May 30, 2016

“As Jesus was walking along, he saw a man called Matthew sitting at the tax booth; and he said to him, “Follow me.” And he got up and followed him. And as he sat at dinner in the house, many tax collectors and sinners came and were sitting with him and his disciples. When the Pharisees saw this, they said to his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?” Matthew 9:9-11

In my coffee shop devotions I have talked a lot about “shots of espresso”. In my conversations with various baristas I have learned that there are three kinds of “shots”. There is the regular shot – just a regular amount of coffee and a regular amount of hot water – whatever “regular” means. Then there is the “Ristretto” which is a short shot of espresso coffee made with the normal amount of ground coffee but extracted with about half the amount of water. And finally there is the “long shot”. As the young man explained to me, the “long shot” is taking the regular amount of coffee but drawing water through it for a longer period of time, so that the result is something more akin to an Americano than a shot of espresso.

Of course, when we talk about long shots, we usually come up with another idea. There have been lots of long shots in the world, especially the sports world, and this year, the world of soccer saw one of the longest of long shots ever. Out of nowhere, the 5000-1 outsiders Leicester City won the Premier League soccer title. To put their 5000-1 odds in context, the Philadelphia 76ers—who were Vegas’s pick to finish dead last in the NBA this year—were still only 350-1 outsiders. And in 2013, bookmakers thought the rock singer Bono of the band “U-2” had a 1000-1 chance of being the next Pope. Without exaggeration, Leicester’s season spent leading the league is one of the unlikeliest, most shocking events in the history of sports.

And in deciding who his disciples would be, who would be in the “inner circle” of disciples, when it came time for Jesus to pick the big twelve, Matthew the tax collector would have been another long shot. But when called, Matthew immediately left everything to “follow him”. And soon enough, Jesus is dining in Matthew’s home. There is an immediate connection between Jesus and Matthew – one that goes beyond just being another fringe disciple. Actually, if you think about it, most of the disciples were long shots. These men who were fishermen, who were poor, who were uneducated, and who lacked the qualifications, none of them would have been on anyone’s short list for leaders in Jesus’ school of theology.
And that, my friends, is good news for you and me. We often think we do not have the qualifications to serve our churches – to serve either on congregation council, to lead a bible study, or even to participate in the ministries. We forget that Jesus selected his disciples from people who had no qualifications, no resume, and no letters of recommendation. Jesus was just looking for people who would follow him. I think you and have that qualification, don’t you?

Pastor Dave