The Call That Still Changes Everything

A Pastoral Letter Reflecting on Matthew 9:9

Dear beloved brothers and sisters in Christ,

Grace and peace to you from our Lord Jesus Christ, who sees us exactly as we are and loves us enough to call us forward anyway. In the quiet moments of your daily life, when the demands of family, work, health, and the world press in, I want to draw your hearts back to a single verse that holds the power to renew every one of us. Matthew 9:9 tells us, As Jesus passed on from there, he saw a man called Matthew sitting at the tax booth, and he said to him, Follow me. And he rose and followed him.

This brief encounter is far more than a historical footnote. It is a living picture of the gospel itself, revealing the tender, unstoppable grace of God that meets us in the middle of our mess and invites us into a brand-new story. Matthew was not waiting in a holy place or living a respectable life. He sat at a tax booth, a symbol of betrayal and greed in his culture, collecting money for an empire that crushed his own people while padding his own pockets. He was labeled a sinner, an outcast, a man whose choices had built walls between him and God and between him and his community. Yet Jesus did not pass him by. He saw him—really saw him—with eyes full of divine love and sovereign purpose. That seeing is the first movement of grace, the same compassionate gaze that searches our hearts today and says, I know everything, and still I choose you.

The call itself is breathtaking in its simplicity and power: Follow me. Jesus did not list requirements. He did not demand that Matthew first fix his reputation, repay what he had stolen, or attend a certain number of religious services. Grace always comes first. This is the beautiful doctrine of divine initiative, the truth that God is never waiting for us to become worthy; he makes us worthy by his own word. The same voice that spoke creation into being now speaks directly to a compromised tax collector and creates the very obedience it commands. Theologians call this the effectual call, the moment when the Holy Spirit takes the external invitation of Jesus and makes it alive inside us, overcoming every barrier of sin, shame, and self-doubt. Matthew rose immediately. He left the booth, the money, the old identity, and everything familiar, because the grace that called him also carried him. In that rising we see the resurrection power of Christ at work, lifting us from spiritual death into new life.

Friends, this same call is sounding in your lives right now. Perhaps you feel stuck in your own version of the tax booth—a habit that has become a prison, a season of doubt that has lingered too long, a relationship that drains more than it gives, or the quiet exhaustion of trying to prove your worth through endless performance. Jesus is not disappointed that you are still there. He is not distant or impatient. He is passing by, eyes full of mercy, speaking your name with the same loving authority he used with Matthew. Follow me, he says. Leave the ledger of old failures behind. Step away from the security that no longer satisfies. Rise up and walk with me.

The beauty of this grace is that it never leaves us alone on the journey. Following Jesus means daily choices that shape us into his likeness. It means opening your Bible when the world feels heavy and letting his words remind you who you really are. It means forgiving the person who hurt you, even when every part of you wants to keep score. It means using your time, your money, and your influence not to build your own little kingdom but to love the people around you the way Jesus loved Matthew. It means showing up in community, where other imperfect followers can encourage you when you feel like sitting back down. And it means extending that same call to others—the coworker everyone avoids, the family member who seems too far gone, the neighbor carrying invisible shame. Because once we have been lifted from our own booth, we become people who help lift others.

Take heart, dear church. The same Jesus who transformed a tax collector into an apostle is at work in you. Your past does not define you. Your present struggles do not disqualify you. The future he has for you is filled with purpose, freedom, and the joy of belonging fully to him. Every time you choose to rise and follow, even in small, ordinary ways, you are participating in the great story of redemption that began at that tax booth and will end when we all stand before him, made new and complete.

So today, wherever you are, listen for that voice. It is gentle but strong, compassionate yet clear. Jesus is calling you by name. Rise up, beloved. Follow him with open hands and a trusting heart. He will never lead you where his grace cannot sustain you. You are loved, you are seen, and you are being shaped into the image of the One who called you.

May the God of all grace fill you with fresh courage to answer his call each new day, until we all follow him home.