Following the flood, Noah’s descendants settled on a plain and decided to exalt themselves by building a tower. As “one people speaking the same language” they spoke proudly and arrogantly. The Lord humbled them by confusing their languages, thereby dividing and dispersing them.
That dispersal was finally reversed on Pentecost Day, the fiftieth day of Easter, when the Holy Spirit filled the disciples. God caused the one Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ to be preached to all people in a multitude of languages. Not surprisingly, “at this sound the multitude came together.”
In calling Matthew the tax collector to follow Him, Jesus demonstrates that He has come “not to call the righteous, but sinners” (Matt. 9:9, 13). As a good physician, He comes not to confirm them in their sins, but to heal them with His grace, calling them to repentance, faith and newness of life (Matt. 9:12). He puts them to death by the preaching of His Law, in order to raise them with His Gospel, to live before Him in the righteousness of His resurrection (Hos. 6:1–2, 5). It is in this way that God “gives life to the dead,” that is, through faith in Jesus, “who was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification” (Rom. 4:17, 24–25). Thus, sinners from all nations are called to share the same faith as Abraham, the father of all who trust in Jesus (Rom. 4:16–18). And as our Lord in mercy thus welcomes us poor sinners to recline at the table in His house, so does He “desire steadfast love and not sacrifice” (Matt. 9:10, 13; Hos. 6:6), that we should have mercy on our neighbors and forgive their sins against us for Jesus’ sake.
Following the flood, Noah’s descendants settled on a plain and decided to exalt themselves by building a tower. As “