The Desire of Ages
by Ellen G. White
Chapter 28: Levi-Matthew
This chapter is based on Matt. 9:9-17; Mark 2:14-22;
Luke 5:27-39.
Of the Roman officials in Palestine, none were more hated
than the publicans. The fact that the taxes were imposed by a foreign power was
a continual irritation to the Jews, being a reminder that their independence
had departed. And the taxgatherers were not merely the instruments of Roman
oppression; they were extortioners on their own account, enriching themselves
at the expense of the people. A Jew who accepted this office at the hands of
the Romans was looked upon as betraying the honor of his nation. He was
despised as an apostate, and was classed with the vilest of society. {DA 272.1}
To this class belonged Levi-Matthew, who, after the four
disciples at Gennesaret, was the next to be called to Christ's service. The
Pharisees had judged Matthew according to his employment, but Jesus saw in this
man a heart open for the reception of truth. Matthew had listened to the
Saviour's teaching. As the convicting Spirit of God revealed his sinfulness, he
longed to seek help from Christ; but he was accustomed to the exclusiveness of
the rabbis, and had no thought that this Great Teacher would notice him. [273]
{DA 272.2}
Sitting at his toll booth one day, the publican saw Jesus
approaching. Great was his astonishment to hear the words addressed to himself,
"Follow Me." {DA
273.1}
Matthew "left all, rose up, and followed Him."
There was no hesitation, no questioning, no thought of the lucrative business
to be exchanged for poverty and hardship. It was enough for him that he was to
be with Jesus, that he might listen to His words, and unite with Him in His
work. {DA 273.2}
So it was with the disciples previously called. When Jesus
bade Peter and his companions follow Him, immediately they left their boats and
nets. Some of these disciples had friends dependent on them for support; but
when they received the Saviour's invitation, they did not hesitate, and
inquire, How shall I live, and sustain my family? They were obedient to the
call; and when afterward Jesus asked them, "When I sent you without purse,
and scrip, and shoes, lacked ye anything?" they could answer,
"Nothing." Luke 22:35. {DA 273.3}
To Matthew in his wealth, and to Andrew and Peter in their
poverty, the same test was brought; the same consecration was made by each. At
the moment of success, when the nets were filled with fish, and the impulses of
the old life were strongest, Jesus asked the disciples at the sea to leave all
for the work of the gospel. So every soul is tested as to whether the desire
for temporal good or for fellowship with Christ is strongest. {DA 273.4}
Principle is always exacting. No man can succeed in the
service of God unless his whole heart is in the work and he counts all things
but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ. No man who makes any
reserve can be the disciple of Christ, much less can he be His colaborer. When
men appreciate the great salvation, the self-sacrifice seen in Christ's life
will be seen in theirs. Wherever He leads the way, they will rejoice to follow.
{DA 273.5}
The calling of Matthew to be one of Christ's disciples
excited great indignation. For a religious teacher to choose a publican as one
of his immediate attendants was an offense against the religious, social, and
national customs. By appealing to the prejudices of the people the Pharisees hoped
to turn the current of popular feeling against Jesus. {DA 273.6}
Among the publicans a widespread interest was created. Their
hearts were drawn toward the divine Teacher. In the joy of his new
discipleship, Matthew longed to bring his former associates to Jesus.
Accordingly [274] he made a feast at his own
house, and called together his relatives and friends. Not only were publicans
included, but many others who were of doubtful reputation, and were proscribed
by their more scrupulous neighbors. {DA 273.7}
The entertainment was given in honor of Jesus, and He did
not hesitate to accept the courtesy. He well knew that this would give offense
to the Pharisaic party, and would also compromise Him in the eyes of the
people. But no question of policy could influence His movements. With Him
external distinctions weighed nothing. That which appealed to His heart was a
soul thirsting for the water of life. {DA 274.1}
Jesus sat as an honored guest at the table of the publicans,
by His sympathy and social kindliness showing that He recognized the dignity of
humanity; and men longed to become worthy of His confidence. Upon their thirsty
hearts His words fell with blessed, life-giving power. New impulses were
awakened, and the possibility of a new life opened to these outcasts of
society. {DA 274.2}
At such gatherings as this, not a few were impressed by the
Saviour's teaching who did not acknowledge Him until after His ascension. When [275]
the Holy Spirit was poured out, and three thousand were converted in a day, there
were among them many who first heard the truth at the table of the publicans,
and some of these became messengers of the gospel. To Matthew himself the
example of Jesus at the feast was a constant lesson. The despised publican
became one of the most devoted evangelists, in his own ministry following
closely in his Master's steps. {DA 274.3}
When the rabbis learned of the presence of Jesus at
Matthew's feast, they seized the opportunity of accusing Him. But they chose to
work through the disciples. By arousing their prejudices they hoped to alienate
them from their Master. It was their policy to accuse Christ to the disciples,
and the disciples to Christ, aiming their arrows where they would be most
likely to wound. This is the way in which Satan has worked ever since the
disaffection in heaven; and all who try to cause discord and alienation are
actuated by his spirit. {DA
275.1}
"Why eateth your Master with publicans and
sinners?" questioned the envious rabbis. {DA 275.2}
Jesus did not wait for His disciples to answer the charge,
but Himself replied: "They that be whole need not a physician, but they
that are sick. But go ye and learn what that meaneth, I will have mercy, and
not sacrifice: for I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance."
