In Matthew 8-9, the compiler/author of Matthew was working on two supremely important questions: (1) who was Jesus' target audience? and (2) what did he want from that audience? These are issues that would have greatly concerned that little first century urban congregation that we've been imagining. They were new followers of the Way and members of the working class poor who had joined the Jesus Movement because it spoke to them in their daily struggles. But, they were still figuring things out and had a lot of questions. They must have listened to the gospel with rapt attention precisely because it addressed their questions and gave them some answers.Up to this point, the gospel has posed and begun to answer the question of, "Who is this guy?" (Mt. 8:27) He was, as we've seen, most especially a Rabbi of serious power, power over nature, demons, and sin. He was a healer as well as a teacher. So, a picture was coming into focus. But, members of our little church were still listening for a clear answer as to what this meant for them. Were they part of the story? Was Jesus speaking to them? And, if so, how should they respond?
This passage, Matthew 9:913, provides answers to these questions. First, what was expected was faith, the kind of faith that doesn't ask questions—the kind of faith that hears Jesus' call and says, "yes," on the spot, closes down the office, and follows the Master. Second, this passage also answered the question as to who could follow Jesus. In it, Jesus hobnobs with tax collectors and others of that ilk. When some Pharisees complained about this to his disciples, Jesus responded that he was like a merciful doctor with his patients. They were ill and needed his care. That's who he had to associate with. Jesus then quoted the prophet Hosea to make the point that he didn't begin his ministry to participate in rituals but to address the needs of "sinners," so called.
Did the members of our congregation feel that they fit in here? As people who lived in the bottom rungs of society and certainly did not have the money to participate in the religious life of their society with all of the sacrifices to the gods that involved, they may well have felt that the appellation "sinners" fit them. They may also have believed that their poverty and the lack of respect it entailed was a consequence of their own moral shortcomings. Their "betters" certainly thought that was the case. If that was the case, then these poor folks would also have felt that their poverty and lack of respectfulness was their own fault. And in that context, they would have heard this story as a bombshell of comfort and hope: "Jesus is powerful. He is also merciful and came to heal and free people just like us—outcasts (see the TEV translation) living on the edges of society. Whatever our condition, he is the way through it to a better life." The stories of a merciful and powerful Jesus touched people who lived in a harsh, very real world and gave them hope. They responded by putting their trust in the Rabbi and each other. It is hardly surprising, then, that the Jesus Movement became the most popular and powerful religious movement of the late Roman Empire.
