EDITOR'S NOTE: On Oct. 23, 2021, I was ordained as a minister of word and sacrament in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and installed as pastor at Faith Lutheran Church in Wolverton, Minn. I also served the same church for four years from October 2017 to October 2021 a synodically authorized minister. The journey together these past four years has been an amazing one, full of learning, growing and a deepening of my theological mind. This sermon took place on June 14, 2023.
This week's gospel: Matthew 9:9-13, 18-26
The Call of Matthew
9 As Jesus was walking along, he saw a man called Matthew sitting at the tax-collection station, and he said to him, “Follow me.” And he got up and followed him.
10 And as he sat at dinner in the house, many tax collectors and sinners came and were sitting with Jesus and his disciples. 11 When the Pharisees saw this, they said to his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?” 12 But when he heard this, he said, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. 13 Go and learn what this means, ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I have not come to call the righteous but sinners.”
A Girl Restored to Life and a Woman Healed
18 While he was saying these things to them, suddenly a leader came in and knelt before him, saying, “My daughter has just died, but come and lay your hand on her, and she will live.” 19 And Jesus got up and followed him, with his disciples. 20 Then suddenly a woman who had been suffering from a flow of blood for twelve years came up behind him and touched the fringe of his cloak, 21 for she was saying to herself, “If I only touch his cloak, I will be made well.” 22 Jesus turned, and seeing her he said, “Take heart, daughter; your faith has made you well.” And the woman was made well from that moment. 23 When Jesus came to the leader’s house and saw the flute players and the crowd making a commotion, 24 he said, “Go away, for the girl is not dead but sleeping.” And they laughed at him. 25 But when the crowd had been put outside, he went in and took her by the hand, and the girl got up. 26 And the report of this spread through all of that district.
The message:
I think tonight’s gospel gives us some very valuable insight into why the religious leaders and the ruling class of his time believed he had to die.
I mean, haven’t you wondered why before? … Just why did Jesus have to die?
After all, on the surface, any novice reader of the gospels can look upon the stories of Jesus and think, “Who would want to kill this guy? He’s out there healing the sick, and loving all of those people on the margin, feeding the hungry … even raising people from the dead!”
Seriously, how could anyone have found reason to want this man dead? … What did he do that was so wrong?
Well, unfortunately, I think that Jesus’ biggest crime was that he held up a hypothetical mirror to the religious leaders of the time. … And he forced them to realize just how off the mark from God’s commandments they were.
As I prepared for this week’s service, I wondered if this short quote from Jesus doesn’t sum up why he had to die, and why still to this day Jesus makes so many of us uncomfortable. …
Even if we have a hard time admitting it to ourselves.
Have a listen to this: “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. Go and learn what this means, ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I have come to call not the righteous but sinners.”
That is Jesus speaking to the Pharisees after they had called him out for sitting down to break bread with his newest disciple Matthew -- a tax collector -- and other sinners after Matthew answered his call.
You see, the Pharisees of the time just couldn’t understand why this street prophet continued to spend all this time with the lowliest and the most unwanted of the masses.
I mean, just look at the litany of unwanteds he is seen hanging out with in tonight’s gospel alone: tax collectors, partiers, an unclean woman and a seemingly deceased child.
And I believe there, Faith Family, is the rub.
Jesus, this seemingly divinely gifted prophet wasn’t hanging out in the temple with the mighty priests. … Rather, instead, he ignored all of them to hang out with the people in the streets.
And if only the religious of the day would have listened to his reasoning, maybe the trajectory of the past 2,000 years would have been different.
“For I have come to call not the righteous but sinners,” Jesus said. … In other words, you all are doing fine, but it's these folks who really need my help.
But those leaders of the day … being human and possessing all of the limitations that we humans possess … just couldn’t get over Jesus passing them over to tend to all of those unclean people.
I think this is important to say. … This doesn’t mean that the religious leaders of the day were inherently bad people. … Hear me no that.
After all, many of those dutiful religious people likely led upstanding lives. … Following the commandments laid out by their faith fathers. Adhering to the scriptures they were taught over generations.
Scriptures that very clearly described what clean and unclean living were, and how those holy laws determined who were living in the ways of God. … And who wasn’t.
So, let’s be clear about that. … I see no evidence that these religious leaders were inherently bad people. They could have been very well intentioned even.
But … I also can see where this Jesus, the man who hung out with tax collectors and prostitutes and lepers and unclean women and the divorced and the poor and the hungry … and on and on ….
I could see where this Jesus who just didn’t square with the expectations of the religious leaders of the day … could, over time, finally wear out his welcome.
After all, remember, Jesus wasn’t killed until well into his third year in ministry. … It wasn’t when he was fresh on the scene there in the Holy Land.
No, it took some time for his actions to finally make the religious leaders of the day come to a boil. … Because they finally realized that they just couldn’t get this lowly street prophet to come into line. … Adopt their way of thinking.
Why? … Just why would someone be so interested in hanging out with those on the margins? Why the tax collectors? The sinners?
We are right here, Jesus! … We follow all of the biblical laws that were laid down for? We don’t sin! … Well, not very much, you know. … And we tithe. We show up to temple. We eat the clean food. We don’t touch unclean women. We don’t divorce. … Etc.
Why, Jesus? … Why do you choose those sinners over us?
And Jesus’ very simple … very honest answer is … that he didn’t come to heal the religious … Rather, he came to heal everyone else.
And that had to be a very difficult thing for all of the religious leaders of his day to hear. … Because, in their eyes, Jesus -- this seemingly divinely gifted teacher -- was dragging God’s laws through the mud.
His very actions seemed to defy thousands of years of biblical teaching. … But because of the log in their own eyes, they could not see that Jesus was simply acting in love. Living out God’s endless mercy. … Which, of course, never did defy God’s laws.
But the religious leaders being only human just couldn’t see it. … “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?”
Faith Family, maybe you’re wondering, what does this have to do with us today?
Well, I think that there are still a great many in our church -- the great collective church -- who are just as prone to the religious leaders’ thinking from 2,000 years ago … than we care to admit.
Can you imagine the uproar if Jesus today would be seen hanging out with the panhandlers around Fargo?
The inebriated homeless folks who wander around downtown Fargo and cause such anxiety among folks?
The undocumented workers in our communities just trying to stay ahead of the law?
The anxious pregnant women who are shamed on their way into the Red River Clinic.
The folks on the margins lining up at the food banks all over the Red River Valley?
Can you imagine the response if those were the people Jesus was hanging out with on Sunday mornings instead of those of us in our beautiful churches?
So, without stretching my imagination too far, I can see why those first century religious leaders knew Jesus had to die. … Because he was just too big of a threat to the earthly values that this world is built on.
And my hope for us on this night is that we can hear Jesus speaking to us: “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. Go and learn what this means, ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I have come to call not the righteous but sinners.”
And that is the Good News for this Wednesday evening, June 14, 2023. … Amen.
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