The Pharisees claimed to be spiritually whole, and therefore in no need of a
physician, while they regarded the publicans and Gentiles as perishing from
diseases of the soul. Then was it not His work, as a physician, to go to the
very class that needed His help? {DA 275.3}
But although the Pharisees thought so highly of themselves,
they were really in a worse condition than the ones they despised. The
publicans were less bigoted and self-sufficient, and thus were more open to the
influence of truth. Jesus said to the rabbis, "Go ye and learn what that
meaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice." Thus He showed that while
they claimed to expound the word of God, they were wholly ignorant of its
spirit. {DA 275.4}
The Pharisees were silenced for the time, but only became
more determined in their enmity. They next sought out the disciples of John the
Baptist, and tried to set them against the Saviour. These Pharisees had not
accepted the mission of the Baptist. They had pointed in scorn to his abstemious
life, his simple habits, his coarse garments, and had declared him a fanatic.
Because he denounced their hypocrisy, they had resisted his words, and had
tried to stir up the people against him. The [276] Spirit
of God had moved upon the hearts of these scorners, convicting them of sin; but
they had rejected the counsel of God, and had declared that John was possessed
of a devil. {DA 275.5}
Now when Jesus came mingling with the people, eating and
drinking at their tables, they accused Him of being a glutton and a winebibber.
The very ones who made this charge were themselves guilty. As God is
misrepresented, and clothed by Satan with his own attributes, so the Lord's
messengers were falsified by these wicked men. {DA 276.1}
The Pharisees would not consider that Jesus was eating with
publicans and sinners in order to bring the light of heaven to those who sat in
darkness. They would not see that every word dropped by the divine Teacher was
a living seed that would germinate and bear fruit to the glory of God. They had
determined not to accept the light; and although they had opposed the mission
of the Baptist, they were now ready to court the friendship of his disciples,
hoping to secure their co-operation against Jesus. They represented that Jesus
was setting at nought the ancient traditions; and they contrasted the austere
piety of the Baptist with the course of Jesus in feasting with publicans and
sinners. {DA 276.2}
The disciples of John were at this time in great sorrow. It
was before their visit to Jesus with John's message. Their beloved teacher was
in prison, and they passed their days in mourning. And Jesus was making no
effort to release John, and even appeared to cast discredit on his teaching. If
John had been sent by God, why did Jesus and His disciples pursue a course so
widely different? {DA
276.3}
The disciples of John had not a clear understanding of
Christ's work; they thought there might be some foundation for the charges of
the Pharisees. They observed many of the rules prescribed by the rabbis, and
even hoped to be justified by the works of the law. Fasting was practiced by
the Jews as an act of merit, and the most rigid among them fasted two days in
every week. The Pharisees and John's disciples were fasting when the latter
came to Jesus with the inquiry, "Why do we and the Pharisees fast oft, but
Thy disciples fast not?" {DA 276.4}
Very tenderly Jesus answered them. He did not try to correct
their erroneous conception of fasting, but only to set them right in regard to
His own mission. And He did this by employing the same figure that the Baptist
himself had used in his testimony to Jesus. John had said, "He that hath
the bride is the bridegroom: but the friend of the bridegroom, which standeth
and heareth him, rejoiceth greatly because of [277]
the bridegroom's voice: this my joy therefore is fulfilled." John 3:29.
