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Rev. Dr. Sandra Stevens Poirel - "Follow" · Belin Memorial UMC

• Belin Memorial UMC: ⁓ During these Sundays after Pentecost, we will be spending some time with the Gospel of Matthew. And today's text, of course, comes from the ninth chapter of the Gospel of Matthew. And Jesus demonstrates God's mercy and power. The first section is called The Call of Matthew. I'm going to invite you to stand for the reading of the Gospel. Okay. 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 in the house, many tax collectors and sinners came and were sitting 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. And then we move into two healing stories. While he was saying these things to them, suddenly a leader came in and knelt before him, saying, My daughter has just died, but come, lay your hand on her and she will live. And And Jesus got up and followed him with his disciples. Then suddenly a woman who had been suffering from a flow of blood for twelve years came up behind him and touched the fringe of his cloak. For she was saying to herself, If I only touch his cloak, I will be made well. Jesus turned and seeing her said, Take heart, daughter, your faith has made you well. And the woman was made well from that moment. 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 is 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. And the report of this spread throughout all the district. This is the word of God for the people of God. You may be seated. These two scenes are held together by two follow or follow me occurrences. They are both about the power of faith. When Jesus called Matthew, Matthew followed. Then when the synagogue leader pled for help for his child, Jesus followed him. And even the miracle that concludes this passage is rooted in the word follow. Now the first scene opens, we open right straight out of the gate with words from Jesus. He saw a man at a tax collection station who was named Matthew. And Jesus simply said to him, Follow me. That's it. There was no audition, there were no prerequisites, there were no demands, no, here's a list of what you've got to do. You've got to get your act together, and then it was none of that. He saw him, he identified him, and said, follow me. And here's the astonishing part. Matthew did. So why would that be so astonishing? Because of who Matthew was. Jesus was very clear who he was speaking to. Others were very clear who he was speaking to. Matthew was well known because of his profession. He worked for the empire that occupied his people. He collected taxes on behalf of the soldiers who patrolled the streets. Now their system of collection was very different. His income resulted on what was considered to be skimmed off the top of the collections. So he had a certain amount he had to turn in. So his income was based on what he collected. Needless to say, he was not very well liked. He was not welcomed. In fact, he has been described as being despised. This is the man Jesus identified and said, Follow me. Matthew, the tax collector, abandoned his work and risked public criticism to simply follow Jesus. Now we are on the post resurrection side of these stories, and we are well aware that Jesus loves saints, and we're really glad Jesus loves saints, but Jesus loves sinners, and we are really glad Jesus loves sinners. But they are living these scenes playing out in real time. They do not have the benefit of the history that we do. So Jesus invites Matthew, follow me, and he does. And the inviter, Jesus, actually becomes the invited. Jesus becomes a dinner guest. He is seated for dinner at a table. The table, we're told, is full of tax collectors and sinners. And Jesus becomes the host. Having a meal with someone in the first century was very, very significant. You had to be careful who you invited to lunch. You had to be careful whose home you went to to have a meal, because in the first century, sharing a meal with someone signaled belonging. In other words, once you had a meal with someone, you have a relationship. You have a responsibility to one another. Okay. Now we are not told how in the world Pharisees found out about this. I'm sure the word spread quickly. Did you all know that word can spread quickly? It did in the first century anyway. Well, we don't know how the Pharisees found out about this. We're not told. But we are told that they objected and they registered a complaint about Jesus' actions, but they did it in the form of a question. ⁓ but not to. Jesus directly. And we thought we came up with triangulating. No. They went to his disciples and they asked a question. Why does he, Jesus, eat with tax collectors and sinners? You see, the Pharisees could not understand. That what they wanted of Jesus made absolutely no sense to him. It's like telling soap, you know, when you wash your hands. It's like saying, soap, don't wash the dirt off those hands. It just made no sense. And Jesus' holiness was certainly not fragile. He had grown up fully human while being fully divine. He lived in a world of sinners. He was betrayed, flogged, put to death on a cross, suffering, death, and resurrection. He is the holy one of God. His holiness was not fragile, so they asked the question. But the answer came to the Pharisees not through the disciples. Jesus responded himself, and he said, Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. And then Jesus went all the way back seven hundred years and And used words from the prophet Hosea. It's in