Transcription

Jeff
So, Wesley, one of my favorite things is backyard barbecues. Don’t you love a good backyard barbecue. Well, this is one of the things that makes me love Jesus even more. Is this passage today because Jesus is at a backyard barbecue at Matthew’s house. Yeah. So that’s what we’re talking about today. He’s Wesley and I’m Jeff, and you’re watching the Bible guys. So, Wesley, we at the Bible Guys podcast are committed to bringing the most relevant news from the most trusted news sources. Absolutely. And so our long time listeners know that we pay close attention to the Babylon Bee. Yeah. And so if you don’t know, The Babylon Bee is a satire website. They’re just making jokes. But for the most part, we think they’re about as accurate as most of the other news news websites. So you have an article for us? I got a good article here.

Wesley
It’s the title is Restaurant hires extra staff to remind people they need to order at the kiosk. Yeah.

Jeff
That drives me nuts. Yeah.

Wesley
It says with the public at large still adjusting to more modernized retail service, a local restaurant was forced to hire additional personnel who would be responsible for telling customers they need to order at the automated kiosks instead of the counter. We had to increase our staff to let customers know we’re reducing our staff, said Erika Cartwright, owner of the aggressive Rainbow Cafe downtown. We made the decision to switch to electronic kiosks for ordering to save a lot of money in payroll costs, but we quickly discovered we needed people on staff to tell everyone to use the kiosk. The move initially cut the cafe staff in half. The recent hiring surge has resulted in an even larger staff than before the implementation of the automated ordering system. I’m all for changing with the times and streamlining the process, Cartwright said. But I’m not sure how much money I’m going to save with these new employees. Combined with the IT guys, I have to I have to have on call to help when the kiosk breaks down. But hey, we’re riding the wave of the future baby. Experts have also theorized that this type of scenario may result from the general population growing more and more stupid as time goes on, leading to customers having to be provided detailed instructions for even the most minute tasks.

Jeff
Right it. This drives me nuts. So hey, if this was a segment what made Jeff mad this week, that would be it we just had. Have you have you dealt with any of these places where they insist that you go and order on the on a kiosk? So.

Wesley
So I’ve been to one. It was a McDonald’s, the one on 23 mile and that one, it has both. It has a counter. But you can also do the they have like four, maybe three, four kiosks where you can just do it all online. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Jeff
So did they require that you use the kiosk.

Wesley
So no they didn’t require that you use the kiosk.

Jeff
Yeah. My wife and I were coming home from northern Michigan just just like a couple weeks ago. Yeah. And I can’t remember where we were. But anyways, we we pull off the freeway and it was, you know, time to eat or whatever. And I have a McDonald’s problem. Yeah I do. That’s a whole other podcast. Right. The sausage.

Wesley
Biscuit.

Jeff
What’s what’s Jeff’s problem today? That is McDonald’s isn’t my problem. But, um, uh, and I don’t know why. It’s terrible food. It’s rarely ever good. I just like it. I don’t know why. So we pull off at McDonald’s and in the lobby, I come in and, um, I knew immediately there was nobody behind the counter. I stood there for a second. Nobody’s behind the counter. Oh, they’re making me go use the cash. So I went over the kiosk. So then, uh, two older couples older than me came in, I would say in their 70s came in. They stood at the counter and a lady came out and she said, you have to use the kiosks. Yeah. So there was no it wasn’t like a pleasant thing.

Wesley
Good morning. How are you?

Jeff
And so one of the guys said, uh, well, we just want to order. And she said, you have to order on the kiosk. And he looked at her for a minute and she was aggressive. And I remember thinking, wow, that was too aggressive. Yeah. So he walked over and he’s fiddling with the kiosk, and then he walked back and he said, uh, excuse me, ma’am, I don’t want to use the kiosk. Can I just order? And she said, no. And he said, why are the cash registers here? Yeah. Right. And she said, uh, you have to use the kiosk. And they all walked out. Oh, wow. All of them. Right. And I remember thinking, really? You’re forcing somebody to use the kiosk? There was nobody inside. Yeah. Right there. She’s walking around. I don’t know what she was doing. She. So then I’m waiting for my order to come up, and, uh. Uh, then another couple came in. They’re kind of punching around in the thing, and she came out and helped them on the screen. So why did she come out and help them? Yeah. So if you want to know what makes Jeff mad this week is forcing people.

