Introducing Jesus to My Friends
Recently, I went out with some old and new friends for a meal and an event at the Tower Theatre in downtown Bend. We went to a bar for some grub and I ordered my customary Diet Coke to wash it all down.
Honestly, I’m pretty much a stay-at-home guy. You won’t find me out much.
But I want to introduce Jesus to my friends. And this night out provided an opportunity.
To be honest, I’ve consistently stated I’m no gifted evangelist. Sharing my faith doesn’t come easily for me. I don’t have many non-Christian friends. But as a pastor, both as church one and in retirement, I take to heart Paul’s exhortation to pastor Timothy: “Do the work of an evangelist” (2 Tim.4:5).
Proclaiming the gospel requires meaningful relationships with people who don’t know Jesus. It means going on their turf. It entails going outside our comfort zone.
British scholar and pastor John Stott warned against “foxhole” Christians, meaning believers who scamper to the relative safety of a Christian environment while spending little time in between.
Introducing Jesus to my friends means going places where God’s people may not understand and saying things to our friends that may be controversial and divisive.
That’s why I like the story recorded in Matthew 9:9-13, Mark 2:13-17, and Luke 5:27-32 where Jesus calls Matthew Levi to follow him. The subsequent meal provides a picture into Jesus’ heart for those sick with sin.
When Jesus called Matthew to be his disciple, it opened doors that previously had been closed.
Most likely, Jesus calls Matthew near Capernaum, his ministry base on the northwest shore of the Sea of Galilee. Mark 2:13 adds the detail that “Jesus went out beside the lake”. Matthew (or Levi as Mark and Luke call him; Jews often had double names) was a tax collector, a lucrative but despised occupation by the Jews in the first century. Not only did a tax collector work for the hated Roman government but they often extorted an extra fee for their own profit. Think corrupt IRS agent.
Jesus calling Matthew to follow him is a radical act of repentance. It meant walking away from a profitable lifestyle to an unknown future with Jesus. Luke’s account of this event adds this: “Levi got up, left everything and followed him” (Lk.5:27). Maybe Matthew had been a casual listener to Jesus’ teaching. Mark 2:13 says “a large crowd came to him (Jesus), and he began to teach them.” Matthew may have been in earshot and the Holy Spirit began softening his heart. Whatever happened, there had to be a back story. Some invisible undercurrent of discontent with his present lifestyle. Matthew, Mark, and Luke all record that Matthew immediately began following Jesus.
At his farewell dinner, Matthew invited Jesus to meet his friends and his friends to meet Jesus
A consequence of Jesus calling Matthew is that he gets to meet Matthew’s friends. And Matthew wants them to meet Jesus. I suspect it was an uncomfortable meal. Jesus’ reputation surely preceded him. I suspect there was uncertainty about Matthew’s change of heart and what Jesus’ presence would mean.
Matthew and Mark point out that (Luke has the Pharisees say it), along with fellow tax collectors, “sinners” were at the meal. Probably these were people who didn’t measure up to the manmade standards and expectations of the religious people of Jesus’ day.
And Matthew and Mark specifically record that Jesus’ disciples were with him, maybe many more than the Twelve. What a teaching moment for them!
Opposition to Jesus at this meal came from the Pharisees, who exhibited the same jealousy, hypocrisy, and formalism we encounter today
The Pharisees were jealous of Jesus’ popularity and ministry success. That jealousy simmered until it boiled over at the crucifixion where Matthew 27:18 says of Pilate, “For he knew it was out of envy that they had handed Jesus over to him.” They feared loss of power and influence among the people.
The Pharisees were hypocritical. They emphasized the practice of the external at the expense of the heart. They couldn’t see Jesus’ heart and compassion for those attending this farewell meal. Jesus wanted the same repentance and faith response as Matthew’s at the risk of his reputation and ultimately his life. He knew all kinds of people would populate his kingdom.
The Pharisees were caught up in the formalism of their own set of rules. For example, fasting, a legitimate practice endorsed by Jesus in Matthew 6:16, became a set ritual by which the holiness of others was measured. To share a meal with those they considered “sinners” was unacceptable. Holiness to them was a human construct.
I can remember having lunch with a non-Christian friend in a notorious downtown bar in Laramie, Wyoming. Someone from our church either saw me enter or leave and made sure to let me know about it. After they voiced their displeasure, I pointed them to Mark 2:17, “On hearing this, Jesus said to them, ‘It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have come to call the righteous, but sinners.’”
Sometimes the opposition to introducing Jesus to our friends is a not so friendly fire. The people who should be the most supportive are often the least.
Matthew’s account of this story adds Jesus quoting Hosea 6:6 to the opposition: “I desire mercy, not sacrifice”. Covenant keeping loyal love trumps ritual sacrifice. Seeking the sick is more important hanging out with the healthy.
NT scholar D.A. Carson writes this in his commentary on Matthew: “There is no suggestion here that he went to sinners because they gladly received him; rather, he went to them because they were sinners, just as a doctor goes to the sick because they are sick.” (Expositor’s Bible Commentary, Vol.8, p.225)
Ironically, in our desire to introduce Jesus to our friends, we may receive opposition from two sides: the religiously self-righteous and the unrepentant “sick” whom Jesus sought out.
But in another encounter with tax collector Zaccheus in Luke 19, Jesus categorically states his mission is “to seek and save that which is lost (19:10)”.
Shortly after my conversion as a college freshman, I called my high school principal asking if I could speak at a school assembly about my newfound faith. The principal was caught off guard and remained non-committal. My zeal was perhaps misplaced but it was real. I wanted to introduce Jesus to my friends.
Fifty years later in 2022, my high school class was organizing a reunion. They created a Facebook page for classmates to reminisce and ensure others they were still alive. I took the opportunity to write out my journey of faith and post it on the web page. That led to several significant online conversations about Jesus that I hadn’t had before.
We don’t introduce Jesus to our friends so that they stay where they are. We introduce Jesus to them so that they are never the same again.