Hope for When You Don't Fit In: Intro to Matthew

Have you ever felt like you didn’t fit in with religious people?

Let me just tell you, I feel like I’m the queen of not fitting in with religious people. I’m aware that I’m writing a Christian blog, so that makes me religious by most people’s definition.  For clarity’s sake, when I say “religious people”, I’m talking about those people who are really good at following the rules. The super moral, perfect looking, put together “shiny people.” The people who only have cute problems and when they have those cute problems they pray and have a great attitude about them. That kind of religious people. The kind of people who give me an intense desire to mess up their hair.

If you have ever struggled to fit in with the shiny people, then you will absolutely love the book of Matthew!

Let’s talk for a minute about how much Matthew didn’t fit in with the shiny people of his day. Matthew was a tax collector. Of course, no one has ever loved the guys who come take their money and give it to the government. But Matthew, he was a whole ‘nother level of being hated as a tax collector.

See, in ancient Israel, the Jews believed that as God’s chosen people, they were going to usher in the earthly political reign of God’s messiah. They believed they would reign with this Messiah and rule peacefully over the whole world instituting God’s perfect laws for all people. This is why they were hyper-concerned with obeying the rules perfectly. They made rules about the rules and rules about those rules. They made so many rules that it was impossible for poor people to follow all the rules. Then the religious leaders decided the rule breakers were all “unclean” and the reason the Messiah wasn’t appearing.

As the Israelites wrestled with this ever-growing system of religious rules, Rome took over. The Jews were allowed to continue worshipping God as long as they paid tribute to Rome.

Therefore, Rome was seen as the occupying enemy. The literal enemy of God. And you know what tax collectors did? They collected money for God’s enemy.

If that wasn’t bad enough, they extorted money from people. They were backed by the Roman army so no one could refuse to pay them whatever they said was owed. Roman officials didn’t care who the tax collectors hurt as long as Rome got their money. So, the tax collectors got rich by overcharging people. They also took bribes from rich people to overtax smaller businesses and drive them out of business. Then the rich people had less competition and could charge more. (This sounds oddly familiar…)

So. Tax-collectors were not liked by the shiny religious leaders. (Even though the system benefitted the shiny people too.) Tax collectors were so hated that they were used as the standard picture of pure evil in their stories.

Think about how hated Matthew was. Then imagine what it must have been like for Jesus to call him to be a disciple. If Jesus was looking for people to enhance his reputation, Matthew wasn’t the guy to call. But Jesus called him anyway.

Then after the resurrection, Matthew somehow had the confidence and the passion to put together an account of the life of Jesus for the Jews! Of the four gospels, Matthew is the only one written primarily for the Jews.

Think about that as you read his account of the life of Jesus. Think about what must have changed in Matthew in order for him to care about the people he had hurt. Think about the humility and courage it took to go to the people he had wronged and share these stories.

The incredible part for me is all the stories Matthew shares. Throughout this gospel, Matthew explains to his original audience how Jesus completes God’s message for all of us. He explains the history of the Jews and how it was all leading to God revealing his heart for the world through Jesus.

And throughout those explanations, Matthew stops to point out all the outcasts Jesus accepted along the way. Matthew includes stories of women and foreigners in the genealogy. He shares the story of the wise men, more foreigners. He shares the stories of Jesus reaching out to all kinds of unclean people he wasn’t even supposed to touch: lepers, Gentiles, the woman with the bleeding condition, the demoniacs living in tombs, and all kinds of unacceptable people who Jesus accepted.

Matthew knew better than any body what it feels like to be rejected by the shiny people. Matthew earned their disrespect by doing a lot of crappy things. But after he was accepted by Jesus, he showed them a better way.

He wrote a story for us all. A story which shows us the way to rise above the judgmentalism and empower people to know and walk in the love of God.