The disciples of John could not fail to recall these words of their teacher,
as, taking up the illustration, Jesus said, "Can ye make the children of
the bridechamber fast, while the bridegroom is with them?" {DA 276.5}
The Prince of heaven was among His people. The greatest gift
of God had been given to the world. Joy to the poor; for Christ had come to
make them heirs of His kingdom. Joy to the rich; for He would teach them how to
secure eternal riches. Joy to the ignorant; He would make them wise unto
salvation. Joy to the learned; He would open to them deeper mysteries than they
had ever fathomed; truths that had been hidden from the foundation of the world
would be opened to men by the Saviour's mission. {DA 277.1}
John the Baptist had rejoiced to behold the Saviour. What
occasion for rejoicing had the disciples who were privileged to walk and talk
with the Majesty of heaven! This was not a time for them to mourn and fast.
They must open their hearts to receive the light of His glory, that they might
shed light upon those who sat in darkness and in the shadow of death. {DA 277.2}
It was a bright picture which the words of Christ had called
up, but across it lay a heavy shadow, which His eye alone discerned. "The
days will come," He said, "when the bridegroom shall be taken away
from them, and then shall they fast in those days." When they should see
their Lord betrayed and crucified, the disciples would mourn and fast. In His
last words to them in the upper chamber, He said, "A little while, and ye
shall not see Me: and again, a little while, and ye shall see Me. Verily,
verily, I say unto you, That ye shall weep and lament, but the world shall
rejoice: and ye shall be sorrowful, but your sorrow shall be turned into
joy." John 16:19, 20. {DA
277.3}
When He should come forth from the tomb, their sorrow would
be turned to joy. After His ascension He was to be absent in person; but
through the Comforter He would still be with them, and they were not to spend
their time in mourning. This was what Satan wanted. He desired them to give the
world the impression that they had been deceived and disappointed; but by faith
they were to look to the sanctuary above, where Jesus was ministering for them;
they were to open their hearts to the Holy Spirit, His representative, and to
rejoice in the light of His presence. Yet days of temptation and trial would
come, when they would be brought into conflict with the rulers of this world, and
the leaders of the kingdom of darkness; when Christ was not personally [278]
with them, and they failed to discern the Comforter, then it would be more
fitting for them to fast. {DA
277.4}
The Pharisees sought to exalt themselves by their rigorous
observance of forms, while their hearts were filled with envy and strife.
"Behold," says the Scripture, "ye fast for strife and debate,
and to smite with the fist of wickedness: ye shall not fast as ye do this day,
to make your voice to be heard on high. Is it such a fast that I have chosen? a
day for a man to afflict his soul? is it to bow down his head as a bulrush, and
to spread sackcloth and ashes under him? wilt thou call this a fast, and an
acceptable day to the Lord?" Isaiah 58:4, 5. {DA 278.1}
The true fast is no mere formal service. The Scripture
describes the fast that God has chosen,—"to loose the bands of
wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and
that ye break every yoke;" to "draw out thy soul to the hungry, and
satisfy the afflicted soul." Isaiah 58:6, 10. Here is set forth the very
spirit and character of the work of Christ. His whole life was a sacrifice of
Himself for the saving of the world. Whether fasting in the wilderness of
temptation or eating with the publicans at Matthew's feast, He was giving His
life for the redemption of the lost. Not in idle mourning, in mere bodily
humiliation and multitudinous sacrifices, is the true spirit of devotion
manifested, but it is shown in the surrender of self in willing service to God
and man. {DA 278.2}
Continuing His answer to the disciples of John, Jesus spoke
a parable, saying, "No man putteth a piece of a new garment upon an old;
if otherwise, then both the new maketh a rent, and the piece that was taken out
of the new agreeth not with the old." The message of John the Baptist was
not to be interwoven with tradition and superstition. An attempt to blend the
pretense of the Pharisees with the devotion of John would only make more
evident the breach between them. {DA 278.3}
Nor could the principles of Christ's teaching be united with
the forms of Pharisaism. Christ was not to close up the breach that had been
made by the teachings of John. He would make more distinct the separation
between the old and the new. Jesus further illustrated this fact, saying,
"No man putteth new wine into old bottles; else the new wine will burst
the bottles, and be spilled, and the bottles shall perish." The skin
bottles which were used as vessels to contain the new wine, after a time became
dry and brittle, and were then worthless to serve the same purpose again. In
this familiar illustration Jesus presented the condition of the Jewish leaders.
