Year A Proper 5 2023 Mercy Beyond Belief

 Year A Proper 5, 11 June 2023

St. James the Less Episcopal, Ashland, VA

“Mercy Beyond Belief”

Collect: O God, from whom all good proceeds: Grant that by your inspiration we may think those things that are right, and by your merciful guiding may do them; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Matthew 9:9-13, 18-26

As Jesus was walking along, he saw a man called Matthew sitting at the tax booth; and he said to him, “Follow me.” 

And he got up and followed him. And as he sat at dinner in the house, many tax collectors and sinners came and were sitting with him and his disciples. When the Pharisees saw this, they said to his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?” But when he heard this, he said, “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.”

While he was saying these things to them, suddenly a leader of the synagogue came in and knelt before him, saying, “My daughter has just died; but come and lay your hand on her, and she will live.” And Jesus got up and followed him, with his disciples. Then suddenly a woman who had been suffering from hemorrhages for twelve years came up behind him and touched the fringe of his cloak, for she said to herself, “If I only touch his cloak, I will be made well.” Jesus turned, and seeing her he said, “Take heart, daughter; your faith has made you well.” And instantly the woman was made well. When Jesus came to the leader’s house and saw the flute players and the crowd making a commotion, he said, “Go away; for the girl is not dead but sleeping.” And they laughed at him. But when the crowd had been put outside, he went in and took her by the hand, and the girl got up. And the report of this spread throughout that district. 

Good morning, friends. Blessings today, dear saints of God.

Today’s story from Matthew is a story, within a tale, tucked inside a yarn, each in their own right too good to be true. They may seem “a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma” (Sir Winston Churchill speaking of the Soviet Union), but we see those repeatedly beyond hope not only receiving hope, but allowing others into God’s grace through the resulting belief.

These three interwoven stories are examples of the everloving Grace of God.

Our first story is a publican, what we would call a tax collector. The word in the Greek is actually “Tax Farmer.” Their profits would just grow and grow and grow. Despised by their neighbors who they repeatedly cheated with no recourse, and seen as traitors, Matthew was despised.

But Jesus said two simple words to him. “Follow me.” He says it to Matthew. He says it to us all. No matter where we come from, our direction can change. Know this to be true. Every saint has a past and every sinner can have a future. Never write anyone off.

Jesus did not for Matthew. Jesus did not for me. Jesus has not and never will write you off! Thanks be to God.

But then they gather at Matthew’s House for dinner. Matthew brought his friends, as the Gospel says, “many tax collectors and sinners came and were sitting with him and [Jesus’] disciples.” This is what Jesus wanted. He was there to bring in the lost sheep of Israel, and Matthew helped him by coming in and bringing in his friends.

It still has not changed. On EVERY poll ever, the #1 reason why people check out a church or a new-to-them church is because they were invited by a friend. Mailings, pastor’s invitation, signage, whatever, is pale in comparison to you saying to your friends, “Hey, come and check this out. I like it, and think you will, too!” Heck, take them to lunch after, or coffee. It is not hard, and you are already friends. You just might like the same things. It worked for Matthew, and it still works today.

But the thing is, when you bring in new folks, sometimes they do not look or sound like churchy people. Why on earth would they or should they? They are unchurched.

The Pharisees, the churchy people who constantly hounded Jesus, asked the disciples, 

“Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?” But when he heard this, he said, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick.” 

We put our energy in the places where we can make the most difference. We leverage the situation to our advantage. We do not focus our energy where no work is needed. We waste our efforts when we do so.

There is an old joke about a person known for being the brightest bulb in the pack who happened to lose his keys, and the night patrolman sees him in the middle of the street stumbling around.

“What are you doing there, John?”

“Officer Mike, I am looking for my keys so I can go home.”

Officer Mike joins in the search, and after 10 minutes, he asked, “John, are you sure you lost them here under the streetlight?”

John laughs, “Of course not, I lost them in the alley!”

Officer Mike is flabbergasted, “Then why aren’t we in the alley?”

John shakes his head, “Because the light is better here, silly!”

Friends, we might be more comfortable where the light already is, but that is not our job in our ministry. We are to go where light is needed, and be the light. Jesus came to be a doctor to the sick, not the well. We reach out to those in need of light.

In response to their lack of understanding, Jesus tells the Pharisees:

Go and learn what this means, ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I have come to call not the righteous but sinners.”

