Guilty By Association?

Matthew 9:9-12

 When I’m in public places, I find myself surrounded by people who absolutely have no desire to hear about the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It definitely stops my ability from reaching out to anyone who might want to talk about the Gospel. A similar thing happened to Jesus. He was sitting down, and tax collectors and sinners came and sat down beside Him and His disciples. Tax collectors were the worst, being in the same category as murderers and robbers. They were treacherous in collecting more than what was warranted from the taxpayers. The church leaders accused Jesus of keeping bad company, even though they knew the tax collectors and sinners invited themselves to Jesus’s table.

One of those tax collectors, Matthew, actually did follow Jesus when Jesus called him. Jesus was eating at Matthew’s house when the Pharisee’s saw Him. The authorities within the system of the human robots, those who live by the mark of the beast, don’t want conversions to happen. They accuse those who have a testimony for Jesus Christ of wrongdoing for conversing with people of a “bad” reputation. Those accusations can be devastating if an employer, or whatever other authority, uses “bad” associations to penalize employees. And I’m sure there are multitudes of reasons for keeping Christians out of the church ministry. Even though I’m constantly surrounded by people of “questionable” reputation, I’m always willing to treat them respectfully. I wear my t-shirt that says, “Normal Isn’t Coming Back, Jesus Is, Revelation 14,” I have a couple of those.

 “As Jesus went on from there, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax collector’s booth. “Follow me,” he told him, and Matthew got up and followed him. While Jesus was having dinner at Matthew’s house, many tax collectors and sinners came and ate with him and his disciples. When the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?” On hearing this, Jesus said, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick.” Matthew 9:9-12