The Call of Matthew

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Jan 27, 1898

The Call of Matthew

Lesson VII.—Sunday, February 13, 1898.

The Call of Matthew

Note.—This lesson presents the Master’s example in the matter of missionary work for the poor and outcast. The question of rank, or caste, or proper society, or the estimation in which He would be held by the “respectable,” was not allowed to influence His work in the least degree. The matter which was of importance was the need of the people and their desire for help. As with the Master, so must it be with His servants. The greater the fall, the greater the need; and the greater the need, the greater the power at their command. The farther a soul has sunk in sin, the more the pitying heart of Heaven yearns toward him. Let the teacher of this lesson follow his Lord in this respect, that the witness of the Spirit may be his, and the power of the Word go with his work.

Lesson Scripture, Matt. 9: 9-17, R. V.

9 “And as Jesus passed by from thence, He saw a man, called Matthew, sitting at the place of toll; and He saith unto him, Follow Me. And he arose, and followed Him. 10 “And it came to pass, as He sat at meat in the house, behold, many publicans and sinners came and sat down with Jesus and His disciples. 11 And when the Pharisees saw it, they said unto His disciples, Why eateth your Master with the publicans and sinners? 12 But when He heard it, He said, They that are whole have no need of a physician, but they that are sick. 13 But go ye and learn what this meaneth, I desire mercy, and not sacrifice; for I came not to call the righteous, but sinners. 14 “Then come to Him the disciples of John, saying, Why do we and the Pharisees fast oft, but Thy disciples fast not? 15 And Jesus said unto them, Can the sons of the bride-chamber mourn, as long as the Bridegroom is with them? but the days will come, when the Bridegroom shall be taken away from them, and then will they fast. 16 And no man putteth a piece of undressed cloth upon an old garment; for that which should fill it up taketh from the garment, and a worse rent is made. 17 Neither do men put new wine into old wine-skins; else the skins burst, and the wine is spilled, and the skins perish; but they put new wine into fresh wine-skins, and both are preserved.”

Golden Text: “Follow Me.” Matt. 9: 9.

SUGGESTIVE QUESTIONS.

(1) Whom did Jesus see at the receipt of customs? Verse 9. Note 1. (2) What invitation did the Saviour extend to him? Same verse. (3) How did Matthew receive it? Same verse. Note 2. (4) With whom did the Saviour sit at meat in Matthew’s house? Verse 10. Note 3. (5) Who were looking on at the time? Verse 11. (6) How did they criticise Jesus and to whom? Same verse. (7) Who heard their criticism? Verse 12. (8) What reply did He make? Same verse. Note 4. (9) What did He tell them to do? Verse 13. (10) What did the Saviour say of His mission to earth? Same verse. (11) Who else came to the Saviour at this time? Verse 14. (12) What question did they ask Him? Same verse. (13) What illustration did the Saviour use in answering them? Verse 15. (14) When did He say that His own disciples should fast? Same verse. (15) What illustration did the Saviour use to show that a man must become a new creature in accepting Christ? Verse 16. (16) What will occur if one tries to follow Christ and still clings to his old life? Same verse. Note 5. (17) What further illustration did He use to prove the same thing? Verse 17. (18) What was their custom in regard to preserving wine? Same verse. Note 6.

NOTES.

1. Matthew.—He was also called Levi, as we learn from Luke 5: 27-30. He was a publican; that is, one who gathered the publicum, or public revenue. Such persons were thoroughly despised by the Jews, partly on account of the fraud and extortion which characterized their dealings, and partly because they were serving under the Roman Government, by which they were oppressed. The publicans, to whom the Roman knights “farmed out” the tax-gathering, were regarded by the Jews as traitors to their own nation and apostates from their religion. No money known to have come from them was received for religious uses.

2. Follow Me.—This call has been sounding through the world since that time, and thousands have heeded, as did “Matthew the publican,” and turned to repeat the call to others. There is this peculiarity about the Saviour’s invitations: Those who accept them are at liberty, nay, they are expected, to repeat the invitation to any and every class of people. Jesus chose a Pharisee (Paul), that he might go and bring other Pharisees; He chose a young man, that he might have more influence with the young; He chose a publican, that he might go and bring in other publicans and the class of persons that associated with them—in this showing that in the kingdom of heaven there will be no such thing as “caste” or different “circles of society.” All are children of the one Parent, whether they come from the slums or the pulpit, the hovel or the

mansion. To every one who listens to the reading of the Word, or to the pleadings of the ministers of Christ, or who opens the Word for himself, that call is spoken, “Come, follow Me.”

3. Came and sat down.—This was in Matthew’s house, and the publicans who came there ate with the Saviour and His disciples, as is seen by the words of the Pharisees in their criticism of His action. Luke 5: 27-30.

4. They that are sick.—The sinner is indeed a sick man. The heart of the sinner is spoken of as being desperately sick. It is a sickness that is unto death, a death that is eternal, unless the remedy of the great Physician is applied. The physician can do but little for the man who does not believe that he is sick. The Jews did not count themselves as sinners, therefore they felt no need of Christ; the publicans did. The fact that the publicans were at this feast would seem to show that Matthew had been at work among them. He felt no hesitancy in asking them to be there, for Christ had shown none in inviting him, and he was one of them.

5. A worse rent is made.—“If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature; old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.” 2 Cor. 5: 17. Jesus shows in the illustration used the futility of attempting to be part Christian and part Jew, or of clinging to the world while attempting to be a Christian. The two will not combine. An attempt to combine them ends always in disaster, as shown in this illustration and the one following. “Ye can not serve God and mammon.” It must be all one thing or all the other. He who becomes a new creature in Christ is new through and through. His raiment is not patched; it is whole, “without seam,” and is the gift of God, even Christ’s righteousness.

6. Put new wine into fresh wine-skins.—When the new wine of the life of Christ is placed in the one who has become a new creature in Christ, both are preserved. The new life which is put into the converted man, preserves that man unto all eternity; and the man preserves the life thus given to him. As it expands, he will expand with it to the glory of God.