This is my sermon from Tuesday the 19th of September...

Readings: Proverbs 3:1-6, Psalm 119:33-40, 2 Timothy 3:14-17, Matthew 9:9-13

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I almost wish we could have read today's gospel first, so that we could have heard the rest of the readings through Jesus' words to the Pharisees – For I have come to call not the righteous but sinners.

I must admit that the Calling of Matthew is one of my favorite calling stories in the Gospels. Here we have a man who is despised by his own people for being in league with the oppression of Rome, and against all social conventions of the time, Jesus speaks with him as with any other beloved child of God. In so doing, Jesus shocks and mortifies the pious Jews around him – probably even including some of his own disciples – and what is worse, he obviously accepts an invitation to dine with Matthew shortly thereafter, heaping consternation on his head from the Pharisees.

But Jesus message is made very clear – "Those who are well have not need of a physician." On the surface, Jesus is saying that the righteous aren't the ones who need a messiah, but there are always deeper meanings in Jesus' words…

The Pharisees were a group of very pious, not to mention rich, Jewish laypeople. They knew the law backwards and forwards, they knew exactly what and who Messiah would be, and they expected to know what and whom he would teach. Subsequently, they were judgmental of Jesus and his ministry, suspicious of his intentions, and frequently shocked and mortified at his behavior – especially as more and more sinners and un- pious commoners came to believe in him as the Messiah. They come off, in the Gospels, as being pretentious, malicious, and sinister, but in truth, as Father Rector commented a few weeks ago, these were the model citizens and the elders in their worshipping communities – they would be our vestry members, our most respected and honored parishioners, admired for their commitment, and appreciated for their generosity. The only problem they had was this Jesus, who seemed to have these superhuman abilities to heal and understand God's word and message, and yet had a sub-human taste in companions and a carelessness about the law that undermined everything they stood for.

Although the sinners and outcasts need Jesus in very obvious ways, on a much deeper level, it is the Pharisees that most need Jesus, as it is they who have missed the point of God's love and redemption of Israel through the law. They have condemned those less pious, ostracized them, and likely have demanded the sacrifices from them required by the law in order for them to be a part of the worshipping community. To these hard hearted and closed minded elites, the letter of the law is what is required for salvation, and it keeps them from opening their hearts, minds, and eyes to Jesus' way of understanding God's redemptive love.

"Go and seek what this means," he tells them, "'I desire mercy, not sacrifice.' For I have come to call not the righteous but sinners."

This passage that Jesus quotes from the prophet Hosea continues, saying "For I desire mercy, not sacrifice, the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings." In it, Jesus is making a very clear statement to the Pharisees that what is important is seeking out a relationship with God – all the sacrifices and burnt offerings in the world won't bring us into God's presence if we only concentrate on what we "must" do by the letter of the law. Through their own preference for the law and all of its intricate measures, Jesus warns the Pharisees against missing the spirit of the law, which is a means for humans to be right with God so that they can seek out and develop knowledge of God through relationship.

Jesus calling of Matthew teaches us a valuable lesson about righteousness as seeking to be right with God rather than seeking to be right with the law.

The mistake that these good and righteous people make in condemning Jesus' associations and actions is brought out in the words of Proverbs, "Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not rely on your own insight. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths." Seeking to gain God's favor through a zealotry to the law is missing the point. Seeking to understand God through memorizing centuries of human judicial dialogue on the law is missing the point. Seeking to cut others off from God because they transgress what we think is the letter of the law… is missing the point. Those sinners and tax collectors, like Matthew, who trust in their hearts that Jesus has something to teach them about seeking a relationship with God, and are called back into relationship with God simply through their trust and faith, these are the ones who really get it.

The Psalmist reiterates and rewords Jesus' message to the Pharisees and to the sinners around him: "Give me understanding, and I shall keep your law." The law was made for people, not for God. Jesus' teachings lead to understanding – to a deep and abiding love that fulfills the law on a new and deeper level than simply striving against social convention.

Jesus' final words in today's gospel again have a double edge to them – "Go and learn what this means, 'I desire mercy, not sacrifice.' For I have come to call not the righteous but sinners." Continuing the metaphor of the physician, Jesus reiterates that it is the sinners who need him, but again, on a deeper level, he says that in fact it is the sinner who is the one that comes before God in humility, seeking mercy and forgiveness, and as such, is the one that has an open heart and can truly seek a relationship with God. It is a final rebuff to the Pharisees, who because of their righteousness according to the law, seek only to know and be redeemed by the law, rather than seeking to know and be redeemed by God.

Jesus teaches us today that coming before God in humility and seeking to know and be in relationship with God is the heart of righteous faith. Being right with God is an essential condition for our seeking that relationship, but it isn't God that requires it, rather it is our own hearts that cannot approach God while we feel the guilt of our sins or, in the case of the Pharisees, while we are so puffed up with self-righteous pride that we don't need God.

The Good News for us today is that we are called, as Matthew was called, to be in deeper relationship with God, to sit as if at dinner together, and really get to know each other. We are called into the amazing love and forgiveness of a god who wants to know us intimately as friends and eternal companions, and all we have to do is reach out in faith and love to accept that invitation to healing, forgiveness, and deeper knowledge and understanding of God.

Lord, let us walk the path of your apostle Matthew this day, and like him let us, through our penitent and opened hearts, be absolved of our sins and healed of our guilt so that we might again come into your presence in thanksgiving and seek to know and follow you, Amen.