Our Gospel message comes to us today from the 9th chapter of Matthew, beginning with the 9th verse, “Christ heals a woman and raises a girl.”
As Jesus went on from there, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax collector’s booth. “Follow me,” he told him, and Matthew got up and followed him.
While Jesus was having dinner at Matthew’s house, many tax collectors and sinners came and ate with him and his disciples. When the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?”
On hearing this, Jesus said, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”
While he was saying this, a synagogue leader came and knelt before him and said, “My daughter has just died. But come and put your hand on her, and she will live.” Jesus got up and went with him, and so did his disciples.
Just then a woman who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years came up behind him and touched the edge of his cloak. She said to herself, “If I only touch his cloak, I will be healed.”
Jesus turned and saw her. “Take heart, daughter,” he said, “your faith has healed you.” And the woman was healed at that moment.
When Jesus entered the synagogue leader’s house and saw the noisy crowd and people playing pipes, he said, “Go away. The girl is not dead but asleep.” But they laughed at him. After the crowd had been put outside, he went in and took the girl by the hand, and she got up. News of this spread through all that region. (Matthew 9:9-13, 18-26)
“Follow Me”
Harry Truman is said to have loved telling a story about a man who had been hit on the head at work. The blow was so severe that the man was knocked unconscious for an extended period of time. His family, convinced he was dead, called the funeral home and asked the funeral director to come and pick up the man, which the funeral director did.
Well, early the following day, the man suddenly awoke and sat up straight in the casket. Puzzled, he blinked several times and looked around, trying to put the whole thing together.
The man thought to himself, “If I’m alive, what in the world am I doing in this soft, satin-filled box? And if I’m dead, why do I have to go to the bathroom?”
Clearly, the man was confused. As you can probably figure out, our Gospel text for today concerns the call of the disciple Matthew and how we humans sometimes can be confused about how we might follow and obey the Word of God.
Now, to begin with, Matthew would probably not be the type of person most of us would recruit for ministry if we were looking for someone to serve in this function.
And the reason being Matthew would not meet our expectations of what a good disciple of Jesus Christ would be like in our ministry setting.
For you see, Matthew was not a very well-liked person because he collected taxes for the Roman government. And everyone at the time knew that the moral behavior of tax collectors in the Roman Empire was certainly not one that most people would like to imitate because tax collectors were greedy and had their little fingers in every aspect of their daily life.
For example, we know that Matthew was a tax collector in the town of Capernaum, a small fishing village. Well, did you know that when the local fishermen returned to port from a fishing trip, Matthew was there, ready to tax their catch; and tax the number of nets they had on their boat to catch their fish?
And, of course, Matthew would tax more than he would give to the Roman government so he could put the money in his own pockets. And so it is no wonder that tax collectors were hated and that Matthew the tax collector would not meet the approval of the Pharisees who were watching Jesus when He called Matthew to “Follow Him.”
So when Matthew got up and walked away from his tax collecting booth and was seen in the presence of Jesus and other tax collectors and sinners, the Pharisees naturally asked the disciples: “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?”
After all, this is not how good and proper followers of the law behave. For you see, the Pharisees did not like anything less than the very perfection they thought they personified. We know this because their very name set them apart, for the term Pharisee literally means: “The Separated Ones.”
Scripture informs us that the Pharisees separated themselves from the common folk, that the Pharisees separated themselves from the tax collectors and other public sinners, and that the Pharisees separated themselves from anyone that was not like them.
And so the question we must ask ourselves is, “Why did Jesus eat with these sinners, and why did Jesus associate with these social outcasts?” And the answer Jesus provides is: “Those who are well do not need a physician, but the sick do. Go and learn the meaning of the words, ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ I did not come to call the righteous but sinners.”
And the fact of the matter is we are all sinners. St. Paul’s letter to the Romans states:” All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” (Romans 3:23). Paul did not state that just the tax collectors have sinned, or the thieves or murderers or adulterers have sinned. Paul said ALL HAVE SINNED, and that means everyone.
Unfortunately, the Pharisees could not understand that nobody (including themselves) could be made right before God through their own efforts.
The Pharisees were so caught up in everything they did for God that they believed that God was in debt to them. And as a result, they were so caught up in themselves that they had no time, place, or purpose for a person such as Matthew.
But that is not how Jesus viewed things when He was with us because Jesus went to Matthew, looked him in the eye, and said to him, “Follow me.” And Mathew got up and followed Jesus.
And that, my friends, is the same call that Jesus gives you and me. And if anyone should ever ask you, “How God has called you?” you too can proclaim that God has called me, a poor sinner, to be His disciple in His creation.
For the “Good News” is that Jesus did not come to call the righteous but the sinner. Jesus did not come to heal the healthy but to cure the sick. And the sickness that troubles us all is our sin that Jesus Christ Himself can only cure through His mercy and His forgiveness.
I want to close today with a story I read this week about an elderly woman in India who accepted the “Good News” of Jesus Christ after reading the Bible.
She states that when her neighbors found out that she had accepted Jesus as Lord, they were not all that happy with her, and they did all they could to make her reject Jesus.
They ridiculed her; they harassed her; they shunned her; they even yelled at her on the street.
One day one of them shouted, “You are the ugliest old woman I have ever seen.” To which the old woman responded, “Isn’t it wonderful how God can love an ugly old woman like me?”
“Isn’t it wonderful how God can love a sinner like me and prove that love on the cross and call me into a living, loving relationship with himself, and give me that love day by day in His Word and His Sacrament?”
My friends, isn’t it wonderful that God loves you and loves me and calls each of us into a loving relationship with Himself through His Word and His Sacrament and the fellowship of the Christian Church which you and I have been Baptized into and to that we all should say “Thanks Be To God!”. Amen.
Let us pray: God of wisdom and justice, deliver us from the foolishness of ignoring you. Teach us your wisdom through Jesus Christ that we may seek your goodness and embody your love to all your people for the sake of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Scripture is taken from The Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Sermon contributed by Paul Zwarich.
God has called me, a poor sinner, to be His disciple in His creation.
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