15th Sunday after Pentecost, 09/21/2014

Sermon on Matthew 9:9-13, by Carl A. Voges

The Passage

"As Jesus passed on from there, he saw a man called Matthew sitting at the tax booth, and he said to him, ‘Follow me.' And he rose and followed him.

came and were reclining with Jesus and his disciples. And when the Pharisees saw this, they said to his disciples, ‘Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?' But when he heard it, 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, and not sacrifice." For I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.'" [English Standard Version]

"For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing, it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast." [Ephesians 2.8-9]

In the Name of Christ + Jesus our Lord

In the last generation or two, Lutheran parishes have seen some remarkable changes in their traditions, understandings and practices of the Church's ministry. Some of these changes have been positive - like the re-emergence of a weekly Eucharist, the adoption of a three-year lectionary for the Sunday Liturgy, an increasing awareness of the exercise of Daily Prayer. But some of these changes have been negative - an increasing participation in the pharisaic and gnostic ways depicted in the New Testament, a desire to intersect with the world on its terms, a whole-hearted embrace of the self.

Among the positive changes, though, has been a greater awareness of the Lord's disciples along with the observance of their days in the Church's liturgical calendar. Thus, it has come about that a Sunday like today (Pentecost Fifteen) can be set aside to observe The Day of Saint Matthew, Apostle and Evangelist. In the Lutheran Book of Worship, the prayer for this day notes that the Son called a despised collector of taxes to become one of his apostles. The prayer also asks that we, as the Lord's baptized people, be helped to respond to the same transforming call. As we observe Saint Matthew's Day, even with the world's problems and its hit or miss solutions pulsing through them, we will be reminded of why our Lord drew us into his Life through Baptism so that we, too, could follow him and participate fully in that Life.

According to the four New Testament lists (Matthew, Mark, Luke, Acts), Matthew is one of Jesus' twelve disciples. With a high degree of reliability we know that he was a tax collector before he followed Jesus. With a low degree of reliability there is some confusion over names of Matthew and Levi in those lists. In Mark and Luke, they do not appear to be the same person; in Matthew, however, they do appear to be the same. This confusion generates much speculation, but such thinking does not clear up the confusion. Thus we will go with the suggestion in this passage that Matthew was Levi.

This means that Matthew was in the employ of the region's governor, Herod Antipas, and that his work was near or at Capernaum. There was merchandise in that area being carried over the road to and from Damascus that was taxable and there were other industries, including fishing, that were taxed as well. Persons like Matthew were Jewish, but were also highly reimbursed by the Roman government. Consequently they were criticized more often than not by the Jews who resented Rome's officials and soldiers in their country.

As we enter today's Gospel, it is helpful to scan through the first eight verses of this chapter. In them, Jesus heals a paralytic man, telling him to take heart, to recognize that his sins are forgiven. This action triggers criticism by the scribes who say that Jesus is blaspheming. But Jesus, knowing their thoughts, wonders why they are thinking evil. He asks them if it is easier to say that sins are forgiven or to tell someone to get up and walk.

He then demonstrates to them that the Son of man does have the authority on earth to forgive sins - he tells the paralytic to take up his bed and walk. The man gets up and goes home. When the crowds see it, they are afraid and yet they glorify God for giving such authority to men. [Note that the Greek word in this section for "authority" is "exousia", this word is used only of Lord God, its authority is not on the same level of authority in the world.]

As Jesus continues on, he sees Matthew sitting at a tax office and he calls on the collector to follow him . He does! [The background for the Greek word, "follow," is a commitment that pushes beyond all the other commitments in a person's life (it is, literally, a "following from behind," clearly the opposite of taking the lead!)] Interestingly, this word is limited to describing one's relationship with Jesus and its use is found exclusively in the four Gospels. Such a following is a gift from the Lord to his people, it enables people to be his disciples. It not only means participation in the Life-giving salvation that is offered in Jesus, it also implies a full participation in the death that leads to such salvation (this participation will be echoed in the later quote from Hosea 6).

This encounter between Jesus and Matthew then shifts to a gathering with other tax collectors and sinners. They are sitting down in a meal that involves Jesus and the other disciples. Seeing this, the Pharisees ask the disciples why Jesus is doing this. When Jesus hears of their question, though, he comments that those who are well have no need for a doctor, it is only the sick who need one (implying, of course, that they are ill!). But he tells the Pharisees to learn what the words of Hosea 6.6 mean (the verse details how the Lord desires mercy, not sacrifice). Jesus notes further that he did not come to call those who are righteous (the Pharisees honestly believed they were that way), but those who sin.

To catch the full impact of this conversation we need to sketch out both the Pharisees and Hosea 6. The Pharisees thought of themselves as the "Separated Ones." They avoided contact with non-Jews, sinners and fellow Jews who were less concerned for the Law than they were. The roots of their movement go back to the Hasideans or the "Pious Ones", who supported the Maccabean revolt in the mid-160s BC until those ambitions became too secular and political. The Pharisees were laymen; they advocated a rigorous observance of the Law and accepted as valid not only the written Law but also the oral Law. They were schooled well in the Ten Commandments, but they were equally aware of the six hundred and thirteen prescriptions and prohibitions added to the original Ten (for example, the Third Command had thirty-nine additions to it!). The goal of all Jews was to be a holy nation, sacred and dedicated to the Lord. It was the Pharisees' conviction that this goal could be achieved by education and knowledge of the Law. It was this attitude that separated them from the people they avoided, thus they became known as the "Separated Ones".

Then there is Hosea 6. The chapter opens with a call to return to the Lord, it notes that the Lord has stricken his people but he will bind them up. The prophet notes that after two days the Lord will revive them, that on the third day he will raise them up so that they may live before him. The prophet encourages them to press on to know the Lord, commenting that his actions are as reliable as the earth's natural cycles. But then the chapter's tone shifts! The Lord wonders what he is going to do with his people! Their love for him is like a morning cloud that gets burned off by the sun and the wind. The

Lord points out that he has formed them by the prophets, that his words have cut them, and that his judgment works like a light. The Lord then states that he desires steadfast love and not sacrifices, a knowledge of him rather than burned offerings. Such steadfast love is an eternal reality, one in which the Lord God swarms his people, one in which there is full participation and intimacy. This involves being pulled from one's self and immersed in the Lord God.

Details of these two backgrounds enable us to see completely what it means to be a follower of the Lord Jesus Christ and to participate fully in the Life he brought to this world through his crucifixion and resurrection.

Thus, we do not structure our lives in ways that look as though they are imbedded in the Lord's Life. Nor do we maintain such lives by pulling away from the individuals who are not on the same pages we have created. Instead, we remember how our lives truly are until the Lord pushes into them and rescues us from the realities of sin, Satan and death. It is true that our lives may look well enough, but if they are not caught up in the Lord's Life, they are pitiful, tragic and lost.

Thankfully and mercifully, the Lord pushes into such lives (as he did with Saint Matthew) and calls us to be his followers. May he continue to push into such lives so we can take part fully in the Life that streams from the Son's dying and rising, radiating it to the absorbed, afflicted and agonized people of this world.

Now may the peace of the Lord God, which is beyond all understanding, keep our hearts and minds through Christ + Jesus our Lord.

Pr. Carl A. Voges
Columbia, SC
E-Mail: carl.voges4@icloud.com

Bemerkung:
Saint Matthew’s Day (Revised Common Lectionary) 09.21.14

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