Day 11 - Fish Out Of Water

Day 11: Matthew 9

FISH OUT OF WATER (9:1-34)

Read Matthew 9 here first 

I grew up in Grimsby. It's a strange town, obsessed with fish. Grimsby used to be the world's biggest fishing port, but then something called the Cod Wars happened, which sounds like the world's most rubbish war. However, there are ones which sounds worse, such as the Yellow Turban Rebellion, the Pig War, and the war of Jenkin's Ear, all of which are real. Anyway, Grimsby basically no longer has fish and therefore no real industry any more.

However, that hasn't stopped Grimsby from being proud of this past. Our football team are called the Mariners, we have boats and fish on the club badge, our chairman owned a fish factory, and we have a genuine chant which goes “na na na na na na na na na FISH!” In addition to that our mascot is a fisherman. For big games (and it's Grimsby, so we sadly never have big games anymore) a second mascot is brought out, which is a giant fishfinger. Sigh.

Anyway, after growing up in Grimsby, I moved to Liverpool and somehow got a job with the world's largest accounting firm. While I never really fitted in there, I was occasionally asked to attend some kind of important event on behalf of the firm. One such time I was invited to a charity ball with a diamond auction, attended by such celebrities as the Everton football team, and some Hollyoaks actors. Hardly A-list, but I was excited to be at such a posh event. I texted various friends telling them about my trip to bid for diamonds in a tuxedo and I was very proud.

For this event, I had to rush home after work, shower, change and get out. During this process, I visited the toilet. Unfortunately I hadn't realised that we were out of toilet paper, and was faced with a moral dilemma of what to do. After rejecting the 'rinse in the shower' approach, I saw what I believed to be face wipes. In the absence of anything better, I decided it had to be done. Within seconds, I knew I'd made a mistake. It turned out they were actually floor wipes with bleach, described on the packet as 'extra abrasive'. A painful few moments followed, and I headed off to the charity ball, where I was unable to sit down or walk without considerable pain. It was a long night.

You see, something within me wants to show off. I want to tell people when I've done well, or when I think I've made it. I want to show people my achievements so that people can see how good I am, or how far I've progressed. I think God does a good job of keeping me humble. I'll still be the same old man from Grimsby who seems to stumble through life from mistake to mistake.

This is one of the greatest things about Jesus. He calls Matthew to be a disciple here, someone rejected and despised by people. This would be someone seen as 'too sinful' for God. As Jesus goes and eats at the houses of 'sinners', he shows us that we aren't too tainted or bad for God. He shows us that we don't need to hold our lists of achievements up to him to prove our worth. God has placed such a high value on having us as his people that it must seem so ridiculous to Him at times when we try so hard to prove ourselves and justify our worth with our own small achievements.

I have a lot of time for people who have been written off by others in churches. As a teenager, I often felt that from people. I often felt that people were fed up with me, that I wasn't good enough for them. My story is that through being often told off at church, some people consistently showed me love, and Jesus shone through them.

As we deal with people in church, let's not hold people up as 'worse' than ourselves because they struggle with different stuff. Keep an eye out for those on the fringe of church; they may just be the ones who feel less welcome in God's Kingdom, like they are less worthy. As we get older, there is the risk that we start to believe we're 'good enough' for God. Never forget the grace that brings us home, and the beautiful truth that all are welcome.