June 11, 2023 Second Sunday After Pentecost The text is Matthew 9:9-13,18-26

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 ⁹As 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.
 ¹⁰And as he sat at dinner in the house, many tax collectors and sinners came and were sitting with him and his disciples. ¹¹When the Pharisees saw this, they said to his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?” ¹²But when he heard this, he said, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. ¹³Go and learn what this means, ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I have come to call not the righteous but sinners.”
 ¹⁸While 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.” ¹⁹And Jesus got up and followed him, with his disciples. ²⁰Then suddenly a woman who had been suffering from hemorrhages for twelve years came up behind him and touched the fringe of his cloak, ²¹for she said to herself, “If I only touch his cloak, I will be made well.” ²²Jesus turned, and seeing her he said, “Take heart, daughter; your faith has made you well.” And instantly the woman was made well. ²³When Jesus came to the leader’s house and saw the flute players and the crowd making a commotion, ²⁴he said, “Go away; for the girl is not dead but sleeping.” And they laughed at him. ²⁵But when the crowd had been put outside, he went in and took her by the hand, and the girl got up. ²⁶And the report of this spread throughout that district.

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May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable to You, O Lord, my rock and my Redeemer.

Grace, mercy, and peace are yours from God the Father and our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.  Amen.

This morning we hear about three vastly different individuals that Jesus has encountered soon after sailing across the lake to return to Galilee.  First he calls Matthew, a tax collector.  After sitting at dinner with Matthew and a large group of undesirables, he is met by a leader of the synagogue whose daughter has just died.  And finally, we read that Jesus’ cloak is touched by a woman who has been experiencing hemorrhaging for a dozen years. 

Tax collectors in Jesus’ time were despised by the Hebrew people.  Matthew and his colleagues were members of the Jewish population and they were willingly employed by the Roman authorities to collect levies on behalf of the occupying government of Rome.  This morning’s reading tells us that Matthew was sitting at the tax booth when Jesus walked by.  This stall that Matthew occupied was in place for a very specific purpose.  In Jesus’ time fishing was one of the two most important aspects of the economy of Galilee; the other one was taxes.  You see, Matthew and the other tax collectors were stationed in stalls, not unlike we would find highway toll collectors in some areas today.  Their job was to ensure that Galilean fishermen paid the required duty on the fish they caught.  After a long night of exhausting work hauling in their nets, as they returned to the shore in Galilee these fisherman were met by Matthew and his associates who were stationed to ensure that the tax on their catch was paid. 

Hated by the Jewish people and considered collaborators with Rome, Matthew and the other tax collectors and sinners that Jesus dined with, were outcasts from the community.  They engaged in rather disdainful practices, often demanding higher amounts of tax than were due and pocketing the excess.  In many courts they weren’t considered reliable witnesses, and in some cases rabbis would prohibit them from worshipping at the temple.  For the most part tax collectors would have been people living at the fringes of society to begin with, in many cases they would have already been involved in some sort of criminal activity.  Why else would anyone take the job that labeled them as an agent of the oppressor of the people, unless they were already on the lowest rung of the societal ladder?  “Follow me”, Jesus says to Matthew; and Matthew left his tax booth behind to become one of the twelve and the writer of today’s gospel passage.  Returned to the community by grace!

After eating with a group of tax collectors and what Scripture calls “sinners”, Jesus proclaims to the Pharisees that his mission is one of mercy and not sacrifice, and that he has come specifically for the sinful and not the righteous.  We understand this to mean that his ministry is one of grace.  The “sinners” at this meal were most likely prostitutes that were there to provide their services to the tax collectors; sort of after-dinner entertainment as it were.  No wonder the Pharisees were so aghast that Jesus would choose to dine with this group of outcasts.  But Jesus’ presence at the meal offered him the opportunity to teach those assembled about the coming of God’s kingdom; and to bestow upon them, grace.  These “sinners”, just as the tax collectors were, were prevented from participation in polite society; they too were excluded from the community.  The grace of God extended to these, as well.

