The Call of Matthew
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.
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.”
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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.
~ Matthew 9:9-13, 23-25 (NRSVUE)Jesus Calls Levi
Jesus went out again beside the sea; the whole crowd gathered around him, and he taught them. As he was walking along, he saw Levi son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax-collection station, and he said to him, “Follow me.” And he got up and followed him.
And as he sat at dinner in Levi’s house, many tax collectors and sinners were also sitting with Jesus and his disciples, for there were many who followed him. When the scribes of the Pharisees saw that he was eating with sinners and tax collectors, they said to his disciples, “Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?” When Jesus heard this, he said to them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician but those who are sick; I have not come to call the righteous but sinners.”
~ Mark 2:13-17 (NRSVUE)Jesus Calls Levi
After this he went out and saw a tax collector named Levi sitting at the tax-collection station, and he said to him, “Follow me.” And he got up, left everything, and followed him.
Then Levi gave a great banquet for him in his house, and there was a large crowd of tax collectors and others reclining at the table with them. The Pharisees and their scribes were complaining to his disciples, saying, “Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?” Jesus answered them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician but those who are sick; I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance.”
~ Luke 5:27-32 (NRSVUE)The Pharisee was amazed to see that he did not first wash before dinner. Then the Lord said to him, “Now you Pharisees clean the outside of the cup and of the dish, but inside you are full of greed and wickedness. You fools! Did not the one who made the outside make the inside also? So give as alms those things that are within and then everything will be clean for you.
“But woe to you Pharisees! For you tithe mint and rue and herbs of all kinds and neglect justice and the love of God; it is these you ought to have practiced, without neglecting the others.
~ Luke 11:38-42 (NRSVUE)
My goodness, what an exciting morning we have had so far, and what a blessing it was to baptize Nick and welcome him into the family of God. But friends, I’ve got a question for you. Did God love Nick any less before he was baptized? NO! Was Nick any less worthy or less important yesterday? NO! And did WE as a congregation think differently of him or look at him as an outsider before today? DEFINITELY NOT!
Friends, Jesus meets all of us where we are, whether we are baptized or not, whether we attend church on Sundays or not, and whether we spend all of our time taking care of puppies at the local animal shelter, feeding the hungry, or gambling all of our money away at the casino. Like all of us, Nick has been loved since before he was born, and nothing that he has ever said or done, or will ever say or do, can ever change that. But today, Nick made a choice. He chose to believe in God’s unconditional love for him. He chose to put his faith and trust in God, and he chose to follow in the footsteps and the teachings of Jesus. Now, does that mean from here on out, Nick will never make a mistake? No. Does that mean that Nick will always walk the straight and narrow? No. And does that mean that he will never feel lost, lonely, or question his faith? Absolutely not! But it is my hope and my prayer that the new beginning that baptism gives might help Nick to see the good in things around him. It might help him to see the good inside himself, and most importantly, it might help him to remember that he is a part of something so much bigger.
Folks, Jesus always meets us where we are, whether we’re baptized or not. Whether we follow the rules or not. Whether we dress in fancy clothes and hang out with important people, or wear ripped jeans and dirty T-shirts and hang out on the tough side of town. No matter who we are or where we’ve been. No matter where we work or who we love. No matter the color of our skin or our country of origin. No matter the language we speak or the way we identify, Jesus meets us where we are. And as followers of Jesus, we are called to do the same with the people we meet. As Jesse Jackson once said, “The only time you should look down at someone is when you are helping them up.”
Folks, one day, Jesus was walking by a tax collector’s booth. Now, tax collectors in Jesus’ day usually had a bad reputation, whether they deserved it or not. Well, as Jesus walked by, he said to Levi the tax collector, “Follow Me!” And that is just what Levi did! He got up, left everything, and followed Jesus. Levi was excited about Jesus’ invitation because people had never invited him anywhere. All they did was look down on him, call him names, and judge him. Levi was SO excited that Jesus acknowledged him, called him by name, and invited him along that he threw a dinner party for Jesus at his house, and he invited all of his friends.
Now, as a minister, not all, but many, of my friends are ministers because that is something that we have in common. It’s something that we can talk about over dinner. And the same was true for Levi. As a tax collector himself, many of his friends were tax collectors, so most of the people that Jesus was eating dinner with that night were those who were looked down upon by society. They were called names, they were judged, and they were labeled as sinners. As you can imagine, when the Pharisees and scribes (or the teachers and the religious leaders of the time) heard about this, they started complaining, saying, “Jesus, why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?” To which Jesus answered, “Healthy people don’t need a doctor. Sick people do.”
Folks, the problem in society today is that too often, we focus on the wrong things. We give power to labels, titles, words, and names, like rich and poor, male and female, gay and straight, Black and white, immigrant and citizen, Republican and Democrat, and we forget that Jesus simply calls us to love our neighbor, whoever our neighbor might be.
In Jesus’ day, the act of eating with someone acknowledged that person as an equal. So, ministers only ate with ministers, and tax collectors only ate with tax collectors. The rich ate with the rich. The poor ate with the poor. And the lines were never crossed. They didn’t eat together because they were friends, but because they had the same status, were of the same class, or had the same reputation. In those days, religious leaders considered it unthinkable for a Jewish teacher to eat with common people, let alone a bunch of sinners. But Jesus cared more about helping people than worrying about his reputation. Who Jesus was eating with didn’t matter as much as the work that he was doing. Jesus was not being corrupted by his dinner guests. On the contrary, he often changed their lives forever by inviting them, teaching them, and welcoming them into a new way of living and being. Not just talking about grace and light and love and hope, but actually sharing those things with them, and in so doing, changing their lives forever. Jesus didn’t just sit in hallowed halls, wearing fancy robes, taking part in fancy rituals, and talking about helping and encouraging others. He met people where they were. He didn’t worry about where they had been or what they had done, because that didn’t matter. It was where they were going that mattered.
Folks, we all have things that pull us away from God sometimes. We all say and do things that we shouldn’t sometimes. And we all have times when we are broken and lost and in need of direction. And though it’s not a word that we often use here in Oldtown, yes, because of that, we are all sinners. But the good news is Jesus eats with sinners!
Now not only are each and every one of us invited to eat at Jesus’ table, but we are invited over and over again to follow him, being assured that no matter what, just as we have been reminded over and over again through this season of Epiphany, we belong, we are beloved, and we are delightful. And I don’t think you can get much better news than that, my friends!
So, brothers and sisters in Christ, as you go out into your busy week ahead, don’t forget what we learned a few weeks ago. When life gets crazy, remember to put your hands over your heart and remind yourself that no matter where you live, who you love, the color of your skin, or the amount of money you have in the bank, that you belong, that you’re beloved, and that you’re delightful. But also remember that each and every person you meet at the grocery store, and in the bank, at the soup kitchen and the food pantry, at the ballet and at the Statehouse, in the courtroom and in the prison, that they too belong, they too are beloved, and they too are delightful in God’s eyes. So don’t just wash your hands or the outside of your glass, to look good to others. Remember, it’s what is on the inside (that only God sees) that really matters.
My friends may it be so. Thanks be to God, Amen!
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