SPB Sermons || Sunday 2st September 2025 || Matthew 9:9-13 || The Call of Christ; Captured by Grace

This Sunday at St Paul’s & St Barnabas we turned to Matthew 9:9–13 and considered the call of Matthew the tax collector. It is one of those short passages that says so much about Jesus, the gospel, and what it means to be a disciple. In a few verses we see the beauty of grace and the surprising reach of Christ’s invitation.

Matthew was the last person anyone expected Jesus to call. A tax collector, working for the occupying Romans, despised by his community and cut off from the worship of God’s people — he was the kind of man the rabbis wrote off as beyond redemption. Yet it is to this man that Jesus says two words: “Follow me.” There are no negotiations, no time to prepare. Matthew gets up, leaves everything, and follows. It is a moment that shows the irresistible power of grace: when Christ calls, sinners are captured and lives are changed.

From there the story moves to Matthew’s house. Jesus does not keep his distance but sits down at the table with Matthew and his friends. Tax collectors and “sinners” gather around him, and Jesus is completely at ease in their company. This is shocking — a rabbi was expected to avoid the unclean, not recline with them. But Jesus is not corrupted by their presence; instead, he brings the very presence of God’s mercy into their midst. The Pharisees are scandalised and ask, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?” The answer Jesus gives still speaks powerfully: “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I desire mercy, not sacrifice. For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”

This is the gospel in a sentence. Jesus has come for people who know their need of him. He calls the outcast, the broken, the ones society forgets — and he calls us too. The question is not whether we are good enough, but whether we will respond to his voice and rise to follow. Like Matthew, we are invited to leave behind the old life and discover the joy of walking with Jesus, the friend of sinners and the physician of our souls.

If you missed the service, or if you want to listen again, you can catch up on the sermon through our podcast below. We pray it encourages you to see the beauty of Christ’s call and the power of his grace.

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