Wesley
To use the kiosk.

Jeff
If I wanted to use a screen, you know, I can. I could have made the entire order on my phone. Yeah, it turns out I carry a screen. Hey, McDonald’s, I got a screen in my pocket. Yeah. If I want to order online, I can. Yeah. Um, turns out I don’t. Yeah. And I want to talk to somebody in front of me. Yeah, right. And what if they wanted recommendations? What if this was the first time they’d ever been at McDonald’s? Yeah. And they weren’t sure. Or you’re selling.

Wesley
The chicken or the fish or the.

Jeff
Or you’re selling a new sandwich, and they want to know what’s on the sandwich or whatever. It’s just a picture on a screen. Do you want 2 or 4? Right. That’s one, two, three, four. And so I think that we’re losing something in this. We’re losing the human connection. And so you want to know what makes Jeff mad this week. That’s it right there. That’s it right there I hope they change their.

Wesley
So now Chris is going to take you on a field trip to.

Jeff
Yeah that’s right. Well we’ll see I think it’s just uh my dad used to say all the time, you either are right now or soon shall be just like the crowd you run with. Yeah. The people you hang out with, their attitudes rub off on you. Yeah. And now Chris isn’t in the studio, and I’m mad about something, huh? Thanks for reading that article, Wesley. Yeah, just set me off. Okay, so we’re reading one of my favorite stories in the Bible. I love these things where you get just a little bit of a hint as to the humanity of Jesus. Little background info.

Jeff
But, uh, so we’re reading this passage is in all three of the Gospels, Matthew, Mark and Luke, uh, again, and which seems to be the pattern here lately. And it says, as in Matthew chapter nine verse nine, it says, as Jesus was walking along, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at his tax collector’s booth. Follow me and be my disciple, Jesus said to him. So Matthew got up and followed him. Later, Matthew invited Jesus and his disciples to his home as dinner guests, along with many tax collectors and other disreputable sinners. But when the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples, why does your teacher eat with such scum? Yeah, when Jesus heard this, he said, healthy people don’t need a doctor. Sick people do. And then he added, now go and learn the meaning of this scripture. I want you to show mercy, not offer sacrifices, for I’ve come to call not those who think they’re righteous, but those who know they’re sinners. Yeah. In Mark chapter two, verse 13, Jesus says, if the Bible says, Then Jesus went out to the lakeshore again and taught the crowds that were coming to him. As he walked along, he saw Levi, son of Alphaeus, sitting at his tax collector’s booth. Levi is another name for Matthew. It says, follow me and be my disciple. Jesus said to him. So Levi got up and followed him, and later Levi invited Jesus and his disciples to his home as dinner guests, along with many tax collectors and other disreputable sinners. There were many people of this kind among Jesus followers. Yes, a little.

Wesley
A little nugget there.

Jeff
I love that phrase.

Wesley
Just so you know.

Jeff
Yeah, yeah. The crowd Jesus hung out with this is. But when the teachers of religious law who were Pharisees saw him eating with tax collectors and other sinners, they asked his disciples, why does he eat with such scum? When Jesus heard this, he told them, healthy people don’t need a doctor. Sick people do. I’ve come to call not those who think they are righteous, but those who know they are sinners. And then in Luke chapter five, he tells it this way. He says. Later, as Jesus left the town, he saw a tax collector named Levi sitting at his tax collector’s booth. Follow me and be my disciple, Jesus said to him. So Levi got up, left everything, and followed him. Later, Levi had a banquet, held a banquet in his home with Jesus as the guest of honor. Many of Levi’s fellow tax collectors and other guests also ate with them, but the Pharisees and their teachers of religious law complained bitterly to Jesus disciples why do you eat and drink with such scum? And Jesus answered them, healthy people don’t need a doctor. Sick people do. I’ve come to call not those who think they are righteous, but those who know they are sinners and need to repent. Yeah. Yeah, so that’s good. Such a funny story. I think it’s interesting. The one major difference between the three passages is that Matthew says Jesus came to Matthew. Luke, Mark and Luke say, call him Levi. Yeah, right. So I think one is a little bit more of a formal name, and the other is a little bit more of a casual name. Yeah, because he had multiple names, but both Mark and Luke are clear. This is the son of Alphaeus. We’re talking about Matthew.