Jesus is next approached by a religious leader, named as Jairus in Luke’s version of these events; his daughter has just died and he pleads with Jesus to come to his house to resurrect her.  Met with jeers and disbelief from the onlooking mourners Jesus entered the house, grasped her hand and she was brought back to life.  In this case the person coming to Jesus is a respected man in a leadership position in the synagogue.  The fact that he approaches Jesus in a pubic way, in spite of the issues the Pharisees have with just about everything Jesus says and does, is in stark contrast with say, the other religious leader, Nicodemus, who came to Jesus under cover of darkness.  Jairus kneels before Jesus and pleads with him to restore his daughter to life.  And in spite of the contempt and doubt displayed by the crowd, Jesus brings the little girl back to the living.  She has been brought back to participation among the people of God; restored to the community by grace!

But before he arrives at the house, a woman reaches out to touch the fringe of Jesus’ cloak, in hope and expectation that this simple gesture would be enough to heal her.  While she is alive, her engagement within Jewish society was no better than the complete separation of the dead girl.  The hemorrhaging woman was considered ritually impure; she was denied entrance to the temple, and she was thus marginalized by the community.  It would have rendered anyone she touched, or touched her to be ritually unclean, as well.

Thus, contact with her family and neighbors would have been nonexistent for the dozen years during which she suffered from her affliction.  She has stealthily reached out to touch Jesus’ clothing, hoping he wouldn’t notice her in the crowd and be angry that her touch would have made Jesus unclean, also.  Instead of castigating her for her action, Jesus declares that her faith in him has cured her of her condition; she was now free to take her place within society.  She would no longer be invisible, unwelcome, separated.  She too has been returned to the community by grace!

The differences between these three persons and the manner in which they encountered Jesus couldn’t be greater.  Jesus first approached Matthew and Matthew chose to accept Christ’s grace; we’re not sure of he had heard Jesus preach before or had witnessed a previous miracle.  Nonetheless, he stepped away from his role as a despised collaborator with Rome and once again rejoined the community.  The daughter of Jairus was restored, yet she had no contact or discussion with Jesus, at all.  It was the faithful, public plea of her father that moved Jesus to awaken her from death, and bring her back to communal life.  The bleeding woman made her plea for healing from the anonymity of the crowd, not daring to approach Jesus face-to-face.  Yet all three of these people, no matter the manner in which they came to Jesus, or he to them, were recipients of the grace  of God.  All were healed, each was restored, the three of them were made whole again, welcomed back into their community.  Restored by grace!

This altering of people’s lives is at the core of Christ’s mission; to ensure God’s will for abundant life for all.  When people are healed by Jesus, as we all are by virtue of our baptism, the possibility for lives of and wholeness and purpose are endless.  Whatever afflicts us, separates us, confines us, restricts us, diminishes us; our lives in Christ may be transformed, by grace, through faith.  We know that Matthew, the former despised tax collector became Jesus’ disciple, and we heard his words this morning, read from his gospel.  We don’t know what became of the daughter of the synagogue leader or the woman who was healed through the touching of Jesus’ garment.

What is clear, however is that once each was returned to inclusion in the life of the community, that the potential for abundant lives was granted them.  And this same potential is at play for all of us; we are welcomed into full participation in the life of the community, called to faith to experience God’s grace.  Jesus continues to call us to follow him; he still hears the prayer of a parent, pleading for restoration of a child; his mercy still flows to all who reach out to him in desperation.  Jesus is here for all who trust in the love and mercy of God; no one is too far gone to be restored.  No one need be separated from the family of God.  The kingdom is here and now, and all are welcome to life in the Spirit.  All are blessed to be restored by Grace!                                           

Will you pray with me?  Good, and gracious, and holy God, we often find ourselves drifting away from one another and the communities to which we are called.  Guide us to seek out the wholeness that arises when your people gather together in worship and fellowship.  And as your faithful people, direct us to those who are in need of the love and mercy you promise, but who are not able to recognize that these gifts are also intended for them.  And we pray these things in the name of Jesus Christ, the One who calls us, heals us, and brings us to new life.  The One who restores us by grace to live in community with all your children.

God is Good, all the time.  All the time, God is Good.  Amen.