Hosea 6, 6. Go and learn what this means. I desire mercy, not sacrifice, for I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners. And then Matthew, the gospel writer, does something that is absolutely dazzling. Scene two immediately follows as Jesus is making his way. To the home of the leader of the synagogue, he is interrupted by two people who are desperate to get to him because they need something. The first is the leader of the synagogue whose daughter has just died, and he courageously, he being the leader of the synagogue, courageously advocates on behalf of his daughter and pleads with Jesus to follow him. And Jesus does. But while on the way, Jesus gets interrupted again. That happened to Jesus a lot. He gets interrupted again by a woman who has been suffering from hemorrhages for twelve years. She has absolutely no advocate but herself. Why? Because her condition forced her to live on the outside everywhere. She was considered unclean. Anyone who touched her then was considered unclean and would have also been an outsider. She approaches Jesus, she asks for nothing. She even tries to remain anonymous and invisible because that's the way she has lived her life for twelve years. She simply believes that if she can touch without his even knowing it, if she can touch just the fringe of his garment, that that would be enough. But as Jesus always does, as she touched, thanks be to God, he noticed. And he didn't just notice, he stopped. And he named her healing as an act of her faith right there in front of everyone. He did far more than heal her physically. He restored her dignity. He restored her place in the community. And she was no longer untouchable. She was no longer an outcast. And that touch of the fringe, his stopping and addressing her, he restored her life. Then, after all of that, Jesus continues on his way to arrive at the synagogue leader's house. There's a crowd gathered because they are in the early part of the grieving process. We're told that the flute players were there and a crowd was there and a commotion was going on. And Jesus told them to go away. Go away. Girl is not dead, she is asleep. Now, the reaction of the gathered, the crowd, according to the Greek word, kataglion, it is a strong word. It is a word of derision and mockery. And the closest translation we have to it is: they laughed down at him. They made fun of him. They were telling him, basically, you are absurd. This is ridiculous. However, they were put outside, and it is here that Jesus encountered yet another untouchable by the first century standards. In the first century, when someone had died, there was a certain period, and after that you did not touch the body, or then you were considered unclean and you were on the outside. But Jesus goes in, the crowd is put out, he took the girl by the hand and restored her life. These are stories of comfort for us as well as those in the first century. All of us have experienced difficulty, heartbreak, failure, disappointment. And the gospel reminds us that Jesus is aware. Even when we try to stay invisible, Even when we don't outright ask for anything, Jesus sees. And whether we realize it at the moment or not, not only does Jesus see, he stops and he responds to us by name. I have called you by name. You are mine. Now, not every story ends the same. Healings come in many ways. They come in many times, many varieties. And discipleship comes in many forms. These particular followers were called to go and to do something. maybe not in their geographical area, but not all of Jesus' followers left their homes to travel with him, but they were still called into service to be into service right where they were. In fact, Jesus and the twelve depended heavily on the hospitality and the support of those who hosted and fed them as they traveled. Their role was exceedingly important. To illustrate that, there is a story that's told about a young woman whose name was Betty. She was a young mother in 1970, and she and her husband were welcoming their first child, and they had made it on his income and they were doing well. But now with the addition of a child, did you know children are expensive sometimes? it costs a little more. So she got a job for just one year just to help you know make ends meet for that first year. Well, that one year turned into thirty-six years of service at the newspaper. She worked with interns, reporters, editors, the public. She became over time an invaluable member of that team. She was always looking for ways to live out her faith in word or in deed. And one day when she was close to retirement, someone asked her, Do you think God placed you there? She answered with a resounding yes. She said God was a part of her being at that place of employment every single day. And that God worked through her in many ways over 36 years. And she counted it a blessing. That God was able to use her in some, even if some small way in someone else's life. You see, that's us. We are sent forth to be signs of God's mercy, God's power, and God's grace. We have a mission team right now who took a little trip. They went to Guatemala, they left home to go do this, and they'll be returning. But while they are serving in Guatemala, you're serving right here. We have disciples in many places, and it is amazing what God can and does do through us, any and all of us, when we're willing to follow and to go and reflect Him in many a tour, just one step at a time. In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.