Matthew 9:8-38 | Hosea 6:4-6
(We’ll be reading some longer portions of Matthew the next couple of days. If it feels like a lot, don’t feel like you have to take in or understand every point. Just choose one part to focus on and hear. By the way, we’ll be introduced to this gospel’s namesake today.)
Many people who end up rejecting God do so based upon an understanding they have of an unjust, selfish, and punishing God. On the one hand, it’s understandable how they come to this conclusion. Even the psalmist felt this way sometimes.
But when we read the words of Christ - I desire mercy and not sacrifice - the image of God’s way is different than wrath and selfishness. This passage begins with the calling of an individual everyone hated and ends with compassion for the whole of the helpless crowd. From beginning to end in Christ, his posture is a different kind of love.
Matthew 9:8-38
As Jesus continued on from there, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at a kiosk for collecting taxes. He said to him, “Follow me,” and he got up and followed him. As Jesus sat down to eat in Matthew’s house, many tax collectors and sinners joined Jesus and his disciples at the table.
But when the Pharisees saw this, they said to his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?”
When Jesus heard it, he said, “Healthy people don’t need a doctor, but sick people do. Go and learn what this means: I want mercy and not sacrifice. I didn’t come to call righteous people, but sinners.”
At that time John’s disciples came and asked Jesus, “Why do we and the Pharisees frequently fast, but your disciples never fast?”
Jesus responded, “The wedding guests can’t mourn while the groom is still with them, can they? But the days will come when the groom will be taken away from them, and then they’ll fast.
“No one sews a piece of new, unshrunk cloth on old clothes because the patch tears away the cloth and makes a worse tear. No one pours new wine into old wineskins. If they did, the wineskins would burst, the wine would spill, and the wineskins would be ruined. Instead, people pour new wine into new wineskins so that both are kept safe.”
While Jesus was speaking to them, a ruler came and knelt in front of him, saying, “My daughter has just died. But come and place your hand on her, and she’ll live.” So Jesus and his disciples got up and went with him. Then a woman who had been bleeding for twelve years came up behind Jesus and touched the hem of his clothes. She thought, If I only touch his robe I’ll be healed.
When Jesus turned and saw her, he said, “Be encouraged, daughter. Your faith has healed you.” And the woman was healed from that time on.
When Jesus went into the ruler’s house, he saw the flute players and the distressed crowd. He said, “Go away, because the little girl isn’t dead but is asleep”; but they laughed at him. After he had sent the crowd away, Jesus went in and touched her hand, and the little girl rose up. News about this spread throughout that whole region.
As Jesus departed, two blind men followed him, crying out, “Show us mercy, Son of David.”
When he came into the house, the blind men approached him. Jesus said to them, “Do you believe I can do this?”
“Yes, Lord,” they replied.
Then Jesus touched their eyes and said, “It will happen for you just as you have believed.” Their eyes were opened. Then Jesus sternly warned them, “Make sure nobody knows about this.” But they went out and spread the word about him throughout that whole region.
As they were leaving, people brought to him a man who was demon-possessed and unable to speak. When Jesus had thrown out the demon, the man who couldn’t speak began to talk. The crowds were amazed and said, “Nothing like this has ever been seen in Israel.”
But the Pharisees said, “He throws out demons with the authority of the ruler of demons.”
Jesus traveled among all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, announcing the good news of the kingdom, and healing every disease and every sickness. Now when Jesus saw the crowds, he had compassion for them because they were troubled and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, “The size of the harvest is bigger than you can imagine, but there are few workers. Therefore, plead with the Lord of the harvest to send out workers for his harvest.”
Hosea 6:4-6
Ephraim, what will I do with you?
Judah, what will I do with you?
Your love is like a morning cloud,
like the dew that vanishes quickly.
Therefore, I have attacked them by the prophets,
I have killed them by the words of my mouth,
and my judgment goes forth like a light.
I desire faithful love and not sacrifice,
the knowledge of God instead of entirely burned offerings.
Prayer
God, you do understand when we get angry, right? You tell us of justice, we see its lack of presence in action, and we get angry. The Story tells us that you, yourself have done as much. And we respond: people need punishment and prevention and so we have penalties and prisons. Again, this seems to resonate with how you have acted. (It wasn’t our idea to flood the world and kill everyone.)
So if you are even more a God of a merciful justice, help us in our moments of confusion and anger. Thank you for presenting Christ, whose life and example helps immensely. Help our response be like his, with redirections of forgiveness and mercy. Make our anger righteous, with resulting actions of productive protest and merciful change.
By your Spirit and in Christ, Amen.