Matthew 9.9-13 ‘I have come to call not the righteous but sinners’.
Jesus said: ‘I have
come to call not the righteous but sinners’
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I regularly tune in, on YouTube, to teaching,
talks and homilies by American bishop, Bishop Robert Barron.
I would thoroughly recommend him.
Not only is his content superb but he delivers
it in a very engaging way.
One of the things he does is address his hearers
as ‘fellow sinners’.
Sinner? To be called a sinner, even a fellow
one, implies a judgement and a negative one at that.
In a world that prizes non-judgement over
everything – even judgement by God - this is perhaps a challenge.
If I am a ‘sinner’ that implies I have got
something wrong, I am not all I could be, that someone is judging me.
To speak of sin and sinners sounds too
negative to many ears.
Talk of ‘sin’ and ‘sinners’ can collude with
the worst stories we tell about ourselves, especially for people who are
routinely run down, dismissed or sidelined.
Yet, when we search our hearts, reflect on our
lives, we surely cannot fail to see that oftentimes we lack love, we deceive
ourselves and others about a whole host of things.
That is why at the beginning of this and every
Eucharist as we say the confession: ‘we have sinned against you, almighty God,
and against our neighbour...’
In confession of our sins we take ownership of
our shortcomings and our need for restoration.
That is the first step towards the goal of
holiness of life.
So Jesus says ‘I have come to call not the
righteous but sinners’.
What love!
What concern!
We are not to be left wallowing in misery,
self-pity and sin; Christ comes to raise us up and lift us out of the mire of
human short-sightedness and to open our eyes to the glory of God.
It is out of love, not condemnation, that
Christ comes to save.
If you’re not ill you don’t need a doctor; if
you are you do.
Look at human lives; look at your own life, as
I look at mine.
We are not in a state of perfection; we are
not well: we need a physician.
So being called a ‘sinner’ is actually a title
of great dignity because Christ came for sinners and it says that he’s
something to work with, in contrast to those who shut down the possibility of
healing because they believe themselves to be fully well, what Jesus terms ‘the
righteous’, the ones he really does judge!
So what’s Jesus’ method with sinners?
We see it in the call of Matthew, the tax
collector and apostle.
First Jesus pays attention; he notices the
person; he loves the person.
Matthew, if he was at all typical of first
century tax collectors, cheated people, took bribes and extorted money from
them.
‘Thou shalt not steal’, but Matthew did.
Yet Jesus pays attention to Matthew, notices
him and loves him.
He loves the sinner; he loathes the sin.
After noticing and paying attention to the
soul then he invites. ‘Come, follow me’. No strings attached, just come.
This goes further, for Jesus shows his love
for the sinner by sitting down to eat with them.
That was big in the society of Jesus’ day:
sitting down and eating with people was intimate and showed you approved of
them, even those most disregarded by others
Who are the worst people you can think of?
Jesus sits down and eats with them.
Go further. Who is a person you know
personally who you look at with contempt or readily dismiss: he loves them; he
says to them, ‘come’.
He loves them, as he loves you, as children of
God.
After all, he says, what physician, what
doctor, walks past a person who is unwell and fails to offer any healing?
The doctor has it in her power to offer
healing and health.
The Latin verb salvere, meaning ‘to be well’ is
where we get our word ‘salvation’.
Jesus is the salvator the Saviour, the one who brings salve, the healing balm of
God.
Jesus, the Physician of Souls, the saviour,
the salvator, pays attention to
Matthew.
A sinner is not left where Christ finds them
and calls them.
They are drawn into his love and fellowship:
‘come…follow me’.
And lest they – we – get complacent we are schooled
in the way of Jesus, the way of mercy that is rooted in his sacrifice on the
Cross.
When you walk with Christ, the salvator, when you sit down and eat with
Christ, the Saviour, you will be schooled in the way of forgiveness and healing
which you as a sinner require.
Our gospel began with a call to the sinner:
come.
It ends with a commission: go.
Go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy,
not sacrifice.’
It’s an ancient cry of the prophets of Israel
and it is fulfilled in Jesus.
His sacrifice on the cross, his death for
sinners, is the origin and completion of sacrifice
The way we join his sacrifice is through mercy:
‘Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.’
God’s mercy does not remove God’s judgement,
but tells us that God’s judgement is not vindictive; is not harsh, is not
callous.
Rather God’s judgement is revealed in mercy.
This merciful judgement restores, heals,
forgives because it is rooted in the sacrifice Christ made for sinners: as St
Paul says, ‘God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners,
Christ died for us. (Romans 5.8)
God can do merciful judgement.
Fellow sinners, can you?
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