The Surprise Guest at the Big Bash

Part two in this story series ....


Tax collecting in the Roman Empire took place at city gates, public roads or bridges.

Matt collected his taxes on "The Great Road," which would have stretched between Damascus and seaports of Phoenicia.

And this is where his story begins, because it was while Matt was cooling his heels at his post, extorting money from his countrymen and otherwise creating havoc for rich and poor alike in the name of Rome ... that Someone dropped by and changed his life forever.

Jesus.

Jesus had just finished His own little adventure when He ran into Matt. He'd been going rounds with His enemy rivals, the Pharisees, the religious rulers of Israel who were revered among the Jewish people.

And why? Well, He'd just healed a paralyzed guy and had told this man that his sins were forgiven. The Pharisees didn't like that, because that was equivalent to blasphemy in their eyes. But no one was talking about that. Everyone was talking about how the guy had stood up, tucked his mat under his arm and skipped out praising God.

So in the immediate aftermath of this miracle, Jesus was walking along that "Great Road," and He came across Matt.

Now if you remember from our story yesterday, Matt wasn't the most popular person. As a tax collector, he was no longer welcome at home. He couldn't even give his dirty money at the Temple. And no one with respectable family values could accept his money, even if he'd offered it as a gift.

So Matt hung out with people who would accept him ... you know .... the hookers, the thieves, the drunks, the other tax collectors ....

You know. Society's dregs.

Filth.

So here comes Jesus, the one everyone was praising as the possible Messiah. And Jesus walks up to Matt's little tax collecting post, and plain as day says to him, "Follow me."

You know what Matt did?

He left his life as a tax collector and came right after Jesus.

Not only that ... he threw a big party that night. He invited all of his friends. And guess who was the guest of honor?

You got it.

Jesus.

And this wasn't just a small little group of good buddies. The Gospel writer Luke tells us that Matt "held a great banquet" and "a large crowd of tax collectors and others were eating with them."

SCANDAL!

Now let's rewind back to earlier in our story ... the Pharisees meanwhile, were still pretty steamed at Jesus for not only healing that paralyzed guy and showing them up, but also for taking the added blasphemous step of forgiving that guy's sins.

And they hear about this little soiree.

They waste no time in giving Jesus a piece of their minds, too.

See ... if you had dinner with someone at that time in Israel, you were basically saying that you held their company in high esteem.

This wasn't just like grabbing a quick sandwich at Chick-fil-A.

No ... this was akin to inviting someone over to your house for Thanksgiving dinner with your most respected family members at the table.

So the Pharisees pulled Jesus's disciples aside and confronted them. "Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?" they demanded.

And this is why I love Jesus so much, because Jesus didn't even flinch or try to pretend that it was a big mistake.

Jesus quipped, "It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance."

Oh, SNAP.

Did you get that?

He didn't come for the "righteous."

In other words, He basically told the Pharisees to shove off. His peeps were right there with Him at that party.

And as for Matt?

Well, you know him as Matthew, the writer of the first Gospel in  your Bible, and one of Jesus's 12 disciples.

Now what does this have to do with Chick-fil-A and the gay community? And what can we also learn from Matt's decision to follow Jesus?

Tune in for the conclusion of the story.

The Prodigal Son, as told by 8-year-old Neil

Neil will be 8 on Saturday. Recently he was diagnosed with Asperger's syndrome, which I'm still getting my brain around ... but basically, it's a form of autism.

This has helped to explain a lot of mysteries about my beautiful miracle boy ... but what has continually amazed me is that despite many of his struggles, he retains the details of Bible stories after hearing them only once.

Today he heard the story of the Prodigal Son. His version, though, is uniquely Neil's -- and uniquely gorgeous.

Here's how he told it to me a couple of hours ago:

"Well, Mommy, see, there was this little boy. And he told his daddy, 'Give me money!' So his daddy gave him lots of money, and he went away on a loooooooooong trip. He made lots of friends. They helped him spend the money.

But then, the money was gone! He was poor.

So he decided to get a job. And you know what his job was, Mommy? He decided to FEED PIGS! (laughs)

But he was soooooooooo hungry. He decided he'd eat the pig's food. It was yucky. So he said, 'I think I'll go home now.'

His daddy gave him a big hug and threw a party. He thought he'd be a servant, but his daddy said he was still his boy."


At this point, I interrupted Neil and started to interject the meaning behind the story, but he cut me off.

"Wait, Mommy. There's more!" he told me. "The little boy had a big brudder (Neil's pronounciation). And this brudder was good. (Neil holds up his chubby hands and makes the sign for quotes when he says, "good.")

But he really WASN'T good. He had a bad heart.

When he heard the party music, he got mad! He went to his room and played on his computer. He was MAD. So his daddy came to his room. He said, 'Why don't you come down to the party?' And the big brudder said, 'I've been a good boy, but you don't even give me a goat. My little brudder spent all the money, and you gave him a big party.'

His daddy wanted him to come down to the party, but you know what, Mommy? That big brudder wouldn't come. He just sat in his room and kept being mad."



I was amazed at how Neil relayed the story of the elder brother. But what amazed me even more was that he didn't understand the point of the story. We had to talk about it afterwards.

It got me thinking ... how many of us miss that part of the Prodigal Son's tale, or conveniently overlook it?

This past week I fielded some comments at another blog of mine, Family Giving. They were directed at my church's acceptance of homosexuals. I didn't post any of the comments .... but Neil's version of the older brother in the Prodigal Son jarred me today.

How many people will be surprised to see those they hate ... being celebrated in Heaven?

How many people who go in and out of church doors week after week after week ... who esteem their lifestyles as holier than others ... will be angry that those others will be at the Lamb's feast?

See ... did you notice that when the Prodigal Son showed up, he returned not as a shining example of the perfect kid? He was filthy, covered in pig slime. He'd spent all the money. He'd trashed his dad's name. He came home thinking that he'd just be a servant. Boy, was he ever surprised when his dad hugged him and threw a party, yes?

And boy, was that older brother angry about it.

We never find out what happened to the older brother. I suspect that was Jesus's point, because all of us at one point or another don't want the younger brother to show up.

The thing is, though -- when the younger brother does return, do we say, "Unforgiveable! You had your chance! Take your filthy self and leave!"

Or do we celebrate with the Father that the lost sibling has returned?

Maybe Jesus left this as an open ending on purpose. Who will welcome the younger brother home? Who will decide the younger brother isn't worthy?

And what does this mean for the church? Are you part of a church that rejoices at the sight of the lost child? Or are you part of a church that condemns him?

I have to tell you ... I'm happy to say that my church wants the younger sibling back.

As for those who condemn my church and others for accepting the LGBT community ... have you considered that you might be the "older brudder?"