Jeff
Yeah. So yeah. Yeah.

Wesley
But I love the fact of um, in the which one was that in Mark, when he goes on, there were many of this kind among Jesus followers, like the disreputable sinners.

Jeff
It’s a it’s a parenthetical statement. Yeah. Oh, yeah. You think Matthew is bad? Yeah. All of Jesus followers were.

Wesley
But this is something that the Pharisees really had a problem with in their minds. If you were among the religious elite, you didn’t hang around those people. Oh, right. Right. You had nothing to do with those kind of people. And here is Jesus. Every time you turn around, he’s surrounded by those type of people, right? Right. And, you know, the Bible says that, you know, you if you’re sick, you need a doctor, right? Yeah. Yeah.

Jeff
So, well, let’s talk about these those disreputable kinds of people. So we’ve already talked about this is Capernaum, right. Because we know it just says in the previous one he was in Capernaum in his hometown, where he healed the man that was paralyzed, that came down through the roof. Yeah. Then it says, he goes out to the lakeshore. That’s right there at the lakeshore. Yeah. Uh, or I think Luke goes, uh, Luke says, um. Uh, Luke says later. Mhm. Right. So it doesn’t say he moved, he went to another town. It’s just this is later Jesus goes and finds uh Matthew. Now we know that the, that this this the road that cuts past Capernaum is a major road. Uh, and the Romans used it. Militaries used it, um, to, to move resources, but so did merchants. So it was a really heavily traveled road where you’re coming just around the edge of the Sea of Galilee. And so there’s a Roman garrison there for security purposes. Also, tax collectors would set up. And the two things that the tax collectors would do. One, their job was to collect taxes from the locals. The other was they kind of set up a toll system. Yeah, along the road to collect taxes from those that are using this Roman road. Um, for the purpose of merchant, you know, moving merchandise.

Wesley
Yeah. And they weren’t very liked. Right. Not very well liked.

Jeff
So, so he that’s why he would be at that town. Yeah. Right. As opposed to some of the other towns is this is like it’s a toll road stop. Yeah. Uh, on the toll road. So the reason why the Jews hated these guys is because almost all the tax collectors were Jewish in Israel. And, uh, they basically bought their job from the Romans. They would bid on this job. So the Romans had a certain amount of money that they expected to make every quarter or whatever from the, uh, from their tolls and taxes. Uh, so a tax collector would bid on it. Here’s how much I’ll get you. Yeah. And the Romans would let them set virtually any tax level they wanted that they could get. Yeah. So every taxing thing there was always a minimum tax. But the, the, the tax collectors had, uh, authority to put people in jail or to seize property or do all kinds of things. And so there just was no winning. Yeah. And so they were so crooked because they would take far more than they needed for the taxes. And that’s what they lived on. So they tended to be rich. And everybody in town knew they were rich because they got ripped off, that the Pharisees was rich because everybody else in town got ripped off by him. Yeah. So Matthew has a big house, apparently big enough. It doesn’t say that they had dinner together. He threw a banquet, is what Luke said. Yeah, right. So this is a big house in Capernaum. Yeah. And, um. Uh. Everybody knows he’s rich because he took money from me. He stole from me. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Wesley
Something else that’s interesting to me about this. Just that phrasing how it says, along with many tax collectors and other disreputable centers. What’s what’s interesting to me is just the verbiage, the language used there in that a lot of times it’s interesting to me how we view other people’s sins, their mistakes, you know, that’s that’s horrible. That’s a disreputable person. Well, what about you?

Jeff
Yeah. Yeah, yeah. What about.

Wesley
Your flaws? Your mistakes? So it’s easy to point the finger to me at other people than to point the finger at yourself?

Jeff
It’s the truth, isn’t it? Yeah. And call them scum. Yeah. Those scum. Yeah. Right. Yeah.

Wesley
So that’s hilarious to me.

Jeff
So I love this. You know, you talked about Jesus, uh, hanging out with disreputable people. Yeah. It’s interesting. He was with them, but he didn’t become like them.

Wesley
Yeah, which is an important nuance there.