Priests and scribes and rulers were [279] fixed in a rut of
ceremonies and traditions. Their hearts had become contracted, like the
dried-up wine skins to which He had compared them. While they remained
satisfied with a legal religion, it was impossible for them to become the
depositaries of the living truth of heaven. They thought their own righteousness
all-sufficient, and did not desire that a new element should be brought into
their religion. The good will of God to men they did not accept as something
apart from themselves. They connected it with their own merit because of their
good works. The faith that works by love and purifies the soul could find no
place for union with the religion of the Pharisees, made up of ceremonies and
the injunctions of men. The effort to unite the teachings of Jesus with the
established religion would be vain. The vital truth of God, like fermenting
wine, would burst the old, decaying bottles of the Pharisaical tradition. {DA 278.4}
The Pharisees thought themselves too wise to need
instruction, too righteous to need salvation, too highly honored to need the
honor that comes from Christ. The Saviour turned away from them to find others
who would receive the message of heaven. In the untutored fishermen, in the
publican at the market place, in the woman of Samaria, in the common people who
heard Him gladly, He found His new bottles for the new wine. The
instrumentalities to be used in the gospel work are those souls who gladly
receive the light which God sends them. These are His agencies for imparting
the knowledge of truth to the world. If through the grace of Christ His people
will become new bottles, He will fill them with new wine. {DA 279.1}
The teaching of Christ, though it was represented by the new
wine, was not a new doctrine, but the revelation of that which had been taught
from the beginning. But to the Pharisees the truth of God had lost its original
significance and beauty. To them Christ's teaching was new in almost every
respect, and it was unrecognized and unacknowledged. {DA 279.2}
Jesus pointed out the power of false teaching to destroy the
appreciation and desire for truth. "No man," He said, "having
drunk old wine straightway desireth new: for he saith, The old is better."
All the truth that has been given to the world through patriarchs and prophets
shone out in new beauty in the words of Christ. But the scribes and Pharisees
had no desire for the precious new wine. Until emptied of the old traditions,
customs, and practices, they had no place in mind or heart for the teachings of
Christ. They clung to the dead forms, and turned away from the living truth and
the power of God. [280] {DA 279.3}
It was this that proved the ruin of the Jews, and it will
prove the ruin of many souls in our own day. Thousands are making the same
mistake as did the Pharisees whom Christ reproved at Matthew's feast. Rather
than give up some cherished idea, or discard some idol of opinion, many refuse
the truth which comes down from the Father of light. They trust in self, and
depend upon their own wisdom, and do not realize their spiritual poverty. They
insist on being saved in some way by which they may perform some important
work. When they see that there is no way of weaving self into the work, they
reject the salvation provided. {DA 280.1}
A legal religion can never lead souls to Christ; for it is a
loveless, Christless religion. Fasting or prayer that is actuated by a
self-justifying spirit is an abomination in the sight of God. The solemn
assembly for worship, the round of religious ceremonies, the external
humiliation, the imposing sacrifice, proclaim that the doer of these things
regards himself as righteous, and as entitled to heaven; but it is all a
deception. Our own works can never purchase salvation. {DA 280.2}
As it was in the days of Christ, so it is now; the Pharisees
do not know their spiritual destitution. To them comes the message,
"Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need
of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor,
and blind, and naked: I counsel thee to buy of Me gold tried in the fire, that
thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that
the shame of thy nakedness do not appear." Revelation 3:17, 18. Faith and
love are the gold tried in the fire. But with many the gold has become dim, and
the rich treasure has been lost. The righteousness of Christ is to them as a
robe unworn, a fountain untouched. To them it is said, "I have somewhat
against thee, because thou hast left thy first love. Remember therefore from
whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works; or else I will come
unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except
thou repent." Revelation 2:4, 5. {DA 280.3}
"The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken
and a contrite heart, O God, Thou wilt not despise." Psalm 51:17. Man must
be emptied of self before he can be, in the fullest sense, a believer in Jesus.
When self is renounced, then the Lord can make man a new creature. New bottles
can contain the new wine. The love of Christ will animate the believer with new
life. In him who looks unto the Author and Finisher of our faith the character
of Christ will be manifest. {DA
280.4}
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"The Sabbath"
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