From taxman to disciple

Matt 5 : 27 - 32

I have come to call ....sinners to repentance

The religion of the Pharisees was not at all attractive or even practical for the sinners of Jesus' day. And maybe we ought to think about what modern day Pharisee - ism might look like. And how many 'sinners' walk away - because they simply cannot comply with the intricate ground rules.

Jesus' 'rules' if we could call them such are not complicated - even though he invites wholehearted following, then as now!! I suppose there was something about his person that caught the attention of his hearers - perhaps it was his unconditional acceptance undergirded by a tender concern and a gentle challenge to let go the past. Those who have 'encountered' the Lord (today of course it is in "Spirit") - might resonate with this.

By 'follow' he meant not so much the movement of feet, as of the heart, the carrying out of a way of life. For one who says that he lives in Christ ought himself to walk just as he walked, not to aim at earthly things, not to pursue perishable gains, but to flee base praise, to embrace willingly the contempt of all that is worldly for the sake of heavenly glory, to do good to all, to inflict injuries upon no one in bitterness, to suffer patiently those injuries that come to oneself, to ask God's forgiveness for those who oppress, never to seek one's own glory but always God's, and to uphold whatever helps one love heavenly things. This is what is meant by following Christ. In this way, disregarding earthly gains, Matthew attached himself to the band of followers of One who had no riches. For the Lord himself, who outwardly called Matthew by a word, inwardly bestowed upon him the gift of an invisible impulse so that he was able to follow"

(Bede the Venerable, 7th century church father)

It is God's grace in our inner beings that we need and can surely ask for.