Saturday, October 14, 2017

St. Matthew's Day

St. Mathew’s Day Sermon



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.”

Today we are celebrating our patronal feast day.  Usually Sunday’s take precedence over other feast days but the exception is churches are allowed to move the feast of their patron saint to a Sunday and celebrate their patron.  And that is what we have done.  We are celebrating the feast of St. Matthew today. 

What an unlikely disciple is our St. Matthew – at least in the eyes of the Pharisees and others in that society.  Jesus is calling a tax collector.  One who is despised because he has, in the eyes of many, betrayed his people.  He is collecting taxes to support the Roman Empire.  To support the occupation force.  And unlike today, where tax collecting is a very regulated function, in Jesus day a tax collector was allowed to collect whatever he could and keep the extra.  So tax collectors where not popular and where considered sinners.

And why Matthew left his lucrative position on Jesus’ simple request to “follow me” is baffling.  Perhaps Matthew had already heard Jesus teach or witnessed Jesus healing those around.  We don’t know.  But Jesus’ call to follow was strong enough for Matthew to leave a lucrative position and follow.  Jesus called and, as we see in the next portion of the Gospel reading, happily dined with those considered unworthy and sinners by those in power. 

Unworthy.  I think that is one of the descriptors I have heard too often when people are called to follow Jesus.  They say they are unworthy.  They are not high enough up the societal ladder to be called as leaders in the church.  God must really be calling someone else not me.  Society too judges those called to ministry and has an idea of what that ministry should look like. 

Ministry should look like a mainline church back in the 1950’s when everyone showed up to church in their finest clothes and all the men wore ties and the women wore dresses and the kids – in the words of Garrison Keeler – are above average.  Yes, some churches where in the slums doing good work – helping people who were poor but that was the exception.  Some church leaders worked for racial desegregation and equality.  But I think most people felt that those working for social justice where good examples but they did border on the scandalous to the good church going families when they hung out too much with racial minorities and the poor.

But Jesus says he didn’t come to call the polite people in the pews to ministry.  He came to call the outsiders – the sinners and the outcasts to ministry.  Perhaps it is because being outside made the people more open to see the promise of our God.  A promise of love and reconciliation.  The comfortable and those in society who have positions of power are happy with things the way they are.

St. Matthew’s is one of those places where we welcome our neighbors and strive to love God and love our Neighbors.  And it isn’t always easy.  It is hard to love people who deface the buildings.  It is hard to continue this worshiping community as the neighborhood demographics have shifted.  But I see St. Matthew’s living up to their patronal saint.  You keep hearing Jesus calling you to “follow me”. 

It would have been easier a couple of years ago to say to the Bishop and diocese that with dwindling resources it was time to close St. Matthew’s.  Instead you all looked to ways to serve the community.  You all looked at developing partnerships that would be able to continue to serve a diverse and ever changing neighborhood.  To serve a neighborhood that I read this week is even poorer on a year to year comparison with the influx of refugees. 

And now the community is being served on this campus with the Charter High School for those who have English as a second language.  A vital service in neighborhood that is increasingly home to new refugees.  Katie has quietly continued a small unadvertised clothes closet to provide clothing to those in need.  And I see this community continue to welcome those who the Pharisees of our day would shun.  To provide a venue that feeds this community – and soon that will host a satellite campus of River City Food Bank. 

I see people who care deeply about those who could be deported by the changing policies in our nation.  Who understand and know the real human costs when families are separated – not as an abstract but as a real hurt to our neighbors and our members.  I see people who welcome in the hungry and the homeless.  You open the campus to community dinners for the whole community not just those who might become members. 

This is a community that is recognizable to Jesus.  When confronted with the company he was keeping at dinner Jesus confronted a society that over valued the importance of sacrifice and structure.  A community where everyone was in their place by saying “Go and learn what this means, ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice’”.

You the good people of St. Matthew’s don’t need to go and learn what this means as you live it on a daily basis.  This community desires mercy to those who society rejects.  This community makes personal sacrifices to ensure that there is a place for people to go.  This community strives to use its resources to provide and to serve. This community is one that has heard the call from Jesus to “follow me” and continues to follow Jesus and live the great commandment to Love God and Love our Neighbors.  And for that I give thanks.


Amen.

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