Matthew 9:9–10 (NKJV): Jesus passed on from there, He saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax office. And He said to him, “Follow Me.” So he arose and followed Him. 10 Now it happened, as Jesus sat at the table in the house, that behold, many tax collectors and sinners came and sat down with Him and His disciples.
Matthew, Jesus. Matthew 9:9–10
Hey, I’m Nathan, and this is Day 8 of 30 Days Watching Jesus. Everywhere we see Jesus, it seems we cannot escape the reality that he loved people in ways we never have. That he saw them as persons of immense value—regardless of reputation, career, parentage, political party, national heritage, ethnicity—or any number of other social identifiers we might use. To be seen by Jesus was unlike being seen by anyone else you’d ever met before. There was an awareness that he knew perfectly well who you were—that he did know about your ethnicity, that he was somehow aware of your reputation, that he did size-up your person—and, yet simultaneously, a keen awareness that he saw you apart from all of that. That all of that, did not reduce or prop up your value in his eyes. That all of that, was beside the point, you were simply his beloved child. Worthy of his full time and attention. Worthy of his kindness and respect. Full of worth—apart from everything you thought yourself to be. Sensing that worthness in his eyes, was, for so many, profoundly life-changing.