Jeff
Right. So he affected them? Yeah. He didn’t allow them to affect him. Yeah. And there’s a huge difference there. So you know, to have a teenager or a weaker Christian argue, well, I hang out with these people at the bar or at the whatever. Uh, because, you know, that’s what Jesus did. Yeah. Jesus was Wesley
And I’ve heard that phrase before.

Jeff
Jesus wasn’t participating in their sin. Jesus

Wesley
He wasn’t partying too.

Jeff
Jesus changed Matthew’s life. Yeah. Jesus every encounter Jesus had with a sinner, it turns out the only people Jesus had to hang out with was sinners. Lost people, even the Pharisees. They were all lost sinners. Um uh, but the Pharisees didn’t realize it. Yeah, that’s what he’s trying to say, is that you guys don’t know that you need a doctor. That’s your problem. Um, but every every human that Jesus interacted with was a sinner, and he was not. Yeah. And so what you find is you don’t find Jesus ever becoming like the people he was hanging around. Instead, you only ever found Jesus changing the sinners that he was with. And eventually it got him killed. Yeah, right. As as he was, because he would confront even the Pharisees. So he said, hey, listen, man, these people know they need a doctor you don’t know that you need when he’s talking to the Pharisees, right? Yeah. They know that they’re sinners and you don’t. That’s your problem. And he starts even challenging the worst. So in Jesus mind, the worst sinner was not a Pharisee. I mean, it was not a tax collector who knew he was a sinner. Yeah. The worst sinner was a religious, you know, bigot that didn’t think he was a sinner. Yeah, right. And eventually that got him killed when he was trying to even reach those sinners. Yeah. And, um, you know, so there’s a cost. There’s a cost to being if all the light leaves, the only thing left is darkness. Yeah. Right. And so Jesus is shining the light. But don’t be mistaken that he jumped in and participated with them. Yeah. He wasn’t participating in their sins. Yeah, he.

Wesley
Wasn’t going out and sinning and doing all the, you know, other, you know, partying, you know, that they were doing right. His objective, like you mentioned, was to transform their life, right? Not for them to transform him.

Jeff
And you find that he does that with his words, not just with his lifestyle. Yeah, right. So he’s constantly the message of Jesus. Mark says this, uh, the message of Jesus was, repent of your sin and turn to God. The kingdom of heaven is here. Yeah, that’s Jesus message, and that’s what he preached everywhere. And it’s in that context, Matthew Levi, man has this encounter with Jesus, and he leaves a very lucrative business. Yeah. To follow Jesus. And and I don’t know if he thought this was going to be a temporary thing. Yeah. Or if he believed it was permanent. But he got up and left a very lucrative business. And, you know, following Jesus has a cost. Certainly. Um, but he he leaves his business. And then not only that, he wants his. Disreputable friends to meet Jesus on the level he did. Yeah. And so it turns out he’s not a preacher. He doesn’t own his own synagogue. And get them invite them into his synagogue. Um, instead, he just he he does what he can, and that is he throws a banquet on his back patio and, uh, has a barbecue in the back and invites Jesus over and says, hey, you guys got to meet this guy. Yeah, right. And so you don’t find Jesus just sitting around only eating and all those things. Jesus is having an impact on them. And of course, which one of these guys was it? Was it? Was it Luke that said, it seemed like the Pharisees were always following Jesus around?

Wesley
Uh.

Jeff
Uh, where is it? One of these, it says. It says it seemed like it was.

Wesley
And the teachers were Pharisees. Yeah.

Jeff
Anyways, in one of the passages we’ve read recently, it talks about how it just seemed like the Pharisees were always around. Yeah. Right. So it turns out there’s always going to be complainers. There’s always going to be people who take some high road, uh, use some religious argument or whatever, who try to leverage their authority to complain about good work. Yeah, right. Good things that need to be done. Yep. And so, um, uh, Jesus was more concerned about reaching lost people than he was about his reputation. Mhm. Uh, but he wasn’t shy about calling them out. So in the one passage, Jesus says, hey, uh, instead of you guys judging me all the time, how about you go and study this Bible verse? I want you to show mercy, not offer sacrifices. Yeah, right. Learn to love people. Don’t just pretend like you love God. Yeah, that’s what he’s saying there. And I love that. Yeah.

Wesley
I’m going to circle back really quick to something you said about math. You just how he left his things he didn’t know. Maybe we don’t know if he thought it was temporary or long term or anything like that, but I want to just touch on the idea of how obedience is, um, the, uh, how obedience can be a difficult thing.

