Party Trashers...

Matthew 9:9-17 As Jesus went on from there, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax collector’s booth. “Follow me,” he told him, and Matthew got up and followed him. While Jesus was having dinner at Matthew’s house, many tax collectors and sinners came and ate with him and his disciples. When the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?” On hearing this, Jesus said, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.” Then John’s disciples came and asked him, “How is it that we and the Pharisees fast often, but your disciples do not fast?” Jesus answered, “How can the guests of the bridegroom mourn while he is with them? The time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them; then they will fast. “No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment, for the patch will pull away from the garment, making the tear worse. Neither do people pour new wine into old wineskins. If they do, the skins will burst; the wine will run out and the wineskins will be ruined. No, they pour new wine into new wineskins, and both are preserved.” Here Jesus was at a great celebration, experiencing exactly what He longed for - his followers inviting others to meet Him, when these two groups of people come not to crash the party, but to trash the party. They want Him to stop. The Pharisees want Him to stop hanging out with the spiritually undesireable, because low and behold, He is making a difference they could not. The well-meaning disciples of John want Him to stop partying, becuase that will make their spiritual experience less desireable. Jesus responds appropriately to each one - flatly rebuking the Pharisees for not understanding the character of God, and taking time to clearly guide the followers of John to greater truth. The party's just getting going, and we want to see what happens next...