Watch/Listen
God With Us
Brian Mashburn
December 24, 2006
Audio Player
God With Us
Jesus walked by the tax collector's booth. None of Jesus' people liked tax collectors. Tax collectors were "technically" members of the "right kingdom" because they were Jewish by birth and blood, but they were serving the "wrong kingdom" by collecting taxes for the Roman government.
I don't know what happened in the Jewish boy, Levi's, life that inclined him to accept this job that would make him hated by all his people, but there he was, sitting at the booth, collecting taxes for Rome, from his Jewish brethren.
Until Jesus came by. Jesus came by and simply said, "Follow me" and that was it. Levi got up, left his tax collecting duties, and followed Jesus. (Matthew 9:9) He went right home, inviting Jesus and his disciples, and all his other compromising friends to a dinner together to mingle...maybe it was a farewell party for Levi who had decided to take up this other profession of being a disciple of this unique Rabbi.
I don't know what happened in Levi's life that inclined him to accept this new job that would continue to make him hated by many of his people, but would also cost him the material wealth that he was able to obtain by being a tax collector.
Unless it had something to do with God coming near...
When God comes near, it really messes people up... but it's good. I'm not talking about hearing a gospel message or reading the Bible or being served by a Christian in a powerful way. I'm talking about when God really comes and is....with you.
Levi, or Matthew, wrote a whole record of his experience with Jesus. He begins it with the announcement of Jesus as "Immanuel" which means "God with us" (Matthew 1:23). And he ends it with Jesus promising that God will always be with us, "even to the end of the age." (Matthew 28:20)
It's like Matthew wanted you to know that God is with you, so that it will really mess with you too, so that people will say that they don't know what happened in your life either. Enough of a mess they have to ask. So that you, like Matthew, can tell them.
It's the Christmas Story. God with us. May it mess you up.