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.
Matthew 9:9-13, 18-26 (NRSVue)
And as he sat at dinner[a] in the house, many tax collectors and sinners came and were sitting[b] with Jesus 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 not come to call the righteous but sinners.”
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.” And Jesus got up and followed him, with his disciples. 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, for she was saying 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 the woman was made well from that moment. 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 through all of that district.
My sermon from the 2nd Sunday after Pentecost (June 11, 2023) on Matthew 9:9-13, 18-26.
If the space-time continuum broke at 3 pm and you had an extra three hours to do whatever you wanted until it was fixed, what would you do? That isn’t a lot of time but it’s enough to let us make a choice. We could, depending on how the rest of this morning goes, choose to take a guilt free nap but there could also be several movies or tv shows we’ve been meaning to binge. We might finally go on that hike we’ve been planning to take once the weather turned nice. Or we could pick-up one of the eighty or so books in our current “to-read” pile. A few free hours would be perfect for some guilt-free “me time” or, better yet, to crush my kids in several rounds of the board game Sorry. Yet you also might be a bit like me and get excited about how productive those three free hours could be. I, for example, could finish putting mulch around my yard or clean out the garage or and answer those dozens of emails currently haunting my dreams. It would be so easy to knock a few things off our never ending to-do list since that extra time would enable us to make a choice outside the busyness of everyday life.
Now today’s reading from the gospel according to Matthew isn’t very long but it is full. It begins with a call story and moves into a healing and a resurrection that I wish all of us experienced way more often. Matthew, while busy living his life, was met by a Jesus who simply said “follow me.” This story feels pretty similar to the other call stories in this gospel. Way back in chapter four, Jesus met Peter, Andrew, James, and John while they were busy fishing along the sea of Galilee. After sharing only a few words, all four left their nets and boats to follow the One who had just begun to proclaim that the kingdom of God was near. It’s in that same general area where Jesus finds Matthew sitting in a tax booth. Matthew’s job, most likely, was to collect taxes based on how many fish people caught. Much of the fishing done in the ancient world along the Sea of Galilee took place at night and so when dawn broke, a long line of people would have been waiting for Matthew to go through what they caught. They hoped Matthew would go through the line quickly so that their fresh fish could make it to the market on time. By the time Jesus noticed the tax booth, Matthew was already sitting down. It’s possible he was doing that because the busy part of his day was already over. But there’s also a chance he was sitting down because he could. Tax collecting in the ancient world was a little complicated since governments, even as powerful as the Roman Empire, didn’t have the people or the infrastructure to physically collect all the taxes they needed. That kind of work was contracted out to individuals, businesses, and organizations that were basically street gangs. These groups were empowered by the Roman Empire to collect more than what the Empire asked for as payment for their services. And they were allowed to use violence, intimidation, and force to get what the ruling authorities wanted. Tax collectors, then, weren’t the most beloved members of their community since it looked like they chose a way of being in the world that was beyond redemption. Yet not every person collecting taxes could choose the life they lived. Some, through poor choices, bad luck, and awful circumstances, ended up doing that work just to make ends meet. Others, though, had no say in the matter since they were enslaved. No one liked tax collectors yet the story of every individual who collected taxes was complicated and complex. We have no idea why Matthew became a tax collector and the choices that led to him sitting in that booth on that day. But we do know that while living through the busyness of his complicated and imperfect life, Jesus showed up.
Now I’m not sure what Matthew would do if he, on the day he met Jesus, had a few extra hours in the afternoon. Maybe, in a burst of productivity, he’d make sure everyone in line got their catch to the market on time. Maybe those few free hours would let him feel free in a way he never could be. Or maybe he’d have chosen to simply sit and wait – using the little bits of power he had to feel more important than those around him. I don’t know what Matthew would have chosen if he was given some extra time but I notice how everything changed once Jesus chose him. The text doesn’t tell us why Jesus called Matthew to be his disciple. We get no story that might prove, to us, the validity in the choice Jesus made. The two stories that follow – of a woman and religious leader who in the midst of their pain, grief, and sorrow, come to Jesus seems to be a little bit of what the life of discipleship is supposed to be about. And when Jesus talked to Matthew, Matthew didn’t do what we’d expect him to do: he made no declaration of faith; didn’t fall at Jesus’ feet; nor did he even ask Jesus a few questions of what following him might mean. Instead, in the middle of Matthew’s complicated and busy life, Jesus said “follow me.” And that’s exactly what Matthew did.
Rev. Cleophus J. LaRue, in a commentary on this passage, recently wrote: “God never calls us to something, without first calling us away from something…You can never get to the next thing that God has for you until, in an act of simple obedience, you let go of where you are and follow after him…. [this call] is action-oriented, for it requires us to live now as if the rule and reign of God had come upon us in its fullness. It requires us to live now as if the lion and the lamb were already lying down together. To live now as if adversaries had already beat[en] their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. To live now as if justice had already begun to roll down like waters and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.” Matthew, while busy living his life, needed Jesus to choose him first before he could get a glimpse of what his life might be. This choice wasn’t rooted in the worthiness of Matthew’s past but in the love God already had for him. And like Matthew, you in your baptism, in your faith, and in who you are right now – you are chosen too. You’ve been called into a way of life that trusts the kingdom God is near. It’s a way of being in the world that comes to Jesus when we have nothing left and brings us into places where sorrow and death have made their presence known. It’s a point of view that doesn’t lean into a purity test that lets us decide who Jesus called to follow him. And it’s a life that knows how difficult it is to see what Jesus did 2000 years ago and wonder why our own lives haven’t been touched in the same way. You have been chosen for a life that isn’t easy but one that trusts that there is always more: because Jesus comes to you not in the place where you want to be but chooses to lead you into God’s hope, wholeness, and love.
Amen.