ever came.
Now here are these two men are walking and traveling together with Jesus. Each because they had been called to this place by Jesus.
This is the Kingdom of God. This is the power of the Gospel. To change hearts and make friends out of enemies. To unite people who have no reason to be united. Only in the Kingdom of God is it possible for there to be true unity across economic, gender, ethnic, and social lines. This is the example Jesus gave to us and to which Paul calls us in Galatians, “There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus” (3:28, NIV).
Sadly, 2,000 years later we still struggle to be what Jesus called us to be. But there is hope as we are people of the Kingdom of God and not people of this world.
Blessings,
Pastor Stephen