Read Matthew 9:9-13 Within this little story is hidden the central difference between Christianity and all other religions. This is the first time that Jesus begins to differ from his Jewish faith. In this story he begins to set forth the fundamental message of what he came to give. We need to understand the background in order to see the radical nature of what Jesus is doing here. Matthew is a tax collector who is also a Jew. He works for the Romans and he lives off of what he can overcharge the rest of his Jewish countrymen. There was in Jewish culture at this time no more hated person than a tax collector. He was not to be spoken to and he was to be despised. The Zealots who were the Jewish militant anti-Rome party at the time had a creed: 1. No tax but the temple tax, 2. No law but the Torah, 3. No King but the Messiah, and 4. If you get the chance; kill a tax collector!
For Matthew to be acceptable to the Jewish leaders [the Pharisees] he would have to repent, but his repentance could not be as a matter of his heart or his desire or even his will. To the Jews, repentance was not a matter of what he desired it was only true if he changed his behaviour completely. To be acceptable under Judaism he would have to become what is called a "penitent". This is someone who lives in a continual state of shame for his sins and who is doing good works to work his way out of his sinful state. It will last as long as the religious leaders think it takes and once enough good works have been done then the person may be acceptable to God. The huge problem for Matthew was that it was a commonly held belief among the Pharisees that it was impossible for a tax collector to repent - to become a penitent! Matthew is therefore in a hopeless and impossible place and He knew it. Even if he wanted to repent, he knew it was impossible for him to be good enough to be accepted by God. I know what this state is like. For years in my late teens and twenties I wanted to be a Christian, but I knew I was not capable of the goodness it took to be one. I suffered greatly.
Jesus comes to this hopeless despised man and he says one thing to him, "Follow Me!" He does not say, "Repent and change and then Follow Me". Jesus calls him to himself plain and simple! As he is without repentance and without change. Jesus gives him the acceptance of God before he says anything about repentance. The Jews say, "become a penitent and then you will receive the welcome of God". Jesus gives him the welcome of God and that welcome makes him a penitent. The first makes a demand, but the second imparts life! The Jews taught that repentance leads to the love of God, but Jesus taught that the love of God leads to repentance.
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