Elders,
Happy mid-week. After a long day of shoveling snow I slept like a baby. I hope that you all did the same. Some of my friends made it up the mountain and said that the powder skiing was unbelievable. They saw one boarder with an actual snorkel so he could breathe easier as he went through the snow. Regardless, the snow and water is welcome.
As I was studying the past few Come Follow Me lessons, my curiosity was piqued by the various players in the gospels. Nick in his lesson on Sunday added to my curiosity when he had us look up and learn a bit more about who the Jews, Pharisees, and Sadducees were. I dug in a little about Matthew since we studied some of his words, his book is first in the New Testament, and his conversion story was brought out in our studying of Luke 5.
Matthew (formerly Levi) was not a humble fisherman called into the service by the Savior. He was a tax collector. Tax collectors seem to be universally disliked, but he was probably near the top of the list of those disliked by the people. He could tax you for anything and everything. There were few checks and balances and as long as Herod and Caesar got what they wanted, the tax collector could keep the rest. They were generally slime balls.
He was not “friends” with many of the people in the town. Likely, people did all they could to steer clear of him and stay off his radar. The only people that were his friends were other tax collectors. The exception to this was Jesus, who simply said “Follow me”.
Levi recognized the Savior and followed him. This left him in a bit of a predicament. How would he make his transition from a distrusted tax collector to a devoted Christian? What about his old tax buddies? What about his new “church” friends?
As a part of the transition, he threw a posh party at his house / estate. He invited all of his old buddies as well as Jesus and his disciples. Not much was said about the party but it seemed like everyone was getting along fine. Just a great social event (like our meet and eat this weekend?)
Until…
The religious police showed up. The Scribes and Pharisees saw this feast with the hated tax collectors and this new comer Jesus. Their pious and holier-than-thou attitudes prickled. How could this “teacher” be associating with these tax collectors? Doesn’t he know that this looks bad? They started bugging Matthew and causing a bit of a scene. Jesus steps in with a gentle rebuke says “They that be whole need not a physician, but they that are sick” (Luke 5:31). The Pharisees are rebuked and the situation defused.
Let’s be careful not to be like the Pharisees. There are lots of friends, neighbors, co-workers, and family members that don’t believe exactly as we believe. We can turn up our Pharisaical noses at them, or we can welcome them into our lives, learn from them, love them, and share our feelings and beliefs with them. Let’s continue to foster an open and intentional community of caring and acceptance.
This Sunday David Oka is going to teach us from Elder Ballard’s conference talk – “The Vision of the Redemption of the Dead” ( https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2018/10/the-vision-of-the-redemption-of-the-dead?lang=eng ) I encourage you to review it in advance and help join in the discussion.
One last thing… I’m going to send a SMS out to everyone today, but it is going to come from a different number than my main cell number. It will come from 385-217-6614. If you don’t receive one today would you please call or text me on my regular number 801-573-6828 and let me know? I’m trying out a way to send texts to everyone without the hassle of a group chat or a custom application.
Have a safe rest of the week!
See you on Sunday,
President Oldroyd
801-573-6828