90 - Life of Jesus
Week seven - Feasting and Fasting
Matthew 9:9-17
A week away from Mardi Gras - the feast before the fast
9 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.
10 While Jesus was having dinner at Matthew’s house, many tax collectors and sinners came and ate with him and his disciples. 11 When the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?”
12 On hearing this, Jesus said, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick.13 But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.” —Matthew 9:9-13I desire mercy, not sacrifice; and acknowledgment of God rather than burnt offerings. —Hosea 6:6
The question, “Why them?” is often a foil for the real question, which is “why not me?”
- The Pharisees wanted God to see
14 Then John’s disciples came and asked him, “How is it that we and the Pharisees fast often, but your disciples do not fast?”
15 Jesus answered, “How can the guests of the bridegroom mourn while he is with them? The time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them; then they will fast.
16 “No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment, for the patch will pull away from the garment, making the tear worse. 17 Neither do people pour new wine into old wineskins. If they do, the skins will burst; the wine will run out and the wineskins will be ruined. No, they pour new wine into new wineskins, and both are preserved.” —Matthew 9:14-17
Whether you’re feasting or fasting, it should be in pursuit of God.
- We come
- We step
We always want to know what and how and why - Jesus wants to talk about
Jesus is looking for people who are looking for him.