Jesus Came for the Outsiders

Monday, December 22nd, 2025

4:34 am

Good morning! Today I am in Matthew 9:9-13, Mark 2:13-17, and Luke 5:27-32. After Jesus healed the paralyzed man on the mat, Jesus went back out to the lake shore to teach the crowd that was following Him. As He was walking along, He saw Matthew (Mark and Luke call Him Levi) sitting in his tax collector's booth. Jesus looked at Matthew and told him to follow Him and be His disciple. So Matthew left everything and began to follow Jesus. He then invited Jesus and His disciples, as well as other tax collectors and sinners, to his home for dinner. Some Pharisees saw that Jesus was eating with tax collectors and sinners, and asked His disciples why He sits and eats with such scum. Jesus heard them and told them that healthy people do not need a doctor - sick people do. And that He has come to call not those who think they are righteous but those who know they are sinners and need to repent.

Just like the other disciples, Matthew left everything behind to follow Jesus. He left behind a very good career, even though it was a hated career by his fellow Jews, to follow Jesus. He knew Jesus was more important than any material possessions here on earth. Matthew responded to Jesus' call with obedience, and showed his support with inviting Jesus and anyone who wanted to come meet Jesus, to his home. The Pharisees were more concerned about their appearance than the people that they were supposed to be helping- the poor, sick, abandoned, sinners. They could not understand why someone like Jesus would spend time with such people. And He told them why.

Just like Jesus called everyone of His disciples, He calls us too. He calls us out of the sin that we are living in, to offer us something so much better than anything this world could ever offer. Jesus offers Himself. He offered Himself by teaching and showing love to the people the world didn't think much about. He knew the Pharisees' hearts. He knew they thought they were perfect and had nothing to repent for, but their self-righteous attitudes blinded them to what Jesus was doing while He was on earth. We must be careful. We must not think that we are better than everyone. When we start thinking that, then we start feeling like we don't need Jesus, that is pride. We are not perfect. No one is. The only perfect person that ever existed was Jesus. Everyone of us has sinned and fallen short, and must repent and ask Jesus to forgive us. There are many times we sin and don't even realize it. But Jesus can help us. He called us when we were in the middle of our sin. Just like He sat and ate with sinners, He comes and sits with us. It is through spending time with Him, that He begins changing our hearts, attitudes, and lives.

Do you feel like you need Jesus or do you feel like everything is going good right now, you don't need Jesus' help? No matter where we are in life, we need Jesus' help. He is the one that provides everything that we need, including the strength to even just get out of bed. It is through Jesus that we find joy, peace, content, and all the things that every person desires in this life. We will not find it without Him. Allow Jesus to be your support line everyday. He will help you with anything you will face.