God of the Broken

Luke 5:27-31

Jesus Calls Levi (Matthew)

Later, as Jesus left the town, he saw a tax collector named Matthew sitting at his tax collector’s booth. “Follow me and be my disciple,” Jesus said to him. So, Matthew got up, left everything, and followed him. Later, Matthew held a banquet in his home with Jesus as the guest of honor. Many of Matthews fellow tax collectors and other guests also ate with them. But the Pharisees and their teachers of religious law complained bitterly to Jesus’ disciples, “Why do you eat and drink with such scum?”

Jesus answered them, “Healthy people don’t need a doctor—sick people do. I have come to call not those who think they are righteous, but those who know they are sinners and need to repent.”

MATTHEW was a tax collector - A broken man – rejected by Israel because of His profession.

Many people through out scripture were found broken and sinful. NOAH got drunk, JACOB lied, JOSEPH was abused, MOSES was a murderer and couldn’t talk properly, GIDEON was afraid, RAHAB was a prostitute, JEREMIAH and TIMOTHY were too young, DAVID was a murderer and adulterer, ELIJAH was depressed and wanted to die, JONAH ran from God, NAOMI was a widow, JOB went bankrupt, PETER denied Christ, The DISCIPLES fell asleep while praying, MARTHA worried about everything, MARY MAGDLENE was demon possessed, The SAMARITAN WOMAN was divorced…more than once… PAUL was a murderer. There are so many more examples.

Brokenness looks different for everyone. (We all have a different story!)

Jesus called all these broken people and used them mightily for the Kingdom of God. Jesus doesn’t call the righteous and those who have it all figured out. The scripture says Jesus came for the sick.

If you take a clay jar that is fixed – put a candle in – it will not light up a room, but take a jar with cracks and put a candle in – the light will shine into the room. Jesus calls the broken– it is through their cracks and weaknesses that His glory shines through. The steps that all these people took was to repent, to draw near to Jesus and hand Him their broken pieces to mend. We live in a day and age where people are scared to cry and be vulnerable, we are obsessed with keeping up an appearance and LOOKING okay, but Jesus delights when we bring Him our broken pieces and pour our hearts out to Him. He is the only one who can mend us. Jesus invites us to lay all our brokenness and broken pieces at the foot of the cross, so that He can mend us into beautiful masterpieces!