He is quoting at them an abbreviation of Hosea 6:6

“I desire mercy, not sacrifice.”

The fuller version is this:

“For I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice,

    the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.”

Jesus did not  come to judge, so I know that we were not either. As Jesus teaches in Luke 6:36, “Be merciful as your Father is merciful.” For those outside the church, so many see those of us inside as judgmental hypocrites or bigots. So much for knowing we are Christians by our love.

But then this very uncomfortable, and pretty judgemental, dinner was interrupted. In walks the leader of the synagogue saying, “My daughter has just died; but come and lay your hand on her, and she will live.” The amount of faith he shows in Jesus is admirable. But he also knew that he did not have that power. No one else had that power. Only Jesus did. So Jesus and the disciples get up and go straight there, or they try at least.

In the rush, hurrying through the onlookers and hopeful, we see Jesus paused by a hemorrhaging woman, one who had been bleeding without remedy for 12 years. The juxtaposition of this woman who had trouble with bleeding for 12 years, almost or perhaps as long as the girl had lived cannot be missed. One girl dead, beyond most people’s hope, one desperate woman also taking the only chance she had. She did not think enough of herself to even ask for healing, but perhaps she could snatch it…

for she said to herself, “If I only touch his cloak, I will be made well.” Jesus turned, and seeing her he said, “Take heart, daughter; your faith has made you well.” And instantly the woman was made well.

I love the tender response from Jesus. “Take heart, daughter…” Whether a way of showing his love, or acknowledging her as a daughter of Abraham, he enabled her to come back into community. She would have been unclean, unable to interact with society, because of the bleeding. Just like Matthew, she was beyond hope in the way things were. But as you have heard me say over and over and over again, God is not God of the status quo. 

Some many excluded, but Jesus welcomes them back in. And then we find one more beyond the hope of society, the synagogue leader’s little girl.

Here in Matthew’s version she was already dead when he approached Jesus. You may be more familiar with Luke’s, where the little girl has just died.

In Matthew she already has professional mourners present, so she was fully gone.

The girl is dead and the mourners have already gathered. But Jesus is clear:

“Go away; for the girl is not dead but sleeping.” And they laughed at him.

So often that is the response where people do not understand Jesus, or they have made their image of him in their own image. 

But when the crowd had been put outside, he went in and took her by the hand, and the girl got up.

To touch a dead body, a person is ritually unclean, and must purify themselves for a week. Jesus, if she was dead, defiles himself. But to him, she only slept. He invites and welcomes her home to the living.

So often when we touch, care for, or even interact with those that society deems “unclean” or unacceptable, we are called to go against the status quo. Jesus did not come to make bad people good, or feel good. Jesus came to be a physician for the sick. And a way for them to make their way home.

So he tells Matthew to follow him, he tells the bleeding woman to take heart, and he touches the dead girl, inviting her back to the land of the living.

This morning we see the age old story, again, and again, and again.  Not “a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma” but welcome and grace.

Jesus models for us how to reach out. We invite, welcome, and connect. For all three tales in today’s Gospel, he does just that, and we can, too.

Tonight at our Summer Kick-off at 6:30, call up a friend and invite them for ice cream. Everybody likes ice cream! Heck, even Satan likes ice cream. Not everyone can eat it, but everyone likes it. It is not hard. Welcome, Invite, and Connect. It is something Jesus did. It is something you can do, too. We just need to make sure we take the step beyond making things feel nice, but we need to connect the people with the community also.

Friends, our last year’s theme has been about having Undivided Hearts. It has been doing the work on the interior so we can turn to the exterior. There are hurting people who so need the love of Christ. This is PRIDE month, and I know of so many who are LGBTQ who have been rejected and kicked out of community. Racial divisions are not of Christ, for the vision of heaven we have in Revelation is that every nation is there, standing together as one. We don’t have to wait till heaven to start that. So many different categories of Less-Thans and Least-of-These need to hear and feel our invitation, our welcome, and our connection with them.

The three disconnected souls, Matthew, the hemorrhaging woman, and the little girl received mercy beyond belief. It may not seem miraculous to us, but it was to them. They were reborn, spiritually, socially, or physically. And we can work miracles, too, by inviting, welcoming, and connecting with those that need Jesus.

I know we can do it. And God will be glorified. Amen