Jeff
Yeah, yeah, it’s not.

Wesley
Easy, you know, it’s not an easy thing, you know, to step out and do what? And I would almost phrase it differently. Obedience is inconvenient. Yeah. Yeah. It’s a very inconvenient thing when God is asking you to do certain things, there’s an inconvenience to it. Let’s say someone has done you wrong. You feel that they have done you wrong, and God tells you to go forgive that person, right? You’re like God. Tell them to forget. What? Why are you having me do that? Yeah, they should be the one coming to me. So. And even with prayer, you know, you may feel a sensing on the inside that you know what I need to pray this morning. You know, I normally pray at night, but I need to pray this morning. For some reason, it it’s inconvenient to get up a little earlier to pray, but there’s a certain level of that with obedience. It’s inconvenient to be obedient, and I don’t think that’s talked about enough. Yeah, obedience isn’t an easy thing.

Jeff
So the nature of the idea of obedience is you’re doing your thing. Yeah. And the person with authority comes and says, I want you to do something different. Yeah.

Wesley
That you don’t may not want to do. Right. Yeah.

Jeff
So as a little kid, there were times I wanted to go learn how to mow the lawn with my dad. I wanted to go learn to mow. Right. Yeah. So. If if my dad said, hey, you want to mow the lawn?

Jeff
I’m like, yeah.

Jeff
I want to mow the lawn. Yeah, okay. Now we’re just doing a thing together. There’s no obedience involved there. Yeah, I’m doing what he’s doing. Woohoo! That’s great. Yeah. It’s fun.

Wesley
Yeah.

Jeff
No obedience was when I wanted to play video games and my dad said, I want you to mow the lawn before you, before you finish or before you start playing video games. Yeah, well, I had my agenda, and my agenda is to play video games. Yeah.

Wesley
And I was not planning on doing that. Yeah. Yeah.

Jeff
So so obedience always requires that we, um, uh, inconvenience ourselves to follow the instructions of the one with authority, right? Yeah. But let me tell you how much greater it is when it stops being an obedience thing and starts being a cooperation thing. Yeah. I want to be a part of your kingdom. I want to do what you’re doing. Right. So.

Wesley
Yeah, obedience says that a lot. Being a part of God’s plan.

Jeff
Yeah, yeah. Obedience is can be a struggle and even feel like a burden. But participation cooperation, yeah is exciting. It gives you purpose. Right. And there’s a fine line between those two things. But start obeying and then, uh, find out if you don’t just start enjoying being a part of God’s kingdom. Right. And doing what God wants. So that’s a big part of it. But I love the fact that Matthew didn’t know how to get the good news of Jesus to his friends, so he just invited his friends to come and meet Jesus. Yeah, and that might just mean, hey, there’s somebody you need to invite to church this weekend. Yeah, that might mean that you need to throw a Matthew party in your backyard. It’s still sunshiny out here in Michigan right now. And, uh, for those of you who listen to it this week and, uh, throw a party in your backyard and invite, you know, Chris or Wesley or somebody over to your house and, and specifically to say, hey, let me tell you my story. Uh, there was a time I didn’t know Jesus. Now I know Jesus. And, yeah, I want you to to to hear how you can know Jesus, you know, and have have Wesley share the gospel or something. There’s there’s all kinds of ways to leverage your influence for the kingdom. And I think the danger is not are you going to be rejected? Of course, there’s going to be critics. Even Matthew and Jesus had critics. But dude, can you imagine the impact that that might have had on some of these other crooked Pharisees? I mean, not Pharisees, these other crooked, uh, tax collectors in.

Wesley
The party concept was genius. Oh, yeah. To me, it’s kind of like a low bar. So he wasn’t he didn’t create some strenuous, huge thing that, hey, I’m going to have some food. Just stop over. Guy named Jesus is going to be there. We’re going to hang out. You know, it was a very low bar. Yeah. Uh, so I thought that was cool. It’s so.

Jeff
Cool. Well, hey, uh, that’s a good place to end. Yeah. End today. So, uh, we hope that you enjoyed this episode. Like, subscribe. Leave a comment. Uh, we are so grateful for you that you take the time to listen. And we look forward to coming back and joining you again tomorrow.