What should be our response?

The way of Jesus Christ is radically inclusive, and we, the church, have a duty to put Christ first in everything.

Matthew 9.9–13

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.’

Reflect

If I am honest, I feel overwhelmed by world events. This week, after reading many articles, essays, news items, and commentaries, my head feels in a bit of a spin. With the unfolding genocide in Gaza, the US vetoing a ceasefire in the UN, Russia pushing boundaries with incursions in Poland and Estonia, the public murder of activist Charlie Kirk, Trump’s state visit to the UK where he publicly disparaged Sadiq Khan (the Lord Mayer of London), and the right wing protests in London, organised by the influential extremist Tommy Robinson (where more than 110,000 people gathered, and many espoused racist messages of hate and division, with Elon Musk addressing the crowds via video, telling the protesters that “violence is coming” and “you either fight back or you die”), yep, it has been a hell of a week, so what then should the be the response of us, the church?

Before taking a wider picture of the church’s role in the world and how it is being weaponised by extremist groups, it is best to first ground ourselves in scripture, go back to the teachings of Jesus, understand them in their original context, and apply them (without any political pressure) to our lives.

The lectionary gospel reading for today is Matthew 9.9-13. Why do I use the lectionary reading? Well, because it is not politically or culturally convenient, and it prevents me from choosing a scripture to suit my own needs or bias. It is the set reading for today.

Matthew (called Levi in Mark and Luke) was a customs official, taxing goods at a booth as traders passed through the border town of Capernaum. We do not know why he was known by two names. He may have had two names from the beginning but, like Peter, it is possible that Jesus gave him the new name ‘Matthew’ which means ‘A gift from God’. How lovely that someone so despised and marginalised by society should be considered God’s gift!

Most Bible commentators think that Matthew already knew Jesus as Jesus had made Capernaum the locus for much of his ministry, and that this is why, when the call came from Jesus to ‘follow me’, he gave up everything to become a disciple. This is a reminder to us that it can take time for our hearts to be prepared before we follow Jesus, but also there comes a time when we make that final life-changing commitment.

Jesus then ate a dinner in Matthew’s house, where other tax-collectors and those described as ‘sinners’ were in attendance. These people were considered inferior by the Pharisees because they did not obey the Law of Moses, for example, they did not eat their food with ceremonial cleanliness, and there was also a rabbinic rule which said, ‘The disciples of the learned shall not recline at table in the company of the people of the soil,’ therefore it was considered to be a disgrace for the rabbi Jesus to share in a meal with such people.

It is difficult for us to imagine just how outrageous this calling of Matthew and the subsequent meal in his home was. Rabbis did not sit and eat with tax collectors — a group who, along with their families, were despised and treated as outcasts, such that they could not act as witnesses and were expelled from the synagogues.

Jesus answered the complaint of the Pharisees with both a statement and a question, “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.”

The very word Pharisee means ‘separated one’ and implies the exclusion of others, particularly sinners, and here is Jesus turning that on its head by being wildly and radically inclusive. The phrase, ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice’ comes from the prophet Hosea, emphasising God’s healing and forgiveness rather than a demand for retribution and justice, and I like how Jesus used scripture to confront the Pharisees who were all about strict adherence to scripture!

Right now, the church finds itself caught between mercy and sacrifice. Right-wing, conservative, nationalism is allied with an evangelical expression of Christianity, and they both echo the narrative of the other. This week I heard a right-wing politician say, “We need to get back to Christian values,” and I heard a conservative church member say, “The church is under attack.” Both politicians and church members are seeing outsiders as a threat to their way of life and are therefore seeking to marginalise, exclude, or eradicate them.

As Christians, we are caught in a tug of war between mercy and judgment. Politicians are weaponising the teachings of Jesus, and using them as a mandate for exclusion, and some churches have already colluded with this ideology, something I find deeply disturbing and sickening.

The way of Jesus Christ, as we read in today’s Bible passage, is radically inclusive, and we, the church, have a duty to put Christ first in everything. Therefore we must do all we can to continue to bring healing and forgiveness to the marginalised, stand up for the rights of the oppressed, and protect the most vulnerable in our society. And when politicians, of any leaning — whether right or left — use Christianity to further their own idealogical goals, we will stand up and say, no — not on my watch.

Perhaps it should come as no surprise that just a few verses on in Matthew’s gospel Jesus urges his followers (who were to be sent into a dangerous world as ‘sheep among wolves’) to be ‘as wise as serpents and gentle as doves’. We need to be discerning in a world that is becoming more polarised, anchor ourselves to Christ, and not allow ourselves to be swayed by clever rhetoric or cultural bias.

There are times when I wonder if Helen and I have done the right thing setting up FAB Church, and then I think, if it provides a safe haven for just one person who has been rejected, marginalised, or hurt by church or society, then it will have been worth it.

Amen.

Fabbed 8 times.

Insights

Rev Gav

What should be our response?

Matthew 9.9–13

Reflect

Welcome